[Q] White screen of death?

[Entropy512]

Has anyone encountered the following issues with their SHIELD?

Mine was working just fine after updating to 4.3 and rooting with CWM. I performed multiple reboots in this configuration, played games, etc. - everything was fine.

I had a pretty busy weekend so didn't touch the SHIELD at all for a few days. When I got back:

When I opened it up, I saw the screen backlight turn on but nothing displayed on the screen. The SHIELD button was glowing green.

I long-pressed the SHIELD button to turn off the device. When I turn it back on, I get a white screen that is dark around the edges (mostly vignetting around the corners). The brightness of the screen here and degree of vignetting seem to change every time I try and turn on the device.

If I enter fastboot mode via the key combo, the same thing happens - white vignetted screen. The device DOES appear to enumerate as a fastboot device on my PC in this configuration.

At one point I figured it might be due to a low battery, so plugged it into the charger. 30 minutes later, when I opened the lid, I actually came up to a launcher screen with 65% battery.

However, after closing the lid and reopening it again - black screen again, with the "white vignette of death" coming back if I reboot.

Has anyone else seen similar behavior? Searching results in no one complaining about a white screen like this, at least not on this device.

 

[nmerc001]

Screen of Death

This just happened to me today. Did you find a fix for this problem?

Has anyone encountered the following issues with their SHIELD?

Mine was working just fine after updating to 4.3 and rooting with CWM. I performed multiple reboots in this configuration, played games, etc. - everything was fine.

I had a pretty busy weekend so didn't touch the SHIELD at all for a few days. When I got back:

When I opened it up, I saw the screen backlight turn on but nothing displayed on the screen. The SHIELD button was glowing green.

I long-pressed the SHIELD button to turn off the device. When I turn it back on, I get a white screen that is dark around the edges (mostly vignetting around the corners). The brightness of the screen here and degree of vignetting seem to change every time I try and turn on the device.

If I enter fastboot mode via the key combo, the same thing happens - white vignetted screen. The device DOES appear to enumerate as a fastboot device on my PC in this configuration.

At one point I figured it might be due to a low battery, so plugged it into the charger. 30 minutes later, when I opened the lid, I actually came up to a launcher screen with 65% battery.

However, after closing the lid and reopening it again - black screen again, with the "white vignette of death" coming back if I reboot.

Has anyone else seen similar behavior? Searching results in no one complaining about a white screen like this, at least not on this device.

 

[DJNinja1625]

Might be just bad luck for me.....

This just happened to me today. Did you find a fix for this problem?

So ive already gotten two shields and they both got the same effect. my guess is the ribbon cable when you open and close the screen, is wearing off? because when i open my shield in a certain way, it works... when i open it at around 100 degrees or open correctly then tilt it forward, the screen tears and slowly shows the white screen. I do admit that i open and close the screen more than i should, but i do it carefully. Ill look over at the ifixit site to see how the cable is connected to the board.

 

[0mega007]

This is what has me worried about buying a shield, the ribbon cable, did you confirmed this was the problem?

 

[Solarenemy68]

So ive already gotten two shields and they both got the same effect. my guess is the ribbon cable when you open and close the screen, is wearing off? because when i open my shield in a certain way, it works... when i open it at around 100 degrees or open correctly then tilt it forward, the screen tears and slowly shows the white screen. I do admit that i open and close the screen more than i should, but i do it carefully. Ill look over at the ifixit site to see how the cable is connected to the board.

I am a tech by trade and bought one of ebay for 40 bucks cuz it would not power up so the guy claimed. After getting it I found the issue was actually the display was not coming on and once it did. Then went out in a few moments. Connect it to HDMI and the unit runs all day of you want to be cabled. ]

So I tore it down and found that the issue is the flex cable. The problem is that the flex cable is part of the LCD and you cannot just replace the cable. Also since the unit is so new there are no sources as of yet to by the LCD from.

So if you have this issue I suggest just holding out till a source of LCD's at hopefully a reasonable price become available.

 

[nex86]

So it's soldered to the screen and not replacable right?

 

[Solarenemy68]

So it's soldered to the screen and not replacable right?

That is correct.. The flex cable is actually an integral part of the display and even has much of the driver circuitry placed right on it at the LCD. In the business we call it a flex circuit since it is a flexible circuit board and not just a cable.

 

[nex86]

I pretty much know what you mean.
On my old Archos Gamepad I ripped the flex that connected the left side of the controler to the logic board by accident.
It was a pain in the ass to fix it by soldering seperate wires, I guess it's impossible to do this with the display connection in the Shield.

 

[Solarenemy68]

I pretty much know what you mean.
On my old Archos Gamepad I ripped the flex that connected the left side of the controler to the logic board by accident.
It was a pain in the ass to fix it by soldering seperate wires, I guess it's impossible to do this with the display connection in the Shield.

Might be possible if you used 32 gauge magnet wire. It is enamel coated so it won't short, but it to will break over time.

 

[dragxdk]

hi, flash factory image

Sent from my LT25i using XDA Free mobile app

 

[Solarenemy68]

hi, flash factory image

Sent from my LT25i using XDA Free mobile app

How are you supposed to flash a factory image when the screen won't let you see what you are doing? When you are in the bootloader screen the HDMI drivers are not loaded yet so not even hooking it to an external monitor will work. You might want to fully read and understand the problem next time before offering advice.:good:

 

[nex86]

fastboot tells you if you were sucessful or not.
just for relocking the bootloader you have to do some button combinations, you can look up some tutorial videos to see what you have to press.

 

[Solarenemy68]

fastboot tells you if you were sucessful or not.
just for relocking the bootloader you have to do some button combinations, you can look up some tutorial videos to see what you have to press.

Even still, it is not a software problem that causes this. I know because if I move my display to a certain angle it will start to work sometimes. A software issue would not cause this. I also have taken my apart since I am a tech and can actually see the traces in the flex cable that have broken..

Any device with a folding display is a bad idea and a failure waiting to happen. Flex cables have a limited number of flex cycles that is even usually published. So the idea of using them in a device that may get heavy use is just dumb.

 

[nex86]

Any device with a folding display is a bad idea and a failure waiting to happen. Flex cables have a limited number of flex cycles that is even usually published. So the idea of using them in a device that may get heavy use is just dumb.

I agree, they used flex in the Nintendo DS and 3Ds as well, but they don't break that fast.
I find it still better if they have used recular cables like what they use for Laptops.

 

[TheFrozenGamer]

Even still, it is not a software problem that causes this. I know because if I move my display to a certain angle it will start to work sometimes. A software issue would not cause this. I also have taken my apart since I am a tech and can actually see the traces in the flex cable that have broken..

Any device with a folding display is a bad idea and a failure waiting to happen. Flex cables have a limited number of flex cycles that is even usually published. So the idea of using them in a device that may get heavy use is just dumb.

What you are saying is the EXACT same thing that happened to my SHIELD. I can tell its a hardware problem because when I tilted my screen it would work, and sometimes it wouldn't. Now my SHIELD's display does not even show any signs of picture. HDMI still works, however. Like one of the previous posts said, there is not a screen available for purchase, so my next step is NVIDIA customer support. Maybe if they would sell these screens, I wouldn't even have to have a warranty claim. sigh.

 

[darcdrac]

White screen of death?

yes mine too same as
i tried connecting my via HDMI from power cable to large HDMI to plug it works fine on my galaxy tab
thought id be clever try it on nvidia shield never worked sould of bought mini HDMI so now White screen of death
i cant get into recovery or anything i had this on charge for 12 hrs yesterday still no green button on charge only orange .. i too cant find anything on internet to help with this White screen of death situation

 

[toph the earthbdner]

How are you supposed to flash a factory image when the screen won't let you see what you are doing? When you are in the bootloader screen the HDMI drivers are not loaded yet so not even hooking it to an external monitor will work. You might want to fully read and understand the problem next time before offering advice.:good:

This. I'm having a similar issue. My wife's SHIELD has an unresponsive touch screen. So I tried to flash the factory image (It was never rooted to begin with) and I got the white screen issue when in the bootloader screen. I have to keep restarting it to get the screen to show up as normal when the device boots to the home screen. But the bootloader screen is still blank and white. I was able to watch a video and mimick the steps to flash the factory image but that did not fix the issue. It's definitely a hardware issue. I live in Cincinnati OH, anywhere I can go to have this fixed? I have a portable myself and i know this is going to happen to mine soon.