iPhone 3G and 3GS
iPatch can replace the broken screen and LCD's on your iPhone, iPhone 3G or 3GS. We offer an exceptionally quick turn around time of less than 10 minutes (on appointment) for the 3G and 3GS and the work can also be done while you wait. Some customers have concerns about sensitive data on their iPhones so if you do wish to make sure your data is protected, plese anable the four digit passcode lock found under the general settings tab. This prevents anyone other than you from using the phone at all
What's inside your iPod?
An iPod, be it an iPod mini, video, nano, photo or earlier generation consists of seven interchangeable components. The fact that all these components are originally put together on an assembly line means that the individual components can be replaced without too much effort if you know what your doing!
Above shows the core components of an iPod video (with broken LCD screen). The rear case with battery and headphone jack/hold swith assembley is on the far left, followed by the front case, the main frame with logic board and then the hard drive and faulty screen
The seven core components of the various iPod's include:
- The case or frame
- The logic board (circuit board to which everything connects to)
- LCD screen
- Hard drive (or flash memory as found in the iPod nano range) and it's connector ribbon
- The battery
- The headphone and hold switch assembly
- The click wheel assembly
Common iPod faults and how we fix them
Water Damage:
Ok, I cannot stress this enough...If you drop your iPod in a puddle / down toilet / spill beer on it etc etc DO NOT TRY AND TURN IT ON! If it hasn't gone off already then switch it off asap. Here at iPatch we have special drying lamps and when you send us your water damaged iPod we totally (and I mean totally!) dissasemble it and leave it under the drying lamps for a good few days. The gentle heat dries the fragile components thoroughly and we can also clean any sticky residues off using cotton buds.
In the above picture, water damage can be clearly seen in the upper right corner of the iPod (next to the battery power connector) and also on the hard drive itself just to the edge of the picture. In this case, the battery had exploded
Once your iPod is dry, we then test each individual component separately before reassembly. That way we know if any part has shorted itself and needs replacing. What commonly happens is that the battery shorts itself and discharges completely thus preventing any serious electrical damage to the circuit board, shown in the picture below. A simple battery replacement has your iPod working EXCEPT if you have tried to plug in your iPod to its charger. This will, in most cases fry it beyond repair! If in doubt, contact us asap! Water mixed with copper connectors found on the hard drive, battery, screen and click wheel tabs creates copper oxide (remember school chemistry) as it corrodes, leaving a blue/white residue. The quicker the moisture is removed, the less damage by corrosion!
Water damage caused the battery connector to short and burn, you can see the missing copper foil wires in the bottom left
Battery Faults:
Oh dear, is your iPod lasting the length of only one of Meatloaf's greatest hits instead of two or three? Do you charge it all night only to find it runs out of music juice before you even get to work? It sounds like you are suffering from the excellent iPod's most common demise. As in all rechargable goods, the battery can only withstand a refill a few hundered times before it's capacity decreases. Fortunately replacement batteries are readily available and will give a better run time than the original! You will often find the iPod switches off pretty quickly after removing it from a power supply. A low battery icon may also display on the screen
Cracked or damaged LCD Screen:
Before screen replacement
Did you sit on your iPod? Did a small child think your iPod had a touch screen and give it a good press? Accidents happen and if you notice cracks, lines or funny dark splodges on your iPod's screen then don't panic, the screen can be replaced. The LCD screens are incredibly fragile and as apple actually glue the screens to the case, even the slightest bending force on your iPod can cause them to crack. Replacement screens are often brighter than the original and are installed with the utmost care to reduce dirt and dust from sitting between the screen and the case. iPatch is also one of the first and only UK iPod repair companies to repair the screens on the new iPhone and iTouch.
After screen replacement
Hard Drive Problems:
A common sign of HD problems is a repetative ticking sound coming from the drive, a failure for the iPod to boot up properly, a picture of a folder icon with an exclamation mark or the famous iPod sad face icon. This is very common especially in iPods over a few years old (4th gen mono/phot suffer a lot). The hard disk is not very different from the ones found in your home PC's and laptops, just more compact. The reason they have a high faliure rate is due to the daily impacts your iPod suffers whilst playing. Nano's use flash drives with no working parts so they are much more reliable. Flash drives can also be installed into iPod mini's as part of an upgrade
Another fault is with the master boot record (MBR). This invisible partition of all apple drives (be it hard drives or flash drives) contains all the information that the drive needs to opperate correctly. If it becomes corrupted then the drive won't know it's a drive! It takes a while to completely wipe and re-write it but it has saved many from much more expensive repairs! At iPatch, this is the first thing we check for on iPods with hard drive problems
Software Problems:
If you accidently remove your iPod before it finishes syncing with iTunes or maybe you just confused the little machine with some funny data then it can cause some software glitches and twitches. At the worst you may loose all your data but the software can often be re-installed back to factory settings. Many owners of the iPod Shuffle experience a dead iPod if they unplaug it too early or whilst syncing. iPatch can bring your shuffle back to life again with a bit of tweaking!
Headphone and Sound Problems:
Sometimes a knock or strain to the headphone socket can damage a little sound board inside your iPod. If you experience crackly or intermittent sound, sound from one ear or just no sound at all then your board may need replacing. It could of course just be your headphones so listen to your iPod with a fresh working set if you can first! The 5th gen iPod video's commonly suffer from sound faults and most often the sound will go in the right earphone
Click Wheel Problems:
If your click wheel behaves erratically then it may well be damaged. Don't fear, your click wheel can be replaced. Erratic screen movement or music jumping could also mean faulty software or hard drive, so do check with us first
Case Replacement:
The cases can take wear over time and a new case is the best way to restore your iPod to brand new condition. We offer a total case replacement or can just replace the front or back cover. iPatch can also swap your cover for a different colour resulting in a funky colour clash with your click wheel!
White faceplate with black clickwheel
Scratched Case:
An alternative to having a new case is to get rid of the scratches yourself. A tried and tested method is to use Brasso! By gently buffing your plastic casing with Brasso and a lint free cloth, without using repetative circular motions, scratches will magically dissapear. Always test this method on a small area first and do not attemt it on the aluminium casings of the iPod mini and nano 2nd generation. Also avoid polishing the clickwheel as it has been known to cause some staining. Instructions on how to do this can be found here