Operation FrankeniPhone FAIL

Operation begins with 2 Original 2G 4GB iPhones

#1 - Can't talk - Wired Headset, Speakerphone, and regular. Other party hears a loud buzzing or nothing at all. MP3 player not working. After about 15 minutes of playing, it starts randomly pausing, skipping ahead or back every couple seconds.

#2 - Cracked Screen and top power button didn't work well.

The plan: Swap screen from #1 and replace the cracked screen of #2.

I began by disassembling #1. Using the iPhone case separator tool I got from pdaparts.com, and the youtube tutorial for how do it, I got the black plastic piece separated from the metal case. The youtube video makes it look like with the tool it just pops right off. It doesn't. After its been taken off once it pops off pretty easily, but then again, it never goes back on fully again.

I get the 13 tiny, tiny, tiny screws out, and get the motherboard disconnected from the case by the 4 little bands and it seems like there is nothing else to it, so I think, I have to go through all this later after separating the screen, but what if it is all just the motherboard that is causing all the issues with #1, what if I just try first swapping the motherboard from #2 into case from #1 and see if that works.

The case to #2 opened a little easier than #1, but it was still a bitch. Get the tiny tiny screws and disconnect the 4 bands and get the motherboard out of #2 and swap it over to #1. Getting the 4 bands connected is a PITA. You have tiny connectors that have to line up perfectly, with no clearance to get them in position, but with a bit of patience and some picks I was able to get everything connected.

With the iPhone partially assembled, SIM inserted, powered on, same problem. No audio. Put the motherboard from #2 back into its case and everything seemed to work, so back to swapping the screen and digitizer from #1 into the still seems to be working #2 which again, just has a cracked screen, but still works fairly well.

Back to #1, follow the instructions in the youtube video, but as I was doing it, I cracked the screen a tiny bit in the corner, and also broke a ribbon coming off the digitizer, rendering it completely useless in its own case, but still possibly usable as originally planned.

Do I attempt the switch? No. I don't know if the screen from #1 still works, and if I attempt to separate #2 to swap, the crack will completely break and I am certain it will never work again, and it is currently working. No. I am not going to go any further. I am going to reassemble #2 and accept the cracked screen. Get all the bands connected for #2 and power it on to test before screwing the 13 tiny tiny screws, but now the Home button isn't working on #2. This worked before, didn't mess with that section of the phone, so I disconnect everything, and try the motherboard from #1 in case for #2. Home button worked, but everything else was still broken, so it wasn't the case for #2.

Reassemble #2 as it should be again, and it still isn't working. Google home key not working, and I find a bunch of posts about an app you can get that puts a soft home key on the screen. Great, I can get around the not working Home key, but wait, the phone has to be jailbroken, the app is only in Cydia. This iPhone isn't jailbroken, shit. Wait, can I still jailbreak it? No, you need the Home key to jailbreak, at least with the method I used on #1 that no longer works.

Take everything apart and swap once more to test if #1 can use the Home button, and this time it can't. Now, it is the case to #2 that the Home button doesn't work, and the case to #1 that the mic doesn't work.

Put #2 back together again. I can kind of work around the Home button but once I go into something, I can't get out of it for at least a few minutes after the phone hibernates.

But wait, it gets better. Get #2 back together, and assembled, and plug it in to charge, but it is not charging. The charging port and Home button run along the same ribbon. Both must be damaged, so I have a phone that I can talk on, but I can't charge, and can't use the Home button.

At this point I have spent several hours working on this, I give up and just reassemble the phone because I don't have any other phones here right now. I have a couple of phones in my desk at work. Nothing I want to use, but I don't have access to them until Monday, so I need to at least limp through the weekend with the iPhone that can't charge, can't use the home button, and has a cracked screen.

Everything is assembled and I make a call. The other party can't hear me. FUCK, FUCK, FUCK. Try speakerphone, nothing. Wired headset works, at least I have that.

I started with an iPhone with a cracked screen, and ended with a iPhone with a cracked screen, broken mic, charging port, and Home button.

 

ibblackberryhomos

 

you're not allowed to call me a douche.

 

Damn that sucks man! I was thinking about just getting a 3g the other day but with my last apple store experience I decided to wait plus my 1st gen is working.

Nicad can I call you a douche? :keke:

 

Wirelessly posted (From Your Mom's House)

since when have I been known as the "other party"?

 

It's HIPPA law Cohen.

 

When I picked up mine at the North Point Apple store my first thought was "What recession?" They were slammed with customers. They did what they could but I had to wait for about 20 mins to speak with an associate.

The cool thing was that my number was ported within 10 mins of activation.

 

We determined the flex cable got damaged somehow.