Bonnie Baxter

Darla, I routinely do this when replacing ports, especially Samsung. Obviously it has to be done carefully, but I find that even brand-new ports are somewhat loose and can be tightened this way. It could be done without replacing the port. I remove the circuit board from the tab or phone, insert a micro USB cable (that is NOT attached to power!), and then carefully and gently use a pair of pliers to compress the port toward the board from both top and bottom. Then I check tightness and adjust accordingly. If your port is really loose, this may not help. You may need a replacement, which requires soldering under a microscope. But if it’s only somewhat loose, it may be enough, at least for a while. I am a phone/tablet technician who does microsoldering, and has replaced many Tab A ports.

Elena, iFixit is a large community of: users who want to fix their own devices, semi-professional and professional technicians who come here offering advice and sometimes seeking it, and a small core of employees who keep the site up and running, do the tear-downs and run the store, etc. It’s not intended as a place to find a repair technician to fix your phone (although many of us probably could) but rather as a resource if you want to fix it yourself. If if you are seeking advice, please provide more information. What type of phone? How long have you had it? What is the problem, exactly? How did the problem first arise? Was it dropped, exposed to water, or anything else that might have triggered the issue? Did it stop working all at once, or gradually over time? If you’re looking for someone else to fix it, you’re better off searching for a local repair shop or a mail-in provider (they’ll want the above information.) Be sure to ask questions before handing over your phone, and to do a complete backup of...

Marc, I don't remember for sure, but I think that what solved the problem for me was replacing the digitizer with a new one from a seller that I trust. I am not sure why my digitizer worked beautifully at first and then failed. Possibilities include small rips, kinks, or slightly bad/dirty connection points at the end of the cable. Or slightly incomplete insertion into a connector. This last is worth checking: open the latches on both connectors, carefully push the cable in with tweezers as far as it can go, and close the latches. In my case, possibly there was damage to the cable that was only revealed when the assembly was tightly closed. I think that I did insulate the edges of the digitizer with Kapton tape, as has been suggested elsewhere, and that did not help in my case. Another possibility if it is not the digitizer, is that one of the connectors is faulty. If you have a microscope or even magnifying glass, inspect the solder joints between each pin and pad, making sure that they look good and have...

This sort of thing just happened to me on an iPad 4 digitizer swap. I know the digitizer worked beautifully—right up until the final reassembly. I tested it numerous times by dragging an icon all over the screen. And it was removed from a well-working iPad (that was on someone else’s account whom I can’t reach, so its usefulness was limited.) The digitizer worked well before removal, after motherboard swap…everything except the final step of sealing it up. I took it back apart and re-seated the cable, but no good. So I’m very interested to any answers to Michael’s question, or the original. The most likely thing I can come up with is a very slightly damaged cable. I’ll test it with the broken glass digitizer next, if I can do so safely. It’s taped together and essentially intact. For that matter, I can also test it in the other iPad, to see whether I’ve caused a digitizer or motherboard problem…

Dell Inspirons have terrible placement of their cooling fans, IMO. (I have one too, which I inherited when its fan overheated and broke and was too expensive to repair...I repaired and upgraded, then inherited it...) The fan is at the bottom, blowing air down (?!?). So if it's sitting on top of your lap (i.e. like a laptop...) often the fan is almost completely blocked by its contact with your lap. It's a bad design. I'm quite surprised at how long it has remained that way. The only real solution that I know of is to prevent a snug fit between your lap, or any surface, especially soft one) and the underside of the computer. Prop it up on something so there is airflow to the fan vents onthe bottom. Otherwise, as you've observed, it gets extremely hot. The next step is for the fan's motor to burn out. This is one of the most common failures for the Inspiron; it requires replacement of the fan. It's a cheap part, but repair involves taking almost everything out of the case to get at the fan. (An aside: this...

The chosen answer is not quite correct for the 8.0" 350. In step 8 of the motherboard replacement guide for the 8.0" Galaxy Tab A 350, there is a protective cover plate for the USB port that is removed via two 3 mm screws. There is no flex cable. (It does appear that other Galaxy Tab models do have flex cables, probably hence the confusion. The YouTube video cited is for a different model: also a Galaxy Tab A, but the 9.7" T555 rather than the 8.0" T350, I believe.) HOWEVER: once the protective cover is removed, what is revealed is the back of a standard USB port, with its four soldered anchor points. Once the motherboard is completely removed (see my comments on this procedure--some connectors need to be disconnected first that are not mentioned in the guide), and flipped over, the USB port is seen to have seven pins as well as the four anchors, which must be microsoldered to their pads. Only the middle three of these are really small; the other four are (relatively, for microsoldering) fairly large. But...

Kyler, the proximity sensor detects objects close to an active phone, so the touch screen can be shut off when the phone is in close proximity to your face (so your caller doesn’t get a bunch of “beeps” from keys being pressed by your face).,,

Next to the proximity sensor (below it, in the last picture) is a tiny, insignificant-looking piece of white tape. If I remember right, it’s only present on black screens. It’s important—transfer it. Without it, the ambient light sensor can’t work, and the phone can’t dim its screen automatically in dark rooms and brighten it in sunlight. It took me ages of doing this before I found a place where someone had pointed that out. I mean, it’s just a tiny white sticker. Seems to be true, though.

In re: Kent’s #2 above, I was fortunate to find new proximity sensor and camera frames on my new screens, and inside each proximity sensor frame is a small black piece over the notification LED (where it will be under the proximity sensor). Is that it, Kent? I hope so.

The speakerphone should also work—it uses a microphone near the top of the phone.

You may need to search eBay for a badly damaged (and therefore cheap) and/or iCloud-locked iPhone 6, or even just an iPhone 6 back case, and use it as a donor for this part, unless you can improvise something from some other random piece of plastic, and you find that the plastic part is essential.

If you’re planning to keep and reinstall the speaker, one option that I found simpler was to just snap the antenna cable out of its clip and leave the clip in place on the speaker. Fold the antenna cable out of the way, and just snap it back in after the speaker is reinstalled, making sure the cable follows its groove in the upper left corner of the speaker.

Maintaining touch ID is the point of transferring the original home button and its cable to the new display. As long as the motherboard is paired with its original home button and cable, touch ID will be maintained. There’s an identifying chip on the back of the home button, and matching information on the motherboard somewhere (I don’t know where its encoded).

This is called serialization. Apple seems to be doing it more and more—with the latest iOS and the newest phones (iPhone X series and above, I think), they’ve done it with batteries as well. An “Apple authorized” technician (i.e. employed by Apple, not by you) can “reset” a new battery so it matches your phone, but if anyone else changes the battery, battery health will not work, and you’ll get a warning that “Apple cannot verify that the installed battery is a genuine Apple part” or something like that.

This is one of many reasons we need Right to Repair legislation. Please help!

Joseph, I use this tape. The version I use is made by 3M. I find it’s a good compromise—strong enough to hold well, but loosens with heat and isn’t so strong that you rip the membrane (or whatever delicate phone part you’re working with) should you need to remove it. I’m not endorsing Amazon; you can get this stuff on eBay, from most phone repairers, etc. It comes in 1mm, 2mm, 3mm, 4mm, 6mm, 8mm, 1cm—just about any width you’d want, and is fairly easy to work with.

​1mm x55M Clear Double Sided Strong Adhesive Tape For Phone LCD Screen Repairby GENNEL DirectLearn more: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B019OSYR1Q/r...

A couple more thoughts: in my opinion (and others), neither removing nor replacing a chip should take nearly as long as it does it the above video. You risk overheating nearby components, blowing other things out of place, etc. Adjust distance and temp until each step takes only seconds. Also, the new chip being placed above moves around a LOT. Ideally you’d place it almost exactly where it needs to go, wait for a slight settling, and stop. You don’t want to short solder balls together under there.

Make sure to note the orientation of the original chip and match it with the new one.

Just some thoughts from a non-expert. YouTube has lots of more expert information.

Good luck!!

I’d look at iPad Rehab’s excellent YouTube video called “iPhone SE not charging…..” Jessa’s approach is strongly toward first figuring out what’s wrong. Ruling out a parts problem, is a very smart first step. But just because it isn’t the lightning port doesn’t mean it’s the TriStar chip (the IC that’s changed in this video). For example, sometimes the problem lies with a missing TINY component near the battery, causing the phone to report that it isn’t charging when it is fact IS. (i.e. not reporting charging)

Equip: microscope (you may be able to rent a work station at a local repair shop), good flux and solder, soldering iron, hot air gun, decent tweezers, Q-tips, 99% isoprop, and experience. Watch lots of YouTube (Louis Rossmann as well as iPad R), buy some dead boards from eBay and some TriStar chips (a few), and practice removing and replacing chips, then eventually putting a new one on, then going for it. You need to determine what temperatures (iron and gun) air flow, distance, etc work best for you.

The yellow stuff is presumably Kapton (heat-resistant) tape, and it looks like there’s a heat gun off to the right. I’ve never seen Kapton tape used like this—my guess is that the technician is attempting to blow hot air between the connector and the flex without melting the plastic on either. But if the hot air is correctly applied (which takes practice), the heat will go to the metal and solder and not the plastic, and the plastic won’t melt.

One other comment: unless the SE is different, it’s an understatement to say “you don’t need to use a new home button.” If you DO use a new home button, fingerprint sensing won’t work. It relies on hardware that is underneath the home button itself, and is paired to the motherboard (the CPU, I think). If you can splice flex cables, you can cut the home button away from its original flex and splice it on to a new flex, retaining fingerprint sensing (at least I’ve seen this done on YouTube). Otherwise I think you’re out of luck.

…before attaching the LCD, in fact.

To go a step further in caution, leave the backing on the adhesive strips, attach all the cables (and replace the tape over them if you like), making sure all of the motherboard screws are in place. Then lay the LCD on top (without screwing it down), lay the glass on top of that, and TEST. Make sure you have full LCD and digitizer function. If not, do a hard reset and test again. If still not, dismantle everything and re-check the cables—they should be fully inserted (usually the white line should not show at all), with their latches down and no sharp crimps. It’s surprising how small a change in digitizer insertion can make a black screen suddenly function just fine.