XPS 15 R2 (L502X) Internal USB how to and proof

hey all, this is my second L502X mod (first one was the bios mod)

I found that the amount of avalible usb ports at the laptop were not enough for me.

with this mod, you can get two extra ports from mini-pcie slots without sacrifice the slots (well some mini-pcie cards may be usb based, but the cards were ok in my case. ^^ )

also this is nice if you want to make some small device you usually use and make them internal, such as bluetooth, wireless, IR mouse reciver, usb flash storage...

in my case I used a bluetooth adapter. (cause my intel wifilink 1000 BGN minipcie card didnt came with bluetooth)

first, I took appart the whole laptop and got phisical access to the motherboard.

then I got a usb device, and removed the conector

usb devices just use 4 wires.



here are the images of the procedure.

note: before soldering the wires at the motherboard you will need to rasp the motherboard until you remove the green protection and you will get access to the metallic trace, then you can use flux to make the job easier ^_^

about the gnd point, you can get it near the motherboard screws holes like I did























I tested the mod and both wifi and bluetooth cards work perfectly and simultaneusly

questions and comments are welcome as allways

 

Very nice, however I do reccomend people use electric tape rather than clear tape, as clear tape is prone to attracting static (something you want to prevent when using static-sensitive electronics).

 

Excellent work!

Spooky that I was thinking a doing a similar thing, except somehow utilising the PCI slot, which would be a pain though. (Great minds think alike? )

How did you find out about the USB connectors on the MB??
and
Do you know what type of USB connection it is? (1.0/2.0?)

Will give it a try once I find the right wires/equipment -> could be very useful for wireless mouse. At the moment though, 3 USB ports keeping me happy (barely though! )

I would rep you again, but I need to spread some around first

Congratz

EDIT - I sent you a PM

 

@xxgokouxx

yeah, I knew the electrical tape do a better job, however i didnt had any laying arround, I will replace it as soon as I will get some, thx for the advice


@Matix5

thank you

mmm, I supose the usb are 2.0, but not sure.

I found the pinouts by watching similar mods on another laptops and checking out this pinout.



http://blog.naver.com/PostView.nhn?blogId=spc9999&logNo=56671141

I also followed the traces until I found a proper zone to soldering

yep, I saw your pm, I will fix it as soon as posible, thank you again mate , and thank you for recomend my bios mod at the other topic ^_^

 

did someone else tried this mod?

 

Sorry, I'm not really sure what you did. You added a new connector for WiFi and Bluetooth? Why didn't you just order the combination WiFi/Bluetooth card when you bought the laptop?

I'd love an extra (fourth) USB port, but I'm not sure that's what you did.

 

I picked an usb device, removed the usb connector, and soldered it directly to the motherboard.

however you can also add a fourth port using this mod. (I'm planning to do that with the another avalible internal port from the other minipcie slot)

all I did is to use one of the internal (not used) usb ports avalible at the minipci-e slots.

most minipci-e cards are not usb based, so you can use the internal usb device of the mod meanwhile you keep using the card.

I just connected internally a usb device to one of the minipcie usb pins, I can keep using the wifi card and the bluetooth device at the same time

the posibilities are almost infinite, you can add any usb device inside, as long as the size will be small enough to fit inside.

or you can solder it directly to a usb port, so you can plug external usbs to it.

well, you can also add another external port to the laptop, however the laptop design make difficult to make holes on the side to install another connector.

I'm planning to use the other internal port to add another usb connector to use it externally , so I will have 1 internal usb device, the 3 stock external ports plus 1 aditional external port.

however I need to find first a nice spot for the connector.

 

My new soldering iron is arriving next week - I am also getting a new mouse (with a proper nano reciever) and will be putting that in.

Is there any tips you can give when soldering? (I will be practising beforehand of course)

Thanks

 

great

I was thinking no one will ever try this mod hehe.

well , about soldering tips.

my advice is, get allways the soldering iron clean (it must be allways silver color), I usually use a wet sponge, and clean it meanwhile soldering, I usually clean it after every 30/60 seconds

I know that is a lot, but having the head clean and edged is important to make good quality solderings, its also easier to solder with the head clean and filed.

my advice is also to put soldering tin on both parts (for example a pin and a wire) before join them, it make easier to join them after.

you can also practice your skills on an old or broken motherboard first.


hey,and dont forget to take pics of your mod

 

Thanks for the advice! - I've got some old electrical equipment to work on around the place that I am sure nobody will miss

Yep, I'll take some pics and post here once I get the mod working (hopefully )

 

accidental x2 post

 

Now, Capitankasar, doing the same with USB3 would be awesome

 

Unfortunately Usb 3.0 isn't natively part of the mpcie.

I am also thinking about an internal Usb for a Logitech Nano receiver. I don't dare soldering it to the mainboard, but I have a free mpcie-slot.

What do you think of such an adapter?:
Amazon.co.uk: Sintech - USB/SATA to Mini-PCIe-Adapter 'PAMP6002' ID8599: Explore similar items

Is it too thick for our laptop?

 

exactly, l502x just have 1 usb 3.0 port as far I know (the renexas one) and it is being used at the port at the left.

about that adapter, yes, that probably will work too, maybe a little less modding friendly, but will work too, not sure if it uses directly the usb buses or it convert it.

anyway that adapter should work I think

 

@ Captainkasar,

Could you please run this program:
View any installed/connected USB device on your system
and see if the pci-e wifi adapter where you connected your usb mod is/isn't using the usb hub.

It appears that because mine includes bluetooth, it requires the USB connection (as per the image link below)- so I will have to use the adjacent connectors if this is the case.


(The bluetooth device is no longer listed when the wifi is disabled and the program restarted)

Thanks!

 

@Matrix5



oh, it seems the 5540 HSPA card is usb based.

then I could not use the another minipci-e slot usb port while the card is plugged

thell glad the wifi link 1000 bgn was not usb based, so I can use at least one of the internal usb ports

at the pic, the bluetooth device is the one connected internally by the mod, to the wlan minipci-e slot being used also by the wifi link 1000 wireless card.

 

XPS 1502x has two USB 3.0 ports: one on left side; one on rear.

 

@ Capitankasar

Thanks for that,

Yes as you can see your modded bluetooth device is using Port 005 Hub 004, the same as my integrated Intel one.

Pity that your HSPA card is also USB based, so it looks like we're restricted to only one additional USB mod.

I have a TV tuner in the other pci-e port which thankfully is not USB based, so I will be doing the mod there

Thanks again

 

@matrix5

yeah, too bad the HSPA card is usb based, I was planning to mod that minipci-e to wire its usb to another external port and be able to plug external usb devices to it, the laptop would have 4 external usb ports with this, but well, at least I saved one of the ports with the internal bluetooth

If someday I decide to remove the HSPA card and install another card I will think about mod it again, however I'm very happy with the internal GPS and mobile connection to remove it.

well, there is another posibility, I can connect the internal modded bluetooth usb device to a internal usb hub, so I can connect more internal or external devices with the another ports of the hub

all I need is find a small usb hub and do that, however not sure if the laptop would handle it, since it will draw more power to feed the extra usb devices. it may overuse some internal switching regulators and it may fry the mobo.

also, anyway it will drain way more battery with the extra usb devices, so as for the moment, I think its fine

I'm so happy with my laptop as it is for the moment.

thanks for the info and talking the iniciative to mod your laptop too

 

@ capitankasar

No, problem and glad to be doing the mod, just hoping that it will all go well and I don't fry the motherboard!

I'm happy with just the single internal USB connection for the mouse reciever, as it is basically plugged in all the time (freeing up a permanently used external USB port)

Yeah, they generally need a direct power connection either from the wall or the motherboard (which I seriously doubt a laptop motherboard will have spare - we're lucky to have access to these USB connecitons)

I will probably post again Wednesday-ish when the packages arrive - it's a public holiday here on Monday so I will have to wait an extra day!

 

hehe, cant wait to see your mod ^_^

meanwhile I got another idea, I took a look to the adapter gilipollas posted.

it also get sata wires, the point of my interest is that I almost dont see any electronic at that card, just two capacitors on one side.




not sure about the other side of the card, however if we can wire too a internal sata conector, it would be awesome.

I have at the moment two internal hdds, one of them is connected by the optical caddy, but if we manage to get sata connectors from the minipci-e pinout, we could get up to 4 or 5 internal hdds (if we also take advantage of the esata connector)

the only problem would be that there is not enough space to add those ammount of disks hehe.

however not sure if we would be able of keep being using the minipcie cards plugged in with the extra wires conected to the devices, time to investigate.

edit:

found the oposite conversion, too.



it looks that there are just some capacitors and voltage regulator, but the data lines appear to be connected directly.

If I would find how they are connected I may be able to test some stuff ^^

 

Sounds interesting - I have to move my laptop around regularly so I am out of space to do any more mods! (wifi and tv tuner)

If you test it out, please report back!

 

Just letting you know that I have received the soldering iron. I will mod once I perfect soldering first!

 

great !

keep us updated

 

I'm pretty interested in doing this. A lot of EEEpc users do the same thing, and even add unpowered usb hubs (like this http://hootworld.net/pictures/eee/hub_comp.jpg ) The EEEpc actually runs the webcam off USB and you can pull the cable to it, and use the same connectors to just splice a USB hub into that connection with no motherboard soldering..

That being said though, I see where you soldered into the data, but where did you solder the power and ground lines exactly?

 

@Anonymity

yeah, I took the idea from those EEEpc people, and got a lot of info from tnkgrl mods.

about the power and the ground points, I marked the 5v point in one of the pics.

it is near the hdd power connector, I spent some time testing with a multimeter taking data from the motherboard pins when the system were powered on, that gave me some info about the voltages.

you can use the point I marked as 5v for the power.

about the ground, you can solder almost to any big metal place, for example, near every screw hole, most of the motherboard are just ground ^^







@matrix5
did you made any progress relating your intermal mouse receiver mod?

 

Afraid not I've had two separate attempts at it, but the connectors are tiny! and the solder isn't melting on them properly.

Maybe I need some flux? like you said in your first post (a PCB weak acid? http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Professi...Electrical_Test_Equipment&hash=item231adb70ad) - the solder iron seller told me I wouldn't need it so I'm a bit wary (don't want to do any damage)

 

@matrix5

I didnt used flux.

I know it make life easier, but didnt had any laying arround.

the most important thing is that the soldering iron edge is filed like a seam pin.

also the soldering tool edge must be allways clean (plated colour)

it also help to melt some tin over each part pending to solder individually before finally solder then.

 

Thanks for the advice again!

The problem seems to be working on small surfaces, otherwise it works fine. I can't file the soldering iron tip since it is plated, risking corrosion & damage. (The finest point takes up almost all of the one of the +/- data connector strips)

Are you using a lead or non-lead based solder?

 

@matrix

mmm, not sure, but I think I am using Lead solder.

Solder - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

well, I just know soldering basics, and made all my projects with that

about the soldering iron, I picked a cheap one, and then, I picked a rasp stone, and filed the edge a lot, like a knife, so it can handle small pins like the laptop one ^^

 

I'll try that anyway since the iron kit came with a spare tip & see how it goes! (I've got a lead-free solder)

When I've got time, I'll give it a go next weekend. Hopefully it will work

 

great! :

keep us updated

 

Thanks capitan, I ordered a squid 4 port USB hub. Once it gets here I'll rip it apart and start playing, see what I can do. Going to try to add a logitech nano connector, a nano bluetooth, and if all that works out, an XBOX 360 wireless adapter.. but I'll have to wait till I figure out how to mount the button for that. Might have to resolder a new button type to the adapter and mount it where I'm assuming the TV tuner in would go.

 

Well I did the mod!

...almost

Everything was going fine after I had filed the soldering iron tip, it was working much better

But because the tip had been filed, it overheated towards the end of the mod - and the data+ strip on the motherboard peeled off and then the tip melted off soon after lol

I tried connecting it to a much smaller soldering point 5mm further down with the spare tip, but it didn't work. (and I can't use the wifi USB connectors as they are for the bluetooth)

so close, and luckily, everything still works 100% fine afterwards. (phew)

Thanks for the support anyway Capitan Kasar

For anyone else who wants to do the mod:

Instead of soldering the device directly to the wires so that it is non-exchangeable, I suggest you find a spare USB cable and extract the internal connectors (male or female) and then solder the wiring into that. You may need to bend the pins upwards slightly if it was originally a male connector.


Be careful, if the ground & power are in circuit, they will short the system (This may happen if you press a USB device against the connectors while the laptop is turned on). As it is a safety only, I still suggest to test your devices by plugging them in before powering up the laptop



I tested this on an external USB port beforehand, and it worked fine - if you are using the images as a guide, the red & black cables are not correctly coded to their representative number. Always make sure the cables are connected correctly.

 

well, if the pins got loose from the motherboard, you will need to follow the traces and solder to a closer part of the trace.

I edited the image and showed how the traces going inside the black square.



you can keep following the traces outside the square if you stil need it.

the traces end at the minipci-e connector, but they come from a chip, so you will need to solder closer to the chip if the traces got broken.

if you are not soldering directly over a pin and you want to solder over the thing trace, the process will be more delicated, you will need to rasp a little the trace until the green color get turned into plated color.

but just rasp over the trace, cause if you rasp somewhere else, you may also make visible the ground part of the mobo, and if you join one of the usb data plus ground directly, it will cause a shortcut and probably will damage the motherboard when you power on the system.

also you will need now some hotglue, after you solder directly on the circlular pins near the original colored points of the guide, or you choose to solder over the traces directly after rasp, it will be highly sensitive to actidental pulls, so you will need to hotglue the wire to the motherboard, the nearest part of the soldering point, but dont directly over, recomended is 1CM or 5 mm.

you can also hotglue the same on ground and 5v points, I did on all soldering points to secure the soldering from accidentall pulls.

about the soldering itself, make sure you solder each part indivirually, before finally join them.

both parts must be plated color (motherboard trace and the wire head)

you alsmost got it


note: since you broke the usb traces from the minipci-e to the chipsets. if someday you want to install a usb based minipci-e card on that slot, you will need to disconnect the internal usb mod, and repair the traces by soldering wires to comunicate the minipci-e with the chipset traces

 

I was able to join the ground, 5v and data- successfully; the data+ (all of the blue you have outlined) has peeled from the mb. due to the excess heat because it was the last to solder.

Is it possible to connect it further down the line near the chip?

 

well , you can continue following the trace if that part got loose, but keep in mind that have a limit, because you cannot solder after the trace going after resistor, capacitors or any other electronic part.

I made a small guide about how to solder on traces without any risk:

here you go

(probably will need to click over the image to enlarge it ^^)

 

Thanks for putting the effort into the guide! It's much appreciated

But I had already soldered onto the traces, and the data+ trace has peeled off to the point were it is... "unsolderable", and too thin to attach any wires to it. Most likely because I applied excessive heat.

In the diagram at the top of this page, all of the trace that you have outline in blue on USB2 has peeled off

And I can't attach to the other data traces because it might conflict with my bluetooth wifi.

Again, thanks for your help

 

mmm, I dont have the laptop opened right now to search more points, but it is a shame the entire mod fail just cause a peeled off trace.


you mentionated there is a thin point hard to attach a wire there.



you can try getting a wire, and cutting all the "hairs" except just two or tree.



I dont know what is the word for those small hairs comming out from the wire, but I think you know what I mean anyway ^_^

once you get it, melt tin over it, so it will be placed color and cut it on the half way if the plated head is too long.

now, it doesnt matter it will be a strong solder, just make sure it is done make contact and will not broke without a minimall pull, then secure it with hotglue.

I remember some time I also crapped a project when I acidentally broke a chip leg, and I had to rasp a the chip a little to get access to the trace.

 

Thats why I don't dare soldering directly on the motherboard

Matrix5, maybe you should try to solve this with a friend who has a lot of experience soldering small structures.

I guess it would also be useful to get older, lead-including solder. Because it has a lower melting point and is easier to use.

 

Defiantly was considering that beforehand, but eagerness got the better of me

It's a pity since I was able to connect the ground and 5v points easily, but they are almost four-times larger and easier to solder than the data points.

If I was under warranty I could say my video card keeps crashing a get a replacement (which it does under the un-modded BIOS)

 

Just ordered the mini PCI-e to USB as well as a slim USB hub that I can solder to. 4 internal usb ports!

I only use one mini PCI-e port so I think it will fit as the adapter is pretty flat.

Will the hub work? it does not require an external power supply so I guess the 5v usb power will suffice, right? Not an eletronics expert.

Will report back in a couple of weeks when I receive the items.

 

well, if you ordered an adapter you will have to check the adapter documentation.
in my case I didnt used any adapters and it worked fine with the +5v point I found on the motherdboard, but with an adapter it should be easier since you dont have to solder, however with an adapter you will use an entire minipci-e port just on usbs.

 

Well the port is empty so I really don't care. have nothing else to add. And for 3$ I prefer having a safe solution instead of soldering directly to my motherboard . makes it removable too!

 

I just got this mPCIe-to-USB adapter:
Free shipping Mini PCIe to USB2.0 Converter mPCIe Card support wifi , wireless mouse bluetooth adapter-in Add On Cards from Computer & Networking on Aliexpress.com

With this a logitech nano receiver fits into the XPS 15 (L502X) liberating an external usb port. It works perfectly even in 4m distance. (SEE EDIT BELOW)

I asked the seller to add a screw. They gave me two screws instead

EDIT: I confused two different nano receivers and checked only the reception of the one still attached to the external screen. Reception of the internal receiver is much worse and the mouse works only in less than 40cm distance. Even though I have the laptop 1cm lifted up:-(

EDIT2: Leaving the cover open increases the distance to about 1.5m. Do you guys think removing the small-hole mesh covering the ventilation slots would help?

 

Edits of previous post:

EDIT: I confused two different nano receivers and checked only the reception of the one still attached to the external screen. Reception of the internal receiver is much worse and the mouse works only in less than 40cm distance. Even though I have the laptop 1cm lifted up:-(

EDIT2: Leaving the cover open increases the distance to about 1.5m. But thats not very nice during mobile use.


Do you guys think removing the small-hole mesh covering the ventilation slots would help?

 

probably will help a little.
it also will improve airflow

well, you can mod the receiver antena, you can solder something bigger like a small piece of wire, place it near the external side of the hole, and ducktape it.

it should increase range

 

Good idea, extending the receiver/antenna. Maybe it is also a matter of direction. The internal usb points to the completely wrong direction. Maybe a very small usb-cable would help also.

 

My Integrated Webcam is not working. It is showing as Unknown Device. Can I use this mod to connect the cable to any other USB ports.

 

well, first you have to ensure what fails, if the camera usb port, or the camera itself

maybe the camera is broken and you can connect any other device to the camera port.

I would solder temporally a usb connector to the camera, so you can plug it into any usb port from this and other computers, this would test the camera functionality


anyway be sure to connect correctly the 5v, data+, data - and GND wires.