i bought a used iphone 2g for development.
it's unlocked and jailbroken. i knew that there were issues with the phone
function (actually the speakerphone/mic unit at the bottom of the phone as well
as the home button not working. basically, the home button, when pressed, does
nothing. in order to go back to the main menu, you have to reboot.
ugh.
there was certainly some water damage as you could see. i figured
that since most functions worked, water damage must have occurred at the bottom
of the phone. for poops and giggles, i bought the phone, took the thing apart
(which, btw, is not easy unless you have the right tool (as usual...). a few
scratches later, i was able to take the entire phone apart. this is not easy due
to the amount of glue, double-sticky tape and tight fit of all the components.
in addition, one of the tiny 00 philips screws holding the metal shiny frame
together to the glass touch screen was so rusted in, i had to grind the head
away (what an operation!)...
today, i was finally able to remove the bottom panel that covers the
speakerphone, microphone, and home button. from a simple glance, you could tell
that the home button had some corrosion. taking a razor blade, i cut away at the
two plastic locating tabs that hold the home button membrane in place. again,
peeling away the double-sticky tape, i was able to take a look at the underside
of the membrane button. immediately i could see that one of the resistors was ok
while the other was corroded (it had that greenish/mold look/color). i was able
to simply "brush" away the corroded resistor. that's not good!
luckily,
in the workshop, we have a microscope that's hooked up to a usb camera. here's
what that all looks like in close-up view.
the question now is... can i
just simply solder across the missing resistor gap or do i need to painstakingly
try to find a replacement, super-tiny, 3.270 kOhm resistor?
here are pics of the iphone home button membrane with the corroded
resistor (r8) and a presumably good resistor (r7) measured at 3.270 kOhms.
is it ok to just solder the r8 leads?
r7 resistor at 3.270 kOhms
r8 resistor value? corroded and crumbled...
the home button...
this was the video that helped show me how to take the case apart. not
easy (and they missed a few key steps like the fact that there are tabs at
certain locations that need to be pushed in for the case to come off). i wonder
if they're just showing some parts so that you end up messing up your iphone,
requring a fix? and of course, who can you send it to? ahem...
