Broken Razr Maxx Screen Repair Please Help!

[Raided]

I've owned my razr max since it came out and i LOVE this phone. I have never had a problem out of it and have once went 3 whole days W/O a charge. I have managed to drop it a few times to no avail, but today i got out of my car and it seemed as if it leaped out of my lap and flew 2 yards out and landed in gravel (instead of the grass right by the curb) so now the face glass is shattered, but the phone still functions like a champ. Sadly i have no insurance on the phone.

The things i seek for help today are:

1: Where can one acquire Razr Maxx screens and parts?

2: Is there any tutorials on razr/maxx screen repair anywhere online? Google has failed me on finding them

3: Since the touchscreen still works, do i need a front cover or digitizer?


I'm confident i can repair the phone by myself but finding parts/info is proving hard for this phone.
Thanks in advance for any help provided.

[greyghost04]

Go to ebay. Find video of repair on youtube

[huskur]

Parts from Ebay......Watch youtube videos on repair and that will tell you what you need as far as the parts

[FoxKat]

I've owned my razr max since it came out and i LOVE this phone. I have never had a problem out of it and have once went 3 whole days W/O a charge. I have managed to drop it a few times to no avail, but today i got out of my car and it seemed as if it leaped out of my lap and flew 2 yards out and landed in gravel (instead of the grass right by the curb) so now the face glass is shattered, but the phone still functions like a champ. Sadly i have no insurance on the phone.

The things i seek for help today are:

1: Where can one acquire Razr Maxx screens and parts?

2: Is there any tutorials on razr/maxx screen repair anywhere online? Google has failed me on finding them

3: Since the touchscreen still works, do i need a front cover or digitizer?


I'm confident i can repair the phone by myself but finding parts/info is proving hard for this phone.
Thanks in advance for any help provided.

The digitizer and SAMOLED display are fused together in a pair in their native home (inside your phone). Either can be gotten as a single unit but you then face yourself with having to pry apart the broken screen from the good digitizer and risk breaking the digitizer, imparting dust and dirt between the two glass faces of the good parts once you try to reaffix them, destroying the glue strip that meshes the two together, and just too much hassle for the cost savings in my mind. Save yourself a lot of headaches and potentially even more cost once all is said and done, get the pair as one unit. Plug and play.

Good luck.

[SallyC]

Not sure if this is exactly what you're looking for or not: New Original Motorola Droid Razr XT910 XT912 Digitizer Touch Sreen Digitizer Replacement

[Raided]

Thanks Fox, you seem to be the head honcho in these forums so i'll take your advice as to buying them already assembled. The price seems ok (compared to a new phone) but i did call motorola and they seemed confident they could do the repair for between $150-$200 but it would take a week or so. I hate the idea of someone else doing my work for me, but right now that quote is cheaper than the price of the parts alone if i buy them online.

Is they any recommendations where to find a cheaper samoled and digitizer together?
Seems as if everywhere is sold out =(

[FoxKat]

Thanks Fox, you seem to be the head honcho in these forums so i'll take your advice as to buying them already assembled. The price seems ok (compared to a new phone) but i did call motorola and they seemed confident they could do the repair for between $150-$200 but it would take a week or so. I hate the idea of someone else doing my work for me, but right now that quote is cheaper than the price of the parts alone if i buy them online.

Is they any recommendations where to find a cheaper samoled and digitizer together?
Seems as if everywhere is sold out =(

Thank you so much for the (unwarranted) complement. Believe me, I'm far from "head honcho". Just look at my title and you'll see I'm "Moderator" which is low-man on Totem pole in the Administrative hierarchy here. Still, I do try very hard to be as helpful as I can to everyone.

As for the cost of that mated glass pair, I have seen them in the past for far less, however I just did another search and the prices are ALL now in the $200+ range. I suspect it's due to an increase in demand, versus a limited supply. For example, you can get replacement digitizers and displays for earlier phones for 25% of the cost of the same for the RAZR/MAXX.

The best price I've seen in my searches now are $220. If it will help, here's a video (silent) which demonstrates replacing the digitizer/screen ( ), and though there are others, at least this one shows just how difficult it is to remove the back from the adhesive on the battery. For you, I recommend less pressure and more time than even this video shows to allow the adhesive to "let go" rather than "pulling" it off as you risk damaging (bubbling) the battery if pulled too hard.

I've found that if you apply just enough pressure to separate the two sides and "listen" to the parts as they pull apart you can hear the glue letting go. Reduce pressure to where the sound stops and then increase slightly until the sound starts again. With this amount of pressure - just enough but not too much, you will not only prevent damaging the battery but will also not tear the adhesive preventing it from making a smooth and proper fit when replacing it.

Also, be extra careful as you work around where the speakers (top of phone, front-facing ear and back facing speakerphone) and microphones (top of phone on back between speaker and camera flash, and bottom of phone both middle back and middle front), as they all have a very thin foam rubber grommet surrounding them which is very easily damaged or torn. If that grommet were to tear or be disrupted, you will end up with (in the case of the speakers) a reduced volume level and loss of deeper mid-range sound, or (in the case of the microphones) poor audio quality and possible increased background noise from you for the other party on a phone call. When in doubt, chicken out.

Good luck.

[Raided]

Thank you so much! That video was very intuitive, but rest assured i have/will not handle my own phone as ruthlessly lol. I have already pulled my phone apart(i used a heat gun to warm up the adhesive) and it seems simple enough, it'll just take some time. After veiwing the video though i feel i can handle only replacing the digitizer for the bigger savings or atleast a chance for it lol.

Again, Thank You for sharing your wisdom. It has helped immensely!

[FoxKat]

Thank you so much! That video was very intuitive, but rest assured i have/will not handle my own phone as ruthlessly lol. I have already pulled my phone apart(i used a heat gun to warm up the adhesive) and it seems simple enough, it'll just take some time. After veiwing the video though i feel i can handle only replacing the digitizer for the bigger savings or atleast a chance for it lol.

Again, Thank You for sharing your wisdom. It has helped immensely!

Some warnings for you. Be very careful with that heat gun. If you were to raise the temperature of the battery to between 158 to 194°F or higher, you could trigger a self-heat process that will then result in a thermal runaway. This thermal runaway may not happen immediately and could take from one to several days to fester until reaching a critical state. The result would be catastrophic and could result in severe burns or the start of a house fire.

You can minimize this risk by working on the phone when the battery is nearly depleted (15% of charge capacity or so), but NEVER heat a fully charged battery under any circumstances.


Also, under NO circumstances should you use METAL tools to pry open the case or you could risk shorting the battery via a puncture. Furthermore, be extra careful not to short the two battery terminals either in or out of the phone.

Best of luck to you.

[twobadfish]

Go to ebay. Find video of repair on youtube

Funny. I searched YT and found nothing. So did a Google search, found this thread.

Edit: Deleted flame, FoxKat, DroifForums Staff

EDIT: The Droid RAZR disassembly isn't the same as the Droid RAZR maxx but it was close enough for me to figure it out.