FIXED: G2 Hinge Teardown/Repair

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So, I decided to fix my G2 hinge which was a little on the loose side but didn't want to use magnets because it would affect the Compass. If you don't think magnets do affect the compass, i invite you to open up HTC or Google Navigation GPS app and wave a magnet around your phone and watch your direction change.

In any case, I looked for a teardown online in hopes that it would show the actual spring mechanism for the Z-Hinge...but all of them seemed to have skip that part. So...here's a photo of the ACTUAL MECHANISM responsible for the "snapping/springy" action of the phone. As you can imagine, assuming you can get to this point in terms of disassembly, tightening up the mechanism is SUPER EASY. All you have to do is take out the spring, stretch it, put it back in. I think the only way they could have made this mechanism smaller and more reliable is to have used a tiny hydraulic piston in place of the spring, but since I'm an EE and not a Mech Eng. well, what do I know!

<EDIT>
Link with instructions for taking apart your phone. You will need a T5 Screwdriver and a puny Phillips Screwdriver.

http://tjworld.net/blog/htc-desire-z-tear-down
</EDIT>

Ok, without further ado:


Enjoy!
verkion
P.S. I can have the KB open, G2 upside down and shake it fairly vigorously before it will begin to close now! Definite improvement!

Damn...

Assuming you could find a spring small enough to fit you could buy a spring with a higher tension. That's what I did with my Ruger LCP to help the feeding cycle.

You could have taken a couple dissemblely pics to help us get to that point.

Thanks for the info.

Might want to add this voids warranty. Lol. Secondly if you could add some insight as to how you actually managed to disasemble the phone to access the hinge. That would be great. Might actually try this myself. Big might. Lol.

[G2/HTC Vision]

Originally Posted by luis86dr

Might want to add this voids warranty. Lol. Secondly if you could add some insight as to how you actually managed to disasemble the phone to access the hinge. That would be great. Might actually try this myself. Big might. Lol.

[G2/HTC Vision]

Tear down is here...
http://tjworld.net/blog/htc-desire-z-tear-down

You only need to tear it down as far as PCB Removal to access the spring mechanism in the hinge (its the top side near the power button). BE SUPER DUPER careful with PLUGGING IN the micro-SD ribbon cable when you reassemble. One of the spring tension pins (its a flip up type ribbon cable clamp), broke off on me. I was like OMFG for about 2 minutes until I realized it was just the tension pin NOT an actual connection pin.

Oh yeah, and for anyone that hasn't figured this out already...WARRANTY = VOID!!! :P Oh, and the normal CYA (cover your a$$ clauses) apply...I'm not responsible for any damage etc. etc. etc. that YOU might cause doing this fix/mod.

verkion

Originally Posted by verkion

Tear down is here...
http://tjworld.net/blog/htc-desire-z-tear-down

You only need to tear it down as far as PCB Removal to access the spring mechanism in the hinge (its the top side near the power button). BE SUPER DUPER careful with PLUGGING IN the micro-SD ribbon cable when you reassemble. One of the spring tension pins (its a flip up type ribbon cable clamp), broke off on me. I was like OMFG for about 2 minutes until I realized it was just the tension pin NOT an actual connection pin.

Oh yeah, and for anyone that hasn't figured this out already...WARRANTY = VOID!!! :P Oh, and the normal CYA (cover your a$$ clauses) apply...I'm not responsible for any damage etc. etc. etc. that YOU might cause doing this fix/mod.

verkion

Thanks bro.

[G2/HTC Vision]

Excellent post, thanx

Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App

Thanks for finding a REAL cure! Magnets lol! morons... nice work though! I glad you found a fix for those how have (or imagine they have) a hinge problem. maybe this will shut folks up about this finally...

Nice job man. Quite the set of balls you got there my friend. I may try this when my warranty expires.(and my hinge gets to a point where i can,t stand it.)

Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App

Now I havn't tried magnets on this phone (or any other).. but I do know that the magnetic strength of magnetic tape, such as was used in the other "fix" is not very strong at all, as it barely strong enough to work as the fix it was intended to do, for this reason I could believe that it had no effect on the compass.

However sure, if you use a proper magnet it will mess things up.

However, very nice job on this but I doubt many will want to void their warranty when they could just send it back under warranty and do it that way.

Originally Posted by Lennyuk

Now I havn't tried magnets on this phone (or any other).. but I do know that the magnetic strength of magnetic tape, such as was used in the other "fix" is not very strong at all, as it barely strong enough to work as the fix it was intended to do, for this reason I could believe that it had no effect on the compass.

However sure, if you use a proper magnet it will mess things up.

However, very nice job on this but I doubt many will want to void their warranty when they could just send it back under warranty and do it that way.

You are correct about the warranty. Although there are a few stickers on the torx screws that say void... they won't refuse your phone and claim that your warranty is voided. Its bs. They just check for eextremely obvious things like water damage and physical damage. I was a cell tech forever... they hardly care about that crap like is its rooted or whatever. Just don't make it too obvious like a phone stuck in a boot loop with cyanogen logo flashing over and over, lol!

But it does depend on the tech... if he/she is an asshole and dont root their own phones or hack... they could reject it. personally, I think those are the type that have no buisness being a tech nor would understand that rooting a phone is going to cause any serious damage to it. unless you flash the wrong spl/hardboot but at that point... 90% likely it wont even boot into bootloader in which there's no way to tell what happened whether it was a custom flash or a bad board. those are instant replacements as long as there's no physical/liquid damage. well, sorry for hijacking the thread and my poor spelling. good work with the hinge, OP! those ribbons can be a pain to reseat!