In my previous post I valiantly declared that my non-waterproof iphone [ see here ] probably just needed a new battery and all would be tickety-boo. Well, it turned out to be almost the case.
Above is the phone with the new battery part way soldered in. It was with a dry mouth, shaking hands and the warning of "don’t short the li-ion battery to the case or explosions will occur" ringing in my ears that I donned soldering iron and non-lead solder. I was using Bill’s soldering iron initially but it was a pre-77 iron and really wasn’t up to the job as it lacked the fine point required for modern electronics. If you’re wondering how I know it’s pre 77 then it’s because I had to wire a plug onto it and the wires were red, black and green. Verrrr old.
After I’d almost completely destroyed the iPhone motherboard and solder was spread across all contacts, the heat-sink, the motherboard, my desk and a pile of receipts to the right of my keyboard I decided that the tools just weren’t up to the job. A quick trip to Maplin secured me a nice new soldering iron, a solder sucker, some de-solder braid and some unleaded solder – one must think of the environment and all that. Back to work I went and this time it was much more successful.
When I powered up the handset I noticed that there was considerable water damage in the screen which just made things look crappy. In a moment of what can only be described as sheer lunacy I decided to take the whole thing apart and "Isopropyl Alcohol" the screen so that it would be a whole new groovy iphone and I would be the toast of Olde Wigan Towne.
This is the iPhone with the screen disassembled. People forgot to mention that you need a clean room, sixteen arms and a fucking clue to reassemble this thing. Not a hope. I had the screen cleaned up and back together in a thrice. The handset powered up and there was nothing – the touchscreen had ceased to work. So apart it came again, only this time I managed to crack the display and also snap the wire connecting the front button to the motherboard. The new glass was a tenner and I could repair the wire – so I wasn’t massively concerned about this disaster. I reassembled the screen in a different order [ and yes I do realise I should have taken photos as I was disassembling it 🙁 ] but was all for naught. I decided it was third time lucky. Disassembled, rearranged and was in mid reassemble when I managed to tear through the connecting strip from the motherboard to the radio circuitry. Game over. Bastard!
The last resting place of Darren Steele’s first generation iPhone.
9th Nov 2007 – 23rd July 2008. Rest in Peace.