Water damage - is it just the LCD?

[bpdubya]

Jumped in the pool with my 920 in my pocket (aaaagh!). Got it good and soaked, as I was in there for a few minutes before I realized. Took it apart far enough to extract the battery, left everything in a bag of rice for a couple of days, and fired it up. Seems to be working fine except that the screen now has some blotches and striations, and at anything less than high brightness it's visibly dimmer at the top. Also, the back and search buttons don't light anywhere near as brightly as the start button. Here's the phone displaying an even white jpeg, so everything you see on the screen is damage.:



It doesn't look anywhere near as bad when in use, fortunately:



Can anybody tell (or educated guess) if this is just damage to the LCD, or if something else is involved (light guide? some other part?) I'm hoping that I could fix this by swapping in a new LCD for under $50....any insights? I can live with it as-is until the contract is up (or it dies from water corrosion or something), but if I can correct this affordably, I would sure like to do so.

 

[Curtieson]

I am pretty sure the only thing that is lighting up the screen is the LCD screen. I'd assume if the touch is still working, the digitalizer is working just fine, so you would only have to replace the LCD.

Have you done something like it this before? (Replacement, not Phone Swimming). You have a working phone that has a bad screen...that is better than a non-working phone with a new screen.

 

[Rob van Uden]

Maybe obvious, but I guess the back button and search button won't be fixed by replacing the LCD screen.

 

[bpdubya]

Good points and questions. I've tested the entire digitizer surface (with a free Fireworks app), and couldn't find any dead spots, so I'm pretty sure it's fine. After watching a couple of repair videos, I'm confident I could handle the swap (I've replaced the digitizer on my wife's iPhone a few times now, and already had the 920 apart once).

As to the back/start/search buttons....When I look at aftermarket digitizers, most of them clearly have no separate illumination for the buttons (which are visible from both sides of the digitizer) - the exception is those that are sold with the "light guide", which appears to be a simple plastic piece (available from etrade for $4) which I'm guessing would serve to passively conduct light from the LCD to the buttons. If anybody knows definitively how the buttons are lit, I would love to hear. Failing that, looks like I might have to tear the phone apart and look at this area myself, or pop $160 for a screen/digitizer assembly (which would be a much easier install). Hmmm.....

 

[ttsoldier]

I'd recommend the entire screen digitizer assembly. it's worth it.

I'm currently eyeing this one for myself :grin: $142.00

Nokia Lumia 920 LCD Display Touch Digitizer Screen Assembly Back Frame | eBay

 

[bpdubya]

I'd recommend the entire screen digitizer assembly. it's worth it.

I'm currently eyeing this one for myself :grin: $142.00

If you're in the US, you should factor in the $38 shipping fee too. I see others on eBay for as low as $128 w/free shipping...if you can wait for it to arrive from Hong Kong. (Definitely cheaper than the $160 I was looking at on Amazon...maybe cheap enough to drive my decision....)

 

[ttsoldier]

If you're in the US, you should factor in the $38 shipping fee too. I see others on eBay for as low as $128 w/free shipping...if you can wait for it to arrive from Hong Kong. (Definitely cheaper than the $160 I was looking at on Amazon...maybe cheap enough to drive my decision....)

I haven't seen any from hong kong for 128 from a top rated seller.

Link?

 

[Curtieson]

As to the back/start/search buttons....When I look at aftermarket digitizers, most of them clearly have no separate illumination for the buttons (which are visible from both sides of the digitizer) - the exception is those that are sold with the "light guide", which appears to be a simple plastic piece (available from etrade for $4) which I'm guessing would serve to passively conduct light from the LCD to the buttons. If anybody knows definitively how the buttons are lit, I would love to hear. Failing that, looks like I might have to tear the phone apart and look at this area myself, or pop $160 for a screen/digitizer assembly (which would be a much easier install). Hmmm.....

The buttons are lit in the digitalizer. I see you were asking on YouTube also, haha. The buttons are all built right in line with the wire work for the digitalizer.

The led backlights are mounted on the gold flex you can see under the black light guide you can see at 5:23 the lcd is only used as a display

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=or1mcpaVxOU

He mentions also "The 3 touch keys are part of the ribbon cable, so they are not replaceable.

 

[Storl]

Instead of ebay you can also search on aliexpress.com (for example Original LCD Display+Touch Screen Digitizer Assembly For Nokia Lumia 920-in Mobile Phone LCDs from Phones & Telecommunications on Aliexpress.com), you can get most stuff for free shipping but it takes a minimum of 10-20 days, you can get it faster if you pay for express, on this particular one it's a max of 28 days, if it takes any longer you get your money back even if it arrives later on. Also see http://www.aliexpress.com/buyerprotection/index.html which shows you how aliexpress actually works, it's not like ebay where the seller can scam you.

 

[bpdubya]

This was the seller:
eBay My World - eshoptradehk

Since install, the camera button doesn't work. When I get around to it, I'll crack it open and make sure the cable connection is tight...if that doesn't work, I'll try scavenging the buttons from the old digitizer. In the meantime, I'm just using the Camera tile instead.

Phone has been hinky in a few other ways as well...GPS takes longer than it used to to locate me, screen brightness varies, and sometimes the phone hangs with a blank screen in certain apps (text messages and email accounts). Don't know how much of that can be blamed on the new screen...could also be that I messed something up with repeated DIY surgery, or could be creeping damage from the original dunking, or could be totally unrelated.

 

[Curtieson]

Don't know how much of that can be blamed on the new screen...could also be that I messed something up with repeated DIY surgery, or could be creeping damage from the original dunking, or could be totally unrelated.

Sounds like you have it pretty narrowed down, hahaha