Database Users

Replacing Screen + frame

Hi,
Broke my screen a couple of days ago. I have a lot of information and programs installed on my universal and dont want to install everything again.
I have therefore bought a used universal and I wonder If I will be able to replace the screen + frame without hardresetting the unit. I have downloaded the service manual but I couldnt find any info regarding that. If any one have any useful tips on replacing screen + frame plaese let me know. Do I have to take the phone apart or is it possible to replace screen and frame only by loosing the screen by the hinge?
Is this a difficult task, (looks easy in the manual)?
Thanks in advance,
Miki

Just need the right tools. Not too difficult and you need an antistatic arm band. Goodluck! How bout selling me your extra mainboard?

first post here but i just found the site.
I broke the screen on my o2xda exec and took it too my local Carphone Warehouse. I am not one of their customers anymore but they looked the repiar up on their system and it showed that the repair cost was going to be £40. I authorised repair and got a written copy of the cost and confirmed the cost about 10 times as i didnt belive him. The phone went off to HTC's repair centre and came back three weeks later with a new screen and a complete upgraded rom. I paid £40 job done.
Might be worth a try if you have one near you.

No prob.
All parts will be for sale as soon as Im ready.
Is it possible to switch screen with frame without hardreseting?
And is it possible to switch screen without taking the phone apart?
/Miki

There is a way to just open up the just screen part of the clamshell but you risk breaking your flex cable but it can be done if you are really careful. I dont recommend doing it this way though.
I suggest you follow the instructions as per manual by opening up the keyboard part first and then clamshell then replacing the screen. It's not too difficult. Don't forget the anti-static thing so you don't mess up the mainboard.
Also, you don't have to hardreset to replace your screen..dont forget the anti-static thing!
Please reserve the mainboard for me...Thanks!

I wouldnt mind the flex cable!
Its easiest to leave this in the plastic housing, thus most of the actual shell (top lid, hinge, bottom keyboard housing part etc.
Let me know if you have this spare as my touchscreen doesnt work now and im desperate!

I'd be interested in the camera flash (flashlight)
IF/when you're ready to part out the remainder of your device, I'm in desperate need of a replacement camera flash (flashlight).
-Kevin.

Please let us know how your replacement went. Still would like to purchase that MB from you.

I have a mac
I use a mac, what software can i use inorder to syncronise my Xda.I dont know what to do as i can't save my files onto my computer or download any music on to my phone...

BYJO said:
I use a mac, what software can i use inorder to syncronise my Xda.I dont know what to do as i can't save my files onto my computer or download any music on to my phone...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://markspace.com

yo, check this out! that's how to change your screen!
I've done it twice, allready! ;-)
http://www.smartphonefrance.info/jasjar.asp
'hope this'll help you guyz
you'll only need a small torx screwdriver (like the one all cell phones use), a small " X " screwdriver, a small flat screwdriver and a whole bag of skills ;-)

nice link!

Selling parts?
So will you be selling the parts? Interested in your extra mainboard. You can email me at clemsynatcharterdotnet.
Thanks

Sorry for the delay.
The screen replacment worked without any problem.
If any of you still are intrested in parts, let me know.
/Miki

Hi,.
I want to replace my screen too (only the LCD)...
can some one advice me how to? Do I need to take the whole device appart, or only the screen?
ragards
A.

digitizer (touch screen) replacement

Hi guys this is my first post (so please be gentle )
I had a hermes with WM 6 working great until my toddler got his hands on it and now the touchscreen doesnt work (looks like its caused by large dent in the centre of the screen), I've had a look around and found the problem to be with the digitizer itself. I was thinking of replacing it myself with this I found on ebay
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....m=260193961530&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=016
Just wondering if anyone had purchased one of these and had any feedback as to if they actually work and any tips on fitting it

I would give it a shot as its not to expencive and could save your phone.
I just like the way they bundle in a kit to take the phone apart but ask you to make sure what colour the connectors are on the inside of the phone before purchaseing :-D

thanks for your reply, i may just go ahead and give it a go then, I could post the pictures or a guide if its any use to anyone? Other than that wish me luck (i may need it)

The touchscreen on my Cingular 8525 stopped working today, so I'm faced with a similar dillema. I saw the digitizers for 16-20 dollars online, but I've heard it's safer to just replace the entire screen since you have to seperate the screen from the digitizer with an exacto blade. Either that or I'll have to send it to pocketpctechs and be without a phone for 5 days. Thankfully I can still navigate the phone with the jogwheel + dpad.
I found this video showing how to disassemble your 8525 if you're interested.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=zsljpn74SW0

well just to follow up, the replacement touchpad arrived yesterday it was well packaged and even included a CD containing instructions on how to replace the digitizer itself. I removed the old digitizer (using the edge of a tape measure as it was the only thing i had thin enough) and installed the new one and I have to say im well impressed, all works as it should
A bit of advice though, try and use a soldering iron that is less than 15W as I nearly burned through the contacts but other than that i have my baby back yey

Digitizer replacement?

The warranty for my HD is gone and I would probably need to change the touch screen digitizer myself, found these on ebay for ~60€, but does anyone know how to change them? Again, any help would be appreciated!
Originally:
HTC Touch HD, it has been a wonderful phone until now. I have encountered a wierd problem with the touchscreen.
First the touchscreen stopped working completely, after awhile it suddenly started working, at first it recognized some bits and pieces but now it recognizes every touch as normal, except..
It is very inaccurate and the "sum of inaccurity" seems to change depending on where I push the screen, the screen alignment option in settings does not fix this.
I recorded two videos to show this problem better:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xd1vjiHr2QU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TynTTFIQJv8
Any help would be appreciated on how to fix this!

looks broken id return under warrenty did it get any knocks / drops? do you have insurance?~

spzero said:
looks broken id return under warrenty did it get any knocks / drops? do you have insurance?~
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have handled it with great care so no big knocks or drops. Ill contact the store about the warranty. Just wondered if theres a way how to simply fix this.
Just noticed, the screen works normally sometimes for one touch, then it goes back to the inaccurate **** :/
Im now guessing that some cable could be loose or something like that?

Have u tried recalibrating the screen? I can't remember exactly where I found it, but its in programs or settings somewhere.

Viba said:
...the screen alignment option in settings does not fix this...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I have..
Anyway I RMA'd it now. Hope I get a new one

I can tell you from previous experience, HTC does NOT warranty touch screens. You mentioned "a store", so I hope they help you, because HTC will not. >sigh<

Seems a little unfair if they don't seeing as the HD is purely touch screen!

SomethingWicked said:
I can tell you from previous experience, HTC does NOT warranty touch screens. You mentioned "a store", so I hope they help you, because HTC will not. >sigh<
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmh, well the store probably sends it to some service center here in Finland that fixes HTC phones.
Indeed sounds very stupid if the warranty doesnt cover the touchscreen.
Perhaps my HD suffered from something else than a broken touchscreen, eg. mainboard or a chip that controls the touch screen. Who knows I'm just hoping it "passes" the warranty :|

Well... Had Hard-SPL on my touch hd and duttys 1.7 rom, so the warranty is gone
Didn't know they were so picky about it, they said it would cost 605€ to repair the screen. So now I should probably start looking for a screen digitizer on ebay and some help on how to change it... Already downloaded the service manual, but there was nothing on how to change the digitizer, could anyone here show me some light to this? Thanks.

I have dismantle my HD to see if there's any way to change only the screen (it's broken)
There's no way, as far as I saw. You have to replace LCD, tourch screen and screen. It's one piece and there's no way easy way to open it without break it.
You can find all of them for about 200E.

drabisan said:
I have dismantle my HD to see if there's any way to change only the screen (it's broken)
There's no way, as far as I saw. You have to replace LCD, tourch screen and screen. It's one piece and there's no way easy way to open it without break it.
You can find all of them for about 200E.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So there's no way I could replace only this?
http://global.ebay.com/Original_Digitizer_Touch_Screen_For_HTC_Touch_HD/310124432320/item

Another sad story // hopefully with a good ending
I kinda have the same problem as Viba and others. Sorry for the looong post. But decided to describe in more details my experience up to now, and hope you can help as well.
All of a sudden, I started having problems with the touch screen of the Touch HD. I started noticing that whenever I touched the Touchflo buttons, the phone vibrated. Soon I came to realize the if I touched in some spot, the phone recognized that I was touching lower, to the point that it could not recognize touches in the taskbar, for instance.
The united has 2 or 3 months max. It had some falls before and I do not really know who (or which one) was the culprit.
Tried this as fix: re-alignment, hardresets, Official ROM upgrade. Then I started reading and understanding that the problem was probably the digitizer ("nice to meet you").
I live in Brazil and the Touch HD is not expected be released here any time soon. So the few HTC service centers do not know how to fix it and do not have parts for it. And also, I bought mine from an auction site by some user who bought it abroad, with no warranty whatsoever. I am left alone in this.
I was very frustrated and eager to get my device running again. So I started looking for a new digitizer and also the tools to open my phone. The digitizer (just the digitizer, not the LCD screen) I ordered from an ebay shop in Hong Kong on Monday and is expected to still arrive sometime in this century (IF Brazilian port authorities do not mess up). The tools arrived yesterday.
I downloaded the service manual and said to myself, let's see if the digitizer problem is maybe due to a loose flat cable. Got to work and carefully disassembled the device as per the service manual. (I have to say that, although I try to be carefull, I always scratch, bend or mess something up when I do jobs like these. So I was afraid of cracking some plastic or worse and actually did some.)
Up to where the service manual show, it went incredibly very well. But that's the problem. The service manual guides you to disassemble the unit up to the point where you are with the bezel, LCD and digitizer in one piece.
But hey! I saw zillions of internet shops selling the bezel (actually, the hole housing, but with no LCD), the digitizer or other parts separately! What is going on?
So I started trying to unmount the bezel, LCD and digitizer. Tried several things. It got really late. I was impactient. So I tried splitting the digitizer from the LCD, by inserting a hard plastic aluminium tip between the digitizer and the housing. A very thin plastic kind of tape came out (at lest part of it). So I tried doing it more. No success. And then I put a very thin screwdriver between then (just enough to get an ulgy bent it the plastic housing).
When I had played enough with that puzzle, I gave up and began mounting everything back. The good part is that I was able to get everything back and the phone is working. Well, except for the digitizer.
First thing I did was to kidnap the wife's Nokia E71 I bought her last month and she is not using yet (she couldn't learn to use yet; well, she hasn't even tried it), because I have to have mobile access to my emails.
And I really started now to consider other alternatives. Will some user like me EVER be able to change just the digitizer? Is it even possible? If it is, I would like to give it at least another shot.
But I am also afraid that it could be another part which is in failure. I just don't want to spend more $$$$ in this. It would be better to buy another phone (and maybe not a complete touchscreen - gosh, I miss my Tytn II). I so regret being a gadget freak and not waiting a release in my country.
Shoud I send my phone abroad for a service center repair? My sister lives in Dubai and she may be able to help.
Should I give up my unit and seel the used parts in ebay?
Hope to hear your suggestions. Thanks anyway.

Viba said:
Well... Had Hard-SPL on my touch hd and duttys 1.7 rom, so the warranty is gone
Didn't know they were so picky about it, they said it would cost 605€ to repair the screen. So now I should probably start looking for a screen digitizer on ebay and some help on how to change it... Already downloaded the service manual, but there was nothing on how to change the digitizer, could anyone here show me some light to this? Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
before doing this what about removing hspl and reflashing back a stock rom
change shop and you might, and i say MIGHT, be lucky
much better than screwing up the machine

Rafael K said:
I kinda have the same problem as Viba and others. Sorry for the looong post. But decided to describe in more details my experience up to now, and hope you can help as well...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice to know I'm not alone with this problem
Sucks that the digitizer couldn't be removed separately, would help alot if someone knew how to do this, if even possible..
crashDebug said:
before doing this what about removing hspl and reflashing back a stock rom
change shop and you might, and i say MIGHT, be lucky
much better than screwing up the machine
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have already tried with 3 custom roms and 2 original SPL:s with two original roms.
The Finnish law allows me to get my HD replaced if I could prove that the custom rom didn't brake the digitizer. Already sent some emails to the local repairstation for HTC phones here in Finland, lets see...

I run a repair center (US). I have not gotten curious enough to take mine apart, but if someone has a dead one to experiment with, PM me.

Broken digitizer glass
I have the same problem with the digitizer glass being broken. I have had the back off the phone and stripped it back as far as I dare, but the service manual just doesn't tell you how to replace the digitizer and glass only. Checked out youtube where there are many videos with instructions on how to replace the screens and digitizers on lots of different phones as well as the iphone, just nothing on the Blackstone yet.
Any one else found a solution or decent instructions?

Today I disassembled my HD too, found a loose screen wire but nothing else. Even when I attached it properly the screen didn't work.
Has anyone found out how to change the digitizer?

some info
Hello,
I am also have HTC Touch HD, and I am also thinking about replacement of touch screen and housing because of scratches. Here instruction in Russian
http://www.pdacenter.ru/razborka/htc-touch-hd/
step 24 is not shown on the picture, but there is mentioned that in order to replace screen you should push it forward from back side of the screen; also mentioned that screen is fixed with double sided tape (probably it is fixed to the touch screen)
Also, did you try to use any polish to remove minor scratches on the touch screen? HTC Touch HS has resistive screen and probably may be polished (in contrast to capacitive touch screen that has some coating).
All the best

Also, about this problem see
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=3911326

You guys should be smarter! If you want to warranty exchange it, flash the normal SPL again and flash a stock rom!

Question about:Replacement of LCD and digitizer and a wierd piece

Hello everyone..I recently replace the lcd for my niki htc...I bought the screen from ebay for $35 (plus shipping). Everything works fine but sometimes when i slide the phone the screen is wably or it looks like something is not connected and it moves but when i close it and i restart it again. it's fine or if i let it for awhile like that (so it goes on and off). So my question is...Is it the manufacture that made the screen, or is it something that it hasn't been connected right?
The other question is that my digitizer is broken in the up left corner and im thinking to replace it does any one can tell me how to take of the digitizer. i have found this website :http://www.pdacenter.ru/razborka/razbor_htc_touch_dual/ but it stops at the screen it doesn't tell you about the digitizer.
And the 3rd question is about that little piece it has fallen from somewhere while i dismantling my phone, i took a picture of it so someone can tell me what it is and where it goes.
Thank you very much for looking, and sorry for the noob questions first timer dismantling a phone and i loved IT!!!

You may wana have a look at the service manual, wich can be found here:
http://www.mikechannon.net/page1.html
It says that you can not disassemble it without replacing the speaker!
When you remove the speaker you need a new one. (or at least this is how I understood it
Maybe that part is the door for the MicroSD Card slot?

no i opened the cellphone 6 to 7 times so far. all you have to do is to unscrew the small screw that keeps the speaker in place so you can have more space to work with it.
all you have to do is to take off the digitiser where it gets connected. take the screen off. and raise the little black strip where the digitizer stripwires come out and push out the digitizer. it feels liked it doesn't go out but if you push it carefully it will. they have glue it with some kind of glue that it doesn't come off the digitizer but it stays on the cellphone so you can put in place your new digitizer...
If anybody needs help... pm me or leave a reply in this thread.

speaker rubber perhaps?
I just replaced my digitizer today (bought the handset from ebay - faulty touch screen). The little rubber that covers the speaker fell out in my hand when I was dismantling mine, so maybe thats what it is (looks similair).
Oh a quick question - after replacing my digitizer, my touch screen still doesnt work, even after hard reset - when asking to 'tap screen to set up device' it wont respond to any taps. Any ideas ?

fubofo said:
speaker rubber perhaps?
I just replaced my digitizer today (bought the handset from ebay - faulty touch screen). The little rubber that covers the speaker fell out in my hand when I was dismantling mine, so maybe thats what it is (looks similair).
Oh a quick question - after replacing my digitizer, my touch screen still doesnt work, even after hard reset - when asking to 'tap screen to set up device' it wont respond to any taps. Any ideas ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
my friend i think you have a bad digitizer, some people on ebay send defective digitizer and especially when they are from china they don't really care about sending a good one.... I had to send mine back 3 times!!!! i just got the last one 3 days ago and it took me at least a month and a half to send me a working one...If you pay with paypal...Tell the ebay user to send you a good one...Do not!! Do not!! send feedback until you got a good digitizer....Mostly it has to do with the connectors i guess where the digitizer connects.... Tell them that you need a new one and you can't wait for very long...tell them this is a customers cellphone and you need to have it fixed as soon as possible.. If they don't want to exchange for a new one dispute the payment!!! Don't wait too long...Do it Asap... As i told you there lots of defective digitizers....I had reset mine also but nothing happens i believe this is mostly hardware problem...If you have any questions about how to dismantle ask me... I have open my cellphone over 10 times cause of the digitizer

Thanks Nikos, Im fine with opening these devices they are easy enough to work with.
I purchased a digitizer for a Polaris not long ago and it worked perfect. Im gonna take the Nike apart tonight again and adjust/fiddle with the connections to make sure - I dont want to wait another 2 weeks for a replacement digitizer and pay for postage lol.
But i guess if it doesnt work tonight I will have to 'grin and bear it' and send it back

Just built in a replacement digitizer. Everything works quite well, some inaccuracies in the lower parts of the touch screen, but it works.
I managed to leave over a screw. And a barely visible stain between the Digitizer and the LCD.
But at least it is working again as a replacement phone and for testing various stuff...
btw, now knowing the phone from inside, that part could be the "door" between the SIM slot and battery. or the rubber part that directs sound to the microphone on the bottom front PCB.
cheers

Touch HD (Blackstone) Screen & touch repair, pics and tips inside!

Hi XDA peeps.
I would like to share my notes and pictures of my recent repair i performed on my touch HD. If you end up suffering from the Newton_Ring problem or cracked lcd, and decide to purchase a factory assembled LCD + Digitizer, you can use the Official Service manual and this thread, to perform the repair.
The Battery and the Battery cover have been removed.
Lower mainboard cover and inner housing have been removed
the Digitizer & LCD (preassembled) replacement Part, beside the damaged Blackstone.
Removal of the GPS Coaxial cabling.
I'll skip past the wifi coax removal, but will like to note that you will find a spare coax socket on the mainboard next to the wifi one, so dont get those mixed up when reassembling it!!
both Coax cables removed. (bad quality picture)
Removal of the Ribbons Mylar
this is the removal of the Ribbon plug.
Removal of the Volume buttons and its petite PCB. Take your time, dont break the ribbons or damage the pcb trying to remove this.
Removal of the mainboard phillips screw.
Power PCB slot removal, this ones tricky.
Unplugging of the 5 megapixel main camera, a nice and easy step.
Note: Please be aware that the whole Top PCB is very fragile and does actually bend, hence the term Flex PCB, be gentle with this component.
You wont see this part of the repair listed in the official manual, infact when I had a google around, there was little to no information on howto perform this anywhere.
Let me make one thing certain, if you've just spent like an hour on the above, while following the Official service manual, squinting at the poor quality photos (or my poor quality photos ) and you're feeling a little impatient, take a decent break before attempting the above!
Because, for the above procedure, you need to tear off the 3 layers of Digitizer and LCD from the front of the phone, if you don't take your time with how you do it, you'll dent your frame (a lot).
you won't find this in the service manual, if you worked out its significantly easier do a factory pre-assembled Digi+LCD replacement, and if you don't purchase the housing along with LCD and Digitizer, then you'll need to take the front Speaker piece grill, and transplant it to the new part.
Note: that you don't need to add any extra glue to perform any of this.
Next you simply gently fold a ribbon so you can place the new part into the old frame, and you'll end up with something like this:
I also did a lot of very minor aesthetic damage to the inner area of the frame, between the frame and the touch screen.
Take your time to prevent this, also if you don't care for the old part at all and aren't replacing a LCD or Digitizer standalone, you can pretty much gain access to the layers from one corner then tear the layers away from the glue with your hands.
Next proceed to rebuild the phone following the above in reverse or keep following the service manual (or both, is probably the best way IMO)
Note: Don't forget to place the camera back into the reassembly as you're re adding the coax wires. The service manual won't instruct you to do this.
Install back your flexible and mainboard pcb. as above.
The above is with all the boards, cables and camera installed back into place.
Verify the replacement part is good before fastening in the shell casings.
Lastly the two shells are fastened back on and the battery is put back into place.
Note: When installing the main shell, be very considerate of the camera, while at the same time, ensuring that none of the coaxial or the vibrator cable falls out of their desired places.
OK, if you have the HTC Service manual PDF, and need to repair your Blackstone (and want to DIY), it can be done albeit some instructions are clearly omitted from the official service manual.
One final note, When researching on what part to use to perform the repair of my Blackstone mobile, I read a great many people have attempted to repair their Blackstones and failed miserably, so even if you're savvy with repairing small electronics, the general suggestion is to get a pre-made digitizer & LCD, it is without a doubt well worth the price difference of a Digitizer or LCD standalone.
Thank you for taking the time to check this out, I hope someone may find it useful and save them from a bit of misery.

you are fantastic! i will try to replace the screen in next days...your guide is the best!
very thanks

excume friends, but i'm from venezuela...... i buy a HTC TOUCH HD in miami, the february 2009, ,i phone present this problem, the LCD work fine, but the touch no responding, anybody know where can buy it...... i don´t know how call the replace..... digitalizer, LCD.... how???
Thanks and excuse me by me bad english........ i know, soooo bad.....

Believe me it's almost imposible to replace just digitizer.
I have similar problem few weeks ago, and I buy pre-made LCD+Digitizer and replace it without any problem. I bought my from ebay. UK reseler. 65 euro. I heard that you can find it for lower price but I was searching on ebay.de so maybe on US ebay you can find for less money.
Don't bother to replace just digitizer, just to go 40$ less. Sometimes is batter to give 40$ more but to do job without any problems. (PS It's very, very hard to detach factory attached LCD from frame without braking it!)
Good luck!

Thank you so much, look for us on ebay or on amazon.com to see them .... any questions do not hesitate to do that around here ...... thanks again

Greetings, I got this on ebay usa,
h**p://cgi.ebay.com/HTC-Touch-HD-T8282-Digitizer-Screen-Repair-Part-TL-/290471976452?pt=PDA_Accessories&hash=item43a17a9e04
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
... What do you think? Does this serve me?

my baclstone started acting funny with screen alignment getting messed up and than it completely stopped responding...
even the touch sensitive hardware buttons donot work no more...i have hard reset many times did task 29. i have changed different roms and went back to stock rom but screen doesnt respond at all... not even the backlight turn on to full brightness when screen is tapped?
anyone have any idea whats broken lcd or digitizer or both... or maybe something else.... and there is no official htc repair shop so i probably gotta fix it on my own

Got Touch HD from someone I know.
He has scratches on the fone screen, so he decided to DIY by replacing the screen, he did not manage to screw everything together so he gave it to me...
I have tried to follow instructions both here and another thread which points me to videos that I can watch...
The problem is that I have black screen, I can hear the sound when turned on. Just no life on screen.
The screen was super glued on so there was no reponsibility of removing and check if eveything OK.
Could it be that the screen defect?
Have google but found no info on how to attach screen to the fone !!!
There was just one ribbon cable, I believe from the screen to the main borad and it is attached to the main board....

OK
Have had some free time over the weekend, disassembled the phone and found that 1 of the fles connectors was loose. Reconnected and all was perfect...
Now I have a fully working phone
Thanks for the guide....

Don't try to replace only the digitizer...i suggest to disassembly the phone first to buy the digitizer.. to see how much is hard to detach to lcd without broke lcd! if you can detach you can buy only digitizer!
i bought the digitizer but i broked my lcd to try to change...with Lcd+touchscreen's block I ve changed in 10 minutes and it is perfect!

Glad to see this has helped others.
My main intention was to cover the steps missed by the not so comprehensive service manual, if it was more comprehensive i probably wouldn't have started this thread to show how I repaired mine. was quite a few too many important steps missing really. (re-adding the camera, etcetera)

Hi all,
I just replaced the lcd screen of my blackstone and got a new touch screen, I put all together but the touch screen seems to be dead. Is there anything I should check? you always talk of touch panel and digitizer like two different layer, does this mean that I should have 3 different pieces (LCD - digitizer?!? - plastic touch panel)? Because I only have two, the LCD and the "glass" with an outgoing flat cable. In the case I am not missing anything, should the touch panel work even if not in contact with the screen ?

If you got one pre-assembled (which we call LCD + digitizer), it would actually just be one whole piece.
If you have two pieces, then you have a LCD screen (the glass one AFAIK) and a plastic layer (the digitizer)
My replacement part came in as one, and in the OP I disassemble, and remove it and place the new on in the old ones spot.
Sounds to me like youve gotten the parts not pre-assembled by the manufacturer, unfortunately its common for non- pre assembled ones to not make contact to eachother properly when you assemble it, some people reported being able to do it, and others from what i've read found either partial or no touch capability, but it would likely be the digitizer contacts are not touching the LCD contacts (kind of a ribbon on the plastic piece)
It maybe worth just getting a pre-assembled replacement. if youve already used the current one and cannot fix it.

No it's not preassembled but you probably solved my problem. you basically say the touch panel and the LCD MUST be in touch in a specific point to close some contact (maybe the lower LCD ribbon must touch the lower part of the touch panel?)!! If you confirm that than probably that is my fault. I've seen some videos on youtube where the touch panel works even if it's away from the LCD but it was not a blackstone and probably not a resistive touch panel.
Please confirm I got it right, you probably saved my blackstone.

as far as i know, the digitizer will have some kind of ribbon, on the LCD theres contacts or a socket for that ribbon, you can see (poorly) in the pictures I took, where I show the LCD and digitizer and a layer (digitizer and face place layers) of torn apart.
I looked around my room for my old damaged screen but unfortunately I can't find it I think I may have disposed of it.
lucky, ebay type sites do have some pictures of the digitizer and its ribbon as you can see in this picture - link (I googled this and found it here
that ribbon would likely attach to the lcd panel, I'm quite sure if they aren't making proper contact the touch won't work.
But, having said that, before I made this thread, while reading about others who did a repair without a pre-assembled part, they mentioned that the digitizer part contained many tiny bubble like resistive cells in the digitizer layers, its imperative you don't damage the any of these touch cell things, because if they somehow get damaged, even if you get the digitizer ribbon to make proper contact with the LCD board/slot/contact (which ever its supposed to plug into), if those tiny cell break in the digitizer the touch wont work (could be partial, or could be overall interoperability) and if that happened, it would be a circumstance where you'd need to source another digitizer.
this is more or less an elaboration on my prior post I think.
What I can say for sure is before I fixed mine, after some searching around on these forums and on others, I found that most of those who did not get the digitizer, face plate and lcd factory pre-assembled did not fix their handset (only a minority did), they either ran into a problem with the digitizer making contact with the lcd panel, or they somehow damaged the digitizer resistive cells.
Also, since I did do mine with a pre-assembled part, I cannot say absolutely that the resistive cells will be between the faceplate layer and the second layer of the digitizer replacement part (like you see in my pictures, I ended up with 3 layers) it could be that the resistive cells are exposed on the back of the last layer and need to sit against the lcd, once again though, I'm not sure about it because I did opt for the more expensive easier choice to fix mine up.
Hope you get it all working smog

No way, tried to push lcd and digitizer together without any result. I don't believe there is something that can be broken on the back of digitizer (Resistive cells???) but I hope you are right, I am waiting for a housing I bought from HK it's complete with a new digitizer ... we'll see
Thanks a lot

Hello, great guide but I am still having a problem and I wonder if it's with what I bought; Off ebay I got the plastic and the glass attached to each other as I assumed thats all I needed because my lcd works fine. So I connected it all up and it only slightly works, where you touch the screen is actually showing up as quite a bit below (depends where - top left corner works fine but if you click the center of the screen the phone thinks you're clicking at the bottom).. I have tried calibration with no luck.. Any help/suggestions greatly appreciated.
Thanks

Afraid that theres not a lot you can do, if you havent fully reassembled it yet you could try reapplying the digitizer layer but I think that even trying that could make it worse then it is.
Like i said a few times, I wouldn't try replacing the digitizer on its own, I read up on it before repairing mine and concluded it was too much risk or trouble and just got an all in one lcd + digitizer which I used in the guide.
anyway these phones are quite old now, its hard to justify spending on an LCD and digitizer to fix one up.
you need to decide if thats worth it to you or not.
Infact, my blackstone has Newton rings again on the replacement screen, im not certain what squashed against it hard enough to cause them but it happened recently, the digitizer on mine is still working even with the newton ring damage so Im not planning on replacing the screen again.

Okay thank you very much for your help,
Are they still good phones though? I have a nokia 5800 from around the same time and i'm bored of it now but can't afford a new one so i bought this one really cheap as broken and was just going to fix it.. Or is it not really that much better?
Thanks again for your answer

they're considerably faster then nokias usually, i had the 6600, 6260, 9300i and they were all considerably slower ARM processors.
but It will all come down to what OS you run on it, if you do put a WinMo 6.5 rom on it it will be slow to the degree where its unusable. but if you use a 6.1 rom on it then it will never suffer from slow downs (unless the rom is hybrid 6.1 with 6.5 stuff like the one i use).
It also can do heaps of stuff the nokia can't, assuming your nokia is a series 60 or similar.
the Os can do tethering and heaps of other neat things, winmo also has got a fair range of apps, tho dated now, the variety is nice and gives you functionality, you could obtain a lot of this on a nokia symbian phone but winmo (based on wince) is just even better then symbian.
I think it all comes down to how much it will cost you to fix, I have a better phone so i cant justify spending over 50 dollars on fixing a slower older one, but to someone who doesnt have a better phone it may be quite viable to spend that to benefit the improvement over their current worse phone.
ideally, I would say just skip over it, its not truely that fast, you need at least a gigahertz phone to be fast. a HD2 or something, if you can get one like that quite cheap and in good condition, it would be worth more then spending a bit on the blackstone (touch HD).
just my opinion though
I would repair my blackstone again because i get use out of it each time its healthy even though I have something better its still handy to have, i love the audio output on it over my htc desire, but i wouldn't be spending the amount i spent on another repair screen like it did back when it was the best potential phone i could have had at the time.