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I recently bought a replacement screen for my Garmin Forerunner 945. After opening my watch, the backs of the screen are different. The replacement screen doesn't have this black layer and extra ribbon cable. What is the deal here? (the one in my hand is the original broken one)
Is this a good question?
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Hi Will,
I don't know nuthin' about Garmin watches, but a quick check around the internet tells me that there must be a couple of different watch screens out there.
To start with, the first video I came up with shows a watch being opened, and it has the same kind of screen as the replacement you bought; take a look about 1:38 into it.
Learn how to repair the screen on a Garmin Forerunner Watch. - YouTube
Looking into replacement parts, I see both kinds being sold. Here's one on Amazon that looks just like the one you have.
I'm not sure how you were supposed to know the difference between the two before you opened the watch, but now that you have, you can visually check that the replacement part matches your original.
I'd say it seems pretty obvious at this point that you're going to need to return the display you bought and get a different one. And while you're at it, take lots of pictures and use those to create your own iFixit guide to that repair! It's fun, easy and will earn you the gratitude of the iFixit community.
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Thanks will do!
I tested putting the new screen on without the black part and it seems to work fine.
I called Garmin and they wouldn't/couldnt tell me what the black piece is for.
I messaged the seller on eBay and he informed me to pull the black piece off my only screen and put it on the new screen. I also asked him what it's for and waiting on a response.
I'll go ahead and take pictures and create a guide.
Yeah, I wondered if that would work, taking the part off your original screen; I'm guessing it probably will. But it still seemed odd that the video clearly shows a watch that doesn't have one at all, while yours does, and both parts are being sold. Possibly some sort of antenna, like the NFC antenna on Apple watches?
@wmondet Poking around further, I found a couple of reviews on AliExpress for replacement screens that specifically talked about transferring the NFC antenna to the new screen, so I'm going to go with that as the final answer as to what that part is.
@dadibrokeit Amazing! Thank you for looking into that! That sounds right. Ill Build the guide now!
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2 Comments
Solved: Guide I created here: Garmin Forerunner 945 Screen Replacement
by Will Mondet
@wmondet Nicely done! Thanks for contributing to the repair community, Will!
by Jerry Wheeler