Can I diagnose a phone with smashed screen? - AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshootin

A friend of mine lost his S4 I337m, but found it again after it had been run over by a car. I'm trying to determine if it's worth trying to replace the LCD or if there's other damage.
The LCD is just tiny shards of glass (I'm betting it was face down when run over) but while he didn't find the back cover, the mid frame is in good condition and after removing it, the boards don't have any obvious damage.
If I try to turn it on, it vibrates and the LED pulses blue. Then a bit later it does a longer vibraton and the LED flashes blue. It seems like it's powered up.
If I try to connect to Kies, it just says "connecting" forever and the LED turns red. Maybe it's prompting me to unlock the phone? There's no message from Kies to that effect though.
As I've never used this model of phone before, I have no idea what the normal behavior is. Are there any tools I can use via USB to check the "health" of the phone?
FYI, I'm pretty familiar with flashing Android phones (mainly Nexus devices) and have replaced the screen on a Nexus 5, so I'm not afraid of a challenge. I'm guessing this phone is stock, so probably have a locked bootloader and USB debugging disabled, so I'm not sure if I can expect much. Obviously without a screen I can't do much. Also, he pulled the SIM and SD card, not sure if that matters.
I'm going to try connecting using ODIN next.

I actually was in the same situation as you are about an hour ago. I was able to unlock my phone by using a USB OTG adapter to connect my keyboard to enter in the pin and unlock it. After that I was able to access my files, so i just kept taking screenshots while i navigated my phone using my keyboard - installed SideSync, accepted the permissions, and finally - was able to mirror my phone to my computer.
If your phone vibrates, and the LED works, then try testing the button three buttons when you have the phone on. the red LED light is only on when the phone is either powered off and charging, or the phone is powered on with the screen off and charging, so if tapping the power button changes between seeing the red LED and not (and a small vibration when tapping the back or window button) then that should mean it's just the lcd+digitizer
Anyway, feel free to ask me about any behavior about a working s4 with a broken screen, one more week until my replacement comes in the mail

Related

[Q] Nexus 4 Damage Help

So first some back-story, I'll get right into it. I recently dropped my phone in some water. As soon as possible I dried off the outside, and let it sit. That was the only thing I could do at the time, I had no rice, no tools to open up the phone, anything. I ended up with a solid red light, and everything unresponsive.
The next day I got some tools to open her up. There was pretty extensive corrosion to the motherboard, so using some alcohol I cleaned it all off, rinsed it, and let it dry. I also took apart everything else and cleaned any corrosion. The inside looks brand new. However, this isn't the point of the thread.
It appeared my cleaning helped quite a bit. Upon re-assembling and plugging in, I immediately got a charging sign on the phone. However, after trying to power on, I got no response. Additionally, The charging signal went out after about 20 seconds, and the whole phone became unresponsive again. I can do this process as many times as I want, but the same thing happens every time.
So I tried a different approach. First I hold down both volume rockers plus the power button, and plug it in while holding them down. This puts the phone into "download mode" However, once in download mode the phone is, again, unresponsive. After plugging into my laptop, my computer recognizes the phone, but not as "Nexus 4," but as "Full JellyBean on Mako."
Is there anything I can do about this? I've heard about drivers being able to be installed when in download mode, but I would not know what these are, where to get them, or how to install them. I really don't mind if my phone never works 100% again, I doubt it would. I just want to be able to get into the storage so I can recover some of the files I lost.
It's also probably worth mentioning I have not gotten a solid red light after the clean. Once in a while I will get a blinking red light after plugging it in, but after less than a minute it stops and goes through the charging/stop charging phase I'm so familiar with. Any help at all would be appreciated, and thanks in advance.
The charging block and/or battery could be wrecked, for safety reasons and because it will probably become faulty soon you should change the battery anyway. If the charging block is broken flashing your phone could fail. It's also possible the board was irreparably damaged, but it's probably worth a try as the parts aren't too expensive.
DrFredPhD said:
The charging block and/or battery could be wrecked, for safety reasons and because it will probably become faulty soon you should change the battery anyway. If the charging block is broken flashing your phone could fail. It's also possible the board was irreparably damaged, but it's probably worth a try as the parts aren't too expensive.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After trying to figure more things out, I kept it plugged in for a while. It appears my battery actually holds at least a pretty good charge, as the indicator is full when I plug it in now. However, I don't know what you mean when you say charging block.
Also, I seemed to determine my power button isn't working either. I always thought no response to pushing it meant there was something else going on, but I am able to put it into "download mode" by just holding down the volume rockers and plugging it in. Is there a way to turn on the phone another way besides the power button? Also if not, will buying another power button fix the problem? I don't want to buy one then later figure out the reason it wasn't turning on was just a board problem, and not a problem with the button itself.
You can short the power button with a screwdriver or something should turn the phone on., By charging block I mean the secondary board that the micro usb port is a part of, it can be replaced fairly easily if necessary.
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DrFredPhD said:
You can short the power button with a screwdriver or something should turn the phone on., By charging block I mean the secondary board that the micro usb port is a part of, it can be replaced fairly easily if necessary.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With a screwdriver? Enlighten me, I'd have no idea how to do that. If I had a faulty charging block, then my phone wouldn't be able to charge correct? My phone was plugged in for a while in download mode, and it gained a full charge from a relatively low charge. I also took the block apart and cleaned any corrosion, so I think that's still functional.
Some more progress, upon further attempting to turn the phone on, I was able to get it into fastboot mode. When plugging into the computer it is recognized, but as just "Android." I will type out what information is displayed here, minus serial number, as a new member cannot submit links in posts apparently.
FASTBOOT MODE
PRODUCT_NAME - mako
VARIENT - mako 8GB
HW VERSION - rev_11
BOOTLOADER VERSION - MAK0230d
BASEBAND VERSION - M9615A-CEFWMAZM-2.0.1700.98
CARRIER INFO - None
SERIAL NUMBER -
SIGNING - production
SECURE BOOT - enabled
LOCK STATE - locked
Also, fastboot at the top (as far as I know) usually says "Start" or "Recovery Mode," but mine says "Restart bootloader." When I try switching with my volume buttons, nothing happens.
Another update, just in case anyone is still listening..
Str1ngcheese said:
Also, fastboot at the top (as far as I know) usually says "Start" or "Recovery Mode," but mine says "Restart bootloader." When I try switching with my volume buttons, nothing happens.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This no longer applies, for some reason I am able to switch through all modes, incliding "Start, Power Off, Recovery Mode, and Restart bootloader."
Str1ngcheese said:
Another update, just in case anyone is still listening..
This no longer applies, for some reason I am able to switch through all modes, incliding "Start, Power Off, Recovery Mode, and Restart bootloader."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now that you're at this point, have you attempted to flash the phone with a stock image? I'd be weary of what the other poster said though and ensure your USB connection is holding steady because you don't want it dying half way through a flash because then you'll have a brick.
Monotoko said:
Now that you're at this point, have you attempted to flash the phone with a stock image? I'd be weary of what the other poster said though and ensure your USB connection is holding steady because you don't want it dying half way through a flash because then you'll have a brick.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have tried actually. I used the Nexus Root Toolkit v1.8.0 to try and flash it. At first it wouldn't find the device, but through device manager I manually installed the usb_driver onto the phone. After this, the toolkit was able to find the phone. I attempted to flash the image, but it ended up staying in fastboot mode. The program then suggested I try to enable "force flash," which I did, and this time it was never able to finish because the phone tried to restart, but went through that "charging to unresponsive" state I described in my first post.
Upon trying to flash it normally again, it looks like maybe the phone has to be unlocked to do this properly? I then tried to unlock with the same program, but in order to do that, I need the power button to confirm I actually want to unlock the phone. So yet again, I need that power button working.
Any ideas/suggestions/solutions would be amazing.
Jellybean on mako means that your phone is in lgnpst/qcpnst mode. Looks like something failed to start and made the bootloader trogger that mode
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
opssemnik said:
Jellybean on mako means that your phone is in lgnpst/qcpnst mode. Looks like something failed to start and made the bootloader trogger that mode
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Soo, any suggestions?
Str1ngcheese said:
Soo, any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
clean all the contacts with alcohol (not the normal one, the other that i dont remember the name).clean all the corrusion that you can find,let your phone charge for some hours and try again
opssemnik said:
clean all the contacts with alcohol (not the normal one, the other that i dont remember the name).clean all the corrusion that you can find,let your phone charge for some hours and try again
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've already done that.
Str1ngcheese said:
The next day I got some tools to open her up. There was pretty extensive corrosion to the motherboard, so using some alcohol I cleaned it all off, rinsed it, and let it dry. I also took apart everything else and cleaned any corrosion. The inside looks brand new.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Problem is the power button doesn't work, and the flashing fails. It looks like the flashing fails because the phone isn't unlocked. To unlock, I need the power button. Kinda stuck.
Str1ngcheese said:
I've already done that.
Problem is the power button doesn't work, and the flashing fails. It looks like the flashing fails because the phone isn't unlocked. To unlock, I need the power button. Kinda stuck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the golden contacts on the power button / mobo could be damaged, do a little short till phone turns on
opssemnik said:
the golden contacts on the power button / mobo could be damaged, do a little short till phone turns on
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How would I go about doing a short?
Str1ngcheese said:
How would I go about doing a short?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
touch in both pins, something that passes electric current(like a yarn,wires, copper wire, something that passes electrical current).its basicly what the power button does.

[Q] Screen won't turn on

I was at Tafe today and I was just browsing through G+ with the phone flat on the desk and the screen turned off. I pressed the power button expecting it to switch back on but since then it hasn't turned on. It was on 90% but I've tried charging it and it still won't turn on. It turns on and off (i can tell by the notification LED) and when it's on it still rings when someone calls, but the screen just won't turn. There's no backlight either.
I've tried holding the power button for 5 and 10 seconds, and a minute, and still nothing. What else can I try?
Would reflashing be worth a try? Or is that even possible without a screen?
It may be bricked softwared.don't know know.but it looks like your software messed up,and there is easy way to reflash it without touchscreen,just look around in google by typing " LG G2 D8XX kdz flash procedure,download same software and reflash it by puttin phone to download mode(combination of the keys)
are you the original owner of this phone? or have you replaced the lcd assembly before? its possible the ribbon cable is not seated correctly. but if youre the original owner, and you have never opened it, im guessing your LCD just went out.

[Q] (Edited) Okay, so its not in APX Mode? Would like help recovering data

Hello, first let me apologize for making another thread on a possibly bricked tablet. Also I apologize if I didn't post this in the right place, being new and all. Thank you to anyone who takes the time to look at this.
My situation:
My tablet has been working fine until last night; it's been dropped once before from a substantial height (over 5 feet), and luckily only my screen cracked, which I replaced. This time however it fell about 2-3 feet from my bed, most likely landed on the power button side, and now it won't turn on.
The Power Light comes on
It vibrates
The backlight does NOT come on. No words. No logos. Nothing.
I tried plugging it into my computer but nothing happens. It's not rooted (as far as I know), and I don't think I had debugging on. It had Android 3.2.1 on it I believe; my computer is Win 7 64.
Edit: I was able to get another computer to recognize it, a Win 7 and 8. They both have it pop up as "Acer ICONIA TAB A500" and as a portable media device, but when I open it it says its Empty... no folders, nothing.
At this point I would just like to know if there is anyway to get the personal data off of it, there are a few documents that I had not backed up yet that I would really like, that were not on my external SD card. If its possible to get it working again that would be great too, but I've come to terms with the fact it might never. (I'm half tempted to strip it to the screen again and put it back, just to see if that might make it work...)
Edit 2 (sorry if anything sounds confusing): I don't know if this is helpful or not, but the tablet "sounds" like it goes to my lock screen (powers up, vibrates, wait a minute or two and then really softly vibrates again), although I still can't see anything. The power light then goes out, but if I put my ear to the open back I can "hear" it working. If I leave it alone and plugged in, the power light will flash from orange to white every couple of minutes (it will also do this unplugged). Also if I press the power button it will turn white, acting like its sleeping and I've woken it (this occurs whether plugged in or not), but I still have a black screen. Does this mean it might not be dead?
Can the screen be broken with no visible cracks or damage inside?
Another note, when I replaced my cracked screen when it fell those 5 feet about a year ago, I never changed the green piece (which I am assuming is the touch screen controller?) with the new one that came with the new screen+digitizer. Could that be acting up now?
I'll try and see if I can get my hands on a micro HDMI to test and see if it will show up on my TV/Computer. It should just be plug and go right? No setting that needs to be turned on?
Any help is greatly appreciated, and thank you for your time.

Screen completely black

Hello,
I have a Moto X Play which is in great condition, I use a case and a screen protector.
Today I went for a walk and grabbed my phone which I hadn't touched in awhile. Once I got outside I realized it wouldn't turn on no matter what I did. Strange, maybe I left an app on.
I get home, plug it in, and it's at 75%. I play with it a bit and put it back in my pocket.
A few minutes later, I can't get the screen on again. I figure, I'll plug it in, reboot it to clear the glitch, it's all good.
It just won't light up.
I can locate it, it's updating its location, I can call it, it vibrates, it responds to buttons (but not the screen) Nothing seems to be wrong with it other than the screen.
I've tried everything to do a reboot, I've plugged in the short circuit usb dongle thing that usually puts an android device right into debug mode. I think it is rebooting but no screen action.
I have the latest OS for the device (whatever the not-so-new one is) and I am unrooted, locked, whatever I haven't messed with anything like that.
What can or should I do? I am just recently out of the 1 year warrantee.
Thank you,
-Phil
Hold down your power and volume down buttons until it turns back up(night take some time) into the bootloader screen and try to factory reset it.
Sent from my Moto X Play using XDA Labs
I've tried this, so far no luck. A bit of an update:
I brought it to a shop, they gave it a light twist and the screen came back fine and was in the setup wizard (as I had remotely reset it). They said the display port may have plugged back in, gave it back free of charge. By the time i got back home it was off again. I brought it back in to have them open it and reattach it for real. This didn't help. They tried attaching a brand new screen, same issue. The screen doesn't light up for reboots, not for factory reset, nothing. I am guessing this is an issue on the motherboard but the fact that a light twist "fixes" the issue suggests to me a light soldering could solve the issue. The repair shop gave it back to me as unfixable but I don't want to give up on it yet. I did have an opportunity to get a Nexus 5 in good shape for 140$ so I did that for now. This gives me time to mess with the Moto X Play. Any ideas?
pcaston2 said:
I've tried this, so far no luck. A bit of an update:
I brought it to a shop, they gave it a light twist and the screen came back fine and was in the setup wizard (as I had remotely reset it). They said the display port may have plugged back in, gave it back free of charge. By the time i got back home it was off again. I brought it back in to have them open it and reattach it for real. This didn't help. They tried attaching a brand new screen, same issue. The screen doesn't light up for reboots, not for factory reset, nothing. I am guessing this is an issue on the motherboard but the fact that a light twist "fixes" the issue suggests to me a light soldering could solve the issue. The repair shop gave it back to me as unfixable but I don't want to give up on it yet. I did have an opportunity to get a Nexus 5 in good shape for 140$ so I did that for now. This gives me time to mess with the Moto X Play. Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Make a video on attempt to remove a non removable battery
Sent from my Moto X Play using XDA Labs
Ive been having the same issue with my x play, so try this out. turn it on, and have a look at the screen under a bright light, see if you can make out anyting. The backlight might not be coming on, but the screen will still 'turn on' so to speak, you can still make out whats on the display, touch input works etc. I have an issue with the display connector, with a bit of pressure it will work then not work, almost as if the backlight shorts out. it took me awhile to find out that that was the problem. as for a fix, if its the same problem I'm having, then you'd probably need a new mainboard. I've tried everything, new screen, new battery, swapping covers etc.. I have 2 x plays to tinker with and swap out parts.
I've tried using my new phone's flashlight to illuminate the screen with no success (though I will try again tonight, I'm not 100% sure it's on). Looks like mainboard run somewhere around 120$ before the repair cost, seems like it's not worth it. I'll post back after I double-check to see if the screen is there or not.
If it's shorting, I would think it could be fixed with some careful soldering? I do know that when I turn my phone on (remember it's been hard reset and has no SIM card) it vibrates every few minutes, I have no idea why. That's the only odd behavior it's been experiencing aside from the display not showing up.
I tried to look for any sign of the screen showing up by using string light and I didn't see anything that might suggest anything is showing up.

S7 edge screen went black but phone not dead

i was using my s7 edge today, and in the middle of browsing facebook the screen just went black, the phone didnt die because the navigation buttons still light up when i press back or recent, also i still get notification light, i tried to do a hard reset to restart (holding power and vol down) but the phone and it still has a black screen.. anyone know what i should do? or has this happen to anyone
Sent from my XT1635-02 using Tapatalk
This happened two days ago with my wife's S7 Edge. She was using it to text me about dinner plans after work, her screen shut off, and it wouldn't work for several hours. The thing was getting very hot. When she was home and charging the phone the screen started working again for a little while, but with several green stripes down the right edge snd aa flashing horizontal band of grey near the top overlaying the screen image. Then when I tried plugging it into my computer to use Samsung's Smart Switch to roll back from the update she had accepted while at work the screen died again. It has not come on since, not even the stripes, and blue or red LED lights once in a wwhile at random. I managed to use Smart Switch to wipe the phone's memory. Then the program took several hours to download something very slowly and install that - a whole new OS update? That completed, and now the charging LED works correctly and the green stripes and grey band are back, flashing rapidly when powering on. Otherwise no screen function.
She is now trying to find a new phone, but definitely NOT a Samsung. This S7 Edge has already had the screen replaced once, just before the first year warranty ran out, as it did almost the same thing - in March the green striping (plus pink) appeared along one edge and the battery was running out very fast, the phone overheating so much that she found it uncomfortable to hold. We argued with Samsung a lot until they replaced the screen. Something is VERY wrong with this model. She's considering an LG. What a waste of money. One would expect a thousand dollar phone to last longer than this.
I am facing what I think to be the same issue with my son's phone. Green line down right side edge. Screen turns on for a second, then black screen. It's on, but can't do anything. Did you find a fix for this?
No. Today I gave up and took my wife's S7 Edge to the authorized repair centre. They say they'll run a diagnostic for $25, and if the screen needs to be replaced it will cost $385. Brilliant. If this thing gets fixed I will be running custom ROMs on the phone, probably an RR, as it seems Samsung's OTA updates kill phones.
Turned in out the authorized repair centre for our region, Acura in Surrey, BC, went ahead with the screen replacement without our authorization. I specifically said in a note given to them at the time that they were to ask first. But they didn't bother. My wife decided she liked the phone enough to pay over $400 to get it back. It's been working for a few weeks now. Hope it stays working. At this point I have a strong feeling that the S7 Edge was a poorly made device, at least some batches. The reports of these screen failures are just too common.
Check if your screen still alive or maybe connected correctly, here is a way to do it:
1- plug it in your computer then start smart switch
2- dail *#7353#
3- you can now test any thing in your phone
4- search for the TSP
5- try now to touch your device screen
If it display in the computer that mean the touch is working but the screen is not
If the toch is not working you have to check the cables if its connected correctly inside your phone
But if you have warranty don't waste your time and let them fix it, and don't forget to backup your files

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