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OK, so you want/need to take your Curve apart?
Yep, videos aplenty on Youtube and other sites. Unfortunately they are also tiny and grainy as #ELL!
Soooooo...
*DISCLAIMER*
THIS WILL INSTANTLY VOID YOUR WARRANTY.
Provided they can actually PROVE you took it apart, naturally.
I mean if you roll into AT&T complaining you BB is broken and you have a flashy white housing with red trackball, it's safe to assume they will tilt their heads to the side and laugh at you when you mention the word "warranty."
I will NOT be held responsible if you screw up your phone for ANY reason. So don't PM me, email me, BBM me, or otherwise cry to me because you deviated from anything other than what I typed/posted below. I will not be held liable for Gorilla hands, Conan strength, or Corky brains.
*DISCLAIMER*
Ok, A-Hole rant off.
I did this for you because I :
Was bored
Was inquisitive
Haven't seen it done
Felt like doing it
Had a camera handy
Wanted to work on my sarcastic literary skills
Etc...
Anywho...
Y'all ready?
Cool.
Y'all absolve me of any liability?
Cool.
You. Yes, you. The one that didn't say yes to my absolution? Please press ALT + F4.
Cool.
We all still here?
Cool.
Read this whole posting at least 5 times before starting, check out the Youtube videos, and keep the page open while you are doing it so you have something to look back at if you get confused or lost...
Ok, class is in session. Pay attention
Step 1:
Duh, find somewhere to do this.
It is NOT difficult to do. It is NOT an arduous task. The "somewhere to do this" is NOT sitting on your couch watching the game while eating nachos and making a general pig of yourself. A large, flat, well illuminated area is the ONLY place to do this. There are small parts involved in the disassembly of your phone, and the last thing you want to do is be crawling around on your hands and knees looking for a tiny screw. Don't do it because I WILL laugh at you so hard I pee myself a bit. You are hereby warned. Don't be a knothead. Do it right, or don't do it at all. I don't want to read "I followed Jack's instructions and now my phone's broken" when the reason it broke was because the phone flew out of your hands because your fingers were covered with bacon grease from that 10 pound order off cheesy-fries...
Which reminds me:
Wash your hands thoroughly before starting!
TOOLS NEEDED:
1 - T5 Torx screwdriver
1 - T6 Torx screwdriver
Some fingernails (People say you need some sort of plastic pry tool to split the case open, but you don't)
Patience and a bit of forethought to realize you are working with a delicate electronic device containing many small FRAGILE plastic parts. It's a phone, not an M1a2 Abrams Main Battle Tank.
Still here?
Cool.Last edited by zx7rou812; 12-17-09 at 09:29 AM.
12-14-09 11:49 PM - Step 2:
Duh, get your phone...
Step 3:
Take the case cover off (if you have one)
Step 4:
Remove the battery cover by pressing down on the silver button and sliding the cover towards the top of the phone. Take the cover and put it off to the side because that is what you'll be putting the screws in so you don't lose any of them.
Step 5:
Remove the lower cover/bottom retainer "U clip"
This is done by pressing down on the silver button and FRIGGEN GENTLY pulling it away at the red arrows and rotating it off. It may feel as if it is going to break, but if you go FRIGGEN GENTLY it won't. Remember the words "FRIGGEN GENTLY" because you WILL see them again. Often too!
What you SHOULD have now is something that looks like this:
As a VERY important notation. See that coppery-yellow looking thing the red arrow is pointing to? Yes? Good. That is your antenna. It is VERY fragile and will rip/break VERY easily. So leave it alone, and DON'T FRIGGEN PLAY WITH IT!12-14-09 11:50 PM - Step 5:
Take your battery out and put it aside. You will NOT need it again until you are putting it back together, so keep it out of your way until then. Now put your phone on it's face and let's see what we have inside...
Red arrow is your Micro SD card. You DO have a Micro SD card, right?
Green arrow is your SIM card.
Verizon/Sprint/Nextel owners take note : You ain't got the thing the green arrow is pointing to. You don't need one, so don't overly concern yourself with it. Back to the task at hand. Head back in the game, you crazy kids.
Step 6:
These 2 screws at the top have to come out. The are T5 Torx. Remember, righty-tighty. Lefty-loosy. Yes, I took the pic before I plopped the battery out. Don't sweat the small stuff...
Step 7:
You need to FRIGGEN GENTLY pry the side retaining clips out at the top of the phone. This is done at the location marked by the red arrows.
What you will notice is once they start to come out the will feel as though they are secured in the middle. They are. Very slightly though, and with no screws so just pull them apart enough to get them to look like the next pic.
Last edited by zx7rou812; 12-15-09 at 12:03 AM.
12-14-09 11:50 PM - Step 8:
Time for that faceplate to come off! Very easy to get off as well, but EXTREMELY fragile. So go FRIGGEN GENTLY. There are 2 tabs on the left side and 2 tabs on the right side. None on top, none on the bottom. I recommend getting one side free first, which makes it silly-easy to take it off without breaking anything. Slightly pry it away and lift. FRIGGEN GENTLY. Red arrow in top pic points to the top tab which is the weakest.
Mind the tabs the red arrows are pointing to, because they are Italian. They are fra-geel-ay. Spelled f-r-a-g-i-l-e.
FRIGGEN GENTLY
As a side note:
Don't be shocked when you get the faceplate off and the keyboard cover falls off. It's not connected, and just held in place by the faceplate once secure. Yeah, it scared the heck out of me the first time it happened, thought I broke my phone. Now put the keyboard aside, next to where you put that little U-cover you thought you were going to break.
Now you should have this:
If you just want to replace the faceplate, you can stop here. That is all that is required to replace the faceplate on a Curve.
Another side note here.
This is the PERFECT time to clean all the crap out from on and under the various nooks and crannies. ESPECIALLY on the LCD and the back side of the LCD cover.Last edited by zx7rou812; 12-15-09 at 09:51 PM.
12-14-09 11:51 PM - Step 9:
Time for those side rails to come off all the way.
Red arrows point to the 2 screws that need to come out. These guys are T6 Torx. A bit fatter than the 2 you unscrewed to get the side rails floppy.
Once those are out, the side rail covers will come off and you'll have:
Now take those T6 screws and put them with the T5 screws in the battery cover, and put the side rails with the rest of the stuff you took off already. Amassing a nice pile of parts, yes?
Step 10:
Time for the upper 2 screws (those are T6 Torx as well), to come out. Red arrows point to what you need to remove.
NOTE: 2 things are going to happen once you get that last T6 out.
The entire keyboard housing will come loose, and the metal LCD retaining bracket will go BOING! Don't worry, the bracket will not go flying away. But it may flip the keyboard housing off the phone. Not like psycho dirtbike backflip, but enough to startle you if you don't expect it. It won't go far. Promise.
Once those last 2 T6 screws are out, it should look like this:
Red arrow points to the bracket that will go BOING!
Now if you are especially savvy you will notice that my phone is an 8300 yet I am using an 8330 keyboard housing. Yes it the exact same as the 8300, 8310, and 8300 with the exception of the angle of the green call and red end keys. A small file taken to the edge of the plastic cover on the faceplate took care of the angle, and made it look like it was born there. Go back and check the first few pics if you don't believe me.
12-14-09 11:51 PM - Not really a "Step" here, but something I discovered for myself as NOWHERE had this listed...
Ever notice people's Curves that had a keyboard that WASN'T white when it lit up? How did they do that? Easy, friends. Quite easy.See those red circles in the pic below? Those are your keyboard LED's. They all light up at the same time and let you see the keyboard when it's dark.
How to change the color?
You cut little pieces of Scotch tape, cover the LED's, and hit the tape with a Sharpie, or a dab of nail polish. It's NOT permanent and will require a touchup now and then. You'll be able to tell when you look at it and say "Hey, where did the color go?"
FYI : There are 7 keyboard LED's. The 8th one in the pic (top middle) is the trackball LED.
Step 11:
Seperate the "guts". Easy. Only 3 parts left. Motherboard with LCD, LCD retaining bracket, and rear cover. Red arrow points to LED that flashes for incoming calls, etc. Do NOT color this one, duh!!!
That's it. That's your Curve stripped nakkie! Not alot to it. Not overly complex or anything. Actually, anything BUT complex. Basically a mini computer stuffed into a little clamshell. Pics that follow are the motherboard/brain. Skinny wimpy thing, aint it?
12-14-09 11:52 PM - Oh Shoot!
I almost forgot the single most asked question on Crackberry...
"How do I replace the trackball on my phone???"
Ok, this can be done whether you take the phone apart or not.
Step 1:
Pry off the trim/retaining ring.
I pry from the bottom as this way there is no chance of:
Snapping the bottom prongs off the trim/retaining ring
cracking the LCD cover
The ring is held on by 3 double legged FRAGILE prongs located at the 9 o'clock, 3 o'clock, and 6 o'clock positions.
FRIGGEN GENTLY
Once it's off, you'll have this:
Step 2:
Turn you phone over, and your trackball housing will fall out. Then you'll have this:
Pop your new trackball (or freshly cleaned trackball) back in, and pop on the retaining ring. Dishes are now done.
As another note of interest, these are the prongs on the ring.
FRIGGEN GENTLY.
12-14-09 11:52 PM - Obvious the assembly of the phone is the reverse of the disassembly.
Any questions, feel free to ask. If you broke your phone because you are a ham-fisted Neanderthal, do NOT come crying to me.
Hope this helped out a bit. As I said, this is not difficult. The parts are a bit fragile, but not wet toilet paper fragile, so have a bit of patience and a gentle hand and you will get the phone completely stripped in less than 4 minutes. I described it alot more than was necessary, and intentionally made it sound like your phone was just waiting to break into pieces in your hand. I did that to reflect a light touch and go easy. If you've never done it before, it can be a daunting task and I would rather have too much information than not enough.
Jack12-14-09 11:53 PM - It's called the "Mini Bold-14 icon Homescreen".
Made by ryaninfg here on CrackBerry
Can be found HERE
The wallpaper is my own though.
Here it is if you want it.
Jack12-15-09 09:04 PM - CBA:
You want a 9000 teardown?
No problem, just send me one.
Jimbo:
Brave? Nah! It's easy enough to do. Just take your time and don't force things apart. Nothing on a 'Berry is hydraulically press fit, so it will come apart. Trust me, plenty of people on CB have replaced their faceplates and housings.
Jack
Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com01-03-10 09:38 PM -
I did the same thing for speaker replacement, too.
http://forums.crackberry.com/f52/how...speaker-83100/
Jack03-13-10 11:57 PM
