First off let me say I am not super knowledgeable about how delicate certain parts can be. I watched the Ifixit video for reference and my ignorance of pulling the vibration motors directly by their cable resulted in one of the problems listed below. I needed to repair a cracked LCD in the gamepad but I hit a few problems along the way. After putting in the new screen when I press the power button on the gamepad the display will not turn on and a little blue light shines under “Battery” and slowly fades out. That being said I can turn my Wii U console on and off with this power button. The console itself can also be controlled with the gamepad and all buttons function normally with the exception of anything needing the touchscreen. The sound also does not function on the gamepad.
Finally somewhere down the line I got my screw locations mixed up and a few just seem to be missing, even though I know I lost none as I took them out. I have 4 tri-point that I have no idea where they go. I did not realize there were three types of screws inside: Tri-point, larger head phillips, and smaller head phillips. I did not notice this until I was putting it back together and some screws weren’t fitting quite right. So I’m not sure where these should all be in the end. Everything is securely seated and nothing feels loose so I’m thinking this isn’t really causing my problems.
I posted this same thing to iFixit's forums but it's been five days with no replies, I doubt it's going to get any at this point. Really hoping someone here will have at least some advice for me.
- Issue #1
As soon as I removed the back of the case I ended up yanking the vibration motor’s two cables right out of their seats, leaving behind the cream colored plastic part still stuck inside the mainboard. I tried a lot of things to pry that piece out but got it in the end, that sucker did not want to come out. I felt it'd be easier just to buy a replacement for that unless it’s possible to hot glue those pieces back in? It’s really difficult to align those cables back in and there’s no way I’m going to worry about soldering. If there might be other ways to fix this I’m all ears, but I never used the vibration function so I am perfectly fine if I can be without it. Would there be a way to bypass this and make the gamepad think it’s still connected? I ordered one off Ebay that will be here by the end of the week but I can't figure out how to get the old one out. There's three screws that come out but this big plastic plate holding it in does NOT want to move and I'm afraid to try prying it up.
- Issue #2
First try: The sound control slider doesn’t want to stay nice and tight like it used to. I can’t exactly figure out why it is doing this but it’s extremely loose and just wobbles freely back and forth after closing the gamepad back up. I have it fitted perfectly into the slot it’s supposed to be in. Is it supposed to be connected to something?
Second try: I tried positioning the white wire of the wireless antenna so the switch would slide against it, stopping it from freely sliding but that caused it to not be able to move at all once I closed it up.
Second try: I tried positioning the white wire of the wireless antenna so the switch would slide against it, stopping it from freely sliding but that caused it to not be able to move at all once I closed it up.
- Issue #3
As stated up top, the biggest issue is the Gamepad display will not turn on now. I feel this could be for one of two reasons. Either it’s the fact the gamepad doesn’t detect the motor plugged in and just refuses to turn on because of that or I got a DoA LCD. I’m hoping it might be the former. Assuming these gamepads do something similar to POST on a PC, I’m wondering if a properly working motor will fix this issue. I put the old screen back in to test and I still have the exact same problem as I did with the new one. This leads me to believe my new one is probably not DoA.
I do have a few other questions as well regarding the ribbon cables for the LCD and digitizer. The two very tiny ribbon cables confuse me exactly how they are held in. Is there nothing really keeping them held down? The other ribbons have those clamps to keep them in place but these just get shoved in and hope for the best? I’m afraid to pry around them since I feel I’ll cause irreparable damage. Is it possible I missed something with those two and I just don’t have them plugged in? How exactly can I tell if I even have them in right?
Finally somewhere down the line I got my screw locations mixed up and a few just seem to be missing, even though I know I lost none as I took them out. I have 4 tri-point that I have no idea where they go. I did not realize there were three types of screws inside: Tri-point, larger head phillips, and smaller head phillips. I did not notice this until I was putting it back together and some screws weren’t fitting quite right. So I’m not sure where these should all be in the end. Everything is securely seated and nothing feels loose so I’m thinking this isn’t really causing my problems.
I posted this same thing to iFixit's forums but it's been five days with no replies, I doubt it's going to get any at this point. Really hoping someone here will have at least some advice for me.
