My advice, keep away from replacing the sensor. From personal experience i have found this job very time consuming and frustrating. As it is such a delicate part, it is very hard to replace successfully. I have attempted the replacement about 10 times, and have only succeeded once. Before you start tearing your iPhone apart, take a look at this and skip down to question 17. Now the fact that your iPhone has started shooting sparks and smoke at you also can lead to the conclusion that your Logic board has short circuit. This may or may not be the reason for the faulty sensor, but if it saves you paying $800+ for a new iPhone then it is worth a shot i guess ;) Don't worry about that yellow screw placement, it will not effect anything whatsoever. Also why did you use Glass Cleaner??? You shouldn't use anything other than Isopropyl alcohol when cleaning electrical components as it removes oil/corrosion and evaporates very quickly. This could be another cause as the cleaner may not have evaporated completely...
I have run into this problem several times myself as well. The only way i have found a way around it is below. When you replace the Digitiser, there is a slight chance you may have dislodged or removed a very small plastic cover and/or a square piece of foam lining over the sensor. These two parts are crucial to the functionality of the sensor. Below is a sensor ribbon cable WITH the correct covers Below is a sensor ribbon cable WITHOUT the correct covers If you don't have your original flex to take the covers off of, then you have pretty much no hope of getting it working again. The only way around this is to replace the entire iPhone through Apple. If your iPhone is still under warranty then it will be FREE. If your iPhone is not under warranty then there will be a cost of about $260 for an entire unit replacement. Hope this helps! Martin
Very good diagnosing! It seems that if you have replaced the battery several times and restored the firmware with still no luck, the issue probably lies with either the Dock Connector or the Logic Board (like you said). Your next move (cheapest) would be to replace the dock connector, purchase part here. If this does no work then you will have narrowed down the fault to the logic board. If this is the case then you will need to purchase a new iPhone as new logic boards are next to impossible to come by when sold separately. You can search for a 2nd hand logic board on eBay, however if you do this then make sure you have visual proof from the seller that it is completely functional. Personally i would throw out the entire phone and upgrade to the 4S :P If you buy the iPhone on a 12/24 month plan, you can get the phone fairly cheaply without outright purchase. Hope this helps! Martin
It sure will! The only difference with GSM/AT&T and GSM/FIDO is the service provider. GSM - Global System for Mobile Communications AT&T - Service provider It does not matter which service provider you are with, as long as your iPhone is GSM compatible. So in short, if you have a GSM iPhone with a GSM part, it will be compatible. However if you have a CDMA iPhone with a GSM part, it will NOT be compatible and vice versa. Hope this helps! Martin
Check out this link and skip to Question 2. The Solution is for an iPhone 4, however it is based off the same principles. Let me know how you go. Martin
Give it back to it's owner! Reason i say this is because i recently lost my iPhone at a nightclub and someone handed it in. Very very nice of them. I'm sure they would feel very happy if you did the same ;)
Sounds like your microphone may be faulty/upon reassembly you have not installed it correctly or damaged it. In the iPhone 4 there are Two microphones - One on the lower left (iPhone facing Frontwards) - One in the top left (iPhone facing Frontwards) The other port on the bottom right of the iPhone is for the speaker. Now the speaker also acts as a microphone however only activates when the phone is put on loud speaker, hence people being able to hear you when activated. Circled in Red is the Main Microphone, circled in Blue is the connection ribbon responsible for the iPhone recognising the microphone along with the Speaker and several other parts. So now that we know that the ribbon (circled in blue) is working as the speaker produces sound, the problem now lies with the microphone itself. When you reassembled your iPhone, when replacing the speaker assembly you may have pushed the microphone out of place, try taking a look at it to see if the small rubber piece covering the microphone is situated...
Seems to me as though the Logic Board has suffered corrosion via liquid damage. The annoying thing about liquid damage is that sometimes it will completely destroy a phone, and sometimes it won't. However you also have the chance of the iPhone working perfectly fine, bar one functionality. I have personally seen this a few times and yes, it does suck, however if you have already replaced the dock connector and the digitiser yet still no luck, then the logic board has probably been damaged and you will need to replace the entire unit. :( Hope this helps, Martin
The Speaker assembly (the part that emits volume when the "speaker phone" function is enabled) also acts as a microphone. Although there are already two microphones throughout the iPhone (one at the top beside the headphone jack and the other on the bottom Left of the iPhone) the Speaker assembly has a duo function and will act as a third microphone to pick up more volume when the iPhone is further away from your mouth. Sounds to me as though your Speaker Assembly is faulty and you will need to install a new one :( I Hope this helps! Martin
Thank you! I have had many people ask me questions that have been answered on here, however it always takes me so long to find them again! So i thought why not just put them all in one spot for everyone to see? But thank you for your comment, coming from such an esteemed iFixit member like yourself means a lot ;)
Thank you! I have had many people ask me questions that have been answered on here, however it always takes me so long to find them again! So i thought why not just put them all in one spot for everyone to see? But thank you for your comment, coming from such an esteemed iFixit member like yourself means a lot ;)
Good stuff :D