replaced digitizer (screen) , now white screen "of death"

[slipp3ry]

I have a droid 3 , i cracked the screen.. so I ordered a new digitizer, and i replaced it. Everything was fine.. phone powered on , but I noticed I put together the phone incorrectly , the plastic was bulging in one area.. so I disassembled it again, corrected it, and reassembled.

When I was reassembling, I stupidly decide to go ahead and turn on the d3 when it is not completely assembled. All of the major plugs etc are connected , but it was not fully together in it's chassis.

Immediately a white screen appears with some scrambled looking color on it.. like 'white nosie' . The phone is completely unresponsive, leading me to beleive that it is not a video issue. Everytime I power it on , i get this white screen. I've taken it apart and reassembled it several times now , tried reseating all the connections and still white screen.

if it was just a video issue, i would imagine the phone would still boot and would still say "droid" , etc.

Does anyone have any idea what may be the problem?

 

[glennj]

No, I haven't tried this yet, but a friend cracked the screen of his old Droid3 and switched to an iPhone 4s recently. He is sending me his old D3, which works still even with the screen (probably just the digitizer) cracked.

Where did you buy the replacement digitizer ? Was it hard to R&R it ?

I am going to be really careful to keep the battery well away from this spare while I am replacing the digitizer, based on your experience. I wonder it it was some grounding issue with the frame ?

Yesterday I got my old D3 out and installed the KEXEC-based CM9 on it via SafeStrap2.01 and I have to say, I am no longer worried about having to maybe send back my new GNexus if something goes wrong with it. I tried to interest Susan in me updating her D3 to the same kernel and CM9, soon anyway, but she says the D3 orks just fine on Gingerbread with the latest OTA, so no, don't touch it.

 

[slipp3ry]

I just bought the digitizer off amazon .. it was an OEM

it couldve been a grounding issue to the frame. I didnt notice that the rear plastic has a plug which runs to metal.. im assuming this may be the main ground . I did not have it connected when I turned on the phone. So that couldve done it.

I am not sure what to replace though. I could get a new motherboard for the phone for ~70 ..

is it even worth the hassle or do I just buy a different d3 off Ebay for ~$150 .. then I can sell the parts of this droid.

or even get a droid razr

 

[slipp3ry]

upon closer inspection it looks like the ribbon on the digitizer is in fact cracked and is defective.. I wonder if this could be causing the white screen. I've ordered a new one and im buying a replacement D3 for the meantime.. I'll try putting the new digitizer on the old d3, hopefully i end up having two

the razr looks nice but i NEED a physical keyboard . droid4 right now is out of my pricerange on what i want to spend on a replacement. I only have a year until upgrade.

 

[glennj]

upon closer inspection it looks like the ribbon on the digitizer is in fact cracked and is defective.. I wonder if this could be causing the white screen.

Yes, it sure could be. I think you have solved the problem !

 

[roadbiker255]

My droid 3 last night did the same exact thing with the screen. I have not replaced anything though it is all original. I was opening and closing the keyboard and when I snapped it closed it went blank and when i opened it back up it went to a white screen with static in it. Ive taken the battery out and back in, turned it off and on many many times and it stays on this white screen. It doesnt react to anything no matter what buttons are pushed. First, is there anyway to get it working? Is this covered by warranty? If I cant get it fixed how can I get my pictures etc.. off of the phone? when I plug it into the computer by usb it does not pick it up. Need help asap.

 

[doogald]

My droid 3 last night did the same exact thing with the screen. I have not replaced anything though it is all original. I was opening and closing the keyboard and when I snapped it closed it went blank and when i opened it back up it went to a white screen with static in it. Ive taken the battery out and back in, turned it off and on many many times and it stays on this white screen. It doesnt react to anything no matter what buttons are pushed. First, is there anyway to get it working? Is this covered by warranty? If I cant get it fixed how can I get my pictures etc.. off of the phone? when I plug it into the computer by usb it does not pick it up. Need help asap.

Roadbiker, my guess is that it's a hardware problem. I would never attempt to repair something like this myself. I'm not sure if it is covered under warranty, but I would definitely try to find out (it sounds like it should be - it sounds like abnormal hardware failure.) If this is a Verizon Droid 3, I'd call VZW tech support. Do note that the hardware warranty is one year, so if the phone is older than that, it may be just outside of warranty coverage.

 

[roadbiker255]

Any ideas of how to get my data off of the phone? My computer isnt recognizing my phone.......

 

[glennj]

My droid 3 last night did the same exact thing with the screen. I have not replaced anything though it is all original. I was opening and closing the keyboard and when I snapped it closed it went blank and when i opened it back up it went to a white screen with static in it. Ive taken the battery out and back in, turned it off and on many many times and it stays on this white screen. It doesnt react to anything no matter what buttons are pushed. First, is there anyway to get it working? Is this covered by warranty? If I cant get it fixed how can I get my pictures etc.. off of the phone? when I plug it into the computer by usb it does not pick it up. Need help asap.

It sounds to me like the digitizer flex-cable has cracked, broken, shorted or come loose partially. To repair it will take some special Tdrivers (T3 the smallest) and parts, plus extremely good lighting, fine motor control and some luck. It is a bear to get these apart and back together and a single stripped T3 screw will ruin the whole effort.

I am thinking you should sell the phone for parts at this point, or take Motorola up on the $100 trade-in value for another phone.

Regarding saving your data, anything not on your external SD chip is probably lost. Pictures are by default saved to external SD, so remove the chip and plug it in to your computer with an adapter and see what you can get off it.

At least with the D3 you HAVE a SD chip. When Galaxy Nexus phones go bad everything on them is lost without exception.

 

[droid3unlucky]

digitizer flex-cable has .

Are those 2 different parts??

 

[themib]

http://www.repairsuniverse.com/motorola-droid-3-screen-repair-take-apart-guide.html