Database Users

Nexus One touch screen doesn't work properly when horizontal

Hi, I've now used the Nuxus One for a few days and I'm pretty happy with it and all it's fancy fetures.
The phone works flawlessly and the only minor issue I'm willing to report is the fact that when the phone is lying on the table the touchscreen doesn't respond as quickly as it does when holding it in hand..
I've also noticed that if you touch the shell of the phone with a finger while trying to use the touchscreen, everything goes back to normal.
Is it a flaw only present in mine or is it an issue that involves the capacitive touch screen of the Nexus?

Video Proof
This is the video I've taken with my other phone so it would me much clearer what I mean..
The quality is not great but I hope it will be explicative enough..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXPpyGwuSzM

mine work correctly, try it on another table

I've tried it on different surfaces but the result it's the same..
Problem is that it doesn't always do it, so it's difficult to judge if a surface works better than an other.
I've called HTC support and together with them I've done some tests, like letting another person use it the same way, but nothing changes.
I've also done a hard reset and nothing has changed so I think I will have to send it in hoping they will fix it..
I envy you in the US where you can just ask for a replacement...

Is it possible that your fingers are real dry and or you are working in a dry low humidity environment?

rotohammer said:
Is it possible that your fingers are real dry and or you are working in a dry low humidity environment?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
I don't think so, since I've now tried it in different environments and by different people...
This is very weired..and annoying..

I've had my Nexus One for over a month, but I recall having the same issue one day early on.
Similarly, I've had days where I can't operate the touchpad on my notebook computer because my fingers were dried out from handling solvents.
I have an associate that has a similar issue when the phone is in a leather holster case. She has to take the phone out on occasion to operate it, most while driving.

havent had any issues. Call them for a replacement

I think I will do so!
The problem is minor but sometimes can be a real nuisance..

Looks like screen isn't grounded properly.

Yes, I think so too. It must be something electrical. When I keep it in hand or touch it, the static electricity must not influence it, but it does so if I try using it lying on its own.

I've taken another video changing the surface on which I use it on..
Take a look: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZ-nS_h5Pqs

I'm glad to see you're still investigating. Because the problem is so repeatable, and the fact that its not a common complaint, I'd conclude theres a something wrong with your phone.
One thing I'd try is to remove the battery for 8hrs (overnight) and see if that make a difference. I've worked with a lot of electronic devices that behave badly after receiving a static discharge. Sometimes leaving it sit without power helps the static dissipate.
But the fact that it works while on the laptop would indicate a poor ground from the touchscreen circuit to the chassis of the phone, as the proximity of the laptop changes the capacitance of the internal circuit enough to overcome the lack of effect that the chassis alone needs to provide.

hehe I have to investigate to be sure this is a bug relative to my device so that when I will send it in for repair they will have to find a way to solve it and not just pretend it doesn't exist...

try pressing with all skin and not with your nail. It needs heat to work.

htcmagic said:
It needs heat to work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, it doesn't. To prove it, hold a metal spoon and slide it across your screen. Mine works.

this was a common problem on the G1 and the way the capacitive screen was designed. In order for it to be functioning completely, HTC told users that he needed to have it in his hand or at least a finger or two touching the phone. HTC said that it simulated a circuit (the hand on the phone made a complete circuit while just touching it left the circuit incomplete) I have noticed the same thing on the N1... it works great in my hand on if i am touching the sides with a finger and scrolling or using it, but if i just lay it down and try to scroll/touch with 1 finger it becomes much less responsive, the same way the G1 would.
i will see if i can find the exact thread over in the G1 forums where all this is posted.

It makes sense, but then, why others work? mmm...

Batas said:
It makes sense, but then, why others work? mmm...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only thing I found while googling is that you need some humidity in the air for it to work effectively. I'm really not sure if that applies to this specific design though.

I've never had an issue with using the screen on a table, so this is probably isolated, I'd give htc a call and ask for repairs.
Edit: I just tried for the hell of it doing the pinky touch on the frame, and the soft buttons became much more responsive. Hmm

(Q) Nexus 7 defects still existent in new batches?

Hey guys,
Title says it all tbh, so are they still present in new batches? Should i hold off and wait for a while?

dinesh690 said:
Hey guys,
Title says it all tbh, so are they still present in new batches? Should i hold off and wait for a while?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Look for one that has a SSN# that starts with C8OK... The number should be outside the box. Those are the newest batches and I bought 2 that are flawless right out the box.

shook187 said:
Look for one that has a SSN# that starts with C8OK... The number should be outside the box. Those are the newest batches and I bought 2 that are flawless right out the box.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where did you purchase from?

ClanUrdnot said:
Where did you purchase from?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Walmart
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda premium

Good question. Just ordered one from Tesco in UK as a present for someone.
Also, if you root it, and have a fault develop, can you unroot without a problem with warranty?
Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

dinesh690 said:
Hey guys,
Title says it all tbh, so are they still present in new batches? Should i hold off and wait for a while?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm still waiting. People are reporting C8s with screen lift, although it seems to be less frequent now than before.
Sorry for not citing specific posts, but I am following user reports closely and it is still happening.
It's possible that new units are being inspected more thoroughly but no other measures have been taken. That would make the defect harder to spot, lowering the reported incidence rate, but would do nothing to actually solidify the left side.
I would also be skeptical of anyone who claims that their unit is flawless who doesn't post a picture. This may sound paranoid, but there have been users who claimed their device was perfect until they posted a photo of a unit with screen separation.
shook187 said:
Look for one that has a SSN# that starts with C8OK... The number should be outside the box. Those are the newest batches and I bought 2 that are flawless right out the box.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry for doubting you, but would you mind posting a photo of the horizon test? I've gotten three bad units and I'm waiting to repurchase.
To check if your screen is lifting, hold the device with the right side facing you. Look across the display and use the left bezel as a silver horizon line. If the black display is higher at any point, you'll be able to see it interrupt that silver line.
Here is an example of a perfectly flush display, looking across the device from the right side.
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pxlitup said:
I'm still waiting. People are reporting C8s with screen lift, although it seems to be less frequent now than before.
Sorry for not citing specific posts, but I am following user reports closely and it is still happening.
It's possible that new units are being inspected more thoroughly but no other measures have been taken. That would make the defect harder to spot, lowering the reported incidence rate, but would do nothing to actually solidify the left side.
I would also be skeptical of anyone who claims that their unit is flawless who doesn't post a picture. This may sound paranoid, but there have been users who claimed their device was perfect until they posted a photo of a unit with screen separation.
Sorry for doubting you, but would you mind posting a photo of the horizon test? I've gotten three bad units and I'm waiting to repurchase.
To check if your screen is lifting, hold the device with the right side facing you. Look across the display and use the left bezel as a silver horizon line. If the black display is higher at any point, you'll be able to see it interrupt that silver line.
Here is an example of a perfectly flush display, looking across the device from the right side.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here is mine. Im not as picky as most on a $250 purchase, but for me it looks flawless. You tell me.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda premium

Received my nexus on the 24th and it has a C80K SN, although it doesn't have screen lift or separation, it does have screen flicker at low brightness

shook187 said:
Here is mine. Im not as picky as most on a $250 purchase, but for me it looks flawless. You tell me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All of these are from the right portrait side, correct?
The first one isn't very clear. The second looks fine. But in the third one the bezel seems to disappear under the ASUS logo.
Why do you think that is?

I am on #5 now since 7/14
1st C6 - would turn off at 20% "show low low battery logo" even after calibrating bad battery? Perfect screen, exchanged
2nd C7 - bad left side screen separation/lift, exchanged
3rd C7 - dust under the screen, 2 spots , exchanged
4th C7- minor left side screen seperation/lift, just started doing the death at 20% exactly like the first C6 I had for no reason today, have had it since last Sunday and had been charging/decharging fine, just sent my wife to exchange it again. I am sure Gamestop is sick of us by now. Said it is a C8 I will edit how it turns out. Considering I am 4 for 4 with issues, I am just hoping no lift and the battery doesn't act stupid after a week or two or I'm calling it quits on this one.

pxlitup said:
All of these are from the right portrait side, correct?
The first one isn't very clear. The second looks fine. But in the third one the bezel seems to disappear under the ASUS logo.
Why do you think that is?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As a matter of fact, the bezel does disappear at the center. I guess my C8OK does have some screen lift. But does that minor issue warrant a return? I would say hell no. If something as minor as this would discourage you as a buyer then you might have other issues.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium

Well my C8 has lift on the left hand side, not as bad as first C7 I had, but worse than the last.
Screen seems fine otherwise no dead pixels or dust , but obviously there is no special fix as some people keep speculating, I'm 5 for 5 now with defects
** I actually just opened it up to tighten the screws see if it would help, two screws are missing along the left side. I swear Asus needs to hire some better monkeys over in that chinese plant, I'm done taking it back for refund. Maybe around tax time they will have ironed this out

Its amazing that they cant figure out something. My c70k is having screen lift as well

NeoMagus said:
Well my C8 has lift on the left hand side, not as bad as first C7 I had, but worse than the last.
Screen seems fine otherwise no dead pixels or dust , but obviously there is no special fix as some people keep speculating, I'm 5 for 5 now with defects
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So you returning it?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium

shook187 said:
As a matter of fact, the bezel does disappear at the center. I guess my C8OK does have some screen lift. But does that minor issue warrant a return? I would say hell no. If something as minor as this would discourage you as a buyer then you might have other issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for clarifying.
If you decide to look further into the matter you will find that the physical presence of a little lift isn't the concern.
These displays have a low stress tolerance and aren't designed to be flexed at all during use. If your screen isn't securely fastened to the case, that means it will be bending even if you don't notice it, and that runs the risk of cracking the screen.
It's not a death sentence by any means, but the risk is there no matter how minor the lift appears to be. Also, there is a tendency for the separation to spread over time. The adhesive bonding the display to the left side of the case is already failing. This adhesive is flimsy and sensitive to heat according to the teardowns people have conducted.
I would not advise you to keep that (those?) units if you're going to be dealing with ASUS worst case scenario. It might be worth keeping a unit with screen lift under the Play store warranty depending on how they choose to handle these issues, but you don't want to deal with ASUS.
Sorry about the bad news.
---------- Post added at 04:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:12 PM ----------
NeoMagus said:
Well my C8 has lift on the left hand side, not as bad as first C7 I had, but worse than the last.
Screen seems fine otherwise no dead pixels or dust , but obviously there is no special fix as some people keep speculating, I'm 5 for 5 now with defects
** I actually just opened it up to tighten the screws see if it would help, two screws are missing along the left side. I swear Asus needs to hire some better monkeys over in that chinese plant, I'm done taking it back for refund. Maybe around tax time they will have ironed this out
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess I'll keep waiting then. Thanks for reporting.

pxlitup said:
Thank you for clarifying.
If you decide to look further into the matter you will find that the physical presence of a little lift isn't the concern. These displays have a low stress tolerance and aren't designed to be flexed even a little during use. If your screen isn't securely fastened to the case, that means it will be bending even if you don't notice it, and that runs the risk of cracking the screen.
It's not a death sentence by any means, but the risk is there no matter how minor the lift appears to be. Also, there is a tendency for the separation to spread over time. The adhesive bonding the display to the left side of the case is already failing. This adhesive is flimsy and sensitive to heat according to the teardowns people have conducted.
I would not advise you to keep that (those?) units if you're going to be dealing with ASUS worst case scenario. It might be worth keeping a unit with screen lift under the Play store warranty depending on how they choose to handle these issues, but you don't want to deal with ASUS.
Sorry about the bad news.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its not bad news at all. Your view is a dooms day view. Like most items they all will suffer from wear and tear and eventually you're going to have to say goodbye to your little gadget. Even if you get a perfect one, who's to say it won't lift in a few weeks or months? Like I mentioned before, I only paid $250 for them and in a year from now they're be worth even less.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium

shook187 said:
So you returning it?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just sent the wife back out with it , could have possibly lived with it had the screws not been missing inside. My C6's screen was seated flawless, really sad the battery was funky with it. I'm sick of settling for defective out of the box crap with Asus they can eat another return

NeoMagus said:
Just sent the wife back out with it , could have possibly lived with it had the screws not been missing inside. My C6's screen was seated flawless, really sad the battery was funky with it. I'm sick of settling for defective out of the box crap with Asus they can eat another return
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do you open it up?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium

I use a very small #0 flathead and pry open near the headphone jack, once you get one of the clips up it just unsnaps the whole way around very easy.

shook187 said:
Its not bad news at all. Your view is a dooms day view. Like most items they all will suffer from wear and tear and eventually you're going to have to say goodbye to your little gadget. Even if you get a perfect one, who's to say it won't lift in a few weeks or months? Like I mentioned before, I only paid $250 for them and in a year from now they're be worth even less.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't mistake my motives. I'm glad that you are happy with your purchase.
I'm only notifying you of the possible risks, which I believe warrant a mention since they do exceed the concerns of normal wear and tear.
Remember that internationally this tablet can cost much more than you or I paid for it. It's important for people to be able to make an informed decision about whether or not to purchase it, and you being honest about your screen inspection, even though you think I'm being OCD, was very helpful in that regard. You would be surprised at how many people believe facts are subjective when tech company loyalties come into play.
Hopefully your tablets won't give you any trouble. Your lift is certainly not as severe as many of the units from July that are still going strong.

Potential Nexus 7 Touch Screen Fix?

I just wanted to report on a possible fix to touchscreen issues. While this may, or may not, work for you, it is what I did, what I have done on three(3) total devices & it is what has eliminated touch screen issues for myself & two other individuals.
This is a work in progress & I will be adding pictures & more detailed instructions, along with progress updates as I use the device going forward. This modification (though it really isn't a mod) requires no tools & while it does entail some light dis-assembly, it did NOT require breaking any seals that would void the warranty outright. Doing this however, may very well void your warranty, I am not an attorney, I am an engineer & taking things apart is what I have been doing since before I could even crawl nearly forty years ago.
To begin, I will go into my Nexus 7 story, which may allow you to identify similar symptoms.
My Nexus 7 device worked well out of the box, with only occasional multi-touch issues. As time progressed, the issues got worse & at one point a couple of weeks ago, even single touch event started to lag or not register. My Nexus 7 is a batch from July of 2013 & I purchased it in August of 2013, so it was still under warranty. Asus issued me an RMA number, however, I hate broken things, knowing darn well that 99% of the time I can fix them myself far faster than the total time it would take an OEM to get my device back to me. At any rate, after the 4.4 update, my touch issues got even worse. Aside from missing even simple gestures & taps, occasionally the screen would look funny & once it even had a sttatic "snowy" screen that was remedied by a factory reset.
After reading a few complaints from people about screen separation & investigating the device via the ifixit tear down, I decided I would take a look before committing to the RMA process. I gently slid my thumbnail under the bezel & slowly worked it around. Immediately I could feel the clips giving way & I eventually had the back cover off. Once the back cover is off, you will notice that the screen & digitizer ribbon cable runs across the battery, pinned in between the battery tray & the inductive Qi coil on the back cover of the device. I found it is easier to ease all the sides up slightly, then remove the back by gently lifing from the sides & upper portion, with the bottom, where the USB port is, being lifted up last. Once I removed the cover, I disconnected the battery terminal clip. After disconnecting the battery, I then followed the screen ribbon cable to where it is clipped into the screens board contacts with a plastic stay. Immediately upon applying pressure to the cable ribbon stay I felt & heard a faintly audible "click" sound. On closer inspection, I discovered that poor contact was being made by the ribbon cable & furthermore, the flex in the battery tray over time, when coupled with the heat generated at that location (due to the battery & the inductive Qi coil) can slowly loosen the ribbon cable stay & affect the quality of the connection. I used a thin piece of composite material to reinforce the cable ribbon stay & used a piece of vinyl along with a non-conductive adhesive to better secure the cable ribbon & stay. I only used a tiny amount so as not to affect the ability to safely disconnect the ribbon cable without destroying it. I also did not want a bunch of adhesive heating up & spreading to other areas. Before I performed the following step, I decided to test out a few thoughts. What I discovered is detailed in the next paragraph. So, after letting the adhesive dry overnight, I reattached the battery terminal clip & started the device. It has worked flawlessly since, without any touch issues.
While I had the back cover off, I carefully reattached the battery terminal clip & while wearing Nitrile gloves & standing on a wood floor to minimize the risk of static discharge, I would turn the device on with the display ribbon cable in various states of connection. They ranged from being angled so that the far contacts would make little or limited connection, to a full connection with varying degrees of pressure applied, to simulate a good or bad connection. Sometimes the device would not boot. Other times it would boot & have a static or "snowy" screen. Sometimes it affected all touch, from single finger events to multi-touch. It also surprisingly affected the system response. Things would freeze up & apps would FC or ANR. Again, once I improved the connection, everything was back to normal & functioning perfectly. In fact, it is functioning better than it did out of the box.
While I am sure Asus would argue that this voids the warranty, I did not break any seals. No tools were needed, just the materials I chose to use & had lying around. As I also mentioned in the opening, I did this on another household members device, that only had multi-touch issues, not all the issues I had, & their device has now been functioning wonderfully for the last several days. The display ribbon clip in their device was not completely detached on one side like mine, but it was fairly loose all the same. The third device was a friends & it was having mostly single touch issues, though he said multi-touch issues would come & go. We ran through the steps on Hangouts & his ribbon cable was in its place, but as he removed the back, the stay clip fell out. His device is also functioning normally now & he has not reported any further touch screen issues.
Since the problems people are having are oftentimes different & not consistent, it very well could be that this is exactly the issue. I would surmise that it could be the very reason why Google & Asus have been VERY, VERY quiet about the issue, since it would require returning the device for a fix, not simply a software fix.
If you try this, I urge you to be patient & use the utmost care when removing the back. While there are no cable attached to the back, you never want to force things. Be gentle & when you find the right spot for lifting, you will know it. It is not difficult & it is relatively harmless. I would caution you to use gloves & minimize the risk of discharging static electricity. I also recommend using gloves because copper sheeting is used in a couple spots & if you have ever worked with copper sheeting in electronics, you know that stuff grabs oils from your skin like crazy & you will end up leaving evidence in the form of an ultra-clear fingerprint that almost no solvent will remove. (Don't use solvents in your device unless you are a daredevil or know what you are doing).
So, that is my story & what worked for me & my small group. Ultimately, these devices are ours & it is up to each of us individually to pursue the fixes or mods that suit us best. That also means that the responsibility & consequences belong to each of us as individuals. What steps you are willing take to remedy any issues you may have with your device are decisions you need to weigh. This is XDA, where people take risks, assume that the are eventually going to brick their devices & make real modifications to devices (which this really is not). If you break something because you needed every single little detail & step spelled out for you, that's not my problem. Again, this is XDA, not some ragtime blog & anything you do here usually requires you to be able to think for yourself at some point.
Lastly, I will try to get to a step by step with pictures as soon as I can. I am not a developer, I am not a student & I don't have a ton of time to devote to answering questions. I will do what I can, when I can, but between the holidays & my job as a mechanical engineer (two large hospital projects are going on right now that take up 95% of my day), I have very little time right now. This post is the result of a large lunch review meeting, not free time, so it will probably take some time to get everything up. I have to recreate most of it, since I really figured on RMA'ing my device. I never expected this to work as it has for me.
Thanks.

Thanks for the post! If I know the issue I don't mind taking it apart to fix it.
I RMA'd it once as I didn't feel I should have to fix it, but it was such a pain jumping through all the hoops only to get it back with docs stating "OS reset" and finding the problem 30secs after resetting up my account.
I have another RMA but have waited shipping it for an update to KitKat in the hopes that it would help. It hasn't. I'll have to see if I feel up to trying your fix.
Thanks!
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

No one else tried this?
I barely have screen issues, but I am curious to know if this works, after replacing my N7 2013.
Thanks and regards,

Video tuto
Need a video tutorial. I have both touch and multi reboot issue. sometimes there are 2-4 reboots occur during rebooting of system. problems persist even after kitkat update. I think this is the cause that causing me such multireboot issue.
Hope this will solve my problem. i am out of USA country so i cant give for a RMA. But need a solution look like that.

Thanks gsleon3. It always sounded like a hardware bad connection type of issue so I'm not surprised.
The problem with rma is that I'm not sure their repair techs would really fix anything. The cause may not have been made known even to their own techs because it would leak out and might start a class action law suit. My 2012 nexus 7 never had any of the touch issues my 2013 version is showing. Quality control has slipped with the 2013 version.
Any lawyers here?

Video might be tough, but I'll try to get to it. I will try to dedicate some time this weekend. I was thinking Saturday night, but I just learned that the Day of the Doctor is being simulcast in 3D near my house. So it may have to wait till Sunday so I can let my inner geek out.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using XDA Premium HD app

GSLEON3 said:
Video might be tough, but I'll try to get to it. I will try to dedicate some time this weekend. I was thinking Saturday night, but I just learned that the Day of the Doctor is being simulcast in 3D near my house. So it may have to wait till Sunday so I can let my inner geek out.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using XDA Premium HD app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After what you shared with us, please DO enjoy your 3D simulcast of THE Doctor. We will be patienly waiting for your video.
Regards!!

nearly an inch long strip at the top of my screen stopped responding to touch i sent it back only had it for 6 days..

Tried this out. My clips were seated properly but I can see the reasons why they pop out.
Took about 5 mins from start to finish to test. Good job.

OP, during your disassembly of the device did you notice any random internal parts that could possibly be applying pressure to the screen from behind it? I ask because my otherwise perfect nexus 7 got a random blue dot in the middle of the screen and I know from past experience that that's typically the result of pressure physically warping the lcd panel.. otherwise the only other thing I can think of is that the lcd is being permanently damaged by the on/off case magnet but that's unlikely. or maybe heat that's causing the battery to flex into the screen. It's extra frustrating because I've had the nexus in a loose fitting hard case and the hard front flap should prevent the kind of pressure damage that would cause those blue marks... sigh.

ibebyi said:
OP, during your disassembly of the device did you notice any random internal parts that could possibly be applying pressure to the screen from behind it? I ask because my otherwise perfect nexus 7 got a random blue dot in the middle of the screen and I know from past experience that that's typically the result of pressure physically warping the lcd panel.. otherwise the only other thing I can think of is that the lcd is being permanently damaged by the on/off case magnet but that's unlikely. or maybe heat that's causing the battery to flex into the screen. It's extra frustrating because I've had the nexus in a loose fitting hard case and the hard front flap should prevent the kind of pressure damage that would cause those blue marks... sigh.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well if it is pressure, I've found on past devices, sometimes batteries start expanding over time, like they have a fat belly.

Touchscreen possible fix
Started reading a bit on Google Products Forum and found a guy who said that the touchscreen problem can't be fixed by software.
So he took the back of the tablet off and found that the problem lies on the screen digitizer cable not being clipped to the connection port correctly. He disconnected the cable and connected it back again, and now his touchscreen is working perfectly.
I do not want to try it because I don't want to risk anything, but can anyone brave enough try this?:fingers-crossed:
Here's the guy's profile: http://productforums.google.com/for...ioWy9HdPwsowoDCuOz8SS9uR9nzVnPi6g2kSAInwwCj94 (it's the post form Nov 19)

LittleConfucy said:
Started reading a bit on Google Products Forum and found a guy who said that the touchscreen problem can't be fixed by software.
So he took the back of the tablet off and found that the problem lies on the screen digitizer cable not being clipped to the connection port correctly. He disconnected the cable and connected it back again, and now his touchscreen is working perfectly.
I do not want to try it because I don't want to risk anything, but can anyone brave enough try this?:fingers-crossed:
Here's the guy's profile: http://productforums.google.com/for...ioWy9HdPwsowoDCuOz8SS9uR9nzVnPi6g2kSAInwwCj94 (it's the post form Nov 19)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The author of that post is the op of this thread.

sfhub said:
The author of that post is the op of this thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whoops, sorry, didn't realize:silly:

ibebyi said:
OP, during your disassembly of the device did you notice any random internal parts that could possibly be applying pressure to the screen from behind it? I ask because my otherwise perfect nexus 7 got a random blue dot in the middle of the screen and I know from past experience that that's typically the result of pressure physically warping the lcd panel.. otherwise the only other thing I can think of is that the lcd is being permanently damaged by the on/off case magnet but that's unlikely. or maybe heat that's causing the battery to flex into the screen. It's extra frustrating because I've had the nexus in a loose fitting hard case and the hard front flap should prevent the kind of pressure damage that would cause those blue marks... sigh.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ive disassembled the device too and it has nothing specials with exception that few flex cables located right unddr the cover. Not sure if one of them is belongs to touchscreen though
Also i got this blue dot too,and one pink as well. In middle of screen.

Tim4 said:
Ive disassembled the device too and it has nothing specials with exception that few flex cables located right unddr the cover. Not sure if one of them is belongs to touchscreen though
Also i got this blue dot too,and one pink as well. In middle of screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got a blue smear too, but near the edge of the panel but since it's not very visible..I'm just gonna ignore it..

GSLEON3 said:
Video might be tough, but I'll try to get to it. I will try to dedicate some time this weekend. I was thinking Saturday night, but I just learned that the Day of the Doctor is being simulcast in 3D near my house. So it may have to wait till Sunday so I can let my inner geek out.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using XDA Premium HD app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Absolutely no problem, GSLEON3, with profound gratitude I assure you that we really appreciate your engineering work discovering the problem. Take your time and we will patiently wait until you have the time to prepare a more complete review.

Wow! If it is so easy, I don't understand what the Asus support makes everyday.
Thanks for sharing it.

Sound really greate and promising. If you could, a tutorial video would be perfect for us, please

sfhub said:
Well if it is pressure, I've found on past devices, sometimes batteries start expanding over time, like they have a fat belly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If higher amperage is used there is an increased risk of expansion due to the higher excitation in the Li atoms. You will increase the wear of it too.
So if possible always use lower amperages to charge batteries(preferably around 500mA), you can limit the charging IC using a lower output charger or your computer's USB port.

All of your G3 hardware problems - SOLVED!! (BSOD, screen flicker, sim card, etc)

Hello all
I had a chance to buy 15 units of G3, all broken or faulty. The purchase was made via an Swiss operator who was about to recycle the devices, but instead of recycling I bought them via some program for that. They dont pay for recycling, I get the devices extremely cheap, no one pays any tax (Switzerland stuff and their laws)
First of all I want to say - LG made a phenomenal job of envisioning a device - G3 was superb compared to all the phones released in that time period (S5, OPO1, Z2/Z3, etc) with it's bleeding edge technology and phenomenal design (which I am sure inspired others to go bezel-less and edgy and so on). 2K screen, great chipset, infrared focus and insane camera quality, etc.
Only thing they made bad was actual hardware assembly: I have never seen such bad work in modern electronics judging just by the amount of extra-flux you can see on the motherboards, looks extremely sloppy. That kind of assembly eventually led to 1000 problems, which I am sure all of us G3 owners experienced past the 24 month warranty period. Some would go so far to say that this stuff with G3 could be considered Planned obsolescence with all the problems appearing just around the 24 months clock, and with the MM update (taking into account that LG held the Nexus flag at that moment and they went over their heads thinking they are going to surpass Samsung, just like Samsung did to HTC)
My 15 units were:
- 6 units BSOD
- 5 units screen flicker
- 2 units "wifi turning on"
- 2 units sim card removed and restart/No sim card/invalid card
Note: I am not electrician and I dont understand how to read schematics, all of my info came from people that I figured best know how to repair mobile phone stuff (and also speak THE WORST english)
G3 motherboard layout for future reference:
http://i.imgsafe.org/1b64bf1021.jpg
1. BSOD -
The problem is with bad BGA solder of MMC chip. Not the actual chip (very rare occurrence). In short: BGA Solder is type of assembly that uses little balls of solder instead of pins, to hold the chip in place. There are more than 60+ balls on the MMC chip so no homemade replacement is possible (there is actually a turkish video which is NOT the way to do it as the guy doesnt add new balls, just strips old ones away)
permanent solution: give it into a repair shop to replace or do a proper reball of the Sandisk memory chip
semi-permanent solution (sometimes works 100%): give the chip a heat of 120-150 celsius (no american units, sorry) for 2 minutes (using a high powered hair dryer of at least 2000W, or a proper heat-gun) with slight push (I used wooden objects so that Metalic ones wouldnt damage the chip) > this repaired total of 5 BSOD phones, just one went dead completely after several tries. ALL of my 5 units never went back to BSOD. Please, DO NOT use ovens or anything like that, If you dont have a god-damn hair dryer give it to a technician and ask him to blow it for a minute or so. Ovens WILL burn other parts of the board, and knowing how shi*ty the whole assembly is, baking the board will just detach other chips. If you apply pressure to the chip, use something wooden like a chopstick or a pencil (dont use bamboo, it will release oils, use dry wood)
2. screen flicker -
The problem IS NOT a graphic chip (analogix), the problem is NOT CPU, as many have speculated in the past and the people who putt thermal paste over a CPU need serious education on the topic. Thermal paste is in no way a magical substance that lowers temperature when applied - it's purpose is to fill the gaps between a heating body (CPU) and heat dispenser (cooling unit, cooler, aluminum grill, etc), so thermal paste is a gap filler, not a cooling magical stuff. With that out of the picture, the problem of the screen flicker is a completely separate integrated circuit which goes haywire due to some magnetic stuff:
PERMANENT SOLUTION (homemade doable):
Now first, go back to motherboard image, and on the front side of the board find Gyro Sensor chip - just above that chip, there is a grid of 5x5 pin-like circuits.
http://i.imgsafe.org/1ba7e9ccc9.jpg
Now that you have located them, that is your LCD screen flicker solution: I didnt quite understand what is really going on there, but you need to apply heat (just like in the BSOD solution, same time same temperature), and use metallic object to "clean" the pins. He explained to me that the screen flicker is due to some magnetic residue that builds up in that circuits, and a clean metal will remove it. (how that is even possible I dont know but the solution works) Long story short - I used a really fine metallic brush (Dremel set) and once I heated it up, just strolled with brush over those pin-heads. According to the guy, the metallic object needed for cleaning should be non-magnetic. If you dont remove the screen flicker at first, use a really fine object to give all the pins a push (once heated), I used broken needle (regular needle is too sharp) or smallest Phillips screwdriver in my set. IMPORTANT: when doing this, there is a ton of chips nearby so it's smart to protect rest of the board with Alu-foil
total of my 5 screen flicker units NEVER went back to screen flicker issue. Special note: 2 of my units after completely removed screen flicker issue, immediately went to "no sim card" issue and I dont know how that is connected, but there is also a method for sim-card issue repair further down the topic
3. Wifi turning on/wifi grayed out/wifi scanning
The problem over here is also not the problem of the actual Wifi chip (motherboard image back side, red mark). The problem is the power controller located on the front side (red mark). It is also a BGA solder issue so it's repairable
permanent solution: reball or replace chip in proper mobile service shop
semi-permanent solluton: Use the same method of repairing as for the BSOD problem, but with applying heat + pressure onto the power controller chip. Be careful as there are tons of IC's nearby. Homemade solution worked partially for me - one unit (out of 2) is completely repaired, other unit actually went dead (I believe I gave it too much pressure, that was my first repair )
4. Sim card removed and restart/No sim card/invalid card -
The problem with this is also not a problem of RF chip (backside green) or the 2g/3g/4g chip (backside light red), and it is NOT a problem of Sim card slot: it's one lousy mo-fo chip that's not even listed in the hardware parts image, and it's only noted in the actual schematics (I believe it's a chip for regulating power onto the sim card slot and transferring data further)
this one (red arrow pointing onto it):
http://i.imgsafe.org/1c52a74d87.jpg
permanent solution: replace, reball or reflow in service shops (when I say replace, it makes sense as new chips out of the box have BGA balls already on it, just need to place it and heat it up)
semi-permanent solution: same method goes like BSOD and wifi problems - apply heat and moderate pressure with wooden object. The problem with this one is that it will reappear as a problem. I had one unit in the service shop where the repair guy gave it some insane heat for 5-6 seconds while protecting rest of the board, and it was permanent, no sim problem any more. In homemade variant, the problem seems almost unable to fix, but you need to be persistent. sometimes it takes 4-5 tries for the phone (placing the board, and removing it again and so on is a pain in the arse) to recognize sim and after that you are good for a month or so, once it "catches" I gave it a try with a higher temperature / less time (200c, 30 seconds) and it shows better results, I dont need to try the board for 3-4-5 times until it recognizes the SIM, it's imediately good to go, but even with that it reappears after a month, 2 months, but sometimes after only couple of days
one unit is permanent (reflow in service shop), others (repaired screen flickers that went "no sim card" ) bug me still with reappearing SIM problem.
There you go, I wanted to share this with everyone so you people wouldnt lose your mind with paper tricks, ovens, and such, as G3 is still really powerful device and it would be bad for all the units to end up in a bin. I am using 3/32 version with fulmics and it works as any new 600 usd device, if G3 still works without a flaw there is really no need to go newer, not yet.
END NOTE: every attempt at trying this is on your own responsibility, I am not responsible if you fry your board, break your device, or tear your flex cables and such.
END NOTE2: in my experience, dont attempt to try the newly repaired board with battery less than 40%, I wont get into it right now but all Li-ion/Li-poly devices work at their best when there is a good charge
good luck with potential experiments fellow XDA people

Thank you for this thread, I'm sure it will help a lot of more technologically-minded users on XDA. As for me, I did have a sim card removed problem but thankfully it appeared within my warranty period so I took it to them and they replaced the entire PCB (MoBo).
Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk

Thanks for the info. After troubleshooting a few BSOD & flicker phones I came to pretty much the same conclusion as well. Although some temporary G3 fixes work for a short time, nothing is actually "repaired" until you replace the BGA ball solder; so unless you have the proper equipment to work on BGA components you're kind of screwed.
LG has a quality problem with their manufacturing techniques of their motherboards; the latest issue was bootloop issues on the later G-series phones that were also tied to poor soldering(which they are now being sued over). It's a shame too, because I like LG's devices...just hard to trust them completely at this point. But I guess that's the philosophy of these huge OEM's these days: skimp on quality to meet sales demands. Samsung is a good example of this as well with their exploding note 7's and red tinted S8 displays(that they refuse to admit is a hardware problem - "lets just make the red tint slider longer!" just like their software "fix" for the Note 7 battery that didn't work and eventually required a massive recall). Buying a phone is turning into a crap shoot these days

@startswithPendswithOOH - you are right about everything, they really have crappy assembly. But for me, almost all of BSOD and screen flicker issues are repairable in the home conditions using methods from original post. Luckily I do have a professional heat gun so I can even experiment on the temperature and time of heating and my repair rate is great (fortunately I had 15 devices to experiment on). I actually made some money of it, sold almost all of them that were repaired and not a single buyer called me back with a problem. My girlfriend and my nephew are going with my repaired G3s and they use it constantly. Especially my girl, she abuses it to the point that I get annoyed and remove all her running apps (sums up to 20+ ) cause she uses just 10 of some social apps and such, her phone should overheat and problems should reappear if it were not for a good repair. She usesd BSOD repaired device and didnt have one for 4 months now

Update on possible solution for the sim card problem
I did a little tempering with a piece of dry wood, and I made it EXACTLY into a shape of the square of the SIM card chip (described in the original post). I used a stick and shaped it with dremel sandpapering tool, to be exactly the size of the square. Then I putt a cloth underneath the board (so when applying pressure from the upper side you wont break some other stuff opposite) and made a pressure with wooden stick, approximately the force needed to pierce the styrofoam with index finger. That's about the strongest pressure you can give it, and not damage the board. heated it up with 200c with a heat gun for a minute
6th day without problems, without sim card failure, should be noted that I am abusing that board via data and calls going all the time and it seems the problem is solved, will report again in 3 weeks (full month)

Hey!
Do you have any fix for rear camera problem?

Sp3cTeR said:
Hey!
Do you have any fix for rear camera problem?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well I do - only problem with rear camera should be - replace rear camera :cyclops:
Oooooh, I stand corrected after a bit of google-ing. I see that it IS an actual problem with no solution, camera sometimes works, sometimes it doesnt. Well, it could be yet another chip on the board, actually the way people described the problem on Androidcentral forums, seems it's 100% a chip issue. If it was HW issue it would work or not work, this partial usability points to another motherboard problem
anyways you should check all the stuff that should NOT be motherboard issue
1. camera module gone bad - replacement should be extremely cheap, check out service shops for spare or Aliexpress for mega-cheap spare, if you know how to open ask someone with G3 to replace cam modules for couple of days to check
2. camera flex cable - in the process of fiddling with the phone and removing motherboard several times, one can easily tear the flex cable of the cam, examine it
3. motherboard connector for camera - for this I really dont see even a remote chance of happening, but im still mentioning it
4. software problem - eliminate the possibility of tempering with root access with files, by doing a factory reset

Well, just bought lg g3 for $60. Pretty clean. The problem was that owner couldn't get it out of Firwmare Upgrade screen, had no experience nor time / patience. So I bought it. Later that night, managed to flash v10e from lgg3root(dot)com tutorial for it. From the first try.
But using the phone got laggier and laggier, and if I were to do multiple tasks like switching between apps and stuff like this, the phone would freeze and then in about 15-20 seconds it would give me the LG logo and pretty much stay there, eventually giving the "kernel crashed" screen (BSOD ?? )
Please, what do u think the problem is?
Managed eventually get v20h / v30b on it but was pretty much unusable, and most of the time, when trying to get it connect with the ADB and run "reboot recovery" and do factory wipe, it would just crash again. Now I'm stuggling to get v10e again on it ... but it's really a pain. I've got about a week worth of hours into making it work. Please, read my thread to get some more 'clues' https://forum.xda-developers.com/lg-g3/help/help-horrible-experience-d855-t3600094

AKAndrew41 said:
Well, just bought lg g3 for $60. Pretty clean. The problem was that owner couldn't get it out of Firwmare Upgrade screen, had no experience nor time / patience. So I bought it. Later that night, managed to flash v10e from lgg3root(dot)com tutorial for it. From the first try.
But using the phone got laggier and laggier, and if I were to do multiple tasks like switching between apps and stuff like this, the phone would freeze and then in about 15-20 seconds it would give me the LG logo and pretty much stay there, eventually giving the "kernel crashed" screen (BSOD ?? )
Please, what do u think the problem is?
Managed eventually get v20h / v30b on it but was pretty much unusable, and most of the time, when trying to get it connect with the ADB and run "reboot recovery" and do factory wipe, it would just crash again. Now I'm stuggling to get v10e again on it ... but it's really a pain. I've got about a week worth of hours into making it work. Please, read my thread to get some more 'clues' https://forum.xda-developers.com/lg-g3/help/help-horrible-experience-d855-t3600094
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, the links arr down?

i fixed my screen flickering issue thank you so much i will report if it comes back it's no problem for me but the fix you described works that means those circuits have something to do with this,i would like to know if it's possible to clean those circuits with alcohol it's maybe stupid but idk you tell me other than that thank you
edit:it's back sorry if got anyone excited,i'm back to putting the pressure on the SOC

Thank bro u saved my device!
Updated : flickering to fading comes again after less than an hour with less usage , just charging it, so i tried heated up and put pressure again but this time on the processor.

Igoritza said:
4. Sim card removed and restart/No sim card/invalid card -
The problem with this is also not a problem of RF chip (backside green) or the 2g/3g/4g chip (backside light red), and it is NOT a problem of Sim card slot: it's one lousy mo-fo chip that's not even listed in the hardware parts image, and it's only noted in the actual schematics (I believe it's a chip for regulating power onto the sim card slot and transferring data further)
this one (red arrow pointing onto it):
http://i.imgsafe.org/1c52a74d87.jpg
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well done mate, but according to service manual the chip you pointing with red arrow is NFC
Im bit confused now what it have to do with the sim

As far as i think, if bsod or screen flicker comes up, theres no need to fix it because its dead, so just buy a new mobo and thats it.

startswithPendswithOOH said:
Thanks for the info. After troubleshooting a few BSOD & flicker phones I came to pretty much the same conclusion as well. Although some temporary G3 fixes work for a short time, nothing is actually "repaired" until you replace the BGA ball solder; so unless you have the proper equipment to work on BGA components you're kind of screwed.
LG has a quality problem with their manufacturing techniques of their motherboards; the latest issue was bootloop issues on the later G-series phones that were also tied to poor soldering(which they are now being sued over). It's a shame too, because I like LG's devices...just hard to trust them completely at this point. But I guess that's the philosophy of these huge OEM's these days: skimp on quality to meet sales demands. Samsung is a good example of this as well with their exploding note 7's and red tinted S8 displays(that they refuse to admit is a hardware problem - "lets just make the red tint slider longer!" just like their software "fix" for the Note 7 battery that didn't work and eventually required a massive recall). Buying a phone is turning into a crap shoot these days
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Preach on. Lol i got a g4 im in the lawsuit over

Yeah black screen comes back when the tmperature was hot. So its time to throw away this crap g3. Hopeless .

2 years ago a yellow coffe spot appeared on the top corner of my lg3 display, so i sent back to warranty and they changed the lcd screen.
Some month after the same coffe spot appear in the same area, i brought back the phone in warranty they changed the lcd. again
Now i have the problem for the 3rd time, im not in warranty anymore.
In my opinion is not the lcd, the lcd cant burn itself in that way, i think is a glue problem and maybe i can buy a new 13$ glass on amazon and replace it.
But before to risk to broke the phone, anyone experienced that?
This is an image i found on google image, is not my G3 but that explain my situation.
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L33TaS said:
As far as i think, if bsod or screen flicker comes up, theres no need to fix it because its dead, so just buy a new mobo and thats it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that's is also a temporary solution,if you're wasting money better buy another smartphone that is no an lg,go with another reliable brand

Khalid47 said:
i fixed my screen flickering issue thank you so much i will report if it comes back it's no problem for me but the fix you described works that means those circuits have something to do with this,i would like to know if it's possible to clean those circuits with alcohol it's maybe stupid but idk you tell me other than that thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
how close did you hold the heat gun/ hair dryer?
Khalid47 said:
that's is also a temporary solution,if you're wasting money better buy another smartphone that is no an lg,go with another reliable brand
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is true. I bought a new mobo from DhGate to fix the famous "WiFi saved but not connecting issue" only to end up with the screen flickering, lines, and fade to black issue with the replacement mobo. I want to get a new phone but I'm waiting for the note 8/ pixel 2 .

unbreakabl3 said:
how close did you hold the heat gun/ hair dryer?
This is true. I bought a new mobo from DhGate to fix the famous "WiFi saved but not connecting issue" only to end up with the screen flickering, lines, and fade to black issue with the replacement mobo. I want to get a new phone but I'm waiting for the note 8/ pixel 2 .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i held a hairdryer for 3 mins with my hand i'm thinking the problem will comeback but i don't care i fixed it many times temporarely,as for the mobo you shouldn't have wasted your money it's really dumb people who buy it again we already know that it will die really what's the point of that,as for your future daily driver i would recommand you go with a sony i'm not working for them or anything i had a sony and my brother has one never experienced anything hardware related or software related,just talking from my experience with this brand i can't advise you something that i never tried samsung or xiaomi etc...,goodluck with your fixing

Khalid47 said:
i held a hairdryer for 3 mins with my hand i'm thinking the problem will comeback but i don't care i fixed it many times temporarely,as for the mobo you shouldn't have wasted your money it's really dumb people who buy it again we already know that it will die really what's the point of that,as for your future daily driver i would recommand you go with a sony i'm not working for them or anything i had a sony and my brother has one never experienced anything hardware related or software related,just talking from my experience with this brand i can't advise you something that i never tried samsung or xiaomi etc...,goodluck with your fixing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i meant how far away from the chip did you hold the hairdryer? 10cm, 20cm etc.
well I wanted to keep the phone going till the Fall lol.. and plus i didnt think that the replacement would have issues tbh. Thanks for the recommendation. I'll look into them.

I bought a new motherboard, how to prevent the dreaded "EMMC Bug"?

I ordered online a motherboard for my dead N910G due to EMMC bug and I'm thinking on what I'm gonna do to prevent It from happening again on the new motherboard. I didn't yet receive the new motherboard and I'm assuming that it is currently on Android 5.0.
Do I need to stay in Lollipop and don't bother to upgrade it to Marshmallow? Or maybe, put a custom rom instead? Or how about putting another layer of material between the emmc and the thermal pad(though, I'm thinking to replace the thermal pad with something thicker instead, maybe 2.0mm)~I'm quite aware that this one is "fix" for Note 4s already experiencing emmc bug. Or is it something that's inevitable and probably die again within months or years?
Any suggestion is greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

Did you read?
https://forum.xda-developers.com/note-4/help/100-fix-galaxy-note-4-emmc-error-random-t3859448

Heros2002 said:
Did you read?
https://forum.xda-developers.com/note-4/help/100-fix-galaxy-note-4-emmc-error-random-t3859448
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i'm thinking of doing this too but this is more of a "fix" for note 4's that's already experiencing emmc errors instead of a prevention. But putting a fresh thermal pad can't really do harm so I might try to do this.

mikel023 said:
I ordered online a motherboard for my dead N910G due to EMMC bug and I'm thinking on what I'm gonna do to prevent It from happening again on the new motherboard. I didn't yet receive the new motherboard and I'm assuming that it is currently on Android 5.0.
Do I need to stay in Lollipop and don't bother to upgrade it to Marshmallow? Or maybe, put a custom rom instead? Or how about putting another layer of material between the emmc and the thermal pad(though, I'm thinking to replace the thermal pad with something thicker instead, maybe 2.0mm)~I'm quite aware that this one is "fix" for Note 4s already experiencing emmc bug. Or is it something that's inevitable and probably die again within months or years?
Any suggestion is greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My understanding of the eMMC chip failure is following: it is due to the crack in the soldering. Have a vague memory of reading that Samsung even got sued for using bad materials. Anyway - Some temporarily fix the issue with cardbord (linked above), which then i believe works simply by pressing the components together and thus in best case re-establishing the electric contact within the circuit. Tried that myself, didn't work for me. Certain apps will perhaps help just a period of time by tweaking some settings, which i believe relieves the pressure off of the chip. To hold the phone in the freezer every now and then to get it to start is just not feasable. Did that too, works for a while, again, probably due to the material shrinking a bit in the cold thus making components connect again. What remains for me to try is actually having it in the oven for couple of minutes (yes, people have tried that too... ). I have a couple of old spare ones so it's not bigger shame if they break completelly.
But these are all my experiences with workarounds/temporary fixes when issue ALREADY is there.
I did replace a few motherboards. Those i orderered came with Marshmallow, which i was happy with. Don't know where you ordered yours from, I got mine from China but no issues anyway. If you got it from China, check the IMEI number tho. Specially the motherboards on older phones can suffer from bad IMEIs. Also use some app that can see in the system if it is the right chip you have, otherwise trying to flash custom roms might not end well…
My experience has so far been good. After replacement i played with both stock and custom roms and so far nothing broke again after more than half a year. As for your question of prevention - so far i haven't found anything that would lead me to believe that it might prevent it from happening again. So i got me a spare Note4. And a couple of spare motherboards in case they break. I don't really want to open those i use as daily drivers, since they never really feel as tight afterwards. And as far as i understand, there is no way to predict if your motherboard is going to break. So it's a gamble.
Edit:
And a friendly piece of advice regarding the replacement itself: take your time and preferably couple of valiums. I armed myself with lots of videos on youtube on how to do it so I started thinking i was a pro, which i clearly wasnt so i didn't take the time. So i took me a couple of broken screens before i mastered the art of … not breaking the screen. Not every time at least…
Use heat gun. Right tools. And did i mention to take your time?
Btw - the two connectors (you'll see which ones i mean in due time) are a pain to connect. THERE you can use some padding to sort of lift the connectors that are on the phone so that the connectors on the motherboard can click in them more easily.
Good luck!

prkfsz said:
I did replace a few motherboards.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HI - did you replaced a MB from a Snapdragon variant with another MB from Exynos variant, please?
Like I have my son's 910F and I'd like to buy a replacement MB of 910C.
Any experience on this? I understood from other users that there are some issues with cameras. Probably no show stopper for me, but just to confirm if that's the case and if after replacing cameras all was ok.
Apologize to OP ( @mikel023 ) for intrusion.
Thanks.

w41ru5 said:
HI - did you replaced a MB from a Snapdragon variant with another MB from Exynos variant, please?
Like I have my son's 910F and I'd like to buy a replacement MB of 910C.
Any experience on this? I understood from other users that there are some issues with cameras. Probably no show stopper for me, but just to confirm if that's the case and if after replacing cameras all was ok.
Apologize to OP ( @mikel023 ) for intrusion.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I worked only with 910F, that meant replacing Snapdragon with same version of Snapdragon. So i can't say anything about that kind of issues.

prkfsz said:
I worked only with 910F, that meant replacing Snapdragon with same version of Snapdragon. So i can't say anything about that kind of issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks

prkfsz said:
My understanding of the eMMC chip failure is following: it is due to the crack in the soldering. Have a vague memory of reading that Samsung even got sued for using bad materials. Anyway - Some temporarily fix the issue with cardbord (linked above), which then i believe works simply by pressing the components together and thus in best case re-establishing the electric contact within the circuit. Tried that myself, didn't work for me. Certain apps will perhaps help just a period of time by tweaking some settings, which i believe relieves the pressure off of the chip. To hold the phone in the freezer every now and then to get it to start is just not feasable. Did that too, works for a while, again, probably due to the material shrinking a bit in the cold thus making components connect again. What remains for me to try is actually having it in the oven for couple of minutes (yes, people have tried that too... ). I have a couple of old spare ones so it's not bigger shame if they break completelly.
But these are all my experiences with workarounds/temporary fixes when issue ALREADY is there.
I did replace a few motherboards. Those i orderered came with Marshmallow, which i was happy with. Don't know where you ordered yours from, I got mine from China but no issues anyway. If you got it from China, check the IMEI number tho. Specially the motherboards on older phones can suffer from bad IMEIs. Also use some app that can see in the system if it is the right chip you have, otherwise trying to flash custom roms might not end well…
My experience has so far been good. After replacement i played with both stock and custom roms and so far nothing broke again after more than half a year. As for your question of prevention - so far i haven't found anything that would lead me to believe that it might prevent it from happening again. So i got me a spare Note4. And a couple of spare motherboards in case they break. I don't really want to open those i use as daily drivers, since they never really feel as tight afterwards. And as far as i understand, there is no way to predict if your motherboard is going to break. So it's a gamble.
Edit:
And a friendly piece of advice regarding the replacement itself: take your time and preferably couple of valiums. I armed myself with lots of videos on youtube on how to do it so I started thinking i was a pro, which i clearly wasnt so i didn't take the time. So i took me a couple of broken screens before i mastered the art of … not breaking the screen. Not every time at least…
Use heat gun. Right tools. And did i mention to take your time?
Btw - the two connectors (you'll see which ones i mean in due time) are a pain to connect. THERE you can use some padding to sort of lift the connectors that are on the phone so that the connectors on the motherboard can click in them more easily.
Good luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I expect to receive the new motherboard within this week and I already disassembled it in advance. I managed to almost separated the lcd screen to the motherboard tray because I didn't watch closely enough the tutorial that I'm following to and I wedged the prying tool parallel to the screen. Fortunately, nothing cracked and it seems the screen held up fine, (well.. hopefully.. still crossing my fingers 'til the motherboard arrives. lol)
By the way, I have a few questions regarding on reassembling it back. First, can I replace the thermal pads with thicker one? 1 or 2mm thick is what I can buy here locally. And second, can I use something like B7000 glue to reattach the screen to the frame? I'm gonna put it along the red line shown on the image below.
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I'm looking forward to "that connector". I hope it doesn't give me too much headache. lol
Thanks!

mikel023 said:
I expect to receive the new motherboard within this week and I already disassembled it in advance. I managed to almost separated the lcd screen to the motherboard tray because I didn't watch closely enough the tutorial that I'm following to and I wedged the prying tool parallel to the screen. Fortunately, nothing cracked and it seems the screen held up fine, (well.. hopefully.. still crossing my fingers 'til the motherboard arrives. lol)
By the way, I have a few questions regarding on reassembling it back. First, can I replace the thermal pads with thicker one? 1 or 2mm thick is what I can buy here locally. And second, can I use something like B7000 glue to reattach the screen to the frame? I'm gonna put it along the red line shown on the image below.
I'm looking forward to "that connector". I hope it doesn't give me too much headache. lol
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Regarding thermal pads i am reasoning this way: given the supposed cause of the issue, installing thermal pads would perhaps only delay the outbreak of the issue for a while, should it occure. Putting too much thermal pads would on the other hand perhaps put too much physical strain strain on the circuits, well, depending on how soft or hard they are. So if you're planning on scraping the old thermal pads, i'd go with 2mm ones, otherwise 1mm.
Please remember tho that i am not an expert even tho i did read up considerably about the issue. So i cannot guarantee one approach or the other is the right one.
As for the glue, i never used it. Used one of these instead:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/328...earchweb0_0,searchweb201602_,searchweb201603_
Reason i never used the glue is that it's not unusual that after you assemble stuff, it turns out something is not working right so you have to disassemble. Then you make everything work, assemble it again, and then something won't work anyway. Especially so when you are still learning. So i never dared using glue because having to open it again after having used glue would make one glorious mess. I was learning and, well, playing. Besides, like i said, i never had to disassemble any of my daily drivers so it didn't matter that they perhaps don't seem to sit 100% tight.

prkfsz said:
Regarding thermal pads i am reasoning this way: given the supposed cause of the issue, installing thermal pads would perhaps only delay the outbreak of the issue for a while, should it occure. Putting too much thermal pads would on the other hand perhaps put too much physical strain strain on the circuits, well, depending on how soft or hard they are. So if you're planning on scraping the old thermal pads, i'd go with 2mm ones, otherwise 1mm.
Please remember tho that i am not an expert even tho i did read up considerably about the issue. So i cannot guarantee one approach or the other is the right one.
As for the glue, i never used it. Used one of these instead:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/328...earchweb0_0,searchweb201602_,searchweb201603_
Reason i never used the glue is that it's not unusual that after you assemble stuff, it turns out something is not working right so you have to disassemble. Then you make everything work, assemble it again, and then something won't work anyway. Especially so when you are still learning. So i never dared using glue because having to open it again after having used glue would make one glorious mess. I was learning and, well, playing. Besides, like i said, i never had to disassemble any of my daily drivers so it didn't matter that they perhaps don't seem to sit 100% tight.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just for update, the motherboard finally arrived today and mounted it temporarily yet just to test it. I'm still waiting for the adhesive and the thermal pad before I can seal everything shut. I tried to connect it to charger and the vibrator motor "bleeps" for few millisecond but the screen didn't turned on. Does this just mean that I didn't connected the connectors at the back properly? I only tried it once and I didn't put a padding like what you've said on the connectors yet.

mikel023 said:
Just for update, the motherboard finally arrived today and mounted it temporarily yet just to test it. I'm still waiting for the adhesive and the thermal pad before I can seal everything shut. I tried to connect it to charger and the vibrator motor "bleeps" for few millisecond but the screen didn't turned on. Does this just mean that I didn't connected the connectors at the back properly? I only tried it once and I didn't put a padding like what you've said on the connectors yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You mean the battery indicator doesn't come on on the screen when you connect the device to charger? Can't really say, i think it should come on, yes. To check that - when charging, try and press the start button shortly, that usually wakes it up and it will show the battery indicator on the screen if you connected the MB properly. But why don't you try and start it up if you got the new MB connected? Then you can see if it works and if it's connected properly.
Usually if you get the connectors right, you will hear a 'click' when they connect.

prkfsz said:
You mean the battery indicator doesn't come on on the screen when you connect the device to charger? Can't really say, i think it should come on, yes. To check that - when charging, try and press the start button shortly, that usually wakes it up and it will show the battery indicator on the screen if you connected the MB properly. But why don't you try and start it up if you got the new MB connected? Then you can see if it works and if it's connected properly.
Usually if you get the connectors right, you will hear a 'click' when they connect.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Another update, I took my time connecting the new MB but still, the screen won't turn on just like the first time I connected it just to test. The LED lights up red indicating that it's charging and I connected it to my PC and it shows up on the device manager. When I press the power button, it vibrates indicating that it is indeed turning on. Also tried entering to recovery and download mode with no avail.
it's really just the screen is refusing to connect or something. I already shoved a piece of cardboard to the connectors and I hear a satisfying click when pushing the MB in place. Should I just keep trying on reconnecting the mb?
P.S: I'm starting to think that I might just killed the screen accidentally.

mikel023 said:
Another update, I took my time connecting the new MB but still, the screen won't turn on just like the first time I connected it just to test. The LED lights up red indicating that it's charging and I connected it to my PC and it shows up on the device manager. When I press the power button, it vibrates indicating that it is indeed turning on. Also tried entering to recovery and download mode with no avail.
it's really just the screen is refusing to connect or something. I already shoved a piece of cardboard to the connectors and I hear a satisfying click when pushing the MB in place. Should I just keep trying on reconnecting the mb?
P.S: I'm starting to think that I might just killed the screen accidentally.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check thoroughly up close the integrity of the LCD directly under the glass. If it's broken, then there will sometimes be very tiny cracks in it.
But of course try and re-connect everything again. Don't forget the Little black screw on the left hand side of the MB when you're reconnecting it. Sometimes it won't work without that screw in place. Try also and remove the extra thermal pads you said you would install.
PS. There are LCDs for N4 on aliexpress that nowadays don't go for much. Tried several sorts and they usually work good.
If it's any consolation, the N4 is apparently one of the trickiest devices to work with…

I can confirm that, to some degree, snapdragon and exynos motherboards are compatible.
I had a N910A with a defective mobo and a N910U with a cracked screen. So I placed the N910U mobo in the N910A body. I used 910U modems and everything works fine, with the exception of s pen silo detection, which could be a result of this.