There is some solder splash around C19 which needs to be cleaned up. I doubt that it is causing any problems, though.

(I don't understand the purpose of diodes D1 and D2. They appear to be 1000V 1A 1N4007 silicon rectifiers connected in series.)

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

Looks like they are used as droppers? If you need to strip about 1V off that's a cheap and chinesium way to do it.

This "product brief" states that the JM20330 chip "supports a 1.5GHz data rate, and scalable to 3.0 GHz data rate by directly doubling the internal clock source".

http://www.hkmjd.com/Attachments/product/201310/526a2f6fcd8d5.pdf

ISTM that the chip must have been upgraded sometime during its development cycle.

The datasheet states that the chip requires a 1.8V supply for analog power and digital core power, and a 3.3V supply for analog power and digital I/O power. It would appear that the 1.8V supply is indeed derived from the 3.3V supply via a "diode dropper". The datasheet specifies an allowable range of 1.4V - 3.2V.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

ISTM that the OP should use a multimeter to test whether there is continuity between the host end of the flex cable (or the laptop's motherboard) and the adapter's CE pins.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

This is right, under the QC-Sticker can be read "JM20330".


If this is true, I'm afraid there is no way to get a proper connection done. Am I right?


I will try to do this and post results as soon as possible (but this could take a couple of days, since I am travelling a lot in the next week)

Once again thanks for your effort.

You can get a good connection if the pins in the FFC are too short; that's where the 'extender' board comes in. You can get a board with both connector types, one normal and one for shorter pins. Then you basically 'convert' the shorter pin cable to a normal FFC which works with your adapter.

Hello again,

sorry it took longer, than I had planned. I have finally got results with the multimeter. And they are a bit suprising to me.

First of all: I didn't got kapton tape yet (as johnkeates has suggested), so I used insulating tape instead. I know this could be a source of error and I will try to get kapton tape in the next days.

How I worked: I used the multimeter to test continuity between the mSata-Port of the adapter and the device end of the ffc. I did check the connection of all 52 Pins of the msata port to the first 8 pins of the custom end of the ffc. The pins of the mSata-Port could be divided into 3 categories:

1: The Ground-Pins; they all (with one exception) have continuity to the same three pins.

2: The Pins, which deliver a voltage of 3.3V. They all (with one exception) have a connection with resistance over 50 ohm to all of the pins.

3: All other Pins (this includes Pins described as "no connect" and others, like signal pairs). They are almost all not connected to anything at all. Two of the "reserved" pins and one NC pinn are connected like the Ground-Pins, but the signal pins are all dead to every ffc-pin.

There could be measuring mistakes.
I hope this was understandable. I have attached an image which shows the connections and a list with the results.


I do not know much of the electronical processes in this kind of connection, but I guess, that the "signal"-pins having no connection mean, that it doesn't work.

As said above I will try and get kapton tape to see if the results are any different.

second page of the table...

I was expecting that you would measure the resistances between each end of the 40-pin flex cable using the connector pins (laptop motherboard and adapter) as your test points. In this way we could determine whether the cable is making solid contact with each connector.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

The FFC has the 40 pins only on one side. It is an Y-Cable with an bigger end to the mainboard and is also connected to the optical drive. That made me think I would not know which pins belong to each other. But I guess the wires can't cross inside a ffc, so that was a bit stupid. And at the adapter I used the mSata instead of the 40-Pin because it was easier to measure. Looking back this makes no sence at all
I will come back tomorrow with usefull results...