Database Users

HTC Repairs Suck!

2 weeks ago, my HD suffered a problem where it would randomly reboot. Eventually it would not power up at all. I have just received my phone back from HTC repair centre, and after 2 hours of use..... guess what ...... same problem is happening again. According to the repair sheet, the main board was replaced - but obviously not the cause of the fault. I've been without the phone for over a week now and i rely on it for work.
I was contsantly tracking the progress on line, and the repair took less than an hour, with probably 2 hours of testing.....
Anyone else had similar issues? Should i push for a new phone rather than repair, as it seems they can't even get this right.......

ardsar said:
According to the repair sheet, the main board was replaced
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i dont buy that. it would be cheaper to just give you a new one. they probably noticed a faulty connection and tried to fix it.
when this sort of thing hapens, you should allways try to get a new one.
write an e-mail complaining to the htc headquarters, maybe someone will hear you.
gretz

Business requires backups
ardsar said:
I've been without the phone for over a week now and i rely on it for work.
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Consider keeping a backup phone for these issues: when I bought the Touch Pro I kept my Tilt, and damned glad I did.

After changing motherboard, it should be a new machine internally.
The same symptom should not occur unless it is software problem.
Did you try using it without installing extra programmes?
Did you install any special program afterwards??
If yes, you should do a trial run after each installation.

am thinking along this line too... is it a bad program?

The only app that was installed was lumos to control the backlight, however no one else has reported isues with this killing the device.
To me it sounds like the power module is at fault, causing stress on the main board. They fixed what was damaged but not the cause. Surely the device should have been power soaked before returning.

lumos is ok on mine..

zuadao said:
i dont buy that. it would be cheaper to just give you a new one. they probably noticed a faulty connection and tried to fix it.
when this sort of thing hapens, you should allways try to get a new one.
write an e-mail complaining to the htc headquarters, maybe someone will hear you.
gretz
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The phone came back with a new IMEA number, so they did replace the main board.

pretty tricky problem imo .. fancy not fixed even with change of mainboard

Well after contacting HTC again, they want me to send the phone back - this time with the battery. Can't really see how the battery can kill the device, unless it is trying too pull to much current during charging? Surely there must be a protection circuit to gaurd against this..........
Does anyone have an email address for HTC - other than the "automated response" ones which reply with useless comments?

g1 disassembled (me trying to fix it)

my phone has an orientation problem and htc wouldn't repair the phone as they said the warranty labels where removed, which was a complete lie as i found them intact as soon as i opened the phone. any way this is me trying to fix it. sorry for the bad quality and the phone being out of camera much. is my first time ever doing a disassembly vid.
not to spoil the video but i didnt correct the problem so if you have any ideas give us a shout cheers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOZddccI68w

no idea how to fix it my self, but have you checked the service manual that is in the wiki?
might give you an idea of what switches you would need to have a look at, maybe?

Dude,
You said some trouble getting the frame apart. Im always afraid I'm going break something.
By the way. Im a HUGE fan of Me First and The Gimme Gimmes. Nice video.

i would suggest that you find the DREADIAG.nbh file on xda(the link is here somewhere) or send me a PM with your email and i'll send it to you in an email. the Diag image has a tool that is supposed to calibrate teh G-sensor which i would assume is what is wrong with your phone. i had this problem a few weeks ago and t-mo sent me a "new" phone. i tried the DREADIAG.nbh but it didn't seem to work for me, lay the phone down on it's back and run the diagnostic.

g1 camera messed up? IS it doomed?

Ok, jsut got this thing off of ebay, power it all up I notice someone has been inside. eh no real biggie.. I unlock it and test the major functions.. all works. Bring up the camera and holy crap its like looking through the eyes of a lawn gnome tripping off shrooms and acid.. take a look (attached)
I rewiped.. installed Fx Camera to see if it was a setting, and also wiped the memory card (which came with the phone.. cool!) I then turn around and see that the camera lens is cracked on the battery cover, however the lens inside looks pretty good. So, I'm thinking this is a hardware problem, but Im not afraid to try to fix it if its just a few dollars. Am I screwed?

whoah, thats a trip!
If you deem it to be hardware, I have a spare camera from a parted G1. PM if you want details

I may take you up on that, however I am searching google right now to see if you can even replace the CCD

The camera module is on a ribbon cable that attaches to the motherboard, easily removed. So long as the component damaged is not on the mainboard itself you should be fine.

That's what I like to see!
You have a PM

If you plan on taking it apart yourself you need to be extremely careful, i took mine apart to replace the case when i bought it and after putting it back together everything seemed fine but after a while the touchscreen kept dying the camera never worked and my signal dropped all the time, i tried taking it apart and putting it back together several times to no avail. The phone became unuseable and i shelved it for my D600... bad times. It was only until i was going to send my G1 to a phone recycle website that i opened it up one last time, after doing nothing different and putting it back together its for some reason worked ever since. Just a word of warning hope whatever you do works out ok - Adam

Thanks for the warning! Someone already has been in the camera before.. I am going to assume that it was to take a peak at the camera lens so I am not afraid of voiding the warranty. It's no new adventure for me, I have been inside multiple phones and other small electronics, but thank you again. It never hurts to be redundant when opening any electronic device.

PM returned
When disassembling, I like to modify the HTC manual a bit. I remove the back plastic, and the coaxial cables (be VERY CAREFUL when reassembling, they always get pinched!). Then, remove the connectors as instructed EXCEPT the camera. Now, lift the camera portion, as well as the IMEI sticker as a whole module. They are just taped down. When lifted up fully, now you can spin the mainboard out of it's hooks and remove the entire assembly. This was the difficult connection to the camera stays intact. Makes reassembling much easier too, as it will self align.
If you haven't read/downloaded the G1 service manual, you need to!
http://mikechannon.net/PDF Manuals/HTC Dream SM (A04).pdf

Whoa! My first phone that has a manual!
FTA:
"This document contains highly confidential information, so any or all of this document should not be revealed to any third party."
HAHAHAHA!

h1p1n3 said:
Ok, jsut got this thing off of ebay, power it all up I notice someone has been inside. eh no real biggie.. I unlock it and test the major functions.. all works. Bring up the camera and holy crap its like looking through the eyes of a lawn gnome tripping off shrooms and acid.. take a look (attached)
I rewiped.. installed Fx Camera to see if it was a setting, and also wiped the memory card (which came with the phone.. cool!) I then turn around and see that the camera lens is cracked on the battery cover, however the lens inside looks pretty good. So, I'm thinking this is a hardware problem, but Im not afraid to try to fix it if its just a few dollars. Am I screwed?
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My phone just started doing the same thing. I flashed the ADP image to see if it was a bug with the ROM I was using, only to find that it was still all crazy looking. Contemplating if I should try the repair or warranty exchange my phone again, ugghh

mine's doing the same suddenly, according to this: http://www.fixya.com/support/t2307654-htc_g1_camera_takes_pictures_messed_up
it's called solarization but how does one turn it off without a hard reset?
I downloaded the Snap Photo app which allows turning solarization on or off but it makes no difference
Any know how to fix this?

starting to look less and less like hardware

Anyone know how to switch this back to normal?

Hate to say it, but I do not see anything that would point this to software. First, if it was a setting or something software related, it would be resolved by the factory reset.. Heck, flashing the rom like JackSlim did would have reset any bad stacks or drivers.
I did find that post by fixya initially and quickly dismissed when I noticed that 1. Fixya blows... 2. there was no resolution 3. this is the same behavior that digital cameras get when the ccd or cmos goes bad..
PLEASE correct me if Im wrong, I would rather be

h1p1n3 said:
Hate to say it, but I do not see anything that would point this to software. First, if it was a setting or something software related, it would be resolved by the factory reset.. Heck, flashing the rom like JackSlim did would have reset any bad stacks or drivers.
I did find that post by fixya initially and quickly dismissed when I noticed that 1. Fixya blows... 2. there was no resolution 3. this is the same behavior that digital cameras get when the ccd or cmos goes bad..
PLEASE correct me if Im wrong, I would rather be
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After reading the post of Fixya I went into Camera Magic and played with some of the setting and couldn't change it back to normal
Unrooted my G1 today, back to stock Donut DRC83, still the same issues, so I'm pretty sure it's not software related. Since I've had the same issue on the latest Cyanogen build, the Android Dev Phone build & the stock Donut build.
Called T-Mobile to get a warranty replacement, so I'm $9.99 and a couple days away from having another phone.
That's my fix anyways
I hope anyone not covered under a warranty is able to find a solution, my guess is you would have to replace the camera itself as Speed mentioned in one of the earlier posts, so look for a parted out phone or a aftermarket parts store and good luck with opening up the phone

As soon as money goes into my paypal account and I replace it I will post my results. Heck, if anyone is interested I will do a step by step for future reference. With pictures taken from a working camera, of course.

The only reason I am thinking software is that it seems like it is occurring to a few people all of a sudden where a week ago none of us had heard of this. I had a accelerometer problem with a G1 and I took it back to the RC29 rom and everything trying to fix it, it never would work. Sent it to HTC and they reflashed it...worked fine. They said there were no hardware issues. That makes me think there must be a bit of software that isnt getting replaced (like bios on a pc?). Perhaps what is going on is hardware..just hard to say right now.

The camera itself may have some firmware that is corrupted. Also possible that there's a fried transistor somewhere along the line. Could even be something really simple, like a bad ribbon cable or connection.

Cheers for Manual link
will greatly help when I swap over from black case to white case
( sticky keys and a mate wanted white one sooo $30 AUD for an complete white kit and hoping for sucsessfull fixed KB glitch )

note that you will still have black buttons for volume and camera, as well as memory card cover. That is what kept me from changing colors on mine- I went with a black replacement case so I didnt have the wrong colored buttons

Any tip with a loose camera fix?

So, something happened with my camera. It's not like my phone has never been droped but the last two days I have been fighting this problem. My phone seems to need more presure on camera contact to motherboard than it can achieve by just pushing the thing. Camera is working if I keep some pressure on the contact with the mobo, but as soon as I take the pressure off camera goes black. I'm thinking on attaching some bulky thing right on the contact to get enough pressure there... my phone is not under warranty anymore and I literally don't trust technicians around here.
So, have you ever had a similar problem? Do you know some way to help or get a camera replacement or a tip on how to repair this pinning problems? Anything?

I am facing the same problem for over 2 months. To today I haven't got any solution. According to local repair shops there's a problem with the motherboard and it needs replacement. I visited the Xiaomi official service center but the told me to submit the phone for two weeks. I asked other customers there and they told me that it takes about a month for Xiaomi to repair and return the phone, so I came back as it's the only phone I have?. I'm just helpless.

abhinav241998 said:
I am facing the same problem for over 2 months. To today I haven't got any solution. According to local repair shops there's a problem with the motherboard and it needs replacement. I visited the Xiaomi official service center but the told me to submit the phone for two weeks. I asked other customers there and they told me that it takes about a month for Xiaomi to repair and return the phone, so I came back as it's the only phone I have?. I'm just helpless.
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I did put a bulky object between the two plastic layers in the back of my phone and camera is working again. My warranty was already lost and made sure contact was loose on the mobo, but you may try this without opening your redmi, unless you know for a fact the problem is with the mobo.

Thanks a lot I will try it.

doesnt help me in any way; always have to apply pressure at different spots on the backside of the phone. so i am pretty much helpless, beating the hell out of my phone when i need my camera to work. smh...

Hey i have the same issue for rear camera, though front camera is working. Took to service center, they said to change the mobo...wtf...Also tried to open the screw and pressed the camera socket in mobo, tried to press while camera is on, but nothing works. Searched in google, all are saying its a hardware issue and pressing back camera will work, but no luck for me. Don't want to loose this tiny magic phone with all android developments are happening. Recent 64 Bit rom by pirej is working smoothly. But will miss camera. Any other way to activate this....

CENTSOARER said:
I did put a bulky object between the two plastic layers in the back of my phone and camera is working again. My warranty was already lost and made sure contact was loose on the mobo, but you may try this without opening your redmi, unless you know for a fact the problem is with the mobo.
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:good:I used two pieces of matchsticks and it worked for me.Now there is a bulge on backcover.

I bought camera module from aliexpress and installed it, now my phone camera works fine without any issues.

Camera focus issue

Anyone having focus issue upon opening the Camera? And the only temporary solution is to shake the phone to get the focus back. What are the best fixes for the issue..
Sorry if it's been posted as similar topic. Thanks

pogi.paul0119 said:
Anyone having focus issue upon opening the Camera? And the only temporary solution is to shake the phone to get the focus back. What are the best fixes for the issue..
Sorry if it's been posted as similar topic. Thanks
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I'm having the exact same issue, the only way i get it to work again is to tap 2-3 times on the camera lense. If this is getting worse i think the best fix is to send it for repair under warranty.

If you have to shake or tap your camera to gain focus again, then your camera's lenses might not be aligned properly.
I don't think you will be able to fix this with an update or software patch. You will probably need to bring your phone to a repair center.

RossTeagan said:
If you have to shake or tap your camera to gain focus again, then your camera's lenses might not be aligned properly.
I don't think you will be able to fix this with an update or software patch. You will probably need to bring your phone to a repair center.
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Thanks. I spoke to "Samsung butler" representative and she told me to go at the nearest Samsung service centre and ask for replacement. That felt wonderful but the sad part I have to wait 7 days not including weekends.lol.. anyway but that is good but forgot to asked if I can choose different colour.lol