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So last week I cracked the glass on my poor Nexus. It took a horrible drop. Well I can't afford another Nexus and I can imagine having any other phone so I figured I'd repair this one. Read up alot on it and watched a video on Youtube. Ordered all the parts I needed I tackled it today.
Well I decided to do a How-To for any other Nexus owner with broken screens.
New digitizer - $40
Torx screwdriver -$5
Philips screwdriver -$5
Plastic tools - Free
Total - $50
Sure beats the $125 some online sites charge.
I would like to thank ifixit and slickromeo.
1. Gather all your tools and replacement glass (known as a digitizer).
Note: Needed tools are a Philips #00, a Torx T4, and a plastic pry tool (Mine was included with the new screen)
2. Set up a clean comfortable area to work in. You may be here for awhile and you're going to want to reduce the amount of dust that could potentially get on the new glass.
Note: I used a folded over microfiber towel to keep the area clean and also add some padding to the hard counter top to prevent even more damage while working with the phone.
3. Power phone off and remove battery cover, battery, SIM card, and Micro SD card. Set aside in a safe place.
4.Our first obstacle is going to be the antennae cover at the bottom of the phone. There are three plastic clips holding it in place (Circled in red). Use a combination of the pry tool, a guitar pick, butter knife, and any other instrument you need to shove in there. It is a pain in the ass... the video I watched online made it seem like it was going to be alot harder than it was, but if you work from left to right, or right to left, and get the outside one unclipped the other two come off pretty easy. Once you get it off set it aside with the battery cover and other things.
Note: Be careful not to break these tiny, fragile clips as they are the only things holding this cover in place.
5. Scream profanities and wipe the sweat off your brow from the previous step. I know it was frustrating and nerve racking trying not to break your precious Nexus.
6. Ok good job now to start the real deconstruction. I'm going to start with the battery tray and then move down to the antennae. There are three screws holding the tray down, but before we start on those there is this tiny ridiculous little "VOID" sticker covering up one of them. I wasn't able to remove it intake, partly because I don't really care about my warranty, but I'm sure with alot of patience and tweezers one could take it off intake and put it back. But screw that just get it off to get to the screw underneath.
7. Now two of these screws is a Torx and the third is a Philips (All in green). Remove them and put them somewhere very safe.
Note: I have four plastic cups set up to place my screws into. These are going into the first one.
8.Next you need to remove the battery tray. There are seven tabs (yellow circles) around it that you need to release using your plastic pry tool. Once those are released gently pull away form the bottom of the phone to remove the tray. Set the tray aside.
9. Now for the antennae cover. There are two more screws to remove, a Torx and a Philips (Orange circles). These screws are going in the second bowl. After the screws are out, gently lift up on the bottom of that cover and it should remove easily. Be very careful not to damage the circuit board during removal.
10. Next to come out is the logic board. there are two more very tiny screws to remove (White circles). Into the third bowl with those. Next you need to disconnect three connections (purple circles). Then carefully go around the perimeter of it with your pry tool and VERY CAREFULLY remove all the little tabs holding it in place. Then simply push up form the bottom of the logic board and slide it out. Set it somewhere very safe.
11. Now onto the actual case of the Nexus. Remove the six Philips screws, 1 at the top and 5 at the bottom . Again there are a series of little clips, five of em, around the perimeter that need to be undone and then the case very easily separates from the screen. Set the case aside.
12. Very simply pry the LCD screen away form the glass digitizer. There it is... the broken glass.
13. Now take your pry tool and from the back of the glass (not the side you would touch if you were using the phone) wedge it between the frame and the glass to separate to adhesive. Once the pry tool is in you can just slide it around the edge of the glass to separate the whole thing. TA-DA your broken glass is forever gone.
Note: The glass is broken and very sharp. Take extreme caution not to cut yourself.
14. Now we just have to put the whole thing back together. Start with the new glass/digitizer. Peel off the plastic protector to expose the adhesive and very carefully put it in place.
15. Wrap the connector that is part of the digitizer around and secure it in place with its adhesive.
16. Take the whole screen assembly and slide it back into the case. Push to secure the clips then replace the six screws that you removed.
17. Slide the logic board carefully back into place. You may have to hold down/more out of the way a few of the connectors. Take it a little at a time and see where it is getting caught up. You got this far don't lose your patience.
18. Snap the back antennae cover back in and replace its screws.
19. Slide the battery tray into place and replace its screws.
20. Snap the gray antennae cover back on.
21. Replace Micro SD card, battery, and battery cover.
22. Enjoy the beauty of your Nexus without a broken screen.
23. Place Nexus in Otterbox Defender case so this never happens again.
I have pictures that document each step but need to be approved by a moderator before it lets me post em... sorry guys
Hey, awesome job on fixing your screen. I would love to see them, my Nexus just went through the same thing 30 min ago. I had it on my lap, and upon stepping out of the car, SMACK, is all I heard. It landed face down and this is the aftermath. It's much worse than it looks in the picture.
Man, that sucks. I know that feeling.
I'll try to put the pictures up to help you out. Or at least a link to my photobucket.
Sent from my Nexus One using Tapatalk
thanks! I just cracked mine yesterday after the phone fell out of my pocket onto a concrete floor. Ouch. I'm giving this a whirl.
Nice, I'll keep this in mind for the day I accidentally break my n1.
I just wish we could somehow jury-rig the Incredible digitizer to our phones =/
I just recently converted to the n1, bought the phone for cheap off craigslists, but notice burn in on the screen, will changing the digitizier also fix the burn in?
Thank you so much for taking the time to do this write up. I just dropped my phone and smashed the screen on concrete 30 mins ago. All is working but the glass is cracked. I've ordered a new Digitizer/Glass from ebay for £30, I just hope it comes by tomorrow.
you can post picture after 5 posts so it should be good now you have 8 posts
I've just completed the work of replacing the broken glass.
I used your guide throughout, it's a shame you haven't been able to post the pictures as it definitely would have helped. I managed to google some dismantling pictures to help with your talk through as it was hard going some times.
Many thanks again.
Another useful tip: run an air purifier aimed at your work station to minimize the risk of getting dust in the glass.
blueboymj: Any chance you can edit your original post and add your pictures so others can use them? I searched quite a lot for a specific procedure to change the digitizer on my poor N1; This was the best, most accurate guide I found. I've done digitizers on a few iPhones (sorry for the profanity) using the ifixit guides, but alas, the ifixit guides were better for them than they are for the N1.
On a side note: The end cap that gives people so much trouble fell off of my N1 in the initial drop. I pushed it back on, and continued using the phone even though the glass was shattered. Removing it the first time was not so hard, I think it was not back on as well as it should have been. Removing it the second time (another story) was much harder. There are two little plastic "bars" on the end cap (step 4 above) that fit into small grooves on the "antenna cover". (step 7) I think the trick may be to possibly pinch the edges of the end cap, while sliding it toward the bottom of the phone. I looked at it after it was open, to see why it was so hard to remove, and realized I had been inadvertently helping it hold itself closed while trying to pry it open. Maybe one of the videos addresses this; I did not watch them.
Thank you to the OP and the responders for this post!
So where exactly did u order the new digitizier and parts from?
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App
This thread should be added to the N1 wiki. Thanks for the instructions.
DrewOntheMYT said:
I just recently converted to the n1, bought the phone for cheap off craigslists, but notice burn in on the screen, will changing the digitizier also fix the burn in?
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Click to collapse
Burn in? Like shadowing on the LCD? Nope.
Thats the LCD, and is completely different than the digitizer. The digitizer is just a clear plastic/glass layer that goes OVER the lcd to detect touch.
I had the digitizer and a new case and was going to have a local phone store replace this for me. However, they just gave me some BS story about how you cannot replace the digitizer without also replacing the LCD screen, which I did not provide.
So I've been without a phone (since they have it) for no reason and have to drive out of my way to retrieve it.
Hey crappy phone store, if you're too scared to do the job just say so, don't try to make up a bunch of manure and say it can't be done.
Anyway, I just ordered the required tools that I don't have and am going to give this a whirl.
OP, if you can't post your pics, can you email them to me?
does it fix the multitouch problem?
So here's the deal. My screen bezel began to loosen a bit, so I restored the phone and took it into the sprint store to get it replaced through insurance. They proceeded to tell me that having the screen bezel clips break was a "cosmetic problem" and that would not be covered by insurance. If you don't know what I am talking about, there is a gap between the chrome bar and the gray plastic on the side of the phone. It is big enough to see the backlight from the screen, and I repeat "cosmetic". The tech decided it would be a good idea to just crank the torx screws as tight as can be, yet that didn't solve the issue. Anyone have any ideas on how I can actually get a replacement phone? The guy made a note on the account that I was having that problem so that he could notify me of another returned hero with a decent top, so I don't think going to another store will work.
Any common problems? Can overclock till meltdown?
Ok, so I have had the screen lift problem. It's on the left side worst in the middle. I decided I would take it apart and do the shims between the screws thing. But when I got it open the lift disappeared. So it's a problem with the back pressing up just enough... I noticed a pretty thick piece of foam right on the center left so I removed it. Just replaced the case and tada the tape is holding the screen flat just fine now. Just thought I would pass this on with the other fixes.
Danny80y said:
Ok, so I have had the screen lift problem. It's on the left side worst in the middle. I decided I would take it apart and do the shims between the screws thing. But when I got it open the lift disappeared. So it's a problem with the back pressing up just enough... I noticed a pretty thick piece of foam right on the center left so I removed it. Just replaced the case and tada the tape is holding the screen flat just fine now. Just thought I would pass this on with the other fixes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I noticed last time I opened it that this foam had some compression marks. Likely from pressing against the back. Mine was slightly misaligned, so really only part was compressed. I had the same thought, i.e. remove it. Maybe align it, but it's glued on tight.
So I just removed it. I'll let you know how it turns out in a day or 2.
I also use 3 washers for the top 3 on the left, which helped huge. Hopefully this will make it perfect.
Update Sept 1. This definitely helps. Noticed from pics on another thread that some new models have this foam removed, as shipped. Interesting. Also, on new models, some have screws missing (2 and 4, starting top left). I tried removing screw 2 but when I woke up I noticed creaking and movement at the bezel, when I press my left thumb inwards, which is something I always do. So I put the screw (and washer) back in this morning. Perfect now. But removing this foam was essential, so thanks again.
Makes sense. The screen is dead flat, so it has to be the back case that is separating. Thanks for the info.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
this isn't new and has already been covered already.
dilldoe said:
this isn't new and has already been covered already.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you point to where the foam issue was already covered? It was the first I saw.... maybe they have more pointers... Links?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium
mike5065 said:
Can you point to where the foam issue was already covered? It was the first I saw.... maybe they have more pointers... Links?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1781237
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=29028614&postcount=237
mike5065 said:
Can you point to where the foam issue was already covered?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It was covered in the main screen lift thread, which is like 90 pages long and has every possible remedy tested, dissected and mostly debunked. The fact is there are several factors causing the lift and there need to be several solutions to really fix it 100%, and permanently. You can make it better in various ways, one of which is removing that foam, although I believe the foam is there to keep the back from flexing and compressing those metal "prongs", causing them to lose contact. So you might have other problems later without the foam. I probably wouldn't mess with it, personally.
I personally think a workable solution for most N7's with this problem would be to shave that foam down evenly by like 0.3mm, then clamp the screen to the trim and leave it in a hot car like that for a day or so to re-adhere, without the back cover on. Then cool the tablet down and replace the back cover. The hard part is evenly shaving down the foam; it is just a tiny bit too big. But it should be present.
Well I thought I could live with it but the lift is back.... I have also noted that my 8gb gets really poor wifi connection compared to my wife's 16gb. All the clips are still contacting the back plate but I can see no difference in signal with or without the back on. So, I just called google and they are shipping out a new unit for me tomorrow. Hopefully this one is better.
Took the back off to look at screen lift fix. Low & behold 3 screws missing on the LH side of the unit. Also some fingerprints on the copper plates, 2 loose (more than 1 full turn to tighten) screws on the RH side, metal tape/gauze over phone socket loose.
badasscat said:
...So you might have other problems later without the foam...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for all this info. My foam was glued at about 25 degrees off-angle, and clearly compressed at the corner closest to the bezel, so a problem for mine' right from the factory. I didn't get it all off, but most for sure. Once removed, the bulge I had at that point between the bezel and rear case was gone. So was some screen lift' although the washers helped more for that. Not a big win, just another step forward.
I'm still curious why some pics on other thread show no foam, as shipped.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=30974024
From my looking, it's in a seemingly non-functional gap, and presses down a wide cable (or something). I earlier traced movement of that cable as the source of 'creaking' I was having, i.e. when it moved against another piece of plastic beside the bezel. I put some lithium where it rubbed and the creaking stopped. Mind you I did that (and the 3 washers precisely tightened) before i removed most of the foam.
My Tf101 was a lot less maintenance than this one. But once done (crossing fingers lol), it's causing my iPad3 to collect dust. This thing just screams. Loving it.
Again, thanks for the info.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium
Hey guys,
I just swapped my silver one to a black shell.
Very simple change over for the most part.
Prior to snapping the back cover on, I made sure to test all functions. They all passed fine. I then snapped on the back and rebooted the phone. The lower speaker no longer played any audio, instead just clicks until the sound finishes. It's incredibly annoying during speaker phone calls. Any idea what it could be, or better yet, is there an app that can force the phone into mono mode with only the top speaker working?
Hey guys,
I just swapped my silver one to a black shell.
Very simple change over for the most part.
Prior to snapping the back cover on, I made sure to test all functions. They all passed fine. I then snapped on the back and rebooted the phone. The lower speaker no longer played any audio, instead just clicks until the sound finishes. It's incredibly annoying during speaker phone calls. Any idea what it could be, or better yet, is there an app that can force the phone into mono mode with only the top speaker working?[/QUOTE]
Alright, took it apart again and inspected it. Found the problem. at the base of the phone there is a ground clip that covers and grounds the usb board to the main board. Directly above that there is a very small connector with a black and red wire in it, those are your lower speaker connector. when reinserting it into the back cover the red wire moved onto the ground plate and wormed its way between it and a spring clip that ground it to the back cover.This spring clip applied enough force to lightly cut the casing thus grounding the positive speaker feed to the phone case. Kinda a b!tch to fix, full disassemble is needed to pull that board out, i then used liquid electrical tape on the damaged spot. Let it dry and reassembled. Now its black and perfect!
I attached a photo of the red wire and its location. Be careful with this area, I was lucky the board or phone didn't short out!
View attachment 2559853
How did you even get it apart??
Iz3man said:
Hey guys,
I just swapped my silver one to a black shell.
Very simple change over for the most part.
Prior to snapping the back cover on, I made sure to test all functions. They all passed fine. I then snapped on the back and rebooted the phone. The lower speaker no longer played any audio, instead just clicks until the sound finishes. It's incredibly annoying during speaker phone calls. Any idea what it could be, or better yet, is there an app that can force the phone into mono mode with only the top speaker working?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alright, took it apart again and inspected it. Found the problem. at the base of the phone there is a ground clip that covers and grounds the usb board to the main board. Directly above that there is a very small connector with a black and red wire in it, those are your lower speaker connector. when reinserting it into the back cover the red wire moved onto the ground plate and wormed its way between it and a spring clip that ground it to the back cover.This spring clip applied enough force to lightly cut the casing thus grounding the positive speaker feed to the phone case. Kinda a b!tch to fix, full disassemble is needed to pull that board out, i then used liquid electrical tape on the damaged spot. Let it dry and reassembled. Now its black and perfect!
I attached a photo of the red wire and its location. Be careful with this area, I was lucky the board or phone didn't short out!
View attachment 2559853
Wow, you've got some courage man! I really want to convert mine to black, but I'm scared.. Never opened a phone before. Post some pics of the phone please.. Any gaps/other issues?
Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk
SaHiLzZ said:
How did you even get it apart??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Carefully and with a bit of swearing. The back cover is actually dead simple to take off, if it wasn't for the damned adhesive on the sides. Be prepared to need a new rear cover.
I used 3 different thickness guitar picks and a plastic pry tool ( those blue guys you get when you buy any part out of china). I would recommend heating up the sides to start, if you have a bean bag heating pad, use it, put it in the microwave for 2 mins and sit it on the sim card side of the phone. Because the plastic is a little flexible, I was able to slip a pick between the screen and the sim slot, then pry it upwards and slowly slide the pick toward the bottom of the phone. Once you get a little ways down stop and leave the pick in, take a thicker one and to the same, replacing the first with the new one. Repeat with another, the trick is to apply light bust constant pressure on the glue to break the bond. After a few mins of that and possibly reheating, you should be able to go around the corner and across the bottom. The glue is only of the sides. There are 4 clips of each side and 2 on both the top and bottom.
Make sure that the top assembly comes out from the bottom of the phone first or you risk damaging the power button/ir blaster.
I bought a full screen replacement with back cover from etrade, I also bought an empty shell from eBay, I used the etrade parts, but I'll swap the original screen to the ebay parts tomorrow.
Wow, you've got some courage man! I really want to convert mine to black, but I'm scared.. Never opened a phone before. Post some pics of the phone please.. Any gaps/other issues?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was too, I watched videos, I read the forums. In the end I just grabbed it and tried to see If I could even fit the first pick in, then I got farther and finally got it off. The guts are simple to change over, just be aware that the screws are not interchangeable, so take a piece of paper make notes and keep track of your screws. When I got it rebuilt I was bumbed out at the speaker, but because there is no glue on the new free I was able to get the back off in less then a minute.
I see no gaps or problems. Everything works and the phone looks great, in my opinion they should have never made a white and silver. I'll post some picks when I'm back home tonight.
I followed the videos from Go Cell Phone Repair, he has 2, one is the tear down the other is the reassembly, Google YouTube for them, he was very thorough.
Hi,
I ended up buying 3 Droid 4's before I found one I was happy with. So, I now have 2 spare ones:
1) Very nice condition but has dusk under the screen
2) Poor conditon, crackly phone speaker but nice screen
So, I was wondering whether to try and get the dusk from under the screen.
Or maybe I should try and swap the 2 screens around?
Or am I likely to end up ruining both of them, and I'd be better off just selling them both as they are?
Cheers
Once you detach the glue from the glue that's holding the glue in place for the back casing, the phone actually comes apart fairly easily. Though, putting the back casing back on, I've always found that the bottom edge will never sit flush again; easily trimmed off with a razor blade. Otherwise the edge will protrude and catch on things.
The dust might not actually be dust; while shopping for my LG Ally, I bought one that appeared to have dust behind the glass and opened it to clean it, only to find out that the inside facing was actually covered in weird pockmarks. It was the strangest factory defect I'd ever seen.
If it's fairly uniform "dust", you might have the same thing going on. One way to find out. You'll need T5, T4 and possible T3 screwdrivers/bits to break it all the way down to the screen.
The only things I'd say to really look out for:
There are two soft spongey adhesive pads that the keyboard-facing side of the mainboard uses to stick to the rest of the phone. Try not to tear these up when pulling the mainboard out. One is next to the power button, one is the same place on the opposite end. If you do rip up the one on the power button end, the button might not line up properly anymore (it barely does to begin with, thanks Motorola) and it'll be harder to activate.
Don't try to remove the screen glass from the bezel/frame unless you have a solid plan to reattach it. I've heard it's a real nuisance to get it to adhere properly again. Fair enough if the bezel is torn up but the screen is nice, just be aware that things may get really annoying.
I would say just flip the screens around. I replaced a digitizer in a Photon Q and it was a pain (still isn't working for me either).