[gnrboyd]

Hello,

My daughter's phone is an 8320 that is about 16 months old. Let me first start by saying, this phone has been used and abused. (in Dad's opinion anyway) She sends/receives 5,000-7,000 texts a month, it gets tossed around, dropped, sat on, etc.

The backlight on the keypad/trackball has stopped working. You can twist/flex the phone and the light will come on but when you release the tension, the light goes off again. (I did run the test command and the light sensitivity meter seemed to work fine.)

I've taken the phone completely apart several times and tried to clean every contact I could find. I even slightly bent some of the brass contact points to they would have more tension when the circuit board made contact with the back. Still no luck.

This issue came to my attention when I took the phone apart to clean it because it had been dropped in the water. The phone is working after the water incident (thanks from tips found on this site) but my daughter said the backlight was a problem prior to being dropped in the water.

Does anyone have any ideas on what this problem could be and if so, how it can be corrected? Do you think it is the board itself that is bad and should just start looking for a new phone? Thanks in advance for your help!

[albee 1]

By your description it sounds to me there is a hairline crack in the board right where the path that powers the backlight is. You would need to view the board under a powerful magnifier or microscope to see the crack. It could be repaired but I don't believe it would be cost effective.

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[gnrboyd]

Thanks for the reply. Could you elaborate a little more on the exact location? Would this be near where the trackball connects to the board? From your reply, I take it that this repair is something that would need to be sent back to TMobile or other authorized repair center. Correct?

As a side note, I have taken the little tiny round metal piece out that sits under the trackball before to clean the corrosion when the trackball clicker stopped working. When I put it back, I used a clear piece of shipping tape because the one that was originally there wasn't reusable. Could this have anything to do with it? When cleaning the corrosion, could I have scratched the board ? Or are you thinking the location on the board is somewhere else?

Thanks

[albee 1]

I don't know the location, just know a bit about electronics and boards. If you do find it you will have to remove the insulation film from the path. Then you can purchase a product called nickel print at an electronics supply and paint the pathway back where it has been breached. It will be too minute and too fragile to solder. I don't think the tape had any effect but you could remove it and see what happens. It wouldn't hurt to get a quote for a repair or exchange from your carrier.

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[gnrboyd]

Ok.. thanks for the help. Unless I have specific instructions, I'm probably better off looking into a replacement at this point. (I don't want to make it worse.) We may just live with it until our plan comes due again.

Thank you

[albee 1]

Your very welcome. Sorry I couldn't be more help.

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