Dropped my Bold -- now the back latch is loose!

Thought I'd post my problem here, if anyone might have a word or two of advice that might help....

Indeed, I dropped my Bold today -- from about desk-height to the floor in my office cubicle. No problems with the Bold as far as its operation goes, but I definitely knocked something out of whack with the latch that holds the back on the thing. Here's how it looks now:

http://home.comcast.net/~thoots6/lx3/boldlatch.jpg

So, now the latch "stretches out of its slot" quite a bit, making the already-kind-of-loose back REALLY loosey-goosey. Not fun at all.

I'm sure not going to "replace" it, but I also sure don't know how to "fix" it or if there's any place where I could GET it "fixed." Basically, it looks like the latch normally pushes against the edge of the bezel that goes around the whole device, and that's what keeps it from "popping out" like this. And obviously, it's not fitting up against that edge of the bezel properly anymore.

So, if anyone might have any words of advice for what I should do now, I'd sure appreciate hearing them!

Thanks!

I did the samething. I just use a light/thin "skin" case that is rubber, holds it all together. Also protects it from future drops around the edges.

Wow, I just looked at mine. Mine isn't anywhere near that bad. My release button is still perfectly straight. Your's is just ****ed.

okay so take off the back door
place the phone face down
and on the latch there are rubber stoppers on each side
what you want to do is push it down, on both sides and it should just slide right back down :)

WHOA! dropped mine and it bent the latch button in a tad and half busted the clip on the door itself. My door was so loose after that. I can only imagine how loose your battery door is.

I have since replaced the bezel, battery latch and battery door. It is tight as can be now. The bezel was because of a broken screw incident.

It is really easy to change the latch. take out the 6 screws, pop off the midplate and pop out the broken latch. Then pop a new latch in and re-assemble.

Originally Posted by WSFrazier

I did the samething. I just use a light/thin "skin" case that is rubber, holds it all together. Also protects it from future drops around the edges.

Wow, I just looked at mine. Mine isn't anywhere near that bad. My release button is still perfectly straight. Your's is just ****ed.

Hehehe -- "You got that right."

Indeed, I just ordered an Incipio skin case -- that ought to keep the thing together, and help avoid more problems in the future.

Originally Posted by thoots

Hehehe -- "You got that right."

Indeed, I just ordered an Incipio skin case -- that ought to keep the thing together, and help avoid more problems in the future.

Originally Posted by Rad Bouz

okay so take off the back door
place the phone face down
and on the latch there are rubber stoppers on each side
what you want to do is push it down, on both sides and it should just slide right back down

try thattttttt

Originally Posted by Rad Bouz

okay so take off the back door
place the phone face down
and on the latch there are rubber stoppers on each side
what you want to do is push it down, on both sides and it should just slide right back down :)

Yep, I see all that. Still, it pops right back out, with the slightest effort against it.

Though, looking at it, I could see that the bezel was actually deformed quite a bit -- on the one side that pops out so much, I could see how the bezel was bowed outward quite a bit -- that's got to be the problem, as the rubber stopper on that side has enough room to pop right out, instead of being "trapped" in there.

I just spent a few minutes beating the heck out of the thing, and that helped a little bit -- but not nearly enough. I'm going to have to REALLY beat the holy heck out of it to get that side to lay flat like it should again.

But that sure looks like what I've got to do to get the latch to stay put again....

ahh wtv, just buy a new bezel and new buttons.
15$
not a big deal bro

Originally Posted by ebedoun

WHOA! dropped mine and it bent the latch button in a tad and half busted the clip on the door itself. My door was so loose after that. I can only imagine how loose your battery door is.

I have since replaced the bezel, battery latch and battery door. It is tight as can be now. The bezel was because of a broken screw incident.

It is really easy to change the latch. take out the 6 screws, pop off the midplate and pop out the broken latch. Then pop a new latch in and re-assemble.

I'm not sure that the latch is broken -- it's more like the bezel isn't shaped properly to hold everything together properly anymore. And boy, I've really been beating on the thing, trying to get it back in shape. Still, I'm not anywhere even close to getting there.

Obviously, "get a new latch and a new bezel" would get me back in shape, but my impression is that replacing the bezel is an ENORMOUS undertaking -- including total dissasembly of the whole thing, pulling stuff like the screen apart from the rest of the unit, and all of that. Man, there's no way I'm up to all of that! Or am I mistaken about that?

Originally Posted by Rad Bouz

ahh wtv, just buy a new bezel and new buttons.
15$
not a big deal bro

I understand that it shouldn't cost me much, but as I wrote above, isn't replacing the bezel a HUGE operation? Sure, I can take out a few screws and screw them back together, but if I've got to pull the whole thing apart into a dozen pieces, I don't think I'm that mechanically inclined.....

Originally Posted by thoots

I'm not sure that the latch is broken -- it's more like the bezel isn't shaped properly to hold everything together properly anymore. And boy, I've really been beating on the thing, trying to get it back in shape. Still, I'm not anywhere even close to getting there.

Obviously, "get a new latch and a new bezel" would get me back in shape, but my impression is that replacing the bezel is an ENORMOUS undertaking -- including total dissasembly of the whole thing, pulling stuff like the screen apart from the rest of the unit, and all of that. Man, there's no way I'm up to all of that! Or am I mistaken about that?

you definitely do not need to take the screen off the board. I've never taken mine off in all the times i had this thing open.

for now, you could probably carefully super glue the ends of the latch that sit into the bezel. but you are right a new bezel and latch would be the best way.

hey! that's a nice picture. what camera do you have?

Originally Posted by ebedoun

you definitely do not need to take the screen off the board. I've never taken mine off in all the times i had this thing open.

for now, you could probably carefully super glue the ends of the latch that sit into the bezel. but you are right a new bezel and latch would be the best way.

OK, I just went and had another look at the cnn.cn video, and I'm beginning to understand. While they show you how to go all the way to taking the screen off and all that, you don't need to go all that far in order to change the bezel. And I sure wouldn't mind going to a black bezel.

I don't know -- perhaps the latch mechanism IS broken -- one side hangs on so tight it won't budge, whereas the other side pops out with the slightest pressure. I think your superglue idea is a good one -- I can pull that side out, drop a teensy drop of superglue in there, then push it back together -- that ought to hold it. Certainly, banging on that bezel with a hammer hasn't gotten the job done, and it's damn scary, too!

Thanks for all of your help -- and everyone else, too -- I do appreciate it!

Originally Posted by fabuloso

hey! that's a nice picture. what camera do you have?

What I "have" is quite a few more cameras than I really need. :p

This was taken with a Panasonic ZS3 (also known as the TZ7) -- a pretty darn neat wide angle / 12x zoom / fits in your pocket thing that does better than I ever expected it would.

I've got pictures from it, and others, if you're interested, here:

My Zenfolio galleries

Thanks for the kind words!

UPDATE.....

For anyone interested in my continuing story, I did indeed give the one "broken" side of the latch clip a drop of superglue. I allowed it to cure for about an hour, then started playing with it a bit. I was concerned that the latch might not have as much movement as it originally is supposed to have, but it was going back and forth seemingly well enough.

So, at some time you just have to pop the back on and see what happens, so I finally did. So far, the glue is holding like gangbusters -- that was the problem, it was apparently just plain broken on the one side.

However, my concern about the latch's functioning was ENTIRELY well-founded, as I absolutely, utterly can't get the back cover off anymore. Looking at the latch, it looks like it's actually already in the "pushed in" position, and no amount of effort made in pushing it forward will get the cover to pop open. Bottom line, if I ever really need to take it off, it looks like I'll have to pry it off with knives and/or screwdrivers and such, and have a new replacement cover ready to go, because I'll virtually have to break the latch off of the old cover in order to get it to come off.

So, kind of a bummer, but hopefully I won't really need to get in there over the "life" of the Bold, which will probably be the rest of my two-year plan, when I can get a new "upgrade" device. Hopefully the battery will do OK over that time, and I can always do the alt-shift-delete reset routine rather than doing a physical battery pull, if needed.

I could still think in terms of buying a new bezel and a new latch, but I don't really know how and where the latch "attaches" where I glued it -- is it "glued to the bezel," or "glued to the Bold" itself, presumably to the mid-plate. If it's the latter, then "I'm done."

In the meantime, the glue is holding like gangbusters -- the back is now tight as a drum, which is all I really want. I've gotten an Incipio dermaSHOT silicone case, and I'll give that a good trial -- hopefully it'll give an extra bit of protection if I drop my poor Bold again.

Again, thanks everyone for your comments -- they definitely helped me figure out what to do to "move on with my life" with my Bold. Much appreciated!