Switch LITE with WATER Damage | Can I FIX It?

Summary

The video depicts an attempt to repair an iPhone with water damage and prior failed repair attempts. Despite replacing various components and troubleshooting for hours, picture could not be restored though audio works. The likely culprit is backlight issue but connector damage prevents further diagnosis. Despite best efforts and consultations, the repair is deemed unsuccessful for now until new parts can be obtained, though the repairman remains determined to revive the device.

Takeaways

• 😟 The phone has prior damage and repair attempts
• 🔧 He tries cleaning corrosion and reflowing chips to revive it
• 👍🏻 Replacing a coil gets it to turn on initially
• 😠 But still no image or backlight despite much troubleshooting
• 😡 He accidentally breaks connectors while working on it
• 😅 With help, reflowing another chip gives sound but no image
• 😟 Suspects backlight IC or connector is faulty
• 😞 Runs out of donor parts to continue troubleshooting
• 😔 Declares it a failure after many hours of work
• 💃 Inserts lyrics from a song at the end

Q & A

What device is being repaired in the video?

An iPhone with a cracked screen and other damage.

What was the initial problem when trying to turn on the iPhone?

It would not power on at all, even when plugging in a charger.

What was causing some of the corrosion on the logic board?

It appears there was prior water damage inside the phone.

What component was eventually replaced to get the phone to turn on?

A coil near the BQ chip that had no continuity.

Why did the phone still not work correctly after replacing the coil?

The backlight was still not turning on, so there was no video display.

What other repairs were done during the process?

The FPC connector and battery connector were replaced after getting damaged.

What was the suspected cause of the lack of a video display?

An issue with the backlight IC or related connector.

Was the repair ultimately successful?

No, the backlight issue persisted so the repair was abandoned for the time being.

What was the total repair time invested?

Over 6 hours spread across multiple attempts.

What lesson was learned from this repair experience?

Sometimes persistence alone isn't enough to successfully complete a complex repair.

Outlines

00:00

😀 Unboxing and inspecting water damaged iPhone.

The video narrator unboxes an iPhone purchased on eBay that was listed as water damaged. He inspects it and finds some scratches, no cracks on the screen, and rust inside the charging port. He attempts to turn it on but it does not power up, indicating it needs to be taken apart and repaired.

05:01

😟 Attempting repair by cleaning corrosion inside phone.

The narrator opens the phone and finds signs of prior repair attempts, misaligned cables, corrosion, and rust inside. He cleans the corrosion with alcohol and reflows some chips, but the phone still does not power on. He suspects the problem is related to the corrosion around the logic board.

10:04

😣 Extensive troubleshooting to trace and fix power issue.

After extensive troubleshooting, the narrator determines the problem is a damaged coil near a chip that is preventing power from passing through. He replaces the coil, allowing power to flow again. However, the screen still does not light up, pointing to a potential issue with the backlight IC.

15:05

😩 Replacing multiple parts trying to get screen to work.

The narrator replaces multiple cables and boards but cannot get the screen to turn on. He finally gets sound working after reflowing a chip based on advice. However, without a working backlight IC, the video signal does not appear on the screen.

20:06

😞 Forced to admit defeat after long repair attempt.

After many hours of troubleshooting and part replacements, the narrator is still unable to fully repair the water damaged phone. Though very close, without more donor boards to get new connectors, he cannot trace the root cause and is forced to stop without a working display.

25:07

🕺 Lighthearted ending dance and sign off.

The narrator concludes on a positive note, doing a lighthearted dance and song as he signs off, taking the repair failure in stride.

Keywords

💡repair attempt

A repair attempt refers to the video creator's efforts to fix the damaged iPhone he purchased. He notes evidence that someone else had tried and failed to repair it before he got it. This concept is central as the video documents his own repair attempt and struggles.

💡corrosion

Corrosion refers to the wearing away or deterioration of metal parts inside the iPhone, likely due to water damage. Finding extensive corrosion helps explain why previous repair attempts failed and poses a major obstacle for properly fixing the device.

💡reflow

Reflowing involves heating up and re-melting solder to restore broken electrical connections on circuit boards. The video creator reflows several chips on the logic board in an attempt to fix issues caused by corrosion.

💡backlight

The backlight provides illumination for the iPhone's display screen. The creator suspects the backlight IC chip may be damaged, preventing an image from appearing on the screen even when the device turns on.

💡donor board

A donor board refers to a working logic board harvested from another broken iPhone that can provide functioning replacement parts. The video creator relies on donor boards to source several components.

💡daughter board

A daughter board is a smaller, secondary circuit board connected to the main logic board. The creator checks the daughter board but finds no issues, ruling it out as the problem.

💡coil

A coil is an electrical component that creates a magnetic field and can act as an inductor or electromagnet. Replacing a damaged coil near a corroded chip restores continuity and allows voltage to flow again.

💡continuity

Continuity refers to an unbroken electrical pathway. Checking for continuity and finding breaks in connections helps diagnose issues on the circuit board.

💡logic board

The logic board, also known as the main board, is the iPhone's central circuit board containing the processors and connections between critical components. Most issues stem from this complex board.

💡shortage

A shortage occurs when unintended electrical connections create faulty current flows not originally designed for. Checking for shortages helps uncover errors introduced during amateur repair attempts.

Highlights

The device has signs of prior repair attempt and water damage.

Corrosion and rust present under shield, likely due to water damage.

Reflowed chips after cleaning corrosion, got signs of life but no image.

Replaced damaged coil to restore voltage flow to BQ chip.

Device now turns on but no image, indicating backlight issue.

Tried different screens to eliminate screen as cause of no image.

Joey from Joey Does Tech advised reflowing a chip to get sound.

Have sound but still no image - suspects backlight IC issue.

Reflowed backlight IC but no change, damaged connector likely culprit.

Ran out of replacement connectors, parking as a failure for now.

Spent over 6 hours troubleshooting with no final solution yet.

Prior repair attempt complicates troubleshooting process.

Step-by-step documentation of diagnosis and repair process.

Collaboration with experts like Joey invaluable for tricky issues.

Perseverance despite repeated failures on difficult repair.

Transcripts

I haven't looked at one of these for

quite a while I picked this up from eBay

I put the list in on the screen

literally and to be fair in the listen

it did say that it's got a little bit of

a a Boeing out here which it does it

basically said that it's had a prior

repair attempt which is never a good

thing condition-wise it's not bad it's

got a scratch on the screen here a few

scratches few scratches on the back but

there's no crack here which is what you

normally get all the screws do appear to

be

present and correct so let's see if it

works of course it doesn't work Steve

right let's have a look at the charging

port before we go jabbing a charger in I

mean from here it looks

okay yeah I think that is probably okay

I should probably get it under the

microscope but I can't be bothered let's

try and Jab a charger in

it okay what's he going to do

it's going to do

zero let's try the other

way it's also going to do

zero right well if that isn't a sign

that it needs to be taken apart I don't

know what is let's get cracking now if

only I could remember how to do

[Music]

this now just the switch this one's

light going to try and fix and put it

I hope it don't have no more damage cuz

that will give me emotional D this we

big than to them kicking things off with

BL BS bad of scatch I'm going to fix

this don't ask me ask Coy J cesti world

what's wrong with me plenty steeve fre

TV Adam Taylor with the RDL 10 hour give

them hell back to prin wizard in the LA

be SE perfect I can that with anony

[Music]

de we thank the C now the hhg much love

to all we're like a

[Music]

family

jamese B Michael Big

E that BR Jonathan hard

flux Chris parus or a cat Kip V Steve's

the Panic get the money Larry W Lucas s

quick a chance it's

over

[Music]

peace

okay the water damage indicator is not

fully pink but it's probably Pinker than

it should be and we've got some what

appears to be

rust here which is never a good sign is

it why is it Rusty and you can see it on

there as

well

H right well that ribbon cable isn't in

properly can see that much this has

definitely been a part

before although that appears to be stuck

down which is that's usually a Telltale

sign isn't it

well that ribbon Cable's definitely not

in I might have done that though let's

see if there's anything in this battery

multimeter in voltage

DC

4.5 M Vols mini micro whatever they are

right well that isn't going to work is

it well I very much doubt that that is

the problem but you know it could be

okay well let's have a look at this

board under the microscope let's check

out this

port

Port is solid right well that is broken

or

bent but again don't think that would

make too much of a

difference yeah there's just little

signs here isn't there of

corrosion and obviously rust I mean I

don't know what's under that I probably

should do I have no oh does it come off

it comes off very easily let's have a

look oh good God

okay I definitely think that is rust and

corrosion right

there that is not

good we got corrosion here on this

ribbon

C right I think I know what's happened

so someone has done a prior pair attempt

on this they've opened it up and they've

gone I'm not taking that any further

because there's corrosion

everywhere I think I'm going to start by

giving it a good C clean there's some

like ear wax or something down there

which is which is nice uh start by

giving it a good clean and then we'll

see what we're left with h and to clean

it I'm going to use some ice probal

alcohol and I'm going to try not to

spill it but I can't make any

promises

right well this bit doesn't appear to

have cleaned

up I mean what is that that's the that's

the connection from this board to the

daughter board over here isn't

it doesn't look

great remarkably they appear to be going

where where they need to go are any of

them shoting

together I don't think they are but the

there could be some odd resistance

readings because we have definitely got

corrosion which appears to be across the

pins give them a bit more of a

[Music]

scrub might get away with that that

might be okay so what sort of damage

have we got under this Shield here I

mean to be fair the components look all

right but if we've got corrosion that's

gone under this this looks like a BGA

and I still don't know what it is

there's no is there no markings on it or

anything oh yeah there

is C yw4

356x and then loads more

writing right well the they're on

AliExpress and it is appears to be the

Wi-Fi um Bluetooth module so would that

stop it from turning on I don't know

it's more than likely going to be the

corrosion that was on and around this

ribbon cable let's have a look at the

actual cable itself yeah we got a bit of

corrosion on there haven't

we let's clean that

up again that might be okay might get

away with it right what am I going to

do let me see if I've got another

battery that I can plug into it and

let's see what it does then I've just

found this one I don't remember looking

at it but I must have done at some point

it's got a battery in it it doesn't have

a motherboard God knows where that's

gone but let's see if there's any charge

in this

battery yes 3.4 volts I mean it's very

very low but I would expect that so

let's take this battery out of here and

let's try it in the other one I'm going

to use some hot air just to

loosen the the adhesive

200° should do the

[Music]

job who would have thought the hardest

part of this repair would be getting an

old

battery out of a a donor board the

hardest part of this repair

okay we're getting somewhere

now good

grief I'm going put some ice propyl

alcohol down there and hopefully it will

do

something it did do

something IPR alcohol to the

rescue right I don't know if I've

damaged that

but let's just make sure we've still got

the voltage in

it yes 3.45 that's good enough for me

and if it's good enough for me it's good

enough for you and if it's good enough

for

two I can't remember the rest of the

words right we're in battery in that

ribbon ca's back I've not taken anything

else out of this I've just cleaned it up

a bit let's see if it's doing anything

different I'm going to guess no that it

isn't but let's try

it no absolutely nothing oh

no it went up to 0.03 amps there for a

very brief

second try that way

around 0.0

0 okay so it's not just the fact that

the batter is completely flat there's

something else right well I think I'm

going to take the board out because I

don't know what it's like underneath to

a so let's do

that

okay we have corrosion and rust on that

side as well okay let's get this under

the microscope right now for the main

[Laughter]

event oh

what I think it might be a game over for

this

I mean the rest of it on this side looks

okay it's just all here isn't

it let's get scrubbing and let's see

what we're left

with

[Music]

damn it's really bad around here

this is the BQ chip I

[Music]

think right well I mean it's cleaned up

kind of okay hasn't it obviously I don't

know if any of those things are any good

they might all be broken did right well

let's check for

some

shortages around BQ and

M92 it's always a good thing to do isn't

it yes my multimeter is in

cat right

well remarkably there's nothing around

M92 let's check

these and there's nothing there

obviously I need to clean a bit better

around around here but there's no shorts

there

so obviously I need to clean this bit as

well I'm going to give it a bit more of

a clean and then what I'm going to do is

I'm going to

Reflow these chips I'm going to add some

flux and I'm going to see what happens

it's possible we just got a bad

connection

[Music]

somewhere

all right let's had some flux around

here and let's Reflow the M92 the

BQ and yeah probably all of the chips

around here let's just get

[Music]

cracking

[Music]

oh

okay I think they all moved and went

back in nicely maybe let's clean it up a

bit right well let's just plug this in

now now that we've done that and see if

we get any signs of

life

no I mean I've got nothing connected

but no still nothing why would it do

that let's pop the battery on I mean I

don't know does everything have to be

connected I can't remember it has been

that

long plus I've got a memory like a SI

with battery does that make any

difference why is he not drawing

anything why is he not doing

anything is that does that point to BQ

or

M92 or both probably I mean obviously

that's where all the corrosion was it

could be any of those components around

there I guess let's try and follow that

5 Vols round so got 5 Vols here do we

have 5 volts there voice over Steve here

I was working on this thing for a long

long time so to save you from the pure

hell of watching a buffoon fumble around

for over 6 hours I'm going to summarize

this bit I followed the voltage round

and it was present everywhere up to the

coil near the BQ chip checking the coil

it didn't have any continuity through it

so I repl replaced it with one from a

switch donor board that I had lying

around continuity was restored and the

voltage was now passing

through yeah we got continuity through

it now see told you so let's pick the

video up where I've plugged the battery

back in and we're going to see what it's

doing

now

0.04

0.46 I mean I would expect that with

everything else connected gone off one

point does that mean it's come on

now I that's either really good or

really bad because I've not got anything

else

connected

okay I think I need to pop this back in

the in the case and see what

happens

0.01

0.04 but don't forget this battery is

completely

flat right let's try let's try the other

battery right so this is the good

battery

0.01 0.02 yeah this is not the same

behavior let's try removing that it

didn't go in nice I think that connector

might be might be

knacked try it like

that I mean I know the battery connector

wasn't great either yeah that doesn't

want to stay in like

that .46

0 1.01 is this is this on now I've

disconnected that ribbon cable this is

what we was doing before isn't

it I'm not going to know cuz that's the

backl isn't it

um I've still got I've not got any

speakers connect right oh what a

shambles a shambles indeed Steven so in

case this is overly conf fusing

replacing the coil and putting in the

known working battery appears to make

this thing come on and yet the screen

doesn't show any signs of life and

connecting a speaker up to it there's no

sound either with all my messing around

the FPC connector on the main board

gives up the clasp snaps off so I'm

going to have to replace it the battery

connector is also broken so that'll need

swapping over too I guess it's time to

find a donor board

okay let's give it a

[Music]

go oh nice

[Music]

nice okay I'm happy with that and

surprised now it's just a simple case

for

putting them on the board I'm working on

come

[Music]

on

[Music]

I've melted

it well that didn't like last long did

it luckily I have some more boards in

here if I melt them

all I'm going to be out of

look that one looks all

right right let's get that one off let's

try

again you know what they say practice

makes perfect or in my case the complete

opposite

probably

I get them off without melting

them it's just putting them back on

that's the problem I'm not convinced my

eyes are going to be good

[Music]

enough I it's doing a bit of dancing but

I don't know if that's good or

not

[Music]

I can't

tell let's put it under microscope right

well remarkably that looks all

right yeah that's on nicely let's have a

look at this connector

then wow was not expecting

that

that looks okay I think they're all

connected I I'm kind of flabbergasted if

I'm honest that looks pretty good to

me okay I still don't think it's going

to work

but I think that connector's on connect

replaced lots of other things that I've

done and I can't

remember

0.46 that's good I'm scared to turn this

over zero oh I'm going to have to turn

it over

over there's nothing on the

screen right let's try this put speaker

in see if we can hear

anything

no V back again you're probably going to

be f up of hearing me there's a few more

hours of me messing around with this

thing I replaced all the ribbon cables

it made no difference I changed the

daugh board over with a known working

one that made no difference I put it in

a different housing with a known working

screen that made no difference I broke

the FPC connector again Harrah it was a

complete and utter nightmare anyway I

was all for giving up but I just

couldn't let it

lie right I had all but giv up on this

and I was having a chat to Joey off of

Joey does Tech because he knows a lot

more than I do about these things and he

convinced me to Reflow this chip here

don't know what it does but I did and

then all of a sudden I had

sound which I wasn't getting before so

the thing is definitely turning on which

is awesome news however I still don't

have picture this is the original

motherboard but all I've done is I put

it inside this yellow one and right what

do I need to do I need to turn it

on it's been a very long day so

apologies

oh disconnected the

battery told you it been a long

day right here we

go we go at

.46 this is the behavior it was doing

before drops down to zero 1.8 nothing on

the screen but

now you hear

that is

on and I've tried into two different

ones to try and eliminate the the it

being the screen itself as the problem

so that's two different screens same

same thing we get sound we do not get a

picture because I think the backlight

has gone so now then from what I've read

online I believe this one here is the IC

for the backl now admittedly this

connector isn't great but it does look

like all these are on I mean I could be

wrong so what I'm thinking of doing is

reflowing this because it's a little BGA

it's absolutely tiny so I'm going to

give it a go I've got nothing to lose at

this point other than my dignity which I

think I lost a long time ago in this

[Music]

video

[Music]

well it gave a little dance gave a

little

dance made a little love get down

tonight I don't think that's going to

done anything but it's worth a shot

right right let's try it now

.46 down to

zero

and we're on but with no

[Music]

screen so the problem still

[Music]

there I feel like I'm very close but a

million miles away at the same time I

don't feel like I can carry on without

changing that connector because if it is

that connector then I'm just wasting my

time I'm chasing something that's not

there but I've run out of connectors I

think I'm going to have to park this as

a failure and then revisit it a bit

further down the line I'm absolutely

gutted can you tell I'm really gutted I

spent a long time on this but hey that's

the way the stupid cookie

crumbles

do a little dance make a

little love Get Down

Tonight get down

tonight and do a little dance and make a

Little Love Get Down

Tonight Get Down

Tonight