DIY fix blank stripes on device screen

Unlike myself, my smartphone apparently experiences positive vibrations from those vibro alarms it fires up each morning to wake me up, and these vibrations finally drove it to break-dance on the floor.


The floor is carpeted, and my bedside table isn’t that high either, but that seemed to be high enough for me to end up with a broken screen on the smartphone. First it was all dark, but after I hugged the corners, some of the image came through, while the rest was black stripes. As grabbing the screen in different spots opened and closed various portions of the display, I had a shallow hope that the screen is not shattered, but there is some cable that fell out of the socket. So I decided to open up the phone and reconnect said cable. Disclaimer. If you decide to follow my path, you must be completely sure what you are doing and have at least the minimum of tools: nice thin screwdrivers and a plastic unhooker for the case hooks. If you don’t have them, a guitar plastic pluck or and an expired bank card will do. It must be of soft plastic, otherwise you may scratch and crack the case. Now you have to disassemble the phone, may be partly, may be completely. Of course it depends on your device model, but when in doubt – search online tear-down instructions for your exact device. In my case it’s pretty simple. Open the back cover, and there is a myriad of small bolts. Unscrew them, then gently pluck the frame to unhook it from a couple hooks, and you’re done. This is main-board. Yes this tiny green board is the smartphone. On the sides two cables run to side buttons. Below the ribbon cable runs to connectors. Under the camera is the camera cable. Upper left ribbon is for front camera and sensors, upper right ribbon with a controller is the touchscreen. And the black ribbon to the left from the camera is the screen cable. I unhooked all of the connectors – those with brown lids unlock from the cable, while those with grey lids unlock from the connector soldered pins side. Then I reconnected everything back. Unfortunately, this didn’t help, the display is still striped. Perhaps I will have to replace the screen, which is costly. As I got the phone really cheap, perhaps the replacement will not be feasible. I’ll get another model. And also a cheap one – so I can continue to smash it at the floor with zero regrets.

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