Anyone replace a digitizer on a sensation yet?

[midtskogen]

from what I have been able to deduce, something about the space between the digi and lcd causes the unresponsiveness. try using a little more adesive, maybe a layer on a layer, it may work a little bit better

I don't think increasing the distance will help. I've tried to take out the entire digitiser, and it behaves in the same way. Unusable for the first 15 - 20 seconds, then it works just fine. I'm not sure either what a physical explanation for any change in behaviour depending on the distance could be.

 

[Equinox102]

Is this exactly the same behaviour everybody else here has seen after replacing the digitiser?

Yes. The exact same behaviour here.

Could we all have digitzers with a faulty/fake component?

 

[midtskogen]

Yes. The exact same behaviour here.

Could we all have digitzers with a faulty/fake component?

Or the digitiser isn't meant for our hw revision of our phones. But Sensation is pretty new, so how many hw revisions could there be? I bought my phone in May. and I suppose it's among the initial batches.

 

[what9000]

They're definitely not the same. It could be that the HW revision of the digitizers we are getting is older, or for a different HW model of phone (Z710A, or something that just doesn't agree with the model we currently have) considering some report the problem going away once putting the original, damaged digitizer back in... and then immediately cropping back up once the replacement is swapped.

My original digitizer (Also reads HTC on top left of bezel, T-mobile on right) circuitry reads:

PYD V1.0
SW-10 94V-0
E308252.1117

one (of two, both just have generic "HTC" logo in center top of bezel) of my replacement digitizers:

PYD V1.0
E219454<>1
ruICACichia
94V-0 1112

There has to be something differing there.

 

[midtskogen]

My original digitizer (Also reads HTC on top left of bezel, T-mobile on right) circuitry reads:

PYD V1.0
SW-10 94V-0
E308252.1117

My original says exactly the same, except it's .1111 not .1117. I don't know what the replacement says and if the text is in the same place, it would require me to take it completely apart again to find out.

The original is completely shattered in my case [dropped by my three year daughter and tumbled down concrete stairs...], so I can't put it back. And it doesn't feel right just to buy another phone since it's working great apart from this issue! I've asked the dealer who sold me the digitiser to help me out and I referred to this thread. Hopefully someone at HTC can clarify eventually.

 

[tangcla]

I've just replaced mine, and every time after the LCD is activated, the screen is very unresponsive for 15-20 seconds, and then everything is just fine as long as the LCD remains on. Is this exactly the same behaviour everybody else here has seen after replacing the digitiser? The most irritating bit is that it makes it hard to answer a phone call in time.

That's the exact fault that I have. I put the old digitizer back on and it works just fine.

one thing I did notice with the stock digitizer, is that there's a piece of foam at the top of the digitizer where the ribbon is. Maybe this affects the spacing/gap? I doubt it though.

 

[what9000]

There is that foam spacer, yes... I have a feeling that the model revision just isn't right for this phone though. I will try one last time to get a legitimate T-Mobile digitizer and see if that makes a difference.

Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using xda premium

 

[Equinox102]

There is that foam spacer, yes... I have a feeling that the model revision just isn't right for this phone though. I will try one last time to get a legitimate T-Mobile digitizer and see if that makes a difference.

Keep us posted.

 

[what9000]

Proving harder than expected. Even the ones that say T-Mobile still have the same serial as the no namer.

Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using xda premium

 

[midtskogen]

Has anyone tried to get HTC to comment on this compability issue? I tried, but the answer was just: these are things that can happen when you try to repair yourself, take your phone to a proper repair shop, blah blah. Not very helpful, and I don't want to send away my phone for a trivial replacement, wait two or three weeks, risk that the repair shop run into the same issue, and have to pay half the price of the phone (a repair would cost about US$300-400 here).

 

[what9000]

I wouldn't expect them to comment on non-htc repairs. I know I have spent $100 on replacement digitizers so far with no result. Its almost not even worth it to repair these devices yourself... A coworker of mine uses the $6 a month unlimited insurance... I think he's broken about $300 in digitizers so far, and I'm slowly moving onto that line of thought.... :/

Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using xda premium

 

[j_r0dd]

I just wanted to throw some info your guys' way. I sent my phone to HTC for repair because I had the dust under the screen issue. The replaced the screen and immediately I started to notice the unresponsiveness. I tried the ground pin fix which some people were reporting worked for them which did absolutely nothing. I contacted HTC and just sent it back today. I really don't think you guys are missing anything if HTC's own repair department can't get it right either. Maybe they got a large batch of faulty screens??

 

[what9000]

Ugh. I think at that point its just worthwhile to nag them until they replace the phone

Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using xda premium

 

[shawndh]

Unresponsive aftermarket screens

Just to add to this discussion, I too am having the same problem. About two weeks ago, I attempted to repair a Sensation for a customer and had the same nightmare with the unresponsive screen. I though I had damaged the motherboard so I bought the phone from her so I could test it further. We tried 3 different digitizers with the exact same intermittently unresponsive screen. Without fail, every time you turn the phone off and back on, it takes several swipes to move the ring into the middle on the lock screen.

I then installed a multi-touch test app from the market place. I put the app on the lock screen and opened the app (after several swipes) from the lock screen. For the first few seconds you can see a very choppy colored dot representing the tracking of your finger. After a few seconds, it gets smooth again. This is the case EVERY time you turn the screen off and back on again. That leads me to think there is a grouding issue.

Finally, I got another T-Mobile Sensation that needed an LCD. This phone worked but the LCD would not brighten up. You could see everything but it was very dark. The response was normal. We took the motherboard and flex cable out of that phone and swapped it with the phone with the unresponsive screen. The only thing left from my phone was the digitizer, middle frame and LCD. The phone had the same unresponsive screen. Then We fired up the other phone with his dark screen and digitizer and the screen responded normally, but it was just dark.

So at this point, I'm thinking that it's the screens that are either duds or not compatible with the US T-Mobile version phones. Right now, I'm trying to get my money back for these screens. The supplier is trying to send me some more. But what heck do I need with more defective/non working screens? So for now, I am NOT fixing Sensations at all! I wish I could get my hands on a T-Mobile branded digitizer.

BTW. I found these at Global Parts Direct. They're $56 dollars though.
http://www.globaldirectparts.com/HTC-Sensation-4G-Digitizer-Touch-Screen-p/htc745100.htm

 

[midtskogen]

Thanks for sharing your efforts, shawndh. Since T-Mobile is often mentioned, I'd like to add that there is no particular brand on my phone and digitiser. I bought the phone (without any plans) in Norway, and the digitiser was sent to me from a Danish supplier. It all looks original HTC, but one never knows.

Since the grounding is something that has come up several times, one thing I did try was to ground the phone (through the spring thing on the side) by wiring it to true ground (i.e. ultimately to the water pipes), which didn't change a thing.

 

[tangcla]

I gave up and sold my phone on eBay.

 

[shawndh]

I'm just about there myself. It's crazy! My personal Sensation works perfectly. But this one is just gone nutz! I'm tempted to buy some from that supplier I linked to but I'd be pissed if that still doesn't fix it. I'm afraid to open my own device now.

BTW, I went to a local supplier to try his Sensation screens. His didn't work either. They were also HTC branded without the T-Mobile logo but from a different source. I told the guy what was happening with them and he said he would let me know how his repair goes on his friends Sensation. '

I'm also going to take my friends Sensation digitizer out and put in my phone to see if the T-Mobile branded digitizer will work better. He's replacing his LCD so that will be a good time to experiment. I'll post back my results.

 

[tangcla]

After slicing the first digitizer's ribbon by accident (sliding it between the chassis and LCD) I'm pretty apprehensive about opening up a phone if there's no need

 

[vvv1vvv]

Another way to test if grounding is the issue would be to try and fit back a broken digitizer. This would work if the old digitizer didn't get completely shattered as mine was. I've seen pictures with one crack in the middle or a broken corner.

I bought my replacement from ebay (seller: yallstock) for $27.99, transport included. It is unbranded, but so was the original. It suffers from the same problem reported throughout the thread.

 

[tangcla]

Another way to test if grounding is the issue would be to try and fit back a broken digitizer. This would work if the old digitizer didn't get completely shattered as mine was. I've seen pictures with one crack in the middle or a broken corner.

I bought my replacement from ebay (seller: yallstock) for $27.99, transport included. It is unbranded, but so was the original. It suffers from the same problem reported throughout the thread.

I put my original digitizer back on and it works fine.