midnightvisions
02-09-2011, 07:50 PM
Hello,
I've had two Pearls an 8100 and an 8110, both have had the white screen of death scenario happen many times. I have read many fixes through the forums, but the the fixes don't seem to work, the only thing in common was the phone was disassembled. The very act of disassembling the phone seems to fix the problem until the next occurrence. I always used my phone at work and noticed the same series of events happening, the phone when carried on its side would not get the white screen but carried vertically, it would.
I went and purchased a video microscope (for another electronics project) to go over the board and found the LCD connector pins under the flexible connector was very poorly soldered, some having no solder at all. The pictures are 40 times magnification. It looks like a wave solder machine was used, however the socket is a poor design and blocks the solder from getting to the pins under the LCD flexible connector.
There are several videos on you tube that show how wave soldering is done. On the picture each track is .3mm wide so it's very tiny. The pin on the left I'm guessing is the back light as there is carbon debris around the pins from excessive electrical jumping to the pin (it was sitting on top of the solder, it was not soldered itself). The next pin has no solder on it, and is only connecting by touch. Any upward movement by the LCD (such as a bounce) will push on the connector and disconnect the pin, causing the LCD to crash, and you get the white screen of death scenario.
You can see the solder is splashed far above the pins onto where the connector sits. As the white screen of death has happened to nearly every Pearl 8100, 10, 20, 30 owner, there should be a product recall to get this fixed. All Pearls are manufactured the same, so all would have the same manufacturing defect. The next time this happens to a Pearl owner and you take it apart to check it out, look at the LCD connector and see the condition of the solder. You can use any magnifying glass 10 to 40 power, or eye loupe to see it. There should be no charge for anyone who complains to Blackberry to get this type of fault fixed. I used a .4mm solder tip and a 40 watt soldering pencil to re-solder the connectors, in the picture on the right. All on one side of the connector needed re-soldering as visually all looked in poor condition.
To get Blackberry to do a product recall would take a large outcry by the owners of the machines, but its not impossible.
I've had two Pearls an 8100 and an 8110, both have had the white screen of death scenario happen many times. I have read many fixes through the forums, but the the fixes don't seem to work, the only thing in common was the phone was disassembled. The very act of disassembling the phone seems to fix the problem until the next occurrence. I always used my phone at work and noticed the same series of events happening, the phone when carried on its side would not get the white screen but carried vertically, it would.
I went and purchased a video microscope (for another electronics project) to go over the board and found the LCD connector pins under the flexible connector was very poorly soldered, some having no solder at all. The pictures are 40 times magnification. It looks like a wave solder machine was used, however the socket is a poor design and blocks the solder from getting to the pins under the LCD flexible connector.
There are several videos on you tube that show how wave soldering is done. On the picture each track is .3mm wide so it's very tiny. The pin on the left I'm guessing is the back light as there is carbon debris around the pins from excessive electrical jumping to the pin (it was sitting on top of the solder, it was not soldered itself). The next pin has no solder on it, and is only connecting by touch. Any upward movement by the LCD (such as a bounce) will push on the connector and disconnect the pin, causing the LCD to crash, and you get the white screen of death scenario.
You can see the solder is splashed far above the pins onto where the connector sits. As the white screen of death has happened to nearly every Pearl 8100, 10, 20, 30 owner, there should be a product recall to get this fixed. All Pearls are manufactured the same, so all would have the same manufacturing defect. The next time this happens to a Pearl owner and you take it apart to check it out, look at the LCD connector and see the condition of the solder. You can use any magnifying glass 10 to 40 power, or eye loupe to see it. There should be no charge for anyone who complains to Blackberry to get this type of fault fixed. I used a .4mm solder tip and a 40 watt soldering pencil to re-solder the connectors, in the picture on the right. All on one side of the connector needed re-soldering as visually all looked in poor condition.
To get Blackberry to do a product recall would take a large outcry by the owners of the machines, but its not impossible.