# Cracked screen



## hotelmrrsn (Jul 11, 2011)

So my TB slipped from my hands this morning and in the process of trying to catch and save it, i ended up spiking it into my kitchen floor. Result? cracked touch screen and lcd screen in the lower left corner (screen protector and gel case were installed). Everything still works but i'm too picky to just keep my phone w/ a cracked screen. So I ordered the parts today and will be replacing the screens sometime next week. I'm not amateurish when it comes to these types of activities so I'm not really worried about the scope of the project. Just wondered if anyone on here has done it and if they had any tips or insight that I can use going into this. I'll be sure to document my steps with pictures and instructions and will post back my results once completed. Thanks and wish me luck!


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## cam30era (Jul 25, 2011)

I'll be replacing the housing on my Thunderbolt soon. Here's a guide that may help you > http://www.repairsuniverse.com/htc-thunderbolt-take-apart-repair-guide-video.html


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## SoDev (Jul 5, 2011)

Good luck and post the results please. Pics would be awesome too if you have time.


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## hotelmrrsn (Jul 11, 2011)

cam30era said:


> I'll be replacing the housing on my Thunderbolt soon. Here's a guide that may help you > http://www.repairsuniverse.com/htc-thunderbolt-take-apart-repair-guide-video.html


Same place i ordered the parts from, thanks! ;-)


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## hotelmrrsn (Jul 11, 2011)

SoDev said:


> Good luck and post the results please. Pics would be awesome too if you have time.


I sure will, plan on taking pictures of each step in dis-assembly to make sure i re-assemble correctly..hehe. My wife has already volunteered her photography skills in documenting the process. Just received confirmation that the parts shipped (I ordered them about 5 hours ago!). So I should be setting up and taking this project on early next week.


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## miketoasty (Jun 10, 2011)

I heard that the touch screen is EXTREMELY fragile and heard that people had trouble with it. This was a couple weeks after the device launched so I am guessing we now have more documentation on the process and you should be fine. Good luck android buddy.


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## hotelmrrsn (Jul 11, 2011)

Unbelievably the parts arrived via US mail this morning! If everything appears to be in good shape once it's unpacked I'll be performing open heart surgery on my TB. I've already shot some before pics and have a camera set up to snap and catalog the process as I go along. Once completed I'll get the slideshow posted and will share my steps and success/failure.


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## dirtyfingers (Jun 7, 2011)

Good luck my friend


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## hotelmrrsn (Jul 11, 2011)

dirtyfingers said:


> Good luck my friend


Thank you. Got home and unpacked my goodies, sorry to say that they speed me the wrong lcd screen, so I'll have to send it back on monday and wait patiently fire the right lcd to arrive.

"Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does all the work" Mark Twain


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## davidjr621 (Jun 6, 2011)

hotelmrrsn said:


> So my TB slipped from my hands this morning and in the process of trying to catch and save it, i ended up spiking it into my kitchen floor. Result? cracked touch screen and lcd screen in the lower left corner (screen protector and gel case were installed). Everything still works but i'm too picky to just keep my phone w/ a cracked screen. So I ordered the parts today and will be replacing the screens sometime next week. I'm not amateurish when it comes to these types of activities so I'm not really worried about the scope of the project. Just wondered if anyone on here has done it and if they had any tips or insight that I can use going into this. I'll be sure to document my steps with pictures and instructions and will post back my results once completed. Thanks and wish me luck!


Woah... Same thing happened to me, but on Friday. (Kitchen = Hotel Bathroom though)... Will also be replacing the screen as well
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9372031/IMG_20110804_223907.jpg


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## hotelmrrsn (Jul 11, 2011)

davidjr621 said:


> Woah... Same thing happened to me, but on Friday. (Kitchen = Hotel Bathroom though)... Will also be replacing the screen as well
> http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9372031/IMG_20110804_223907.jpg


Heh, yours is worse than mine! Did you order your parts already? Good luck, post back when your done and let me know how it goes.

"Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does all the work" Mark Twain


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## packruler (Jun 6, 2011)

Be careful when putting out all together again lining up the screen can be a b##ch


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## hotelmrrsn (Jul 11, 2011)

packruler said:


> Be careful when putting out all together again lining up the screen can be a b##ch


Thanks, I appreciate the tip!


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## Jaxidian (Jun 6, 2011)

You might want to do it in a slightly-steamy bathroom (but not so steamy that condensation settles on your components, electrical or adhesive). It's FAR too easy to get some dust or fuzz between the digitizer and LCD.

Also, make sure you have the proper adhesive for the digitizer to stick to your case or you'll have major problems (don't even think about reusing the existing adhesive, you will simply be causing yourself more problems than you'll be saving). I found that the 2mm 3M double-sided adhesive works well for this. Be sure you have an exacto knife because you'll likely need to slice it long-ways, which is difficult considering that it's only 2mm wide. I think I bought something like 10' of the adhesive on ebay for ~$10. Have a ton left over but it doesn't really make any sense to buy any less of it since it's not really any cheaper.


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## hotelmrrsn (Jul 11, 2011)

Jaxidian said:


> You might want to do it in a slightly-steamy bathroom (but not so steamy that condensation settles on your components, electrical or adhesive). It's FAR too easy to get some dust or fuzz between the digitizer and LCD.
> 
> Also, make sure you have the proper adhesive for the digitizer to stick to your case or you'll have major problems (don't even think about reusing the existing adhesive, you will simply be causing yourself more problems than you'll be saving). I found that the 2mm 3M double-sided adhesive works well for this. Be sure you have an exacto knife because you'll likely need to slice it long-ways, which is difficult considering that it's only 2mm wide. I think I bought something like 10' of the adhesive on ebay for ~$10. Have a ton left over but it doesn't really make any sense to buy any less of it since it's not really any cheaper.


Thank you again for the advice! I did buy the adhesive strips and have a modeling exacto knife at the ready. I made a makeshift dust free work area using vapor barrier , a small wooden frame and placing the area under a vacum. I have powder free latex gloves to ensure no finger prints and was considering using the dusting agent that they sell for computer keyboards and components just prior to putting the digitizer and lcd together. They should be shipping the correct LCD out to me today and I'll hopefully have it in my hand by tomorrow evening.


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## Jaxidian (Jun 6, 2011)

hotelmrrsn said:


> was considering using the dusting agent that they sell for computer keyboards and components just prior to putting the digitizer and lcd together.


If by this you mean aerosol air (canned air, or whatever you want to call it), that might be unwise. That will more-than-likely stir up dust/dirt rather than calming it down. These digitizers usually come dust-free with a sticky thing over it just like screen protectors come with, so unless you get dust on it, you should be clean. As for your existing phone/LCD, again, it's probably dust-free right now (where it matters) so as long as you don't get dust on it, where it matters, you should be good. That said, there is probably plenty of dust in other areas on it and the aerosol air would probably stir that up. Even if you are in a negative-pressured room, flying dust that lands on the LCD or digitizer will stay there and make this quite problematic for you.


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## hotelmrrsn (Jul 11, 2011)

Jaxidian said:


> If by this you mean aerosol air (canned air, or whatever you want to call it), that might be unwise. That will more-than-likely stir up dust/dirt rather than calming it down. These digitizers usually come dust-free with a sticky thing over it just like screen protectors come with, so unless you get dust on it, you should be clean. As for your existing phone/LCD, again, it's probably dust-free right now (where it matters) so as long as you don't get dust on it, where it matters, you should be good. That said, there is probably plenty of dust in other areas on it and the aerosol air would probably stir that up. Even if you are in a negative-pressured room, flying dust that lands on the LCD or digitizer will stay there and make this quite problematic for you.


Great points, thank you. I'm replacing both my digitizer and LCD (both cracked on impact) so I assume that I'll be putting them together prior to disassembly of my device. And instead of taking the digitizer off followed by heating up the back of the lcd to remove it from it's case, i'll simply skip to step two here and heat up the back of the lcd and remove the entire assembly as both parts are being replaced. Again, thank you for the tips!


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## hotelmrrsn (Jul 11, 2011)

Well the correct LCD is arriving as we speak, so I'll be doing the screen swap tonight!


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## aczaplicki (Jul 12, 2011)

Eager to know how it turns out. My screen has a small crack in it, but I am a little weary of attempting to fix it. Hopefully your install goes well and it gives me the confidence.


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## hotelmrrsn (Jul 11, 2011)

Success! I'm all back together and all seems good. I'll post some pics as soon as I can.
"Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does all the work" Mark Twain


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## SUB-dawg (Jul 14, 2011)

My screen cracked but I was too scared to fix it so I went to my local tech repair shop and he fixed it up for 100 bucks.

Sent from my Thunderbolt via an app you can probably guess


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## hotelmrrsn (Jul 11, 2011)

That's close to what I paid in parts, good deal.

"Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does all the work" Mark Twain


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## cam30era (Jul 25, 2011)

hotelmrrsn said:


> Success! I'm all back together and all seems good. I'll post some pics as soon as I can.
> "Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does all the work" Mark Twain


Was it difficult getting the screws back in?


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## SoDev (Jul 5, 2011)

hotelmrrsn said:


> Success! I'm all back together and all seems good. I'll post some pics as soon as I can.
> "Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does all the work" Mark Twain


Good to hear!


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## hotelmrrsn (Jul 11, 2011)

cam30era said:


> Was it difficult getting the screws back in?


nah that was no issue..I'm writing up my experience and will post some pictures tonight when i get home.


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## cam30era (Jul 25, 2011)

"hotelmrrsn said:


> nah that was no issue..I'm writing up my experience and will post some pictures tonight when i get home.


Thank you


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## Jaxidian (Jun 6, 2011)

SUB-dawg said:


> My screen cracked but I was too scared to fix it so I went to my local tech repair shop and he fixed it up for 100 bucks.
> 
> Sent from my Thunderbolt via an app you can probably guess


That's pretty much the standard "cheap" price to have somebody do it. If you're not 90% comfortable fixing it yourself, then that's definitely the way to go. Even though I've fixed a number of these myself without many problems, $100 is tempting to pay to have somebody else deal with it. I always hate it when I get it put back together but I have this random piece of plastic that I've never seen before but I know came out of the phone somewhere!


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## hotelmrrsn (Jul 11, 2011)

So I got home yesterday and first verified that they sent me the correct LCD screen this time around, and they did. I started dis-assembly at about 345pm central standard time. Starting with the battery cover, battery, SD card and Sim card removal. Next there are six phillips head screws (the one on the left has a 'void' sticker over it so I heated it w/ a hair dryer for about a minute and then using a safety pin slid it off of the screw head and used the same process to restore the sticker once i was done). One thing to note here, the two screws that are at the very top of the phone (on either side of the ear piece speaker) are longer than the other four and should be kept separate during removal. This process was very straight forward, no real surprises. Then i flipped the phone over and removed the small rubber/plastic piece that is located at the bottom of the screen. This came out fairly easy using the safe open pry tool, i found that on my model they used quite a bit of adhesive so i used the hair dryer to help loosen things up and it popped right out. Under this piece of plastic are two more phillips head screws, straight forward removal the only problem was that once loosened they didn't want to come out, i had to use the safety pin to help guide them out so that i could set them aside w/ the others. Now i used my fingers to simply pry the frame off from around the screen, this piece includes the front grill the covers the ear piece speaker as well as the kick stand. No surprises here, just took my time and did not use force. If something ever felt stuck i stopped what i was doing and inspected where it was being caught (this was true for the entire tear down). Once this frame is removed i flipped the phone back over so that the screen is once again face down. At about the height of the micro usb outlet there are two more phillips screws on either side that need to be removed. No issues/surprises here. Starting at the very bottom of the phone i used the safe open pry tool to gently separate the back plastic cover (includes the lense for the rear facing camera) and worked my way slowly up towards the top of the phone gently unclipping it as i moved along. This concludes the easy parts of the job  (next post)


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## hotelmrrsn (Jul 11, 2011)

next i put the phone back down (screen down) and used the safe open pry tool to gently unlock the tiny ribbon cable connection in the lower right. Once unlocked i gently used the tool to unplug the ribbon connector. With this disconnected I opened the remaining two pieces (motherboard and screen assembly) like a book, being careful as they are connected by two ribbon cables in the middle. I removed the tape (put this on the edge of a table as it is to be reused) from the locks on both ribbon cables and used the safe open pry tool to unlock them both. I gently pulled the two pieces away from one another and set the motherboard aside. I was now to the part that i needed to get at and replace, the screen and lcd. Using a hair dryer and concentrating on the edges i heated up the glue for about two mins before trying to use the safe open pry tool to separate the touch screen from the lcd (probably didn't need to do this since i was replacing both). This was not nearly as easy as some of the videos out there made it look. I had to heat and reheat several times and had a really hard time getting the touch screen digitizer to separate from the lcd. Slowly but surely i worked it free and opened it like a book with the hinge being where the ear piece speaker is (there is a ribbon cable up there that connects the touch screen to the lcd). Now i flipped the entire assebly over (screen down) and began heating the back metal frame that the lcd screen sits in. Again, removal of the lcd was much more difficult than it appears in the videos. Had my lcd not already been broken, i'm 90% positive i would have broken it getting it out here. After a lot of effort, heating, reheating, prying i finally got the lcd/touch screen assembly removed from this metal tray and set it aside. I now turned my attention to the new lcd and touch screen. I paid careful attention to the alignment of the original and where the adhesive had been placed ( i wanted to ensure i didn't cover any important sensors w/ the adhesive strips). I used a ruler and a fabric cutting wheel to slice thin strips of the adhesive strips (purchased with the lcd screen and touch screen). I peeled back one side of the paper and carefully stuck them in place (after dry fitting them) ensuring there was no overlap or overhang into the screen area or off the side edge of the screen. I should point out and i was wearing non-powder latex gloves during the point of the procedure in an effort to keep the glass as clean as possible on the inside. I was also working in a vacuum tent that i constructed to keep it dust free. Once i dry fitted the touch screen over the lcd i peeled off the paper covering the adhesive strips and married the touch screen digitizer to the lcd, carefully lining it up to match the original. It's important to note that I failed here on attempt one, the touch screen was too far down towards the bottom on my original fit. I had to heat the glue up, gently pry the two apart and refit (this made me sweat big time) . An important note on marrying the lcd and touch screen. There is a cable that runs from the top of the touch screen, it folds over the top and is secured to the back of the lcd with adhesive tape. It is of dire importance that when sticking this ribbon cable down you lay the lcd next to the motherboard so that you can ensure the ribbon cables will line up. I did not do this and had to take a step backwards to get these aligned properly. Keeping dust/finger prints, smears out from between the glass was a HUGE PAIN IN THE ASS. In the end i was able to manage it, but it was horrible, even in a negative vacuum. Next i put the lcd assembly back into it's metal tray (heating up the adhesive that still existed to reactivate it and hold the assembly in place. Be mindful of feeding the ribbon cables through the openings correctly and watch for the tiny ribbon cable in the lower right, make sure you don't crimp it, smash it or get is stuck under the lcd. Next you plug the motherboard and lcd assembly back together with the two ribbon connectors, lock the latches and put the tape back over them. Flip the phone over and plug the tiny ribbon cable back in and secure it's lock as well (this too was a huge pain in the ass, my hands are big and trying to get this tiny cable to line up and fit was frustrating, in the end i had my 8 year old do it and she did it first try .) close the assemblies like a book and gently press the motherboard and lcd assemblies together around the edges as there are snap clips in the four corners that help hold the two assemblies together. Next you put the plastic housing that has the rear facing camera lens attached back on, starting at the top and snapping into place as you work your way down to the bottom. Once snapped back in put in the two screws that are at the same level as the micro usb outlet. Next comes the outter frame that includes the ear piece speaker grill and the kickstand. The volume button was a huge pain here and kept falling out of the housing. Start at the top and get the speaker grill in place then slowly snapping the reast of the assembly around the screen. Replace the two small screws located at the bottom of the screen on the front of the phone, and replace the pieces of rubber/plastic that covered these screws ( i have a little light bleed in this area now that i plan on fixing in the next few days). With the frame back on, flip the phone over screen down and replace the six screws making sure that the two longer ones go in the upper corners. Replace the sim, sd cards, battery and snap the battery cover back on. Take a deep breath and power the bad boy on to see what happens. everything works and looks great on my phone. The only thing, and it's minor is the light bleed that i have near that bottom molding piece. All the lights, buttons, sensors, speakers, microphones etc all function as intended. Overall i could not be happier with the outcome. On a toughness scale of 1 being the easiest and 10 being the hardest I'd rate this job a 7 or 8. The hardest parts by far were the removal of the lcd from the lcd tray (especially if your trying not to break it and reuse the one you have), keeping the parts between the glass clean, and ensuring perfect alignment of the touch screen and lcd so that the frame comes back together perfectly. I'm glad i did, great experience and a great sense of accomplishment when I was finished. Hopefully I don't drop the thing again . i'll put up a slide show as soon as i get home and sort through the pics i took. Good luck to anyone else that is going through it. And for reference, i followed the video tear down that is available on both youtube and at the repairunivers.com website.


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## Randy (Aug 6, 2011)

This is just a suggestion to prevent this from happening again...you could buy a Otterbox. Yeah it does make the phone bulky but atleast you don't have to worry about replacing the touch screen every time you drop it. You can get one on Amazon for 30 bucks.


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## ericatomars23 (Jun 21, 2011)

Good Luck with that project, cant wait to see how it turns out.

I've been careless with my Tbolt lately luckily my screen hasnt cracked.


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## hotelmrrsn (Jul 11, 2011)

Randy said:


> This is just a suggestion to prevent this from happening again...you could buy a Otterbox. Yeah it does make the phone bulky but atleast you don't have to worry about replacing the touch screen every time you drop it. You can get one on Amazon for 30 bucks.


It arrived today and is installed. Love it!


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