HTC Arrive.. disassembly

[pbankey]

Ah.. you don't really know someone until you've seen them naked. This applies to the Arrive as well!

Long story short -- goofed up an invisible shield install and moisture got under the screen and shorted the touch screen capacitor. Weird considering I've done so many of those invisible shield installs on other devices... anyway, I bought the phone used on ebay so I didn't have the warranty or the Sprint insurance. I took it apart to try to fix it but it needs parts replaced. I ordered a phone that was new but had a bad ESN (about $150 bucks, ugh) with the intent to swap the screen half with my broken one, thus making a like-new phone.

I figured my misfortune can help others.. I should be getting the new phone next week so I can do the surgery. I'll post pictures of the guts, but in the meantime I'll tell you what I found today --

--There are a TON of tiny screws. I'd say about two dozen when I took it all apart. The big screw on the back of the phone is a real screw in case you were wondering.

--The internal memory card is literally a SanDisk microSD that says "16GB" inserted into a slot that's hidden in the chasis. All that stops someone from switching it out is taking the back two layers off.

--I strongly recommend that if you ever have issues with the LCD/capacitor, to just use the insurance (if you have it), the warranty, then if all else fails get a used Arrive or bad ESN Arrive and use the slide out half as a swap-out. I'll do a walkthrough of this surgery later this week as this is exactly what I am doing.

--There are about four moisture indicators hidden throughout the phone. One in each layer of the chasis.

Until I do the surgery, feel free to ask questions!

[eric12341]

guacala invisible shield, that shit sucks! not mention its expensive and hard as hell to install, I sent mine for the tp2 back. if that wasn't enough they also spam u with email even after u hit unsubscribe ,I had to mark them as junk mail to stop it, anyway good luck with the operation

[TexasAggie97]

pbanky, to each his own. Good luck with the operation, looking forward to the complexities of it.

[pbankey]

WARNING: This should NOT be done if you don't know what you're doing. This WILL void your warranty, so use this as a last resort!

What you will need: Small Phillip's head screwdriver, plastic wedge (I used a guitar pick), ESD wrist strap (highly recommended); PATIENCE!




Step 1: Remove the back cover and battery. There are 5 screws on the outer shell which will need to be removed using a very small Phillip's head screwdriver. I used a glasses screwdriver for this. There is one screw that is "hidden" underneath a black film. You can access this screw easily, just gently scrap away the top of the screw head and it will peel away.






Step 2: Use a plastic wedge to gently pry away the outer shell from the back of the phone. Make sure to go slowly and gently as to not break or damage any of the parts that snap the back shell together.






Note above -- the outer shell separated.




Step 3: Note the locations of the screws and the moisture indicator. Unscrew all of them accordingly and you should be able to lift this second layer away without much prying with the wedge, remember to go slow and gently!





The outer shell, the second layer, and then the guts separated.




Step 4: There are 4 regular screws and 2 smaller screws for the guts. The small screws are indicated above -- the heads are the same size but the thread length is about half of the other screws. Note the location these go in for when you put the phone back together. Remove all screws and set aside.




Step 5: There is a copper metallic tape that covers the LCD ribbon connection as well as part of the MicroSD slot. Gently peel away the metallic tape as shown above to reveal yellow tape covering the ribbon connection and the MicroSD port.





(Optional) Step 6: If you would like to replace the MicroSD card, now's your chance. Peel back the yellow tape and slide the card out of the slot and replace accordingly. WARNING: I have not tried this, so I cannot verify that you can upgrade the memory just by sliding in a new card.





Step 7: This is the trick part. You need to disconnect the LCD ribbon from the port without tearing or damaging the ribbon. What I recommend doing is using the edge of a flat head and gently tugging outwards on the ends of the connector on each side. Remember to do this gently and slowly, working each end out a bit at a time until it disconnects. Once it's disconnected, you can remove that whole half of the phone.

If you were like me and wanted to replace the whole screen half of the phone, simply do all of the included steps with the phone you want to replace the screen with and swap it out. Reverse the disassembly steps to reassemble the phone. Don't forget to put all of the screws back!



The two halves of the phone separated, ready to be switched.




That's what I have right now to share -- I will post later this week going deeper into the screen half in case anyone is interested. I have to warn though, I strongly DO NOT recommend doing this. You'll most likely break the capacitor or the LCD, break the dust seal, and have a ruined phone.


By the way, feel free to email me with questions. I'm always happy to help someone with phone issues like this! pm me for email address (mod edit)

[TexasAggie97]

Amazing job!

[darren.wlsn1]

Originally Posted by TexasAggie97

Amazing job!

+1 and op its a really bad idea to post email addy so i edited it and just have users pm you for addy.

[tiny17]

You not only posted your surgery, you made a step by step breakdown guide.

Thanks - this may come in handy some day.

[gjhuff]

Could the placement of the micro SD card be made such that it would be any harder to replace? Whew!

Query: now that you have it apart, have you been able to put it back together and get it work? What you describe is certainly not for the noob or for the faint of heart!

[rrjskj]

post pics when u have it up and running but great insight . i might be tempted to try this as well ...

[pbankey]

Hey folks, thanks for all the great comments! Yup, the phone works great post-surgery and works like a brand new phone.

It's definitely not something I would recommend people do if they have other options on getting their phone fixed or replaced. Use your warranty if you have it, or insurance. Unfortunately I had neither so I had to roll my sleeves up.

The chassis snaps together along the edges and then screws just reinforce the hold. To get to the guts layer, it's really just a matter of unscrewing and gently unsnapping the layers of the case. I don't have a 32GB SD card otherwise I would have tested what would happen if I upgraded the memory.

RE: The Screen

Like I mentioned in the post I made before, I strongly don't recommend going inside the LCD/touch screen half of the phone if at all possible. There is a lot of adhesive that holds those parts together and a tight seal around the LCD underneath the front plastic cover that will let dust creep in under the screen if broken. That's why instead of buying a new LCD screen, I just replaced that whole half of the phone.