[Q] Semi-Broken Digitizer, but wondering if software can mitigate? - General Topics

Cliq (original) running most recent stock update.
To start, it is not cracked, shattered, or fully unresponsive. Only the right 25% of the screen does not respond. (Making some letters useless, and unable to press "Clear" on status bar among the obvious feature losses.)
While I have not taken it apart to verify that the ribbon is fully seated, (possible cause, along with it is just broken) I figure if I am going to take 3 hours to disassemble, I might as well have a spare digitizer to put into it...
My question is this:
Is there a way to calibrate the screen's display (by app, or ROM) to shrink the screen to where I can actually get to all the keys? [Calibrate the screen edge, as with the old style monitors.]
[I will root/flash ROMs/kernels if there is a viable method. Good with computers, new to Android, but I'm game to risk my $30 to get a working backup!]
I figure take out 25% of the top and right side and then even when the phone shifts I can still touch everything... Would turn the phone into a viable replacement.
The replacement is $25, after 3 hours of dealing with T3+T5 screws... on a phone worth $50-75.
Thanks in advance, new poster for the most part, but I frequently use you all as my Android Rolodex.
---
JustUnicycle
[PS. should I feel like worst case this is a few command lines that skip a pixel every a few lines on both output and input. This may be more complicated than I think it is, as there are always bugs when you think of it like that, but feel like this is close to method the fix must use, but perhaps less precise.]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52ai9q2d4A4
Granted this is sped up and all, but the process will not take 3 hours. I did this ony my hero cdma (essentially the same process) and it only took me ten minutes (i was being very slow and cautious). I'd say just go for it because it is worth it. My screen was not cracked, i only took it apart because i am painting it....not done yet but definitely getting there. I also noticed that after taking apart the phone and putting everything back the phone was actually more responsive. I guess over time of use, things start to move ever so slightly and this tends to make parts of the screen unresponsive. I'd try taking apart the phone then putting it back together and see if that helps (sorta like recalibrating it) and if not well then buy your screen and put it in. Hope this helps

v=XtuBdloT3ek
But yes... OK will I will look for my microscopic set and see if I can't knock it out before bed. (My deconstruction experience is usually limited to replacing springs in Nerf guns!)
[Edit:]
Meh, my dad's set has disappeared (but smallest was T4 anyways). Tried the melted BIC pen that worked for the tri-tip, but T3 has too much detail. I ordered the tips I need from China. I'll update with my results in a few weeks.

Related

Thinking about restoring my TP

Sooo, my Touch Pro has acquired many scratches along the way, and the buttons are a bit wonky. The home button has a sort of... Fold towards the upper left edge of it, the spacebar and backspace button requires more firm press for it to respond and I'm thinking of giving it a new lease of life.
As for the scratches, I was wondering would Brasso work? What would you guys reccomend? Same goes for the other teency problemos that's starting to get me to hate my TP day by day xD
Pick up an OEM case/keyboard (digitizer if screen scratched) off eBay, have some genuine cases off recycled devices at graded conditions.
Any other option is pointless.
Interesting, I've been attempting to search for guides on xda-developoers regarding how to change them pieces of hardware but I can't find any.
Do you know of a guide somewhere or would the process require more of an intuitive approach? They keyboard's top priority at the moment sooo, the rest can wait xD
How bout the screen itself? There's no deep scratches, just minor ones from daily wear and tear accumulated over the months, how would I get rid of em? Or AT LEAST make em almost unnoticable? =D
As for the buttons on the main screen (the ones with the call and hang up buttons), is there any way to replace them or am I stuck with em forever?
EDIT: I popped through the archives and found a couple of links, now to actually know how to replace them :s What I'm gonna be replacing would be they keyboard as a priority, but at the same time, I'd like to know how to replace the digitizer or the LCD itself. I heard the latter would be a more complicated process and due to a teenager's allowance, I doubt I can afford to lose this phone or break the parts that I plan on buying xD
Service manual can be found in wiki & via google search.
Screen replacement tips can be found in some threads & youtube may have some guides too.
It is not too hard if you read up well on dismantling & take a lot of care.
You could always strip it down before commiting to purchasing parts and then you can judge your chances of successful reassembly before commiting $
Another option could be buying a device with hardware fault if housing & screen good !

[Q] Circle of dead pixels suddenly appeared

Hi Guys
I've seen a couple of posts about this on forums but, I've had a similar thing to a few users now, where I have 2 circles of "Dead" pixels appear on the phone.
Seemed to appear suddenly today at work. I've not dropped the phone (today) but, I have had it in my pocket when getting out the car and, it might have been caught between my leg and steering wheel of the car.
I know there's been some suggestions of placing the phone in a carrier bag and, then in the fridge for a couple of hours (well, couple of hours to a weekend). I'm a bit nervous of this but willing to give it a try.
Just wondering though, does anyone have any explanation for why this happens? I can't see it being physical damage to the screen, as otherwise there would be whole columns of dead pixels or spider patterns with a crack. In the middle of the circles, it seems to be sub-pixels that are out (Blue / Red - Green seems to be OK). Also, has anyone else had the same experience and tried putting the phone into the fridge and, does this work? Annoying though it is, I'd rather live with it than knacker the phone totally lol.
I've attached some pictures to demonstrate what I mean... Note, on the blue one, it looks as though there's a pentagram dotted in the lower circle... Satanic Possession? lol
Kind Regards
Daryl
Well,Nothing of those homemade methods will help
maybe the screen got pressed too hard..got hitted by something..
take it to a lab
Probably just enough pressure and maybe battery and body heat, did the same with my Acer and a till reciept scrunched up so now have a multi-coloured circle in centre of screen... doubt there's a fix except replacing it
Rooted Xakep E320/C6 EUU Hacked Update
Thanks for the feedback on this. I think you're both right. The screen is slowly getting worse. The sub-pixels in the middle of the circles have repaired themselves but, the horizontal lines of dead pixels are slowly expanding horizontally across the screen.
I think I'm going to have to face the fact that its broke and see about getting a new screen fitted. I'd normally do it myself but, I've seen how well the digitizer and LCD are glued together, and to the case lol (HTC Sensation).
Am thinking it has to be a pressure 'injury' when getting out the car and, maybe it got trapped between my leg and the steering wheel.
The good news though, at least I have an excuse to nick my tablet back off my son lol
Well... bugger me rigid lol. As I was typing my last message, I thought "sod it, I may as well try putting the phone in the fridge to see if it does any good" After all, I had nothing to lose (as long as I was careful of condensation on the warm up) and... it does actually seem to be having a positive effect!!
Attached 2 more pics... One was taken at work at 3pm, one was taken after 80 minutes in the fridge at 11:30pm (note, the screen had gotten a little worse between 3pm and 10pm).
I've put it back in the fridge for another couple of hours and, will post an update on progress.
Ever the optimist once more
lol at the pentagram. Yeah it's probably because of pressure or some other physical damage. Do you have warranty?
Nope, the phone is 18 months old, I rang 3UK and, apparently the warranty is only 12 months so, bummed out there.
Have got the phone back in the fridge after noticing how much of an improvement the first blast of cold air made to it lol. Fingers crossed. I can't believe such a simple thing might actually make it better again
Bummer. Have a hard time seeing the fridge as a permanent solution, yeah you could always try ifixit if you think it's worth a shot.
This is true, I cant see it being permanent either. I did take a look at replacing the screen on YouTube and, it seemed like a straightforward enough task but, not sure about the whole glue thing between motherboard and screen, and screen / digitizer. I know it'll need heating to melt the glue a little but, the video I saw indicated that his heat gun was at 420 degrees Celcius... the psycho!!
Am hoping I can get another 6 months out of the phone, so that I can get an upgrade to a One X / Galaxy S3. I've really loved the phone and, will be sad when it eventually goes.
Just to give anyone interested a bit of a status update... Just about to go to bed and, need the phone for my alarm in the morning so, pulled it out of the fridge again lol.
As you can see from the attached though, it does seem to be still improving.
Going to run the dead pixel fix app overnight (not that I believe this will do anything spectacular) and, may do another round in the fridge tomorrow night. Of course, I will keep you posted.
For now though, the latest comparison - between 11:30PM (the improvement I posted earlier) and 1:30AM. Once again, you can see that the dead pixels do seem to be returning to life.
Well from the pics I'm gonna try it myself not looked up how the screens are made up but the cold could be doing several things as shrinking membranes (those touching may separate) and crystallizing the LCD (expanding the Liquid Crystal) to fill the gaps made at the pressure point, that's my guess so throwing it in the freezer tonight
Thanks for continued updates
Rooted Xakep E320/C6 EUU Hacked Update
I probably wouldn't recommend throwing it into the freezer. Just a gut feeling but, as the temperature in there is well below freezing, I think it would do more damage than good. At least in the fridge, it's only around 4 degrees C so, technically still within the operating temperature range of the device.
Also, when you do take it out, make sure you don't just throw the battery straight back in. As soon as it comes out, it gets quite a hefty amount of condensation on it. The last thing I would want is for something to short on the device when it gets its power back and fry your logic board :s
Not much improvement on last night in running the LCD fixing application (as I thought) so, thrown it back into the works fridge - much to the amusement of works colleagues lol. I'll take it back out around lunch time, see how it is, and post the comparison between 1:30AM last night and lunchtime today...
Fingers X'd
Latest on phone: My director at work advised I should check on operating temperatures of the phone to see how cold I could take it safely. Turns out that they are electronically safe at temperatures of up to -40 degrees C (although there's no way I would actually test this and wouldn't recommend testing it to anyone).
Following from this, I put it in the freezer at work for an hour (after being in the fridge at work for 2).
Not posted the before picture but, here's three pictures of how it looks at the moment. One on a pure white screen then, to demonstrate that it's not just the pixels being stuck white instead of not working, I have also done a shot of my home page, and a shot from a game.
I have a doubter at work who stated quite daringly that he would eat his underpants if the cooling of the phone worked... Now... All I need to do is prove why it's worked, then find some recipe's for Underpant Madras... any suggestions as to both would be appreciated lmao
Googling now and second post gives this http://forum.xda-developers.com/archive/index.php/t-687247.html I'll see what else pops up and add to this posting here
Wiki lol -> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touchscreen <- I guess from this and type of screens now being used it's an adhesive layer between the back and front glass that is 'spread out' so no separation between back and front conductors, freezing may crystallize the adhesive and on warming the original surface pressure may force the adhesive back and conductors are separated again ;-)
Rooted Xakep E320/C6 EUU Hacked Update
Just noticed my own screen (or rather noticed it less lol) my spot has gone, although not as bad as your own screen only colour swirls on screen pressure no black/white pixels, I did have my phone slide and bounce off my knee that may have been enough for mine lol was looking forward to fridging it this I will be remembering though
As for a recipe for the grundigs i'd serve them raw .... 3 days worn .... why make it easy lol
Rooted Xakep E320/C6 EUU Hacked Update
Right it came back not as bad so I'd recommend a hard front cover, bit of a bind if they don't flip but it's that or faulty screens
Rooted Xakep E320/C6 EUU Hacked Update
Hi
Been a little while since my last update so, checking in. I don't have any extra pictures at the moment but, the cold is really starting to make a big difference.
I took it out the ice-making compartment at work at lunchtime and, the screen is mostly repaired. I would say about 5 - 6 dead pixels in a line now, around where the "beak" was on my satanic chicken (lol)
It's still in the fridge at home at the moment and, will probably stay there most of the weekend. This last bit is being quite stubborn to shift but hoping that it does shift and, when it does, it goes for good.
I'll let you know how it goes anyhow. I'm simply stunned by the improvement so far though
Yayyyyyyyy!!!
Well, the great news is the phone is now completely 100%
I've attached a photo of the screen with my home wallpaper on it... The trouble is, I can't remember exactly where the fault was so I can't get the exact same screen so, I've taken a wider shot which still demonstrates that there are no dead pixels.
I did have a bit of trouble getting Wifi and the SD card to read when I first powered back up from the latest (4 hour) stint in the freezer but, whipped the battery straight out and let it settle back to room temperature some more, then used a hairdryer just to ensure that any last bits of condensation had cleared up.
Fully working phone once again. I think I'll serve underpant soup at work on Monday lmao.
Thanks for following this little thread that I'd done and thanks for your input too. It's certainly been an interesting journey and, hopefully someone else with a similar problem can benefit from my experience too.
Kind Regards
D
What a cool way to fix your phone I have a Nokia 6303 classic with dead pixels. I will place in the fridge overnight and wait for the results next morning.
Good to hear it's running again, bear in mind it wont take as much to bring the fault back if pressure is applied again but from my own phone it does wear off so repeating the damage is repairable but will probably shorten it's life.
And please by all means post the pics of the garnished garment meal
Rooted Xakep E320/C6 EUU Hacked Update

Surface Pro - Yellow burn mark on screen

Just curious if anyone else has noticed this... My device is almost exactly 1 week old. (I've been using it quite a bit for work)
Yesterday, I was playing a movie (using the DisplayPort) to my TV. The unit ran, plugged in, running Netflix for a total of 2 hours... Movie played fine, finished up, disconnected, etc...
Later on that day, I was using the Surface and noticed a yellow burn mark. It's a line along the right edge of the display on the surface. It's most prominent in two places, a blotch 2 inches down from the top, and worse towards the bottom about an inch up (all along the right side)...
Noticed that if I shut the device down, and let it sit on a granite counter-top at room temp (brings the temp of the device down to room temp), after turning it back on around 20 minutes later it's gone on a fresh boot. After starting it again, the yellow burn slowly comes back, coming back even faster if I'm doing CPU intensive stuff on it, or if it's being charged.
Anyways... Even though I purchased the device at the retail location and have a 15 day return window, I didn't want to bother as right now there's the shortage of 128 units, I don't want to have to wait for stores to stock up again, so I called Microsoft and found out that right now under warranty they are replacing faulty devices with brand new ones... So I started a warranty case, hopefully will receive my new unit in a few days.
I did some googling, and I read about people with iPads, and iPhones having a yellow tint due to the glue not curing on brand new devices. Users reported it would go away in time. I'm assuming this isn't the case for me as it's not there on start, but comes after the device warms up...
Also, after reading iFixIt's post about the internals, I noticed the batteries edge inside the device is right about where the yellow marks are. I'm thinking the battery inside the unit may be swelling, and putting internal pressure on the LCD panel... The Yellow get's worse when charging, but at the same time, maybe there's just pressure inside the device from the manufacturing process, you never know.
I just hope hope hope that the device MS sends out is brand new as they said it would be.
Here's a pic, it's very hard to see as its extremely difficult to snap a picture due to auto-focus, lighting, etc... The yellow is usually only visible on white, and certain greys in the gray scale, you can't see it at all on black.
http://twitpic.com/c4o9q8
I think it must be the glue not properly done. Best to return and get a new one imo
And how are you liking it? I'm considering one.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
plznote said:
I think it must be the glue not properly done. Best to return and get a new one imo
And how are you liking it? I'm considering one.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
At first I thought it was the glue, but just the disappearing act it does, I'm thinking it's a LCD pressure mark instead... If I turn on power savings mode, and don't do anything it fades, barely hard to see... When it gets hot it comes back. I'm almost positive it's the battery putting pressure on the LCD...
As for the device, I'm absolutely loving it. I was lucky enough to get a 128 on the Monday after launch. I've been bringing it with me everywhere. I haven't really used the pen, but I use my Touch keyboard all the time.
This thing is SLICK! And actually to be honest, I waited for the Pro since I thought I wouldn't be able to use the RT. After getting this, and LOVING the metro interface, along with the Metro apps, the only time I go to the desktop is for Office on a normal day. Even then, I actually use the Mail metro app for exchange most of the time, unless I need to do something advanced in Outlook.
I realized everything I use it for, I could have gotten away with an RT instead. I have absolutely NO complaints And to be honest I'm going to pick up an RT as well...
I'll use the RT for day to day, notes, meetings, e-mail, music, metro apps, etc... The battery life will be awesome.
I'll use the Pro for special stuff, like very technical meetings, implementations (I'm an IT guy), real technical work (where I need apps like vSphere client, putty, etc...)
I'm dead serious, this device is slick! Totally worth the money!
I'm actually starting to wonder if this is condensation... No idea why it would glow yellow though... No bubbles or anything...
Noticed that the top of the surface that faces you clicks when tapping on the black border, wonder if it's missing a seal...
w00t,
Called up, they replaced my surface pro, got a replacement within 2 days, brand new
No yellow!
Zhariak said:
w00t,
Called up, they replaced my surface pro, got a replacement within 2 days, brand new
No yellow!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the same issue and will also be asking for replacement.
You seemed to have liked the service provided by Microsoft, since you got your replacement in 2 days, I'm assuming that they cross-shipped? Or did you have to send it in first? Or did you got a MS Store (none for me in Montreal...)

Screen flicker / backlight / general badness (hardware issue)

So, I managed to get my phone wet. Only very briefly, dried it, opened up everything and set it somewhere warm, dry and with good airflow for many hours (and then later a day) and while its issues have improved, it's still sometimes flicking, having colors drop out (weirdly reminiscent of old crts) and occasionally having the backlight very low or not on at all. So, badness.
My next step is probably to decase it and dry out the boards (somewhat inhibited by the thermostat on my roomate's reflow over being broken). My intuition, though, which is entirely suspect, is that there's a poor connection somewhere on there that's likely gotten worse. (It often had a similar though less severe flicker when attached to the charger and fully charged up.)
So. I'm entirely comfortable with decasing. I'm fine with surface mount. I have a lovely hot air rework station in the basement.
What I don't have is a) a good sense of what components are failing and, more to the point, b) where they are on the dratted board. I have found the one teardown, and need to go over it more carefully, but atm I'm doubting I can pull enough info out of it.
Any clues? This may well turn into "I buy another phone, and then if I fix this one give it to my sister..."
These phones are OLED. That means there's no backlight. The screen itself is simply not displaying correctly.
Did you open the screen section to dry the panel?
OLEDs are highly susceptible to water damage. It eats them up.
Jax184 said:
These phones are OLED. That means there's no backlight. The screen itself is simply not displaying correctly.
Did you open the screen section to dry the panel?
OLEDs are highly susceptible to water damage. It eats them up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, not yet. Will as soon as I figure out where my roommate has put the electronics screwdrivers, as none of my multitools are fine enough.
Any pointers on opening the screen panel? I'm happy enough winging it once I find the tools, but the slider looks a bit tricky.
ETA: Okay, opened up the screen panel on one side, have airflow directed towards the interior now. Not sure if this is the ideal means, but it was quick and will be running while I explore other options. Comments welcomed.
No change in symptoms. If I have time, I'll open things up to the main board and check all the connections - corrosion or cruft there seems the next most likely.
...and then I decide to full reassemble it again, as a flickering phone is better than no phone. One of the clips to the screen casing hadn't been fulling seated, and snapped in, and it's been fine ever since. Not sure quite what the contributors were, but I'm just going to go with it for the time being.
Thanks.

Screen replacement. What does this part do? (Flappy thing)

I am starting to have a love/hate relationship with this phone. I love it. It hates me. (I'm including the whole story in case others have came across any of these other issues that I have, because at this point in time I feel like I could take this thing apart and put it back together in my sleep).
I bought one for a good price on ebay, get it and all is well for about 2 weeks. The case starts to appear to start splitting. I take the back off and the battery is swelling. I could have sent the phone back, but I found a battery for $12 and so I replaced it. Everything's working great.
About 2 weeks after that, I was walking up the stairs at work and tripped, the phone caught the corner of my wrist and the bottom left part of the screen shattered. I find a new screen/assembly and think, for $50 I got this...
After watching pretty much every video on YouTube, I'm feeling confident and get started. The screen came with the basic took kit and each of the two "guitar pic" type tools were destroyed in the process. (I even tried an actual guitar pic, ineffective and flimsy). Good basic concept with those, but they are pretty much a one time use thing. Glad there were two.
I tested the new screen before I took the whole thing apart, every test passed with flying colors. Take everything apart, attach the new screen, get to the end (the one part of the video I apparently failed to really pay attention to) the proper way to pop the screen back in. Get to the last part of that and crack. The screen, with very little pressure, cracks as the top left. Not bad, it was still usable. But I was so disappointing.
I was pretty bummed out and hobbled along. I should have went with the same source, but I ended up getting another screen from another source and when it finally arrived, I didn't think about it, and went ahead and took the phone apart, put everything on the new frame, getting ready to pop it on the back cover, decide to test it then. No response what so ever from the touch screen. It would power on, but nothing would make it swipe to the lock screen. (I also noticed in the top corner "No Service" (an issue that I have since seen people get but no real reliable fix). I put the old screen on. Works like a champ, take everything apart a couple more times thinking maybe I didn't get something right. Nothing. I contact the vendor and he is awesome and he sends me a free replacement.
This time I test the screen. Right off the bat I get Touch Disable Mode. Crap. Look up that and find the Settings Database editor solution. (I tried the volume up + power but as soon as the screen locked it enabled again). Screen passes all other test, but now there is that lingering "No Service" issue. I never really figured out what fixed that. But this is what I did. 1. took all of the red film off of the new screen, Now the phone shows my carrier, but still no service. So I did a factory reset. and Voila, good to go.
Which brings me to now. I have the new screen ready to go in and I notice 1 part that is throwing me off.
I really don't want to take this apart again...
I don't have a pic of the original screen as my phone is currently in pieces... But this is what I came up with if anyone has any ideas on how I should approach this, and what is the significance of this part? I can't find anything on it. From here on out said part shall be called "flappy thing":
The top two screens in the pic are two screens I now have in possession.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/picture.php?albumid=15076&pictureid=57893
Finally was able to link the image.

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