After replacing iPhone 4 screen ...

anthonyfellows · May 25, 2012

I replaced a cracked screen last night in my iPhone 4. Took me about two hours and I was pretty impressed that it even powered on when I was finished ... LOL. Everything is good, but I do have one minor issue. The entire touch screen responds with the exception of a very small portion across the bottom. When sending txts, I can't use the camera button to attach a photo, the area that you touch to bring up the keyboard isn't responding, and can't hit the send button. I've been working around those three issues by turning the phone sideways, but I've ran into other things after a day of use that this workaround doesn't help with. When I am attaching a picture, I can't use the "choose" button ... When typing in my iTunes password when downloading an app, I can't go from letters to numbers since that button is down towards the bottom. And so on and so on.

From what I've read thus far, I'm guessing it is a hardware issue. I do have a second replacement screen that I may try putting in, but I wanted to post the question before taking the time to do that. Is it possible that one of the two connections from the digitizer to the main board isn't tight or did I just get a bad replacement screen? I'm pretty certain I didn't damage it while putting it in. I was very careful with the entire installation and I didn't pull the protective cover off of the digitizer until it was necessary. Any thoughts? Just curious to know if there is anything else I might try before spending another couple of hours trying the second replacement that I have.

eddieg · May 26, 2012

Did you buy an OEM screen or a 3rd party cheap screen off ebay?

Pinkpoison · May 26, 2012

eddieg said:
Did you buy an OEM screen or a 3rd party cheap screen off ebay?

That was my first thought too,these problems are nearly all down to cheap screens.

anthonyfellows · May 29, 2012

I did purchase it from an Ebay seller. The seller had a lot of good reviews on the replacement screens he was selling and they were advertised as OEM. Is there any way to tell for sure? I read a lot of complaints on Amazon from buyers who had purchased non oem screens. Most complained about the display not being as sharp. To me, the replacement I got looks just as good as the original. I suppose I'll swap it with the second replacement screen I have and see what I come up with.

zig9449 · May 29, 2012

anthonyfellows said:
I did purchase it from an Ebay seller. The seller had a lot of good reviews on the replacement screens he was selling and they were advertised as OEM. Is there any way to tell for sure? I read a lot of complaints on Amazon from buyers who had purchased non oem screens. Most complained about the display not being as sharp. To me, the replacement I got looks just as good as the original. I suppose I'll swap it with the second replacement screen I have and see what I come up with.

Honestly, I would take your loss and order a good OEM screen from ifixit.com. Much cheaper than Apple and they are high quality parts.

anthonyfellows · May 30, 2012

anthonyfellows said:
I did purchase it from an Ebay seller. The seller had a lot of good reviews on the replacement screens he was selling and they were advertised as OEM. Is there any way to tell for sure? I read a lot of complaints on Amazon from buyers who had purchased non oem screens. Most complained about the display not being as sharp. To me, the replacement I got looks just as good as the original. I suppose I'll swap it with the second replacement screen I have and see what I come up with.

So tonight I tried the extra replacement screen that they accidentally sent me. Install went much smoother this time and did not take near as long as the first. Finished up, powered on my iPhone and didn't see the pretty white apple. I thought I had screwed something up ... Scratched the main board somewhere I shouldn't have with a screwdriver or something. I disconnected and reconnected all of the ribbon cables and still had the same result. So I had two other's to test with, which both worked before (my cracked one and the other replacement they sent that wasn't responding to touch at the bottom) ... Tried both of them and possibly the wrong way, but both ended up working the same way the new one for the night did. I could power on, it would get far enough for iTunes to see it, but I couldn't see anything on the screen other than the ... back light maybe? Holding the button at the top right for a few seconds would turn the iPhone on and after it booted to the passcode screen, I could press it and would see light, but not the actual display that I should have been seeing. I only knew it was at the passcode display, because iTunes saw the phone and told me I needed to enter the passcode in order to perform a backup. I didn't pull the "current" screen out and put these other two in. I just connected the two ribbon cables to the main board from the two others I had, put the battery back in, and powered it up. Not the right way to do it, but it was for testing purposes. I thought I was screwed at this point and started looking on craigslist for a replacement. And then I decided to put the first replacement screen back in "the one that doesn't respond to touch at the bottom". Got it back in the right way, put in the main board, charging piece, vibrator, camera, battery, ect .... Got it all back together with the exception of the back glass and the covers, powered it up, and much to my surprise, it booted up ...

Sorry that was so long, but I have a couple of questions ... Does the front glass/digitizer have to make contact with something on the backside in order for it to work properly (I can't imagine that it does, but I'm new to taking apart something as small as an iPhone"). I didn't "install" the test screens properly perse for testing when I was swapping screens in and out without putting them in properly and replacing each screw.

Next question ... Is there a way to backup an iPhone that has a defective display and won't respond to touch without having the passcode? I was trying to backup/sync via iTunes I could see nothing ... iTunes told me I needed to enter the passcode on the iPhone. Obviously that wasn't an option since I couldn't see the display nor was it responding to touch. Doesn't matter now for me personally, because I got mine working and you bet your ass the first thing I did was a backup ... But It would have been nice to know ... I searched and searched and found responses like this ... "You should have backed up,

Next Question ... I'm happy. Should I be? NO! As soon as my ATT contract is up in NOV, I'm taking my Iphone, and paying someone else for half price. I have not tested it, but straighttalk is looking good. Coverage map is amazing for the price. I'll be paying for straighttalk and ATT for the first month just to see if they are worthwhile.

anthonyfellows · May 30, 2012

anthonyfellows said:
I did purchase it from an Ebay seller. The seller had a lot of good reviews on the replacement screens he was selling and they were advertised as OEM. Is there any way to tell for sure? I read a lot of complaints on Amazon from buyers who had purchased non oem screens. Most complained about the display not being as sharp. To me, the replacement I got looks just as good as the original. I suppose I'll swap it with the second replacement screen I have and see what I come up with.

So tonight I tried the extra replacement screen that they accidentally sent me.  Install went much smoother this time and did not take near as long as the first.  Finished up, powered on my iPhone and didn't see the pretty white apple.  I thought I had screwed something up ... Scratched the main board somewhere I shouldn't have with a screwdriver or something.  I disconnected and reconnected all of the ribbon cables and still had the same result.  So I had two other's to test with, which both worked before (my cracked one and the other replacement they sent that wasn't responding to touch at the bottom) ... Tried both of them and possibly the wrong way, but both ended up working the same way the new one for the night did.  I could power on, it would get far enough for iTunes to see it, but I couldn't see anything on the screen other than the ... back light maybe?  Holding the button at the top right for a few seconds would turn the iPhone on and after it booted to the passcode screen, I could press it and would see light, but not the actual display that I should have been seeing.  I only knew it was at the passcode display, because iTunes saw the phone and told me I needed to enter the passcode in order to perform a backup.  I didn't pull the "current" screen out and put these other two in.  I just connected the two ribbon cables to the main board from the two others I had, put the battery back in, and powered it up.  Not the right way to do it, but it was for testing purposes.  I thought I was screwed at this point and started looking on craigslist for a replacement.  And then I decided to put the first replacement screen back in "the one that doesn't respond to touch at the bottom".  Got it back in the right way, put in the main board, charging piece, vibrator, camera, battery, ect .... Got it all back together with the exception of the back glass and the covers, powered it up, and much to my surprise, it booted up ...  Sorry that was so long, but I have a couple of questions ... Does the front glass/digitizer have to make contact with something on the backside in order for it to work properly (I can't imagine that it does, but I'm new to taking apart something as small as an iPhone").  I didn't "install" the test screens properly perse for testing when I was swapping screens in and out without putting them in properly and replacing each screw.   Next question ... Is there a way to backup an iPhone that has a defective display and won't respond to touch without having the passcode?  I was trying to backup/sync via iTunes   I could see nothing ... iTunes told me I needed to enter the passcode on the iPhone.  Obviously that wasn't an option since I couldn't see the display nor was it responding to touch.  Doesn't matter now for me personally, because I got mine working and you bet your ass the first thing I did was a backup ... But It would have been nice to know ... I searched and searched and found responses like this ... "You should have backed up,  Next Question ... I'm happy.  Should I be? NO!  As soon as my ATT contract is up in NOV, I'm taking my Iphone, and paying someone else for half price.  I have not tested it, but straighttalk is looking good.  Coverage map is amazing for the price.  I'll be paying for straighttalk and ATT for the first month just to see if they are worthwhile.

XamDam · May 30, 2012

Itunes backsup my iphone and it has passcode enabled no issues, it never asks me for passcode.

I have a iphone 4 (not 4s) so its werid is all its asking you for passcode, are you sure its not asking for your encrypted password for the backup file?

Also i would find a legit OEM screen and cut your losses and/or get your money back as you did not get what the seller was stating OEM part or did he list it as OEM replacement if so then got what you paid for a OEM replacement = not genuine OEM part just a knock replacement.

anthonyfellows · May 31, 2012

XamDam said:
Itunes backsup my iphone and it has passcode enabled no issues, it never asks me for passcode.

I have a iphone 4 (not 4s) so its werid is all its asking you for passcode, are you sure its not asking for your encrypted password for the backup file?

Also i would find a legit OEM screen and cut your losses and/or get your money back as you did not get what the seller was stating OEM part or did he list it as OEM replacement if so then got what you paid for a OEM replacement = not genuine OEM part just a knock replacement.

Yes I'm sure it was not asking for an encryption password. I have never enabled encrypted backups. It's definitely wanting that four digit pass code that I type in every time I use my phone, the big problem was that the display/touch screen was not working at the time and iTunes wasn't asking me to type it in on my computer. There was no option to do that, had to do it on the phone or iTunes wasn't going to create the new backup. Not an issue now, since I got another screen working, but I was just curious if anyone knew of a way around it. I know others have had the issue, because when I did a google search, I found lots of other people asking the same question.

I think I'm just going to use it like it is and wait for the iPhone 5 to come out. I don't want to put 100 dollars into a genunine OEM part when I'm going to (or hoping to) get the iPhone 5 within the next six months, providing that it is released. I did regain the ability to switch from letters to numbers during txting, so that solves one of the big problems. Can't turn the phone horizontal when I needed to type in my password to download an app or enter a wireless network encryption key. Now the only issue I really have or have discovered thus far is not being able to press the "choose" button when attaching a photo to a text message. Everything else I use on a regular basis, I can put the phone in the horizontal position and the button I need moves to a part of the screen that works just fine. It's a pain, but it works.

Thanks to everyone for all of the input during my struggles!