FIXED - AT&T Lumia 1020 LED Light Stuck On

[gtbuzz]

Updating this thread (hopefully for the final time) for archival purposes in case anyone else comes across this problem.

Bullet points for what anyone else with this problem should take away

• First, if your phone is still under warranty with MS / Nokia, obviously go that route. You'll probably get a refurbished phone in return, but it's probably the simplest route to go
• If you're in the US, don't even bother with Palco (the only authorized service center in the US). I sent mine in and they said they couldn't fix it because it was some problem in an IC and returned the phone to me. In the end, I was only out $35 for that, but it was kind of a waste of time. Knowing what the fix is and how simple it actually is, it's obvious to me they just didn't want to try to fix it. Also, when it was returned to me there was a giant fingerprint on the inside of the lens. Fortunately it was easily cleaned off, but that's just unacceptable
• The only solution as far as I can tell is to replace the flash module. I completely discharged the battery and even did a factory reset, but that did nothing
• Purchased a cell phone disassembly kit off of Amazon and followed the directions from the video linked in post #7
• For the flash module, search eBay for "Nokia 1020 Flash" and look for ones that say they're OEM modules. They'll likely be used ones, but much to my surprise, there are 3rd party replacements being sold that don't seem to work
• The first one I bought was a 3rd party one that only worked for about a day and only fired at full power. The seller I bought the knockoff one from was "ctpbuycolimited168". I'm sure there's more, they just happened to be the one I bought from. The reason I'm posting them specifically as a "stay-away-from" is because they also sold my email address off to some 3rd party people as well (they apologized when I confronted them about it), so I think that in of itself is reason to avoid them

If you happen to also have this problem with your 1020, feel free to PM me and I'll see if I can help.

--- Original post below ---

Today may be a very sad day for me. I just got word that my beloved 1020 may be broken beyond repair. It all started 2 weeks ago.... came back to my phone when it was just sitting on the kitchen table and noticed the LED light on the back was stuck on. It was literally just sitting there untouched and somehow decided to go haywire. Certainly wasn't from a drop or anything like that.

No matter what I did, I couldn't get it to shut off. Soft reset. Nope. Hard reset. Nope. Full device wipe. Nope. Recovery via WPRT. Nope. Even let the battery die down and unfortunately, the light still stayed on (I only ran it down to the point where it was "dead" according to Windows... let it run for another several days and it still was on, but very faint).

Because it was out of warranty, I sent it in to Palco, Nokia's sole authorized repair center in the US. I just heard back from them and the prognosis isn't good:

The technician has returned your phone to me as it cannot be repaired. The failure is related to the combo memory IC chip and that is a part that we cannot change or repair.​

If they say it can't be repaired, not sure what else to do at this point. They're the only authorized repair center in the US and since it's out of warranty, Microsoft wants pretty much nothing to do with it. I bought this off-contract the day it came out. Do I now have a $650 paperweight? Has anyone else had this problem and been able to get it fixed? Is there any part I could buy somewhere to attempt to do the repair myself?

 

[xandros9]

Re: AT&T Lumia 1020 LED Light Stuck On... Damaged beyond repair?

First things first: I am sorry for your loss. It happens to the best of us. Some circuitry must've gone south - I had a friend with an iPhone who was suffering from the same condition. It was water-damaged though. Poor things.

Now, I have a couple ideas:

1a. Simplest, a replacement. (I might be peddling an ATT 635 soon, if you're interested - but 5 MP is quite the downgrade) (little effort, little money, you pay in lack of luxury)

1b. A secondhand 1020 may also fit the bill. (requires money, but little effort)
I found this in the Marketplace: http://forums.windowscentral.com/ma...32gb-great-condition-w-camera-attachment.html

2. Buy up a damaged 1020 (something like busted screen or other unrelated part) and use it as an organ donor. Replace enough of your original phone and something's bound to work. (or put your likely good display in the damaged one.)
(it'll cost less, but you're looking at more risk of things not working, having to perform surgery. Make sure ESN is clean)

 

[Yazen]

Re: AT&T Lumia 1020 LED Light Stuck On... Damaged beyond repair?

Today may be a very sad day for me. I just got word that my beloved 1020 may be broken beyond repair. It all started 2 weeks ago.... came back to my phone when it was just sitting on the kitchen table and noticed the LED light on the back was stuck on. It was literally just sitting there untouched and somehow decided to go haywire. Certainly wasn't from a drop or anything like that.

No matter what I did, I couldn't get it to shut off. Soft reset. Nope. Hard reset. Nope. Full device wipe. Nope. Recovery via WPRT. Nope. Even let the battery die down and unfortunately, the light still stayed on (I only ran it down to the point where it was "dead" according to Windows... let it run for another several days and it still was on, but very faint).

Because it was out of warranty, I sent it in to Palco, Nokia's sole authorized repair center in the US. I just heard back from them and the prognosis isn't good:

The technician has returned your phone to me as it cannot be repaired. The failure is related to the combo memory IC chip and that is a part that we cannot change or repair.​

If they say it can't be repaired, not sure what else to do at this point. They're the only authorized repair center in the US and since it's out of warranty, Microsoft wants pretty much nothing to do with it. I bought this off-contract the day it came out. Do I now have a $650 paperweight? Has anyone else had this problem and been able to get it fixed? Is there any part I could buy somewhere to attempt to do the repair myself?

http://m.ebay.com/itm/221802277906?nav=SEARCH

Swap components and done

 

[gtbuzz]

Re: AT&T Lumia 1020 LED Light Stuck On... Damaged beyond repair?

Thanks to everyone for the advice. I think I'm going to go down the path of trying to repair myself. First thing I'm going to try is this new flash module:

USA Camera Flash Light Module Repair Part Replacement for Nokia Lumia 1020 | eBay

No clue if it will actually work or not though. Seems if that was the problem, Palco would have been able to repair it. I've really got no idea if they even tried though. It's the cheapest option at only $14, so seems like it's worth a shot.

Second thing I'll try is buying one with a damaged screen off of eBay for around $65. I have been meaning to stick to ones with a "clean ESN" but what exactly does that mean? What happens if I get one that's not? I'm fairly confident this will get things up and going again, and I'll be out only about $100, which is less than half the price of a good condition 1020 on eBay.

I've actually also got a 635 that I use for testing / dev work and an 830 that I use for work interchangeable with a GS4. I don't consider any of those to really be an adequate replacement for that 1020... Kind of sucks that it died on me like this, but I'm absolutely addicted to the camera!

 

[xandros9]

Re: AT&T Lumia 1020 LED Light Stuck On... Damaged beyond repair?

Second thing I'll try is buying one with a damaged screen off of eBay for around $65. I have been meaning to stick to ones with a "clean ESN" but what exactly does that mean? What happens if I get one that's not?

Each phone has a unique Electronic Serial Number. If a phone has been reported stolen or has unpaid balance on it, it will be blacklisted from functioning on participating carriers, basically meaning you can't use the cellular part of it. (if all you need is an iPod touch equivalent, it'll work)

But generally a bad ESN is a good sign of a stolen phone.

Can it be cleared? Maybe, but I would avoid it altogether.

I'm telling you to get a phone with a clean/good ESN because if you have to swap out more critical parts into your 1020, it may use that new ESN.

 

[Yazen]

Re: AT&T Lumia 1020 LED Light Stuck On... Damaged beyond repair?

Each phone has a unique Electronic Serial Number. If a phone has been reported stolen or has unpaid balance on it, it will be blacklisted from functioning on participating carriers, basically meaning you can't use the cellular part of it. (if all you need is an iPod touch equivalent, it'll work)

But generally a bad ESN is a good sign of a stolen phone.

Can it be cleared? Maybe, but I would avoid it altogether.

I'm telling you to get a phone with a clean/good ESN because if you have to swap out more critical parts into your 1020, it may use that new ESN.

Yeah, it is possible to change the IMEI. ESN is the CDMA alternative to IMEI.

The general consensus is that it is illegal, however, what if you're trying to repair a broken phone? Dem MTK phones come with stolen IMEIs haha

 

[gtbuzz]

Re: AT&T Lumia 1020 LED Light Stuck On... Damaged beyond repair?

So guess who has a fully working 1020.... this guy!

In case anyone else runs across this issue, the defective part was indeed the flash module, part number PH-CA-NK-00020. You can search on eBay for "1020 flash" and one should come up. Was $13 for the part plus another $9 phone repair toolkit from Amazon. I watched this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TAp4Mpfc0U

to figure out how to take apart the phone.

The one thing that was disappointing in all of this was the service with Palco. Granted, had they been able to fix the phone, it would have cost me a total of $110 including round trip shipping. Having sent it to them and having them fail, I was out $35, so I actually still came out ahead money-wise, but seeing as to how they're the authorized repair center and this part was the obvious first choice and is readily available, the only conclusion I came to was that pulling the battery didn't fix it, so they didn't really bother trying. If you're at all handy and feel comfortable doing this stuff, I say try fixing it yourself if your phone is out of warranty.

 

[gtbuzz]

Re: AT&T Lumia 1020 LED Light Stuck On... Damaged beyond repair? - Update FIXED!

Hmm, it seems that my original excitement was unfortunately short lived. The xenon flash worked intermittently for a few days, and even when it did, it always seemed to way overexpose things and have a loud popping sound that didn't sound normal. A few days ago, it completely died and won't fire at all anymore. The LED flash still works though and I can even take a picture with the "flash" on - it's just that nothing happens.

Turns out, this wasn't an OEM part but a generic replacement. My guess was it's a crappy capacitor and it just gave up the ghost. I'm crossing my fingers that I didn't fry anything else in the phone either, but I ordered from eBay a genuine part that was pulled from working phone. Hopefully that gets me up and running again. I'll refrain from posting who I purchased the part from until I get a refund (the guy seems kind of shady honestly), but all I can say for now is that if anyone else runs into this problem, make sure to search for OEM parts only.

I'm actually somewhat surprised anyone even went through the effort of making a generic knockoff of a random part inside a niche device. The seller pretty much confirmed it was generic though. I guess if there was 2 cents to be made off of it, that's 2 cents more than they had before...