My Problem

I had dropped my phone cracking the screen. Still worked, just cracked. A friend gave me theirs which I dropped in a puddle, making the dock connector and home button not work, so I used the module from my phone. I then had a phone fully functional and one with a cracked screen and broken dock connector and (I would notice later after fixing) a torn ribbon connecting the camera.

My Fix

Fixed the screen and dock connector and, with the exception of the camera I still have to fix, works great! Looks like new with the screen.

My Advice

Keep aware of the camera ribbon when pulling out the logic board. Also, invest in a good case.

My Problem

During the call phone buzzes (noise like when you telephone near speakers)

Home button was getting more and more 'stubborn'

Plus about half a year ago it fell down and glass was broken near home button. And all the scratches started to annoy a bit

My Fix

First of all I should say that this was new experience for me, but I like to do things where you need accuracy and handiness, so I thought to give a try (it would be too expensive to get service and you'll never know what you'll get back /in my country/)

I got all front assembly with lcd instead of glass and panel with speaker and button. Well if you have 30$ more and less time and dont want to be worried about dust on LCD, you should do the same. (For me there was no option because panel was out of stock - what a ** was when after ordering, next day I got email about new stockings! But you may not be interested in my long ordering story and how everything shipped to me over the ocean and how my friend during the flight was keeping assembly in her pocket and not being worried about all the cables..!)

So I watched a video (both to be exact) how to change parts, read many comments how disappointing dock changing might be and so many functions wont work. You should carefully watch too and read the manual CAREFULLY, every single word even its only about two screws. Its a start to success.

Opening front panel went well but I managed somehow to open it to wide and cables slipt off. Its better not to do it again. Then all the screws and getting everything from back panel was quite fast and without accidents. Advice: after opening, stop for a moment and stare a bit, because your phone in real wont be the same as in picture and small details make big difference and its important to notice them - otherwise getting parts back will be harder especially if youre doing it for a first time. Next advice from me about the dock is that when you put the new dock, dont forget that screw holes must be ON the silver bezel holes but NOT UNDER, cause its goes well and fits under but its not a place and getting dock out is muck harder than you think. (my second mistake)

Be careful with camera! Dust gets easy onto panel.

Talking about display I can tell a bit of a joke. I wrote in the beginning that I hadnt chance to disconnect cables and in the dock repairing manual didnt notice that all THREE cables must be connected so i did only two (nr 1 and 2) but not that tiny one which had to go under a plate (where you have to be VERY CAREFUL). Guess what? I closed everything, turned the phone on, enjoyed perfect results and posted self promoting FB update and only then realised that i forgot that cable! But everything was working! What it does? I guess something with sound, but i turn off many sounds so didint notice.

And silver bezel started to fit badly - did some glueing. This was because of slightly broken corner i guess.

So thats my story :)

My Advice

Many written before, but one more:

original dock on contacts had some tape on it, so i asked dad to give me some and put pieces too. The same with home button. It looks more hermetic for me - if youd look in light youll see some space between dock connection and panel - cool way for dust to get in.

Wish you good luck as it happened to me - even working without all parts connected :)

My Problem

The phone was 2.5 years old, rather than junk it (since it couldn't be charged without the cable), I decided to attempt this repair. Now, I can either sell is as a working phone, or let another family use it as an iPod Touch. Haven't decided yet.

My Fix

I have a little experience with minor electronic repairs - replacing hard drives in my MacBook Pro, replacing the screen in an old PowerBook. So, I'm no expert, but I've done a little.

With that as background, I found this repair quite simple with the instructions and photos on iFixit. No real tricks to convey - just a straightforward repair. It took me less than an hour.

I found the use of a lamp with a magnifying glass attached VERY helpful for all the small screws. It probably wouldn't have mattered 15 years ago when my eyes were better.

My Advice

The symptom for the iPhone was that it didn't recognize ANYTHING related to the cable - no charging, no communication via USB.

However, I noticed that as I cleaned the connector on the iPhone (cleaning was the first remedy I was going to try), one of the metal tabs that are part of the connector, actually came out with the toothpick I was using to clean. I'm talking about the tiny metal tabs that are the 'pins' of the 30 pin connector - the parts in the 30 grooves of the plastic.

This convinced me that the connector was the problem - that it was not software related. I guess the pins must have just worn down with 2.5 years of use and were starting to break and fall out. Based on my usage pattern, I expect this was over a 1000 connects/disconnects, which doesn't seem like a very long duty cycle. It was in a pretty humid environment, perhaps that contributed?

Note to others: depending on which pins broke first, I expect a user would experience different symptoms. If a pin related to charging broke first, the phone might not charge, but might still be able to communicate via USB. Or visa versa.

My Problem

The iphone 3GS stop working "no Power" would not accept charge, I order the battery from another outfit and replaced it. still would not accept charge. I then stumble on this web site and soon figure it's the "dock connector" thats cauing the problem, so I order an screw set and the "doc connector" a few days when by the parts arrives and I follow the Guide given here to remove and replace the "dock connector" what a breeze!! connect the usb cable and the phone charges at a very slow pace. There is another problem, the phone keep reboot itself, over and over again, I thought if I restore it maybe it will fix the problem. Not so fast each time I attempted the restore I would get a error Code 29 ( hardware problem) I only replace 2 hardwares on this phone, i chose to replace the battery first, order the battery from ifixit change it out, did an restore and sweet!! the phone is now back in order! thanks to u guys at ifixit

My Fix

see above

My Advice

allways do the cheapest thing first, vist this site and READ, follow the guides and u b fine!!

My Problem

I bought a used ipone 3gs 5 months lator it started going bad speaker wouldnt work fixed that by cleaning real well then home button messed up and i couldnt take that so i reasearched and ordered it from ifixit.

My Fix

it wasnt that hard just follow guide and be careful of those microscopic screws.

My Advice

Everythings good exept for i doesnt work for 5 seconds at a random time but no big deal and make sure you check that the cameras connected had to do it again beacause of that but good speaker and dock and mic and antanna was verrryyyyy good.

My Problem

i had my 3GS in my front pants pocket at work and just happened to turn a corner too sharp and my phone was in between the stationary counter corner and 220 lbs of quick moving guy (me). after this minor encounter, the mic no longer worked, the speaker has a mind of its own and works less than a DOT employee, and at times the Home button and/or the Power button will not get the display to light up. And even before this, the vibrator was intermittent. Hence, i knew i had some problems.

After doing some online research and watching the tutorials on ifixit.com, i figured it was worth a try to repair it myself - how hard could it be?? i ordered a replacement Dock Connector, Vibrator, and spudger to perform the repair.

My Fix

I never would have attempted to do this without the help of the ifixit tutorials, and the quality of instructions and photos were excellent. however installing the replacement parts didn't solve my issues, PLUS i couldn't get the phone to charge and the Home button did not work with the new Dock Connector. I opened it back up to check all the connections were in place (they were), and when it exhibited the same symptoms after this, I decided to reinstall the original Dock Connector so that I could at least charge my phone. Being a student and in class most of the time, my phone being essentially an iText worked okay for me - for the short term.

At this point, I have reset my phone via the option in the Settings menu, and since I have backed it up on my iTunes, I have also tried to both restore it as well as restore & update it via iTunes. Unfortunately this doesn't work too well since I am having the typical iOs 5 download timeout issues, and I haven't figured out how to restore my phone via iTunes without automatically trying to update it. The crazy thing is that since I reset it on the Settings menu, it has regained some of its original functionality (but not all) so I am in a quandary about what exactly to do. I am leaning towards reinstalling the new Dock Connector again, however I am concerned that I can't find any guidance about just how much handling the ribbon connectors will handle.

My Advice

Even though I have a giant toolbox with about 14,382 different screwdrivers and various hex bits, I wish I had just purchased the #00 screwdriver with the rest of the parts, since the two other ones I have since purchased work even worse than my good #0 screwdriver that I initially used. My other concern would be using a magnetic tip to get the screws into place - does this present a problem with erasing any of the phone components? I hope not, because with my big fingers, i couldn't figure out another method to get most of the screws into place (especially the two Dock Connector screws).

My Problem

The connector was somehow crushed

My Fix

Surprisingly easy. Took me an hour. I could do it a second time in 15 minutes.. I replaced the battery too, and the ifixit battery came with a screwdriver and spudger, so you don't need to buy the extra (duplicate) tools to do the connector. Do them both at the same time, with the same tools. Actually, the 'free' screwdriver was better, because it was magnetized!

My Advice

Take extra care in re-assembly to ensure all items line up. The ifixit connector and the ifixit battery are 'slightly' larger than the apple OEM, so test fit and adjust, they will fit if you move things aroung 'slightly'. Take care to ensure the camera connector is correctly on the logic board.

My Problem

My mic was broken

My Fix

It went fine. It's a relatively straight forward replacement.

My Advice

One of the screws is close to the magnet in the speaker so it can be challenging to put back in if your screw driver isn't magnetized.

My Problem

iphone suddenly died and refused to connect. apple store could not recover my data.

My Fix

replaced battery and connector. everything working like new now. everything was perfect. quick shipping, great instructions. entire repair in about 10 minutes. I would definately recommend or order from you again.

My Advice

the only suggestion is I ordered a battery and connector for iphone and did not notice that I may need a suction cup. I had something that worked, but this was not obvious or I would have ordered one when I ordered the other parts.

My Problem

One evening, while out with friends, my iPhone had a little too much beer to drink. While I don't mind it imbibing occasionally, it got completely soused this night and ended up shorting its dock connector and top power button.

My Fix

Following the directions given on the website, the repair was actually quite easy. I took everything apart and got it back together in under 1/2-hour... BOTH times. See below for an explanation.

My Advice

Like many people, I had issues with the antenna that was installed on the replacement dock connector. After replacement I was getting 1 bar on GSM and "No Service" on 3G.

I searched for a solution and found that people fixed this by just peeling off the old antenna sticker and placed it on the new connector. Instantly went from 1 to 5 bars as soon as the phone was powered back on.

Just save yourself the trouble and do this from the start. I don't know what the difference is; maybe these have been rejected by Apple for that exact reason and that's how they end up as spare parts.