boys don't read instructions OR (Verizon vs AT&T - there's a difference?)

Mi Problema

The back panel of the iphone 4 was spiderweb shatter after some unknown impact through its cover. Still worked fine until it maybe had an encounter with a spilled glass of water. Shortly after that it stopped charging.

We replaced the battery first, because that seemed to be the advised course. That didn't do it, so we went on to replace the dock connector. (And the back panel of course.)

That's the tidy summation. The twist in the middle is we first ordered AT&T parts for a Verizon phone because I didn't realize there was a difference. And didn't realize it until the phone was completely deconstructed in some mysterious ways. Because, hey, the insides didn't look like the instructions said they should.

Mi Solución

"I fixed it like a man," he said.

"What does that mean?"

"Means it works, only ... there are a couple pieces left over."

Ok so, I'm the one who thought the instructions were so cool and insisted on him reading them the first go round when it turns out they didn't apply because they represented the AT&T version, not the Verizon version, so pretty quick he was off the map and removing whatever seemed like it should be removed.

Eventually got the dock connector out and then discovered the new part was a significantly different size than the old part.

Some time passed then as I made embarrassed inquiries, sent the wrong parts back and ordered the right parts. (Thanks guys!)

So the new parts worked a lot better but there were things that had come out that probably didn't need to and now it wasn't obvious how to put them back.

He's the kid, it's his phone. He thought that was good enough. I'm the mom, it's my money. I wanted all the pieces back in place. So I found the tear down pictures of the phone on this site (iPhone 4 Teardown) (you guys are awesome!) which he examined and eventually managed to find homes for those last stray little parts. And hey, now the button on the top works again too!

Happy ending!

Mi Consejo

Hello! There's a difference between Verizon iPhones and AT&T iPhones.

If the directions don't seem to apply to the equipment in hand, there's probably a good reason and you should probably stop and ask yourself what it is.

Fixing something broken is a transcendent experience. Everyone should try it.