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Is there any way to repair the LCD backlight cable?

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This is definitely a long shot, but I figured I'd see if anyone had some creative solutions. I salvaged a replacement LCD/Digitizer/Touch Screen for my first gen iPhone. The problem is with the LCD portion. There's a small ribbon cable along the right side that is severed and barely hanging together. I'm guessing that one of the ribbon wires is for the LCD and the other is for the backlight because I'm able to tape it in place just enough to get the LCD portion to work and everything works except the backlight. I have an extra cable laying around and was wondering if there was someway I could attach the two similar to attaching two wires together without having to actually remove the connection to the LCD because I know there's pretty much no way to mess with that connection without destroying the LCD. Probably gonna have to just replace the entire thing...

Edited by: Mark ( )

Have you any Photos to show what you mean? Sometimes if you follow the flex you can find solder points in the early apple devise so you may be able to get creative. I haven't fixed one of these in ages so can't remember the exact layout

pollytintop,

I'll take some really quick. I can follow the wires easily theres only two and they go to two solder joints on the LCD connector at the top. One is completely severed and the other is dangling. I don't think I can solder them because of the plastic

Mark,

Eh, unfortunately my camera sucks and I really couldn't get a clear enough picture since it's so small. You can kinda see where it's ripped here: http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/43/... and I drew over where the wires are in red here http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/688... The part doesn't seem to be an exact OEM but I can get it to boot. At this point, it doesn't even seem worth it to pay the cost of shipping to return it.

Mark,

if you've got a lowish watt soldering iron and some flux/solder I'd be tempted to see if you could take the old one off (I know it's on plastic but I've had success doing similar work on plastic parts with solder.. the solder is actually just a blob on top of a metal tab in the plastic so as long as you're careful) i think as a lasting repair this might be a good option. I have heard of people using a special pen that "draws" the metal inside the ribbon flex... you do have to scrape some of the plastic off to get to the metal and then "bodge" it to the other part of the flex. perhaps someone on here knows more on the pen and could be more help.

pollytintop,

well the problem with just replacing the cable is that its attached underneath to the LCD. I opened my broken one up just for curiosity sake and totally destroyed the LCD because they're all one piece.

Mark,

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ABCellars
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The pen that Polly is talking about is probably your best first try. It is called a silver trace pen. They are available online or at Radio Shack here in the US. It runs about $11USD and has enough product to do a great number of repairs. You will need to secure one side of the ribbon cable with tape, glue or something, so you do not rip it any further. You will need a jewelers visor, loupe or stereo microscope to see what you are doing. On the unsecured side of the cable you need to clean the plastic away from the broken copper trace in the cable on either side of the break with an exact-o knife or similar, you can also use heat. You need to make sure you are only exposing the 1 trace. If you expose multiple traces you stand a chance of shorting them out. Patching 1 trace is going to be hard, but much easier that trying to patch in a new cable. I have done this with DS lite upper video cables. If you are patient and can see what you are doing it can be accomplished.

thanks ab, good advice and experience counts! I've only read about it, never got round to trying it, but enjoyed the research.

pollytintop,

Very nice! Thank you very much to both of you. I came across something similar but hadn't realized Radioshack carried these pens. I'm gonna go out and try it tonight. Luckily I have an already broken LCD that I can practice on first.

Mark,

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