Windows Phone 8x Screen Repair - My Experience

[Brandon Haley]

Ok, So I cracked my Screen by dropping it pocket height and it happened to hit the bottom left corner of the phone and the screen split into a million cracks.
The phone itself was still operable, but it was just ugly.



So I tried to repair the phone myself and was able to fully repair the phone, sort of.
Here's what I learned from my experience.

1) The phone is unbelievably hard to take apart. I mean the outer shell case is glued together well. You must use a hair dryer or some kind of heating to make it pliable. Even heating up the case it is still very very unforgiving at the corner parts and you will 80% of the time nick, scuff, cut, scratch, chip your phone even with the correct pry tools.

2) Buy the screen / digitizer pre-assembled. I got mine from ebay from some chinese guy for 86 bucks. But i think he jacked the price up to 300 or something dumb like that after i bought it.

3) After everything was apart, it wasnt hard to remember what plugged into what, but the hardest part was of course.. the outer case. It will never 100% be flush with the screen. There's a gap on the side and I have yet to find out why... It's most likely from taking the case off in the first place. The amount of pressure and pry needed is high chance of warping / damaging the phone.

4) After everything was taken apart and put back together, i ended up messing up my phone's ear speaker (the one you listen to phone calls with.. b/c i took off one part which i shouldnt have. I was following the repair video shown here:

The piece at 6:45 DO NOT TAKE THAT OFF.. it has the copper coil for your phone audio. You do not have to take it off.. this guy had previously taken his phone apart before the video.. it's not as easy as he shows.

5) In the end, I have a fully working phone with touch screen repaired but I ended up breaking the audio part for the phone calls held to the ear ( the phone's speaker still works, I can use the speaker phone / listen to music or plug in ear phones.) Additionally the phone does not put back 100% flush like new.
I still use my phone and plan on putting a case on it.

6) My advice if you're thinking about repairing this phone. Do not do it unless you know exactly what you're doing. I reccomend you spend the money to have it replaced or repaired by HTC/Verizon/ATT. I wouldn't trust any basic repair shop that's on the corner of your street, they will end up breaking this one. OR.. just get a case the covers the CORNERS very well.. that might be good.

I now have an excuse to go back to droid eventually... once I decide to get rid of the windows phone for good.

Result of repair pics:

 

[ttsoldier]

Thanks for sharing your experience.

I have damaged my 920 LCD. It's still functional and it's not bothering me THAT much to change it.

Eventually, I will do it myself.

 

[princesa_az]

Ok, so I too had the same problem, broken screen...

I bought the lcd/digi assembly, took the phone apart (which was not an easy task as the housing is very snug), made the repair without any hitches... my only problem NOW is the damn thing won't go back into the back housing properly.

How were you able to get it back together? Is there a special trick to it?

The top and bottom go in just fine... it's the sides that don't seem to fit properly.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[parkee99]

Took my wife's 8x apart to replace the screen/digitizer. I purchased a new one and am trying to get things hooked back up. I can't figure out what I am missing. On the upper left, it appears I need to reattach a ribbon cable. I don't see it anywhere. I have circled it in the pic in the center. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Sheikmans]

My screen is repaird last week by a repairshop around the block. In 30 minutes the guy replaced both the lcd and digitizer perfectly. He said that the 8X is very tricky to repair, even for professional service centers. I witnessed the replacement but trust me...don't try it yourself!!

 

[parkee99]

My screen is repaird last week by a repairshop around the block. In 30 minutes the guy replaced both the lcd and digitizer perfectly. He said that the 8X is very tricky to repair, even for professional service centers. I witnessed the replacement but trust me...don't try it yourself!!

I figured out it is the home button flex cable that is missing. Anyone have an extra, let me know.

 

[Villain]

I'd love to find a non soft coating housing for my 8X

 

[Dane Hansen]

How much did you get charged for the repair?

 

[JNate]

Hey Brandon, did you use a special glue to glue back the glass to the LCD? Which one was that you used?
If possible could you provide me a link to an ebay seller?
Thanks
Btw my 8X's glass cracked, besides that, everything is working perfectly. Since the other solution is just to replace it all, I don't see why I shouldn't risk trying ungluing the glass from the LCD with the hair dryer technique, unless I'm missing something...

 

[jgbstetson]

I'm a bit confused. Where is the glass/digitizer/LCD bonded? Is it at the glass/digitizer interface or the LCD/digitizer interface? If I want to repair cracked glass, should I buy the glass/digitizer assembly or the whole damn screen assembly? This is what I'm looking at buying to repair my wife's phone:

 

[Infomation Requst]

I had the same issue. On the left side the glass does not lay flush with the housing. To fix this you need to pry out the spacer tab (for lack of better terms). If you look at the inside left part of the housing there is a plastic piece with notches that run along the whole side. If you look closely you can pry this plastic piece out. It's held on by adhesive. With that piece removed the digi/LCD fits perfectly.

 

[Infomation Requst]

Here's a pic.

 

[SLampard1990]

I also used a repair center to replace the screen, cost me ?90 to have it replaced
I've noticed a few faults since replacement (I intend on taking it back to get them sorted) i.e whilst in call, both making and recieving, the screen locks itself and does not unlock until the call has been ended by whoever is on the phone; I also have (about) a 1mm gap between the screen and the back case, this is mainly at the bottom of the phone where the charge point is.
The guys who fixed my phone did say it was a hard phone to fix because it is newer than most other models and they get better at fixing them with experience, I was warned that the screen may be raised a little but to me its not much of a problem, as far as Im aware its not as bad as it could have been. I was given the option to leave it clamped overnight to ensure the screen dried in place properly, cant imagine what it would have been like if I hadnt.

 

[soaringthor]

I also used a repair center to replace the screen, cost me ?90 to have it replaced
I've noticed a few faults since replacement (I intend on taking it back to get them sorted) i.e whilst in call, both making and recieving, the screen locks itself and does not unlock until the call has been ended by whoever is on the phone.

I had a repair shop replace my screen as well, and I have the same issue. How's your GPS? I can't get an accurate location - Maps puts me within a mile accuracy (probably by cell tower) but doesn't get a GPS fix. My compass is also not working and won't calibrate (by waving in a figure 8 pattern). I'm wondering if those components (proximity sensor, GPS, compass) are on the same board that didn't get connected back in right.

 

[Marcel De Souza]

I did all the tests before to take a part my htc 8x, fully functional apart of the screen, the Chinese tools did a good the job and now just waiting for the delivery of a new lcd and digitizer($56). No issues yet.

 

[tetty]

I seem to have made the most mistakes, that should mean I've learned more, shouldn't it????
I ordered the glass\digitiser firstly, but after taking my phone apart I then broke the LCD screen whilst trying to separate it from the old Glass/digitiser
I then ordered the Glass/digitiser and LCD ready assembled.
I used double sided tape to put the new parts in, however my tape is obviously thicker than the tape originally used which you can see as the screen now sticks out from the rest of the case, where is was once flush.
My bigest problem however is that the screen displays white usually, often with lines from top to bottom. Seems to boot, or at least the screen changes as if it is booting in the back ground.
Have tried reseating the ribbon cables a few times, with no luck.
Anyone got any suggestions???

 

[earthbellybutton]

Hi �� got the same experience with mine, my mistake was to take the phone to the shop repair on the corner...And now the screen is not placed correctly is a little more out from the case, and the text is not fitting in the screen, is a kind of magnified look.The screen is blocking special when i got calls.I will post some pics later.My advice, go in a htc repair centre even is costing more

 

[Kiran Bhagwat]

Is your "screen lock during call" issue resolved? What did you have to do to fix it? I am facing exactly same issue after screen replacement.

 

[Captains]

whilst in call, both making and recieving, the screen locks itself and does not unlock until the call has been ended by whoever is on the phone .

I have this problem atm. Never had the phone repaired or dropped. Might be unrelated?? My screen goes black. with calls just to clarify "locks itself"