Hi all,

So, first a tale of woe with a (mostly) happy ending. I recently cracked the screen of my Axim X5. The LCD part is fine, but the digitizer was shot. Large crack in the glass, running almost diagonally across the screen. So, after poking around here a bit, I discover people recommending getting a replacement digitizer from the PDAParts.com website. $50 plus shipping is much more reasonable than $130-$150 for a whole screen assembly, especially when a whole used X5 can be had for $200 or less, so I ordered one.

Box arrived today, and after a nerve-wracking hour and a half long surgery, I successfully installed my new digitizer. (Any procedure that involves using a knife on your PDA is properly referred to as 'surgery' IMHO ) Put the X5 back together, ran the self-diagnostics (just to be sure), and recalibrated the screen. Restore from the full backup I made beforehand and Voila!, good as new. (Well, except for the tiny scratch in my LCD display now, but it's nearly invisible with the unit on.)

Next thing I do is put a screen protector on, to avoid scratching my shiny new digitizer face. Turn the Axim back on, click on the screen, and nada. Hook up my external keyboard to make sure the thing works OK, navigate to Screen calibration and try to recalibrate the screen. Click on the center '+' target - nothing happens. Peel the screen protector up part way and try clicking UNDER the screen protector - nothing happens.

Resisting the urge to cry, I pull the screen protector COMPLETELY off. Now the Axim responds like it's supposed to. Put the screen protector part-way back on, and I can still click on things under the plastic sheet. Cool - whatever. Re-apply screen protector completely and.....yup nada response from screen taps.

Any ideas? I never had a problem before replacing the digitizer, so it must be something with the new glass top or my installation thereof. The only thing I can think of is that the digitizer I got didn't have the adhesive pre-applied to the back, so I used small pieces of double-sided tape to hold the new digitizer in place. This, of course, adds a tiny amount of thickness to the screen assembly that wasn't there before the surgery. Anyone with experience replacing digitizers have an idea? Should I break down, dismantle my Axim again, and use an epoxy (i.e. SuperGlue) to hold the digitizer down instead of double-sided tape?

There have been many reports of screen protectors affecting screen sensitivity. Which protector did you use? Most people recommend Brando, Boxwave and WriteShields.

Need Help?

Installing, Running and Uninstalling Software
Taking Care of Your Axim
What Can I Do With My Axim? *2nd Edition*
Managing Your Today Screen

          

I'm using Fellowes brand Unviersal PDA screen protectors. They come in oversized sheets that you cut down to fit your specific PDA. They are a bit on the thick side, but I don't think that's the problem. They only seem to cause a problem if I cover the WHOLE screen, all the way to the bezel.

I put a fresh screen protector on this evening, but I cut it a bit smaller than it's supposed to be. Instead of going right to the bezel edge, I left a small gap between the edge of the plastic sheet and the bezel. If I do that, it works fine.

I'm wondering if the plastic getting under the bezel, along with the extra thickness from the double-sided tape I used to mount the digitizer, is causing the new digitizer to malfunction with a screen protector installed? Not sure exactly how digitizers work, or if excess pressure on the glass would cause them to not work right...

Then again, now that I think about it, the whole bloody thing is just one big pressure-sensitive plate. Too much pressure around the edge could look like a pen tap. Dunno why I didn't think of that before! Must have been the trauma of having to perform open-screen surgery on my X5.