Any high precision solders here?

[dville_gt]

Mom washed her iPhone 3gS in the washing machine. I have taken it apart, cleaned, dried, put together, cleaned, dried, etc. Ended up baking it in the oven to reflow some solder joints. All is well except now the back lighting does not work. Apparently this is a common issue with phones that have been submerged. The fix appears to be soldering a wire between to points, but the junctions are VERY small. Can anyone her help out with this?

Here is what I need to do:

http://blog.techsick.com/guides-tutorials/iphone-3gs-no-backlight-fix/

[71chevellejohn]

If she is eligible for an upgrade, she can get another refurbed 8GB 3gs for like $10 plus an $18 activation.

A guy at my shop just did this so he could use it as a cheap ipod. It's on ATT's site under refurbs and it shows that htey have cosmetic blemishes but I couldn't find any on the ones he got.

Online only for the refurbs:

http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/cell-phones/apple.jsp

EDIT - he bought the one for a penny. The activation charge goes on the next bill.

[dville_gt]

True, but I'd rather not use up the upgrade on a 3gs (or even a 4 at this point). The iphone5 will be out in June/July.

[71chevellejohn]

Gotcha. Just wanted to post an alternative in case you can't locate somebody.

You may call a local TV repair shop and see if they are willing to do it. We get calls like that all the time. i'd say bring it to me to look at, but I'm in Abilene and that's probably farther than you want to drive.

[dville_gt]

ya, there is a guy online that'll do it for $99 but a: i dont want to pay that much, and b: he is oversea's and apparently you are not supposed to ship lithium ion batteries?

[Snatch Napkin]

If you want to make a helluva drive, I'll do it for you.

<---Longview and set up for soldering electronics.

[dville_gt]

If you want to make a helluva drive, I'll do it for you.

<---Longview and set up for soldering electronics.

jeeez, that is a hell of an offer, might be worth just sending you the logic board out of the phone though and a return slip

[Snatch Napkin]

jeeez, that is a hell of an offer, might be worth just sending you the logic board out of the phone though and a return slip

I would rather you be here in person while I'm doing it, but send me a link to the repair procedure and I'll see how I feel about it.

[Nash B.]

jeeez, that is a hell of an offer, might be worth just sending you the logic board out of the phone though and a return slip

Have fun disassembling and reassembling!

[dville_gt]

Have fun disassembling and reassembling!

i've fully disassembled this particular iphone probably 30x already, not to mention the countless screens/batteries/etc. i've done for friends. they are incredibly basic.

[Snatch Napkin]

I just realized you had a link in the first post. Looking at it now.

[Snatch Napkin]

I certainly have the ability to do the job, but the picture for pin 1 location isn't crisp enough to guess which terminal that is.

Can you get a better depiction of the repair?

It almost sounds like they are talking about two different boards. The LCD board and the Logic board.

[Snatch Napkin]

I'm having trouble understanding how they expect a jumper wire to take the place of a coil.

This link suggests replacing the coil. They can be found from 2g phones or you buy the coil at the second link. This makes much more sense.

http://www.ifixit.com/Answers/View/957/Bad+backlight+on+water-damaged+iPhone

http://www.fonefixer.webs.com/

[dville_gt]

http://s9.mojalbum.com/mr2-deli-foto_15043899_15431936_zoom_18179271.jpg

this link shows it better

[dville_gt]

pin 1 can be jumpered to pin 3 to bypass the coil or you can buy a new coil and solder it in.