yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[8525, TyTN, MDA Vario II, JasJam General] x86:
My Operation Pics

Here is my fix, thanks to this thread for putting me on the right track!

Needed:

* Soft Foam (from electronic or phone part packaging etc)

* Razor Blade

* Torx 6 (T6) & Tiny Philips Screwdrivers

* Super Glue or Sticky Gum or Sticky Tape

* Splitting Tool (Or a plastic knife or Guitar Pick works great)

I have uploaded photos of parts of the operation to see where I put the pieces and the sizes. Foam is cut 1.5mm to 2mm thick depending on how 'soft' the foam is. I would advise 1.5mm thick just so there is a nice tight fit when the housing is placed over it again, not too tight or it may cause damage.

I used super glue with 1 dab on the 'toppoly' sticker, and 2 dabs on the connector next to each screw. I also loosened the 2 screws on the connector and took it off, then reconnected and screwed very firmly (just to make sure everything was connected properly and tight).

Put a small piece of foam down the very bottom between the 2 screws (as shown in blue on the first page photos).

Put everything back together again, nice and tight. You can play around with the tightness to suit if it feels too tight or loose.

Outcome: Now the White Screen of death is currently fixed, and I also had a big problem with screen alignment, which the bottom 1mm of the screen showed at the very top of the screen. This is fixed completely by this process.

Photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaycameron/3723729758/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaycameron/3723729762/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaycameron/3723729764/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaycameron/3723729766/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaycameron/3723729768/in/photostream/

Outstanding:Now, my reset button no longer works at present as the small rubber piece fell off when dismanteling, so be careful of that, it is a pain to get back in. So at present my reset button is not working, I have to pull it apart again and figure how it goes back in, as it is a small peice of rubber that sits there somehow.

I hope this helps some of you out, if you need any help please let me know.

And if someone can upload a zoomed in photo of where the rubber for the reset button sits would be great! As it is prone to fall off as I read in a dismantle guide.
[8525, TyTN, MDA Vario II, JasJam General] MikeChannon:
You MAY have a compatible screen, then again!

HTC used at least four brands of screen (Toppoly, Samsung, Hitachi etc - I have written detail on this previously http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=485961). They are not interchangable as the digitizer circuit is different on each. By luck you may have used a Wizard screen that happens to be the same as the one you had before. The only way to know is to check the writing on the back of the LCD (or sometimes on the connecting cable).

ASSUMING by luck you hit a match (there is a Wizard screen that works on SOME Hermes), then as said above, it's likely to be the flex cable that needs a better fit or contact cleaning.

By the end of this you'll be like some of us that can strip and re-assemble a Hermes in 15 mins:eek:

Mike
[8525, TyTN, MDA Vario II, JasJam General] afr33s:
Thanks Mike.

I've checked my screens and the original is a Topppoly and the replacement isn't. That must be it as I've played around with the connections and no improvement in screen image. Your comments in the thread you linked above were very helpful.

I'm only just learning how annoying HTCs variants are for a hobbyist!

I bet no one elses Hermes screen broke because a sea turtle bit it!
[8525, TyTN, MDA Vario II, JasJam General] x86:
lol, wow a sea turtle... i see ur avatar, are turtles another hobby of yours?

facinating mate!
[8525, TyTN, MDA Vario II, JasJam General] SMS92:
Thank GOD for this community!

My Hermes has been whitescreening like crazy, bang on what everyone else is experiencing for a while now. Got much worse lately, so decided to do my homework (read XDA) and go for it. My first big decompiling of such a device.

I did what was said, but at first it went horribly wrong. I had nothing but a white screen when powering on, could hear sounds, etc but the only sign of life from the LCD was the white getting brighter when activated. I stripped it down again and again trying to narrow down a (possible) dodgy connection.

It all came down to the god damned cable going to the LCD, just above the buttons (the thing that's caused us so much trouble). Pressing HARD on this and booting would have the display come on, but the fading to white / dead front buttons / occasional misaligned screen problem was still an issue.

In the end I added probably 1cm+ of foam on that area, squeezed as tightly as possible to the connector.

After much messing around - Screen's back, buttons are working, LED's are blinking. It's born again.

I had just about given up on this earlier, but sticking with it appears to have paid off.

I can now strip this thing down with my eyes closed!

Can't thank everyone here enough for dedicating time and input to this thread and getting to the bottom of this problem. Seriously awesome stuff, if only this kind of support was available from the manufacturer huh - but hey!

Hats off to XDA-devs!
[8525, TyTN, MDA Vario II, JasJam General] afr33s:
OFF TOPIC

Yep, they are. I'll be sticking satellite tags on a few in Kuwait next week... :)
[8525, TyTN, MDA Vario II, JasJam General] rodnitski:
well the logo's are gone now and only have a white screen and all sorts of noises (alarms from missed appointments) going off. Tried flashing couple times as suggested but half way thru active sync shuts down and an error shows "error in communicating with device"....WTF:mad:
[8525, TyTN, MDA Vario II, JasJam General] REDSER:
have gone tru 2 screens an glad i didnt dispose of them... used the foam trick and white screen is gone and 2 other screens work aswell..they worked for a short time when i replaced them but went white again after a while... must have been when messin with the connction on the d pad.. thank you one and all as i can honestly say i would be lost if it were not for all the brilliant helpful and friendly in here
[8525, TyTN, MDA Vario II, JasJam General] dtkenmo:
...and of course, big thanks to those who maintain this fabulous resource, one of the very best on the 'net! :cool:
[8525, TyTN, MDA Vario II, JasJam General] FloatHeavy:
Have three of these that I got off ebay...

one has no problems...Ant the other two get white screens...

One of the ones that gets the white screen only needs to have the backlight cut off and on again to get correct display...

I tried the foam trick on the other phone using double sided 3m tape, no luck. I'm really excited to try the IC and PCB A fix...I will be taking this over to a friend whom I know can hook it up...

I just read EVERY.LAST.POST in this huge thread, it seems the best fix is the reflow solder method. I don't want to believe that sum foam is the end of the problem!

Will post my results on monday!
[8525, TyTN, MDA Vario II, JasJam General] Awen:
Hi all.. my first post here..

Finally, I knew what was wrong with my hermes..because some of the mechanics told be different cause for this white screen and they were not sure about it..some said flex cable, some said the battery..

But i'm still curious about the foam that should be used..could anyone be so kind to post its pictures?thanks..
[8525, TyTN, MDA Vario II, JasJam General] tomm5151:
I can confirm this is a viable solution. Several months ago, my 8125 came up with the white screen after being in my pocket while working in the yard all afternoon. I did the research and discovered the D-pad issue. I tried plastic to no avail. I took a piece of the soft foam (usually grey/black) used around computer memory chips and processors and cut it to the necessary width and thickness to cover the connection point. Thick enough it would fill the gap and apply pressure, not so thick to expand the case. The sliding action was initially tighter but with time it is actually quite firm and better than when it was new. OH, and the White screen issue hasn't come back!
[8525, TyTN, MDA Vario II, JasJam General] Awen:
Hi..I just did this solution last night..took around 60 minutes because there were a lot of dust inside it. I also cleaned all of the connectors with alcohol (dont have other cleaner :p).

there was one screw missing nearby the pcb board, but it seems to be alright without it.

I use a double sided tape like the one used to stick the hanger to the wall. pretty thick I think, but nothin to do anymore because I've tried using a double layer thin foam and it didn't work at all..the second time I dismantled it, it was pretty quick, only 5 minutes :D

The solutions worked for the white screen (just give some press at the D-pad connector), but didn't for the D-pad :(

I did a lot of research including giving a variable pressure onto my connector and other parts and I found the problem that i have to give some extra effort at the bottom of this phone (like the one in the picture that Alkizmo posted, the longer blue line at the bottom). I have to put more tape on this part but no luck, I couldn't close the case :D, so i gave up on it, and it's not a big deal without the d-pad.

My analysis was that the bottom part couldn't be put too thick foam (that's why I missed this part because I need to put a thicker foam to give more pressure onto my d-pad connector)

But let's see if this is a temporary solution or not..I'll update once the problem persist. Thanks to Alkizmo, Mike, and others who contributed an awesome resources here.
[8525, TyTN, MDA Vario II, JasJam General] feelingu:
Really thanks

I had a similar problem in my Hermes , so i followed the solution and its worked now ,

thanks a lot for every body
[8525, TyTN, MDA Vario II, JasJam General] Lhunardaien:
hi. i tried but i cant get back to life my front buttons.i opened my pda and im pushing the socket of buttons and try to get work but nothing is happening.any ideas ??

sorry for my poor english.
[8525, TyTN, MDA Vario II, JasJam General] MikeChannon:
If it is only the bottom Dpad buttons that are not working, then a likely problem is with this connector:

It must be well inserted and evenly inserted.

If all the front buttons don't work then it could be the main flex cable that needs checked (that's the one with the sticky tape holding it down).

What I cannot say is whether you have a faulty d-pad circuit board - if you do then checking the connectors will make no difference.

Sorry I cannot be more specific, but without being able to test it, it can be very difficult to isolate the problem.

Mike
[8525, TyTN, MDA Vario II, JasJam General] Lhunardaien:
thanks for helping i will check the main flex cable. is it main flex ?
[8525, TyTN, MDA Vario II, JasJam General] Lhunardaien:
ah. i forgot to say. my front panel lights not working at all.can anyone say which flex cable am i need to look ? which is main flex ?
[8525, TyTN, MDA Vario II, JasJam General] MikeChannon:
I know you have checked the d-pad connector shown in the picture but it does sound faulty.

The main flex cable is the one that threads through the casing and is held in place by a sticky tape.

It's the one that passes through the oblong slot (with white border) seen in this picture:

PS don't take apart the connector shown in your attached picture - that is the digitizer circuit and any damage to that will lead to screen alignment problems.

Mike
[8525, TyTN, MDA Vario II, JasJam General] ampink:
I have some problem from my dopod 838pro.

the touchscreen is not working:confused:. I have changed new touchscreen but it still not work. oh ya, my dopod sometimes D-pad not work and whitescreen on LCD.

is it the D-pad failures? or the flex cable?

please help me.:(

thx

-----------------------

sorry for my poor english.
[8525, TyTN, MDA Vario II, JasJam General] bigbelly72:
I'm speechless. My Hermes whitescreened 6 months ago. I opened it up and accidentally tore the flex cable. Bought a new cable for 20 bucks on Ebay. Just installed it and also threw in a few pieces of foam around the D-Pad. Now it works perfectly! Thanks!!!!!!
[8525, TyTN, MDA Vario II, JasJam General] Crowleycator:
I have tried to solve this a few months ago in some Hermes having the same white screen. Finally found a common damaged part in all phones: it is not the d-pad or connector. It is the d-pad by itself. I did test one good d-pad board on each white screen Herm and it worked for all phones. by now, i don't know how to fix this part or where to buy.

does anyone know where to buy or how to fix this part? P/N 50H00333-03M-A
[8525, TyTN, MDA Vario II, JasJam General] MikeChannon:
Yes, in particular it is known to be a chip on the d-pad board that suffers from cracked solder joints (caused by the flexing of the d-pad when buttons are pressed). This can be cured by re-flowing the solder with a hot air gun (or more crudely, by placing some material above the chip to press it onto the board.

This NOT to say that the problem is never caused by the d-pad connector. It can be. However, as you say it is now commonly understood to be the chip that causes the majority of problems.

As for sourcing a new d-pad board, you can try some of the sites I suggest on my website page 4 http://www.mikechannon.net/page4.html but there are many more. Some will offer to source the part if you contact them by email.

Mike
[8525, TyTN, MDA Vario II, JasJam General] Blazey:
So I have a cingular 8125 that I bought off ebay a few years ago. It was running wm5 when it started to white screen all the time. I stuffed it in a drawer and forgot about it. I just recently started messing with it again. Mine is a peculiar one to say the least. The bottom right part of the plastic casing is raised and cracked and there is no power button.. If I want to turn it on I usually have to do a soft reset. I turned it on and no white screen. I was shocked. I flashed a windows mobile 6.5 rom onto it and it was working fine for a day. Then sure enough it white screened again. I dont have any foam so I used toilet paper and followed the procedure in this thread. It worked fine for a day after that. Now, yet again, it is going to a white screen again. I've taken it apart a few dozen times now and can't seem to figure out what else to do with it. It was usually overclocked at 228mhz when it white screened recently so I assumed that was the problem. I left it at 180mhz to see if it was but no. White screen again. I've checked all the ribbon connections and the DPad and made sure everything was assembled right. It runs about 30% of the time with no white screen..
[8525, TyTN, MDA Vario II, JasJam General] uengin:
Mike, I too did some tests and I too came to the conclusion that in the majority of the cases it was in fact the D-pad board that was causing grief, however not having the tools or the info on how to test what was going on I couldn't proceed further. So, from what you have said, are you cable to say which IC is causing the problem? From memory there is the one BGA IC on the keypad side of the board, is it this one?

Also, yet again due to lack of information, if the screen does not receive display data from the main board, this will also obviously cause White screen right? (given that had the data being sent had no obstacles on the pathway to the screen (ie flex, dpad and all) ) however the board display chip being faulty for instance would also cause a white screen, right? (Though I realise in majority of the cases the main board and its display mechanisms are fine).

Thanks
[8525, TyTN, MDA Vario II, JasJam General] msichal:
Ok, I havae a one question: Will resoldering that chip on dpad PCB work well, or maybe i need to buy a new PCB? Those PCB's are so @#$ expensive here, in Poland, so I had an idea to resolder that chip.

It's obviously that PCB, this white screen problem is freaking me out, now it's mostly time white, and occasionaly I can get it to work by pressing hardly dpad buttons, and then turning on a screen.

Sorry for my really bad english ;)
[8525, TyTN, MDA Vario II, JasJam General] uengin:
I beleive the chip is BGA, which means it would need to be reflowed as opposed to soldered. Ball Grid Array chips have small balls of solder in a matrix of some sort and make contact between the board and the chip by "sandwiching" the solder ball matricies between the board and the chip. So, it would be impossible to "solder" them...
[8525, TyTN, MDA Vario II, JasJam General] macelius:
I'm confused. First front keys started failing then whitescreens, took apart, cleaned out, reassembled tightening screws around connector. No more white screens, thought it must have been the fuzz and dust.

The front keys keep going out though, I figured it was a software issue because hard reset still works even tho the softkeys don't 'seem' to, and work for a click or three or sometimes a dozen after standby as well. Loosened the screws on the back cover of the screen which seems to have helped some of the time. Tearing apart again, worse comes to worse i've got a couple parts phones between a buddy and I.

Updated link to dpad pcb (old one says item no longer avail):https://www.cellulardr.com/HTC8525Keyboard.htm

Search 8525 for parts, least for the cingular model, tho at those prices these days You're better off with parts/parts phones off ebay.
[8525, TyTN, MDA Vario II, JasJam General] msichal:
Yeah, I know, so i have an idea to just give it to some sepair service so they can heat up that, the solder balls will melt and I think it will help. Is it a good idea to jus melt it with hot air?
[8525, TyTN, MDA Vario II, JasJam General] macelius:
OK, FIXED!

On mine it turned out to be the top metal slider bar that's in the back cover of the front part was wearing through and shorting through the top ribbon (red in pics). No wonder loosening the back cover screws kinda works for some. It worked with everything tightened but back cover off, then I noticed the wear on the ribbon. Put a piece of electrical tape over it, as well as the bottom for good measure (green in pics), tho it does not look like the slider interferes there. Working perfectly for a few days now, where all the front buttons would always quit after a click or three, if even that (though strangely hard reset always worked so I thought it was software).

PS also fixed loose camera button switch with a dab of super glue so it clicks/works again :)
[8525, TyTN, MDA Vario II, JasJam General] uengin:
If you have the proper SMD Rework station, yeah that should be fine. However, it will probably be best if you could find the datasheet for the chip and follow the heat profile given there. A heat profile shows the amount of time for which it will be preheated, time for which it will be raised for reflow etc. That was if you follow the heat profile, and it doesn't work, you have no doubts you did the right thing....

Good luck.
[8525, TyTN, MDA Vario II, JasJam General] electrich:
Hi folks,

i found this thread looking for solutions to the same problem you (and i) have here. So i read about this BGA - and i desoldered it for inspection.

I did find pins A10 thru D10 of this chip were not completely soldered but 'voids', so these pins never really had contact to PCB. The solder balls of the BGA were resting on the PCB pads instead of being soldered together. Since my HERMES100 is now more than tree years old the PCB soldering pads corroded causing these junctions to fail now - white screens included.

If i may give hints for repair here - i might say this:

- anyone who could claim warranty - DO IT!

- anyone who wants to resolder the BGA whitout flux melting agent -FORGET IT!

(the corrosion of the PCB pads will avoid correct soldering)

- anyone who has flux melting agent - WARNING - moving the chip more than 1/100" after solder melts will cause shorts and/or missing connections

- anyone who got this far - WARNING - lifting the chip off (as i did) will get you to the question "where the heck can i get 25mils solder balls for reballing the BGA..?"

Never mind,

Rich
[8525, TyTN, MDA Vario II, JasJam General] RobertFontaine:
After 4 or 5 assembly/disassemblies I seem to have the dpad working properly and no white screen o' death.

I removed the screws, refitted the d-pad connector (world's smallest screws) and used a thin piece of foam between the connector and the case to snug it up.

I had pretty much given up on this old piece of hardware but it's back in my pocket as a pda/phone/mp3 player again.
[8525, TyTN, MDA Vario II, JasJam General] fpopic:
I have fully disassembled my TYTN and i put a napkin on connector (2x like from one youtube video) and still isn't working, so I will now put on tytn's board INSULATING TAPE (first picture) and why then isn't work ,white again ?
[8525, TyTN, MDA Vario II, JasJam General] fpopic:
sorry for double BUT PLEASE HELP !!
[8525, TyTN, MDA Vario II, JasJam General] electrich:
Hi Robert

I had success with this method, too, but after some time i got white screens again.

Hope your will last longer than mine! I ended up in online auctions getting a new one. ;)
[8525, TyTN, MDA Vario II, JasJam General] t4razi:
i hav found a permanent fix 4my mda vario2

...white screen & lcd alignment issues all fixed. it caused me gr8t concern lately but now its over.

all i did was 2pull out my dpad & wash it wit fuel, after drying it & reconnecting it, i had dsame problem & later found out dat it was d camera. it wasnt sitting properly. wen i had it sit properly & firmly, dpad & screen alignment issues was over.
[8525, TyTN, MDA Vario II, JasJam General] aboutthemind:
Wow finally i should have asked along time ago

Being that i have disassembled numerous HTC devices and found that especially in the wizard by taking a perfectly good phone and swapping out parts like the flat cables with a bad white screen you can end up with 2 perfectly good phones.

I received a Hermes bought on eBay 6 months ago from a friend who is an engineer. it looked like a car had run over it. With scratches on the screen and a broke case all over it still had a heart beat. Since my whole reason for perusing any phone is simple proof of life so far with no failure i took it apart.

the key factor was the screen worked in the wizard and this should have been a 123 had i had a Hermes collection of parts. But all i had was one Hermes and not whole lot of time so over the last few months i have been putting time in. My first move was a using parts from a wizard to connect the screen to the Hermes board it fired immediately and it was not a pretty site but it worked. i knew my problem was between the main board and the my firs thought was to tighten everything down from a past experiences on a few palm treo's i applied there solution to a screen not working due to the whole phone not being tight enough and pressure was important.

still 5 attempts and i did even have a white screen. When in doubt forget the logic i noticed the service manual had a very distinct instruction on the connector so after 2 try i went with my own way and applied no screws sure enough i now had a white screen. The problem lies in the connection so i did some of my own customizations and added some insulation and making sure that it was all fineness. I have up graded and down graded roms using all the methods in the Hermes wiki but my gut knows that if i were to get another Hermes and swap parts it will work but that would mean that if the connection was factory again i should be able to use whats in front of me with out going the other route.

i am going to go back in but i am a believer in the connection no screws based on the alignment issue gave me a solid white screen that will not go out and has no lines. I going to add the insulation and see if i can finally finish this one.

if you have 2 Hermes swap out the connectors 90% chance of success.
[8525, TyTN, MDA Vario II, JasJam General] chow22222:
Just get the trouble gone

Just get the trouble gone!! Great Job! Thanks!