How to Repair a Mobile LCD
By Ezekiel James
Whether you have dropped or spilled liquid on your cell phone, its LCD screen is easy to damage. It is made up of a liquid crystal material that is pressed between two glass plates. Repairing your phone's LCD screen involves replacing the screen completely, a complicated procedure due to the compact internal design of most cell phones. It involves completely dismantling the phone's outer casing.
Hold down the phone's power button for about three to five seconds to power down the cell phone. Place the phone face down in your palm. Press down on the phone's back cover. Slide the cover downward to disengage it from the phone. Remove the revealed battery from the phone.
Use the appropriate screwdriver to remove all screws from the phone's back casing. In most cases, cell phones use Torx screws, but in some cases you may need to use a precision Phillips-head screwdriver.
Insert a thin, flat-head screwdriver or guitar pick into the seam along the outside edge of the phone's casing. Pry the phone's back casing from rest of the phone. This should reveal your phone's main circuit board.
Remove all remaining screws from the phone's circuit board. Lift the circuit board out of the phone's casing slightly, and carefully disconnect all ribbon cables attached to the circuit board. Remove the circuit board from the phone. This will reveal the back side of the keypad and LCD screen.
Remove any screws fastening the LCD screen and keypad in place. Lift the LCD screen out of its compartment, and disconnect any remaining ribbon cables, as necessary. Place the new LCD screen face down inside the empty screen compartment.
Follow the disassembly procedure in reverse to reassemble the phone.
References
Tips
- Be gentle when handling and disconnecting the ribbon cables. If you break your phone's circuit board connectors, you may end up breaking the circuit board, which will render your phone useless.
Writer Bio
Ezekiel James began as a music writer in 2003. Since then, James has served as a writer for several music, technology and design publications. His work has been published on eHow, TechAxcess.com and in print for the "The Potrero View" and "Punk Planet." James is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from Portland State University.