Iphone 5 u3 chip pry damage power/home button not working

Tonto67

Does anyone know anywhere in ireland pref dublin that could replace the U3 chip on my iPhone 5, it is rather more involved than the usual component replacement and involves delicate board soldering so the normal screen replacement places cannot do it . I recently damaged it while replacing the battery. I have found a UK company but would rather not post to the UK for repair.
Thanks

ron_1

hi, any luck with this?! have the same issue myself

Tonto67

Since I started the thread i have been unable to find anyone in ROI that can fix this. I have been using a battery case with power button to wake the phone and activate the screen and the assistive touch option as my home button and have got used to it at this stage I have found someone on Ebay UK that can sort it and they seem to have a good reputation. It involves posting the phone though. I will probably end up doing this but it can wait for now. I don't think we are allowed to post commercial links in open forum but if you need the link I can PM.

flyguy

Not sure, but I think e-tech in Dundrum can do those kind of repairs: https://e-tech.ie

Tonto67

Thanks for that flyguy. Just got an email back from e-tech they said they could "more than likely fix it" and to drop it in for a quote. Gonna try get over to them this week.

ron_1

i think i saw that on ebay, its over 100e though isnt it? please let me know what kind of a quote you get from that repair place mentioned above if you think of it? thanks

Tonto67

It works out at ~€70 not including the cost of getting the phone to them so probably around €85 all in. To be honest I don't think you'd get intricate work like this done for much less.

Cathalog

Tonto67 wrote: »

It works out at ~€70 not including the cost of getting the phone to them so probably around €85 all in. To be honest I don't think you'd get intricate work like this done for much less.

I'd take that and run. I've heard of those battery connectors being expensive.

I've taken a few phones apart and have luckily never broken one. Just curious, did it take much force to break it?

Tonto67

Cathalog wrote: »

I'd take that and run. I've heard of those battery connectors being expensive.

I've taken a few phones apart and have luckily never broken one. Just curious, did it take much force to break it?

It's not the battery connector it is a tiny chip (about 1/2 the size of a grain of rice with 6 connectors) that is soldered to the motherboard. On the iPhone the battery is stuck down very well so you need to pry it up. Unfortunately space is tight but one spot that looks obvious to pry from is right beside the sim tray this is where the damage is done. For anyone doing a battery swap on an iPhone 5, try not to pry, but if you must do it only from the outside edge. Stay away from the SIM card side of the battery. This component is so small that the slightest amount of pressure is enough to dislodge it.

Cathalog

Ahh I didn't realise. Thanks for the warning.

Tonto67

I left my phone with the guys at E-Tech in Dundrum that Flyguy mentioned. I have to say, you couldn't ask for a better service. I called over at 15:30 today, explained the problem, showed them a pic I took of the damage. He took my phone back to the technician and returned a moment later saying yes that was fixable and it should be ready later today. I got a call at 17:00 to tell me the phone was ready to be collected. I have it back now and it is working perfectly. I was quoted €70 for the u3 chip. It turns out an adjacent chip was also damaged (very common with this type of damage) which was fixed as well, but fair dues to the lads they stuck by their original quote. Anyone who has the misfortune to have done this to their phone should look these guys up. I don't know of anyone else in the country that does this as it is very intricate work.
Anyway I just wanted to give closure on this. Its very annoying when threads are started looking for help but never followed up to help the next person.
Thanks again Flyguy.

flyguy

Glad I could help. I had used e-tech before, but only for screen replacement. Was asked to sell a phone for a family member, unfortunately both cameras on the phone didn't work. This problem started after the screen was replaced by one of the major electonic retailers in Ireland (not my choice, but family member). They obviously didn't have a clue what they were doing and damaged one of those chips during replacement. After bringing it back (to the retailer) they kept replacing the camera but that didn't fix it, as they were clearly incompetent they basically said it wasn't their problem/fault and didn't know how to fix it. Was hoping the e-tech guys could fix it and as it turns out they could, they already knew what the problem was just by describing the issue on the phone. Can't recommend them highly enough, their quotes seem to be very reasonable as well.

sw33t_r3v3ng3

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sw33t_r3v3ng3

What's the most common explanation for the front camera to stop working?

flyguy

If it's only the front camera could be several things, however in your other topic you wrote it happened after the screen was replaced and the wifi was now weak as well. The combination of those made me direct you to this thread as I suspect you may have pry damage on one of the chips. Not something you could fix yourself and as you can read here most shops can't even fix it. I'd drop it in to e-tech to at least get a quote...

sw33t_r3v3ng3

flyguy wrote:

If it's only the front camera could be several things, however in your other topic you wrote it happened after the screen was replaced and the wifi was now weak as well. The combination of those made me direct you to this thread as I suspect you may have pry damage on one of the chips. Not something you could fix yourself and as you can read here most shops can't even fix it. I'd drop it in to e-tech to at least get a quote...

Think I might send it on to them and see what they say! Thanks

djspunky

Just wanted to say thanks! I'm so glad I found this thread (from Google search) Been looking for somewhere to fix U3 pry damage for weeks and I was almost giving up. I called E-Tech and sent my phone to them via registered post. They had the phone for one day and returned it to me by courier and its perfect again. I was delighted with the outcome as I had given up on the phone. Cheers Flyguy!