over the past few weeks some of the buttons (namely left soft key, up and left) have stopped working, i've tried numerous roms just incase but it's definatley a hardware issue, now, i've dismanted the phone using the diamantos guide to see if anything jumps out at me, gave the phone a damn good cleaning whilst i had the chance, put it back together....but nothing, everything seems to be in order, all components in their rightful place but i still cant work it out, does anyone know if this is a common problem or if theres a fix as i've been unsuccessful in my searches.
actually, i just found the solution and it worked a treat, thanks anyway people.
btw, if anyone would like to know what i did then i'll be more than happy to share the solution.
Hi godofwap,
I have the same problem with a trinity I bought used. Tried to stick some papers under the buttons but that didn`t help so I`m very curious how You managed to get them working again. Hope You find the time to write a short notice.
Have some fine days,
FlyBy_1
ok, no problem, heres what i did.
before you start please be aware that this is a very delicate procedure and you should take care as this may naff up your beloved trinity.
ok, i first disassembled my trinity using the dimantos guide located here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=311463,
now, when you get to the keyboard / button pcb take it out if, you look closely you'll notice theres a thin adhesive plastic cover covering the metalic buttons, very very carefull peel this back (i used a sharp knife to get to it), making sure not to completely remove it, try to only expose the underneath of the buttons in question, you'll see that the buttons come away with the plasic leaving the underneath exposed, now, using a cotton bud and some lightly applied alcohol clean the contacts then when all is done, replace the plastic and make sure its firmly pressed back down you may notice it making a different, kind of sharper clicking noise when depressed than before meaning its worked, repeat for all buttons.
i think whats going on here is the gum or glue from the plastic film has "leaked" if you will, onto the plates meaning theres no contact from the buttons, this would also account for the very slight change in sound when you now press the button.
i found this info here http://forum.xda-developers.com/archive/index.php/t-289737.html
Nice find mate; sounds like a solution for my problem cause when I got my phone the first I had to do was to disassemble and clean the heck outta it, there was dust everywhere as if the old owner had laid it on the moon for a week. But who thought the buttons are actually separatable... strange technique.
Thanks for the hint, at least now I´ve got something to do over the holidays at my parents-in-law
Once again thanks for Your hint.
The problem with mine was actually not dust and stuff between the two halves but too much pressure by the former owner.
After I had separated the plastic film from the board I saw that there were very deep dents where the pick of the metal discs had pushed the soft pcb material down. So I cleaned them anyway and then reapplied the film with an offset of just a fraction of a millimetre so they make perfect contact with the pcb again.
Every single button again works perfectly now
Hi
I tried to replace my battery and after assemble it back i only get a black display when turning my m7 on.
I broke this little plastic thing from the display cable off (look in attachment)
Is this thing essential for a working display? (i thought i can fix it with a drop of glue)
Should the display work when the backcover is off the device? Because there are some connectors on the backcover....
cheers
00Nuclear00 said:
Hi
I tried to replace my battery and after assemble it back i only get a black display when turning my m7 on.
I broke this little plastic thing from the display cable off (look in attachment)
Is this thing essential for a working display? (i thought i can fix it with a drop of glue)
Should the display work when the backcover is off the device? Because there are some connectors on the backcover....
cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Shouldn't have done that, I think you accidentally broke something. I'd send it to a HTC service center. But that's gonna cost you probably.
nah, official repair isn't worth it. The phone is more than 2 years old...
and yes i think i broke something... thats why im asking
You're gonna have to be good with a solder and a couple of tiny wires if you want to revive your phone.
00Nuclear00 said:
Hi
I tried to replace my battery and after assemble it back i only get a black display when turning my m7 on.
I broke this little plastic thing from the display cable off (look in attachment)
Is this thing essential for a working display? (i thought i can fix it with a drop of glue)
Should the display work when the backcover is off the device? Because there are some connectors on the backcover....
cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You definitively need this clip to be intact so the flex cable sits firmly in place otherwise you'll have bad contact between the cable and the pins.
If you don't want to send to HTC for repair you'll need at least to send it to your local electronic repair shop so someone skilled with the proper soldering tool (not the standard iron you have at home) can replace the connector. BTW some of these clips must be lifted from the cable side and some other from the opposite side of the cable, so next time use tweezers and apply very light force on each side you'll find from what side it must be lifted.
LCD should work fine with the back cover removed, afaik. Connectors in the back cover are often for antennas but I wouldn't recommend to run the phone with antennas disconnected to avoid damaging the radio chips (reflected power).
If you are from the US, you can easily find this connector on ebay for about 10$. I'm sure it won't be that much expensive to repair if you bring the new connector and the phone already disassembled to your local repair shop.
Btw are you sure its only the LCD? When trying to boot the phone can you here the HTC theme or does it vibrate? Recognized by your computer when connected with usb?
thx for your response
I found an replacement part on ebay but first i have to look for someone who can solder this for me.
When i try to turn it on it only vibrates without a htc theme sound and there is no display reaction.
The other thing i mentioned is that the phone gets very hot in the middle (should be the cpu) where i dont know if it should get that hot.
I have to try the pc connetion again and let you know asap.
00Nuclear00 said:
thx for your response
I found an replacement part on ebay but first i have to look for someone who can solder this for me.
When i try to turn it on it only vibrates without a htc theme sound and there is no display reaction.
The other thing i mentioned is that the phone gets very hot in the middle (should be the cpu) where i dont know if it should get that hot.
I have to try the pc connetion again and let you know asap.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not really worried about the absence of HTC sound when booting, if your phone is on silent / vibration mode, it will only vibrate when booting. If your computer does detect it once booted, then I guess the broken connector clip is the problem.
---------- Post added at 09:49 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:27 AM ----------
Here is a video about the connector replacement, it doesn't look that hard to replace but wouldn't recommend to do it yourself if you never soldered electronics before. Soldering isn't that hard but you need some practices and knowledge to make good joints. I don't think your phone motherboard is a good candidate to practices yourself if you never did it before. You'll also need a really tiny tip for your iron, probably a type "L", 50/50 solder + some flux. Flux must be cleaned after use to avoid corrosion. The most difficult when soldering on motherboard, imo, is to find the right temperature. If your iron is to hot, you'll damage your connector. If its not hot enough, solder will take more time to liquefy and some heat will be absorbed by surrounding components which can cause irreversible damage.
Easy fix mate
You don't need to replace the connector, I've done this before, it is just the connector clip that has come off and it goes back on reasonably easily.
You will need a good magnifier.
You will need a good light source.
The phone held securely on its side with the socket pointing up.
Some masking tape on the loose part because it WILL go "ping" into the distance if you don't and you will not find it.
Look at the other connectors to see the proper orientation for the part, mark it with a permanent marker on top and at one end.
The insertion looks difficult, it isn't too bad, keep the part nice and straight and the motion is kind of like clicking it down on the ribbon.
Forget replacing the connector, that is 100 times harder.
If you do lose the loose part I have one or two laying around.
Good luck.
Hi, I dropped my phone by accident and unfortunately, it fell on the volume key which is now bend in the middle and stuck pushing vol up.
I can push volume down but the key is stuck with volume up and the phone would do that at random. For example, at some point during a call it would go to maximum volume automatically, which is super annoying.
Does anyone have experience with replacing hardware parts of the Zenfone 8? I watched this tear down video , it looks kind of easy to disassemble. However I am not sure if I can reach the volume key without removing the main board. Also, not sure if will be water proof after reassembling (guess not, but no problem).
Any tips? Thanks everyone!
I tried searching a bit but couldn't find any Zenfone 8 buttons (though maybe buttons from other phones could work). What I found instead is a complete frame that does come with the buttons attached to it, so you could either transfer the whole phone internals to it, or try removing the button to put inside your original casing. (I think the second option would be easier since the battery is glued down pretty solidly)
Anyways, here is the link: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003661617745.html
I think it will not be water proof after you open it, so you should also consider getting a new seal. (Consider that I have never openned my zf8 lol so I am not pro). But from what it looks like, it will most likely be easier and safer for the board to remove it before playing on the side and risking slipping and scratching the pcb
EDIT: I found the specific volume key on asus-accessories.com for 12$!!
Thanks for your help! I already found and ordered the spare part on https://www.fixshop-online.de/ I hope that 24 Euros are not wasted.
Hopefully, the whole open and repair process will not be too difficult.
DerSteppo said:
found and ordered the spare part
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would be very interested in the results. Most importantly, if the spare part is a good quality replacement. Also I would be interested in how easy or hard such a replacement is. I looked into many of the teardown videos before buying the device, but those are usually from super-experienced pros with all the fancy tools. I would be interested in a first-hand report, even if it's short.
I will keep you updated. A friend sent some special adhesive tape but it hasn't arrived, so I didn't start disassembling.
The spare part, however, seems to be not available. I received an email that they don't have it. So I wait a little, maybe they can order it, but if it will not arrive end of April, I will just try to fix the bent old one.
@amenthes
I managed to open the phone with a hairdryer. I probably should have applied more heat, but I was hesitant because I did not want to destroy something, so it was a little bit harder to remove the back cover with a plectrum-like tool. Around the rim of the cover is a black adhesive tape, which I completely removed without any traces.
Unfortunately, I received another email that the spare part was not available, so I (not wanting to wait for a month or longer) cancelled the order eventually. Problem was, the volume button is somehow fixed to the case and I could not reach it properly. I managed to push it back a little bit, but could not remove it for replacement. During the process, I damaged the lower volume contact (as I wrote, the part is hard to reach) unfortunately. So now the volume down button does not work at all. However, the volume up button now does not get triggered automatically anymore. So I just push vol+ and lower the volume on the screen or via bluetooth headset. Works for me, as long as it doesn't go max. volume all of a sudden anymore.
A friend gave me some double sided adhesive tape which came with his replacement battery and I cut it with a razor blade to fit the back cover. It does not go all the way around, but I don't want to take the phone into water anyways. Besides, it looks just as it has never been opened. No gap at all, so the opening and closing parts are fairly easy.
All in all, it has been an experience. I will keep the phone despite the broken button, because for me it is still one of the best phones available at the moment.
Thank you for reporting back
@amenthes
Hi, it's been a while but I finally managed to replace the button!
I found a spare part on AliExpress. Not only was it much cheaper than on the other website, it is the whole middle frame instead of the button only. Delivery was expected end of June, however it arrived today (yeah!).
I used a razor blade and a thin needle as lever to remove the new button from the frame, since there seems to be no way from the inside without making things too complicated.
To remove the old button from the phone, which was bent and messed up (I tried to rip it off with a needle-nose pliers, but it did not work and it left some ugly marks), I used a sharp knife instead. I got inspired by this teardown video of another phone which unfortunately I don't remember. In the video, the guy used the knife like he would peel an orange. Like you would try to cut the button from the top edge. If enough pressure is applied you can pull the button out.
Eventually, I inserted the new button and pushed it a few times from different angles and now it feels almost as new. There is a nice click and pressure point. So I consider this a win.
At the end of the day, I did not even have to open the back of the phone with this method, but I learned a few things, which is nice, and, you know, you never know. Also, it gave me some confidence in my technical skills.
DerSteppo said:
@amenthes
I managed to open the phone with a hairdryer. I probably should have applied more heat, but I was hesitant because I did not want to destroy something, so it was a little bit harder to remove the back cover with a plectrum-like tool. Around the rim of the cover is a black adhesive tape, which I completely removed without any traces.
Unfortunately, I received another email that the spare part was not available, so I (not wanting to wait for a month or longer) cancelled the order eventually. Problem was, the volume button is somehow fixed to the case and I could not reach it properly. I managed to push it back a little bit, but could not remove it for replacement. During the process, I damaged the lower volume contact (as I wrote, the part is hard to reach) unfortunately. So now the volume down button does not work at all. However, the volume up button now does not get triggered automatically anymore. So I just push vol+ and lower the volume on the screen or via bluetooth headset. Works for me, as long as it doesn't go max. volume all of a sudden anymore.
A friend gave me some double sided adhesive tape which came with his replacement battery and I cut it with a razor blade to fit the back cover. It does not go all the way around, but I don't want to take the phone into water anyways. Besides, it looks just as it has never been opened. No gap at all, so the opening and closing parts are fairly easy.
All in all, it has been an experience. I will keep the phone despite the broken button, because for me it is still one of the best phones available at the moment.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for sharing your experience. Do you think the waterproofing was tempered by the repair ?
DerSteppo said:
@amenthes
Hi, it's been a while but I finally managed to replace the button!
I found a spare part on AliExpress. Not only was it much cheaper than on the other website, it is the whole middle frame instead of the button only. Delivery was expected end of June, however it arrived today (yeah!).
I used a razor blade and a thin needle as lever to remove the new button from the frame, since there seems to be no way from the inside without making things too complicated.
To remove the old button from the phone, which was bent and messed up (I tried to rip it off with a needle-nose pliers, but it did not work and it left some ugly marks), I used a sharp knife instead. I got inspired by this teardown video of another phone which unfortunately I don't remember. In the video, the guy used the knife like he would peel an orange. Like you would try to cut the button from the top edge. If enough pressure is applied you can pull the button out.
Eventually, I inserted the new button and pushed it a few times from different angles and now it feels almost as new. There is a nice click and pressure point. So I consider this a win.
At the end of the day, I did not even have to open the back of the phone with this method, but I learned a few things, which is nice, and, you know, you never know. Also, it gave me some confidence in my technical skills.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for sharing your experience. Do you think the waterproofing was tempered by the repair?
maxime78 said:
Thanks for sharing your experience. Do you think the waterproofing was tempered by the repair?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Probably yes, because I used adhesive tape and cut it myself along the back rim and it is not in one piece going all around. However, the cover sits very tight and you wouldn't even recognize that the phone was ever opened. I don't really mind because I use a silicon phone case anyway and I don't intend to take the phone underwater.
You can buy the original battery cover adhesive spare part here: https://www.asusparts.eu/en/asus-13040-01431000 but I did not want to spend more money and my solution works for me.
DerSteppo said:
@amenthes
Hi, it's been a while but I finally managed to replace the button!
I found a spare part on AliExpress. Not only was it much cheaper than on the other website, it is the whole middle frame instead of the button only. Delivery was expected end of June, however it arrived today (yeah!).
I used a razor blade and a thin needle as lever to remove the new button from the frame, since there seems to be no way from the inside without making things too complicated.
To remove the old button from the phone, which was bent and messed up (I tried to rip it off with a needle-nose pliers, but it did not work and it left some ugly marks), I used a sharp knife instead. I got inspired by this teardown video of another phone which unfortunately I don't remember. In the video, the guy used the knife like he would peel an orange. Like you would try to cut the button from the top edge. If enough pressure is applied you can pull the button out.
Eventually, I inserted the new button and pushed it a few times from different angles and now it feels almost as new. There is a nice click and pressure point. So I consider this a win.
At the end of the day, I did not even have to open the back of the phone with this method, but I learned a few things, which is nice, and, you know, you never know. Also, it gave me some confidence in my technical skills.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
pulling out a device's button with a knife is like cutting ice cream with axe. You will always end up spoiling it.
Evan Roberts said:
pulling out a device's button with a knife is like cutting ice cream with axe. You will always end up spoiling it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what I thought, but it worked surprisingly well actually!
@DerSteppo
Good day, sir. You have literally saved me from feeling extremely sad and even considering taking my phone to repair shop (which I never did in my life).
My story: I was snowboarding some days ago and at one point I fell on the slope on high(ish) speed. It was okay until I took a lift and took a look at my phone. It was almost exactly the same case as yours - the volume key was bent in the middle except it was vol. down which was stuck. Luckily the phone was still usable, I could adjust the volume via sound control panel in the settings which of course felt tedious but still not the end of the world until I get home and figure something out. Unfortunately while messing with the buttons now it was turn for vol. up to be pushed and there was no way to turn the phone on because it triggered the boot mode which wont let you out I came across that very video you mentioned and was baffled at why they made it so that you literally cant get the button from the frame without surely f**king something up in the process I started feeling anxious and thankfully google showed me this thread. All in all, I took your advice with a knife and managed to pry the buttons off a little and thankfully both buttons got released from their respective contact panels. So again, thank you so much man, don't think I could figure this out by myself
One question though. Not sure yet whether to get a new button instead of now scratched and still bent one, but was there any difficulty to insert the new button into the frame? There are two little 90 deg. angled metal things on each side and I am not sure if they can affect the insertion process.
Asus Zenfone 8 ZS590KS - Volume Button (Obsidian Black) - 13020-06381400 Genuine Service Pack | FixShop
Replacement volume button for Asus Zenfone 8 ZS590KS. Use the button if the original button has stopped working or is damaged and needs to be replace…
www.fixshop.eu
fluXion69 said:
@DerSteppo
Good day, sir. You have literally saved me from feeling extremely sad and even considering taking my phone to repair shop (which I never did in my life).
My story: I was snowboarding some days ago and at one point I fell on the slope on high(ish) speed. It was okay until I took a lift and took a look at my phone. It was almost exactly the same case as yours - the volume key was bent in the middle except it was vol. down which was stuck. Luckily the phone was still usable, I could adjust the volume via sound control panel in the settings which of course felt tedious but still not the end of the world until I get home and figure something out. Unfortunately while messing with the buttons now it was turn for vol. up to be pushed and there was no way to turn the phone on because it triggered the boot mode which wont let you out I came across that very video you mentioned and was baffled at why they made it so that you literally cant get the button from the frame without surely f**king something up in the process I started feeling anxious and thankfully google showed me this thread. All in all, I took your advice with a knife and managed to pry the buttons off a little and thankfully both buttons got released from their respective contact panels. So again, thank you so much man, don't think I could figure this out by myself
One question though. Not sure yet whether to get a new button instead of now scratched and still bent one, but was there any difficulty to insert the new button into the frame? There are two little 90 deg. angled metal things on each side and I am not sure if they can affect the insertion process.
Asus Zenfone 8 ZS590KS - Volume Button (Obsidian Black) - 13020-06381400 Genuine Service Pack | FixShop
Replacement volume button for Asus Zenfone 8 ZS590KS. Use the button if the original button has stopped working or is damaged and needs to be replace…
www.fixshop.eu
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, I am so happy to read I could help with my experience! Nice to see that you where able to fix it for now.
I did not have problems with inserting the new button, no. With the phone switched of, I just pushed it in and pressed a bit harder on both ends a few times. I think it "clicked" in at some point.
It is still working as new! One advice though: you might want to consider buying the original adhesive tape that is shaped to fit properly. I used just a few stripes and cut it to fit almost all the way around, but a few months ago I saw that the back cover was slightly lifted and there is a gap. The phone survived a few drops from various heights in the meantime, so I am not surprised. I am too lazy to re-apply new tape, though. It's in the rubber case anyways.
All the best!