Replace broken screen DIY

Rapefruit · 08-17-2009, 02:00 PM

Hello everybody,

a few weeks ago, I dropped my V3 (only days after I sorta rediscovered it) and broke the screen. You know the symptoms from other reports in other forums but I still attached the pictures. Apparently the "glass" doesn't like torsion at all.

At first I thought about donating what was left to the OpenInkpot project but I checked their site and apparently all developers already own (a working) one. Now I did sent some money instead...

Anyways, I sent the picture to jinke, asking if they were selling replacement parts. They do (the screen is 90USD) and they even agreed to low cost shipping (no tracking number but excellent packaging and with two weeks not too slow either) AND managed to follow my instructions (not to include an invoice and mark the package as "gift"). Excellent service if you ask me. No further tax or customs fees added. With bank charges and everything, it was still approx. 100EUR.

Before I go into details about the steps, one important advice: The replacement part has a protective film that you have to remove before assembly. I didn't and I had to go through the whole procedure twice.

Unfortunately I did not take pictures during the whole procedure but I will try to be clear in my description and if you have any questions, I will try to answer them.

You need a pretty small screwdriver for the insides to do this.

Take out the battery and the SIM card (important!)
Remove the rubber plugs from the holes on the backside. (A needle worked good here.) At least with my model, under only three of them were actually screws (bottom left, bottom right, top right)
Unscrew everything. If the screen is broken because you dropped your V3, chances are one or more of the screws broke their supports and there is the possibility of a whole screw disappearing through its hole. This should be avoided especially during re-assembly (you'd have to take it all apart again). One of the screws is of a different kind than the rest. Make sure you know where everything came from.
Try to seperate the upper from the lower part. They are clipped together. When prying it apart, you could try to start with the USB/phones connectors or on a corner or on one of the long sides (there are three clips holding each side, so try in between).
The rubber cover of the connectors will come loose. You can put it aside together with the complete lower half. If you prefer, you can tape on the buttons from the inside so that it is easier to assemble the whole thing again without them falling out of place.
You will see the circuit board. It is held by surprisingly few screws. Losen them. You do not have to unscrew the small daugher board that holds the keys.
Maybe the cable coming from the screen on the left side is stuck to the board with tape. Mine was. You can remove that.
Open the connector to disconnect the screen cable. It is a quite delicate ZIF-connector. You can lift up the colored part pointing towards the cable.
Now you should be able to lift the circuit board up and to the bottom (as far as the connector to the keyboard will allow).
What you will find is a metal carrier for the screen. Mine was stuck to the backside of the screen by adhesive tape (although not very strongly).
Maybe you losened those screws before but if you haven't: The carrier is held with two screws on the right side. The left side is slid under small plasic noses.
Once unscrewed, you can remove the whole assembly. Take out the broken screen and replace with the new one.
Do no forget to remove the protective film!
Assemble in reverse order: Slide the carrier under the noses on the left side and fix with the screws on the right.
Before putting everything back together, now is a good time to remove beach sand from the last vacation and maybe some broken-off plastic.
Now you can fold back the circuit board and attach the screen to the board. The ZIF connector can be tricky but you will know when it is in. Fold down the small bracket to secure the cable.
You can now run a test: Hold the battery against the three terminals and press the power button. Everything should be OK now.
It is advisable to tape down the somewhat stubborn screen connector like it was originally.
Do not forget to include the rubber cover for the connectors when re-assembling! You have to insert it before snapping upper and lower part together!
Once all the screws are back in, you're basically done.

I hope this helps, if any of you ever runs into this problem!

Bye
Rapefruit

DaleDe · 08-18-2009, 02:01 PM

This would make a good wiki page. Thanks for sharing

Dale

Hellmark · 08-18-2009, 06:56 PM

I'm really surprised they were willing to sell you a repacement screen, and that price is pretty good to boot, all things considering (isn't much above their cost, based on the estimates I've seen)

MacZap · 09-10-2009, 04:41 PM

Hello Rapefruit,

you're lucky. Not because you get the replacement display from PVI, but because to replace an e-ink display involve also to reload the correct waveform associated to that display.

Probably, the waveform of the replacement display was similar to the WF loaded in your reader. Maybe you have noticed an increment of the "ghost effect" in your reader. This is because the WF is not correct for your display.

The WF is a small file with the description of the characteristics of the display, and depends by the production lot of e-ink active particles.
Every lot of displays has a different file. To reload it into the reader, you need an hardware and/or software tool.

Moreover, there is also a cailbration to do, related to that small value written on the flexible part of the display (the -1,36 visible on your broken display, different from display to display.

I suggest to avoid to do the replacement DIY, because you can get a unusuable reader, because the ghost effect.

MZ

Rapefruit · 09-11-2009, 03:28 AM

Thanks for the information! Then I am lucky, indeed: I notice very slightly more ghosting but so little that I wasn't sure wether it hadn't been the same with the old screen. Maybe, somebody on the other end was aware of the waveform issue and selected a display with similar characteristics?

I'm not going to try to mess with updating it, but could you elaborate a little more on the wave form? I found this here:

The Waveform
The electronic ink in the display needs to be driven. This driving algorithm is called a waveform. It is a wave or sequence of different voltages that repel or attract the white or black particles in order to pull either the white or black particles to the top. If the waveform only pulls the particles shortly white and black get mixed, which we perceive as grey.

So, does having a (slightly) off waveform mean I get wrong shades of grey? And wouldn't you expect the driver to have some safety margin on the "full white" and "full black" sides to ensure turning completely under all conditions? I expect the eink to behave differently depending on temperature (and thus viscosity of the content of the capsules) and you already would need a safety margin to ensure full contrast under all conditions.

eBookLuke · 10-06-2009, 03:31 PM

mainly, a wrong waveform produces only a ghost effect, that is a persistent image of the previous page, more or less visible.

This is caused by an insufficient clearing of the screen before the new print.

The waveform describes the best way to clear the display, and I suppose that it is generate while testing every lot of e-ink display.

ruskie · 10-10-2009, 03:50 PM

Hmm I would guess this would be stored in the screens firmware and not driver related. So I wouldn't be suprised if a driver can be generic and the firmware is in the screens (whatever)ROM

Rapefruit · 10-16-2009, 02:52 AM

I couldn't find anything that looked like PROM on the replacement part. See my pictures in the first post.
Also, I think it is probably much cheaper to offer a set of parameters for each batch (identified by bar codes on the screen) and leave it to the manufacturers to upload a configured driver. Although your suggestion would be better from an engineering point of view. :-)

magmafish · 05-05-2010, 12:36 PM

I leaned on my Sony PRS-600 (very lightly) and broke the screen!

Now I want to fix it. Sony charges $275 for the replacement part - the price of a new one (on sale)!

I think I'll try to buy a replacement screen from Hanlin and put it in my Sony.

Wish me luck

eBookLuke · 05-05-2010, 02:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by magmafish

I leaned on my Sony PRS-600 (very lightly) and broke the screen!
Now I want to fix it. Sony charges $275 for the replacement part - the price of a new one (on sale)!
I think I'll try to buy a replacement screen from Hanlin and put it in my Sony.
Wish me luck

I replaced some PRS-600 display. It's not a simple job, even for an experienced engineer, but if you wish (and you live in Europe) I can do it for you with 120 Euro plus shipment.

Don't forget that each display needs it's own calibration file, and you need to reload it to minimize the ghost effect.
I have most of the calibration files for 6" displays, but I don't have the tool for reload it in the Sony reader.

But because I have a lot of spare displays (I replace 2 to 5 each week) I can test many of them in the reader until I find the right one.

If you buy a single display from Hanlin, you can be lucky and find the right one, or you can get a lot of ghost effect.

Usually one display of ten is good enought to replace without reload the calibration file.

Luke
Simplicissimus Book Farm
Support Engineer

08-17-2009, 02:00 PM	#1
Rapefruit Member Posts: 13 Karma: 98 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Neuss, Germany Device: Hanlin V3 (64MB)	Replace broken screen DIY Hello everybody, a few weeks ago, I dropped my V3 (only days after I sorta rediscovered it) and broke the screen. You know the symptoms from other reports in other forums but I still attached the pictures. Apparently the "glass" doesn't like torsion at all. At first I thought about donating what was left to the OpenInkpot project but I checked their site and apparently all developers already own (a working) one. Now I did sent some money instead... Anyways, I sent the picture to jinke, asking if they were selling replacement parts. They do (the screen is 90USD) and they even agreed to low cost shipping (no tracking number but excellent packaging and with two weeks not too slow either) AND managed to follow my instructions (not to include an invoice and mark the package as "gift"). Excellent service if you ask me. No further tax or customs fees added. With bank charges and everything, it was still approx. 100EUR. Before I go into details about the steps, one important advice: *The replacement part has a protective film that you have to remove before* assembly. I didn't and I had to go through the whole procedure twice. Unfortunately I did not take pictures during the whole procedure but I will try to be clear in my description and if you have any questions, I will try to answer them. You need a pretty small screwdriver for the insides to do this. Take out the battery and the SIM card (important!) Remove the rubber plugs from the holes on the backside. (A needle worked good here.) At least with my model, under only three of them were actually screws (bottom left, bottom right, top right) Unscrew everything. If the screen is broken because you dropped your V3, chances are one or more of the screws broke their supports and there is the possibility of a whole screw disappearing through its hole. This should be avoided especially during re-assembly (you'd have to take it all apart again). One of the screws is of a different kind than the rest. Make sure you know where everything came from. Try to seperate the upper from the lower part. They are clipped together. When prying it apart, you could try to start with the USB/phones connectors or on a corner or on one of the long sides (there are three clips holding each side, so try in between). The rubber cover of the connectors will come loose. You can put it aside together with the complete lower half. If you prefer, you can tape on the buttons from the inside so that it is easier to assemble the whole thing again without them falling out of place. You will see the circuit board. It is held by surprisingly few screws. Losen them. You do not have to unscrew the small daugher board that holds the keys. Maybe the cable coming from the screen on the left side is stuck to the board with tape. Mine was. You can remove that. Open the connector to disconnect the screen cable. It is a quite delicate ZIF-connector. You can lift up** the colored part pointing towards the cable. Now you should be able to lift the circuit board up and to the bottom (as far as the connector to the keyboard will allow). What you will find is a metal carrier for the screen. Mine was stuck to the backside of the screen by adhesive tape (although not very strongly). Maybe you losened those screws before but if you haven't: The carrier is held with two screws on the right side. The left side is slid under small plasic noses. Once unscrewed, you can remove the whole assembly. Take out the broken screen and replace with the new one. Do no forget to remove the protective film! Assemble in reverse order: Slide the carrier under the noses on the left side and fix with the screws on the right. Before putting everything back together, now is a good time to remove beach sand from the last vacation and maybe some broken-off plastic. Now you can fold back the circuit board and attach the screen to the board. The ZIF connector can be tricky but you will know when it is in. Fold down the small bracket to secure the cable. You can now run a test: Hold the battery against the three terminals and press the power button. Everything should be OK now. It is advisable to tape down the somewhat stubborn screen connector like it was originally. Do not forget to include the rubber cover for the connectors when re-assembling! You have to insert it before snapping upper and lower part together! Once all the screws are back in, you're basically done. I hope this helps, if any of you ever runs into this problem! Bye Rapefruit Attached Thumbnails Last edited by Rapefruit; 08-17-2009 at 02:31 PM. Reason: Made the donation a minute ago...

05-05-2010, 12:36 PM	#9
magmafish Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2010 Device: Sony PRS-600	Broken Sony PRS-600 Screen I leaned on my Sony PRS-600 (very lightly) and broke the screen! Now I want to fix it. Sony charges $275 for the replacement part - the price of a new one (on sale)! I think I'll try to buy a replacement screen from Hanlin and put it in my Sony. Wish me luck

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08-18-2009, 02:01 PM	#2
DaleDe Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,470 Karma: 13095790 Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Grass Valley, CA Device: EB 1150, EZ Reader, Literati, iPad 2 & Air 2, iPhone 7	This would make a good wiki page. Thanks for sharing Dale

08-18-2009, 06:56 PM	#3
Hellmark Wizard Posts: 2,549 Karma: 3799999 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: O'Fallon, Missouri, USA Device: Nokia N800, PRS-505, Nook STR Glowlight, Kindle 3	I'm really surprised they were willing to sell you a repacement screen, and that price is pretty good to boot, all things considering (isn't much above their cost, based on the estimates I've seen)

09-10-2009, 04:41 PM	#4
MacZap Member Posts: 11 Karma: 12 Join Date: Mar 2008 Device: iLiad, Cybook, Palm T\|X, iPod Touch	Hello Rapefruit, you're lucky. Not because you get the replacement display from PVI, but because to replace an e-ink display involve also to reload the correct waveform associated to that display. Probably, the waveform of the replacement display was similar to the WF loaded in your reader. Maybe you have noticed an increment of the "ghost effect" in your reader. This is because the WF is not correct for your display. The WF is a small file with the description of the characteristics of the display, and depends by the production lot of e-ink active particles. Every lot of displays has a different file. To reload it into the reader, you need an hardware and/or software tool. Moreover, there is also a cailbration to do, related to that small value written on the flexible part of the display (the -1,36 visible on your broken display, different from display to display. I suggest to avoid to do the replacement DIY, because you can get a unusuable reader, because the ghost effect. MZ

09-11-2009, 03:28 AM	#5
Rapefruit Member Posts: 13 Karma: 98 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Neuss, Germany Device: Hanlin V3 (64MB)	Thanks for the information! Then I am lucky, indeed: I notice very slightly more ghosting but so little that I wasn't sure wether it hadn't been the same with the old screen. Maybe, somebody on the other end was aware of the waveform issue and selected a display with similar characteristics? I'm not going to try to mess with updating it, but could you elaborate a little more on the wave form? I found this here: The Waveform The electronic ink in the display needs to be driven. This driving algorithm is called a waveform. It is a wave or sequence of different voltages that repel or attract the white or black particles in order to pull either the white or black particles to the top. If the waveform only pulls the particles shortly white and black get mixed, which we perceive as grey. So, does having a (slightly) off waveform mean I get wrong shades of grey? And wouldn't you expect the driver to have some safety margin on the "full white" and "full black" sides to ensure turning completely under all conditions? I expect the eink to behave differently depending on temperature (and thus viscosity of the content of the capsules) and you already would need a safety margin to ensure full contrast under all conditions.

10-06-2009, 03:31 PM	#6
eBookLuke Writer2ePub creator Posts: 354 Karma: 121129 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Genova, Italy Device: Cybook Bebook iLiad Kindle HanlinV2 Readius SonyPRS500 SonyPRS700 etc	mainly, a wrong waveform produces only a ghost effect, that is a persistent image of the previous page, more or less visible. This is caused by an insufficient clearing of the screen before the new print. The waveform describes the best way to clear the display, and I suppose that it is generate while testing every lot of e-ink display.

10-10-2009, 03:50 PM	#7
ruskie Shade Posts: 100 Karma: 546 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: U.LC.MW.Sol.Earth.EE.SI.LJ Device: Hanlin Jinke V3ext running OpenInkPot	Hmm I would guess this would be stored in the screens firmware and not driver related. So I wouldn't be suprised if a driver can be generic and the firmware is in the screens (whatever)ROM

10-16-2009, 02:52 AM	#8
Rapefruit Member Posts: 13 Karma: 98 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Neuss, Germany Device: Hanlin V3 (64MB)	I couldn't find anything that looked like PROM on the replacement part. See my pictures in the first post. Also, I think it is probably much cheaper to offer a set of parameters for each batch (identified by bar codes on the screen) and leave it to the manufacturers to upload a configured driver. Although your suggestion would be better from an engineering point of view. :-)