I cracked my aria screen pretty much right after I got it, Managed to get my hands on a new digitizer and replaced it. I found a quick walkthrough on Android forums. It helped but had a few points that could have been more succinct.
Posting here in case anyone needs.
Took me about an 1hr 30min the first time trying to figure it out on my own.
My additional comments are indicated by **.
I put some addendums to @Jcawesome's steps...
( http://androidforums.com/1211507-post42.html )
1. Remove backcover
2. Remove Battery, sim chip, and memory card
3. Unscrew the top two screws (meaning the end farthest from the memory card.)
4. Using a flat plastic wedge, (I used the one that came from my ebay order, it looks like the blue tool in this pic )
5. Carefully pull off the parts at the top being very cautious not to break anything. (Do not pull the circuit board out, only lift the end closest to the edge of the phone)
** there are two pieces to pull off....with the phone laying flat (screen down and the top facing away from you) a larger yellow piece with an attached back speaker comes out towards you. a second piece pulls up (north as if on a map)... but becareful because there is a bunch of tape and tackiness all throughout this thing (literally I felt it was held together by tape). I actually pulled off the grill on front as well.
** the circuit board is kept attached near the top right. the element that is the power button snaps off. (there are two little dots just to the right of the speaker with what looks like blackish tape that connects to the circuit board... you can pop this off.
With that off, I could lift the circuit board about 30 degrees or so... I wasn't comfortable pulling it back any farther than that.
I did step 5 AFTER I got the screen off.
6. Using the flat plastic wedge again, push the wedge tool between the phone and the broken screen. (It will feel like you are breaking it but it is fine, it is held on by a sticky paste that will slowly give way)
** careful on this part... especially difficult depending on how your screen is cracked. but it is just a bunch of sticky tape that is keeping it attached.... I had to peel away the goo and connection near the top sensitive areas as my ear piece speaker came off with the goo.
7. Disconnect the connecter from the old digitizer to the new one and remove the old digitizer.
**I used a small little tweezer and sneaked it in underneath the circuit board to pull the digitizer connection out.... a little difficult to push back in, but just took some patience.
8. Being careful not to put fingerprints on any exposed surface of either the phone lcd or the replace screen, place the new digitizer in the exact spot of the old one.
** have some lint free microfiber cloth handy and perhaps some screen cleaner.... I spent about 15 minutes cleaning the lcd screen before laying the replacement digitizer back on.
I actually did step 9 before step 8.
9. Connect the connecter from the new digitizer to the board, be careful not to pull the circuit board out and do not scratch the board.
10. You may want to use some glue to hold the new screen on, hopefully this will not happen again. My phone still had enough of the sticky paste left to hold the new screen fine.
** I agree... the first time you replace it will be fine.... afterwards tho, I can see it running out of tackiness.....
11. Put the phone back together in reverse order.
12. Turn it one and everything should be working again.
** in a nut shell
1) take out two screws
2) detach two yellow shell pieces
3) unhook a latch that is the power button
4) pry off the screen
5) lift the circuit board approx 30 degrees.
6) detach digitizer connection from underneath using tweezer
7) replace digitizer connection, return circuit board flat
8)position digitizer and press down to adhere
9)replace two plastic yellow shell pieces
10) screw it back together
done.
let me know if you have any questions.=)
enjoy your "brand" new aria.
dude,, this is a PITA,, I did,, was about 1hour, the hardest part,, is to not put the fingers on the LCD and cleaning the new screen..... dust particles everywhere... and at the end still got one...
Sorry eortizr, If I made it seem easier than it was. I spent quite a while cleaning the lcd screen when I replaced the digitizer... I don't think it's possible to change the digitizer without getting fingerprints on it though. But with some diligence and working in a clean area, I was able to keep all dust and finger prints out of the final product.
My wife dropped hers. Cracked up pretty good but still functional. Think I might just go ahead and pay the $100 and have someone who does it for a living do it.
I can totally see me trying DIY concentrating real hard dripping sweat all over it and ruining the MB. LOL
Replaced the screen today. Half way in I thought I definitely bit off more than I could chew. I got it done though. A couple of things I learned:
The digitizer unplugs away from you or toward the screen with the phone laying flat (screen down and the top facing away from you). I kept thinking i had to unplug it by pulling it north, toward the top of the phone.
I dropped and threw away both the front speaker and the very small rubber piece that covers the proximity sensor so... when I turned the phone on everything looked good, until I answered my phone. The screen went blank and I couldn't hear anything. I found the speaker and the proximity sensor cover and replaced them.
I would do it again, its worth saving $50 or so.
Thanks for the tutorial dreamflux.
I found the whole kit including the adhesive here: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180643624141
This is the seller in case the sale ends and the link breaks: http://myworld.ebay.com/chinaphoneaccessories/?_trksid=p4340.l2559
I found a replacement digitizer from tmart dot com for $55, free shipping. Just search Aria on their site, you'll find it. Sorry, I can't seem to post links yet.
What was peculiar, was that it has only the HTC logo in the center, and no ATT logo. Looks nice and clean. They included plastic separator tools and torx drivers, though nothing in this phone uses torx. The site is a little shady, and while their headquartered in Hong Kong, it shipped from Brooklyn NY about 5 days after purchase, priority mail. The swap wasn't bad, but my only complaint is that the lights from the softkeys seem to shine up onto the screen, but you get used to it. It's probably because I didn't transfer the stickers over on the bottom of the digitizer.
Thanks for the directions ... I just replaced my digitizer. I had 2 major problems: 1) my power button doesn't work any longer (I'm going to take it apart and try to put it back together and see if that fixes it), and 2) you HAVE to use BLACK sticky stuff to seat the bottom of the digitizer - I used the clear stuff that came with the digitizer, and now I have tons of light bleeding into the LCD from the button backlights. I'm not sure what to do about the bleed ... I guess I'll have to tear it down again and put black stuff in ... damn.
That's the deal with that excess backlighting! I thought it was just a matter of the screen being misaligned. Terrible that I have to replace that black foam, it got shredded while I was dismantling the thing to replace the digitizer.
eortizr said:
dude,, this is a PITA,, I did,, was about 1hour, the hardest part,, is to not put the fingers on the LCD and cleaning the new screen..... dust particles everywhere... and at the end still got one...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
its always suggested to work in a dust-free space but we all know that's virtually impossible.
I had a bit of fun with dust & fingerprints when replacing my LCD after getting my Aria, After a time or two of taking apart and being unsuccessful, I left it as is with one visible flake.
If you take a hot shower the steam in the air sticks to dust particles leaving no dust
Sent from my Liberty using XDA App
aria
use electrical tape to cover up the lighting that comes through the digitizer
use 3m double sided tape to hold digitizer to lcd
use rubber gloves to change screen to not get finger prints on it
dust906 said:
use electrical tape to cover up the lighting that comes through the digitizer
use 3m double sided tape to hold digitizer to lcd
use rubber gloves to change screen to not get finger prints on it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
*Just to make sure I'm putting the electrical tape on correctly*
put the double sided tape on and then put the electrical tap (sticky side facing up) on top of the ds tape then apply the screen to the lcd
Thanks for the explanation dreamflux.. This, along with some youtube videos helped me out to change the digitizer, but patience is THE key...
Brought my phone with me to Cedar Point the other day. Survived the entire day....until I stopped at the bars on the way home. Got out of the car, forgetting I had my phone on my lap---shattered right by the track pad.
Just got my digitizer today for $22 on ebay (not bad) After 2 hours and a migraine later, everything came out great.
The only 2 things wrong now are the light from the softkeys bleeding onto the screen and out the sides (I'm just going to shut those lights off), and the trackpad sits a little lower than the screen now. Either I didn't align it right, or the glue isn't holding well. It's weird, if you press on the glass anound the trackpad, it wakes the phone (cm7 trackpad wake).
I only plan on using the phone for a few more months, so I'm happy with the results.
Uhhggg, did the replacement on my son's Aria. It wasn't so bad, but now the LCD screen doesn't light.
I get the vibration when you first hit the power button. Is this correct? I'm not too familiar with the phone.
Rececked the connector for the LCD and it seems to be snapped in.
brivette007 said:
Brought my phone with me to Cedar Point the other day. Survived the entire day....until I stopped at the bars on the way home. Got out of the car, forgetting I had my phone on my lap---shattered right by the track pad.
Just got my digitizer today for $22 on ebay (not bad) After 2 hours and a migraine later, everything came out great.
The only 2 things wrong now are the light from the softkeys bleeding onto the screen and out the sides (I'm just going to shut those lights off), and the trackpad sits a little lower than the screen now. Either I didn't align it right, or the glue isn't holding well. It's weird, if you press on the glass anound the trackpad, it wakes the phone (cm7 trackpad wake).
I only plan on using the phone for a few more months, so I'm happy with the results.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
did you have any problems with the digitizer responsivenes or something like that? I'm need one and curious about the quality of the cheap digitizers in ebay.
so I replaced my friends screen and now the phone turns on, has sound, vibrates, but just doesnt turn the screen on... the light sensor works and all, and if I call it, it rings and everything, just the screen won't turn on it stays black... I've checked the 2 ribbons and everything is fine, anyone have a suggestion..??
jdmsohc22 said:
so I replaced my friends screen and now the phone turns on, has sound, vibrates, but just doesnt turn the screen on... the light sensor works and all, and if I call it, it rings and everything, just the screen won't turn on it stays black... I've checked the 2 ribbons and everything is fine, anyone have a suggestion..??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so what I meant was the digitizer turns on, but it is just a dark lit screen, no visual anything going on.. If i call it from another phone it will ring, but when i swipe right to left to answer and press around where the answer button is it doesn't respond either, just rings and rings... anyways just wanted to elaborate a little more..
---------- Post added at 02:28 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:08 AM ----------
msailer said:
Uhhggg, did the replacement on my son's Aria. It wasn't so bad, but now the LCD screen doesn't light.
I get the vibration when you first hit the power button. Is this correct? I'm not too familiar with the phone.
Rececked the connector for the LCD and it seems to be snapped in.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
same thing is happening with me as well..
^^^^ Soooooo.....I got the same thing on my wife phone, the BLACK SCREEN. I did my homework and read and watched videos on how to replace the digitizer. I was in a steamy room with all my tools from work with pre-cut electrical and .005" double sticky tape. im a mechanical assembler. I did everything to the tee and was very carefull. i think i got a bunk one from china. I bought mine for $19 from china. It had at&t logo and everything. you get what you pay for? So I've got to pay now $50 for a replacement phone through ins. Not bad because before i made the claim i thought the replacement was $150. Anyways just a heads up. Now i got a phone of spare parts Whats cool is that i get to root her phone all over again. So if anyone here has had the black screen. let me know what happened next with your situation. Did you fix it? replaced it with another one? thanks
This is my first post here and though i read similar posts on this subject i would
like to read your opinions on this one.
I accidentally dropped some water on my touch hd and my display got damaged.The phone worked fine and so did the digitizer but the problem was that the backlight of the display was dead.At some point the backlight turned on but when i tried to input the unlock code it turned off right away (did this several times).I knew that i should replace the lcd (and the digitizer just in case).
I bought the lcd and the digitizer seperately and i managed to assemble the phone back using the service manual.Since then when i turn the phone on I hear the starting sound,i get the vibration then after a while the screen with no backlight again displays the "tap here to configure your phone" screen (after the hard reset),when i tap i get no response.
I checked the connections many times and i also used a second digitizer with no success.
Is there a possibility flashing a new ROM will solve the problem?
If so is there a way of flashing a ROM when the phone's screen is not usable?
Waiting for your precious opinions/suggestions/knowledge
Thanks in advance.
Hello,
Flashing the ROM won't solve an obviously hardware problem.
If you changed the LCD and still have no backlight, then either you bought a defective screen, or the problem is elsewhere, maybe on the main electronic board... Which would be bad news.
BTW, I wanted to change the digitizer in the apst years, but its not provided with the glue, so I had to buy a whole assembled screen + digitizer.
How did you manage to glue the digitizer on the screen ?
I aligned the screen with the digitizer and then i used small pieces of a special thin and trasparent tape to hold it in place.The tape holds the screen tight and it is barely visible, it also has the advantage that you can seperate the lcd and digitizer anytime you want with ease (though you have to be very delicate when applying it to get a good result)
I asked for a replacement of the defective lcd and i hope i will get a new one.
i cracked my digitizer a while back, and ordered a replacement. i used double sided tape to install. the first digitizer worked great, except only the top 10% of the screen was not responsive (pretty much the width of the task bar) so i contacted the people i ordered the new screen from, and they just sent me a replacement. i installed the second digitizer, and this time none of the screen works.
i tried to make sure both times not to put the tape to wide so it doesn't overlap into the clear screen part, only the black, but could this be a tape issue? anyone else have trouble with installing where parts or entire screen didn't respond?
thanks for your help.
Are you sure you have the digitizer/lcd ribbon in all the way to the connector on the motherboard? When I first put everything back together when I changed a digitizer, touch didn't work at all for me initially. At first I thought I had a bad digitizer. Then I looked closely at the ribbon and connector, and there's some flaps that stick out to the side on the ribbon cable. Make sure you push the ribbon in until the flaps stop you from going any further.
I replaced my digitizer recently and when I put the phone back together and turned it on, the LCD looked different any thoughts or suggestions. I looked through some other threads but nothing described look like the problem I am having.
I guess the digitizer isn't original and polarizes the light in a different way, giving the strange optical effect.
Another issue maybe the digitizer is stuck tightly against LCD, try to put between the two a strip of thick adhesive tape around the edges, avoiding tight contact.
Or worst, maybe you damaged the LCD while disassembling, to verify this lift the digitizer and see if it looks the same or not without digitizer.
It looks as though it is a similar problem to * HERE *
I you go into your Web-browser and press the menu button, then view page info.
Look at the background (the webpage). What are the colours like?