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I've tried to fix the screen on an iPad and an iPhone. In both cases, I destroyed a ribbon cable connector and rendered the devices useless. I tried to follow t

by nsxwolf 10y ago

I've tried to fix the screen on an iPad and an iPhone. In both cases, I destroyed a ribbon cable connector and rendered the devices useless. I tried to follow the instructions, I tried to use proper tools and go as slowly as possible, and in both cases, the delicate surface mount connectors just turned into powder and flaked right off the board.

aphextron 10y ago
You must be doing something wrong. I have had my original iPhone 5 since release in 2013. Ive replaced essentailly every part in the phone but the mainboard. I just bought a parts phone on ebay for $20 and completely replaced the digitizer. Battery replacements are $5 and take two minutes. Ive even replaced the entire lightning port assembly for 7$ in parts and an hour of time. Its the most modular easily repaired phone Ive ever owned. Granted though, this is the original iPhone 5. All the newer phones with Touch ID and force touch digitizers are more expensive/complicated. But the notion that Apple phones are not repairable is just false.
- dmd 10y ago
  > Ive replaced essentailly every part in the phone but the mainboard For fun? Or what? I have several relatives who still have iPhone 4 and 5 (and one with a 3!), and none of them have replaced any components. Why would you need to?
  - aphextron 10y ago
    I've gone through 2 screens and a battery. Also the connectors on the lightning port tend to corrode to the point where it has trouble charging.
- nsxwolf 10y ago
  I just have very bad luck when things get small. I was so proud of myself when I got all that broken iPad glass off cleanly. Then that happened and it was a really dark moment for me. Currently I'm dealing with an out of warranty Apple Watch where the screen just went and fell right off, and apparently you cannot buy the glue strips for it unless you buy the whole screen. Apple figured out how to stop people from getting glue!
  - iamacynic 10y ago
    they probably bought the company that produces the glue.
  - skibble 10y ago
    As a side note: this issue happened to some early Apple watches (basically the glue didn't cure properly, I think?). Since it's a sorta known issue, you might be able to get it fixed for free, even though it's out of warranty. Here's a tweet from John Gruber of popular Apple blog Daring Fireball, who had the same thing happen to his wife's watch: https://twitter.com/gruber/status/783016045481033729?lang=en https://twitter.com/gruber/status/783016045481033729?lang=en
    - nsxwolf 10y ago
      Yeah I went through multiple phone calls and an unpleasant store visit and mentioned the people online and they did jack all for me. They want $249 and that's that. They didn't care about my 6 figures of lifetime Apple purchases.
- mikestew 10y ago
  I've repaired iPhone 5's, no problem. I've repaired the screen on a 6 and swore I'd never attempt such a thing again. Too many fiddly, delicate parts and screen glass that's bonded to the LCD. If nothing else I'd buy the whole screen and not just the glass. But the fiddly rest of it still puts me off trying again.
- lucaspiller 10y ago
  5 minutes to replace the battery? When I replaced the battery on my iPhone 5S (maybe it's a lot harder?) it took maybe an hour in total. The biggest issue I had was with the glue holding the old battery in. I used a hair dryer to heat up the back of the phone so it was hot to touch, but even so it still took a lot of prying - the old battery was very deformed by the time I got it free. On a side note, iPhones are really easy to get parts for. I had the digitiser fail on a cheap no-name Android tablet, and as far as I can tell you can't get replacement parts for it.
ericabiz 10y ago
Just FYI, even if you ripped a pin on the FPC (the connector on the logic board), your devices are still repairable. Board-level repair is becoming more common these days, and there are plenty of people all over the world who can replace FPCs on your board.

by nsxwolf 10y ago

aphextron 10y ago

You must be doing something wrong. I have had my original iPhone 5 since release in 2013. Ive replaced essentailly every part in the phone but the mainboard. I just bought a parts phone on ebay for $20 and completely replaced the digitizer. Battery replacements are $5 and take two minutes. Ive even replaced the entire lightning port assembly for 7$ in parts and an hour of time. Its the most modular easily repaired phone Ive ever owned. Granted though, this is the original iPhone 5. All the newer phones with Touch ID and force touch digitizers are more expensive/complicated. But the notion that Apple phones are not repairable is just false.

dmd 10y ago
> Ive replaced essentailly every part in the phone but the mainboard For fun? Or what? I have several relatives who still have iPhone 4 and 5 (and one with a 3!), and none of them have replaced any components. Why would you need to?
- aphextron 10y ago
  I've gone through 2 screens and a battery. Also the connectors on the lightning port tend to corrode to the point where it has trouble charging.
nsxwolf 10y ago
I just have very bad luck when things get small. I was so proud of myself when I got all that broken iPad glass off cleanly. Then that happened and it was a really dark moment for me. Currently I'm dealing with an out of warranty Apple Watch where the screen just went and fell right off, and apparently you cannot buy the glue strips for it unless you buy the whole screen. Apple figured out how to stop people from getting glue!
- iamacynic 10y ago
  they probably bought the company that produces the glue.
- skibble 10y ago
  As a side note: this issue happened to some early Apple watches (basically the glue didn't cure properly, I think?). Since it's a sorta known issue, you might be able to get it fixed for free, even though it's out of warranty. Here's a tweet from John Gruber of popular Apple blog Daring Fireball, who had the same thing happen to his wife's watch: https://twitter.com/gruber/status/783016045481033729?lang=en https://twitter.com/gruber/status/783016045481033729?lang=en
  - nsxwolf 10y ago
    Yeah I went through multiple phone calls and an unpleasant store visit and mentioned the people online and they did jack all for me. They want $249 and that's that. They didn't care about my 6 figures of lifetime Apple purchases.
mikestew 10y ago
I've repaired iPhone 5's, no problem. I've repaired the screen on a 6 and swore I'd never attempt such a thing again. Too many fiddly, delicate parts and screen glass that's bonded to the LCD. If nothing else I'd buy the whole screen and not just the glass. But the fiddly rest of it still puts me off trying again.
lucaspiller 10y ago
5 minutes to replace the battery? When I replaced the battery on my iPhone 5S (maybe it's a lot harder?) it took maybe an hour in total. The biggest issue I had was with the glue holding the old battery in. I used a hair dryer to heat up the back of the phone so it was hot to touch, but even so it still took a lot of prying - the old battery was very deformed by the time I got it free. On a side note, iPhones are really easy to get parts for. I had the digitiser fail on a cheap no-name Android tablet, and as far as I can tell you can't get replacement parts for it.

ericabiz 10y ago

Just FYI, even if you ripped a pin on the FPC (the connector on the logic board), your devices are still repairable. Board-level repair is becoming more common these days, and there are plenty of people all over the world who can replace FPCs on your board.