I've got the phone completely apart as far as the tutorial, but I'm replacing the screen itself. Before I start REALLY pushing on it as it appears to just be stuck on, anyone have an idea how it's actually held in there?
Last edited by salinemist; February 25th, 2010 at 07:40 PM.
Got it apart, but it's really glued on there. If you plan reusing the same screen, be careful not to snap off the circuit board attached to it, it has to slide through a slot in the bottom of the casing. Start from the bottom opposite the board then go up that side, to the top, and then back down.
Everything is back together, but still touchscreen functionality. :-(
Last edited by salinemist; February 25th, 2010 at 08:20 PM.
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What a great post. Like Salinemist, I was replacing my glass and it was super-hard to get out. There was no way it was all coming out in one piece, so I broke it (beyond the initial damage that caused me to replace it) into smaller pieces so I could lift them out.
The replacement screen came with all the necessary tools, and I had my Hero up and running in a little less than an hour! Saline, I'm not sure why your touchscreen doesn't work...did you make sure all the connections were made before closing it back up?
The initial problem was water damage after *very* briefly dropping it in a little bit of slush. I'm going to take it all apart today and wash all of the circuit boards and connectors in denatured alcohol, let it dry, and then put it back together.
After it got wet (nothing appeared to get inside) it worked great for about an hour then the touchscreen slowly stopped working. At that point I took the battery out and started troubleshooting.
I have to fix this to keep my record of fixing water damaged phones at 100%. :-)
It took a while to ship from Hong Kong to where I live around Baltimore (15 days), but like I said before...the part was good quality and they shipped all the necessary tools with it.
I took it apart again here at work and rinsed all of the circuit boards with 100% isopropyl and _gently_ brushed them to get them clean. I let it dry and then finished with a blow dry from some compressed air.
It works perfectly except I got a little alcohol in the LCD. It _should_ dry out and the dark spots will go away as I've seen before in other LCD's. If not it's still usable in the meantime and a replacement LCD is a cheap and easy fix.
Thanks to everyone on the thread for the info and I hope this is helpful. :-)
Does anyXeone who's taken their phone apart if there are screws to tighten up tbe silver plate where the keys are. Mine is loose slightly loose and I think that's causing creaky keys. I don't think I want to take a chance on getting a refurb.
Got it apart, but it's really glued on there. If you plan reusing the same screen, be careful not to snap off the circuit board attached to it, it has to slide through a slot in the bottom of the casing. Start from the bottom opposite the board then go up that side, to the top, and then back down.
Everything is back together, but still touchscreen functionality. :-(
Did you happen to take pictures of this? I've taken mine apart and have a helluva time getting the lcd back in without seeing dust *somewhere* I applied a small bead of tacky glue around the metal edge of the lcd before reseating and that seems to be doing an effective job preventing any new dust in; but, I'd love to take the glass (touchscreen) out of the phone and seal the two together before replacing in the top half if that's possible.
Did you happen to take pictures of this? I've taken mine apart and have a helluva time getting the lcd back in without seeing dust *somewhere* I applied a small bead of tacky glue around the metal edge of the lcd before reseating and that seems to be doing an effective job preventing any new dust in; but, I'd love to take the glass (touchscreen) out of the phone and seal the two together before replacing in the top half if that's possible.
I'm now having problems with dust and my g-sensor not working, so I'm going to take it back apart and see what I can do. Anyone have any idea what the sensor looks like or where it is? I imagine I still have some gunk from the slush on the board near it.
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from what i'm reading, the screen has some type of adhesive or something - is this correct? ...has there been a common agreement on what is best to clean the screen? is an air duster the best way?
from what i'm reading, the screen has some type of adhesive or something - is this correct? ...has there been a common agreement on what is best to clean the screen? is an air duster the best way?
I just used a microfiber cloth and that worked fine. The phone looks new again. I might even open it back up again and change the trackball color.
...open it back up again and change the trackball color.
Do it! How would you do it without causing problems though? You'd have to use a special paint or something so it won't rub off in the trackball assembly thing... maybe simply take out the trackball and let it soak like a day or two in a solution of ink and water or something so that the ball actually absorbs some color and gives it translucent color instead of a blotted out solid color. In theory this would be cool..... try looking up something on that.
I just wanted to thank you for the DIY. I dropped my phone in the toilet last night and followed these instructions while drying with a mircofiber towel and canned air. Phone booted up fine this morning and it working great. Such a relief!
The replacement screen came with all the necessary tools, and I had my Hero up and running in a little less than an hour! Saline, I'm not sure why your touchscreen doesn't work...did you make sure all the connections were made before closing it back up?
Where did you buy the replacement screen? I dropped mine and broke the LCD. Touchscreen functions ok though. A link would be great. Thanks
I'm now having problems with dust and my g-sensor not working, so I'm going to take it back apart and see what I can do. Anyone have any idea what the sensor looks like or where it is? I imagine I still have some gunk from the slush on the board near it.
I'll take some pictures this time.
Well what did you find out...?
My wife dropped her Hero in the toilet today.. (TWO Weeks OLD!!!)...
She said it continued to work for a while, then started acting as you described...
I have it apart now.....
I have her battery in MY phone.. it seems to be working okay....
I used compressed air to get rid of all the water I can find....
Hopefully this will do the trick and I can get her phone working again....
I figured you used the denatured alchohol to get rid of the sugar residue from your slush.... right? since this was water.. I'm inclined to not do that step... ??
Well what did you find out...?
My wife dropped her Hero in the toilet today.. (TWO Weeks OLD!!!)...
She said it continued to work for a while, then started acting as you described...
I have it apart now.....
I have her battery in MY phone.. it seems to be working okay....
I used compressed air to get rid of all the water I can find....
Hopefully this will do the trick and I can get her phone working again....
I figured you used the denatured alchohol to get rid of the sugar residue from your slush.... right? since this was water.. I'm inclined to not do that step... ??
I got it dried out and back together.... BUT.....
When I plug it in to a USB Port... The Orange LED lights up.. Ok.. good so far...
When I power it up... on USB or Battery....
The LCD turns on, and short vibrate occurs....
... The LCD remains on for ~4 seconds (Displaying HTC)
then it turns off... for about 4 seconds.....
then on for 4 secs, and off for 4 secs...
It seems like it will do this forever if I allow it.... only way to stop it is to remove the battery....
Well what did you find out...?
My wife dropped her Hero in the toilet today.. (TWO Weeks OLD!!!)...
She said it continued to work for a while, then started acting as you described...
I have it apart now.....
I have her battery in MY phone.. it seems to be working okay....
I used compressed air to get rid of all the water I can find....
Hopefully this will do the trick and I can get her phone working again....
I figured you used the denatured alchohol to get rid of the sugar residue from your slush.... right? since this was water.. I'm inclined to not do that step... ??
Based on my experience I would still wash the boards with denatured alcohol. Try not to take out the touchscreen or the LCD, your dust problems will get a lot worse (trust me). :-)
I have yet to lose a phone to water damage, from a Motorola I took in a hot tub to a LG I dropped in beer at a concert. Take it apart, wash it with alcohol and then get it as dry as possible. You may have some temporary spotting of the screen and you may need a new battery (once in my case) but IMHO that should fix it.
My phone is still working great, although in the past two days my SD card has stopped mounting and reports as broken, WTF? It's most likely the cheap ass microcenter one I have in there, we'll see.
I also had dust in the lower left corner of the screen and a big shop vac sucked it right out. No disassembly required.
Seriously?? My dust farm is ever expanding and in the same location. I have a large shop vac. Did you do something magic with it? Or are you yanking everyone's chain?
I am serious. It pulled about 80% of the dust out. I can see a tiny bit in the corner when the screen is black but once I turn it on I cant see any. I was a little nervous about sucking the silver button cover or trackball off but they seemed to stay put.
I am serious. It pulled about 80% of the dust out. I can see a tiny bit in the corner when the screen is black but once I turn it on I cant see any. I was a little nervous about sucking the silver button cover or trackball off but they seemed to stay put.
Cool! I am going to try this tonight. If I get ambitious I will take before/after photos.
Damn. Great tutorial, although anyone attempting this needs to make sure they take their SD card out. It will break.
I was fortunate enough to remember to take out the card, and got it apart fairly easily. A microfiber cloth I use to clean my glasses took care of all dust, and I also made sure to dust out the circuit boards with a can of air.
But as luck would have it, I cracked the front of the LCD; I guess I used a little too much force while prying it out. The display still works perfectly and there is no bleeding, so I only cracked the thin glass in front of it (not the main screen). It's up in the corner and not too noticeable when the screen is on, but I traded an excruciatingly annoying amount of dust for an only slightly less annoying crack. Anyone know where I can buy a replacement LCD? The link provided earlier in the thread was just for the front screen cover/digitizer. I found an LCD on that site, but it's for the European Hero.
Last edited by Electriophile; June 28th, 2010 at 05:40 PM.
Damn. Great tutorial, although anyone attempting this needs to make sure they take their SD card out. It will break.
I was fortunate enough to remember to take out the card, and got it apart fairly easily. A microfiber cloth I use to clean my glasses took care of all dust, and I also made sure to dust out the circuit boards with a can of air.
But as luck would have it, I cracked the front of the LCD; I guess I used a little too much force while prying it out. The display still works perfectly and there is no bleeding, so I only cracked the thin glass in front of it (not the main screen). It's up in the corner and not too noticeable when the screen is on, but I traded an excruciatingly annoying amount of dust for an only slightly less annoying crack. Anyone know where I can buy a replacement LCD? The link provided earlier in the thread was just for the front screen cover/digitizer. I found an LCD on that site, but it's for the European Hero.
I got it dried out and back together.... BUT.....
When I plug it in to a USB Port... The Orange LED lights up.. Ok.. good so far...
When I power it up... on USB or Battery....
The LCD turns on, and short vibrate occurs....
... The LCD remains on for ~4 seconds (Displaying HTC)
then it turns off... for about 4 seconds.....
then on for 4 secs, and off for 4 secs...
It seems like it will do this forever if I allow it.... only way to stop it is to remove the battery....
Now What!?!?
What happened, did you get it working? I did the same procedure today with a Samsung Instinct and so far it's working good.
I dropped my hero into the tub. Anyway, how long did you wait for it to dry? I got mine apart but don't know how long I should wait. Its been 2 hours apart so far. Is you're 100% working? Thanks.
I dropped my hero into the tub. Anyway, how long did you wait for it to dry? I got mine apart but don't know how long I should wait. Its been 2 hours apart so far. Is you're 100% working? Thanks.
Did you clean the boards with something? Do you just have it sitting out or have you blown it with compressed air? Mine works 100%, no problems other than a cracked trim ring around the USB port where I dropped it on concrete. :-)
Did you clean the boards with something? Do you just have it sitting out or have you blown it with compressed air? Mine works 100%, no problems other than a cracked trim ring around the USB port where I dropped it on concrete. :-)
No its just sitting on the window sill apart. Didn't clean it with anything. Should I? I'll get a can of compressed air soon. Good to hear ur phones fine!
No its just sitting on the window sill apart. Didn't clean it with anything. Should I? I'll get a can of compressed air soon. Good to hear ur phones fine!
Did you read the entire thread?
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Sprint says they can't fix this but I'm sure it has to be fixable, right? Has anyone else had trouble with this and fixed it themselves? Any ideas?
Thanks.....
Well what did you find out...?
My wife dropped her Hero in the toilet today.. (TWO Weeks OLD!!!)...
She said it continued to work for a while, then started acting as you described...
I have it apart now.....
I have her battery in MY phone.. it seems to be working okay....
I used compressed air to get rid of all the water I can find....
Hopefully this will do the trick and I can get her phone working again....
I figured you used the denatured alchohol to get rid of the sugar residue from your slush.... right? since this was water.. I'm inclined to not do that step... ??
Hey guys, my phone got wet in the rain a while back. So i took the battery out and dried it out. This is months later now and phone works except the power off button no longer works and the button lights stay on 24/7 now. Is there a way to atleast disable the button lights so they don't keep eating my battery life so fast? Any input would be greatly appreciated, thanks
Also...don't throw out all the water-vapor-eating "dessicant" pouches or small plastic dessicant holders that come in the boxes with new electronics, televisions, cameras, etc. Keep them in a bag in your kitchen or someplace and pull them out for times like this!
My wife’s phone got wet and the touchscreen quit working. The screens was locked preventing any interaction
1. I placed it in rice overnight. This did not solve the issue but I am sure it removed any residual moisture from inside the device.
2. Remove battery
3. Press and hold the home and back buttons
4. Insert battery and press the end call button
5. At the phone reset screen, press the end call button again.
6. After reboot, the phone started to operate properly.
im not sure if this was posted yet, but in step 2 you should put to remove sd card, i ruined my card trying to pull the housing cover off
Same here, I re-read the instructions again and it's not there. It was an 8GB SanDisk too, bummer. Otherwise, a great post and I am sure glad it was there, I had major dust issues and lint was keeping the trackball and buttons from functioning properly.
For those who suggest silicone sealer... do y'all realize that you just permanently glued the screen in? You won't be able to disassemble it ever again.
To the guy who suggested a thin gasket around the perimeter... kudos, that would be proper fix.
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Thanks to the original poster. I was able to disassemble, gently wipe w/a lint free cloth and reassemble in about 5 minutes. I would like to see someone 'solve' the recurrent dust problem and post a fix. Does it just need a better gasket between the glass and LCD frame?
touchscreen quit working after hero got wet
