Is my beloved phone dead ?
 

Hi everyone.

This evening I was going out for a walk, took my trusted N900 out of my pocket, but it would not let me type my unlock code, just one key, and erratically. Wow. This is new.

I reflashed it (Fiasco rootfs only, should I go further ?) ; This was the first time ever. I managed to connect it to my wireless because the screen registers a tap or two now and then (and could enter the WPA key because the keyboard works flawlessly) but then again ssh-server is no longer installed so I can not ssh into it anymore. Apparently I can't receive phone calls either. Yikes.

I have this phone ever since it was out in the medina around here parts, and have been living a true love story. If it's really dead I'm going to buy as many machines as I can find, because this is my idea of a phone.

Is this "dead screen" issue known ? I saw a lot of related messages on this board but the info is really scattered.

What can I do to exactly diagnose what is going on ? Please help. The sky is blackening.

Re: Is my beloved phone dead ?
 

Check this out:

http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php...02#post1287602

or you can buy new digitizer.

Re: Is my beloved phone dead ?
 

So my screen is really dead ? After a while I can get though apps, but it tends to freeze, so maybe it's not (only) the screen after all ? What kind of (simple, unit) tests can I run to be sure ?

Can I, really ? Where ? The first hit for Amazon's customer review says :

Is there a safe place where I can buy from and get the real thing ?

Re: Is my beloved phone dead ?
 

I have access to genuine N900 digitizers, but all are used, so condition varies. Do you expect one to be in absolutely state (if yes, you can only hope to buy fakes)? How big is your budget for this task? (inc. shipping - you're living in France, right?) Having that informations, I may check if I could arrange something appropriate for your needs.

/Estel

Re: Is my beloved phone dead ?
 

Thank you very much for your answer, Estel. What I want is :

- To know as closely as exactly what the PB is with my phone's digitizer
- To buy a digitizer that will get my phone back to normal

Is there really a market of fake N900 digitizers ? Wow. Are some any good ? I do live in France. Did you get that from my spaces in front of ? Well no, but it's where it's simpler to ship anyway. So what's your price ?

Re: Is my beloved phone dead ?
 

This brings to mind the battery testing thread and the list of "good" batteries and suppliers. Perhaps we need such a general hardware thread where users report purchases and suppliers with rating?

Re: Is my beloved phone dead ?
 

Well, it just died. Probably, something pressed too much on it (could get destroyed even without visible damage), or, in very, very rare cases, it could die on it's own.

Yes, and a quite big market, to say at least. As for fake digitizers, quality varies much - people report some of them to be "worse input than PDA's from A.D. 2000), while others seem to be acceptable. None of them is as good (pressure sensitivity resolution and touch area resolution) as original ones. If I would have to decide "perfectly looking good quality fake", or "original with some scratches", I would take the latter, personally. Fortunately, i have personal stock of spare ideal condition original ones, so it's a win-win situation :D (thankfully, had to use spare one only once)

i'm temped to say "yes", but in fact, I took it from "Location: Paris" on top of your posts... ;)

I'm taking those digitizers from local phone repair & used phones shop - they're scavenging various parts from mortally malfunction devices, too, including N900's. From time to time, you get a digitizer in ideal condition (protected by foil) from a non-working N900 for very good price, but it is very rare, so I keep those for myself ;)

The thing is, that I can't give you price, as they vary very much depending on condition and, as it seems, random ideas of shop staff (divided, somehow, by for how long they can't sell said part ;) ).

So, if you would give me your absolute maximum, I would subtract cost of shipping such small package to France (need to check it first), and see, what they have in that price range, at the moment - then, inform you about possible options.

Don't worry, if it turns out to be cheaper than your maximum, i'll still tell you real price ;) Consider it as my Community help, I'm not making any money on those digitizers.

/Estel

Re: Is my beloved phone dead ?
 

I had problems with the touchscreen with my N900 as well. One day I could no longer put my pin in the lockscreen. In my case it was most probably moisure in the contacts of the digitizer, since the solution turned out to be: disassemble the digitizer, clean the contacts, and assemble back. The really hard part for me was taking the tiny screws out :-( So if you are attempting that, first go find some good A00 tools and search for the N900 service manual in this forum.

Re: Is my beloved phone dead ?
 

@xaccrocheur - if you have screen protector, remove/replace it to see if it helps

Re: Is my beloved phone dead ?
 

Estel, what do you think of this ?

Can you match this price ?

Re: Is my beloved phone dead ?
 

Thank you, I'm going to try that ; what do I have to lose ?

Re: Is my beloved phone dead ?
 

It is out of stock and that might mean it will not be in again. I hope not as a new Nokia touchscreen seems reasonable at that price.

Re: Is my beloved phone dead ?
 

New genuine N900 digitizers for that price would be IDEAL, but it's an utopia, today. Said site is out of stock for +- ages, so I'm afraid, that they will never offer them again (after all, no one produces genuine N900 digitizers, anymore, so no stable [any?] source of new ones).

19 pounds + shipping? i'm pretty certain I can, this, or even little lower for a used, good condition one (with some visual flaws, but either all of them outside screen draw area, or very minor ones on that area), perfectly working from technical point of view, of course.

I'm putting a strong emphasis for scratches (or absence of) on "draw area of screen" - outside draw area, most digitizers have pretty strong scratches, as, most of the times, even protector foils doesn't cover that area very well. It shouldn't matter much, though.

After returning home (on monday) I'll visit said shop, and check exact prices. I'll even try to take some photos of visually flawed digitizers (if it turns out, that it's doable - many times, scratches visible on digitizers by naked eye, are impossible to expose on photo).

Meantime, try other things suggested here, maybe your old digitizer will come to life, after all? I'll add my method, too, although be warned - it's last resort thing, that should be used only on digitizers, that you don't have anything to lose with. It have low chances of success, but helped me with two or three faulty digitizers:

You need a plastic (or, rather, gum one?) sucker, the kind of things used sometimes on kitchens or bathroom to create a removable hanging point on wall. You suck it on center of the screen, then pull it, like wanting to remove it by force. You need to apply quite much of pull force (but not too much, be rational - you don't want to rip screen apart). After finished, you remove sucker the "proper" way (by gently rolling-out one of its sides, nullifying vacuum zone).

As said, it's crazy method, but sometimes worth to restore digitizers, that were pressed too hard by something at one place (for example, by something in pocket), and tends to pivot touches into one area (or even register all touches as that area ones).

To determine, where (and if at all) is "center" point of unnatural touch pivoting, you may want to run sketch program (or MyPaint). If it's near one of screen's edges, it may be wise to use sucker there, instead of absolute center.

/Estel