Problem with Keyboard FPC + replacing cover - 8125, K-JAM, P4300, MDA Vario General

Couple of days ago I received a new Qtek 9100 cover, and wanted to use that to replace my damaged T-Mobile MDA Vario cover. Got all tools at hand, so I started off disassembling the entire housing.
You really need to remove ->everything<- from the device in order to replace this front cover, so moved everything over to the new front-cover, and re-assembled everything.
Device boots up nice and smooth, though the touchscreen didn't seem to work. Hmm, that's odd... So, I disassembled everything again, checked whether the connection might be loose or anything, re-assembled again, and still no functioning touchscreen.
Now, I tried to use my keyboard, to see whether that worked. It seemed to work, though when tring to enter my SIM PIN, some of the keys didn't seem to work. I found out about 10 keys didn't work.
I decided to go back to the original front-cover, and voilá, the touchscreen worked again. The keyboard didn't though. Still about 10 keys not working.
Probably I damaged the Keyboard FPC cable, eventhough I can't see any damage to it.
Is there a way to fix this, or a way to obtain a new/working FPC?
The reason why the touchpad didn't work is probably because of the missing foam-strips surrounding the touchpad in the front-cover. Any idea where I can buy such thin foam-strips?
That's all for now I would have liked it to be a little easier changing covers, that's for sure.

No-one? I've tried several suplliers and repair-centers allready, but I guess I should harvest it from a broken one...

Related

Keyboard problems

Well Im really upset... It takes me almost a month to get a replacement LCD screen for my Wing and I am proud to say i took it apart and put it make together making sure all is right.. (ribbons..screws..yellow tape...) and guess what it powers on, reads the sim, get a signal, phone works..BUT NO KEYBOARD.
Actually The only letter that do work are the e,f,h,n,o and if i hit the caps lock i get them to go caps but i get no indicator light to turn on. Same thing for the ALT indicator light. What in the world could have gone wrong? i was so careful taking it apart and putting it together for this to happen? I even did a hard reset thinking this might solve my problems? nothing its all the same.
any ideas?
you probably messed up a ribbon or something, its pretty easy to do it. I've heard stories of people messing up their keyboards when they replace the screens, so it's not really a common issue.
If you're still under warranty, slap on the original rom, un-hardspl, and call tmobile and tell them it just stopped working.
if not under warranty, do the same thing, and then raise plenty of hell when they tell you that your warranty is over (hint- ask for their supervisor)
Im going to try to take it apart again. maybe i missed something on the rebuild. it sad to think that after i was so carefull i screwed up the ribbon cable. if that fail ill try tmobile..
I'm experiencing the same thing. Were you able to resolve the issue by re-seating any of the cabling, or doing a hard reset? I don't have warranty on it so I may just have to replace the cabling if my futile attempts of fixing what I have now finally sinks in.
Still not working
junior120872
I took it apart one more time and with a magnifying glass reseated the ribbon. Looking at the ribbon closely there is nothing wrong with it. I looked everything over. still no keyboard. i hate giving up but at this point i have nothing i can do over to get this to work..
Ill probably sell it for parts now.
I have a problem with my keyboard I have an azerty keyboard but now I use an english rom (and the phisical keyboard is on qwerty). How Can I remove my azerty keyboard to my pda ?
Thx..
you can always use the herald service manual to disassemble the device, remove the keyboard, and replace it with one salvaged from a broken herald or something, but you run the risk of running into the problem detailed here.
What you can also do is use Duprade's keyboard fix and create a custom patch for yourself and just learn to use Azerty. This is alot easier than the above process.

Keyboard up key doesn't work

I recently changed the housing on my Wizard with a new one from Ebay. The old one was scratched an cracked in some places. I put it together with no problem. I also installed the new CR96 Touch HD v6.5.0.1.7 RC3 ROM.
Now I noticed that the up key on the keyboard isn't recognized. I can't remember the last time I used that key, so I can't tell what broke it. The key won't even light up on the keyboard.
I took apart the keyboard and checked to see if anything was damaged. Nothing that I can see. Triple checked the connector and can't see anything wrong. Every key works, but the up key.
Is there something broke with the hardware or is this software related?
I haven't heard of the problem you described attributed to the ROM you installed, but you can re-flash the same ROM or try a different one just to be sure.
I say your keypad PCB is damaged or the tiny hairline crack appeared in a flex, impossible to tell without seeing your device and proper diagnostic examination. Luckily the whole thing can be replaced for around $10-$11, although you may want to consider whether it's worth it, seeing how it's the key you use very seldomly anyway.
http://cgi.ebay.com/OEM-KEYBOARD-ME...ries?hash=item5d2493e5d2&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14
Thanks, it seems cheap enough to replace. I must have bent the connector cable too much or something. It is a rarely used key, but I actually wanted to use it for the semicolon. I'll give it some thought if $10 is worth it.
BTW, I got the housing from Ebay as well. Wasn't bad, but it was missing the button for com manager, and the battery cover didn't have hooks to keep the lid closed. Plus, a good amount of it needed Plastic Welding to hold it together. Not a big deal for me since I've known how to do it for a while, but I can't imagine many people do.
Just a fair warning to those who find this while searching, the Wizards plastic melts pretty quickly to a soldering iron. You can fix pretty much anything with it, and some skill. The housing replacement kits have these plastic points that you need to melt in order for stuff to hold together. For things like buttons, and even the stylus holder.
BTW, if you stylus doesn't stay within your wizard, it's probably because the old plastic welds broke. Just move the thing that holds the stylus back in place and use the solder iron like a welder. Good as new.

X1 Ribbon cable - what happens and a fix I came up with!

Hi, I come on here quite a lot for information as it's an amazing resource! This time however, I'm attempting to give something back!
I experienced the "black screen on slide out" on Monday. Phone completely screwed. I've also had a few droppages and had it apart once before so there's no way warranty is gonna help!
I stripped it down and soon discovered what it is that actually fails on the ribbon. The coating had worn through due to rubbing on something during the slide out / in process. it had been playing up for a while, probably due to shorting out on the metal case, but now the tracks (aluminium?) had worn right down.....
In pic 1 i've circled the worn area. The shiny section is where i'd tried taping over it to prevent shorting, before i realised the tracks were gone.
Got an almost new one off ebay for 15 quid and, realising it was going to happen again, came up with a solution that, so far, looks like it will work....
A while back I bought some "anti rattle felt" for my car's dashboard - really thin and strong self adhesive felt to prevent squeaking joins between dash sections. I cut a piece of this and stuck it to the new ribbon. Once this stuff is on it's well stuck, by the way!
See pic 2 for the modded ribbon cable.
On reassembly everything is working just fine so far! Here's hoping that it lasts longer than 6 months this time!
Just need a new casing now as mine is decidedly second hand!
Hope this turns out to be of use to someone!
cool story bro
when i took apart my xperia to replace the housing this seemed like a really weak point in the device. glad to see someone who has had the problem has been able to fix it
Why does the screen go black?
Hi,
When the coating wears off the ribbon cable it exposes the tracks in it. when you slide the keyboard out the exposed tracks short out on the metal casing and the screen loses it's input signal.
thats whats happened on mine at least and i presume quite a few others?
HTH!
Update:
That's interesting: My phone was also losing signal with the keyboard out, and occasionally while closed up as well. It would just randomly drop to "no signal" for a few seconds.
It hasn't done it since replacing the ribbon cable.....could be coincidental of course.
I'm having the same problem
It just started a week ago and I got the phone in January off of ebay. I'm new to opening up the phone so could anyone help me find the correct tools or have a link to a site with pictured instructions?
I noticed that the sliding mechanism started to go loose about 4-5 months ago but didn't expect the screen not respond in landscape mode. I have yet to see the other symptoms you all are referring to. I would like to fix this before it get worse.
In mine case it went totaly black after one week of this problem... You have all the instruction on youtube, there is where i looked. For tools you can be inovative, but the exactly right ones come with housings from ebay, it is only 15EUR, and i bet you have some cracks so it wouldn't hurt replacing. That is what i did, along with ordering new sliding mechanizm, and new ribbon cable.
I am open for ideas to prevent my ribbon cable from being cut at it weakest point again.
I'm assuming my flex ribbon went bad yesterday, since sliding the keypad out causes my screen to shut off.
Already ordered a cable off ebay and will attempt to replace it myself :O
Replaced my flex ribbon cable with one I bought on eBay. The screen doesn't turn on at all now, which leads me to believe the cable I was sent is defective. Put the old one back in and it works okay, less landscape mode. ughhh what a pain.
great tips! my input is I bought a case off of ebay that was ~60$ and everything actually fit fine for me...so I wouldn't discount every seller but you do get what you pay for, the 15$ cases are probablly the ones that will give you problems
I working in a mobilephone repair center if anyone need help drop me a priv... i able to get 2nd hand or even brand new components
Replaced the flex ribbon cable -
I got my flex ribbon cable a few weeks ago and took it to my local repair shop. They replaced it but the LCD screen/optical joystick receives no power. The touchscreen and everything else on the phone works just fine now. I thought it was a defective item so it was exchanged with a new one.
Got the repair shop to replace it again and the outcome still remains the same as the first.
Theres no light coming from the screen nor the side illumination.
I just told the repair shop to just place the original back in for the mean time.
Before the repairs, there would be a flicker of white light and random illuminations. Now there's no lights at all except the power botton.
Could it be defective a batch that the seller was sending out? or the repair shop's mistake and is playing dumb so they do not have to admint fault?
Hopefully there's an easy fix to this problem.
-Also I did inspect the ribbon before and after the repair. looks new as the OEm
Can anybody help me out with this new problem after replacing the cable -
perhaps you should try a hard reset. Ive had problems in the past where the optical joystick and the illuminators did not work, and that worked for me.
On the other hand, the top illuminators are on the same piece of hardware as the flex cable that was replaced, so a faulty flex cable is possible. The bottom illuminators are on the circuit board that the optical joystick attaches to, separate but connected to the flex cable.
Ive recently replaced my flex cable and touchscreen. The experience i had with the faulty touch screen was that it appeared to receive no power, but was in fact displaying a dark backlit illumination that could only be seen in the dark. At the same time however, the screen did not display anything. I'm not sure if this is similar to your experience, but if so then your touchscreen would need to be replaced.
ive done all repairs on the xperia myself, and one thing ive discovered is if something doesnt work right after a repair, simply disassembling it and reassembling it to make sure all the connections are properly done has worked for me in the past.
"Before the repairs, there would be a flicker of white light and random illuminations. Now there's no lights at all except the power button."
Now when you say the power button, do you mean that a red light appears under it?
I dont know if i can come to a conclusion or that i can help (or have helped) you come to a conclusion, but i can only assure you that the xperia acts out in strange and weird ways.
Good Luck!
Tags
Dismantle / Disassemble Sony Ericson Xperia X1
http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Sony-Ericsson-XPERIA-X1/788/1
http://www.formymobile.co.uk/xperiadisassembly.php
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWDurQrRt-Y (REAR)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyGUbxFqvyc&feature=related (FRONT)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elgC8hwHfYQ&feature=related
For info.
Mike
Thanks for the links. I've tried the hardreset and restoring the original rom but the issue is still there. It's really bugging me that everything works but the LCD screen. I'm currently using MyMobiler to use my phone. The touch screen works fine and so does the soft keys. Just no power for the lights. I might just give up and wait for another phone that catches my eye and then tinker with the xperia myself. but if anyone got a solution or want me to test something then I'll give it a try.
My warranty is no longer affective so I'll use my phone as a tester to help others with any problems.
TRIONDAVE, how's your Xperia running now with the cable mod that you did? Its been 6 months since you created the thread. I hope you're still around.
My Xperia X1 works nearly fine, except for the keyboard issues, so I'm thinking of opening it up. If your Ribbon mod helped I might just do it too once I've got it opened. Mine has a MOUNTain of cracks though, and the battery compartment itself is cracked on both side enough to make the compartment CURVED. Hence the Battery cover doesn't sit well.
I'm looking around for broken Xperias which I might be able to use to change the internal cracked casing. Lets see.
DatDereX1 said:
cool story bro
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My thoughts exactly.
Hello guys, I am in need of real help over here!
Its just that Ive replaced my ribbon cable, the old one got screwd up.
However I got done for 10 minutes ago, tried to start up the phone.. without success :,(
The ribbon cable doesnt have anything to do with the start up, only the screen am I correct? Cause I cannot even start my phone..
Ive connected the charger, but when I remove the battery it shows a red light, meaning no battery, correct?
So what may the problem be exactly? Maybe the battery is all dead, or?
PLEASE HELP!
for the people with ribbon failures how long have you had the phone before it occurred ? im just interested on the cables lifespan.
mine is fine so far but i have noticed the slider is flimsy and rocks left and right.

Buttons not working

Hey my Touchbuttons on the bottom don't work.
I allready did a hard reset but it did not help.
Is there any way of a homebutton build into the software (like some androids have it)`?
Thanks
So, you can use the rest of the touchscreen (digitizer), but not the buttons on the bottom. I admit, I have this issue on my SparkW once in a GREAT while (both of them that I have used), but the entire digitizer stops working and I have to yank the battery to restart the phone, then it works fine.
Just the bottom buttons not working is weird though. Have you ever taken the phone apart, perhaps to install a higher capacity SDcard? Maybe a digitizer wire got loose then....
...other then that, warranty the phone if you can, if not, maybe you need to replace the digitizer?

Screen repair and fingerprint reader

I broke the screen of my X Compact and replaced it myself. I used a replacement where screen and frame were already glued together. However, now the fingerprint reader is not working anymore. The phone seems like there is no fingerprint reader installed at all. The system (settings and diagnosis app) does not even give me the menus related to the fingerprint reader. Other apps also do not see it. The power button however works as expected. Therefore my questions to you fellow X Compact owners:
Did anyone else replace the screen successfully?
Or did anyone else have the same problem?
Did anyone replace the fingerprint reader successfully?
Thank you for your help!
P.S.: Besides this issue, the phone is very easy to open and to replace parts, except for the battery. Sony used very little glue, and many components can be replaced seperately. The only problem is that the battery is glued to the main board, which could be a problem when one eventually has to replace the battery...
You can still replace the battery fairly easily, though it is a bit hard to get off.
Did your replacement come with the button flex cable or did you use yours? The connectors and such are all well? This never happened to me on the z5c, which I think is very similar to the X compact. You didn't change anything in the software?
solarkraft said:
You can still replace the battery fairly easily, though it is a bit hard to get off.
Did your replacement come with the button flex cable or did you use yours? The connectors and such are all well? This never happened to me on the z5c, which I think is very similar to the X compact. You didn't change anything in the software?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you for your answer! I kept the fingerprint reader, I just migrated it from the old frame to the new one. I kept all the flexcables too. The button itself is working, just the finger print part is not. The connector should be well, I re-opened it and checked. No software change.
Did you ever replace a fingerprint reader? Is there hardware verification?

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