Hi guys,
The trackball on my Orbit has stopped recognising being rolled up, left or right, and the silver clickwheel is stiff. Is this repairable myself, or should I be looking at a new motherboard?
Cheers,
Nick
hey dontpannic, don't panic
at least not too hard.
It is possible to exchange the trackball unit. You can sell a new one on the internet (I bought one via eBay, it was in your country and very cheap) Allthough, it is kind of hard to get the old unit out of your phone. You will have to totally apart your phone, because the trackball unit is stick to the daughterboard which is behind the LCD
There are a number of guides to help you apart your phone, you can find it somewhere on this forum. Once apart, you can blow the dust out and uncover your current trackball (mine was kind of hidden ) Or you can get the whole trackball off the board and replace it.
(I should note I got my phone apart couple of times, so have some experience. It can be tricky)
ciao!
I agree with amfasis, it can be tricky but gets very easy once you've done it a couple of times and know what to expect (how much force to apply separating parts...)
Everything on the daughterboard is pretty open under the cover so I suspect something sticky got dripped in there (cola?) from the symptoms you mention.
I thought I had a problem with my daughterboard as well since I was getting random scrolling action in all applications, but it turned out I had some dirt stuck on the side of the screen giving a bad signal on the touchscreen.
I took apart my whole trackball and even took the silver cover off the silver scroll wheel toggle and took out the tiny spring... that was an adventure getting it all back together correctly after cleaning!
I chalk all of it up to an excellent learning experience and now have no fear of taking it all apart just to look at it again. You will too.
Good luck!
Thanks guys! Will give this a try and see what happens
I have had my VZW TP2 for a while now, and while I try to keep it scratch free it has had a bumpo and bruise before.
Yesterday is fell while I was stepping out of my car. I picked it up, brushed it off, and got angry when I saw a small knick, maybe 2mm long, in the screen. Angrily I turned the screen off and put it back in my pocket.
About an hour later I went to use the phone, and to my suprise, no touchscreen! LCD is fine, no distortion or damage what-so-ever.
Is it possible for such a small knick to completely trash the touchscreen?
I have tried multiple resets and cannot get it to recognize anything.
Short of replacing the screen and/or digitizer, anything I can do?
Vetack said:
I have had my VZW TP2 for a while now, and while I try to keep it scratch free it has had a bumpo and bruise before.
Yesterday is fell while I was stepping out of my car. I picked it up, brushed it off, and got angry when I saw a small knick, maybe 2mm long, in the screen. Angrily I turned the screen off and put it back in my pocket.
About an hour later I went to use the phone, and to my suprise, no touchscreen! LCD is fine, no distortion or damage what-so-ever.
Is it possible for such a small knick to completely trash the touchscreen?
I have tried multiple resets and cannot get it to recognize anything.
Short of replacing the screen and/or digitizer, anything I can do?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure if I would calling dropping the phone a few feet from up in the air onto what I can only assume was concrete and not pillows a small "kick"
It sounds like your digitizer is pooched. If your phones under warranty just sent it away to get fixed. It shouldnt shake loose like that I dont think. I know things happen and theres nothing you can do about it when it does. With my touch pro I had a silicone case for it I dropped it so much.. And by dropped it I mean like it would fly 5 feet or more and then the back plate would shoot off and the battery would fly out... not good to do once let alone multiple times! I was sick of my silicone case (which I got after dropping the phone probably a good 10 or more times) so I took it off, a week later I was out on my back patio and had my phone in my shirt pocket. I was on my knees and bent over to pick up something and it slid out. Fell maybe a foot and I picked it up and there was a crack across the screen.. Son of a B$%^&H!
Just happened to land on the corner perfect I guess... Regardless point of that story is I wouldnt call the phone fragile by any means. These things are beasts! But as we know... stuff happens.
Hope it works out for you.
So this morning, still half asleep I dropped my TP2 into the toilet while it was on. I grabbed it out of the toilet, and removed the battery as fast as i could (while a string of expletives came out of my mouth), let it sit under a lightbulb for a few hours.. then put it in a bag of uncooked instant rice, and left it in my warm car for most of the afternoon.
I never have been a very patient person so after about 8 hours of drying off, i put the battery back in and tried it. Phone boots up fine, everything seemed to work.. could see some moisture on the inside of the lcd still. Seemed I got lucky.. till i tried the keyboard. Some keys don't do anything, some make random crazy strings of letters.. oy. Took the battery out again, and it's back under the light bulb (sick of cleaning rice dust out of my phone).
Anyway, i'm wondering if anybody's had a keyboard on a phone screw up like that and work properly after completely drying out? I've had a few computer keyboards that screwed up like that but worked fine after drying a few days so i really hope the keyboard comes back, especially with USED tp2s still going for over 200 bucks on ebay.. yikes. Touchscreen works fine, was able to send a text no problem using the stylus.. but man i miss the keyboard!
Sorry for the novel.. any input would be appreciated!
if you can, take it fully apart so you can dry the back of the keyboard directly
as you said, i've had PC keyboards that worked after drying, but i always had to take them apart to properly dry the innards
Urgh!
I feel for you! I sit in the bath and surf and read on my TP2 and I am so careful! But accidents can happen!
Was the toilet water, err, fresh? I would suggest always leaving things with the battery out and in a warm place for at least 24hrs, as tempting as it is to power it up.
The keyboard membrane may dry out over a few days, I would suggest you don't use it for a few days.
Let us know how you get on.
aerotec said:
Urgh!
I feel for you! I sit in the bath and surf and read on my TP2 and I am so careful! But accidents can happen!
Was the toilet water, err, fresh? I would suggest always leaving things with the battery out and in a warm place for at least 24hrs, as tempting as it is to power it up.
The keyboard membrane may dry out over a few days, I would suggest you don't use it for a few days.
Let us know how you get on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately no, had a lil liquid waste in it.. i'm thinking about getting some rubbing alcohol to swish the phone around in.
to defaultdotxbe:
I would but i don't have the proper screwdriver, looks like a tiny little allen key type deal
meadams314 said:
Unfortunately no, had a lil liquid waste in it.. i'm thinking about getting some rubbing alcohol to swish the phone around in.
to defaultdotxbe:
I would but i don't have the proper screwdriver, looks like a tiny little allen key type deal
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rubbing alcohol isn't absolutely safe. It's only 70% alcohol, for one thing, and the rest is water. So you're actually putting more water INTO your phone when you use it, even though the alcohol helps it to evaporate faster.
I tried cleaning my old BlackBerry keyboard and trackball with rubbing acohol. The keyboard went nuts for a while. Eventually, after many days, it settled down, but now the trackball has a distinct tendency to bounce -- send two clicks instead of one, which is a drag when you click Delete and it instantly sends the Confirm click as well!
There's probably something better than alcohol, like ether, but I dunno where you'd get it.
meadams314 said:
Unfortunately no, had a lil liquid waste in it.. i'm thinking about getting some rubbing alcohol to swish the phone around in.
to defaultdotxbe:
I would but i don't have the proper screwdriver, looks like a tiny little allen key type deal
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
its a torx 5, i have this screwdriver: http://www.homedepot.com/Tools-Hard...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053
EWAdams said:
Rubbing alcohol isn't absolutely safe. It's only 70% alcohol, for one thing, and the rest is water. So you're actually putting more water INTO your phone when you use it, even though the alcohol helps it to evaporate faster.
I tried cleaning my old BlackBerry keyboard and trackball with rubbing acohol. The keyboard went nuts for a while. Eventually, after many days, it settled down, but now the trackball has a distinct tendency to bounce -- send two clicks instead of one, which is a drag when you click Delete and it instantly sends the Confirm click as well!
There's probably something better than alcohol, like ether, but I dunno where you'd get it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
most stores carry 91% alcohol too, and and some places will have 99%
although im always hesitant to put more liquid into the electronics, lol
Right.. i havent yet because it just doesnt feel right putting a 650 dollar piece of electronics into liquid. Heh.. Anyway, ran up to the local grocery store and all they carry is 50/50 alcohol/water. Leaning towards just letting the phone dry out now.. it has already been 14 hours since the dip in the toilet, and the water wasn't filthy just had a little pee in it (trust me, i stopped real quick when the phone hit the water, lol)
EDIT: So if it turns out the keyboard is shot, but the rest of the phone is fine.. is there any way of replacing the keyboard? I searched around online but all i could find was replacement lcd/faceplate/front keypads.. no keyboards.
Also.. unimportant but I thought it was kind of interesting, the water sensitive sticker on my battery is completely un-touched; looks good as new. However the one on the inside of the phone which couldnt be more than an inch away from the other sticker is completely washed out.
EDIT: (again lol) so on second thought.. the water in the 50/50 rubbing alcohol should be purified, correct? I'm really starting to worry about corrosion from the minerals in the toilet water and thinking it might be a good idea to wash it out with the rubbing alcohol. I've seen stories of people who left their phone underwater for long periods of time without a battery and once it dried out it was fine, one guy put a test phone under water for 3 days, then dried it out and it was fine. So that begs the question- take a risk on corrosion but let the phone dry out quicker OR get all the minerals/salts out of the phone but risk more water damage and deal with a longer drying time..
Note that Walmart sells 90% rubbing alcohol, and many pharmacies stock 99%.
(I don't have an opinion if washing your phone in this is a good or bad idea; just wanted to let you know where you can find it).
So after reading probably a couple hundred different "i dropped my phone in the toilet, ran it through the wash, or jumped in the pool with it in my pocket" stories and their outcomes...
Decided to put the phone back into a sealed container of uncooked rice (only because I couldn't find any silica gel) and leave it in a warm area overnight minus the battery. It'll have spent 30 hours drying in a desiccant come noon tomorrow so I'll fire it up and again and see what happens.
To condense everything I've read in the past 4 hours: Water + electricity +electronics = bad, remove the battery immediately (duh). Let it dry, do not turn it on (you'd be surprised how many people turn it on right after towel drying, and leave it on till it fries). Taking the phone apart and cleaning with alcohol and a q-tip seems to help, as does completely soaking the phone in alcohol; however I saw quite a few people who said their LCD quit working after the alcohol bath so I'd use it as a last resort only if even after extensive drying the phone still won't work (might as well give it a shot then, right?) ...just try to keep it away from the lcd.
Anyway, gonna try the TP2 around noon tommorow.. I'll let ya know how it goes.
this is horrible, its like my worst night mare, but i just recently switched to at&t and specifically didnt get the iPhone because i am a very strong windows mobile user lol, but anyway, im selling my tp2 that i had, almost perfect condition, but if i can get it apart, i would sell you the keyboard, i didn get a sale on ebay, but i dont think the guy is gonna pay ((, but ill keep in touch, i hope all goes well
thesyntax said:
this is horrible, its like my worst night mare, but i just recently switched to at&t and specifically didnt get the iPhone because i am a very strong windows mobile user lol, but anyway, im selling my tp2 that i had, almost perfect condition, but if i can get it apart, i would sell you the keyboard, i didn get a sale on ebay, but i dont think the guy is gonna pay ((, but ill keep in touch, i hope all goes well
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cool, I'll have to take you up on that if the keyboard doesn't return to normal. Coming up on 20 hours now it's been drying in rice at not quite 100 degrees.
Just checkin up on ya before I go to school. I'll be checkin the thread all day, im really interested to hear if you get it working again, if so, I think this post thread should stay in the archives as "Opps..."
Well it's been 30 hours.. crossing my fingers and powering it up...
Still some signs of moisture inside the lcd, but definately less than yesterday.. phone still boots up properly. Keyboard still doesnt work.. when i press the buttons i can hear water inside it. Thinking the rice doesn't work as well as silica gel would so today at work i'm gonna see if i cant find a few big packets of silica gel to let the phone sit in. Starting to get pretty impatient.. i need my phone!
Starting to seriously think about getting some 99/1 rubbing alcohol and dipping the keyboard in it for a few minutes too..
tempted to just put the battery back in and bring it to work with me.. can use the touchscreen no problem.. but ARGH dont wanna damage my phone!
Sigh.. guess it's going back in the rice and sitting in my car for another baking session I work till 10pm tonight, and go back at 6am tommorow so if the keyboard's still not working by the time i'm off tommorow i'm gonna run up to home depot, get a torx 5 and take the stupid thing apart to dry/clean it better.
Oh I wouldn't "dip" the phone into alcohol if I were you, that can only make the problem worse.. Best thing you can do is open the phone (if you have the appropriate screwdrivers) and try to make it dry with a hair dryer or something like that!
And yeah you should definately try the Silica gel!
Dude I feel so sorry for you, must be harsh to drop your phone into your own piss x'D
atticus182 said:
Oh I wouldn't "dip" the phone into alcohol if I were you, that can only make the problem worse.. Best thing you can do is open the phone (if you have the appropriate screwdrivers) and try to make it dry with a hair dryer or something like that!
And yeah you should definately try the Silica gel!
Dude I feel so sorry for you, must be harsh to drop your phone into your own piss x'D
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only problems i've seen caused by alcohol is with the lcd.. was thinking about dipping just the keyboard, but yeah.. thinking it might be better to get a torx 5 and take it apart.. water's been in there too long, dont want any corrosion.
meadams314 said:
So this morning, still half asleep I dropped my TP2 into the toilet while it was on. I grabbed it out of the toilet, and removed the battery as fast as i could (while a string of expletives came out of my mouth), let it sit under a lightbulb for a few hours.. then put it in a bag of uncooked instant rice, and left it in my warm car for most of the afternoon.
I never have been a very patient person so after about 8 hours of drying off, i put the battery back in and tried it. Phone boots up fine, everything seemed to work.. could see some moisture on the inside of the lcd still. Seemed I got lucky.. till i tried the keyboard. Some keys don't do anything, some make random crazy strings of letters.. oy. Took the battery out again, and it's back under the light bulb (sick of cleaning rice dust out of my phone).
Anyway, i'm wondering if anybody's had a keyboard on a phone screw up like that and work properly after completely drying out? I've had a few computer keyboards that screwed up like that but worked fine after drying a few days so i really hope the keyboard comes back, especially with USED tp2s still going for over 200 bucks on ebay.. yikes. Touchscreen works fine, was able to send a text no problem using the stylus.. but man i miss the keyboard!
Sorry for the novel.. any input would be appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Reminds me of the time my old Ericsson T28 went through an entire wash cycle. The battery was shot, but the phone worked fine once I got a new battery. That was a full 10 years ago, and phones were a bit tougher back then (though still not warranted to be cleaned that way)!
Good luck on the phone. I gather you don't have insurance on the TP2 through your carrier?
Also, if you are willing to extend your contract, you can get a new TP2 for under $200 with a two year extension.
da9th_one said:
why are you updating this tread every few minutes like it's a blog...???
never take you phone into a bathroom people...IT HAS 3 MAJOR WATER SOURCES...!!!
there are 3 places one should never take a phone: bathrooms, beaches, battlestar galactica...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hehe there are actually 4 places, because you forgot Chuck Norris! Never take your phone to Chuck Norris, he will roundhouse kick it out of your hands, right back into the toilet xD..
And some other tips that might help the guy with the broken phone:
- Give time for the phone to dry. Don't experiment with putting the battery back on to see if it works as this would risk damaging the phone with a short circuit.
- Be patient and wait. Yes - be patient! Let nature have its way; just leave it in a warm place and let the water evaporate.
- Place it on top of the vent of a cable box, monitor or TV for at least 24 hours (up to 3 days). The low heat emitted is enough to gently dry out the phone.
- Do not under any circumstances heat the battery - it could leak or explode. Lithium-ion batteries are sensitive. If you use an oven or hairdryer, remove the battery first.
- If you use alcohol for the drying process, only do so to the outside, and do not apply heat in any way shape or form, not even the gentlest of heat. Do not connect the battery until the alcohol smell goes away
- And, if it's not stating the obvious, do not put the phone into the microwave. You will fry the components and probably ruin the microwave!
atticus182 said:
- And, if it's not stating the obvious, do not put the phone into the microwave. You will fry the components and probably ruin the microwave!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was more worried about a toaster oven...
Good Morning Guys and Girls,
Just wondering if anyone has experienced the same issue as me and how they got on.
I have had my phone exactly 3 weeks today I was using my phone and it was absolutly fine (no scratches/dents etc) put it face up on a table went had a showever when I came back there is a very large split in the screen perfectly straight (which would indicate manufacturing problem) going from top left corner half way down the phone to the right side.
I have spoken to HTC and they say its a chargeable fix as the warranty doesn't cover accidental damage but its not accidental damage! I have just phoned up my provider who said it would have to be sent back for them to determine whether it was accidental or not before sending out a new one but then they realised I actually got it through the carphone warehouse (as T-mobile direct were out of stock) and have now said I will have to take it to them as its their phone even though my contract was taken out with T-mobile direct.
This is a pain!
can you upload a photo?
Sure you had no impact before that? Or excessive pressure like in a pocket. Maybe it cracked later.
If not I don't know, maybe some faulty panel indeed that had a weak area that cracked due to thermal stress or something. In the lab it is probably easy to determine if it was cracked from the inside or due to external impact or torsion.
I have had a couple of light bumpbs but no damage/scratches after them and it was sitting all night on charge in my front room got up this morning picked it up used it for a minute (still fine) walked away came back 15 minutes later to find a crack. Noone had touched it.
Normally when I break a screen its a tiny crack and not normally in a perfect straight line. This one is 2.6" long
Pretty upset with this as its only 3 weeks old. I have had HD / HD2 / TD / TYTN etc and really abused them and I only end up with minor chips and scratches after about 10 months. Where as this one I have really tried to look after it
Also to add I never put my phone in my back pocket wher eI can sit on it.
It never shares a pockets with coins / keys or anything else that can damage it
And I will try and get a photo of it somehow - only cam I have at the moment is on the phone so don't think I can use that
Heres a picture, you can see where the light is reflecting is roughly the start point of the crack and it goes out both ways. I just don't see how a crack like this can form on its own sitting face up on a table.
That really sucks man.
I am going to get a hard cover for my phone. Don't want a cracked screen.
Having a look at your picture though - there doesn't seem to be a pressure point of impact etc. So what you're saying looks to be correct.
Hope you get it sorted.
I know thats what is frustrating me. Everyone telling me its accidental damage and I know I am not lieing, I have broken screens in the past and seen many more and I know how accidental damage looks you normally have a point of inpact as you say, its normally small or if it is big normally has multiple fractors no just one long steady line.
Yes, exactly.
However - you're going to have a hard time proving this to any retailer. As they normally have a very strict policy on warranty claims.
I'll get my way I have a nack of getting things I want from shops and businesses
I am hoping like the guy said at T-mobile as its only 3 weeks they might just do a handset swap rather than fixing it.
Anyone by any chance know how much it is to get a screen replaced?
Done some research for you - you're looking at 70 + pounds to replace it.
Thanks. Hmmmm thats quite a bit that I don't really have. Just hope I can get them to accept it as warranty. Might have to visit all stores in Sussex until one agrees to repair it lol.
Well it is even more, if you didn't actually cause the crack on the screen!
Hoping my Desire doesn't suffer the same fate as yours!
Good luck. My advice is do not put it on a table and walk away!
Ill post here how I get on.
I will be sure to keep a constant look on it, while I leave it on the table. Will test later if the same situation arises when leaving it on a chair.
Jokes aside: mine fell twice already. Once it was after a week I had it, it landed from about 1 meter high, 50cm far away after it slipped from my hand when picking it up from ... a table ! (I see a pattern, the desire doesn't like tables). Landed and rolled on my polished floor and I still can't see no visual damage. From that day on, I grip it so firmly, that it almost behaves like an iphone4
Second time it was from about 30cm and obviously no damage.
I had it for about 2-3 months and -knock wood- screen is ok.
It does look as a factory defect.
Is ur handset not insured either mobile phone insurance or as it happened in your house - your house insurance
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
Well, don't know how the law is over there with you. But here in the Netherlands (and I thought it was EU, but not sure). Within a certain period of time the seller of the device is the one that should prove it wasn't used properly etc.
So.. they can say whatever they want about it being accidental damage. But at least here in this country, it's not up to you to prove otherwise. THEY have to prove you mistreated the device.
Your screen cracks without mistreating the device, sounds like a proper warranty claim to me!
It could be there has always been some tension on the screen, and when it got hot or cold it finally cracked. Who knows. I'd say let them prove you mistreated the device.
i work for carphone warehouse mate i wouldnt no what to do really say some thing elswe is wrong with it like crashing or some thing. depends on how noticeable try putting a cheap screen protector on it and see if it cant been seen then take it back LOL gimme a message if you want any more info =]
Don't CPW give you 3 months insurance for free as a come on?
That's nasty. I dropped mine from 30cm onto a wooden floor and the battery cover flew off and it sticks up in one corner now so had to bend it back to shape!
Good luck getting it sorted out.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
So I got this nice (albeit beat-up, but 100% functional) G2 from a friend, and for about 3 weeks it had no problems. I rooted it, put CyanogenMod 7.2 on it, worked fine.
About 3 days ago, it started behaving really weird while I was using it. Interfaces not responding, at times opening things when I didn't have my finger on the screen, usual possessed phone behavior) I did some investigating with the Developer Tools' Pointer Location display, and there's this massive dead-zone on my digitizer! The dead-zone (while holding the phone in landscape) goes from X=255.1 to X=401.1, and covers all the Y-values in that range. if I move my finger slowly enough through the deadzone from one fo the sides of it, it will register as being directly in the center of it. Other times it will show a very light touch on the right side of the zone, activating interface elements and the like.
What happened? Do I have to replace the digitizer? I don't have a warranty on it, seeing as I got it second-hand. Possible fixes, if it's not a serious hardware issue?
I don't have money to spare, so buying things to fix it might take a lot of saving.
EDIT: Got it in the mail finally, replaced it in 45 minutes. I had to use the dorm's heated-air hand-dryer to get it off, and I kinda messed up the glue a bit, but it's working just fine.
If you have to replace the digitizer, I would not worry. I just got done replacing the lcd on my G2, and it works. I bought the lcd (in your case it would be a digitizer) off ebay and my purchased also included the screw drivers and plastic tip thingy to open the phone. For the digitizer you might need to also get double sided tape.
There is a youtube video showing how to take a part and put back the phone. I think the video was like 30min, but when I did it, the time was 1.5hrs totally.
good luck if you go that route.
Previous post is spot on, for most people I would assume this won't be a hard task, I have opened and repaired dozens of g2s (and many other phones) and although sliders tend to be the most complicated its really straight forward
Find a YouTube video or other instructions online and look at it ahead of time to see if its something you feel comfortable with. Then if so, order the digitizer (90% this is the cause 10% the main flex) for around 15-20$ and all you need is a #0 Philips and a t5 torx and a hairdryer/heat gun
You won't need tape as there is more than enough sticky left after prying of the digitizer. Expect about that hour in half if your new to this, but can be done in less than 20 if you do it a lot Here is a link to info on your phone including repair guides
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=43195539
Best of luck!
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
Aw. Was hoping this wouldn't be the solution.
That sucks. Just went and ordered one, it came with screwdrivers and the prying tool, but I don't have any double-sided tape. Let's hope it's still sticky. Well, it supposedly gets here on the 9th, so I'll read up on replacing from these links. Thanks for the support. Hope I don't break the thing. :/