For some time I had problems with the mic, flickering display and non-responsive touch. I have opened the phone to reseat the flex connection and it has only worsened the problem: the display would not turn back anymore.
I have ordered a new flex cable and the problem persists... but I have a problem with diagnosis. The thing is the motherboard seems to work correctly, as I can find the phone with the Google site (although I cannot play the sound?). On the other hand, before the flex replacement the display would show colorful static, so it does not seem to be physically damaged by my repairs. What else could it be, then? For a while I thought that maybe it is the flex plug on the motherboard, but then the phone is seen as Nexus 5 through USB, so at least some of the data are going through from the USB port to the motherboard...
Without having another working screen, it would be tough to pinpoint the problem.
I do not have another working screen... or so I thought. I have connected the phone through HDMI to my TV and it seems to work, except it is very, very slow. This makes the screen issue more likely.
I agree.
Even a screen that shows scrambled images or static doesn't necessarily mean it's functional.
I've gone through this myself in trying to decide which to buy first: a screen or motherboard.
I have ordered a new display - no luck... It turns out it was the motherboard after all, more specifically, the port for the flex cable. It became more evident when part of the port fell off during the screen replacement...
JabberwockPL said:
I have ordered a new display - no luck... It turns out it was the motherboard after all, more specifically, the port for the flex cable. It became more evident when part of the port fell off during the screen replacement...
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Sorry to hear that.
I recommend looking for a cheap Nexus 5 with a broken screen and working motherboard for a cheap price.
Related
Hi friends
I am having an handset(Tilt) with flex cable problem, but wondering if flex cable can solve my phones problem where it is doing the following:
-Not accepting the SIM.
-phone is getting hanged any times, speed is also very pathetic.
-keypad is pressed on its own.
-Phone is not accepting any charger but charging with PC USB.
These are some of the major problems, I wish if someone could help me out in knowing what work does a flex cable plays, coz the technician is charging so much to change the flex cable & giving me no assurance as to what problems will be solved. I would like to know from some of those technicians here who knows something about hardware. Mike I am talking about you specially.
I would like to write this in our XDA encyclopedia given the case I get proper knowledge about it.
Looking forward to answers.
This is quite difficult to answer without testing. The SIM not being recognised will in itself slow down the phone or even create a full blown crash.
It's not stated what flex cable we are talking about. Flex Cables are just multi wire connections between circuit boards. Phones often have 3, 4 or more flex cables. For example between the the physical keypad and the motherboard or the d-pad and the LCD screen or between screen and motherboard etc etc.
It IS possible a flex cable can get damaged. This normally happens in phones with a slide out keyboard where the flex-cable has to roll back and forth as the keyboard slides in and out. However, such a cable would not I think change the charging behaviour of the phone.
It charges on PC connection but not charger connection. To me that normally indicates a USB port connection problem - bent pin in the slot, possibly even crossed pins or a cracked or dry solder joint between the usb port and the motherboard.
Another thing to consider is whether all the battery contacts are making good contact with the phone. Here again the multiple connections between battery and motherboard can become dry or cracked leading to erratic or underpowered connections.
The keypad being pressed on it's own can again be caused by different things:
1
It could be a faulty or loosley connected flex cable
2
Pressure being put on the digitizer screen by something under the bezel or just a damaged digitizer layer
3
A key that is not releasing from the keyboard properly (is it always the same key or group of keys?)
4
Moisture at many different places inside the phone, including keyboard, d-pad etc. Even when dried out, the residue or oxidisation can continue to cause problems.
So, I would not rule out a flex-cable problem, but it might not be the only fault. Unfortunately then, the technician you spoke to may be correct and it is not possible to guarantee it will solve all problems. Having said that, I would want to say to the technician that I am not going to pay for a new flex if it does not solve any of the problems.
This is where it becomes difficult to decide whether to go for paid for repair or to attempt the job yourself.
Mike
I'll start from the beginning. I noticed my phone's screen would kinda freeze or blur like a static tv. The screen would dim when I slide it open. I figured it would be either one of these 2: the lcd screen or the main flex cable. I had already replace the digitizer like 4 months before this and the digitizer work great after installation.
Here's my problem. Now that I installed the main flex cable the lcd works great but the digitizer stopped responding. I also noticed that the phone will only charge if I turn the phone off then plug in the charger then turn the phone back on. If the phone is on and I plug in the charger the phone will work for like 5 seconds then it will freeze then restart by it self. Its wierd.
I checked the cables, all the cables, to make sure they were all properly connected and locked. Everything inside, hardware related is working.
Here's something else that is important. My mother has the exact same phone as me. So, I switched the earpiece flex cable, (I thought maybe it was this cable that could be malfunctioning), from both phones to see if this cable was the problem. The lcd on my phone still worked but still no digitizer response. Here's what is crazy about this. Now my mothers phone does not work. I installed her original cable and rechecked all cables and now her phone has the same problem!
I came to the conclusion that there is a slight chance that it might be a minor cable mistake that I made on BOTH phones -or- There is some sort of software or firmware or something that needs to be installed. (Like when installing a new printer on a computer, you would need the installation CD) Maybe after I unlocked and pulled the main flex cable some sort of memory was interrupted or something. Although I am not sure if that is even possible...but umm...yeah. Any help?
Hi, I was repairing my Nexus 5 and I messed up a little bit, A Cable (http://imgur.com/U4invJg) got damaged when removing the screen, and this was the result (http://imgur.com/jtdFxKa).
Now what i would like to know is what is the smallest part i can order so that i can replace just this cable. This cable is directly connected to the display and digitizer
I would prefer to not get the whole screen for obvious reasons.
Thanks a lot in advance!
You cannot fix the screen, the only way is to buy an other one, sorry mate
So I bought a second hand Nexus 5 with a defective spekaer (the one for making calls) and microphone. I wanted to fix it so I bought replacement parts from Aliexpress (the earpiece speaker and the charging flex cable since that is what the microphone is connected to). When I had repleced them the screen wouldn't turn on anymore.. It stayed black no matter what I did. I noticed there was some backlight though.. I noticed some things:
1. It vibrated when I turned it on.
2. It gave a low battery notification sound when it was finished booting.
3. My computer plays the sound like it detects something when I connect it but nothing appears in explorer or device manager.
I tried putting the old flex cable in but that didn't work..
What could I try?
Look carefully at the connections on the motherboard and the connecting cables to see if there are any damaged parts.
audit13 said:
Look carefully at the connections on the motherboard and the connecting cables to see if there are any damaged parts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope I checked that
Look in the attachement to see how everything is connected..
Maybe something happened when you were changing the flex cable as that seems to be the only explanation since the screen doesn't work with the original and replacement part.
audit13 said:
Maybe something happened when you were changing the flex cable as that seems to be the only explanation since the screen doesn't work with the original and replacement part.
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Click to collapse
What could be damaged then?
First thing that comes into my mind is that you did not/forgot to connect the LCD flex cable or the lcd cable is broken or the lcd is broken.
The backlight and the lcd display should be two separate things, 1 might work but the other might not.
You can try tapping on the screen to see if anything happens to it or try to call your phone and see if you can pick up the call.
Also, did it work before you change the cables? are you sure the microphone and speaker are the only thing broken in the phone?
ck.chunkeat said:
First thing that comes into my mind is that you did not/forgot to connect the LCD flex cable or the lcd cable is broken or the lcd is broken.
The backlight and the lcd display should be two separate things, 1 might work but the other might not.
You can try tapping on the screen to see if anything happens to it or try to call your phone and see if you can pick up the call.
Also, did it work before you change the cables? are you sure the microphone and speaker are the only thing broken in the phone?
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I will try that. I just plugged it into my pc to charge it and it detected it and showed it in the device manager. This is without the plates over the PCB's, I don't know if that matters..
Yeah I tested it before I took it apart and it worked fine except for the speaker and microphone.
The cable leading from the motherboard to the LCD is in the upper right hand corner of the phone, near the headphone jack.
Hello everybody. I recently changed my frame + display on my nexus 5 and screen doesn't work. First i saw the backlight but after I tried to put more pressure on orange flex cable that connect it to the morherboard it didn't work anymore. I tried to use an old but working flex cable but nothing changed and I tried also with my old display and frame but nothing still nothing changed. I don't know what to change to make it work again, could that be a motherboard problem? Do anyone of you know what is damaged?
Thank you
It could be a screen or motherboard problem.
if i do change the motherboard would it work again right?
Did you change the flex cable that runs from the USB port to the motherboard? If yes, I think this is for charging and data transfer.
Where did you get the screen? It's possible that the screen or motherboard is defective: with nothing on the screen and the phone making sounds, ringing, etc. indicates a screen problem. Pressing on the cable and getting it to work for a short time indicates a motherboard problem (looses or broken connecting cables or onboard connector).
If you want to isolate the the problem, you would need to test with either a know working motherboard or screen.