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In Panic Mode, help please--screen went dark

My screen worked fine earlier today, then out of the blue went dark. It is as if the backlight is set at a permanent low setting. I can barely make out what is on the screen. It is not totally black, but it is by no means easily visible. I have not made any reg changes or application installs that I did not previously have.
Please help. This particular device was an insurance swap out made in November. I have tried hard resetting, and nothing. It is still a very dark screen--even the initial TMo boot screen is dark.
I am running Jaguar 3.1 by NTS.
PLEASE...help. I would very much appreciate any insight. Is my screen fried? Is it able to be fixed?
Thanks in advance.

akashastrega said:
My screen worked fine earlier today, then out of the blue went dark. It is as if the backlight is set at a permanent low setting. I can barely make out what is on the screen. It is not totally black, but it is by no means easily visible. I have not made any reg changes or application installs that I did not previously have.
Please help. This particular device was an insurance swap out made in November. I have tried hard resetting, and nothing. It is still a very dark screen--even the initial TMo boot screen is dark.
I am running Jaguar 3.1 by NTS.
PLEASE...help. I would very much appreciate any insight. Is my screen fried? Is it able to be fixed?
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you can try the prog Mymobiler to see if your today screen is really dark (if it´s dark on your computer too, than i think it´s a software failure) if it´s shown normal on your computer than i don´t know, maybe hardware failure...
sorry can´t help more
steph

I have that program too, and didn't even think about that. I will try it and report back. Thanks for the idea.
EDIT
Everything works fine using My Mobiler. I was able to make sure power and brightness adjustments were made-but to no avail. I even flashed a different rom just to rule out rom failure. My screen is still dark. In bright light I can barely view the item, and that is with some serious squinting.
Could it be my screen needs replacing, or is this a bigger issue like the mobo? If you suspect the screen only, could you please suggest where I can get a replacement screen?
This sucks big time. I love my Wizard and really do not want to move to an inferior device (like a "regular" cellphone, or the Wing--which is what insurance would swap me with).
PLEASE HELP ME FIX MY WIZ!!

I remember a long time ago...
akashastrega said:
I have that program too, and didn't even think about that. I will try it and report back. Thanks for the idea.
EDIT
Everything works fine using My Mobiler. I was able to make sure power and brightness adjustments were made-but to no avail. I even flashed a different rom just to rule out rom failure. My screen is still dark. In bright light I can barely view the item, and that is with some serious squinting.
Could it be my screen needs replacing, or is this a bigger issue like the mobo? If you suspect the screen only, could you please suggest where I can get a replacement screen?
This sucks big time. I love my Wizard and really do not want to move to an inferior device (like a "regular" cellphone, or the Wing--which is what insurance would swap me with).
PLEASE HELP ME FIX MY WIZ!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The first time I have use a Pocket pc in settings I uncheck the square that say "Turn on backlight whena button i pressed or the screen is tapped".. or something, jeje every time I turned on my wizard, it hasn't light jaja.
But I think that your problem is hardware, you need another wizard to change displays... cause if you buy a new display... maybe the failure isfor the motherboard...
Think about it...

+ Que PPC said:
The first time I have use a Pocket pc in settings I uncheck the square that say "Turn on backlight whena button i pressed or the screen is tapped".. or something, jeje every time I turned on my wizard, it hasn't light jaja.
But I think that your problem is hardware, you need another wizard to change displays... cause if you buy a new display... maybe the failure isfor the motherboard...
Think about it...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your quick responses!!
I was worried that the issue could go beyond just screen issues. Does anyone know a way to troubleshoot something like this? To find out if it is just a screen, or if the MoBo is going out on me...
**Or is anyone willing to sell me their working but no longer used wizard? I can afford about $100 (+shipping costs/insurance) for a used but working device. My hubby is unemployed and I am on disability so right now money is tight.

akashastrega said:
Thanks for your quick responses!!
I was worried that the issue could go beyond just screen issues. Does anyone know a way to troubleshoot something like this? To find out if it is just a screen, or if the MoBo is going out on me...
**Or is anyone willing to sell me their working but no longer used wizard? I can afford about $100 (+shipping costs/insurance) for a used but working device. My hubby is unemployed and I am on disability so right now money is tight.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check ebay, you maybe able to find a working phone for 100 bucks. Gook luck!

have you checked the wiring (flat cable) that connects to the screen.
maybe you just need to replace that. if the screen works, then it is just the LED's that are not responding. maybe just a loose connection, or a broken contact.
Does the keyboard light up?

i think i have the same problem or at least similar.
my screen backlight goes black from time to time when i press the screen "too hard", but that comes and goes.
interesting: i'm using homescreen plusplus (ex-batterystatus) to overclock my cpu with the option "set cpu speed at wakeup" activated. when i turn off my screen with the power button and then turn it on again, in most cases my backlight turns on, too.
but that's to enerving for me to live with that, so i disassembled my wizard and found some sort of black dot on the flat display connector. maybe it has something do with that? and if so, where can i get such a flex cable?

S.V.I said:
have you checked the wiring (flat cable) that connects to the screen.
maybe you just need to replace that. if the screen works, then it is just the LED's that are not responding. maybe just a loose connection, or a broken contact.
Does the keyboard light up?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the manual--I used it when my usb was fubar'd--but I am a bit intimidated about doing something with my screen. Is it something that can be easily screwed up if I even look at it funny, or can I handle it carefully and not worry that the mere act of touching it will make it explode??!!
Perhaps I am being a bit dramatic, but you get the idea I think.
Do I have to be totally grounded out first? Do I need gloves on? Or do I just rip the dang thing apart and go at it?
Thanks for your help and responses.

akashastrega said:
I have the manual--I used it when my usb was fubar'd--but I am a bit intimidated about doing something with my screen. Is it something that can be easily screwed up if I even look at it funny, or can I handle it carefully and not worry that the mere act of touching it will make it explode??!!
Perhaps I am being a bit dramatic, but you get the idea I think.
Do I have to be totally grounded out first? Do I need gloves on? Or do I just rip the dang thing apart and go at it?
Thanks for your help and responses.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can get an anti-static kit in Radioshack!

Well I don't have a Wizard, so this might not be much help; however, I have had a similar problem with my Touch Elf after installing a new app. The dark screen did not appear until I performed a soft reset and I really started to panic because there was nothing I could do to change it. I could barely make anything out that was being displayed it was so dark. Even when I turn my screen brightness down it was not ever that dark. Just out of luck though I pluged my phone into my computer VIA USB and voila, the backlight came on. I could use my phone again and immediately navigated to my brightness display settings and turned it all the way up (it was set all the way down for some reason). I have not had this problem ever since. I don't know if you have tried this already or not - It was not mentioned in any posts.
Good luck
Rod

Check out eBay for a replacement LCD, I got one last week for € 32,- ($45,-) including the shipping costs.
BUT...when buying from eBay notice the following 2 things:
1) The screens are most of the times used screens with a new (hand-soldered) digitizer on it (but it is done nicely as far as I have seen).
2) Disassemble your Wizard, check if your LCD has a BLACK or a GOLDEN flex ribbon cable at the back.....when you purchase the wrong one, it will not work!
An alternative is just to buy a 2nd hand Wizard for like $70 / $80, buy a new housing for it ($40) and it looks brand new (except for the LCD, most LCD's do have some scratches on it).
A HTC Wizard Service Manual can be found in the Wizard section on the XDA Dev FTP Server (I use it a lot), sometimes when buying a LCD on eBay they will also send you the tools needed to disassemble and reassemble the Wizard.
Good luck!

jozzy said:
i think i have the same problem or at least similar.
my screen backlight goes black from time to time when i press the screen "too hard", but that comes and goes.
interesting: i'm using homescreen plusplus (ex-batterystatus) to overclock my cpu with the option "set cpu speed at wakeup" activated. when i turn off my screen with the power button and then turn it on again, in most cases my backlight turns on, too.
but that's to enerving for me to live with that, so i disassembled my wizard and found some sort of black dot on the flat display connector. maybe it has something do with that? and if so, where can i get such a flex cable?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can furnish you with a flex cable for $15.00, plus $5.00 for shipping. Let me know if you have an MDA or 8125.

Att Fuze black screen need help please! Not a bad flash issue.

Hi all,
I am at my wits end on this problem if anyone can offer any adivice it would be greatly appreciated. So let me give a recap of what has occured thus far. The water damage tag for some reason turn pink thus i am unable to get warranty exchange. I am pretty certain that the phone has never been expose to any water of anything of that sort, but i do live in houston, tx so might be humidity or what not that cause the tag to turn. Anyways.
1. This all started after i flashed RRE 5.2 RC3. Initially after a successful flash everything seem normal and fine. Then next morning i woke up to a frozen screen with many verticial lines running up and down the screen was almost unreadable. Initially i thought it was a bad flash or just random lock up. I did a hard reset and tried to enter the bootloader. Black screen, it does seem like the backlight is coming up but nothing on the screen. I can hear the phone power on and boot successfully into windows. Activesync connects i can browse the contents of the phone.
2. After flashing to stock att rom and stock htc roms same symptoms. So at this point i am thinking crap bad LCD screen. so I ordered both the digitizer and lcd screen for good measure. I replaced them hoping that a bad LCD was all. replaced both screens and i powered on the phone. same problem. black screen. The phone still powers on and boots into windows. Activesync still connects and i cna still reflash the phone.
3. I work extensively and do both desktop pc and notebook repair. I am not new to dealing with small electronic repairs. but at this juncture i am unable to identify the cause of hte malfunction. i am hoping maybe some of the gurus here might be able to shine some light on the subject.
Thanks in advance for any help.

I would have followed the same approach; your description makes it sound like it might be some kind of backlighting issue at first read. I'm inclined to think it might be a cold connection (bad connector) on the main board.
Silly question, what happens if you power up the phone with the keyboard exposed?
*EDIT* Not sure if you have been here yet: http://www.mikechannon.net/
Cheers,

i just tried to power up the phone with keyboard exposed. Powers up the same as with the keyboard hidden. Still boots up fine but black screen. I already have the service manuel dowloaded. i have checked around with several repair places both local and on the web. Seems like no one has any parts for the att fuze/touch pro gsm except for the lcd and digitizer and a speaker.
its quite possible that it is a main board but as the same time it might be something as simple as a ribbon cable. i have contacted htc about doing a possible repair and they want wayyyy too much for just a main board repair almost $400 USD.
Anyone have a bricked/ non working touch pro they would like to sell ? =P

fkoong said:
its quite possible that it is a main board but as the same time it might be something as simple as a ribbon cable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could be a bad ribbon cable ... and firmly pressing around the front/back of the unit shows no change?

pressing the phone front and back show no changes to display. in a very dark room I can see that there is light emitting from the display but its just the screen is not displaying anything visable. this occured both before and after i changed out the screens. I'll do another visual inspection of all the boards to see if there is any bad resistors burnt out circuits etc.. but i didn't notice anything mentionable during my first 2 inspections. Maybe 3rd time is the charm.
Thanks for all the feedback thus far Hilaireg it is quite appreciated. All this venting has at least made me feel 1000% better than after i replaced my lcd and still same problem at least i don't feel like a complete idiot!

Sorry I couldn't be of much help ... you've done all the steps a seasoned hardware person would do.
Do post back to let other folks know if you get it back up and running.
Cheers,

you have a pm fkoong.

I have possibly the same problem. Phone got wet, dried it out for 2 days (in a container of rice). Phone worked but had "water marks" on screen that disappeared after two days and everything was fine for about 2 weeks. Then one day (happened to be humid misting rain eve in Charleston) the screen is blank (hint of backlight only). A soft reset and it seems OK for about 1hr, then blank again. The hard resest screen displayed OK (readbale text etc), but didnt work. But as I write this, I retry to document it results correctly and the NATF ROM is reloading and the screen works! We will see how long!!
Well.. not that long, the end of the ROM load and it went blank again, seems like a video driver problem. The Press VoluP to boot does show some red artifact.
Trying hard reset again (No SIM no uSD)
The NATF v4.4 loads and gives me the Tap screen, Align Screen, stylus, loads customization, opera, tf3d, then loads a bunch of files under ...... and then the screen goes blank again, seem like what happened last time, so Ill try loading a fresh ROM copy... later

Screen not displaying

My HTC Sensation wont turn on... properly.
When booting, i get a black screen. Around the edge of the screen i can see the backlight is on both when just on the battery as well as while plugged in, but i get nothing displayed, just ablack screen. It vibrates like normal when i power on, but nothing, black screen.
I do not belive this is software related however, because for all intents and purposes, the phone is booting just fine. However, nothing gets displayed to the screen.
For instance, when i call it from a different phone, it rings... and because i know where the buttons "should be" i swipe to answer the phone as i would normally, and it answers the phone, and i can hear and use the phone just fine. But again, NOTHING is displayed on the screen, i can only answer the phone, because my fingers know where to touch and slide to answer the phone.
Also, when i boot with VOLDOWN, i get nothing. So it doesnt appear to be a software issue, at least from what i can gather.
Im at a complete loss here, and really have no clue. I am very laman when it comes to hardware. I have opened it up (removed the tiny "void" sticker from a screw head, removed 6 screws, removed the lastic backplate (not the battery cover, the plastic plate that holds the battery), and just generally took a look at it. I really dont know what im doing here, so i havnt really done much further than this. Everything "LOOKS" okay, nothing seems out of place, broken, wires are all attached, it looks fine from what i can tell.
Theres no moisture, theres no residue, there what i couldnt consider excessive dirt or dust or debri (at least anything i wouldnt ocnsider normal after hivng the phone a year or whatever).... so im really at a loss here, and not sure what it could be.
Hoping maybe someone else ran into this problem and has had it resolved... but "search" and "google" hasnt turned anything up..Any help would be appreciate... Thank you in advance.

I just noticed, when i take the battery, an di simply make contact with the contacts, the backlight (the dim light around the edge of the screen, i assuming its the backlight) lights up. Pull the battery, nothing, toch the battery to the contacts, backlight turns on.... without ever pressing the phones power button or nothing. I do not remember this being the case before, and i would assume this would not be normal operation. With the phone not turned on at all (coming from a fresh battery pull), i just touch the battery to the contacts, or put the battery in, the phones backlight i wouldnt think, should come on and stay on like it is, no?

I had similar issue after my phone fell down face on. Had to replace the display unit to get resolved.

[Q] Screen went black, all lights work but screen?

The screen on my phone is black. There is a small crack on the bottom of the screen, but barely visible. I didn't notice it until I took the screen protector off, and who knows how long it has been there. I have dropped my phone a few times without the case. But the LED lights work, the two touch buttons on either side of the home key light up, I still hear my ringtone when I get calls, text messages, emails etc. I can still charge it and it still "sounds" fine, my screen is just black, I can't answer the calls, the phone can't pick up my fingers touching it. So Its kind of a mixture of these two problems. I have heard of other people having problems with this phone so I was wondering if there was any thing I could do at home before I buy anything. If not, then I'm thinking of buying a replacement screen but I don't know what I need exactly and just want some advice.
Any responses will be greatly appreciated!
Thank you!

Swandon.xo said:
The screen on my phone is black. There is a small crack on the bottom of the screen, but barely visible. I didn't notice it until I took the screen protector off, and who knows how long it has been there. I have dropped my phone a few times without the case. But the LED lights work, the two touch buttons on either side of the home key light up, I still hear my ringtone when I get calls, text messages, emails etc. I can still charge it and it still "sounds" fine, my screen is just black, I can't answer the calls, the phone can't pick up my fingers touching it. So Its kind of a mixture of these two problems. I have heard of other people having problems with this phone so I was wondering if there was any thing I could do at home before I buy anything. If not, then I'm thinking of buying a replacement screen but I don't know what I need exactly and just want some advice.
Any responses will be greatly appreciated!
Thank you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like your digitizer and screen are broken. It's pretty expensive to replace, so hopefully you have insurance. If you would like to use your phone or backup your contacts etc before fixing it, I recommend downloading Moborobo (CNET has a safe DL link) and connecting your phone to your computer via usb. You can use some of the features in your phone even though the screen/digitizer is broken. Good luck!

[Q] G2X screen not visible

Afternoon all. I know the title might seem like a BSOD post but my situation is different. I've searched but can't come up with anything.
When I turn my phone on, it completes the boot but the screen never appears. How do I know it's on? Three things, the ROM I'm using, Eagle'sBlood I think, has an engine revving theme instead of standard Android chime. Second,the menu, home, back space and search buttons on the G2X body illuminate. Lastly, if I swipe in the area where I think the unlock icon should be, the phone unlocks. If I hold down the power button and wait for the shutdown notice, I can guess the 'Do You want to shut down' and 'confirm shut down' icons and the phone turns off.
I've tried removing the battery, SD card, sim card and rebooting in each variation but with no luck. The phone has been rooted for over a year and so I tried booting into CWM (powerbutton, down volume). I think I'm getting into CWM fully but without the ability to see the screen I can't navigate.
This started happening yesterday. I was listen to Pandora and using a GPS app to track my run. The battery died during. I plugged it in for several hours but haven't seen the screen display since.
Any suggestions? If this is a hardware issue I'll get a new phone but without being able to see the screen, I'm not sure how to diagnose the problem. Other than rooting and changing the ROM, the phone is stock. The issue I had before this is the battery icon doesn't display. It just shows a battery outline with a ?-mark inside. The battery level only shows when the phone is charging and powered off.
Your help is greatly appreciated.
G2X - LG P999DW
Rooted
ROM: Eagles Blood (unsure of version)
maurice

Really sounds like a dead lcd or maybe just the backlights. I don't really know how the backlight works on this phone but typically if there is video but no light you can put a flashlight onto the screen and barely make out the display around the flashlight. Either way it sounds like hardware.

Twitch - Thanks for the reply. I'm not 100% sure what you mean by backlights though. When the phone is on and the screen is not asleep I see lights around the edges but the screen itself is black. For my own knowledge is LCD and 'digitizer' synonymous? I saw another thread describing how to replace the digitizer for $60-75.
I'll try checking it with a flashlight when I get home.
TwitchyEye said:
Really sounds like a dead lcd or maybe just the backlights. I don't really know how the backlight works on this phone but typically if there is video but no light you can put a flashlight onto the screen and barely make out the display around the flashlight. Either way it sounds like hardware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know there is an opinion thing but what is a good upgrade from the G2x for a non-hardcore user? I rooted and changed the ROM b/c you guys made it so easy to do, not b/c I was looking for the phone to do more than it already does. Up until this, and the battery display issue, and a wifi issue I forgot to mention, I've been happy with the G2x but there is no reason to spend $100+ repairing a 2+ year old phone that I pickup used off CList in Q1, 2012 if I can find something better on the used market for $200
maurice

Yeah I'm not too sure how these phones are set up, I have more experience with lcd monitors and such. But I think it is all in one piece on phones.
If you're looking to upgrade pretty much anything that came after the g2x likely has a lot more to offer in development. Good thing about this phone is everything is an upgrade. I have a samsung galaxy s 4g that's nearly 3 years old and single core but it runs 4.3 like a boss! Aside from GPS...

Flashlight didn't show any screen images. I think the next step is just trying to guess my way into debug mode and connect via uSB to my laptop and retrieve data before dumping the phone or trying to replace the lcd/digitizer. I saw an app mentioned in another post that should allow me to mirror my phones screen on a laptop. We'll see.
TwitchyEye said:
Yeah I'm not too sure how these phones are set up, I have more experience with lcd monitors and such. But I think it is all in one piece on phones.
If you're looking to upgrade pretty much anything that came after the g2x likely has a lot more to offer in development. Good thing about this phone is everything is an upgrade. I have a samsung galaxy s 4g that's nearly 3 years old and single core but it runs 4.3 like a boss! Aside from GPS...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks again. Anyone else had this issue?

last chance
Last chance in case anyone has any great ideas. I'll be ordering a new LCD and digitizer (probably don't need both) but would prefer not to spend the coin if that isn't my problem. all suggestions welcome

Hmmm, this an odd and aggravating problem you have here lol. I've ran two versions of eaglesblood, their CM7 version on 2.3.4 and their ICS AOSP version on 4.0.4 and have never heard an engine revving in any boot animation so I'm not sure what rom you're running either. Have you tried the hard reboot? While the phone is on at the home screen (if you think you're there I guess) hold the power button and the volumeUP button and the phone will reboot. I've read on here from a more experienced user before that doing this clears or does something to the caches that makes for a more complete reboot or "reset" of the phone's condition. Try that and see what happens. The only other option I would try to take is to flash a new rom and before doing so doing a COMPLETE wipe (to include format /system) and full instillation of a new rom, gapps and kernel. Can you see any images if you boot into CWM when shining a light on the phone's screen?

Maybe I'm wrong about the ROM. The flash screen shows the android graphic in electric blue and a comet type animation zooms around. During the zooming, the sound is an engine revving. I was using the ROM for 2-3 months before this issue popped up so I doubt it is the cause just wanted to give those more knowledgeable than myself as much info as possible
Pain-N-Panic said:
Can you see any images if you boot into CWM when shining a light on the phone's screen?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's my real problem, I can' t see anything! With the phone on, when I hit the power button and unlock the screen (guessing), the only illumination is the menu, home, back space and search buttons on the G2X body. I can tell from the haptic feedback once the phone is unlocked and I can occasionally guess the proper location to shutdown.
I tried the hard restart (Power, Up) but same result. I've downloaded an app called MobileGo for the computer that displays the phone screen but I can't get USB debugging turned on.
I have noticed another odd issue. With the phone turned on and the SIM card installed, when I call myself from a LAN line it goes straight to vmail. I know the SIM is good b/c I've been using an old nokia candy bar phone with the same SIM while troubleshooting. When re-inserting a SIM card, is there anything the user needs to do for the phone to recognize the SIM? Just wondering if this 'direct to vmail' is another sign of ............something.
Thanks

Sometimes when I take out the sim card my apn gets messed up. Ideally you'd just go into settings and load default apn and it'll work again.

But calling should work.
Seems like a busted screen from everything being described here.
Try connecting to a tv using hdmi... maybe the ROM would allow it to display. Worth a shot.
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda app-developers app

also if you could get airdroid installed on tthe phone you might be able to do something with that. Cool little app that lets you control the phone through your PC using the same wifi network.
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda premium

It's alive!!
My phone is alive, or at least it was.
I followed the directions on the youtube video I found to take the G2X apart and the first thing I noticed was the corrosion on LCD connector. I'd already purchased the LCD so instead of cleaning the old we just replaced it. The new screen worked, unfortunately I couldn't get a signal so we took it apart again to clean off corrosion on all the connectors. I'll let it sit for a few days to make sure everything is dry.
Don't be a fool like me, if you're going to do anything with your phone that might cause it to get wet, especially sweat, put it in a baggie or something. I'll post a follow-up if the thorough cleaning does any good.

I'm pulling for ya man, best of luck!

It works!!
The G2X is up and running again! :good:
Pain-N-Panic said:
I'm pulling for ya man, best of luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For anyone else that runs across this thread, unless the digitizer or LCD is physically damaged I'd disassemble the phone and check for corrosion before buying new parts. I used the new LCD but that b/c I'm not going through the trouble of returning a $16 item.
Wi-fi still doesn't seem to be working, which is odd. Wi-fi stopped working two months ago, it doesn't even show available networks, but worked for a few minutes when I originally replaced the LCD last weekend. Both antennae are connected but oh well. if I had to choose network vs wi-fi connectivity, I'll take network!
Thanks again for all the help
:good: