Replace home button without disassembling phone - Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

The home button of my Galaxy S III is badly scratched. It still works fine, but scratched.
Is it possible to replace just the front button without disassembling the entire phone (like you do, for example, with PC keyboard keys)?
I found replacement home buttons on ebay for $5.

I assume that at this time no one will dream of remove the gem ...
However, in the future, this video will be useful to many to make repairs 'diy' ......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eo93EF7rVIw&feature=player_embedded

Haven't opened the S3 yet but if its anything like the S1 & S2 it should be a five minute job. Just 8 or so screws and pop the back off. The home button simply pops out without having to disassemble anything else.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium

sxi200 said:
Haven't opened the S3 yet but if its anything like the S1 & S2 it should be a five minute job. Just 8 or so screws and pop the back off. The home button simply pops out without having to disassemble anything else.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looking to the video posted by devid801 above it looks like you need to remove the entire motherboard to access the home button!
I am hoping a simpler procedure exists if you just want to replace the frontal (plastic?) button part not the entire button assembly.

From what I can tell from watching numerous videos, the physical home button can only be removed by prying off the display from the middle chassis, a process that looks like a PITA. Why Samsung chose to design the phone this way is beyond me. It's simply horrible engineering. However, I'm wondering myself if there may be a way to "pop" out the aluminum home button from the outside of the device, and then replace it with a new button using glue or some other adhesive. The aluminum used to frame the button is incredibly susceptible to scuffs and scratches, and it really does ugly up the phone quite a bit.

Related

[Q] Galaxy s2 screen repair fail - buttons dont work now

Good Day folks, here is the long and short of it.
Galaxy s 2 fell and the screen broke
I bought a new screen
Replaced the screen BUT two big problems occured.
1. The screen appears to have less colours than my original screen
2. NONE OF THE SOFT KEYS WORK, HOME, MENU AND BACK DO NOT WORK.
Number 2. is the big problem. Does anyone have any idea how these buttons work?
Even when I press the buttons directly with my fingers with the buttons off they still do not work.
Im baffled. Please help.
I also have attached pictures of the button area
It happened to me, I removed the screen, I replaced from beginning and it worked...
Hi Collado, do the white things behind the buttons have any electronic functionality or are those just things to make it stick?
To all future readers. I found out what the problem was. Basically,
The home, back and menu keys are all connected to a single ribbon. It appears there is a tiny piece, connected via the back key. That was torn while i was ripping off the the screen and digitizer.
See the picture attached
How much did you pay for your replacement screen and where did you get it. My digitizer is broken due to a drop. My front glass is perfect but the digitizer is completey shot. How difficult was this project?
Hi Johnboy
I cant remember the price of the digitizer offhand but make a check on ebay.. that is where i got it.
Difficulty is high as you need the minature tool set to do this effectively and a gentle touch.
However, it still appears as though the screen I bought has less colours.
Sorry to jump in and unintended hijack
I also dropped my S2 and cracked the screen, and after checking around dropped it in to the Geek Squad at CPW. Who duly replaced the screen and digitizer for £80. Only problem is the screen seems less bright and if moved off the central viewing angle the screen dims, as if it wasa standard lcd and not the orginal AMOLED screen. Does anyone know if they make lesser screens or was it fitted badly.
Any advice greatly appreciated.
DM.
I would go back with it and complain.If you dont get satisfaction then do an impression of the guy that goes into the pizza shop in "rise of the foot-soldier" film.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium

Search Button - Hardware Failure?

This is a topic which I don't really like to talk about, but I now want to take the approach to get it outa my mind: The backlight of my soft-key search button does not fully shut down. That is, if I let the phone sit until the lights of the soft-keys (home, menu, back- and search button) shut down, I still see a dimmed light behind my search button. It annoys me.. I know I'm a picky girl.
Is that a hardware failure or do you guys have that, too? I'm convinced it's NOT caused by my current ROM (running DisarmedToaster). Can you recommend an app which will test my phone for hardware failures?
I bought my EVO 3D with blood money and would not really like unrooting and putting the phone into original warranty state to go beg the company I bought it from for a replacement. Please help a desperate lady!
SecUpwN said:
This is a topic which I don't really like to talk about, but I now want to take the approach to get it outa my mind: The backlight of my soft-key search button does not fully shut down. That is, if I let the phone sit until the lights of the soft-keys (home, menu, back- and search button) shut down, I still see a dimmed light behind my search button. It annoys me.. I know I'm a picky girl.
Is that a hardware failure or do you guys have that, too? I'm convinced it's NOT caused by my current ROM (running DisarmedToaster). Can you recommend an app which will test my phone for hardware failures?
I bought my EVO 3D with blood money and would not really like unrooting and putting the phone into original warranty state to go beg the company I bought it from for a replacement. Please help a desperate lady!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine has done that since the day I bought it, although I bought mine used so I just dealt with it. It looks more like bleed from the backlight on the display but i'm not sure. It must be pretty common if we both have it.
richyrocket said:
Mine has done that since the day I bought it, although I bought mine used so I just dealt with it. It looks more like bleed from the backlight on the display but i'm not sure. It must be pretty common if we both have it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you so much for stating this, exactly what I was talking about! Kind of a small release to hear I didn't buy faulty hardware. Do we have other readers here who can confirm that this behavior is normal?
I'll head out to the phone store today to double check. Still, does an app exist to check for hardware failures?
Yes no faulty equipment, it is normal on every single Evo.
( Don't ask for help as I couldn't care if your phone explodes, eh)
flashallthetime said:
Yes no faulty equipment, it is normal on every single Evo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You just saved my whole HTC experience. Thank you soo much! How come this is the case on every EVO? Isn't that something draining the battery?
No it is actually bleeding from the main screen, I guess there's a small gap between the search button and the screen
( Don't ask for help as I couldn't care if your phone explodes, eh)
I noticed that too, but only when I boot up my phone, then the problem goes away after it gets past the boot animation.
Jsparta26 said:
I noticed that too, but only when I boot up my phone, then the problem goes away after it gets past the boot animation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use your phone in the dark. Watch until soft buttons stop glowing. See the light behind the search button?
Mine has it too.
Sent from my HTC EVO 3D X515m using xda app-developers app
Jsparta26 said:
I noticed that too, but only when I boot up my phone, then the problem goes away after it gets past the boot animation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Turn the backlight of touch buttons off using kernel tuner and keep screen on, you will notice light behind search key.
Yeh, methinks it's standard in all our phones fixed mine when i was replacing my digitizer (put a bit of plastic behind the search key to stop the overspill)
dessolator666 said:
Yeh, methinks it's standard in all our phones fixed mine when i was replacing my digitizer (put a bit of plastic behind the search key to stop the overspill)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you void your warranty through opening it? How about the buttons responsiveness afterwards? If you provide a detailed HowTo, you'll get another +1. :thumbup:
SecUpwN said:
Did you void your warranty through opening it? How about the buttons responsiveness afterwards? If you provide a detailed HowTo, you'll get another +1. :thumbup:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeh, warranty gone after opening it.... though now that I think of it... there may be a way around that. Namely I replaced the entire digitizer so I needed to take it apart fully, however since all the connections and cables are at the top of the screen and the buttons are (obviously ) on the bottom you could lift the digitizer up from the bottom and fix it without messing with the screws in the back (the one that voids your warranty).
To actually do this you will need:
Heat gun(or decent hair drier) anything with 500w or above should be plenty
Some good double sided adhesive tape (probably won't be able to reuse the original one)
A case opener tool (to lift the digitizer)
A piece of plastic or anything else opaque and nonconductive
Procedure:
heat up all the edges of the digitizer evenly (don't cook them, just heat them up )
Using a case opener tool get in between the digitizer and the aluminium chassis starting at the bottom and work your way up to the top
When the bottom and sides are free gently lift the digitizer with the top as a hinge point heating it up if necessary.
Ta da! You can see the inner workings of the buttons
Notice that the buttons have pieces of transparent plastic leading light from the LEDs to the actual surface the light overspill happens around the search button so I put a tiny piece of plastic around it (there are probably more elegant ways around this... but I'm not that elegant to begin with so this worked just fine.
Cut out thin strips of tape and put them on the edges of the digitizer where the old adhesive was (or reuse the old adhesive if you can)
Close up the phone and there you have it... your warranty should still be valid... tho if any1 opens the phone up they will probably notice the extra piece of plastic (or whatever you used)
On a similar note my gf's digitizer is busted so I will be replacing it some time this or next week and could probably demonstrate this with photos before I actually replace the darn thing (assuming I can get ahold of a decent camera)
dessolator666 said:
On a similar note my gf's digitizer is busted so I will be replacing it some time this or next week and could probably demonstrate this with photos before I actually replace the darn thing (assuming I can get ahold of a decent camera)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That would actually be the coolest contribution I've seen in a ling time! Are you really willing to do that for our EVO community? If you did, you'd be our king.
Don't worry, it's on every EVO 3D. From GSM to CDMA.
The light bleed is from the screen back light. It does give the phone a cheap feel sometimes, but it's a common problem.
It's not as prevalent on cm10 with inverted gapps
(Don't ask me for help as I couldn't care if your phone explodes, eh! )
flashallthetime said:
It's not as prevalent on cm10 with inverted gapps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How come?
SecUpwN said:
How come?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Inverted gapps has black backgrounds so the screen bleeding is reduced
(Don't ask me for help as I couldn't care if your phone explodes, eh! )
---------- Post added at 10:56 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:51 PM ----------
I can drastically reduce screen brightness which helps, there's still some bleeding
(Don't ask me for help as I couldn't care if your phone explodes, eh! )
dessolator666 said:
Yeh, warranty gone after opening it.... though now that I think of it... there may be a way around that. Namely I replaced the entire digitizer so I needed to take it apart fully, however since all the connections and cables are at the top of the screen and the buttons are (obviously ) on the bottom you could lift the digitizer up from the bottom and fix it without messing with the screws in the back (the one that voids your warranty).
To actually do this you will need:
Heat gun(or decent hair drier) anything with 500w or above should be plenty
Some good double sided adhesive tape (probably won't be able to reuse the original one)
A case opener tool (to lift the digitizer)
A piece of plastic or anything else opaque and nonconductive
Procedure:
heat up all the edges of the digitizer evenly (don't cook them, just heat them up )
Using a case opener tool get in between the digitizer and the aluminium chassis starting at the bottom and work your way up to the top
When the bottom and sides are free gently lift the digitizer with the top as a hinge point heating it up if necessary.
Ta da! You can see the inner workings of the buttons
Notice that the buttons have pieces of transparent plastic leading light from the LEDs to the actual surface the light overspill happens around the search button so I put a tiny piece of plastic around it (there are probably more elegant ways around this... but I'm not that elegant to begin with so this worked just fine.
Cut out thin strips of tape and put them on the edges of the digitizer where the old adhesive was (or reuse the old adhesive if you can)
Close up the phone and there you have it... your warranty should still be valid... tho if any1 opens the phone up they will probably notice the extra piece of plastic (or whatever you used)
On a similar note my gf's digitizer is busted so I will be replacing it some time this or next week and could probably demonstrate this with photos before I actually replace the darn thing (assuming I can get ahold of a decent camera)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't believe it can be done without opening the back. If I'm not mistaken, that's where the connector is and it can't be accessed from the front. I could be wrong though
Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk
HermanV0929 said:
I don't believe it can be done without opening the back. If I'm not mistaken, that's where the connector is and it can't be accessed from the front. I could be wrong though
Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sure it can be done... because you have to do pretty much exactly that when replacing the LCD or digitizer

[Q] Replacing the home button?

Couldn't find anything on google/youtube so might aswell just as it here.
Does anyone knows how to replace the home button? I saw you could order the home buttons for around $5 so I guess it should be possible.
Thanks!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eo93EF7rVIw
eytan123 said:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eo93EF7rVIw
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got the home button trough the mail today, but the video didn't show anything about how to remove the home button...
Look around on YouTube. It's not easy, you need to dissemble your screen!
Teardown
http://www.ifixit.com/c/Samsung_Galaxy_S_III
jje
Try here, i googled Galaxy s3 teardown.
http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Samsung+Galaxy+S+III+Teardown/9391/1
hope that's what you're after.
You probably shouldn't change the button unless you really need to. There are stickers you can buy to cover your current one. I have pulled my screen apart as I broke the glass on it, and it was quite a lot of work. It involves separating the glass from the digitizer/LCD and the frame. It is delicate and time consuming. The glass is attached to the frame that hold the home button in place, meaning the only way you can change it is to remove the glass, make the switch, then re apply the glass.
Thanks for all the replies.
The problem with the home button is that its not clicking anymore. It works but it is really sensitive, when i touch it real light (without hearing the clicking sound) it hops back to the home screen.
I dont know if this is caused by water damage, pressing to hard or anything like that, nor do i know if it will be fixed if i remove the glass etc and replace the home button...
send it in
Glebun said:
send it in
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Will this be fixed under warranty?
no idea. it won't if you dropped it

[Hardware] Galaxy S3 display no power

Hi there,
my girlfriend smashed her Galaxy S3 sometimes. Now it's done, the glass is broken in the upper left corner. The screen worked fine. A few days later she dropped it and dropped it again... i think she needs some wooden sticks to make a bushfire to call her friends. After some drops the screen stopped working fine. The screen turns black and if i push the upper left side a bit, the screen apears... very purple. I watched some tutorials about replacing the glass'. So i opend the galaxy s3 checked the ribboncables and after reasembling the screen won't start anymore. The softkeys doesn't apears. The phone is booting and make sounds. That means, power is there but no power for the display. I only want to now if the display is okay or not, to buy a new glass. But now i have these power problem. Somebody know how i can fix it? Or do i need a new display with digitizer? It's not cheap... a glass is much ceaper .
Zebra1234 said:
Hi there,
my girlfriend smashed her Galaxy S3 sometimes. Now it's done, the glass is broken in the upper left corner. The screen worked fine. A few days later she dropped it and dropped it again... i think she needs some wooden sticks to make a bushfire to call her friends. After some drops the screen stopped working fine. The screen turns black and if i push the upper left side a bit, the screen apears... very purple. I watched some tutorials about replacing the glass'. So i opend the galaxy s3 checked the ribboncables and after reasembling the screen won't start anymore. The softkeys doesn't apears. The phone is booting and make sounds. That means, power is there but no power for the display. I only want to now if the display is okay or not, to buy a new glass. But now i have these power problem. Somebody know how i can fix it? Or do i need a new display with digitizer? It's not cheap... a glass is much ceaper .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Multiple posts on the subject including a you tube video on replacing .You need to search them and decide .
Accessories may have more information .
jje
Not sure how that happened...
Thanks in advance for looking.
Ordered a screen replacement for my wife's busted S3 screen. Got it, followed directions....got the area around the headphone jack a little too warm, but continued and finished removing the screen. Once I had the screen off, I thought it would be a good idea to power it up to make sure everything was working, especially the top left corner of the screen that was closest to the over heated spot.
To my skeptical surprise everything was cool. Took a picture, looked at some higher res pictures....just to make sure everything seemed normal, to which it did. Powered down, removed the battery and the SIM card and continued on.
I cleaned the screen with alcohol as the directions stated, put everything back together..and NOTHING. The thing is bricked. Any ideas how? I wasn't doing anything remotely related/close to the ROM. The only difficulty I had with any part of this (aside from the aforementioned over heating) was with the two ribbon buttons at the bottom, which got slightly tangled in the tape.
Before I attempt to 'unbrick' this does anyone have any other ideas? Battery is good, phone has been plugged/unplugged while attempting to power up....I didn't take anything else apart so I can't think of anything else that would have goofed up this phone.
If your LCD was broken a new bit of glass wouldn't fix it. It's almost impossible to change just the glass without damaging the digitizer. Most alcohol will destroy an LCD so cleaning it with that is a terrible idea. If you plug your phone into a computer see if it connects, that will at least tell you that the phone is still working, just broken display.
DrFredPhD said:
If your LCD was broken a new bit of glass wouldn't fix it. It's almost impossible to change just the glass without damaging the digitizer. Most alcohol will destroy an LCD so cleaning it with that is a terrible idea. If you plug your phone into a computer see if it connects, that will at least tell you that the phone is still working, just broken display.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome. Per the instructions: "clean screen with Isopropyl alcohol to remove any excess glue"
Plugged in or otherwise, I get no LEDs, vibrations....nothing. Wondering if a jtag would even be worth it?

The second physical button is supposed to be the home key

Got my truesmart today.. I was pretty excited... Even the busted up case didn't scare me because the watch its self looked like it was ok. But two things I can't figure out.. The first is that I can't figure out how to switch back to the default launcher from the oui 2.0. That is frustrating because unless I am blind, I can't seem to find those instruction anywhere.
The second thing is my second physical button seems to be broken. The manual says it is a home button or a previous apps list when held button. No matter what screen, nothing happens when I push the button. Long press or short. Nothing happens. Am I to assume that it is broken?
Soo bummed that I can't use this watch..
Thanks
Norm807
For many owners, one or both of the buttons either feels odd, doesn't work, or falls off.
They are pushing on little micro switches, not metal bubble switches, inside the case surface mounted on the main board. Sometimes the main board is slightly misaligned and the pusher from outside misses the switch on the main board. Sometimes the surface mounted switch is loose on the main board.
You will need to get the watch replaced if the surface mounting has failed. It might be possible to re-align the main board.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
trent999 said:
For many owners, one or both of the buttons either feels odd, doesn't work, or falls off.
They are pushing on little micro switches, not metal bubble switches, inside the case surface mounted on the main board. Sometimes the main board is slightly misaligned and the pusher from outside misses the switch on the main board. Sometimes the surface mounted switch is loose on the main board.
You will need to get the watch replaced if the surface mounting has failed. It might be possible to re-align the main board.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply. I got a reply from Omate via facebook today.. see below, but it looks like is will be a while for it gets fixed. At least it is only the home button.. I can work around it for now.
Norm807
Hello.. Just received my truesmart today.. The shipping case was cracked in sever places and the watch was floating free inside. It appears to be ok. One issue is that the second (home) button doesn't work. I have tried everyhting I could think and it just doesn't work. What do I need to do to get it replaced? Thanks
Omate
1:51am
Omate
You mean the camera?
Norm807
7:09am
No, the button below the camera. The button that is supposed to take you home when pushed or show you the recent apps when long pressed.
Omate
7:42am
I see, we will get back to you as soon as we have a service center in place. Sorry for that, it may take a few months.

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