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[GUIDE] I9000 Screen Replacement

This topic has clues for replacing the screen. I have not concluded an manual for chancing it yet but reading this whole topic gives you the big picture how it is done. Questions are always welcome and I try to answer them with my knowledge. This 1st post gives you 2 links to follow for pics about changing screen and my own starting point for chancing my own screen.
Has anyone bought and installed a digitizer+screen set which is on sale at ebay? I could not post direct link to ebay because I'm a newbie on these forums. You can find the product searching ebay with these keywords "I9000 digitizer". My galaxy's screen cracked and I need an replacement. Both screen and glass broke. I think that this set includes them both. There is also told in the questions that the set infact includes amoled display and not LCD as the title says.
Second question is that does someone have an service manual somewhere. Would be nice to know how to break apart my phone when replacing screen.
Third question is that doesn't samsung vibrant and galaxy s share the same chassis but different screen with more capacitive buttons. Could it be possible to install vibrant's screen to galaxy s?
PS. The way my galaxy brokedown is very funny. I lay down my phone on the kitchen table and the screen cracked. I was like OMFG when I heard the cracking noise. Phone was like 13 days old. Samsung does not repair it with warranty because they think that it wasn't an manufacturing defect. They said that I have dropped my phone and that's the way it broke. That could not be the case because I handled it like a baby. I would have to pay 255€ for new screen and digitizer. Hell no!! I'm a student so that sum does not fit with my wallet.
New screen installed, see posts http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=7683527&postcount=37 and http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=7710572&postcount=40
Edit: Ebay's prices have rised noticeable in the last couple of months. At the moment the price for these screens is around 100$. I found this site which sells them for 60£. http://www.shineyourmobile.co.uk/ProductDetails.aspx?pid=8128

pekkala89 said:
Second question is that does someone have an service manual somewhere. Would be nice to know how to break apart my phone when replacing screen.
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There are 2 videos on the net, both on youtube I think. Just search "i9000 Disassembly" and you'll find one of them.
The Galaxy S has a serious design flaw as the glass goes around the home button (and the call ear/speaker) so it's very vulnerable there to shattering. I had my phone in the pocket and suddenly when I take it out I see it cracked right next to the home button. What had I done during the time it got cracked? The only possible explanation was carrying a _small_ speaker that then probably hit it. I was so surprised when I saw it cracked because even a speaker hit, when I lifted it up, is hard to consider cracking the screen.
So international model Galaxy S owners, be careful at the bottom and top of the screen. They're the weak points of the glass. For me only the glass cracked and not the screen so it will be interesting to see how much it will cost to fix.

Schmich said:
So international model Galaxy S owners, be careful at the bottom and top of the screen. They're the weak points of the glass. For me only the glass cracked and not the screen so it will be interesting to see how much it will cost to fix.
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I think that you can't change only the glass. Amoled screen is so thin and I believe it's glued pretty thight to the glass. Separating them may be impossible without tearing the amoled.

the same...
i had a similar unfortunate event ... my screen cracked when i hit the phone to the metallic frame of a chair (it slipped out of my hand )...
it cracked exactly like you people said... near the home button.
i ordered the display + digitizer and i anxiously await its arrival to see if i can replace the damaged one.
it is quite tricky to dissassemble the display part but hope to succed...
keep you posted with the outcome
respect

pekkala89 said:
I think that you can't change only the glass. Amoled screen is so thin and I believe it's glued pretty thight to the glass. Separating them may be impossible without tearing the amoled.
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Yeah that's my fear but I presume they just heat up the glue. That's how some industries do for other products. I think dental bracers (& its glue) have a different technique as well. So, will be interesting to see.

gallaxya said:
i ordered the display + digitizer and i anxiously await its arrival to see if i can replace the damaged one.
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Where did you order it from?

If you were asked to pay more than $250 for screen replacement, then why don't you send it to Samsung in Korea? They will replace your SAMOLED for mere USD $100ish and ship it back to you for free (or may be not). This way you get a genium quality from original manufacturer and absolutely no hassles!

I dropped mine from around 4ft onto a concrete floor and its fine. Maybe I just got lucky.

Digitizer+Samoled set ordered from ebay. I should get it in two weeks. If possible I try to take pictures of the changing process and make an manual. I hope it's not glued tight to the chassis.

please do, i have some f***ing little scratches all over the screen, thought it was supposed to be scratch resistant.
Worst part is that it's in it's protective pouch all the time (maybe that's the probleme, dirt/dust might get trapped and rub against the screen).

Got my digitizer and amoled screen t
oday. I will report back if its a hard job or not to replace it.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

yrizan said:
Got my digitizer and amoled screen t
oday. I will report back if its a hard job or not to replace it.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
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I tried to remove broken screen for 2 hours and no luck. Removing the motherboard is problematic because power button is glued to the chassis so I could only turn the motherboard aside and not remove it completely. I tried also to remove metal edge but I could only separate it from the left and right edge, not from top and bottom. I hope you have better luck and report how you managed to overcome my problems.

pekkala89 said:
I tried to remove broken screen for 2 hours and no luck. Removing the motherboard is problematic because power button is glued to the chassis so I could only turn the motherboard aside and not remove it completely. I tried also to remove metal edge but I could only separate it from the left and right edge, not from top and bottom. I hope you have better luck and report how you managed to overcome my problems.
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Click to collapse
Sorry to say got in to the same problems
Looks like the phone is build around the screen. Be careful with the metal ring, on top and bottom its between the screen and chassis, so if you brute force to much the screen cracks even more. The screen is glued to the chassis all around with superglue. I am not sure if its even possible to repalce the screen. It let me thinking that samsung wont repair broken galaxys , just replace them.
Ill keep working on the phone and keep trying, but compared to changing the screen on iphone is this like changing the screen on a iphone as a blind man without arms.
People thinking of buying this screen kit on eBay, don't do it. Just contact samsung for a repair.
Ill keep you posted.

I got the screen off.
No need to loosen the metaling ring around. The screen in dropped in the chassis from the front.
On the mainboard, just pop off the screen cable, long and flat next to the SD card slot.
The next step is very strange, just use brute force and crack the screen off the chassis, start from the top
When you get around the home button, be careful. Samsung has clued 2 sensors to the screen and chassis for back and option button. Best thing to do here is bend the screen back a little and cut loos the sensors from the digitizer with a sharp knife/scalpel. Samsung has used insane amount of clue on this phone.
Both the digitizer and amoled screen was clued to the chassis.
The next step is to clean off all the clue, buy loads of glue. Fill the chassis with glue and press the new screen on.
Wish me luck.
Ill keep you posted.

Making me a bit scared reading this thread, I`ve just bought phone Insurance just in case.Good luck fitting your replacement screens, sounds a bit daunting.

YES!!!
New screen in place and everything is working perfectly. Took about 3 hours first time (give or take). Its possible to do it a lot faster. The biggeste problem is the glue. Melting at about 120 celsius, but i was scared to heat the glas as i didnt know how much heat the mainbord could stand. All in all a pain in the a**, but doable.
I can also confirm this screen from ebay to be an orginal samsung amoled screen.
Best of luck too others trying a screen replace.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

amoled or samoled though?

My mistake. Its a samoled screen
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

Awesome!!! thanks for the review
did you manage to snap a few pictures meanwhile you were working in your phone?

Im sorry, no pictures
The charger is missing to my canon camera, new one incomming from ebay. I'll post pictures next time ill change the screen ;-)
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

[Q] Smudge/stain/spot on the screen

I have the Captivate for almost 2 months, but I think this issue is valid for all Galaxy S phones.
Some weeks ago it appeared a stain/smudge on the middle of the screen that can be easily seen with a light color background. Also, I noticed that its seen even with the phone turned off. See both photos attached.
I use invisibleSHIELD. Since the stain is noticed even with the screen turned off, I'm wondering if it may come from the protector instead of the screen itself.
It would be easy if I removed the protector, but if I do so, I'll loose it.
Has somebody had that problem?
May it come from the screen protector?
Thanks

I would imagine that it's the screen protector and the actual phone screen. Just take the screen protector off.

I don't have this problem but you can remove the screen protector and reapply it easily. Just use tape to lift it off the glass and rinse in a bowl of warm water with a drop of dish soap to clean and reapply. I've done this to my screen protector 5 or 6 times for various reasons.

yes my friend this is caused by the screen protector. mine had the same issue. apperantly its from using the squeegy tooo hard!

Could be your LCD Has a burned in Image
If you remove your screen protector and still notice the screen smudge try tilting the phone slightly to get a good angle and try o see if the smudge is internal, if it is I would say its a bleeding LCD, I had this issue with a HTC tilt at&t sent me and they sent me a brand new one free of charge.

Evilspawn said:
yes my friend this is caused by the screen protector. mine had the same issue. apperantly its from using the squeegy tooo hard!
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It was applied by a authorized ZAGG reseller. I watched and he didn't use it too hard. Any way, I'll remove it.
You had this problem with a invisibleSHIELD by ZAGG protector too or other?

DaveNavy said:
If you remove your screen protector and still notice the screen smudge try tilting the phone slightly to get a good angle and try o see if the smudge is internal, if it is I would say its a bleeding LCD, I had this issue with a HTC tilt at&t sent me and they sent me a brand new one free of charge.
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When you had this problem with HTC, were you still able to see the smudge?

What kind of case is that? It looks very slim and pretty cool!

EWP000 said:
It was applied by a authorized ZAGG reseller. I watched and he didn't use it too hard. Any way, I'll remove it.
You had this problem with a invisibleSHIELD by ZAGG protector too or other?
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It should be covered under warranty still. Their site offers a 1 year warranty so you should be able to take it back to the seller and get a new one installed free

Its the case from at&t, its like a silicon plastic thing. Lol. I got it too.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

I have this same issue with my HTC Magic, that has a screen protector on it. There is a similar mark,smudge on my screen, as a result of a particularly large raindrop hitting my phone. Based on this thread, I can breath a sigh of relief that it didn't damage the screen!

DaveNavy said:
If you remove your screen protector and still notice the screen smudge try tilting the phone slightly to get a good angle and try o see if the smudge is internal, if it is I would say its a bleeding LCD, I had this issue with a HTC tilt at&t sent me and they sent me a brand new one free of charge.
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Click to collapse
The tilt is a whole different beast... the Samsung is a capacitive touch screen while the tilts were pressure touch...

WTB HTC but concerned about screen

I lost my sgs4g recently and was looking into getting an htc sensation. One thing I'm noticing is that the screens crack pretty easily (falling from 5ft). The sgs4g has gorilla glass and I would drop it plenty of times and although it would fall apart without the case(back cover and battery pops out), the screen would never crack. From what i have seen, the htc has gorilla glass yet it cracks so easily. Why is this? Is there a screen defect with the phone? From what I've seen so far, the phone seems great but the screen issue users seem to be having concerns me.

vincent1190 said:
I lost my sgs4g recently and was looking into getting an htc sensation. One thing I'm noticing is that the screens crack pretty easily (falling from 5ft). The sgs4g has gorilla glass and I would drop it plenty of times and although it would fall apart without the case(back cover and battery pops out), the screen would never crack. From what i have seen, the htc has gorilla glass yet it cracks so easily. Why is this? Is there a screen defect with the phone? From what I've seen so far, the phone seems great but the screen issue users seem to be having concerns me.
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i know of a digitizer issue but an easily crackable screen? never heard that one before

ok i read a bit further and the way most people spoke of the phone,it had me think they were one and the same. the digitizer will crack easily but the screen itself will be fine am i correct on that?

Is there anyone else that would like to chime in on this? I remember reading a thread where a person asked whether if the replacement digitizer would be gorilla glass which had me think that the digitizer and screen are one and the same. Also are there any other issues with the phone besides the digitizer that i should know about?

vincent1190 said:
Is there anyone else that would like to chime in on this? I remember reading a thread where a person asked whether if the replacement digitizer would be gorilla glass which had me think that the digitizer and screen are one and the same. Also are there any other issues with the phone besides the digitizer that i should know about?
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Click to collapse
the display and the digitizer screen are separate pieces
the digitizer is a part of the gorilla glass screen and the display is beneath that
it doesnt crack, it shorts out and stops working properly for some. it can easily be prevented. if it happens, its an easy fix and if you want a new one you can replace it i think its about 20 bucks

oh ok great how can i prevent it? and is the easy way to fix it the software update as mentioned in a stickied thread? i basically dont want it to ever look like this http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1142379

All you need to do is to be a little bit carefull whit your phone ..
I wonder why are you so worried lol do you drop your phones alot ?
Sent From My Sexy Sensation.

The Sensation is a quite durable phone... I've dropped it a couple of times with no issues...
Load "xda post"
Press play on tape

The Sensation does NOT have gorillaglass.
You can effortlessly push down hard enough on the digitizer to get it to touch the actual LCD panel underneath. It's an oleophobic plastic.

xHighAlert said:
The Sensation does NOT have gorillaglass.
You can effortlessly push down hard enough on the digitizer to get it to touch the actual LCD panel underneath. It's an oleophobic plastic.
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oh, is that right? you might want to check THE GORILLA GLASS WEBSITE
http://www.corninggorillaglass.com/products-with-gorilla/htc

Which brought me to another question. Is it possible that certain phones have lower quality gorilla glass screens than others?

vincent1190 said:
Which brought me to another question. Is it possible that certain phones have lower quality gorilla glass screens than others?
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i would say yes
just from the design of our screen (curved around the edges) it could possibly make it a tiny bit weaker

[Q] HTC One X directfix screen contrast too high

I just purchased this screen:
directfix.com/product/XX2544.html
After replacing my old one, I noticed the screen contrast is incredibly high, do you think this is a screen issue or improper installation?

having the same issue, driving me insane. any help?

Contrast too high
I recently shattered the screen on my HTC One X and had it replaced (the screen, not the whole handset). Now, like yours, the contrast is too high. Very poor in many, but oddly enough not all, apps. Text messages in particular look washed out. Adjusting the brightness doesn't help, just makes everything flatter
I had a go with the Screen Adjuster app, found via another thread. Looked promising but unfortunately it seems that its base line is where your screen is already at, so you can only decrease the contrast rather than increase it
I hope someone else can suggest a way of improving the contrast. It's not debilitating when using the phone, just irritating and not as good as my original screen.
Thanks

Same issue
I also replaced my screen and found the same issue, poor colors and high contrast as if there is a screen protection under the glass, any ideas?
Thanks!

Same here!
There should be some app/tweak to fix it?
Maybe Bravia engine?

Same Issue
Just got phone back from getting screen replaced and contrast is way too high! colours look terrible too, any suggestions to fix this yet?
Thanks

Problem solved...I think
I just got called back from the reseller and they say that there is a screen protection film between the display and the glass, as I suspected, I shall bring it back to the service and post here the result.

averdesh said:
I just got called back from the reseller and they say that there is a screen protection film between the display and the glass, as I suspected, I shall bring it back to the service and post here the result.
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From what I read the one x LCD screen is fused to the digitizer so there shouldn't be anything between them that's removable
Sent from my HTC One XL using Tapatalk 2

That is not true
superchilpil said:
From what I read the one x LCD screen is fused to the digitizer so there shouldn't be anything between them that's removable
Sent from my HTC One XL using Tapatalk 2
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No they are not fused. The LCD and the glass screen are just glued together.Youtube: watch?v=ceHw6mezG60. My guess is that the reseller has in storage only LCDs and gorila glass, and when somebody orders a whole screen they just stick them together and send it to you as a whole. And sometimes they just forget to remove LCD protection before sticking them together...at least this is what I think.

[Q] Screen won't turn on

Hello and thanks for reading this. First, a clarification- I'm under the impression that the front of a GS3 is the "front glass," with the digitizer underneath, and the amoled screen underneath that. Forgive me if I'm wrong, but that's how I'll refer to them below.
Yesterday I attempted to replace the broken glass on my GS3, and found that not only was the glass cracked, but the digitizer was too. I got the glass off, but managed to crack/warp the digitizer in the process. I'm sure there's no damage to the amoled screen, maybe a couple of light scratches, but now the screen doesn't turn on. It was working fine that morning. Now, the screen does absolutely nothing. LED functions fine.
The phone will vibrate/LED will light when I get a notification, and I have 3 batteries all at 100% charge. So I (think I) know that it's just the screen components that are messed up. Do I have to buy the $150 assembly? Or is there an easier, cheaper (!) fix? When I get home tonight, I'll try download mode, removing the sim, but I'm not sure if I want to reflash firmware yet. Thanks for any ideas.

bitterdone said:
Hello and thanks for reading this. First, a clarification- I'm under the impression that the front of a GS3 is the "front glass," with the digitizer underneath, and the amoled screen underneath that. Forgive me if I'm wrong, but that's how I'll refer to them below.
Yesterday I attempted to replace the broken glass on my GS3, and found that not only was the glass cracked, but the digitizer was too. I got the glass off, but managed to crack/warp the digitizer in the process. I'm sure there's no damage to the amoled screen, maybe a couple of light scratches, but now the screen doesn't turn on. It was working fine that morning. Now, the screen does absolutely nothing. LED functions fine.
The phone will vibrate/LED will light when I get a notification, and I have 3 batteries all at 100% charge. So I (think I) know that it's just the screen components that are messed up. Do I have to buy the $150 assembly? Or is there an easier, cheaper (!) fix? When I get home tonight, I'll try download mode, removing the sim, but I'm not sure if I want to reflash firmware yet. Thanks for any ideas.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The amoled screen is directly under the digitizer. However if you break your digitizer, there's no way for your phone to respond rendering your amoled screen useless anyway. It's essentially one unit because of the way it's manufactured.
Why would you reflash firmware? If you replace the entire display assembly it'll fix it. Your issue isn't software related.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

BadUsername said:
The amoled screen is directly under the digitizer. However if you break your digitizer, there's no way for your phone to respond rendering your amoled screen useless anyway. It's essentially one unit because of the way it's manufactured.
Why would you reflash firmware? If you replace the entire display assembly it'll fix it. Your issue isn't software related.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2
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Click to collapse
I don't know how Samsung designed it, but I would think the amoled screen would still light up and show stuff, even if the digitizer's broken. As for flashing, it's a suggestion I found through Google. I was sure it wouldn't do anything, which is why I wanted to save it for last. Thanks for the relpy.