Trashed SMT5600 - Any hope?

[Guest oldyeller]

Here's my story....

I got my SMT 5600 wet, like an idiot. (Left it in my car overnight with the windows open, and it rained.)

It worked after letting it dry for a few days, except that battery life was terrible and the screen would often go to all white after coming out of screen saver, but would be fine after a reboot.

So, I merrily sent it off to UTStarcom/Audiovox. I knew they would tell me the warranty was void due to water exposure, but figured I'd pay for the repair if the price wasn't too high. But they shipped it back and told me it was unrepairable.

Well, it was still usable, so I just kept using it the way it was. But then the white screen was happening more and more, so I decided I'd take it apart and see what I found. After all, my warranty's shot anyway.

Poked around inside and cleaned a lot of gook off the boards, and decided I'd reseat the ribbon connector that goes to the LCD screen, to see if that would help the white screen problem. (I'm pretty sure I had read a post here saying that it might help, though I can't find the post now.)

Well, of course I made it worse. First, there's a little black bar that seems to hold the ribbin connector in place, and I managed to break it in half. But I assumed the bar was just for the purpose of holding the ribbon down, and the ribbon seemed to stay in place well enough on it's own. So I reassemled the whole deal without the missing bar, and now I have a white screen ALL THE TIME!

So, long story long, now I've got an unusable "unrepairable" phone with no warranty. :oops:

Does anyone know if there's anything left to try before I buy a new phone or cancel my service? If it were yours, would you give up at this point? (And would you have FUBAR'd your phone bad as I did in the first place?)

thanks for listening to me ramble....

oldyeller

[Guest PPCPassion]

I would have done exactly the same thing as you did. What else could have you done except taking matters in your own hand. I know someone would say, you should have sent to one of the repair services such as PPCtechs but it would have cost you almost $60-70 including s&h to find out the cost of repair. If I were you, buy another unlocked phone from e-bay or if your contract is going to be up soon, hang onto your current phone and then get a new ph with new contract.

I think you are looking for a LCD article that was listed under Pinned area and title was dust removal/fix..try the following link:

http://www.modaco.com/C500_SMT5600_Disasse...204205-s15.html

Edited August 15, 2005 by PPCPassion

[Guest oldyeller]

I would have done exactly the same thing as you did. What else could have you done except taking matters in your own hand. I know someone would say, you should have sent to one of the repair services such as PPCtechs but it would have cost you almost $60-70 including s&h to find out the cost of repair. If I were you, buy another unlocked  phone from e-bay or if your contract is going to be up soon, hang onto your current phone and then get a new ph with new contract.

I think you are looking for a LCD article that was listed under Pinned area and title was dust removal/fix..try the following link:

http://www.modaco.com/C500_SMT5600_Disasse...204205-s15.html

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thx... you're right, that's the article where I read that. I wish I had been able to find that earlier tonight when I was disassembling my phone.

From the article:

"Behind the LCD screen there is a connector for the ribbon. Flip up the dark grey tab on the connector to loosen the ribbon. Push the ribbon back in, close the tab to secure the ribbon. "

I sort of pried the dark grey tab out, rather than up. And it basically broke in half. I imagine that without the tab, the ribbon isn't making full contact, thus giving me white screen all the time.

[Guest dbaldwin]

oldyeller,

It may be possible to get the parts to repair your phone. I did a similar thing to my phone last month except I ran it over with my own car in a drunken stupor and then left it out in the rain all night. I found a gentleman here on the forum who sells loose part for the Typhoon and is very reasonable in price even though he is in England. I've going to be installing my new parts tomorrow and can't wait to have the old girl back in service. PM a fella named andyleem and see if he has the part(s) you need. I bet he will. Thanks. DB.

[Guest linker3000]

Have you checked whether it's covered by any household insurance policies after 'falling off the window ledge into the dish water'??