All Sensors are Disabled - OnePlus 6T Questions & Answers

Ok quick story first:
My 6t was exposed to a bit of water. Wasn't a lot, (not completely submerged) but water did manage to get inside. As soon as that happened, (while the phone was still on) every sensor on the device almost just ceased to exist (ambient light, proximity, gyroscope, etc. Later, the phone started to prevent itself from booting which lasted until it dried (boot animation would show for a bit before the screen went black. but recovery and fastboot mode worked fine). I opened up the device and took out the motherboard and dried everything out. upon putting everything back together, still all sensors don't work. I even used msm tool to reset everything possible back to stock. still no sensors. The device doesn't even recognize that it has any sensors. In fact, the output of "adb shell dumpsys sensorservice" returns:
"No Sensors on the device
devInitCheck : 0"
in the sensors multitool app, the only things that show up are battery, gps, and wifi. Nothing else shows up in the hamburger menu list.
Is there any way to restore the sensors functionality? my guess is that the water triggered some sort of switch that turned them all off. There's no way that ALL of them got water damaged to the point of not even being recognized by the phone that they exist?
Other than this, the phone is in perfect operating condition. Everything inside and out looks in great condition and there is no weird behavior. screen works, speakers work, microphones work, cameras work, vibration motor works, buttons and alert slider works, etc.
Please, any insights into this situation are MUCH appreciated. Thanks!

You need to disconnect the battery and completely dry it, now.
The device if not already permanently damaged will be, sooner then latter...

blackhawk said:
You need to disconnect the battery and completely dry it, now.
The device if not already permanently damaged will be, sooner then latter...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well thats the thing. i already did disconnect the battery and dry it out. but if it was permanently damaged how come it is every single sensor and nothing else? wouldn't it make more sense if only some of the sensors were damaged? and if a sensor or two was damaged wouldn't it be likely that something else got damaged too? however thats not that case. Every single sensor is just completely gone as if they were all disconnected/removed from the phone entirely (as opposed to present but not working correctly). Thats why physical damage just doesn't seem likely to be what happened.

How did you dry it out?

blackhawk said:
How did you dry it out?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i completely disconnected and removed the motherboard out from the phone and let it air dry alongside the rest of the device with a fan blowing on it

Riley.davies2716 said:
i completely disconnected and removed the motherboard out from the phone and let it air dry alongside the rest of the device with a fan blowing on it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How long?
The BGA chipsets may not have dried out. The solder pads are underneath...
One reason I recommended using the drying agent anhydrous isopropyl alcohol... with care.
Then heat plus fan for 72 hours.

blackhawk said:
How long?
The BGA chipsets may not have dried out. The solder pads are underneath...
One reason I recommended using the drying agent anhydrous isopropyl alcohol... with care.
Then heat plus fan for 72 hours.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It was only a bit more than overnight, so I guess I could try for longer :/
However, it has already been over 2 days since the incident so I would have thought everything would have dried out by now.

Riley.davies2716 said:
It was only a bit more than overnight, so I guess I could try for longer :/
However, it has already been over 2 days since the incident so I would have thought everything would have dried out by now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it gets under the chipsets it going to take a lot longer than that. A temperature of 100F or so would help as would the anhydrous isopropyl alcohol. Also sit on edge rather than flat.

ok. I should also mention that when I would try to boot up the phone, it seemed like it would take just a little bit longer to boot than usual. not sure how or if it's related but that's what I noticed.

Riley.davies2716 said:
ok. I should also mention that when I would try to boot up the phone, it seemed like it would take just a little bit longer to boot than usual. not sure how or if it's related but that's what I noticed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it's still wet you don't want power applied; electrolysis and accelerated corrosion may occur. If that happens on a BGA chipset and damages a pad by shorting it out or causing an open circuit there's no practical way to repair it.

I guess it really was leftover water. I let the motherboard dry out in the sun, then put it all back together again. Immediately I noticed that it boots a lot quicker now (like it used to) and now all the sensors register (and work as they should).
So at the end of all of this I am left with much the same suspicions as I had when the issue arouse. There must be some sort of contacts on the board that disable all the sensors (to prevent further damage) when they have continuity, like in the case of water. There might also be another pair of contacts that prevents the whole OS from booting like I initially experienced with the phone shutting off mid-boot like I explained earlier.
So I guess what I got out of this (and for anyone else in the future with similar issues) is that whatever it is that isn't turning on, it's probably not damaged. Instead, it's probably just disabling itself as a safety measure to prevent further damage and will work normally once all water is completely dried. The best you can do is to dry out all the water as quickly as possible, and don't use your device until then.

Riley.davies2716 said:
I guess it really was leftover water. I let the motherboard dry out in the sun, then put it all back together again. Immediately I noticed that it boots a lot quicker now (like it used to) and now all the sensors register (and work as they should).
So at the end of all of this I am left with much the same suspicions as I had when the issue arouse. There must be some sort of contacts on the board that disable all the sensors (to prevent further damage) when they have continuity, like in the case of water. There might also be another pair of contacts that prevents the whole OS from booting like I initially experienced with the phone shutting off mid-boot like I explained earlier.
So I guess what I got out of this (and for anyone else in the future with similar issues) is that whatever it is that isn't turning on, it's probably not damaged. Instead, it's probably just disabling itself as a safety measure to prevent further damage and will work normally once all water is completely dried. The best you can do is to dry out all the water as quickly as possible, and don't use your device until then.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yay.
It may still fail in the future though.
Water damage to electronics and electrical systems like a car's is insidious. I do not use the word insidious lightly or as an exaggeration here.
There's absolutely no internal circuit water protection. The C ports have external water protection on most models now though.

Related

Dropped my Jasjar inside a WC :( Please advice

It happend while I was taking my cloths off for taking a bath
I dropped it inside our WC and my 2GB SD Card was gone far away inside that damn WC and never found it
I tried to pull out the battery but I couldn't pull that damn battery out for 5 min.
Anfter 5 hours drying with a hair dryer I put the battery and other stuff back and there was NO life After pushing the softreset hole some 10-20 times and putting it to charge there was a little life back some blue lines at the screen.
Now after 5 more hours it starts, but after some resets (some times there is only blue lines) and when it starts it freezez very much...
Should I send it for repairing?
Does the worranty covers it? (I bought it from Internet)
Would reflashing help?
Please advice...
tbh, I would have left it to dry normally in a warm place for 24 hrs before even considering to power it up, as (not 100% certain) I think the hairdryer creates static, which could damage the electronics inside, plus, you can't guarantee that it will have dried it out completely, which means, when you started it up, it could have still been damp in the middle and damaged something.
does it look like it has been water damaged? if not, then your best bet would be to not mention that fact, and just say it has suddenly started being funny, not booting up and freezing alot.
I doubt a reflash will fix it, but it is something for nothing, so worth a shot, however long it is.
*edit* if the company won't replace it, you could try your house insurance...
Thanks alot for the reply wytey,
I think there is something damaged, becouse when I soft reset it after freezing there comes a couple of times a light blue screen with blue and white lines...after soft reseting 3-4 times again it loads normaly again but freezez after 5-10 mins again
I was soo happy with my Jasjar >:'(
Your device has been damaged by water.
This is not covered by warranty.
It might not be covered by any insurrance you might have through your service provider.
You may be able to get it covered under home insurrance.
There isn't a case for a wet PDA. But I've read a recent article of getting back a Linksys router that has been soaked wet by rain water. See the real life experience here
http://www.grynx.com/index.php/projects/salvage-your-device-after-liquid-spill/1/
Probably you can do the same?
I dropped my Wizard in the bath, took out the battery and let it dry for about a day or so. Evrything works just fine.. So you should have dry it for over a day or more to be shure no water is left in it
Very timely.
http://www.lifehacker.com/software/hardware/save-your-electronics-from-spilled-liquid-150085.php
V
Thanks for replies guys,
Usefull article, but I think it's too late now, I couldn't take out the battery for 5 mins, then how to open the device and clean the components/circute
Can they prove it if I don't mention water?
Home insurrance would be a big lie, but who cares they get money from me every month (what to say to them? stolen? bropped in water?)
Thanks again for your times guys
I may be wrong , but I beleive there is an "indicator" in most modern equipment that shows up if there has been any water damage
anyone who knows how to repair phones and look at pcb boards etc. will KNOW right away that it has been water damaged. Impossible to hide (unless you yourself are also a technician).
I know because I own a phone repair shop and have been doing repairs for a lot of years.
One of the IC may be damaged, so when your device starts to get warm (as you said 5-10 mins) it cannot hold the power.
Just think yourself lucky that it's only an IC and not a CPU.
E-mail me on [email protected] if you need more help and advice
hb328_dtdd said:
anyone who knows how to repair phones and look at pcb boards etc. will KNOW right away that it has been water damaged. Impossible to hide (unless you yourself are also a technician).
I know because I own a phone repair shop and have been doing repairs for a lot of years.
One of the IC may be damaged, so when your device starts to get warm (as you said 5-10 mins) it cannot hold the power.
Just think yourself lucky that it's only an IC and not a CPU.
E-mail me on [email protected] if you need more help and advice
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
THanks alot for the info hb328_dtdd
If it's an IC, is it hard to repair it? how much would it cost me?
thanks
I (or whoever you decide to check the device) will have to open the unit up and clean out the residue of water and then do thorough tests first, it may not be an IC problem, even if it is an IC problem it may not actually be broken and will work again after cleaning and sonic waves passed through it.
Depending on which IC is broken and how hard it is to replace it, and also if it has caused any other side effects to the other chips, the repair in theory should not cost too much at all as it does not seem serious (from what I read from your post anyway).
E-mail me with more description of the problem and I will try and give you some tips to get it running, if that fails then you can decide whether to send it away or take it to local engineer to repair.
Hope this helps
the Gadget (Ch 5 UK )show did a piece on stuff getting wet. I htink they all came back to life one way or another but the were left to dry slowly I think for a day or 2. so you could hold out for live in the thing yet?
I hate the fact that Dopod 900 is very slippery, don't you think? I'm looking for a rubber casing like the one for O2 and Ipod.
Dopod 900 enclosure is too slippery, I'm so worry I may drop it too.
I am selling some Pocket PCs and this happened to two of my customers. But the device was an Ipaq 37XX and 38XX.
Both devices I put on a warm place and left there for 4 days. Then after this I powered them up. The Ipaq 37XX had only a bad LCD light, which was flickering sometimes and was not bright. the 38XX worked good again.
Anywasys, you need to check your device and have it cleaned. The biggest problem is the fact that there is so little space between smd mounted chips and the PCB that the water stays in between never drying and makes the metal rust. I had this experience with a cell phone already.
So you can try following:
(1) pay for cleaning and repair
or
(2) try to get it guarantee exchanged, which is also possible as for a pocket pc the technicians normally do not check for water damage. But if you have bad luck, somebody will notice this and you get nothing replaced.
I managed the same thing a while ago with my Xda2, and the symptoms were pretty much the same when it first happened (random lines and 'blotches' across the screen, freezing)..
Without haste, I removed the battery, sd card and mopped up any moisture from inside the battery compartment.. placed it in a warm place in an attempt to evaporate the moisture from the device. I left it for 24 hours before powering the device back up.
It DID work afterwards and I was a bit suprised and relieved at its resilience to liquid.
The important thing is to make sure the board and pins of the chips are not shorted by liquid, if you cannot get to the board, evaporation in a warm place is probably your best bet...Just watch out how you apply heat for the sake of the screen (and possibly the keys on the exec).
I dropped my XDA II into a canal and managed to save it. The problem is the water can't evaporate easily. I took the battery off and put it on a radiator. It took 7 days to finally dry out! It worked ok though.
You probably still have water in yours, so I would recommend putting it on a radiator or somewhere hot and just leaving it. You haven't got anything to lose
After almost 2 days inside the radiator it still has the same freezing/dying problem I thinks something is damaged inside ((( And now I can't find any electronic service in Denmark who can repare it
just because it's dry doesn't mean it fix itself, people often mistake this. Sometimes people get their phones to WORK after it's DRY but little do they know what is really happening inside the phone each time they power it back on and the residue is still there inside the phone lurking in the spaces between the pcb and the chips.
no matter what anyone says, I always tell people the same thing:
YOU MUST GET IT PROFESSIONALLY FIXED
My suggestion and this has never failed me yet.
1. After being dropped in liquid, DO NOT SWITCH ON - This is where most of the real damage will occur. If it is/was switched on remove battery as quickly as possible.
2. Strip down and remove any thing you can do easily, covers, sd card, stylus, sim, battery.
3. Waste a whole aerosol of switch cleaner, squirt it anywhere and everywhere you possibly can, literally fill it up with the stuff so it is pouring out of every hole. Do NOT use WD40, it must be electrical switch cleaner that will leave no residue at all!
4. Allow as much as possible of the switch cleaner to drip out and then allow it to dry, do not force dry with a hair dryer and even a radiator is too harsh. I find airing cupboard where the hot water tank is is the best place.
5. Leave at least 48 hours before putting everything back together and switching on, if it does not work straight away, strip it down again and leave another 24 hours, keep repeating for 7 days.
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=27515&criteria=switch cleaner&doy=29m1
Good luck!

Fixing the Touch Display

hey everyone.
Through a random episode in the rain, my phone was soaked in water.
I have all the buttons working, except for the touch display.
It doesn't respond to anything when I touch the screen (Finger or stylus).
Any suggestions on getting it to work again? It was working before, not anymore .
Was it operated while wet?
If so, it may be fried.
If you are VERY lucky, it just got gunked up when the water hit all the crud that inevitably collects beneath the buttons and other cracks between the case edges.
Turn it off, remove the battery.
Open the case and disassemble it (the more thorough you are here, the better your results will be).
Take a blow-dryer to EVERYTHING for a good solid hour at its highest setting (or until your blow dryer quits heating air).
With some isopropyl alcohol and a cotton swab, carefully clean away anything that doesn't belong there. Keep checking for streaks. Streaks mean there's still more gunk to remove.
When you are done cleaning it, wait at least 24 hours before buttoning it back together. It needs to be bone dry. If it's humid in your area, dig through old gadget boxes, jerky bags, etc. and find as many desiccant packets you can, dropping them in a box with the phone parts overnight.
Reassemble and turn it back on. If it survived, it will work fine. If not, you'll probably be able to sell the parts here...
.
Sounds good,
but all the other buttons work 100%
It's just the Touch screen (the display itself works), doesn't accept any input.'
Otherwise, SmartKey 1-handed operation is saving my life at the moment lol.
shadezero said:
It's just the Touch screen (the display itself works), doesn't accept any input.'
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, you might get away with just checking the connections between the screen and the main circuitry, but I'd still do the cleaning, to prevent any increase in problems. Water in phones = never a good idea. (Duh, right?)

AT&T powers off after drop

I have been using AT&T 8525 for about 5 months now. Dropped it in office a week back and it was on an uncarpetted surface. No external damage but it powered off. I had to try for a while to power it on but eventually it did power on.
Since this event it just powers off on its own. Right now, even minor jerks cause it to shut down. When you pull the phone out of your pocket after a while, it has already shut down!!! Took it for repair to a local cell phone repair assuming it might have some connector damage but they could not figure out the problem. They opened it, cleaned the interiors (as it had dust build up) and according to them everything appeared normal.
What would you guys recommend? It is running Schaps 4.30. I see that HTC has a repair service in US.....had anyone tried that?
Sounds like battery might be a little bit loose... Jam something in behind the battery to make sure of constant connection... You're not the first with this complaint. The battey terminals may have been bent back just enough to cause this intermittant problem, especially when it gets jolted, the battery disconnects from the teminals causing an automatic shutdown due to no power.. Just thank god you didn't break the terminals off. Sometimes can be fixed but if the break is at board level, you may as well sell it off on ebay for parts because its just about impossible to fix then.
Cheers...
Very smart ultramag!! Your reply made me think what I did after it fell down. At that time I did think that the battery was loose as it was running when on active syn (powered by laptop) but not when I removed the cord. I did turn the terminals a bit and it powered on after few attempts (the drop must have given the circuitry some shock to recover after sometime).
I have jammed a paper on the side of the battery opposite the battery terminal. Will report back in a day or two if it still gives any problems. That should help others with the same problem.
Also this event has taught me that invisible shield (the plastic shield that we stick on) perhaps may not be the best protection. Case is a must to absorb the shock!
ok the problem still continues despite sticking a paper on the battery side (opp the terminal). I do believe that the battery was part of the problem. Before sticking in the paper, it used to give me a Red LED for few seconds when I attempted charging and then turned to amber. Now that problem is not there....it turns to amber right away on plugging in the device.
So part of the problem is addressed but the Hermes still powers down on its own when subject to minimum shock (in your pockets and you are walking around in the office or driving a car). What do you suggest? Should I send it in to HTC? Are they good about addressing repair issues?
... and yet I think it probably is the contacts as suggested above. It may be that it's a little more than just the contacts not pressing firmly on the battery though. There have been cases where a fall has actually broken/cracked the solder joints between the contacts and the board. A trickier thing to fix unless you have some skills in that direction.
Mike
AT&T powers off after drop - HTC's take on the situation
Ok so here is HTC's evaluation of the situation.
They want to change the main board (mother-board I guess). In addition, though the phone is just 4 months old (was purchased refurb from AT&T) and has barely any scratches, they would replace the casing, the keyboard and the structure that holds the keyboard and LCD. And they would ONLY charge me $272. Isn't that ridicuously amazing??
To me it seems they can't figure out what the hell is going on, so lets just go ahead and replace a bunch of things and one of them should be a hit.
I have asked them to send the phone back. Mike, do you think the main-board could be the issue? Any recommendations of who I could try for repair.....or what I should ask the repair guy to look into to find out if the main board is the issue or not?
Only $272??? Good God! That lot would cost you around $450 if it were fixed at HTC UK!!
If the drop caused cracking internally then that may be why they want to replace the rest. if there are known defects that are not repaired, they cannot guarantee the repair and so will not do it at all if you do not agree to the whole thing.
of course, you could be right and they have no clue and simply want to replace everything and hope something gets fixed....
Don't PPCtechs also do repairs on that side of the pond?

Stuck in fastboot with Device Status Locked after dropping in Water. Tried everything

Hi guys, I have dropped my phone in water and now I am stuck in fastboot mode with Device Status as Locked. I have tried every possible things, followed (https://forum.xda-developers.com/oneplus-3t/how-to/unbrick-unbrick-tutorial-oneplus-3t-t3515306) as well as (http://www.androidbrick.com/unbrick-oneplus-one-two-3-3t-qualcomm-hs-usb-qdloader-9008/) after doing all steps my phone again comes to fastboot mode and I can not access recovery mode. Can any one please help me. Thanks.
Time for a one plus 5
Did you disassemble it to dry the components? Water contains minerals, some of them are conductive. Unless these parts got cleaned with e.g. alcohol, there's a chance that you still have currents flowing where they should not. Usually you can't do that much damage to PCB etc. with water, but connectors etc. really don't like what is left when the pure water has evaporated.
dreinulldrei said:
Did you disassemble it to dry the components? Water contains minerals, some of them are conductive. Unless these parts got cleaned with e.g. alcohol, there's a chance that you still have currents flowing where they should not. Usually you can't do that much damage to PCB etc. with water, but connectors etc. really don't like what is left when the pure water has evaporated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good advice. Denatured alcohol leaves few conductive impurities behind, so is a good cleaning and evaporative solution.
Also a good idea to disconnect your battery while cleaning.
dreinulldrei said:
Did you disassemble it to dry the components? Water contains minerals, some of them are conductive. Unless these parts got cleaned with e.g. alcohol, there's a chance that you still have currents flowing where they should not. Usually you can't do that much damage to PCB etc. with water, but connectors etc. really don't like what is left when the pure water has evaporated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bro but I can go in fastboot mode and can complete the process in Msmdownloadtool v3.0. However, after it shows "Download complete" my phone again boots to fastboot mode with device locked status. Is it possible that their might be some water left in my phone which is not allowing me to unbrick? (I am not a guy who can understand hardware so I am afraid to open it) Thanks.
If you have toothache, you got to a dentist. If you don't know how to open a phone and are afraid to do so, go see someone who can. It was in water, so it needs to be taken care of as it's not working as expected. You've lost your warranty anyway, so my best guess would be to open it up before sending it back to have it repaired.
dreinulldrei said:
If you have toothache, you got to a dentist. If you don't know how to open a phone and are afraid to do so, go see someone who can. It was in water, so it needs to be taken care of as it's not working as expected. You've lost your warranty anyway, so my best guess would be to open it up before sending it back to have it repaired.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, I went to repair shop and he removed water with isopropyl alcohol. (charged me $50) but refused to work on software part. I have tried MSMdownloadTool but even after "download complete" my phone boots in Fastboot mode only.

Seem to have fixed my screen issues.... by playing Mario Kart

My S7 (G930F) has had screen issues that are fairly typical to the model. When it gets a bit cold, the bottom three quarters of the screen go dim, then pink streaks start to appear from the bottom as it gets worse.
This can be be fixed to a certain extent by disabling auto-brightness, then turning the brightness down until the screen looks normal again. Once the brightness is even across the whole screen, it can be turned back up again a little. Sometimes rebooting it helps.
It's been happening very regularly, and it's been so bad that if I'm outdoors in daylight, I need to turn the brightness down to the point where it's hard to see the screen. Even at a comfortable room temperature, it's likely to happen if the brightness is up high. The screen is usually going weird in the morning too, when I first pick it up, until it warms up a little.
As I understand it, it's caused by a bad solder joint somewhere on the screen assembly. It gets cold, the solder contracts a little, enough to cause a bad connection.
Anyway, last weekend I was playing Mario Kart Tour online for quite a while, to the point where the phone was really warm in my hands. Now, ever since, I've not had any screen problems at all. I've had auto-brightness turned on the whole time, it's definitely been exposed to low temperatures, down to maybe 5 Celsius. It was cold to the touch this morning, and it was fine. All the conditions where it would usually happen, the screen has been fine, all week, even with the brightness slider all the way up full for extended periods.
I'm guessing what's happened is similar to the crude but effective trick of fixing a faulty PlayStation 3 by putting the motherboard in the oven for a while, or blasting it with a heat gun, except in this case I've baked the phone from the inside.
A relatively graphically demanding game, played online, constantly processing touch and gyroscope input, means that everything that can get hot has got hot. GPU, CPU, radio. The copper heat dissipation pipe inside has spread the heat across the back of the screen assembly, et voila, the bad solder joint has been cooked just enough to make a better connection.
I guess that like baking a PS3 motherboard, it will ultimately be a temporary fix, but it will be interesting to see how long it works for, and if it will work again if the problems start again.
No. You didn't fix anything, you just avoided the problem temporarily. This also happened on my Galaxy S7 and it is due to a partial disconnection of the display flex. Over time, due to thermal expansion and compression the flex' contact becomes loose. When it becomes loose, it disconnects partially when the device cools down because the display and the motherboard contract and get away from each other increasing the distance between the display and the motherboard. If you keep your device hot at all times it will have a reduced lifespan. Don't.
Indeed, you repositioned your flex by heating your phone because it is loose and it sits just right, but at any moment it can come off again.
There is only one permanent fix. You need to take your back panel off and let the device cool to room temperature (important!)
After that, disconnect the display flex completely and then plug it again and push it just tight enough to make a firm contact. Your display should work perfectly now no matter the temperature.
Note that this will remove your IP68 water resistance, but you shouldn't get your phone near water anyways.
My phone has been opened up, all the connectors carefully cleaned with isopropyl alcohol, then firmly pushed back into place.
in fact my phone is made from spare parts. the screen was leftover from a friend's S7, after i replaced their screen for them. they had already had it fixed once while it was under warranty, and the screen problems ultimately started again.
i kept hold of the screen and paired it with a mainboard i had left over from another S7. i wanted to establish if the problem really was the screen assembly, if it was just bad connections, and if it still behaved in the same way with another mainboard.
the problem, in this case, is most definitely the screen assembly. it has displayed exactly the same problems with two different mainboards, after both myself and the warranty repair service had worked on it.
also, if you read what i said properly, you'll see i'm definitely not suggesting keeping it hot all the time as a solution. i'm saying that it got really hot ONCE, for maybe 40 minutes or so, and ever since, it's worked perfectly for the longest period of time i've ever known it to go for without the display going weird. it's been down to 5°c or maybe lower since, i live in rural wales, and it's autumn.
If you read what I said properly, you should know that what you did is just a workaround to keep the connector in the correct position temporarily moving it with thermal expansion, you definitely didn't reflow anything because RoHS solder only starts to soften at near 160°C, far beyond what the Exynos TMU will let anything in the board heat up before tripping and shutting the entire motherboard down.
If the problem persists then try putting a small piece of rolled electrical tape above the display connector to make some extra pressure against the board.
yeah "read what i said again properly" was an unnecessarily dickish choice of words on my part. i attribute that to replying before finishing my coffee
so would you say from experience that the issue where the bottom half/three quarters of the screen goes dull is pretty much always down to the display connector, and a little extra pressure holding it in place will stop it happening again? i have read conflicting reports, with a few attributing it to a bad solder joint in the screen assembly.
i'm not too worried about opening the phone up again, once the original adhesive has been removed and replaced with the third party pre-cut stuff, it's a bit easier to open it up again.
Mr Creosote said:
yeah "read what i said again properly" was an unnecessarily dickish choice of words on my part. i attribute that to replying before finishing my coffee
so would you say from experience that the issue where the bottom half/three quarters of the screen goes dull is pretty much always down to the display connector, and a little extra pressure holding it in place will stop it happening again? i have read conflicting reports, with a few attributing it to a bad solder joint in the screen assembly.
i'm not too worried about opening the phone up again, once the original adhesive has been removed and replaced with the third party pre-cut stuff, it's a bit easier to open it up again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay, no problem
We all get grumpy without our morning coffee, especially after fixing tens of AOSP build errors and having to restart our 7-hour build.
I had the exact same problem you had, the three bottom quarters of the display blacked out. I am pretty sure it is caused by a weak contact because, from observation alone the phone:
1. the connection restored itself when the phone became hot
2. after cooling down for a while, the display started to fail again
3. by artificially applying a CPU load, the phone heated and the display connector fell back into place connecting the bottom of the display and giving image.
4. the display NEVER flickered when it felt hot to my hands
Also, you mentioned that you exposed your phone to low temperatures so that might cause a cumulative effect over time on a loose display connector, I think they come kinda loose out of the factory or get loose after a few years. I myself opened up my phone with a hair dryer and a few guitar picks, it was hard and I ruined a student credential card but eventually I cooled down the phone so when I remade the contact it would keep itself together on a cold device. Then I detached the connector and voila, it came back to life and confirmed my observation. As a result, I got a free S7 for myself to upgrade from my Huawei P9. The display hasn't failed for me since.
On a second thought, you should probably avoid the electrical tape and use something that will resist higher temperatures without melting or being conductive. Or just avoid a shim altogether. I didn;t need one.
You are pretty much returning the connection to its factory state, keeping it nice and tight for more time.
Good luck, it was quite the learning experience for me and my first time repairing a phone.
I've got some adhesive foam pads that are meant for use inside electronics, I will cut one of those down to size and give it a try if my screen problems reappear.
After a couple of weeks, the screen problems started to reappear. They've never got as bad as they were before, i haven't had to turn the screen brightness down to the point where it was hard to see, but it has been getting worse and more regular. I've just taken the back off my phone, disconnected the screen connector and pushed it firmly back into place, and added a layer of adhesive foam to it. all seems fine at the moment, i will see how it gets on out on a walk in daylight with auto-brightness on.

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