[Q] HTC One - Hardware repair nightmare - started with blurry camera.

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fujisan582

Member
Mar 31, 2013
32
1
Hope someone on here can help me; I've searched everywhere can could not find a solution. The technician who worked on the phone for over 10-15 hours over 1 month looked at me in despair and said "I have no clue"; I thought he was going to start crying.

Everything but the camera worked perfectly before the technician opened the phone to start working in it a month ago. It went downhill from there.

Sequence of events
1. Had a camera problem (constantly out of focus) on my US HTC One Dev edition that started 6 months after owning the phone, which I absolutely loved. Searched and found this was a hardware issue.
2. I'm in Canada with a US phone, so no warranty. HTC wants $200 and 3-6 weeks to fix it. Local shop wants $75. After asking if they knew how to fix this specific phone and that they had the tools, I leave it with them.
3. They installed the new camera, damaged my top speaker grille and phone side, and the screen is uneven (technician: worst phone I have ever seen to repair) If you want an idea of the process have a look at the ifixit website.
4. I order top grille for replacement ($10) from ebay. I realize the screen is has not been properly installed and after 2 days I have a purple dead pixel.
5. I leave for a trip with my family over the Holidays - I start taking photos in low light, guess what? Damn purple issue starts. The new camera was an omnivision from a bad batch (pre-Nov 2013). Fortunately, as a true geek I brought another camera with me, just in case.
6. I order a new camera myself from etradesupply $30 plus $20 shippling = $50. 2 more weeks go by.
7. I receive the grille and get the phone back to the technician, he puts it back together, but the grille won't bend and stick to the phone.
8. New camera arrives and Iget the phone back to the technician to install it, which he does.
9. I come back to pick up the phone - screen is all pixelated and dies shortly thereafter.
10. Technician proposes to swap screen from a bricked One he has from another customer. I hesitate, but agree; just want a working phone already. Donnor phone is pretty much destroyed in the process.
11. Back at the shop to pick up my phone: everything finally looks great. I realize back home that the sim card cannot be detected, and that the speakers make a bad creakling noise when volume is higher than 8 or 9 or at normal levels during a phone call
12. Back at the shop - he fixes the sim card issue (pooly connected wire), speaker issue remains and we have no clue where it's coming from. That's were we are at.


Lessons learned for both of us:

  1. The HTC One is a fantastic phone...until it breaks.
  2. technicians should refuse to repair the HTC One, it's almost guaranteed that they will damage something
  3. I should have sent the phone to HTC for 4 weeks paid $200, pay $100 for a loaner phone and be done with the problem...

Problem description

Problem is blatant when volume is at 8 or 9 or more, but is also there at lower volumes, and during phone calls at any volume, there is a creaking noise from the speakers mostly top one. When we press on the grilles the problem is slightly better.
When the whole phone (electronics) was outside the aluminum unibody frame the noise would stop. As soon as we inserted the top end of the phone assembly into the aluminum frame the noise started.

When beatsaudio is off problem is not as bad.

We inspected the motherboard, daughterboard, casing, speakers and everything looks fine (i.e. nothing broken or missing).

Questions

1. Speaker worked perfectly before the technician swapped the screen and reassembled the phone. It's kind of odd that both speakers started having the same issue at the same time. Is it worth trying to replace the speakers with new ones?
2. Could it be interference from something that was not properly put together?
3. Should I use the phone as a hammer, throw it as far as I can from the top of a 30-story building, in a river from a dam, put it in a bucket filled with fuel, or tie it to a propane tank and shot a bullet into it?


Thanks so much for any help!
 
Last edited:

n1234d

Senior Member
Aug 18, 2013
1,375
483
Mumbai
Google Pixel 6a
Hope someone on here can help me; I've searched everywhere can could not find a solution. The technician who worked on the phone for over 10-15 hours over 1 month looked at me in despair and said "I have no clue"; I thought he was going to start crying.

Everything but the camera worked perfectly before the technician opened the phone to start working in it a month ago. It went downhill from there.

Sequence of events
1. Had a camera problem (constantly out of focus) on my US HTC One Dev edition that started 6 months after owning the phone, which I absolutely loved. Searched and found this was a hardware issue.
2. I'm in Canada with a US phone, so no warranty. HTC wants $200 and 3-6 weeks to fix it. Local shop wants $75. After asking if they knew how to fix this specific phone and that they had the tools, I leave it with them.
3. They installed the new camera, damaged my top speaker grille and phone side, and the screen is uneven (technician: worst phone I have ever seen to repair) If you want an idea of the process have a look at the ifixit website.
4. I order top grille for replacement ($10) from ebay. I realize the screen is has not been properly installed and after 2 days I have a purple dead pixel.
5. I leave for a trip with my family over the Holidays - I start taking photos in low light, guess what? Damn purple issue starts. The new camera was an omnivision from a bad batch (pre-Nov 2013). Fortunately, as a true geek I brought another camera with me, just in case.
6. I order a new camera myself from etradesupply $30 plus $20 shippling = $50. 2 more weeks go by.
7. I receive the grille and get the phone back to the technician, he puts it back together, but the grille won't bend and stick to the phone.
8. New camera arrives and Iget the phone back to the technician to install it, which he does.
9. I come back to pick up the phone - screen is all pixelated and dies shortly thereafter.
10. Technician proposes to swap screen from a bricked One he has from another customer. I hesitate, but agree; just want a working phone already. Donnor phone is pretty much destroyed in the process.
11. Back at the shop to pick up my phone: everything finally looks great. I realize back home that the sim card cannot be detected, and that the speakers make a bad creakling noise when volume is higher than 8 or 9 or at normal levels during a phone call
12. Back at the shop - he fixes the sim card issue (pooly connected wire), speaker issue remains and we have no clue where it's coming from. That's were we are at.


Lessons learned for both of us:

  1. The HTC One is a fantastic phone...until it breaks.
  2. technicians should refuse to repair the HTC One, it's almost guaranteed that they will damage something
  3. I should have sent the phone to HTC for 4 weeks paid $200, pay $100 for a loaner phone and be done with the problem...

Problem description

Problem is blatant when volume is at 8 or 9 or more, but is also there at lower volumes, and during phone calls at any volume, there is a creaking noise from the speakers mostly top one. When we press on the grilles the problem is slightly better.
When the whole phone (electronics) was outside the aluminum unibody frame the noise would stop. As soon as we inserted the top end of the phone assembly into the aluminum frame the noise started.

When beatsaudio is off problem is not as bad.

We inspected the motherboard, daughterboard, casing, speakers and everything looks fine (i.e. nothing broken or missing).

Questions

1. Speaker worked perfectly before the technician swapped the screen and reassembled the phone. It's kind of odd that both speakers started having the same issue at the same time. Is it worth trying to replace the speakers with new ones?
2. Could it be interference from something that was not properly put together?
3. Should I use the phone as a hammer, throw it as far as I can from the top of a 30-story building, in a river from a dam, put it in a bucket filled with fuel, or tie it to a propane tank and shot a bullet into it?


Thanks so much for any help!

Wow.. Just wow... Looks like your speaker grills haven't been put in properly.. Did he replace only the LCD or the LCD+front housing?

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk
 
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ZeroInfinity

Recognized Developer
Dec 17, 2011
7,024
74,000
Brighton & Hove
Most likely a bad speaker placement. It sounds to me that the "technician" didn't place the speakers properly and it probably is now always in contact with the aluminium grills. That will cause weird audio creaking noise as the speaker vibrations are vibrating the aluminium grills as well. That's why if you press on the speaker grills, it will stop that extra vibration from the speaker grills. Beats Audio will just make more vibrations in the speakers and worsen your problem.

I suggest you find another "technician" because the one you went to is clearly stupid.
 
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Reactions: fujisan582

fujisan582

Member
Mar 31, 2013
32
1
Thanks for the replies!

Wow.. Just wow... Looks like your speaker grills haven't been put in properly.. Did he replace only the LCD or the LCD+front housing?

He replaced the full front housing to make sure we would not have problems fitting the speaker grills again.

Most likely a bad speaker placement. It sounds to me that the "technician" didn't place the speakers properly and it probably is now always in contact with the aluminium grills. That will cause weird audio creaking noise as the speaker vibrations are vibrating the aluminium grills as well. That's why if you press on the speaker grills, it will stop that extra vibration from the speaker grills. Beats Audio will just make more vibrations in the speakers and worsen your problem.

I suggest you find another "technician" because the one you went to is clearly stupid.

Sounds like you are on to something. I got a similar answer on ifixit where I posted the issue.
Will get the guy to open my one up again and make sure the speaker is properly in place before ordering a new one. These suckers are $2, but shipping from HongKong is $23!

Thanks again for your help!
 

n1234d

Senior Member
Aug 18, 2013
1,375
483
Mumbai
Google Pixel 6a
Most likely a bad speaker placement. It sounds to me that the "technician" didn't place the speakers properly and it probably is now always in contact with the aluminium grills. That will cause weird audio creaking noise as the speaker vibrations are vibrating the aluminium grills as well. That's why if you press on the speaker grills, it will stop that extra vibration from the speaker grills. Beats Audio will just make more vibrations in the speakers and worsen your problem.

I suggest you find another "technician" because the one you went to is clearly stupid.

Hi Zero, probably should start a new thread for this, but I've noticed this in all the Ones I've seen. What happens is the Upper speaker has good amounts of bass and treble but very low midrange. On the other hand, the lower speaker has good midrange, okay bass, and lacking treble. That's exactly why it sounds uneven. Can you please make a mod to solve this?
 

fujisan582

Member
Mar 31, 2013
32
1
For anyone interested in an update - the issue doesn`t come from vibration on the grilles. There is a small rubber around the speaker to prevent that and we doubled it to see if it makes any difference. It doesn`t. We realized that the noise was coming from some kind of short circuit whenever we pressed the daugther board along the top of the phone (we could hear a small buzz each time we pressed it). Next stop = electronics technician...
 

Tej XFire

Senior Member
Aug 7, 2014
119
9
San Francisco
For anyone interested in an update - the issue doesn`t come from vibration on the grilles. There is a small rubber around the speaker to prevent that and we doubled it to see if it makes any difference. It doesn`t. We realized that the noise was coming from some kind of short circuit whenever we pressed the daugther board along the top of the phone (we could hear a small buzz each time we pressed it). Next stop = electronics technician...

Hello mate ! Sorry for asking this question, as this thread was started long ago. How does it perform now ? Do you regret that your device has been repaired ? Can you please upload some photos of the device ? Does it look and feel like it was a new device after the entire messed up repair ? Sorry for asking these questions. Thanks in advance :good:
 

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    Hope someone on here can help me; I've searched everywhere can could not find a solution. The technician who worked on the phone for over 10-15 hours over 1 month looked at me in despair and said "I have no clue"; I thought he was going to start crying.

    Everything but the camera worked perfectly before the technician opened the phone to start working in it a month ago. It went downhill from there.

    Sequence of events
    1. Had a camera problem (constantly out of focus) on my US HTC One Dev edition that started 6 months after owning the phone, which I absolutely loved. Searched and found this was a hardware issue.
    2. I'm in Canada with a US phone, so no warranty. HTC wants $200 and 3-6 weeks to fix it. Local shop wants $75. After asking if they knew how to fix this specific phone and that they had the tools, I leave it with them.
    3. They installed the new camera, damaged my top speaker grille and phone side, and the screen is uneven (technician: worst phone I have ever seen to repair) If you want an idea of the process have a look at the ifixit website.
    4. I order top grille for replacement ($10) from ebay. I realize the screen is has not been properly installed and after 2 days I have a purple dead pixel.
    5. I leave for a trip with my family over the Holidays - I start taking photos in low light, guess what? Damn purple issue starts. The new camera was an omnivision from a bad batch (pre-Nov 2013). Fortunately, as a true geek I brought another camera with me, just in case.
    6. I order a new camera myself from etradesupply $30 plus $20 shippling = $50. 2 more weeks go by.
    7. I receive the grille and get the phone back to the technician, he puts it back together, but the grille won't bend and stick to the phone.
    8. New camera arrives and Iget the phone back to the technician to install it, which he does.
    9. I come back to pick up the phone - screen is all pixelated and dies shortly thereafter.
    10. Technician proposes to swap screen from a bricked One he has from another customer. I hesitate, but agree; just want a working phone already. Donnor phone is pretty much destroyed in the process.
    11. Back at the shop to pick up my phone: everything finally looks great. I realize back home that the sim card cannot be detected, and that the speakers make a bad creakling noise when volume is higher than 8 or 9 or at normal levels during a phone call
    12. Back at the shop - he fixes the sim card issue (pooly connected wire), speaker issue remains and we have no clue where it's coming from. That's were we are at.


    Lessons learned for both of us:

    1. The HTC One is a fantastic phone...until it breaks.
    2. technicians should refuse to repair the HTC One, it's almost guaranteed that they will damage something
    3. I should have sent the phone to HTC for 4 weeks paid $200, pay $100 for a loaner phone and be done with the problem...

    Problem description

    Problem is blatant when volume is at 8 or 9 or more, but is also there at lower volumes, and during phone calls at any volume, there is a creaking noise from the speakers mostly top one. When we press on the grilles the problem is slightly better.
    When the whole phone (electronics) was outside the aluminum unibody frame the noise would stop. As soon as we inserted the top end of the phone assembly into the aluminum frame the noise started.

    When beatsaudio is off problem is not as bad.

    We inspected the motherboard, daughterboard, casing, speakers and everything looks fine (i.e. nothing broken or missing).

    Questions

    1. Speaker worked perfectly before the technician swapped the screen and reassembled the phone. It's kind of odd that both speakers started having the same issue at the same time. Is it worth trying to replace the speakers with new ones?
    2. Could it be interference from something that was not properly put together?
    3. Should I use the phone as a hammer, throw it as far as I can from the top of a 30-story building, in a river from a dam, put it in a bucket filled with fuel, or tie it to a propane tank and shot a bullet into it?


    Thanks so much for any help!

    Wow.. Just wow... Looks like your speaker grills haven't been put in properly.. Did he replace only the LCD or the LCD+front housing?

    Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk
    1
    Most likely a bad speaker placement. It sounds to me that the "technician" didn't place the speakers properly and it probably is now always in contact with the aluminium grills. That will cause weird audio creaking noise as the speaker vibrations are vibrating the aluminium grills as well. That's why if you press on the speaker grills, it will stop that extra vibration from the speaker grills. Beats Audio will just make more vibrations in the speakers and worsen your problem.

    I suggest you find another "technician" because the one you went to is clearly stupid.