How to Open an X2 Pro, and Popular Mods

[Hualalai]

The Teclast X2 Pro is an extraordinary platform for modification.  The most popular mods are:

1. Adding a 4G modem (!  Yes, the X2 Pro is fully configured with (i) an M.2 2242 socket for a Huawei ME906x 4G modem and (ii) regular size SIM socket, both of which are concealed by the backplate), and
2. Replacing the M.2 2242 64GB SSD with a 512GB SSD (Transcend or ZTC).

To mod, you need to get the backplate off, and the the usual disclaimer applies… all this is at your own risk, no warranties (and please don’t use metal spudgers near the batteries, the skin of the LiPo cells is surprising soft).  After the section on backplate removal, the thermal, modem, SSD, wifi, and other mods will be explained.

HOW TO REMOVE THE BACKPLATE OF AN X2 PRO

The original production run of the X2 Pro, through approximately 01 Nov. 2015, used plastic tabs to secure the backplate, and no adhesive.  The “all tabs and no adhesive” method was replaced by “no tabs and all adhesive” around that date.  If you have a “gen 1” model, you don’t need a heat gun, and can follow along with the heat gun method below understanding that heating the backplate is optional (it will soften the plastic tabs and reduce the chance of fracturing a tab).

You will need a hairdryer, or better, a heat gun.  There are no plastic tabs used on the current “gen 2” X2 Pro, but there IS ALOT OF ADHESIVE applied around the edge of the backplate.  The backplate is does not cover the top and bottom 2cm of the back.  That 2 cm, T and B, is plastic.  The backplate is like a flattened “U” that wraps the edges.  The adhesive is only applied around the margin of the backplate, not in the middle.  The thinnest strand is along the side with the USB, SIM (hidden), SD, HDMI, and HP ports.

DO NOT START FROM THE VOLUME/POWER BUTTON SIDE. Heat all along the side with the USB, SIM (hidden), SD, HDMI, and HP ports and back about 6 cm from the edge along the top and bottom.  I used a heatgun at 1150F, high blower, 5cm away, for about 15 seconds.  Insert a spudger between the inboard USB port and the SD port… that is the area of least adhesive… and work the back plate up.  The backplate is aluminum, it will flex easily once the adhesive melts a bit.  Work from the middle of the “ports edge” out to the sides and then back along the T and B edges in the area that you heated.  If the aluminum does not lift up easily, STOP, and apply more heat.  When the adhesive is soft, the backplate lifts up EASILY.  Only lift the backplate up about 5 mm, then put placeholder spudgers in (or guitar picks).  Heat up the middle T and B edges of the backplate, and put placeholders in, then heat up the edge with the volume control and power button, and lift off the backplate.  The volume and power buttons stay attached internally (now you know why you started from the “ports” side.).

You’ll probably need thin metal spudgers to get started in the USB to SD port area, but move to plastic spudgers as soon as you can get plastic spudgers in.  You do NOT want to use metal spudgers in the battery area.

The hot adhesive has a pleasant smell… if you can smell it, it’s past the temperature that it is soft enough to pull off the backplate.

Do not attempt to pull off the backplate without heat… you WILL bend the aluminum.

The thermal mod should really improve cooling.  In my unit, the CPU and eMMC are covered by a screwed down copper plate with a thermal pad on top of the copper plate.  It is clear to see on my unit that only a small part of the thermal pad was in contact with the backplate.

Also, the backplate includes an RF shield in the 4G modem area, even though the modem socket is empty.  Thanks, Teclast.

 

THERMAL MOD

The Core M 5Y10c CPU is rated at 15 W TDP, and has more processing power than most Atom CPUs (4.5 W TDP), and is close to the M3 6Y30 (and even surpasses the 6Y30 in handling video).  There’s a reason the backplate on an X2 Pro is thick aluminum… heat dissipation, most of which is from the GPU in the Core M.  There are many approaches to building a better connection from the CPU to the backplate, but most approaches involve layers of thermal pad, thermal paste, and/or copper sheets.  The preferred brand of pad and paste is Artic Silver (make sure to use “thermally conductive, electrically non-conductive” paste).  The pads come in 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 mm thicknesses.  Copper sheets come in various X and Y dimensions, but are usually the same thickness, 1mm (much heavier than a thermal pad).  eBay, Amazon, etc., sell pads, paste, and copper sheets.  Unlike many tablets, the X2 Pro has a copper plate (49mm x 52mm) screwed in place against the CPU.  The stock thermal pad is 47mm square, 1mm thick.  I replaced the stock thermal pad with a 1.5mm thick, 49mm x 52mm, Artic Silver thermal pad lightly adhered to the copper plate (the stock thermal pad is not very adhesive, and is easily peeled off), and adhered an 0.5mm Artic Silver (55mm x 55mm) thermal pad to the backplate.  The “adjustment” mechanism is one or more thermal pad layers.  You can build up the pad in 0.5mm layers until you get a full area of thermal pad contact on the copper sheet.  From the factory, my X2 Pro only had about 20% of the thermal pad in contact with the backplate.  I tried a 1mm thermal pad on the stock mobo plate and 1mm thick copper sheet adhered to the backplate, but decided the second copper plate added too much weight.

 

ADDING A MODEM AND SIM CARD

The X2 Pro is in many ways a shrunken X1 Pro (12.2″ to 11.6″, reduced PPI, and about USD 300 less expensive): same CPU, SSD, …. and SIM slot and M.2 modem socket, only Teclast covered up access to the SIM slot in the X2 Pro.     The reason the SIM slot is covered and the modem socket is empty is probably because drivers for the Huawei ME906x (2242 form factor) used in the X1 Pro (a Win 8.1 device) don’t work in Win 10.  The ME906x, where “x” is a regional suffix, “V” for the Americas, “J” for Japan, and “E” for Europe and most of the remainder of the world, needs a firmware update for Win 10.  There is a firmware update for the E version, and some members have reported successful 4G mods using the the E version and Huawei’s Global Partner comm manager.  The usual sellers in Shenzen sell the ME906E model, with a pair of antennae.  One antenna is GPS, the other is 4G/3G.  Like all M.2 sockets, the modem socket is keyed.  In the X2 Pro, the modem socket is keyed B.  The popular Intel 7265 modem is A+E keyed, and will not fit in the X2 Pro.  So, with the backplate off, attach the antennae to the modem card, slide the modem under the plastic lip of the case, and seat the modem in the M.2 socket.  Route the antennae around the edge of the mobo and batteries, and tape in place.  So… if you live in an E region, buy an ME906E modem from a vendor that has the latest USB driver and firmware update, update the modem firmware, install the Huawei USB driver (the modem is a USB 2.0 device), install Global Partner, and see if you can get it to work (it will take some work in Device Manager).  TMK, Huawei has not published a firmware update for the V and J versions, and may not do so, since the ME906x has been superseded.

To access the SIM socket, you have two choices:  do nothing, or get your Dremel tool out.  Unless you cut out an access hole in the backplate for the SIM socket (between the inboard USB 3.0 socket and the uSD socket), you’ll have to remove the backplate to change the SIM card.

 

SSD REPLACEMENT

This is the easiest of all… physically.  Cloning is the hard part, discussed in depth elsewhere.  Use an SSD maker’s cloning tool,  Clonezilla Live, or a zillion other cloning tools, clone your boot drive on a larger capacity M.2, 2242 format, SSD, keyed B+M.  Once cloned, swap the SSDs.  Popular 2242 SSDs are Transcend and ZTC, both have models up to 512GB.

At this point, you’ve saved at least USD 1,000 compared to buying a new Miix 700 with 4G (if you could buy one, 4G versions are not yet available, and storage maxes out at 256GB).  4G isn’t an option on the SP4 (the cheapest SP4 with 512GB is USD 1700, and no 4G).  Most used SP3 tablets with 4G I’ve seen only have 64GB of storage; an SP3 with 512GB of storage is USD 1900, and no 4G.

 

BETTER WIFI

The bundled N wifi on the Pro X2 sucks.  USD 20 buys AC happiness.

 

USB 3.0 POWERED HUB

I find I have zero stutter with USB 3.0 peripherals when I use a USB 3.0 powered hub (USD 17).  With a passive hub, I’ve seen stutters.

 

GLASS SCREEN PROTECTOR

The plastic screen protector bundled with the X2 Pro feels sticky… esp. when navigating with a finger.  A glass screen protector greatly improves your tactile experience.

 

DUAL BOOT

A direct execution of Android, not a virtual Android machine:   boot from pendrive loaded with Android “without installation”.  It takes longer to load than the Android emulator that Teclast provides, but it runs much better and without the size limitations the emulator has.  Just remember to select “run without installation” when the pendrive boots.  You can make an uSD card bootable and go through UEFI (hold F7 during power-on, go to Setup … unless you know EFI scripting and can use the EFI script option) when you want to use Android.

OR … dual boot Win 10/Android (Win partition shrunk, new volume for Android created from freed-up space, Android installed).  Haven’t tried this.

 

This thread is a distillation of the successful mods reported in the main X2 Pro thread by myself and other members.

[Daniel]

Great written!

[Hualalai]

@Daniel. Thanks.

[GigA BytE]

 

@Hualalai Thanks for the good instructions

[Hualalai]

@GigA BytE.  Nicely done.  Note that there is no adhesive in the middle of the backplate.  The adhesive is only around the edge of the backplate, so heat is only needed around all four edges of the backplate.

Could you smell the adhesive?  Note how little contact there was between the thermal pad and the backplate (you can see a surface difference on the thermal pad where it actually touched the backplate).  The small contact area is why the thermal mod is so important.

While the adhesive is warm, you can scrape it off the backplate and the corresponding perimeter of the opened tablet back.  When reassembled, the backplate will stay on the tablet without adhesive unless there is an impact.  The L and R lips of the backplate grip pretty well, and the power and volume buttons protrude through one lip.  If you won’t be opening the back for a while, black electrical tape along the T and B seams looks fine and holds well.

[GigA BytE]

@@hualalai. im catch cold and i smell anything, but around the cpu solve sich der glue from the heat of the cpu (bad construction ^^)
yes the heat can’t go away from the CPU when i playing Hearthstone after 30 min the tablet become very laggy and has 93 C° .

In the next 2 weeks i wil try it wit a copperplate and a Heat conducting film.
Yes for the next time i take black electrical tape but when finished moddin i looking for a new glue.

[Hualalai]

For a longer term closure, try a thin thread of “rubber cement”, which should allow later opening without using a heat gun. If you want a solid closure that will require a heat gun to open, use “RTV”, room temperature vulcanizing adhesive.

I changed to all thermal pad since I felt 1mm copper plate added too much weight.  If you can find thinner copper plate, the weight would be less of a problem.  The important thing is GETTING THE  HEAT TO THE BACKPLATE.  The stock design is great in having a screwed down copper plate, but using cheap thermal pad that doesn’t even touch the backplate for most of the thermal pad area is a major design flaw … that fortunately is very easily fixed.

[hdman]

There is possible to insert another ssd in modem slot? Its same socket m.2 ?

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[Ertciano]

Great post. But, how do I know if I have a model 1 gen?

I’ve been trying to open it with heat gun, I insert something on the usb ports, but that corner below the usb doesn’t move. I’m bending the blackplate and aplying force but still doesn’t move the corner.

Thanks

[Daniel]

@hdman No it is not possible. It seems that all you can do with that slot is adding a 4G modem. If you want more space you will have to remove the original ssd.

 

@Ertciano I have the first gen and the corner bent up very easily. So you probably have gen 2. How long have do you run the heat gun?

[Ertciano]

Daniel wrote:

@Ertciano I have the first gen and the corner bent up very easily. So you probably have gen 2. How long have do you run the heat gun?

Thanks for the info. I suppose I havent heat it enought. I used a hair drier between 1 and 2 minutes, until it was as hot as I can’t touch it. I’ll try again, knowing it’s gen 2. Thanks

[Daniel]

@Ertciano No problem. Hmm, that should be long enough, what tools are you using?

[Ertciano]

I’m using the same tools for opening smartphones. I’ll try again this afternoon with other tools. Thanks

[Daniel]

ok, great. Tell us how it went when you have tried

[ali bni]

HI

I opened my teclast x2 pro and I

separated battery and then other thing and then I

assembled all of them but when I open it don't work screen.my main board is OK because I work with it in TV with HDMI cable.my screen is OK but don't work with it.sound,touch,pen touch and dock is OK.red and yellow lights is OK.please help me to repair myself tablet PC.
Tanks

[Author]

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