MENU button not responding - G1 General

I've had the G1 for about an year and the MENU button began to act strangely.
I have to press it several times or press it around the edges to get it to respond. Does anyone else have the same problem and do you think it can be fixed without changing parts (e.g. cleaning or something else)

Yea mine is like that too. Initially I thought it was SetCPU making response/wake up time slower but all my other buttons wake the phone up quick. I have to press mine on the right side for it to register.
I'll be watching this thread for solutions, if any.

Ohh so its not only me who is having this problem, on my black g1 i have to press 2 times menu to activate it. But sometimes in one press its ok, weird... I guess it started to happen after i root and install CM .... i hope i am wrong for my lovely CM rom....

I'm afraid it could be a hardware issue, at least that's what I'm going for at the moment. It's probably the most frequently pressed button so It's probably going to die first. Anyone who has more experience with phone hardware can tell us why buttons fail over time and how they can be foxed. I'm guessing I'll have to buy some spare parts and fix it myself...

I uninstalled cyanogen 5.0.8 and ran an 1.6 rom (non cyanogen) - at first thougt the menu button worked fine, but it get's unresponsive again. So it's a hardware issue.

I wanna tell you a little story:
Once upon a time, in my years before my Android mobile, i used a HTC Tornado (WinMo), where a joystick was used for navigation. When time passed by, it began to react strange: i had to wiggle the joystick a little to navigate in some directions or sometimes it was impossible to do it at all without a bit force on it. Many others had the same Problem an the drivers of new versions of WinMo where blamed for it. So all devs made their work on it and tried every setting they could find to get this thing working... but nothing helped...
One day, a guy came and disassembled his Tornado to look at the joystick in hardware. He took a magic spray and sprayed it onto the electronics of the joystick, wiggled it a bit and reassembled his device. After turning on his phone, he found WinMo working like charm again and the joystick reacting like in childhood!!!
Well, why i tell you this story:
I didn't believe it or wasn't willing to take my device apart (like many others) and tried all software drivers the devs built instead. But as nothing helped, in the end i bought this magic spray, disassembled my device, sprayed on the joystick, wiggled it and put all together. And - YES! It was like having a new phone!!
From this moment on, i use this spray for everything: my camera's dpad wasn't working too - i sprayed on it, wiggled it a litte bit - and it was working again! My doors everywhere in the house were squeaking - i sprayed on them all, and - guess! they were silent again and opend nearly by themselves!
So -what's this magic spray? It's WD-40 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WD-40)!
I would say, try it! You can't destroy anything (although i am not liable for any damages caused by it's use... ) I think, you don't need to disassemble your phone, just spray a little bit on the corners of the home button, wiggle it a bit, clean it and you're gone (...or disassemble your phone... ).
Hope my experience helps someone!

Thank you. That's what I need - a good practical advice. I will definitely try that.

Related

Crazy Tytn screen and button problem, please help

Hi all, this is my first post on this forum but I've been reading for a while to educate myself.
I've got a Herm200 that I've been trying to troubleshoot but to no avail. I'm fairly certain that it has a hardware problem but I haven't been able to isolate anything.
Here's whats happening:
Occasionally the screen will come out of stand-by all white. This will also happen randomly if i touch the screen to perform a command. While the screen is operating, sometimes the buttons on the face will stop working, however the buttons across both sides will continue working just fine.
When the screen turns all white a soft, hard, or stand-by cycle will not always bring it back to life. The fact that the hard reset wont always fix the problem makes me think it's a hardware issue since the phone will boot-up with the the all-white screen.
This is incredibly frustrating especially since HTC wont accept any warranty claims in the USA on the Tytn.
At first I thought this might be a problem with the ribon connection between the screen and the base but i haven't been able to confirm or discount anything at this point. I have yet to find a way to consistently reproduce or rectify the problem so it's very hard to troubleshoot.
I pretty much have to take a second phone with me everywhere right now just incase i need to make a call. Please help! Has anyone ever encountered such a problem?
Thank you in advance!
SneezyRobot said:
Occasionally the screen will come out of stand-by all white. This will also happen randomly if i touch the screen to perform a command. While the screen is operating, sometimes the buttons on the face will stop working, however the buttons across both sides will continue working just fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi. This sounds very similar to a problem that I experienced with a HERMES100. I bought the phone off someone on Ebay recently - someone had obviously scrambled the radio on it. I re-flashed it, and it sprang to life. However, after a couple of days, I experienced a problem where occasionally the LCD would stop refreshing, all the pixels faded away leaving only a white screen. Under these circumstances, some of the buttons on the phone stopped working. Turning phone on/off sometimes cured the problem, or it would require the occasional hard reset. This would happen once or twice a day and I suspect thats why someone tried to re-flash the phone.
In the end, out of curiosity I took the entire phone apart, put it all back together again and now there are no more problems!! Totally fixed!
My suspicion is that it was one of the ribbon cable push connectors on the mainboard - possibly not seated properly, or a bit of dirt contaminating the connection. Obviously when I took the phone apart I must have re-seated it.
If you are planning to take your phone apart, please exercise considerable care because some of the parts are very small and easily damaged. I would recommend buying a proper kit to take it apart. I bought mine for about £5 off ebay. Particularly useful are the plastic spoon "wedges" used to gently prise open the case after removing the screens. Don't use a screwdriver - you will scratch the case.
Good luck.
wow... that sounds like exactly what's going on here, I actually even tried to disassemble it lastnight but didnt have the right driver set. thank you for the advice!
I'll look for one of those sets but what would you search for if i needed to find it?
Thanks again, I just got a set off of Ebay. Hopefully it'll be here next week
With any luck it'll be a connection issue.
I have had the exact same problem. Because I got the Tytn through work I made our IT department handle the issue and I am currently waiting for a replacement and to find out what happened.
Yep, it looks like the problems the OP is having are very similar to the problems we've been having over in this thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=291027
I'm beginning to think it's a hardware problem as well but not entirely sure.
People in the above thread mentioned that using the scroll wheel a while then moving back to use the D pad fixed the problem (very briefly in my case.) Once I use the center D pad button again it locks the hardware buttons under the screen until I make my device sleep and resume.
Somtimes rather than making all the front hardware buttons unresponsive the issue is that once I use the Down Dpad button I can't use the up button. Pressing up will make it go down, as will pressing down (at least that's working ).
Regarding the white screen - this sometimes also occurs. I can force it to white screen by putting a little pressure on the silver panel surrounding the top, right and bottom of the screen (I have an imate jasjam). Randomly when there's no pressure on the rim and I wake it out of standby, it has a white screen that can only be fixed by turning the screen off and on again.
Finally, the LED indicator seems screwy. Sometimes it never flashes. Other times it flashes sporadically (uneven intervals - we're talking maybe a minute between one flash then seconds before another). When I charge it sometimes the LED doesn't come on but nevertheless it charges. Sometimes if the LED is on it never turns green to indicate a full charge. Yet other times it comes on orange, turns green, then never switches off!
Is it possible that
a) The hardware button problems.
b) The white screen problem.
c) The LED problem.
are all related to some kind of connection going loose? Why would the hardware button problem be temporarily fixable with use of the scroll wheel if this were the case?
The other thread has fallen silent. I'm hoping that some of the gurus in here can offer some input here, even if they don't know the answer but can formulate an opinion. I know very little about these devices.
Thanks in advance guys!
PS - don't really know if I should start another thread, I've posted here as it seems like very much the same issue.
Anybody any idea? advice?
I had a similar problem with my HERM100. I didn't mess around with it too much, I just had Cingular replace it out of warranty exchange (thank god those original ROMs are on the wiki ). I did notice however that after doing a master reset, the screen would function again although I haven't messed around with it too much. I got so frustrated with removing the battery for 5 minutes and STILL powering on with a white screen that I just threw it in my back seat until the new one arrived.
I don't have these screen issues. I only have hardware button problems. It's so damn frustrating! I already own a replacement.
I just received a call from my girlfriend. I wasn't able to answer the phone with the buttons, only with a screentap. I also wasn't able to close the call with the hardware button. Since the side buttons work, I went to settings -> phone, closed it, and there we go. The hardware buttons worked again.
Why the heck is this? I truly hope for some wizz out there with some advice, since HTC would only tell me to send it back after replacing it with a new TyTN with same issues.
Regards,
DM.
Anyone anyone?
HELP!!!!
barncourt said:
Hi. This sounds very similar to a problem that I experienced with a HERMES100. I bought the phone off someone on Ebay recently - someone had obviously scrambled the radio on it. I re-flashed it, and it sprang to life. However, after a couple of days, I experienced a problem where occasionally the LCD would stop refreshing, all the pixels faded away leaving only a white screen. Under these circumstances, some of the buttons on the phone stopped working. Turning phone on/off sometimes cured the problem, or it would require the occasional hard reset. This would happen once or twice a day and I suspect thats why someone tried to re-flash the phone.
In the end, out of curiosity I took the entire phone apart, put it all back together again and now there are no more problems!! Totally fixed!
My suspicion is that it was one of the ribbon cable push connectors on the mainboard - possibly not seated properly, or a bit of dirt contaminating the connection. Obviously when I took the phone apart I must have re-seated it.
If you are planning to take your phone apart, please exercise considerable care because some of the parts are very small and easily damaged. I would recommend buying a proper kit to take it apart. I bought mine for about £5 off ebay. Particularly useful are the plastic spoon "wedges" used to gently prise open the case after removing the screens. Don't use a screwdriver - you will scratch the case.
Good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is my first post as I've so far managed to cure all my issues from just reading the forum. However, I am now having a similar problem with the white screen.
I have a cingular 8525. It fell and the following day the call and end buttons remained lit and wouldn't turn off and they also wouldn't work.
I soft reset, nothing, I then removed the battery and when I turned it back on, there was a white screen and the buttons below still don't work.
I have read the other posts on this issue, but I need help on exactly what kit to buy to reconnect the screen cable and instructions on how to do it as I've never taken apart a phone before, although I have dabbled with other electronic devices.
Your help would be much appreciated, as I am in Jamaica and there are no technicians here who I trust to help.
Thanks in advance.
Below are links to 2 kits I'm thinking of getting. Is either one better than the other?
http://www.pdasmart.com/pdaphonehtcmini.htm?gclid=CJrHntO-hosCFQx1VAodaQf6KQ
http://cgi.ebay.com/SCREWDRIVERS-TO...01677255QQcategoryZ108648QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
CINGULAR IN JA said:
This is my first post as I've so far managed to cure all my issues from just reading the forum. However, I am now having a similar problem with the white screen.
I have a cingular 8525. It fell and the following day the call and end buttons remained lit and wouldn't turn off and they also wouldn't work.
I soft reset, nothing, I then removed the battery and when I turned it back on, there was a white screen and the buttons below still don't work.
I have read the other posts on this issue, but I need help on exactly what kit to buy to reconnect the screen cable and instructions on how to do it as I've never taken apart a phone before, although I have dabbled with other electronic devices.
Your help would be much appreciated, as I am in Jamaica and there are no technicians here who I trust to help.
Thanks in advance.
Below are links to 2 kits I'm thinking of getting. Is either one better than the other?
http://www.pdasmart.com/pdaphonehtcmini.htm?gclid=CJrHntO-hosCFQx1VAodaQf6KQ
http://cgi.ebay.com/SCREWDRIVERS-TO...01677255QQcategoryZ108648QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Both kits look ok. PDA one tells you a little more but the basics appear to be in both.
I'm curious though you soft reset and took the battery out, but have you done a HARD reset? I would always try this first before dismantling.
Mike
In my case, they also are always lit up when the screen is also active.
And no matter what ROM version, they occasionally stop responding. Side buttons keep working.
mikechannon said:
Both kits look ok. PDA one tells you a little more but the basics appear to be in both.
I'm curious though you soft reset and took the battery out, but have you done a HARD reset? I would always try this first before dismantling.
Mike
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the response.
I couldn't do a hard reset because the buttons weren't working.
I have made some progress with the phone now. Found a tech guy who looked at it for me. The white screen is gone, but the buttons still stop working from time to time.
All the connections seem ok.
Is there anything else that could cause the buttons to malfunction?
CINGULAR IN JA said:
Thanks for the response.
I couldn't do a hard reset because the buttons weren't working.
I have made some progress with the phone now. Found a tech guy who looked at it for me. The white screen is gone, but the buttons still stop working from time to time.
All the connections seem ok.
Is there anything else that could cause the buttons to malfunction?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nothing obvious.
Have you got applications installed that you have loaded - could be one thats playing up.
Have you now been able to do a hard reset?
If taking device apart and reassembling improved things it does suggest hardware though and might be worth double checking all those multi-connector blocks for good connections - i.e. take them out and in a few times to ensure any oxidation on contacts is removed.
Mike
mikechannon said:
Nothing obvious.
Have you got applications installed that you have loaded - could be one thats playing up.
Have you now been able to do a hard reset?
If taking device apart and reassembling improved things it does suggest hardware though and might be worth double checking all those multi-connector blocks for good connections - i.e. take them out and in a few times to ensure any oxidation on contacts is removed.
Mike
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks Mike.
I will give that a shot.
I haven't installed any new applications recently, so I don't think it is a software issue.
Thanks again.
CINGULAR IN JA said:
Thanks Mike.
I will give that a shot.
I haven't installed any new applications recently, so I don't think it is a software issue.
Thanks again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it wouldn't be a software issue, why is it, in my case, instantly resolved when going to settings -> phone with the side buttons?
i had this problem i took it to a guy who fixed the problem he said it was a very small tear in the flex cable which causes this white screen every now ant then and the buton problem , sorry to say its the cable problem and u need a very capable person to fix it or replace it with a new one . its very common problem baised on the guy who fixed it .
dmxl said:
I don't have these screen issues. I only have hardware button problems. It's so damn frustrating! I already own a replacement.
I just received a call from my girlfriend. I wasn't able to answer the phone with the buttons, only with a screentap. I also wasn't able to close the call with the hardware button. Since the side buttons work, I went to settings -> phone, closed it, and there we go. The hardware buttons worked again.
Why the heck is this? I truly hope for some wizz out there with some advice, since HTC would only tell me to send it back after replacing it with a new TyTN with same issues.
Regards,
DM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly what is happening to me, no white screen issues, just screen taps and answering calls, I also have another problem where the PDA will not allow me to open anything, be it the start menu or contacts, it will open and quickly close again. I have had mine swapped through Telstra in Sydney, it worked fine for a while and then the same crap again. These problems started before I even touched the OS, so it must be a build problem. Maybe we should write a joint letter to HTC letting them know that there is a serious problem with their machine.
I have had the same problem, got my Tytn through work so we sent it back to the company that supplied it to us. Got it back yesterday and they had replaced the "switchboard". Not sure what it is but there was the problem. Had white screen and buttons not working.

HTC Hermes fell on the floor - on-button does not respond

My HTC Hermes fell on the floor. Fortunately, it remained largely undamaged except for two little things: The on-button and the camera-button do not respond anymore when I press them. However, the buttons do not seem to be completely destroyed: They just seem somehow disadjusted. I notice that from the sound and the movement when I try to press them. I might be able to get them back to work if I could just open the device or at least use clamps to pull the button and readjust it.
Has anybody ever had similar problems, or could give me any hint as to how to fix it without breaking the device.
Of course there is no warranty, otherwise I wouldnt be so foolish as to try to open it up or use clamps.
Thanx in advance for any hints.
Cheers
Michael
are u 100% there is no warranty? even if you bought it from ebay try contacting htc directly.. dont tell them u dropped the phone obviously.
michaelbarrero said:
My HTC Hermes fell on the floor. Fortunately, it remained largely undamaged except for two little things: The on-button and the camera-button do not respond anymore when I press them. However, the buttons do not seem to be completely destroyed: They just seem somehow disadjusted. I notice that from the sound and the movement when I try to press them. I might be able to get them back to work if I could just open the device or at least use clamps to pull the button and readjust it.
Has anybody ever had similar problems, or could give me any hint as to how to fix it without breaking the device.
Of course there is no warranty, otherwise I wouldnt be so foolish as to try to open it up or use clamps.
Thanx in advance for any hints.
Cheers
Michael
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Hermes is actually quite durable. Chances are the button switches just need tweaked back into position.
Have a look here under Hermes Practical Fixes.
http://michael-channon.spaces.live.com
One really obvious/not so obvious thing to check is that the battery is still in position. One report I saw was where a guy dropped his Hermes, thought it was totally dead but it was just that the battery was just out of position.
Mike

What a STRANGE problem with my buttons and LEDs! Ideas?

Hi guys!
Long time no post!
I hope you can help point me in the right direction.
Two things started happening with my 8525 TyTN, rendering it unusable. I do have a backup one, so it's no panic. But I would LOVE to try to repair this.
Here's what happens!
1 - The two LEDs in front don't work! No green; no blue; no amber. (HOWEVER, When I first replaced the battery after a hard reset, I did see is glow red for a second!)
2 - None of the buttons on the front work! None. Start/End, the D-pad, mail, internet explorer. All dead!
Interestingly enough... the LCD screen is perfect, as is the touch screen.
The unit also works perfectly fine.
I did a Hard Reset.
I am using WM6.0.
I am wondering... PERHAPS there is some kind of ZIF cable that goes from the body to the top panel? MAYBE that came loose?
If you have seen inside your TyTN, is there one cable/ribbon for lights/buttons?
If so, that would explain it!
If there are two cables/ribbons.... one for lights, one for buttons, then the odds of them BOTH falling out are near impossible!
I would LOVE to hear any ideas or thoughts!!!
Thanks as always!!!!!
Mike
Hello and welcome to a new phone!
I have a similar problem, mine sometimes gets a white screen and the D-pad buttons rarely work for long.
It is quite possibly a loose ribbon cable.
There is actually a thread here about this issue - just do a search for 'white screen' or similar and you'll find it. It was posted to within the week so shouldn't be far from the top if you browse for it, but I can't remember which Herme's category it was in.
There's even a full guide with pics to pulling your 8525 apart!
Cheers! Oggy. ó¿ó
try a new rom,.
I have the same problem. I thought it was bcs my TyTN fell down once. It started with Iexplorer always popping up when I wanted to do something. I thought the IE button at the top was stuck or something and when I pressed hard on the message button everything was okay. All buttons worked. But after a few days they stopped working and pushing the message button wont work also. And both the red and green call button leds are always shining. It sometimes happens that the dpad works for a second and than nothing.
I used the original wm5 and flashed to 6.1 now, no change tho.
it's not the rom, tried several roms now
for me it's just the call answer button, but this is annoying enough
there are some topics in the hermes section which describe the problems you encounter or even worse problems (the lcd flickering or just giving you a bright shining white) and they all say it is a loose cable connector right under your dpad
some of them opened their tytn (guarante already gone) and put some sort of paper or rubber or sth else on the connector.
other say tighten or loosen the screews worked for them, but none of the solutions seem to be final, it always works for some time.
if you have still guarantee i would try sending back or try somewhere else a repair, that is what i will do with tytn
i hope i do not have to pay for the repair
good luck
Loose screw
I was able to fix this problem after ATT told me that I was out of warrenty and it was going to cost 499.00 for a new phone.
I it turn out it is a loose screw on the inside and to get to it you have to undue 11 screw to get to it. I might be able to fix it for you. I dought you would be able to get into this phone and not hurt any of the other functions.
Rick
Hi,
could you advise how you managed to fix it?
Thanks.
button failure and white screen
I have the same problems, if I turn off and on for 3/4 times everything back to normal. But is really annoying because I miss calls.
To me seems a software issue.... I can solve it by turning off the screen does not make sense hardware problems
have a look to this post:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=435281
I have still to test the suggestion of schaps advance config version 2.02.1.0.0
Sorry it not a software issue and you can flash a 100 roms and it still won't work. You simply have a bad flex cable and possibly a defective dpad circuit board. You have to crack open the phone to replace it and it has to be carefully done. There are tons of DIY's about opening the phone and replacing the cable. There are even YouTube Videos about it.

Battery won't charge, power button broken, me going crazy

Ok, im going to start not from the beginning beginning, but from where problems started.
Friday night, went out, I was writing an sms when somebody pushed me and i dropped my wiz, i picked it up, to find that the battery was gone, nowhere to be found, i did find the cover tho. i tried to look for the batt, but i was in the middle of the club so it wasn't that easy.. I knew that a friend of mine had a spare one so i didn't worry that much.
Sunday I got the replacement, tried it, no luck, it ran out i thought, but when i tried to charge it, nothing happened. Buying a new one is not that easy when you are in Argentina, and they are expensive, so i decided to jump sart it. good news: it worked, i could turn on the phone, so the battery is fine. bad news: it still doesn't want to charge!
I previously had problems with the usb, and i had to have it soldered again, pretty strong, but I thought that might be the problem again, so i disassembled my wiz. new problem: the power button broke, the tiny, tiny black piece fell off, AND I LOST IT! DOH!
Anyways, the usb is still soldered pretty strong, i don't think its gonna go loose again, so thats not the freaking problem!
So now, instead of the initial no-charge problem, i have a disassembled wizard, that won't charge the goddamn battery, AND a broken power button (tried to glue it, but fell off again and thats when i lost the piece).
Regarding the button, i've studied my options, what would you recommend and how would you do it?
option 1: turn on the phone with the soft reset hole, and remap the screen on/off function to another button.
option 2: replace the power button internal piece with the one from the voice command button (i never use it). i've taken a look and they seem to be the same, but i don't know if taking it off and soldering it back would work..
anyways, that leaves me again with my initial problem, and i do have an hypothesis. I THINK (because I THINK i remember this happening to me before), that the battery won't start charging until windows has started, and the jump star power the battery has is not enough to get it started (tried to tape it and leave it for a while to see if it charged a bit more, but didn't work, the phone turns on but goes out when loading, and since i've my wiz pretty loaded it takes its time to load).
So to try this out i would need a way to charge the battery manually, and i don't have access to another wiz to have it charged (my friend had a spare batt because his wiz is broken).
So, if you have a solution to this, ANY different solution, or even an IDEA, please give me a hint!
For what i've read, this are common problems, so there must be something out there.
Man, that's a bad thing
I'll try to help you as much as I can.
You are right about Wiz only start charging when it's on. After my N78 was stolen and I went back to the Wizard, the battery was without any charge for months... I plugged it and no red LED... Turned it on and, bingo, red LED and charging!
The voice command and the on/off buttons are the same, so (in theory) it would work 100% IF you were able to change their places (at least for me, it is impossible to do manually, never found any good equip here =\ )
With a lot of patience (and a small soldering iron) I would try to take the voice comm button off and place it where the on/off was.
For the battery, maybe someone here can point if there is a "battery charger" standalone device, or such a thing...
Good luck man
hey thanks for the quick reply!
i'm not thinking of doing it myself, i'm not not that precise nor is my solder, but i know a guy, same dude that fixed my usb. I like that idea more than the other, but i guess that remapping the screen on/off and using the soft reset button would be much safer.. i haven't made up my mind about that yet.
Weir thing about MY wiz, at least thats what i think happened to me last time my battery was completely discharged, is that not only the device must be ON for it to charge, but it needs to have WINDOWS already loaded, i know for most devices it's not like that, but i think thats how mine works, or at least thats the only explanation i could find!
btw, i love your case modding concept, and since i might have my wiz sitting for a while, i might go ahead and try something too! nothing as extreme as yours of course.. i'd love to see more updates on your project along with some guide to see what ideas i can take
slight detail while thinking my options.. if i was to remap the screen on/off function to another button, would i need to have the device in sync? or connected via cable? because when i had the usb soldered, don't know how nor why (all the pins seem to be ok) but the device won't be recognized by any computer, usb only works for charging (or used to work, at least, still haven't figured why it won't charge now).
If its only an app that i can load to the phone, once i have it working (that if i ever will), i can load the app thru minisd, BT or IrDa so that would't be a problem.. i haven's investigated that issue yet.
Hey jinxie, how's your Wizard?
If you're still stuck with the battery (I hope not), check this out...
I think this will solve your battery problem:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=4963547&postcount=5
That's probably to work, just be carefull with the battery's temperature. If it starts to heat, stop the process and wait it to get normal, then start again.
Good luck!
i tried keeping the wires attached to the contacts for a while, didn't think it'd work better doing it just for a little and then repeating the process, i'll try that!
yeap, i'm still stuck and i think i will be for a while, i have to solve the battery issue first (would be useless to do anything else if i'm not certain i will get it to work), then i have to decide what i am going to do with the power button, and then i might paint it, i'm thinking matte black, or maybe take some ideas from your project if you have made any progress at the time!
thanks for the tip, i'll try it today and i let you know how it went
development: phone DOES NOT turn on with the soft reset button as i thought, i was sure it did, but after jumping the bat once again, tried the wiring method (not repeating the jump start but wiring it directly to de device pins), and tried to turn it on with soft reset and dind't work, while it does turn on with the power button, wich is broken, so in order to turn it on i cannot have the phone assambled, wich means that in order to try to make it work, i will need to hold the battery attached with my hands, and it is a pain in the.. you know where.
update: i wired the charger i was using to jump start the battery to the pins in the wizard, then held the battery in place with my hand, with a small screwdriver i pushed the broken power button. wizard turned on, IT FINALLY LOADED WINDOWS, but don't rush, i then (with my MOUTH) connected the USB wall charger to the port in the phone, and removed the wiring, i was expecting the goddamn light to turn on and the screen to tell me that my phone was finally charging. I WAS WRONG. then i had to let go because my hand was killing me and it went off
and the damn thing refuses to charge! what could it be????????
2nd update: I AM MACGYVER !
i figured the wiring had given the bat enough power to load windows on its own, so tried once more holding everything together with my hand but without wiring the pins this time, and at last the amber light turned on!!! im so proud of myself lol
SO NOW: device works ok, charges ok, battery has enaugh power to load windows, WHAT CAN I DO ABOUT THE BROKEN POWER BUTTON? i know you can't remap the power function since its hardware, but the screen on/off function might be remapped. soft reset button DOES not turn on the phone, is there any other way of turning it on? or my only option is to take off the voice command button and soldering it where the power button should be?
well, found the little button part that was missing, glued it (yes, GLUED it), and it kinda worked, i had painted the casing already, so i assembled everything back again. i used a folded piece of paper to hold the button still so it won't fall again and i think it was too big cause now its kind of hard to press but i can live with that, what i cannot live with is NO SIGNAL.. i mean, CMON!! are you kiddin me? now that the button works, battery works, phone assembled, and now this?? when i dissassembled the phone i forgot to take out the sim card, so the metal parts that hold it opened a bit, but i pressed them back, the sim in no way loose, so i guess i might have screwed the attenna :S
i've just checked, i can see the sim contacts so... [CENSORED] !!!
also now the screen looks weird.. like if it had less colours, like when you format your pc and haven's installed the graphic drivers yet, 3d effects look funny..
Hey man, have you painted ALL the Wizard parts, on both sides?
'Cause there is one that has a piece of copper board inside. It makes contact with the antenna. Without that contact, you'll never have signal
The piece I'm talking about is the one that has the camera protection, saying "1.3 MP camera". Look at its back and see if there's no paint on a green and golden plate. Remove the paint if it got there (the golden part is the important one, since it makes contact with the antenna).
Good luck man!
hahah lol, no of course i didn't paint both sides! but anyways im gonna take it apart again, clean it, and try again..
done. it had some paintng yes, but they were very tiny spray drops, so i don't think that is, anyway i cleaned it. On the other hand, i found that the antenna is loose on the left side :S what can i do about it?

A possible final fix of back button I FOUND~

Guys I did some search job today and have a possible final solution to the back button problem.
Luckily this is also in the forum posted by user ID:insaneturbo13
his thread is here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=833663
He is a Samsung Captivate user, right. Since I think if nexus s have met with is annoying problem, other samsung phones may either. So I did some search job in bed with my insensitive-back-button Nexus S, and found the Epic 4G, Samsung Focus, Captivate, etc. Almost all samsung phones got users annoyed by the problem.
Then I searched the Youtube to see if there is any Samsung user had ever achieved some success in solving the issue, and I found.(You won't know how terrible it is when you have to use a U.S VPN just to watch Youtube since it is blocked in here China mainland... really slow speed...together with facebook and twitter...ToT)
My understanding to the cause is: The picture of the back button is a thin line with an arrow, so the inside paint here may over-cover this thin line, which will definitely make the touch action less sensitive. And that's why there are less people got such problem with the other three keys.
And since capacitive buttons actually respond with the obvious temperature difference, so many frustrated nexus s users like me found under warmer environment the problem is less annoying...
Maybe this is only workable for insensitive problem. But hopefully this is a way.
Since I am a Chinese, it's impossible for me to have an exchange with the Bestbuy. So this is my only solution. But for most of you, it's highly recommended to take several exchanges before you definitely want to try this way.
Of course, try this at your own risk
what i did was tighten up the screws on the back of the phone... especially in the lower part of the phone. I haven't seen the issue since and initially it was a pretty often issue for me.
bogdi1988 said:
what i did was tighten up the screws on the back of the phone... especially in the lower part of the phone. I haven't seen the issue since and initially it was a pretty often issue for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think this is also a good way to solve the problem especially when you dont have to take to phone apart~
The theory may be the same, which is to make the distance between your touch and the module inside shorter cuz there is a piece of rubber under the button position so it can be possible~~
Thanks for sharing this way Dude~~~
bogdi1988 said:
what i did was tighten up the screws on the back of the phone... especially in the lower part of the phone. I haven't seen the issue since and initially it was a pretty often issue for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
how did you access the screws at the bottom to tighten them?
Take off the battery cover. You have 6 bright screws around the edges of the phone. Tighten those up.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
Although, I know this is not gonna help, but it comes from personal experience.
In the beginning, I used to be haunted by the silly back button "bizarre".
I factory reset the phone then voila. It's gone.
The reason I am confident to post this is, my brother's phone was fixed in
a same way as well. I know, I can be just lucky, but I just wanted to share.
bogdi1988 said:
Take off the battery cover. You have 6 bright screws around the edges of the phone. Tighten those up.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks, I decided to watch the video on how to take apart the phone this morning, didn't do it, but it covered the screw access for the hidden 2 screws.
tightened the screws what little bit I could without fear of breaking something (they were already pretty tight), but it made no noticable difference.
I actually got my phone a few days before they were launched (friend is at&t store manager), so I 've been living with it as long as they have been available. it's annoying, and did get a little better with froyo, but not bad enough for me to tear apart the phone and risk damage to the screen...
droptopmas said:
thanks, I decided to watch the video on how to take apart the phone this morning, didn't do it, but it covered the screw access for the hidden 2 screws.
tightened the screws what little bit I could without fear of breaking something (they were already pretty tight), but it made no noticable difference.
I actually got my phone a few days before they were launched (friend is at&t store manager), so I 've been living with it as long as they have been available. it's annoying, and did get a little better with froyo, but not bad enough for me to tear apart the phone and risk damage to the screen...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
there are no hidden or covered screws and the phone doesn't need to be taken apart.
look here: http://guide-images.ifixit.net/igi/BJtxWYS4NMaMyMKL.medium
these are the 6 screws
Mine just started this thing where it presses the back button by itself. Pretty anoying and is making the phone useless. I can't do anything without it just hammering on the back button.
hi everyone,
i'm new to this forum, and joined to see if anyone has been successful in fixing the back button issue...
i've followed some of the advice from previous posts (tightening screws, reset factory settings, updating the OS) but still no luck.
hoping that someone might have discovered a fix (apart from returing the device!) they could share.
thanks!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
hi everyone,
After posting the thread above, I updated OS to 2.3.3 and now back button is working fine.... I waited for a couple of weeks before confirming this, so hopefully anyone still waiting on a fix could try what I did. This seems to be a software problem more than anything else...
btw - 2.3.3 noticeably washes out colours, and there's a yellow/green tinge to white space. awful.
sadkorean34 said:
Although, I know this is not gonna help, but it comes from personal experience.
In the beginning, I used to be haunted by the silly back button "bizarre".
I factory reset the phone then voila. It's gone.
The reason I am confident to post this is, my brother's phone was fixed in
a same way as well. I know, I can be just lucky, but I just wanted to share.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi
I did the same and the problem has gone - just realised after reading your post that factory reset solved this problem.
My phone is constantly on 3G but whenever it dips into Edge or has a weak data signal I notice the back button issue as well. And I tried a factory reset but it did
not fix the problem on 2.3.3
Back button issue
There are a few longer threads in this forum about the back button issue on the Nexus S -- for some people the back button doesn't work at all, and for others it turns on all by itself. There were a few replies from a Google employee (ryguy) who said it would be fixed in an upcoming OTA update, etc. but some reported having problems AFTER getting 2.3.2 when the problem didn't exist before. There are also other reports of tightening the screws on the back of the phone, which haven't tried but seemed to improve things for people whose back button WASN'T working at all.
For my phone around 2-3 weeks after buying it I had the back button come on all by itself. I fixed it by doing hard resets, as suggested on an earlier thread that deals with this issue (it's like 10 pages long but has the complete story of everyone's experience and fixes with this issue). Anyway, the point is for me after the first hard reset the problem persisted, so I did it a few more times (like maybe 5 times) and now it's gone.
There are some people who tried a hard reset (factory settings restore) and the problem still persists but I think that you have to do as many hard resets as possible (like, over and over and over) until the problem disappears. I'm rooted so I did a Nandroid backup first, then did 5 hard resets through Clockwork Recovery (select the "Wipe User Data" option), and after five hard resets I just flashed by backup and I was back to where I was, minus the back button issue. You don't have to be rooted, of course, to do this, but if you are, doing that ROM Manager backup allows you to quickly reinstall everything to the exact way it was after you're done with the five or 10 hard resets or whatever.
If you're unrooted you can power off the phone, then turn it on while holding the Up Volume button. This boots you into Bootloader mode and you can navigate around to do a factory reset. Or, if you are rooted and have ROM manager, you can use ClockworkMod Recovery like I did (see other threads on how to use these programs).
Anyway, again for me I had to do a bunch of these hard resets to fix the problem, so if it persists after the first two resets, I think you have to keep doing it until it disappears. Hope this helps - TC
Samsung Nexus S with root access
Stock Android 2.3.1
tchan1 said:
There are a few longer threads in this forum about the back button issue on the Nexus S -- for some people the back button doesn't work at all, and for others it turns on all by itself. There were a few replies from a Google employee (ryguy) who said it would be fixed in an upcoming OTA update, etc. but some reported having problems AFTER getting 2.3.2 when the problem didn't exist before. There are also other reports of tightening the screws on the back of the phone, which haven't tried but seemed to improve things for people whose back button WASN'T working at all.
For my phone around 2-3 weeks after buying it I had the back button come on all by itself. I fixed it by doing hard resets, as suggested on an earlier thread that deals with this issue (it's like 10 pages long but has the complete story of everyone's experience and fixes with this issue). Anyway, the point is for me after the first hard reset the problem persisted, so I did it a few more times (like maybe 5 times) and now it's gone.
There are some people who tried a hard reset (factory settings restore) and the problem still persists but I think that you have to do as many hard resets as possible (like, over and over and over) until the problem disappears. I'm rooted so I did a Nandroid backup first, then did 5 hard resets through Clockwork Recovery (select the "Wipe User Data" option), and after five hard resets I just flashed by backup and I was back to where I was, minus the back button issue. You don't have to be rooted, of course, to do this, but if you are, doing that ROM Manager backup allows you to quickly reinstall everything to the exact way it was after you're done with the five or 10 hard resets or whatever.
If you're unrooted you can power off the phone, then turn it on while holding the Up Volume button. This boots you into Bootloader mode and you can navigate around to do a factory reset. Or, if you are rooted and have ROM manager, you can use ClockworkMod Recovery like I did (see other threads on how to use these programs).
Anyway, again for me I had to do a bunch of these hard resets to fix the problem, so if it persists after the first two resets, I think you have to keep doing it until it disappears. Hope this helps - TC
Samsung Nexus S with root access
Stock Android 2.3.1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i think mine is forever beat. 15 hard resets and its still there.
My apologies for bumping such an old thread... But i got a captivate to serve as a backup phone, and i slapped over ICS on to it..
Everything was super awesome.... BUT! not the Back button.
A few minutes of google'ing later, im here.
So after reading through this thread, and the one linked to in the OP, i opened up my Phone and ....well....went on with it.
50 Minutes later :
http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/8361/dsc03039j.jpg
http://img818.imageshack.us/img818/4579/dsc03040d.jpg
Some Tips :
1: Once your down to the frame with the LCD assembly stuck to it, first remove the Antenna Module. Under that disconnect the black ribbon connector. (This ribbon connects the capacitive button module to the main board).
2: Before starting to Pry apart the LCD from the frame, take a hair dryer and heat up the edges of the LCD Assembly's frame. This helps a freaking lot in prying it apart. Plus it somewhat preserves the 3M adhesive tape present underneath, and can easily be reused.
3: Start prying open the LCD, from the Ear piece side. Take your time and DO NOT!! And i freaking mean, DO NOT!!!!! rush through while removing the LCD assembly.
4: When your almost half way through (or slightly more , but significantly above the capacitive buttons) take a peak between the frame and the LCD assembly, youll see the "Bridging/Connecting" ribbon i mentioned earlier and it might be stuck to the LCD's back.
-> the best way to proceed further is to simultaneously heat up the "glued" parts and slowly continue with removing the LCD. This way, the glue will not stick to the whatever parts it is meant to stick to , THAT strongly and will be much easier to remove.
5: Now as soon as you reach the part where you can see the Capacitive button module sticking to the LCD assembly, go into SUPER FREAKING SLOW mode... THE RIBBON UNDERNEATH IS VERY VERY FRAGILE! ONE YANK AND YOU'LL HAVE TO PURCHASE A NEW CAPACITIVE MODULE.
*Best way to do this is, to again simultaneously heat the concerned parts while slowing pulling the LCD assembly and the capacitive button module apart.*
You can try going LEFT-RIGHT-LEFT-RIGHT alternatively, to slowly make the adhesive give away.
6: After you have the LCD assembly out, its pretty much dependent on how stable yours hands are at slowly etching out the Light gray parts.
-> You can hold the LCD assembly against a TABLE LAMP / some light source, to better see which parts of paint you need to etch out. *i Almost etched the whole of my back button* So be very careful and gentle as well PATIENT!
Before assembling the LCD back into the frame, i took a small piece of paper (about the size of the capacitive button module) and stuck it between the frame and the module. Just so that it makes better contact with the LCD assembly.
7: Stick the LCD back onto the frame and again heat up the edges. Also while putting the LCD back together, make sure the adhesive tape has not lumped up on any of the edges (This might have happened while trying to pry the LCD out) , if it has, then just gently even/flatten it out. Stick the LCD back and heat the edges. Rest, just take a soft cloth and squeeze the LCD's edges and frame together,so as to make sure they stick together properly. The heat really helps in bonding things here.
Assemble back the phone, blah blah.
I used a CREDIT CARD to start prying the LCD away from the frame. It was pretty easy, because of the heat.
DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK! I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE IF YOU SOMEHOW MANGE TO MESS UP YOUR PHONE! Specifically the LCD and the CAPACITVE TOUCH MODULE!
Big thanks to the OP for posting this.

Categories

Resources