Intrepid Disassembly
 

After almost a year of use, my Intrepid is starting to look pretty rough. Between the numerous scratches on the body and the dust piling up underneath the digitizer, I've decided it's time to change the housing and use a protective case from now on.

That said, does anyone know how to disassemble this thing, or can someone point me in the direction of a service manual? I removed the four screws in the back, but it seems that unless I'm just not pulling hard enough, I'm missing something crucial. I checked underneath the black stickers only to find what appeared to be antenna ports. What are those for anyways? :-/ Additionally, how does one go about removing the digitizer? Traditionally, heat and light pressure releases the adhesive in most other phones, but when I tried on the Intrepid, all I did was crack the edges where I pried.

Anyone disassembled their Intrepid that could maybe provide some insight?

TIA.

Re: Intrepid Disassembly
 

Without actually doing it, it looks like 4 small Philips head screws to remove a cover and then go from there.

Re: Intrepid Disassembly
 

If only... Unless I'm doing something wrong or my phone is a special case, There's more to it than removing 4 screws. As I said before, the faceplate is still attached pretty well, even after all four screws are removed. I didn't want to pull too hard for fear of breaking something internally.

Re: Intrepid Disassembly
 

There *may* be screws under the camera cover.

Re: Intrepid Disassembly
 

wont a sprint store with repair center clean it out for ?

Re: Intrepid Disassembly
 

Yeah Sprint Repair center will most likely just try to Hard Reset it to see if it was just "digital" dust. those people, for the most part, are trigger happy for that hard reset.:toothy10:

Re: Intrepid Disassembly
 

And the dust isn't the only issue. Like I said, it's got a fair amount of scratches that a new housing would fix.

Re: Intrepid Disassembly
 

Perhaps there's a "clip" on one end where you have to press to bend the clip to open it up.

Re: Intrepid Disassembly
 

When I sent mine in to Samsung for repair of a wifi issue, it came back slightly cracked near the power jack. By the look of the screws, it appeared they opened it up, or at least tried to. lol But in the end, all they did was hard reset it and put the same firmwire on it that I had just put on before. When I sent it in a second time, they just sent me a whole new phone, minus the battery cover and sim card. So I guess perhaps it isn't very easy to replace the boards in these things, or to get in them for that matter. lol

You said you need to replace the housing? Well where do you plan on getting this housing from? I don't see them on ebay anywhere like I have seen in the past for other phones. I'm asking this because if you had the new housing in hand, couldn't you just look at that to see what is keeping it together?

The "new" phone Samsung sent me is brand-spanking new, and I didn't pay a dime for it. But then again, the old one I sent back was it pretty good shape except for that new crack they made. Unfortunately the only place it has a really slight scratch is on it is the battery cover, and they didn't send me a new one of those. lol I'm sure they just tossed it aside or threw it away. =/ But I did get a second stylus out of the deal, which they forgot to take out. So if I could find a source for a new battery cover, that would be great.

Re: Intrepid Disassembly
 

Thanks for the input. They actually do come and go on eBay. I might attempt a warranty claim, but I think mine was refurbished from the start. Sprint traded my HTC Touch Pro for this Intrepid after my Touch Pro had been replaced 3 times due to hardware failure. If phones are like most electronics regarding warranties, then my 90-day warranty ended months ago :-/

Re: Intrepid Disassembly
 

Being that there is a 1-year warranty on the Intrepid and the fact it was released less than a year ago, they didn't ask me anything regarding when it was purchased. All they needed was the serial number I think. Who knows if they have certain serials tagged as refurbished or not. But even if so, then they might ask you for more info. I kind of doubt it though.

Re: Intrepid Disassembly
 

So a couple things,
1. If you open your phone your warranty is void and even having an equipment service plan (ESRP) won't help you. Your phone will most likely be flagged as non repairable in the store. If you have TEP, which also includes insurance replacement through Asurion, then you could get the whole device replaced for a $100 deductible, but that is all unecessary...just don't open your phone.

2. If you take it to a qualified repair center (preferably a corporate store and not a third party repair shop) they can, and almost always will, clean out dust under the screen and other small issues that do not involve replacement parts. However, if you just have a beat up housing or scratched screen/camera lens cover, that is considered cosmetic and is not covered under any service plan. Repariable items are warranty issues (button failure, garbled lcd, etc) and damage that causes the phone to malfunction (cracked screen etc.)

3. The reason techs jump on the hard reset option so often is that the majority of the time, people have jacked up a setting somewhere or installed something bizarre that causes intermittent issues so instead of spending 5 hours pinpointing the issue, they wipe it and call it good, lesson learned. Don't fiddle with things you don't understand and they don't have to put you back at square one. What happens on Mario Bros. when you run into an enemy? You start the level over.

Now, all that being said, if you ask nicely and don't just assume that they HAVE to help you, the majority of technicians will swap your housing as a courtesy IF they have a spare in the back. If not, you're out of luck, cuz they can't order those parts, the phone is end of life (EOL) anyway and economically speaking (from the company's perspective) you're better off with an upgrade regardless. Just remember to be polite. Technicians are people too, and compared to the sales people (who are usually souless flesh rending maniacs who only see dollar signs when you walk in), the Techs are really on your side. See, they don't make big money off commission so the only reason they still work for the company is usually because they genuinely like solving problems and helping people. (There are exceptions to every rule, but remember, those folks are exceptions, not the standard)

~Reefdog

Re: Intrepid Disassembly
 

Physical damage and cracked screens are indeed covered under the new TEP..check it out.


Support - Article

edit : I think I misunderstood your post :) , but I'll leave the info here anyway.

Re: Intrepid Disassembly
 

hey i was having the same problem. I got the 4 screws out but i couldn't get the phone to come apart. I put my finger nail in between the shiny grey and the black plastic on the side and just slide it from the top to the bottom. This popped the side off instantly so i popped the other side off and then did the same thing on the top and bottom and it separated easily

Re: Intrepid Disassembly
 

Did you successfully replace the screen and digitizer? I am about to attempt this and wanted to know if anyone successfully replaced their screen and digitizer