Repairing broken devices is a fun and resource-friendly activity. We’ll show you how you can revive defective hardware
Why throw away a smartphone that’s just two years old just because the display is cracked or the battery is worn out? Modern leaps in technology are no longer rapid enough to force you to have the newest model at all times. If the warranty has already expired, there’s nothing to prevent you from putting your craftsmanship to good use. In fact, repair instructions can be obtained quite easily from companies like iFixit or numerous YouTube videos. Online retailers such as eBay and AliExpress often obtain tools and spare parts from the same Chinese factories that supply the hardware manufacturers with their devices.
However, before you get started, you should take note of your limitations, as well as safety-related and legal aspects. Before you embark on complex repair operations, you should get a cost estimate from a specialist workshop. It would be worth it to carry out an amateur repair operation if you would be able to buy a used device for the sum quoted by the workshop. If you’re repairing devices for friends, you should mention the risks in advance.
Information First
Even though many manufacturers keep their service documents under lock and key, you will be able to find repair instructions for just about any device on the internet. In this regard, we were particularly impressed by the free instructions on ifixit.com. In line with the best Wiki-traditions, these instructions can be corrected, edited or re-created by anyone. iFixit finances this service through the sales of tools and high-value spare parts. The teardown operations of the California-based company are nothing short of legendary: As soon as a new iPhone arrives at the Apple Store, iFixit employees promptly get in line, in order to dissect the device on the spot and assess its repairability.
There are also some repair experts that can be looked up online represent yet another school and source of information. In this case, technically-qualified experts are usually the ones who help laymen repair defective devices. Working with an expert and learning his tricks is more effective than picking up the tricks on your own.
Finally, YouTube can provide a repair video for just about any defect. However, paper doesn’t blush, and photos and videos can be retouched and edited – In real life, you usually won’t get a second chance. Always check out the instructions first, and re-check them again as you do the repairs.
Useful Tools
In most cases, a Philips screwdriver (PH01) and a pair of pliers are all you need in order to be able to work on a PC. If you want to get to grips with your notebook, you may also need a somewhat finer Phillips device (size PH00) or a screwdriver with a Torx tip (usually Tx5), as well as cranked tweezers and a nylon spatula with a flat and narrow tip (for disconnecting the ribbon cable). When it comes to smartphones and tablets, you should get started by using the throw-away tool that good spare parts retailers enclose with their deliveries.
Spotting A High-Quality Tool
If you are in the grip of the desire to carry out repairs, you can consider further purchases. Bright chromium dazzles the eyes, so you should stay away from the cheap glittering trinkets that you’ll find in the discount pile. There might be exceptions to this rule, but a good tool usually costs good money. For example, you can recognise a high-quality screwdriver by its matt-black and burnished tip and a cleanly-deburred handle. If the part is a combination of hard and soft plastics, it will feature a very comfortable grip.
We would recommend that you use a kit of basic equipment containing a set of screwdrivers with PH0, PH00 and Torx 5 tips, as well as a narrow slot screwdriver with a width of just 1.2 mm. Apple users will also need a special pentalobe P2 for the iPhone, or a pentalobe P5 for the MacBook. When it comes to gripping, tweaking and bending, a small pair of pliers (or a multi-tool knife) can be quite helpful, along with several pairs of tweezers with hardened and differently-cranked
tips. Guitar picks can be used to open smartphone casings and remove ribbon cable plug connections. More significant levering tasks can be accomplished with the help of a non-conducting nylon spatula (spudger) with one flat end and one sharp end. On the one hand, such a tool is stable enough to ensure that an appropriate amount of force can be applied. On the other hand, it does not scratch delicate surfaces.
Tools For Special Cases
You can use a suction cup to remove smooth surfaces such as face-plates and back covers – Provided that you have already softened their bonded joints. Instead of using a hot air gun, you should do this with the help of the cold-warm compresses that can be obtained at medical dispensaries – This rules out a risk of overheating. You can use alcohol (ideally isopropyl alcohol) or a nail polish remover to remove remnants of adhesives.
You can use an all-purpose glue to re-attach parts. In comparison with special adhesives, all-purpose glue has the advantage that it can be removed when it is heated.
If you have to deal with lots of cable breaks or loose contacts, you should also get yourself a soldering iron with a fine tip.
Orderliness Is Half The Battle
Apple in particular is infamous for using the most varied types of screws in its products. These screws sometimes have different characteristics even if they look the same.
For example, when it comes to the iPhone 5, the only difference between the screw that is right next to the ear speaker and the neighbouring screws is the fact that the former is not magnetic. If a magnetic screw takes its place during the assembly procedure, you will hear a light droning noise when you’re making telephone calls. In order to ensure that every component is reinstalled in the proper place, you should photograph all the work steps and store the parts that have been removed in a manner that ensures that they won’t be mixed up with each other. This can be done quite conveniently with the help of an inscribable magnet board, which also allows you to sketch the positions of the parts.
The task becomes even simpler if you use a double-sided adhesive tape that is attached to the work plate. Thanks to its many compartments, an egg carton can also serve as a useful sorting aid. Such a kit will ensure that you are well-equipped for most repairs. However, good tools are a little like shoes: You can never have enough of them!
Repairing Smartphones And Tablets
A broken display, a weak battery, dirty loudspeakers, clogged headphone jacks or malfunctioning cameras – These are the classical defects that are not covered by the warranty, and which reward individual initiative. Luckily, smartphones and tablets are assembled in a modular fashion, which means that many components can be replaced without any soldering. All you have to do is ensure that you do not compromise the delicate ribbon cables.
Unfortunately, you can’t replace everything that can be disassembled. For example, if a fingerprint scanner has been integrated into the home button, your device will probably be locked after you carry out an independent replacement procedure. Security-related components have to be registered individually within the hardware – And only the authorised specialist retailer can do that.
Obtaining Spare Parts
Many manufacturers like Samsung and Apple only give their spare parts to authorised specialist workshops. In the best-case scenario, the items that can be found in the open market will be items made by the same manufacturer that produced the original part. However, the open market may also contain used chop-shop parts or relatively well-made copies. If you want to enjoy a relatively higher degree of security, you should use trusted retailers on eBay or iFixit: In this case, you will also obtain an operational warranty and a right to return the items – However, this comes at a price. When it comes to several special parts, the only thing you can do is try your luck at eBay or AliExpress. Don’t just go for the cheapest offers. At first glance, you might think there’s no difference between such bargain eals and the original items – However, during the assembly procedure, you might just find out that the items don’t fit due to excessively large size tolerances, or that the display that’s supposed to be a Retina display is nothing more than a grainy LCD display.
This Is How You Can Crack Any Casing
Regardless of whether the situation involves pentalobe screw heads, Tri-Wing screw heads or Torq screw heads, one thing is beyond doubt: The industry can concoct all kinds of screw heads, and the right kind of screwdriver can promptly be purchased online. Consequently, almost all the manufacturers (except Apple) are now using established profiles [usually Phillips (PH) or Torx (TX) devices]. They are only too happy to hide some of the screws under the name plate or affixed rubber studs. If you are unable to open a particular casing, you should start looking for such concealments.
You might wear out the profiles of fixed screws if you use the screwdriver too loosely. Instead, you should press it into the head with a bit of force, in order to generate peak traction. If a mishap has already taken place, you could try using a narrow slot screwdriver in conjunction with a large amount of pressure. Alternatively, you could obtain a ‘screw remover’ at eustore.ifixit.com. Thanks to its sharp-edged crown tip, it can grab any screw quite tightly.
In case of an empty turn of the screw, clamp a pick or the tweezer tips under the screw head as a counter-lever, and keep turning the screw simultaneously.
A Pick Slips Into Any Crack
The narrow casings are often held together by small hooks, which can be undone quite elegantly with the help of a guitar pick. In spite of its thinness and flexibility, a guitar pick is both stable and electrically nonconducting. Use a guitar pick to try to get close to a corner between the casing cover and the frame. However, don’t plunge in too deeply, otherwise you might compromise hidden ribbon cables. Keep moving the pick in a certain direction until you meet resistance, and then prise open the hidden fastener by tilting the pick upwards. Just like the procedure for dismantling a bicycle tyre, the whole process will be a lot smoother if you insert several picks, thereby preventing opened connections from snapping shut.
Soften With Heat
These days, more and more devices are being glued together. This is, among other things, done to prevent moisture from penetrating into the electronics. The adhesive is usually thermoplastic, and can be softened by heating. We recommend that you use cold-warm compresses, instead of heating the smartphone with a hot air gun. Such gel cushions can be purchased from a medical dispensary for a small sum of money. They can then be heated in a water bath or a microwave oven [check whether a period of 3-4 minutes is sufficient (at 750 watts), and add single minutes if required]. The gel cushion transfers heat to the entire device – This ensures that stress cracks do not emerge on account of an uneven distribution of heat. Furthermore, this method also makes it impossible to overheat the components, because the cushions would burst during the heating process if they exceed a temperature of about 90˚C. If you have never used such compresses before, you should place them in a freezer bag for the heating process, in order to limit the mess that may emerge.
After the adhesive seal has been softened, you should make use of the picks. In this case, you should also use a suction cup to pull the casing bottom (or the agglutinated glass cover) upwards, while simultaneously disengaging the connections with the pick.
Avoiding Electrical Power Damage
Once the casing has been opened, you should promptly photograph its interior. Careful documentation will make it much easier for you to assemble the device at a later stage.
In order to ensure that the exposed electronics do not suffer any additional damage due to electrostatic discharges, you should now set up an ESD protection arrangement.
Alternatively, you should, at the very least, facilitate a discharge procedure by gripping either the protective earth contact in the socket or the next radiator. After you have ruled out the risk of a short-circuit by disconnecting the battery, you can go ahead and replace the defective component. Before the final installation of delicate spare parts (such as the display), you should connect them temporarily and check whether they are working properly.
Repairing PCs And Notebooks
In case of a defective PC, it usually makes sense to take a look at the device independently to find out just what has gone wrong. After all, the device is designed to make it possible for you to unscrew it and replace components. The pattern of damage will tell you exactly where the problem is – In such a case, you should try out all the options (everything from the simplest solution to the most difficult one). Thanks to the modular structure of the PC, the culprit can then be replaced quite easily.
Diagnosing and repairing PCs
Carry out repairs depending on the nature of the problem. Everything starts with the activation procedure, and the following problems (and solutions) can emerge: Nothing happens after activation (the fan, the LEDs and the monitor remain switched off): Check the power supply from the socket to the PC. (Have multiple sockets been activated? Is the power connector cable positioned properly in the mains adapter? Has its main switch been set to ‘On’?) Open up the computer and check all the cables and plug-in connections between the mains adapter and the mainboard. The situation can be considered to be quite sticky indeed if charred spots are present on the 24-pin motherboard main connector: In such case, the board has received an overvoltage from the mains adapter (e.g. in case of a thunderstorm). This would probably compel you to replace both components, along with the CPU and the RAM. If you’re lucky, the hard drive and the other components will still be working properly.
The solution is quite simple if the casing’s on-off switch is defective – Such a suspicion should arise if the button keeps tripping up. In such a case, it basically just short-circuits two pins on the mainboard. You can locate these two pins by looking at the mainboard inscription or the manual and searching for the term ‘PWR Switch’.
Remove the respective connector and use a metallic object to short-circuit the two pins (this should be done when the mains adapter has been activated). If you can activate the PC in this manner, connect the casing’s reset button to the power pins and use it as an on-off switch. Alternatively, you can use Amazon or eBay to search for a ‘desktop PC table switch’. Such switches should be connected to the mainboard (instead of the casing switch). A long cable can be used to position them on the desk – Furthermore, they often come with a USB hub.
The fans are running, but the display is black If the computer starts running in an audible manner but does not display any images, you should check the graphics card, the monitor and their connections. Are all the connectors in the right place? Are other cables or other connections functioning (e.g. VGA instead of DVI, onboard graphics instead of the graphics card)? Test another display – such as a TV set – via HDMI. Replace the defective part. If you can’t find anything, reset the BIOS. Take a look at the mainboard and search for the ‘CLEAR CMOS’ jumper, which connects two of three pins (e.g. #1 and #2). Deactivate the computer, switch the jumper over to the delete position (#2 and #3) for a period of five seconds and then reset it. If the computer starts up after this, check whether there’s a newer BIOS version for your mainboard. The version that is currently being used is displayed in the BIOS menu, while the latest version can be found in the support section of the manufacturer’s website (in case the BIOS/UEFI does not support online updates).
The Windows start-up process malfunctions The BIOS goes into operation and Windows starts booting up, but it gets stuck within an error message, an ‘Updates are being installed...’ loop or a dark monitor scenario. In this case, you should first detach all the unnecessary hardware from the computer. If this doesn’t work, boot up Windows 7/8 in the safe mode by pressing [F8] multiple times after the BIOS-related operation. This often ensures that hanging updates are rolled back; otherwise, you can use the ‘‘Control panel > Programs and functions” option to uninstall these updates or recently-installed software. Windows 10 can only be re-started after it has started up successfully in the safe mode. Therefore, you have to boot up from the Win10 installation medium and launch the ‘‘Problem control” process. Try out the ‘‘Advanced options | Recover system” option, and select a recovery time at which the system was working properly. If this doesn’t work, re-launch the problem control procedure and select the ‘‘Reset this PC > Retain separate files” option. This deletes all the settings and programmes – Your files are moved to the ‘‘c:\windows.old” folder.
Crash during operation If Windows keeps crashing whenever a programme is launched or a certain piece of hardware is connected, you should update the software or the drivers. If the system crashes when it’s under a large computing load, heat-related problems might be responsible. Check the fans in the PC. If necessary, clean them carefully using a (down-regulated) vacuum cleaner or a dust-buster.
Notebooks: Meticulous Mobile Technology
The aforementioned error diagnoses also apply to mobile computers, but home users tend to encounter insoluble problems a lot quicker because of the compact structure of the devices. You can replace a missing or broken mains adapter with a ‘notebook universal mains adapter’. These devices come with connectors for various notebooks, and they can be obtained from online retailers at prices ranging from 20 euros onwards. If the fan keeps revving itself up in the absence of a load and/or the notebook crashes when subjected to a high load, it means that the CPU cooler is probably clogged with dust from the inside. In such a case, you will have to open the notebook to repair it. To do so, you can remove either the keyboard and the upper side of the casing, or the lower side. It would make sense to search for repair instructions for your precise model or the series in question. You can find an amazingly large pile of repair-instructions on YouTube if you use keywords like ‘disassembly’ or ‘teardown’.
If the situation involves mechanical damage (such as a defective keyboard), you will have to obtain a spare part. You will be able to replace the part in question quite quickly if you can obtain the right part for your model from an online retailer (such as eBay or Amazon): In most cases, all you have to do is undo a few screws on the bottom side of the notebook. The keyboard can then be unclipped, and the ribbon cable can be disengaged. You can then install the new component in the reverse order. However, the situation becomes more difficult if the display hinge is broken – In such cases, you will often find that the metal hinge that is still intact has broken out of the plastic base plate. These components are quite hard to find as spare parts, and experiments with plastic adhesives and instant glue don’t look too promising. Prospects will also be quite bleak if the notebook’s display is defective: Even if you manage to find a suitable substitute display, only a professional would be able to install it – This is primarily because of the delicate display cable. In such cases, you will have no choice but to fall back on the final piece of advice regarding repairs: If the situation is hopeless, you must recognise it as such. Under some circumstances, you can use a notebook with a defective display as a stationary computer (with a monitor) or a living room PC (with a TV set). If this isn’t an option, you should do the following before you dispose of the device: Disassemble the hard drive and copy the data with the help of something like a USB casing.