Related
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Introduction:
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Hey everyone, I'm just posting this tirade about my problems with the X1's build quality here in case anyone else is suffering from the same problems I had, as well as some tips regarding disassembling and re-assembling the phone if you're brave/foolhardy enough to attempt repairs yourself, like me.
With contributions from others this thread could become a compendium of common hardware problems with the X1 and how to identify or fix them, as well as pitfalls to watch out for when repairing the device by hand.
I don't have any diagrams yet because I simply couldn't stomach opening up the shoddy device again to take photos.
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My X1:
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I bought my X1 on eBay second-hand (my first major mistake) so I was always a bit worried what would happen when the day inevitably came when I'd have hardware problems with the phone.
However, I bought it very shortly after the phone's release and the seller described it as unused. The phone appeared mostly unused when I received it, apart from a couple of tiny scratches on the casing.
The phone was functionally fine when I received it and showed no problems whatsoever for the first few months.
Like seemingly everyone my first hardware problems with the phone (I won't even get into the device's software failings) that developed over time were an unresponsive keyboard, cracks in the case and a non-functioning vibration motor.
The 'r' key on my X1 took considerably greater force to register a press than any other key on the device, while other keys intermittently ignored presses or interpreted a single press as 2-5 presses while typing.
The spacebar also intermittently became unresponsive, as did the 'up' key on the front-mounted optical joystick.
The vibration motor worked at first, but eventually gave only a single loud 'click' when the phone should vibrate.
The problems worsened over time and despite taking good care of the phone, the casing started to look badly banged-up - This is not a phone that ages gracefully.
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Replacement Parts
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In early December I ordered a replacement casing & keyboard from a supplier in Hong Kong on eBay (mistake #2), happyhouse.cn .
The parts were suspiciously cheap compared to the ones from non-ebay suppliers, so I assumed they would be imitation/unofficial parts, not from SE.
At first glance, the new casing and keyboard seemed like the real deal, but when I attempted to re-assemble the phone with the new parts I found that the phone's original screws didn't properly fit the sockets of the new casing and that the new keyboard didn't fit either the new casing OR the old one.
I ended up using a mixture of new and old parts to rebuild the phone.
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My Repairs
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Over the course of 'fixing' the phone, a few other problems came to light within the device's internals.
A couple of these problems were apparent as soon as I examined the device internally, while others became apparent when I rebult the device and tried to use it.
Keyboard:
The R key on the old keyboard had cracked at first, then eventually split completely into 3 parts during use. One part fell away while the other two remained stuck to the flexible plastic backing of the keyboard structure.
As I mentioned above, the cheap new keyboard did not fit the casing whatsoever (the scale of its design was wrong and it was in total 3-6mm longer than the original part).
I cleaned the original board (the plastic layer with the keys, not the circuit layer) in warm, soapy water and removed the broken R key by plucking it off the flexible backing.
I then plucked the 'r' key off the new keyboard and used it to replace the missing key on the old keyboard, with the aid of some 'Bostik Impact' adhesive.
I finally refitted the old keyboard (with a new R key) to the casing and prayed that it would still work.
It did, in the end, but the R key has less travel and tactile response than the unreplaced keys.
---Tip:---
The unresponsive (or over-responsive) behaviour of the keyboard can primarily be attributed to poor design, but the grit and dirt that enters every keyboard known to man similarly affects that of the X1 and worsens the problem.
Removing the plastic portion of the keyboard unit and washing it in warm, soapy water is a good way to at least regain the functionality that the keyboard had when you first got the device.
Vibration Motor:
I saw the physical evidence of the claim that the camera light LED is badly designed and prone to overheating, in turn killing the vibration motor.
In the original phone casing, the plastic housing that surrounds the LED had melted and resolidified over the course of the phone's life and there was minor scorching on nearby components.
The vibration motor for the device is situated directly beside the LED (to the left, while the rear camera lens is to the right) and seemed unable to function with the melted plastic in its way.
I cleared away the melted plastic but the motor still only 'clicked' when I later tested the vibration.
It seems that the motor gets burned out by trying to work when obstructed by the plastic, or the heat from the LED kills the motor internally.
One way or the other, it's dead.
---Tip:---
The recommendation to not use the light for extended periods of time on the X1 still stands, it's worrying to think of how much worse the damage could get if the light were left on longer.
It is an especially worrying issue when you consider that the light LED is so close to the main Li-Polymer battery of the phone.
Broken Side-mounted buttons:
The next problem I encountered in the original phone casing was that of the weak rubber straps that hold the side-mounted buttons (power, camera, volume-rocker) in place.
These rubber components are quite thin and weak, as well as prone to snapping when stressed.
The purpose of these straps is to hold the button in place (flush-mounted) and to provide the spring action and make the buttons return after pressing.
In my case, the strap holding the power button had weakened and the button stopped working properly, while the phone behaved as if the button was being constantly held in.
The phone constantly brought up the "Are you sure you wish to power off the device?" prompt in WinMo.
When I set about trying to remove the old button to replace it with a new one from my pack of replacement parts, the old rubber strap almost instantly snapped!
I replaced the old button eventually, but even now there is less travel in the button and barely any tactile response when it hits the internal switch on the PCB.
---Tip:---
When re-inserting the PCB during re-assembly, keep an eye on all of the side-mounted buttons to make sure that their inwards-pointing nub sits *above* the PCB and is able to reach the board-mounted switch that the button controls!
Incompatible Screws:
Beware that the screws from the phone's original casing do not properly fit the cheaper replacement casing.
This means that you will have difficulty in forcing the screws to fit (and possibly shear the heads off the screws, which is a pretty major problem in a delicate device like this where they will be difficult to remove).
If you force the screws to fit due to a lack of any replacement screws to use, they will likely not sit properly flush-mounted with the original casing, particularly on the front (touchscreen) half of the device; and this may prove problematic for the sliding mechanism.
Additionally, it means that the casing will not close properly, resulting in gaps between the casing and touchscreen as well as gaps along the sides of the device.
---Tip:---
If you must do your own repairs on the device, try to get the official replacement parts from Sony Ericsson.
Buying the cheaper replacements from eBay is a false economy and a major headache, take my word for it!
Malfunctioning Antenna:
When I first rebuilt the phone after repairs I discovered that I could only get very weak intermittent radio signals in places that I previously had full signal strength.
This problem occured only because of incorrect re-assembly by me, but it represents a pitfall that might catch someone else out when re-assembling their X1.
---Tip:---
When reattaching the Antenna unit (the black shroud that sits around the rear camera lens and which also contains the camera LED), be sure to firmly press on the left side of the plastic (where there are visible metal strips in the plastic) until you hear a click to signify that the shroud is properly attached.
Otherwise, the antennae embedded in the plastic will not properly contact the main PCB of the device and your reception for all radio antennae in the device (GSM, WiFi, etc) will be weakened or lost completely.
This problem was caused solely by my inexperienced maintenance of the device, but may be related to the weak-signal problems some people experience with the X1, at a guess.
Ammendment:
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I may be mistaken on this one! I had originally thought that this component held the antennae, but after further experimentation I've come to think that the antennae may be housed alongside the speaker unit in the other end of the phone. The tip still stands, just to be on the safe side!
Malfunctioning Speaker/Microphone:
During use early in the phone's life I sometimes found that the phone's main speaker stopped working for apparently no reason and that squeezing the casing 'fixed' the problem until it occured again seemingly at random.
Within the rear plastic portion of the casing that forms the battery compartment there is a small module comprising the phone's primary speaker and in-call mic underneath the plastic piece that contains the SE circular logo.
These components make only surface contact with the main PCB of the phone and are not soldered in-place.
In my case, the small copper contacts that extend outwards from the speaker unit had become flattened somehow within the device and no longer reached their counterpart contacts on the main PCB when the device was closed-up.
---Tip:---
Extending the speaker contacts outwards with a fingernail seemed to rectify this problem for me.
Be sure to tightly screw the module back in when you're done, just to make sure of the circuit-contact.
Touchscreen Ribbon-cable:
This problem was mentioned by others in a thread here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=561151
I very rarely encountered that problem in my typical usage of the X1, but after my repairs this issue seemed to become exacerbated (probably due to strains placed on the ribbon cable during my reassembly of the device numerous times).
Currently my touchscreen works as it should in portrait mode, but I cannot extend the keyboard, as this causes the screen to still display a signal, but not respond to any touches.
Upon sliding the keyboard back in, the touchscreen is out of the alignment by about 5-6mm every time until I re-align it under WinMo settings.
In an attempt to fix this problem I covered the exposed portion of the ribbon cable with thin insulating tape, in the hope that this would stop the traces of the cable shorting against the metal casing.
Unfortunately, this hasn't proven enough and I have not yet solved this issue.
It looks as though I need to buy a replacement ribbon cable and fix the device that way.
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---Other Tips:---
+ Make sure you have all the tools you need.
Replacement parts come with the necessary tools, but if you don't get those you're going to need a tiny phillips screwdriver, a tiny 6-point star-headed screwdriver and a thin, stiff implement such as a credit card or guitar plectrum to open the casing.
I also recommend a snipe-nose pliers and a tweezers for more delicate parts.
Adhesives & Bonding Agents can be useful in certain applications, but use them sparingly (or don't use them at all, to have any chance of making the phone look untampered for warranty purposes!).
+ Don't expect cheap replacement parts to fit perfectly!
They're cheaper for a reason, you get what you pay for, except in the case of the phone itself.
+ Be gentle with all of the components.
The Xperia X1 feels nice and sturdy when it's assembled, but the individual components can be flimsy and brittle when separated.
Everything from the plastic casing to the circuitry inside needs to be handled with care and treated gently to avoid being broken.
That's everything for now, but if I think of any more issues or tips I'll amend this post.
Please feel free to comment with other issues and any other maintenance tips you've discovered and we can build a useful list for people to refer to.
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Conclusion:
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Before opening my Xperia I didn't really know what to expect inside.
I'm very familiar with computers and I build my own systems as a hobby, but my knowledge of circuit-level electronics is limited and I have no prior experience of manually repairing devices like the Xperia.
My experiences show that some of the common hardware problems can be resolved by the end-user with some patience and the right tools or parts, but one needs to be extremely careful not to end up with more problems than one started with!
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Disclaimer:
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I won't be held responsible for any damage you do to your phone and I do NOT recommend that you actually perform any of these procedures.
It is better to let qualified technicians at SE's Warranty Service handle these issues.
I'm providing this information solely for those people who either want to do it or have no other choice to get their phone working again.
The information presented is a combination of information collated from guides that I've linked herein and my own experience but I cannot guarantee their accuracy beyond that.
Treat everything in these informational posts as opinion or observation, not fact!
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Links & Other Information:
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This post will contain any other helpful information or links pertaining to the disassembly, repair and reassembly of the X1.
This is Cellular Nationwide Network's selection of spare parts for the X1:
http://cnn.cn/shop/sonyericsson-xperia-c-28_638.html
This online store also offers the X1 replacement LCD/Digitizer unit:
http://www.formymobile.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=x1lcd
I have not bought from either of these stores nor can I verify the quality or compatibility of the items they offer!
I'm just listing them here in case people have trouble finding anywhere to get parts!
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Disassembly Summary:
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The device needs to be disassembled in the correct order as laid out on this page: http://www.formymobile.co.uk/xperiadisassembly.php
-Remove battery cover, stylus, battery, sim card & micro sdhc card and put them aside.
-Remove the plastic portion of the bottom-rear of the phone (where the SE circle is), using the proper tool, a credit card or a plectrum.
-Unscrew and remove the speaker module
-Remove the screws where the speaker module was
-Remove the covers over the screws at the other end of the phone and then the screws themselves (using the star-headed screwdriver)
-Remove the plastic battery compartment (which also takes the camera cover and stylus slot with it)
-Lift the small black tape and disconnect the plug that powers the camera LED
-Remove the screw in the top-right, then left the black lens-shroud it was holding down.
-Remove the small plug on the ribbon cable at the top-right (this connects the keyboard unit to the main PCB
-Pull the clips around the edges of the green PCB back gently to release it (but do not pull it upwards).
-Lift the PCB gently and (Very) gently remove the orange tape that covers the touchscreen ribbon cable attached underneath, then pry that ribbon cable's connector away from the connector on the green PCB.
-Lift the PCB away and put it aside
-The keyboard circuit and plastic pad can now also be lifted away if necessary.
--- This is where you can stop if your repairs/maintenance only affect the rear portion of the device. Only go further if you need to perform repairs on the front/touchscreen portion. ---
-Remove the four shallow screws underneath where the green PCB previously lay to separate the rear housing from the slider mechanism.
-Remove the four screws in the front portion of the phone, then pry the casing open with the tool/card/plectrum as before.
-The main ribbon cable is attached to a small PCB and some other ribbon cables which are concealed underneath the grey fuzzy foil on the surface in front of you.
-That foil can be removed but it is not necessary to do so unless you are replacing the LCD screen unit, receiver-speaker, front-camera or the ribbon cable assembly itself.
-The Touchscreen component is held down with small grey braided straps at the corners, peel these back to release the touchscreen from the front fascia.
Then do all of that in reverse to put the phone back together!
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Videos:
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I found these videos on youtube, I didn't record or upload them.
Video guide to Disassembling the Rear half of the device:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWDurQrRt-Y
Video guide to Disassembling the Front half of the device:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyGUbxFqvyc
Video guide to Reassembling the Front half of the device:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcDqyEyC_HY
Video guide to Reassembling the Rear half of the device:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0sOaIo6724
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Personal Comment:
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It goes to show that, as many of us are already aware, you must pay a premium price for this phone but it is NOT manufactured like a premium product.
If my situation were rare or I had only one of the above mentioned hardware issues with a new phone I could accept it, but things got ridiculous with the X1.
The build quality is very poor overall and Sony Ericsson should be ashamed firstly for releasing a device onto the market that functioned as little more than a flawed prototype for the X2; and secondly for charging upwards of €600 for the 'privilege' of putting up with its many problems and shortcomings.
I for one, won't be buying any more SE phones.
My next smartphone will be an Android device such as a Motorola Milestone if I ever pluck up the courage to spend that much money on a phone again.
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Disclaimer:
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I won't be held responsible for any damage you do to your phone and I do NOT recommend that you actually perform any of these procedures.
It is better to let qualified technicians at SE's Warranty Service handle these issues.
I'm providing this information solely for those people who either want to do it or have no other choice to get their phone working again.
The information presented is a combination of information collated from guides that I've linked herein and my own experience but I cannot guarantee their accuracy beyond that.
Treat everything in these informational posts as opinion or observation, not fact!
Useful post, but it really seems that the majority of your issues were caused by the imitation housing that you purchased, not by poor SE build quality. Of all the issues you mentioned, the keyboard issues are an SE/HTC quality control problem, I've experienced them as have many. The rest seem to have been caused by the imitation housing. This begs the quesiton, why didn't you just use SE's warranty service? They don't require a reciept or that you be the original owner. And trust me, they are several times better than HTCs warranty service.
sonus said:
Useful post, but it really seems that the majority of your issues were caused by the imitation housing that you purchased, not by poor SE build quality. Of all the issues you mentioned, the keyboard issues are an SE/HTC quality control problem, I've experienced them as have many. The rest seem to have been caused by the imitation housing. This begs the quesiton, why didn't you just use SE's warranty service? They don't require a reciept or that you be the original owner. And trust me, they are several times better than HTCs warranty service.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd hardly call the problem of the non-fitting screws a majority! The rest of the issues were unrelated to the cheap replacement housing.
Maybe my post is confusing, but the issues with the keyboard, vibration motor, ribbon cable, side-buttons & speaker all existed long before I ever ordered the replacement casing!
Some, such as the ribbon cable and antenna were issues that cropped up or were worsened due to my inexperienced maintenance, but everything else was a fault of the build quality of the original device.
The incompatibility of the screws was the only problem specifically caused by the new housing, while its own supplied keyboard didn't fit the chassis, but that was a non-issue since I used the original keyboard anyway.
It could be said that my repairs would have gone significantly smoother if I had bought and used an official replacement housing from SE, but that would only solve the issues of the screws and replacement keyboard.
I put emphasis on the problems related to the cheap replacement casing primarily to warn people away from wasting their money on them the way I did.
I'll edit the original post for clarity.
To answer your question, I didn't use the Warranty service because frankly I assumed they would need a proof of purchase for the warranty (since most warranties do in my experience) and I had bought the device second-hand on eBay.
Secondly, sending the device in for warranty would mean going through the hassle of reflashing a stock rom and SPL to the phone.
Thirdly and most importantly, I wanted to try doing it myself for the experience and potential savings.
Obviously, I wouldn't recommend anyone to try and repair their own phone as I did, but if someone has had a phone sent back to them marked as "tampered" by the warranty service and are left with the options of paying for repairs, paying for a new phone, or buying parts and repairing it themselves.. well that option is there and this thread might help them.
Also, off-topic but I couldn't agree more with your signature. I tried a myriad of fancy ROMs and shell replacements for my X1 but never found satisfaction until I flashed a basic blank WM6.5 ROM and installed PointUI Home2!
Thanks this post helped me out, I suddenly lost my mic, took a look under the hood and found I had the same issue as you, the mic pins not touching. The pins are very weak so had to be careful but it works now!
tumpin said:
Thanks this post helped me out, I suddenly lost my mic, took a look under the hood and found I had the same issue as you, the mic pins not touching. The pins are very weak so had to be careful but it works now!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad to help!
Definitely the most thorough repair and tips guide for the x1. A lot of the issues you had are the same as mine. Thanks to your suggestions I got my phone in almost working condition. Now I just need to find a way to get my keyboard working again.
Sent from my xperia x1 using XDA App
Thanks Zurechial for this thorough post. I for one, have been lucky in finding a repair guy (non-SE) who is an expert with devices like the X1. I had a problem that some water/moisture/sweat had seeped in the charging port and I could not get the phone to charge. He fixed it for me.
Now the only problem I face is that the camera is not working, and wifi is disabled. Any tips to get the Wifi working? It is shown as disabled in the Comm Manager and there is no WLAN MAC Address also for it.
brilliant post, thank you very much indeed. I have just ordered a cheap housing off ebay, i know what to expect now
What worries me the most though, is how the keyboard WILL fail eventually ><
The qwerty keyboard is one of the main reasons why i got the phone.
time to snatch back our lives suckers
Apparently, it's taken less than 20 years, to destroy the Consumer Electronics Industries, ability to Repair products, sold in this country. I saw the writing on the wall, in the early 80's, with the first lines of "off shore", throw away VCR's, that were priced cheaper than they'd cost to repair. The theory, if it breaks, throw it away & buy a new one. Who cares if it winds up in a land fill somewhere.
Now, we're up to $500 Cell Phones, with the state of repair being either, unit replacement, or, cannibalization of parts. And apparently no one cares. Is it our complacency or can we really afford as a society, to buy a new phone every time one breaks? God knows we're all desperate, for our phone usage.
It's time to snatch back the repair ability we once had. This is the age of recycling, and the highest form of recycling is repair.
As consumers, start demanding access to schematics, and, access to sources of component level repair parts.
IM
You help me...
I'm almost freaking out when signal on my phone show only 2 bars...
Anyway...
it's for additional information,
use handscoon, it gives somewhat confident and when using tweezer, hold it like using pen (I learnt it when I studied as paramedic) because it will give me strength while holdin it.
AND ask the seller to send housing with screw. I bought 2 housings, from ebay and another hongkong shop. Ebay is s%ck but that other hongkong shop is more fit.
Hi XDA peeps.
I would like to share my notes and pictures of my recent repair i performed on my touch HD. If you end up suffering from the Newton_Ring problem or cracked lcd, and decide to purchase a factory assembled LCD + Digitizer, you can use the Official Service manual and this thread, to perform the repair.
The Battery and the Battery cover have been removed.
Lower mainboard cover and inner housing have been removed
the Digitizer & LCD (preassembled) replacement Part, beside the damaged Blackstone.
Removal of the GPS Coaxial cabling.
I'll skip past the wifi coax removal, but will like to note that you will find a spare coax socket on the mainboard next to the wifi one, so dont get those mixed up when reassembling it!!
both Coax cables removed. (bad quality picture)
Removal of the Ribbons Mylar
this is the removal of the Ribbon plug.
Removal of the Volume buttons and its petite PCB. Take your time, dont break the ribbons or damage the pcb trying to remove this.
Removal of the mainboard phillips screw.
Power PCB slot removal, this ones tricky.
Unplugging of the 5 megapixel main camera, a nice and easy step.
Note: Please be aware that the whole Top PCB is very fragile and does actually bend, hence the term Flex PCB, be gentle with this component.
You wont see this part of the repair listed in the official manual, infact when I had a google around, there was little to no information on howto perform this anywhere.
Let me make one thing certain, if you've just spent like an hour on the above, while following the Official service manual, squinting at the poor quality photos (or my poor quality photos ) and you're feeling a little impatient, take a decent break before attempting the above!
Because, for the above procedure, you need to tear off the 3 layers of Digitizer and LCD from the front of the phone, if you don't take your time with how you do it, you'll dent your frame (a lot).
you won't find this in the service manual, if you worked out its significantly easier do a factory pre-assembled Digi+LCD replacement, and if you don't purchase the housing along with LCD and Digitizer, then you'll need to take the front Speaker piece grill, and transplant it to the new part.
Note: that you don't need to add any extra glue to perform any of this.
Next you simply gently fold a ribbon so you can place the new part into the old frame, and you'll end up with something like this:
I also did a lot of very minor aesthetic damage to the inner area of the frame, between the frame and the touch screen.
Take your time to prevent this, also if you don't care for the old part at all and aren't replacing a LCD or Digitizer standalone, you can pretty much gain access to the layers from one corner then tear the layers away from the glue with your hands.
Next proceed to rebuild the phone following the above in reverse or keep following the service manual (or both, is probably the best way IMO)
Note: Don't forget to place the camera back into the reassembly as you're re adding the coax wires. The service manual won't instruct you to do this.
Install back your flexible and mainboard pcb. as above.
The above is with all the boards, cables and camera installed back into place.
Verify the replacement part is good before fastening in the shell casings.
Lastly the two shells are fastened back on and the battery is put back into place.
Note: When installing the main shell, be very considerate of the camera, while at the same time, ensuring that none of the coaxial or the vibrator cable falls out of their desired places.
OK, if you have the HTC Service manual PDF, and need to repair your Blackstone (and want to DIY), it can be done albeit some instructions are clearly omitted from the official service manual.
One final note, When researching on what part to use to perform the repair of my Blackstone mobile, I read a great many people have attempted to repair their Blackstones and failed miserably, so even if you're savvy with repairing small electronics, the general suggestion is to get a pre-made digitizer & LCD, it is without a doubt well worth the price difference of a Digitizer or LCD standalone.
Thank you for taking the time to check this out, I hope someone may find it useful and save them from a bit of misery.
you are fantastic! i will try to replace the screen in next days...your guide is the best!
very thanks
excume friends, but i'm from venezuela...... i buy a HTC TOUCH HD in miami, the february 2009, ,i phone present this problem, the LCD work fine, but the touch no responding, anybody know where can buy it...... i don´t know how call the replace..... digitalizer, LCD.... how???
Thanks and excuse me by me bad english........ i know, soooo bad.....
Believe me it's almost imposible to replace just digitizer.
I have similar problem few weeks ago, and I buy pre-made LCD+Digitizer and replace it without any problem. I bought my from ebay. UK reseler. 65 euro. I heard that you can find it for lower price but I was searching on ebay.de so maybe on US ebay you can find for less money.
Don't bother to replace just digitizer, just to go 40$ less. Sometimes is batter to give 40$ more but to do job without any problems. (PS It's very, very hard to detach factory attached LCD from frame without braking it!)
Good luck!
Thank you so much, look for us on ebay or on amazon.com to see them .... any questions do not hesitate to do that around here ...... thanks again
Greetings, I got this on ebay usa,
h**p://cgi.ebay.com/HTC-Touch-HD-T8282-Digitizer-Screen-Repair-Part-TL-/290471976452?pt=PDA_Accessories&hash=item43a17a9e04
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
... What do you think? Does this serve me?
my baclstone started acting funny with screen alignment getting messed up and than it completely stopped responding...
even the touch sensitive hardware buttons donot work no more...i have hard reset many times did task 29. i have changed different roms and went back to stock rom but screen doesnt respond at all... not even the backlight turn on to full brightness when screen is tapped?
anyone have any idea whats broken lcd or digitizer or both... or maybe something else.... and there is no official htc repair shop so i probably gotta fix it on my own
Got Touch HD from someone I know.
He has scratches on the fone screen, so he decided to DIY by replacing the screen, he did not manage to screw everything together so he gave it to me...
I have tried to follow instructions both here and another thread which points me to videos that I can watch...
The problem is that I have black screen, I can hear the sound when turned on. Just no life on screen.
The screen was super glued on so there was no reponsibility of removing and check if eveything OK.
Could it be that the screen defect?
Have google but found no info on how to attach screen to the fone !!!
There was just one ribbon cable, I believe from the screen to the main borad and it is attached to the main board....
OK
Have had some free time over the weekend, disassembled the phone and found that 1 of the fles connectors was loose. Reconnected and all was perfect...
Now I have a fully working phone
Thanks for the guide....
Don't try to replace only the digitizer...i suggest to disassembly the phone first to buy the digitizer.. to see how much is hard to detach to lcd without broke lcd! if you can detach you can buy only digitizer!
i bought the digitizer but i broked my lcd to try to change...with Lcd+touchscreen's block I ve changed in 10 minutes and it is perfect!
Glad to see this has helped others.
My main intention was to cover the steps missed by the not so comprehensive service manual, if it was more comprehensive i probably wouldn't have started this thread to show how I repaired mine. was quite a few too many important steps missing really. (re-adding the camera, etcetera)
Hi all,
I just replaced the lcd screen of my blackstone and got a new touch screen, I put all together but the touch screen seems to be dead. Is there anything I should check? you always talk of touch panel and digitizer like two different layer, does this mean that I should have 3 different pieces (LCD - digitizer?!? - plastic touch panel)? Because I only have two, the LCD and the "glass" with an outgoing flat cable. In the case I am not missing anything, should the touch panel work even if not in contact with the screen ?
If you got one pre-assembled (which we call LCD + digitizer), it would actually just be one whole piece.
If you have two pieces, then you have a LCD screen (the glass one AFAIK) and a plastic layer (the digitizer)
My replacement part came in as one, and in the OP I disassemble, and remove it and place the new on in the old ones spot.
Sounds to me like youve gotten the parts not pre-assembled by the manufacturer, unfortunately its common for non- pre assembled ones to not make contact to eachother properly when you assemble it, some people reported being able to do it, and others from what i've read found either partial or no touch capability, but it would likely be the digitizer contacts are not touching the LCD contacts (kind of a ribbon on the plastic piece)
It maybe worth just getting a pre-assembled replacement. if youve already used the current one and cannot fix it.
No it's not preassembled but you probably solved my problem. you basically say the touch panel and the LCD MUST be in touch in a specific point to close some contact (maybe the lower LCD ribbon must touch the lower part of the touch panel?)!! If you confirm that than probably that is my fault. I've seen some videos on youtube where the touch panel works even if it's away from the LCD but it was not a blackstone and probably not a resistive touch panel.
Please confirm I got it right, you probably saved my blackstone.
as far as i know, the digitizer will have some kind of ribbon, on the LCD theres contacts or a socket for that ribbon, you can see (poorly) in the pictures I took, where I show the LCD and digitizer and a layer (digitizer and face place layers) of torn apart.
I looked around my room for my old damaged screen but unfortunately I can't find it I think I may have disposed of it.
lucky, ebay type sites do have some pictures of the digitizer and its ribbon as you can see in this picture - link (I googled this and found it here
that ribbon would likely attach to the lcd panel, I'm quite sure if they aren't making proper contact the touch won't work.
But, having said that, before I made this thread, while reading about others who did a repair without a pre-assembled part, they mentioned that the digitizer part contained many tiny bubble like resistive cells in the digitizer layers, its imperative you don't damage the any of these touch cell things, because if they somehow get damaged, even if you get the digitizer ribbon to make proper contact with the LCD board/slot/contact (which ever its supposed to plug into), if those tiny cell break in the digitizer the touch wont work (could be partial, or could be overall interoperability) and if that happened, it would be a circumstance where you'd need to source another digitizer.
this is more or less an elaboration on my prior post I think.
What I can say for sure is before I fixed mine, after some searching around on these forums and on others, I found that most of those who did not get the digitizer, face plate and lcd factory pre-assembled did not fix their handset (only a minority did), they either ran into a problem with the digitizer making contact with the lcd panel, or they somehow damaged the digitizer resistive cells.
Also, since I did do mine with a pre-assembled part, I cannot say absolutely that the resistive cells will be between the faceplate layer and the second layer of the digitizer replacement part (like you see in my pictures, I ended up with 3 layers) it could be that the resistive cells are exposed on the back of the last layer and need to sit against the lcd, once again though, I'm not sure about it because I did opt for the more expensive easier choice to fix mine up.
Hope you get it all working smog
No way, tried to push lcd and digitizer together without any result. I don't believe there is something that can be broken on the back of digitizer (Resistive cells???) but I hope you are right, I am waiting for a housing I bought from HK it's complete with a new digitizer ... we'll see
Thanks a lot
Hello, great guide but I am still having a problem and I wonder if it's with what I bought; Off ebay I got the plastic and the glass attached to each other as I assumed thats all I needed because my lcd works fine. So I connected it all up and it only slightly works, where you touch the screen is actually showing up as quite a bit below (depends where - top left corner works fine but if you click the center of the screen the phone thinks you're clicking at the bottom).. I have tried calibration with no luck.. Any help/suggestions greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Afraid that theres not a lot you can do, if you havent fully reassembled it yet you could try reapplying the digitizer layer but I think that even trying that could make it worse then it is.
Like i said a few times, I wouldn't try replacing the digitizer on its own, I read up on it before repairing mine and concluded it was too much risk or trouble and just got an all in one lcd + digitizer which I used in the guide.
anyway these phones are quite old now, its hard to justify spending on an LCD and digitizer to fix one up.
you need to decide if thats worth it to you or not.
Infact, my blackstone has Newton rings again on the replacement screen, im not certain what squashed against it hard enough to cause them but it happened recently, the digitizer on mine is still working even with the newton ring damage so Im not planning on replacing the screen again.
Okay thank you very much for your help,
Are they still good phones though? I have a nokia 5800 from around the same time and i'm bored of it now but can't afford a new one so i bought this one really cheap as broken and was just going to fix it.. Or is it not really that much better?
Thanks again for your answer
they're considerably faster then nokias usually, i had the 6600, 6260, 9300i and they were all considerably slower ARM processors.
but It will all come down to what OS you run on it, if you do put a WinMo 6.5 rom on it it will be slow to the degree where its unusable. but if you use a 6.1 rom on it then it will never suffer from slow downs (unless the rom is hybrid 6.1 with 6.5 stuff like the one i use).
It also can do heaps of stuff the nokia can't, assuming your nokia is a series 60 or similar.
the Os can do tethering and heaps of other neat things, winmo also has got a fair range of apps, tho dated now, the variety is nice and gives you functionality, you could obtain a lot of this on a nokia symbian phone but winmo (based on wince) is just even better then symbian.
I think it all comes down to how much it will cost you to fix, I have a better phone so i cant justify spending over 50 dollars on fixing a slower older one, but to someone who doesnt have a better phone it may be quite viable to spend that to benefit the improvement over their current worse phone.
ideally, I would say just skip over it, its not truely that fast, you need at least a gigahertz phone to be fast. a HD2 or something, if you can get one like that quite cheap and in good condition, it would be worth more then spending a bit on the blackstone (touch HD).
just my opinion though
I would repair my blackstone again because i get use out of it each time its healthy even though I have something better its still handy to have, i love the audio output on it over my htc desire, but i wouldn't be spending the amount i spent on another repair screen like it did back when it was the best potential phone i could have had at the time.
I spent several hours over the weekend rooting, unrooting, and re-rooting my new NST. Each time I rooted it, I ended up with a touchscreen problem where touches registered with the wrong column.
For example: when trying to use the backspace key, 'h' would also register. When trying to use 'p', 'e', or 'r', 'y' would also register. Both the key that I wanted and the central key would indicate a keypress (turn black) but only one of them would register in the text box. This is entirely dependent on software, but it's something that is cleared with the 8x failed boot restore and not with the two bottom buttons restore.
I have tried both TouchNooter and MinimalTouch twice. My latest attempt was MinimalTouch:
Start with a clean NST with software 1.0.1
Install 1.1 update (keyboard still works)
Follow MinimalTouch procedure
NST is rooted and android home screen is accessible, however, the keyboard no longer functions properly
Perform reset (hold bottom two buttons on startup)
Button Saver is gone, android home screen is not accessible, keyboard still does not function properly
Perform 8x reboot restore
Keyboard functions perfectly
Has anyone dealt with this before? I couldn't find anything with the search function.
Though this thread appears to be doing nothing, I will at least let you guys know of the current idea:
I have gone back and checked the touchscreen after each step in the procedure, and appears like the 1.1.2 update causes the problem.
Without any rooting or funky installs:
Perform 8-reboot reset
Touchscreen works fine, SW 1.0.1
Install 1.1.2
Touchscreen is impaired, SW 1.1.2
Perform 8-reboot reset
Touchscreen works fine, SW 1.0.1
Did the 1.1 update include a change in the touchscreen sensitivity?
How do I ensure that the IR sensors are clean? A shot of compressed air?
Should I just call B&N/sears and try to get a replacement that functions properly with the update?
I believe that I have determined the cause of my touchscreen difficulty:
The front bezel of my NST is not entirely glued down. I noticed that the spacing was irregular between the eink display, the black (really dark) plastic layer, and the top matte gray layer.
Squeezing my NST temporarily blocks the issue (until the glue re-expands)
The software updates must change the touchscreen sensitivity to some extent, causing the poor tolerance in my particular NST to result in inaccurate touchscreen response.
I'll be talking to the manufacturer or the seller (Sears) soon about a replacement unit.
I hope noone else has to figure their way through this with a brand new nook!
Sorry for resurrecting a death thread. But my nook simple touch (which was rooted and had button saviour etc), slowly started having problems with touch. Now since 2 days, touch screen isn't working anymore, no matter how much cleaning I do to the bezels. I can't even open it due to the slider lock screen. Don't know what to do. I would be happy to settle with a button-based navigation, all I want to do is to read epubs. Any help greatly appreciated. I can prob for problems. I have a rooted nst1 which I haven't tinkered since 2012.
If this isn't the right place, I will start a new thread.
TIA
Forthe55 said:
Sorry for resurrecting a death thread. But my nook simple touch (which was rooted and had button saviour etc), slowly started having problems with touch. Now since 2 days, touch screen isn't working anymore, no matter how much cleaning I do to the bezels. I can't even open it due to the slider lock screen. Don't know what to do. I would be happy to settle with a button-based navigation, all I want to do is to read epubs. Any help greatly appreciated. I can prob for problems. I have a rooted nst1 which I haven't tinkered since 2012.
If this isn't the right place, I will start a new thread.
TIA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried swiping two fingers across the screen from right to left? This is not my original idea but someone else long ago delivered me from your situation with this simple tip. If I ever knew the explanation, I have forgotten it. Probably something with the multi-touch kernal. It will even work on an unresponsive lock screen. I still use it on occasion, so something triggers the behavior, but it is generally infrequent.
If that doesn't work to restore functionality then something more dire has happened.
Forthe55 said:
Now since 2 days, touch screen isn't working anymore.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your swipe lockscreen may present a problem.
I don't see any entry in the settings on my NST, so I don't know how to disable it.
You can download my Touch-1.0.apk from the signature.
That will help you debug the tricky IR paths.
All the lines should be light gray, darker lines indicate an occlusion.
The corners are always difficult and you may have a line or two dark.
The problems are either dirt on the bezel or the bezel/filter/display coming unglued.
You can install and run it (without a launcher or touch screen):
Code:
C:\>adb install Touch-1.0.apk
C:\>adb shell am start -n com.temblast.touch/.Touch
I am sure that my nook is rooted , but adb isn’t working. May be usb debugging isn’t on. The problem is that I can’t even unlock it past the “drag to unlock” screen. Now I have to find out how to enable adb without having a working touchscreen to install the touch1.apk.
The two finger swipe isn’t working. I used to draw a single finger across the borders clockwise, which used to help calibrate the touch , not working anymore.
Forthe55 said:
Maybe usb debugging isn’t on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, you should be able to tell.
There are three ways to interact with a running Nook:
Touch screen
ADB over USB or WiFi
Hardware root console
You seem to say that the first two don't work.
You can also try a factory reset or recovery.
There is the whole OmapLink thread that describes how to unbrick an NST.
Here is the middle of the thread, you might need to read before and after:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/nook-touch/general/root-nook-glowlight-t2853056/page6
I did a factory reset and the nook is at startup screen with the NEXT button, which obviously can’t be pressed. So the touch issue is definitely “hardware-related “. Few days back I travelled to a hot and humid place , carrying my nook and the soft rubber part in the front of the bezel, started coming of. No matter how much I clean the bezel , this time touch isn’t coming back. I am wondering whether there’s any way to disassemble and readjust the ir sensor for touch.
Renate NST said:
The problems are either dirt on the bezel or the bezel/filter/display coming unglued.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's stuck together with the standard super-double-stick tape.
It's hypersensitive to the slightest bending up or down of any of the layers.
Without ADB and diagnostics (like Touch-1.0.apk) it's impossible to figure out which bit of the edge is out of whack.
It sounds like you only have two options:
Get the hardware console working with a 1.8V level shifter and a UART.
(Easy for me, may not be easy for you.)
Use OmapLink to boot an image that has ADB running (like Noogie or CWMR)
and enable ADB on your main image.
I remember rooting it in 2012 with some image burned on my SD card. Is there a way to again root with the help of an SD card without involving touching the screen with adb enabled rom. That way I can install the diagnostic app and dismantle it to prob further.
Sorry, it's been so long that I forget all this stuff.
Yeah, if you put Noogie on an SD card, I believe that it will boot from there.
With the OmapLink and Windows 10 it can be a bear sometimes to get the three (all the same) drivers working.
Windows 10 is really crappy on recognizing/capturing USB devices that appear briefly.
I can't get W10 to see 0451/d00e
My Raspberry Pi grabs it immediately:
Code:
[ 60.061477] usb 1-1.3: new high-speed USB device number 4 using dwc_otg
[ 60.202744] usb 1-1.3: New USB device found, idVendor=0451, idProduct=d00e
[ 60.202756] usb 1-1.3: New USB device strings: Mfr=33, Product=37, SerialNumber=0
[ 60.202766] usb 1-1.3: Product: OMAP3630
[ 60.202774] usb 1-1.3: Manufacturer: Texas Instruments
[ 63.348937] usb 1-1.3: USB disconnect, device number 4
It appears for 3 seconds from a cold power up, that's too quick for W10 to do anything.
I saw a video on YouTube on screen replacement, with complete disassembly and assembly. Opened the nst , took out the screen from the bezel (keeping the screen and the aluminium metal frame intact, too much sticky tape there), wiped everything clean, reassembled everything back. Still the same problem. I am wondering, even if I somehow get to install and run the diagnostic app, what kind of hardware alterations we need to do. Since the infrared touch LEDs are on the back of the motherboard, what kind of alignment would be necessary.
Is it to the metal frame or the plastic bezel, do we need to tinker?
Did you use new tape?
I think that everything has to be really tight and old tape seems to leave gaps.
There is also the possibility that the MSP340 has lost its mind.
I'll have to look at my oldest NST.
I haven't detached the screen from the metal frame. But the screen attachment to the front bezel seems to be attached to a plastic ribbon which was partially coming out of the front frame. It was sticky so I reattached the screen/metal frame back to it the front plastic part. Now when I see the screen up front, the bezel space/gap between the screen and the black plastic part is uneven. I don't thing that can be repaired as the front black part is disintegrating. Three of my four page turn buttons are no more attached to the frame, I have kept them there with tape.
Well, I completely cleaned with Goo-Be-Gone and isopropyl alcohol the bezel, the filter and the display.
I redid everything with 4mm Tesa film: https://www.microcenter.com/product/507366/tesa-double-sided-tape-4-mm-wide
The horizontal spans (except for the corners) are good, the vertical spans are still problematical.
You can lightly press and warp the bezel and things go in and out.
I think that I'm throwing in the towel on this one.
Reasons to dump the NST: Android 2.1, 256M RAM, OMAP3621 not being further developed by B&N
Reasons to keep the NST: Only Nook with a bare eInk (no backlight layer, no capacitive layer)
Don’t know about the filter, but the bezel looks very fragile to handle. I also believe that the time has come to retire it. But what I liked the most about nst was it’s screen and ability to side load books via wifi. I had gmail and opera mini installed on it. All I needed was to send a link to gmail to download the book, after the Dropbox support was gone. I am searching for a similar ebook reader. Can’t decide between Kindle paper white(which is available locally) and nook glow light 3(which has to be imported). Any suggestions welcome.
Well, the "filter" or "lens" or "light pipe" is what I'm calling the flimsy green translucent piece.
I've never even looked at the Kindles. I don't want to get involved with that whole ecosystem.
The Glow3 is physically almost the same as the NST.
I've got enough devices with browsers on them.
I use my Nooks with WiFi off and sync with USB (ADB & AdbSync).
I just noticed the s pen tip and floating pointer on screen are always off by 2mm. This occurred on both my ATT and T-mobile note 3 so it is not an isolated case. Anyone else experienced this issue? What is your fix?
Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk 4
Same problem here, no fix yet
onyxogen said:
Same problem here, no fix yet
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for confirming this. I wonder why they don't have a digitizer calibration feature in setting like Windows?
From a technology point of view, due to the way the S Pen works, it should not require calibration
In laymen's terms, think of capacitive touchscreens, which do not require calibration, the first reason is because capacitive touch sensors always have auto calibration, the second reason is that your screen is divided into multiple rows and columns, so even if a measurement is wrong by 10%, that 10% over a small area is not really noticeable
With the old resistive touchscreen technology, calibration is required, because the screen is one gigantic resistor and 10% error in measurement means a error that is as big as 10% of your screen size. Also resistive touchscreens are constructed with two layers and these layers get bent, and wear out over time.
The S Pen technology is elecromagnetic, and it also sort of uses multiple rows and columns ("Under the tablet's surface (or LCD in the case of the Cintiq) is a printed circuit board with a grid of multiple send/receive coils and a magnetic reflector attached behind the grid array."), thus, it is similar to capacitive touchscreens in the sense that measurement errors are usually unnoticeable by the user.
Thus why nobody implemented calibration
If I were you, I'd exchange the phone for a new one if possible.
I have the feeling this is an issue with newer builds of touchwiz. On the note 8 once it was updated to 4.2.2 the pen was accuracy became offset. The only fix to it as of now is running a custom kernel that fixed the accuracy. Hopefully we get a similar fix soon from xda and of course an official fix from Samsung.
Sent from my GT-N5110 using Tapatalk 4
I think this is a design feature. If you change it to left handed operation the pointer will be 2mm off to the right instead of the left. I recall this being so you can see the dot instead of being obscured by your own hand and pen. This was the same on my Note 2.
This should only apply to the pointer though, not to an actual touch.
EDIT: THIS WAS SO ON MY NOTE 2, but upon checking it is not so on my NOTE 3. My pen dot lines up perfectly.
I know this is an old thread, but there are always new owners to an old device.
If you have an SGH-I467 (AT&T) version with 4.4.2, the right/left hand dominant switch is not available. The workaround would be turning your tablet upside down with the auto rotate enabled so that your app would be right side up again. What you achieve here is moving the pointer from under your nib, if you are right handed, to the other side where you can see it so that you know where to drop down your pen to start drawing.
>I know this is an old thread, but there are always new owners to an old device.
If you have an SGH-I467 (AT&T).
But this is not the forum for that model .
Hi,
I have recently bough a Nook Simple Touch with Glowlight (BNRV350). Used, no guarantee. It looks fine (has only a minor scratch on the light dispersing layer). Problem is - the lower half of the touch sensors give misplaced readings. For example - during the registration process I cannot get through the language selection screen. I can correctly mark English, but when I want to press an arrow to go further, Nook changes my mark to French, instead of getting me to the next screen. Cleaning borders of the screen with microfiber cloth and cotton swabs did not help.
I have another NSTG working fine, so:
1. I tried to copy its stock system backup and loading it to malfunctioning one. It didn't help. I could not even unlock the screen (although I could press "power off" or "cancel" buttons after holding power button).
2. I tried swapping mainboards (IR sensors are on them, not in the screen assembly). And It turned out, that wherever mainboard of the faulty unit is, the touch does not work properly. I tried to blow out the dust from those misbehaving sensors hoping that it just somehow got on the motherboard, but it did not help either.
So the question is: What else can I do to make those IR sensors work properly?
Thanks in advance for looking into the problem!
(Sorry for my English, I'm used to reading, not to expressing my thoughts with it.)
Maybe try to look on the sensors with a cellphone camera in dark room-then probably you will see which of the ir leds aren't working (if the problem is in leds not the sensors)
Sent from my Lenovo P780 using Tapatalk
Unfortunately I couldn't find any camera able (tried mobile phone, point'n'shoot, DSLR...) to detect IR in their stock configuration (and messing up with disassembling the sensor filters seemed as not worth the case). I ended up buying another NSTG with shattered eink screen and salvaging its properly working mainboard (+completely fine battery, all for about $7). Problem solved. Kind of.
If you are having problems with the touch screen try using the app posted here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=52723066#post52723066
It may give you insight into where the problem is.
It will help us get an idea of where problems are occurring.
Thank You. I've read about Your program, but since I could not even unlock the screen or get past registration wizard (when trying to get that unit to factory state) I was unable to use it.
The Menu button (when you mapped) gets past the swipe.
You can start stuff with ADB intents.