I'm interested in repairing small devices such as iPhones, Roombas, and Blackberries as a business. I think the market may ex...

I want to replace the battery pack on an iRobot Roomba 500 series. How do I gain access to the battery pack already installed...

This question also appears on the "Discuss" board. I like working with microcontrollers such as those in the Arduino platform...

Stuck Power Switch?: I wonder if the power switch is stuck or otherwise bad and needs replacing. By this I mean the parts inside the unit, not necessarily the exterior portion of the switch. --Bob

Back Up Your Data: You can clone the entire drive to an external drive before giving your MacBook to Apple. That way when you get the repaired (or replaced) device back you can quickly restore data. In your case this seems the easiest thing to do. I question how useful the warranty thing is, though. I've seen other people exchange laptops under warranty and it always turns out to be most inconvenient for them. Computer warranties are useless unless you get an immediate replacement device and restoration of your data, if and where possible. --Bob

Unresponsive, How?: Can you explain specifically what you mean by an "unresponsive intel imac"? If it isn't booting up, there could be some reasons other than the power supply. For example a loosely seated stick of RAN can probably stop the machine from booting. A better description of the symptoms are needed here, and of the steps you have taken to discover the true cause of the unresponsiveness. Thanks. --Bob

Have you visited the support web page for that motherboard and checked that the board is really compatible with Windows 7 64-bit, and that 64-bit drivers are available for the audio chipset? You didn't install 32-bit drivers by mistake? Have you downloaded the latest BIOS (version P08, it looks like?) http://www.xfxforce.com/en-us/Help/Support.aspx --Bob

Best Bet: Replace Display Assembly: I suggest you replace the entire display assembly with a new one from Ifixit; part IF137-008-1. It is quick and pretty easy to replace. Just replacing the screen and digitizer is doable but very difficult and time consuming. If you want the phone back in operation quickly replacing the display assembly is the way to do it. Please note that I'm not yet an experienced small device repair technician. What you read above is just my opinion. I'm basing it on attempting to replace the screen and digitizer of an iPhone 3G for a friend with parts from a different source, and failing. Then I ordered the display assembly and that worked out great. The friend is happily iPhoning. It was gratifying to see it all work so fast. --Bob

Quote from ouimetnick:

The Phone's touch screen will work with out a sim. You must have installed it wrong. My iPhone and brothers iPhone, both are 3G. Work fine w/o a sim card installed.

Hi yes you are correct, I discovered my problem was really that cable #2 had come loose. This caused the touch screen not to respond to input. I missed updating this note until reading your comments. --Bob

When you do this, do it in a very well lighted environment that is not on carpet. Take off metal wristwatches and generally remove any other metal before starting the repair. If you drop these tiny screws and they land on thick carpet you have almost no chance of finding them again. The IF137-008-1 kit would benefit with the addition of two replacement screws in case the buyer loses the original screws.

Quote from phonenewby:

I did this and now my display does not work... What is wrong???

When you say "my display does not work" can you be more specific? In what way doesn't it work? Does it not turn on at all? Or does it turn on just fine, but you can't move the slider to the right to unlock the screen and get into the functional part of the iPhone interface? My suggestion is to open the phone again by removing the sim card, the two bottom screws and gently applying the suction cup. Slow and gentle helps a lot. Check that the cables are plugged in. Use a magnifying glass for this. Make sure cable #2 is seated correctly. Check the other two cables as well. Cable #3 is a little tricky, you have to slide it in the connector and then set a locking tab. And cable #1 can be challenging too. Check them all -- gently but also firmly. Now gently reseat the display assembly and see if it works now.

Always try to be very specific when you describe a problem. Don't throw a short one-liner and expect it to convey the precise issue you are seeing. Please be a little more descriptive. Thanks! --Bob

It took me only about 10 minutes to do the entire replacement procedure. I had to wiggle in the speaker end (where the 3 cables are) several times to get the display to seat perfectly, but all is well. The new unit looks great!

At this point, before turning on the device to test it, you might want to make sure the sim card is installed. Otherwise the 3G will boot up, and you will get a message "No SIM card installed", and the screen will be locked. Worse, you can't power off because the screen is locked and the power-off slider can't be moved to the right.

I just installed this unit for a friend's phone, but don't have the sim card here -- it is with the friend. I hope that replacing the sim card with the 3G powered on will work out okay.

At least one YouTube video shows using a spudger to try and free the parts from the glue after heating. The spudger is shown being used close to the flex cable (the yellowish flat plastic thing) for what I believe is the speaker. There is a risk you will damage the flex cable. You might want to be really careful not to damage it. Let us suppose the phone was working okay except for a cracked screen before you began the replacement procedure. If something goes wrong with your installation and you need to reassemble the phone for any reason (such as realizing you need a new front screen in addition to the digitizer), and you have damaged that flex cable, you probably won't have any sound in the phone.