Non-functioning Aura screen ...

I was wondering if anyone can offer some insight into the behaviour of my Aura screen.

The device was working fine last night. It spent the night and the day on a table without being touched. I go to wake it, and the back slight turns on but the "Sleeping" screen doesn't change (plain white background, the word Sleeping in the lower left, no visual corruption).

I force the device off. Turn it back on. The LED blinks as usual. Eventually the front light comes on. Still no change in the display.

Similar drill, only with the light button/power switch to force a reset. The LED blinks madly for a while, which it usually does during a factory reset. The blinking stops. I wait a few minutes, I turn it back on. The LED blinks as usual. Still no change in the display. The light button turns on full intensity, indicating that it has been reset.

My next thought is a loose cable, so I turn it off, pop off the back, remove the battery cable, remove the wide ribbon cable, remove the narrow ribbon cable, remove the internal uSD card. Everything is reinserted in the opposite order. Turn the thing on, now I have a black screen with a bunch of vertical white lines and horizonal white lines, with a diagonal and partically curved line running from the bottom left corner to half way up the screen on the right (with the "colour" inverted below that diagonal line). There are also a couple of other smaller diagonal lines, again slightly curved. Turning the device off then back on causes the screen to flash white (mostly) several times before reestablishing the same pattern.

I've seen this sort of pattern on the screen of my old Kindle 2i. It indicated that the screen was cracked. The thing I don't get is why the screen was unresponsive and uncorrupted before reseating the cables.

So is this truly a cracked screen (i.e. do I have a new ARM based project board), or can this be caused by faulty cabling?

Yes, the screen is cracked. I pulled the mainboard off of the frame and peeked through the holes for the IR emitters/sensors and the screen was clearly cracked.

So project board it is. Now it's a matter of figuring out how to use it as such!

[paola]

commiseration, it must be terrible!

Thank-you for your sympathy. The worse part is that I sold my Touch a month ago, and the Touch was a lot more durable.

Anyhow, things like this happen and I can always use the Aura's main board as a project board for electronics projects.

[jackastor]

Originally Posted by BWinmill

Thank-you for your sympathy. The worse part is that I sold my Touch a month ago, and the Touch was a lot more durable.

Anyhow, things like this happen and I can always use the Aura's main board as a project board for electronics projects.

Since you already have it apart, have you noticed if there is a part number on the screen that you can google to see if you can order a replacement screen? Also for kicks check with kobo to see what they would charge to replace the screen. Ebay has a huge number of ereader screens and since they ultimately all come from China you may be able to get a replacement screen for a few dollars vs the cost of the Aura.
Sorry to hear your screen is cracked.

regards

Jack

I peeled the glass off, doing much more damage in the process! For anyone who's trying to do the same to their screen, without damage, mine was attached with three pieces of strong double sided tape. One on the middle left edge, one on the middle right edge, and one on the lower right edge.

There are five human readable codes on the screen, plus a few markings that may be machine readable codes.

Major ribbon cable, facing bottom of circuit board, sticker (signal?):
ed068og1 (Lf)-s1 Len681001(c172)
(barcode)
e7ms16h21n1v04293qL

Major ribbon cable, near "plug" end of cable, sticker:
-1.91
(barcode)

Major ribbon cable,
career b6 94v-0
(odd symbol) 4 4112
Minor ribbon cable (backlight?):
j4h

In the glass substraight (and I had to read it in a mirror):
ts7ama (QRCODE) 020j80p

Is there any other information I should grab from the screen?

[jackastor]

Originally Posted by BWinmill

I peeled the glass off, doing much more damage in the process! For anyone who's trying to do the same to their screen, without damage, mine was attached with three pieces of strong double sided tape. One on the middle left edge, one on the middle right edge, and one on the lower right edge.

There are five human readable codes on the screen, plus a few markings that may be machine readable codes.

Major ribbon cable, facing bottom of circuit board, sticker (signal?):
ed068og1 (Lf)-s1 Len681001(c172)
(barcode)
e7ms16h21n1v04293qL

Major ribbon cable, near "plug" end of cable, sticker:
-1.91
(barcode)

Major ribbon cable,
career b6 94v-0
(odd symbol) 4 4112
Minor ribbon cable (backlight?):
j4h

In the glass substraight (and I had to read it in a mirror):
ts7ama (QRCODE) 020j80p

Is there any other information I should grab from the screen?

Well I did try all the numbers.

what I got was this.
from this

ed068og1 (Lf)-s1

but its not an exact match for the screen.


http://www.ebay.ca/itm/LCD-DIsplay-S...item4d0c5b580b

the part number is very similar

Unfortunately, I don't know enough about the screen to know if it would work. Given that it is described as being for a Kindle 3 and it is a bit pricey, I'm not willing to take the risk.

But it's good to know which of those represents a part number. Thank-you for the help.

[jackastor]

Originally Posted by BWinmill

Unfortunately, I don't know enough about the screen to know if it would work. Given that it is described as being for a Kindle 3 and it is a bit pricey, I'm not willing to take the risk.

But it's good to know which of those represents a part number. Thank-you for the help.

Oh I was no way implying that this screen would work. Just that the numbers are similar and that we know there is a manufacture of them out there somewhere. That was just an example pricing is anywhere from 22 dollars it seems and up for eink screens. But at least we now know the model number to look for when searching for the kobo aura screen replacement.

regards

Jack

[TechniSol]

I hate to say, but considering the Aura's price tag, $50ish doesn't seem too bad a price if you can fix it yourself. Honestly, 50 wouldn't be too bad even to fix a Glo if they're still around $129... IMHO. I like my Glo and the lighting, but the real steals are Touches for $40 or so, if you can find one and have a well lit place to read.

[Rizla]

This is why I buy used. Good luck with your Aura.

[Markismus]

@BWindmill My screen was fixed with 2x2 tapes to the left and right side.

Any progress on finding a new screen?

[samhy]

Kudos to you for being such a good sport