Hey.
As it often happens, the themes are thrown up by life. It happened this time too.
All my acquaintances know about my hobby and therefore usually turn to me with everything related to the repair and customization of phones. The topic of film and glass stickers is no exception, to which I am already accustomed and take it as a kind of skill training.
But sometimes people do strange things that they cannot explain later. It happened this time too – a friend bought a 4X protective glass for her Xiaomi Redmi and took it to the salon of one of the major retailers so that they would stick it on. Why she didn't contact me, she couldn't explain.
But this is all lyrics. The bottom line is that after installing the glass in the cabin, a dark speck appeared in the lower right corner of the display. When asked why and what to do with this now, the employee who installed the glass replied that this is normal and will pass by itself. Supposedly, he just pressed the matrix a little, but this is not critical, after a while the crystals will return to normal and the stain will disappear.
It did not pass. Moreover, instead of disappearing, the stain began to grow, filling more and more space.
As a result, the phone came to me like this.
At first glance, it became clear that the point was not that the display was 'pressed down a little', but that the glue-gluer had gone too far with moistening the display surface before installing the glass.
The guess was confirmed after the story of a friend about how the glass was installed. It turned out that the consultant rubbed this corner for a very long time with a damp cloth, trying to drive out the bubbles that he was letting in there due to inaccuracy.
It seems that either the napkin was too wet or the consultant was overly diligent. Be that as it may, something needs to be done to save the phone.
My proposal to go to this consultant and take money from him was refused, since it turned out to be inconvenient for a person for reasons of morality (by the way, they did not take money for this gluing – it seems that they decided to show loyalty so that there would be no more severe consequences ).
Well, the owner is a master, no, no.
Considering that the original display will take a long time to wait and the pleasure is not cheap, and the copy will be very fragile due to the lack of tempered glass, I decided to try to save this display on the condition that if it does not work out, then I will have to replace the module.
Keeping the original is always better than a replacement, especially with models from the past, for which the original part will be difficult to find.
Consent was obtained, and I proceeded to resuscitate.
First, we disassemble the patient. We take out the sandwich of the motherboard and display from the back cover tray.
After that, we remove everything that is possible from the frame on which the display module is attached.
When removing the battery, pay attention to these tabs – they are made on purpose so as not to disfigure the battery.
We just pull them out carefully and slowly, and the battery itself falls out.
Don't try to wring out the battery – just slowly pull out the tape.
Now our task is to remove the display from the frame. To do this, heat it up with an ordinary household hair dryer. Then, using a suction cup, pull the module until a small gap appears and drip alcohol into it – this will simplify the gluing and help prevent back gluing of the adhesive tape, which holds the display on the frame.
We slowly peel off the display, remembering to warm it up and drip alcohol.
The main thing here is not to rush and not to damage the trains. To do this, before starting the gluing, you need to peel off the cables from the back side so that they do not cling to the case.
With the display removed, it's time to test the theory that liquid is to blame for screen darkening.
To do this, we layer the backlight and see what is the matter there.
We see an ugly oily stain smelling of soap – which was required to prove, the module is filled with impregnation of wet wipes.
The display itself works normally and has no traces of oxidation on the connector cables, which means that the moisture has not got anywhere except for the backlight layers. This is a good sign – the display must survive.
We disassemble the backlight completely, removing those layers that can be removed – we will clean the rest directly on the display.
We need alcohol for cleaning. You can use both medical and isopropyl.
I use medical grade, as isopropyl in such works can leave marks and streaks.
The most important part of the job is washing and drying the layers.
The hardest part is with the internal reflector, which has diagonal layers into which any dirt can be clogged, which makes it very difficult to clean. But a lot of alcohol, patience and time did the trick.
So layer by layer we clean everything from traces of wet wipes.
It turns out pretty good. Hopefully, small imperfections in the form of small dust particles, which cannot be avoided, will not be visible in the final result.
Here the diffuser has acquired its original appearance – it is pleasant to look at.
Unfortunately, I only have two hands. Therefore, there were not many photos – I had to keep the parts, wash them with alcohol and then dry them with a hairdryer so that there would be no streaks.
For wiping, it is best to use a lint-free dry wipe.
After everything has been rinsed and dried, it's time to put everything together and try to turn on the phone to admire the result, and either rejoice at the success, or order a new module.
We turn on, holding our breath, and … Everything works, and there are no traces of moisture left. Hurray, success!
It's time to tell the phone owner the good news.
Conclusion
Such work resembles dentistry – if we are talking about a display, then you always need to try to save the original spare part, since a new original one will be significantly more expensive, or, if it is a copy, it will most likely be of much worse quality, both in color rendering and in the quality of the protective glass.
In this case, the owner of the phone was very lucky that the moisture did not go deeper and did not flood the contacts and loops. Given the aggressiveness of the liquid that wet wipes are impregnated with, the consequences can be much worse.
If it were an Amoled display, then this problem would not have arisen. since Amoled does not have a separate backlight. However, even if you have an Amoled display phone, you should be careful and go to trusted locations. And ideally, it is better that the phone is water resistant.
As a result, the phone was returned to the owner, and for me it was an additional skill training and an opportunity to do something unusual, interesting, without a banal replacement.