soupersnake

A couple days ago, the screen on my Axim X5 started flickering. Within a few seconds the colors went inverted (blue became orange, black became white, etc.). I tried a soft reset and it worked for a few seconds, but the colors went inverted again. I did some searching on the forum and saw the post regarding putting electrical tape on the flex cable. I opened it up and saw that the flex cable had a dent in it where one of the metal from the center button had been pressing against it (poor design, IMO). I put electrical tape over the flex cable and adjusted things so that the protrusion wasn't hitting the flex cable anymore. However, it didn't fix the problem. It looks like the flex cable may be too far gone.

Of note, when I press down on the sides of the screen, the colors show up correctly, but the touch features don't work at all. When I release pressure, the colors go inverted, but the touch screen works properly. Any ideas? Am I going to have to buy a new LCD and Digitizer (the glass is fine and the screen works fine--the colors are just inverted)? Any possibility of just replacing the flex cable? Thanks in advance for your help.


ETA: I apologize for the duplicate posts. For whatever reason, I wasn't getting a confirmation screen when I posted and my browser was freezing up when I tried to post the thread. If there is a moderator here, please delete the other posts and leave this one. Thanks.

quovadis7

soupersnake,

Sounds to me like the LCD ribbon cable inside your X5 isn't making good contact to the motherboard connector.

Try opening up your X5 and reinserting the large ribbon cable for the LCD.

Note also that you CAN power up your X5 motherboard with only the AC adapter plugged in and the batteries removed while the motherboard is outside of the plastic shell (I've done this DOZENS of times, and not once have I damaged anything - repairing X5s has kinda developed into a hobby of mine).

So, if you don't stress out too much doing the repair, you can see if reinserting the large ribbon cable fixes the LCD color problem before you put it all together.

Good luck!

Steve B
quovadis7

soupersnake

Originally Posted by quovadis7

soupersnake, Sounds to me like the LCD ribbon cable inside your X5 isn't making good contact to the motherboard connector. Try opening up your X5 and reinserting the large ribbon cable for the LCD. Note also that you CAN power up your X5 motherboard with only the AC adapter plugged in and the batteries removed while the motherboard is outside of the plastic shell (I've done this DOZENS of times, and not once have I damaged anything - repairing X5s has kinda developed into a hobby of mine). So, if you don't stress out too much doing the repair, you can see if reinserting the large ribbon cable fixes the LCD color problem before you put it all together. Good luck! Steve B quovadis7

Thanks for the quick response. I'll try your suggestion out when I get home from work this evening. I hope it works, because I don't want to have to buy a whole new screen just because the ribbon cable is damaged. The dent in the ribbon cable is right on one of the lines, so I'm thinking it might have shorted it out or otherwise broken the connection.

soupersnake

Originally Posted by quovadis7

soupersnake, Sounds to me like the LCD ribbon cable inside your X5 isn't making good contact to the motherboard connector. Try opening up your X5 and reinserting the large ribbon cable for the LCD... Good luck! Steve B quovadis7

I tried this and it didn't make a difference. The large ribbon cable seems to be well connected, but the colors are all still inverted. Here's a picture of what the screen looks like. This is with the default Microsoft background. Obviously, the colors are opposite from what they're supposed to be. It's a pain in the eyes to try to read text on the screen like this.



Here's a photo of the cable that I think is the problem. You can see the "dent" on the left side of the cable where a protrusion on the cover pushes against it.



Is the cable ruined? Can I just replace this cable, or will I need a whole new LCD/Digitizer and glass?

quovadis7

soupersnake,

The "dent" in the 4 conductor ribbon cable is definitely not the cause of your inverted display color problem. That particular ribbon cable is for the touchscreen. Putting electrical tape over the "dent" is the infamous Aximsite "black tape fix" for the non-alignable touchscreen problem on the X5, which I've successfully done to repair my X5's several times.

Re-reading your original post, it still sounds to me that a poor connection is being made between the large ribbon cable for the LCD and the motherboard connector. Pressing down on the sides of your X5 to correct the color problem is an indicator to me that either a good connection isn't being made from the large LCD ribbon cable to the motherboard, or else you have a flaky connection inside of the LCD assembly itself (which I don't think is repairable).

I actually saw the exact same inverted color problem you're having, when I was once swapping out X5 motherboards. I just reinserted the large ribbon cable and the problem for me was fixed, so I still think the LCD cable connection is likely the cause of your trouble....

How easily can you insert/remove the cable from the large motherboard connector? If it slides in/out pretty easily, that's a sign that it probably isn't making as good a contact as possible to the connector contacts.

To increase the tightness of the fit, you might try to put a piece of thin scotch tape on the backside of the ribbon cable to make its insertion a bit tighter (make sure the tape width is exactly the same as the ribbon cable). I don't know if that will work or not, or even if the cable can be inserted into the connector with tape on its back side, since I have never tried that before. Proceed with caution on that front if you do try it yourself.

Before you try this ribbon cable backside tape idea though, with the motherboard removed from the case and the LCD ribbon cable still connected to the M/B, try to squeeze/wiggle the ribbon cable, the LCD display, and/or the motherboard connector with AC power connected and the X5 turned on to see what it takes to correct the color problem (don't worry, I've done this LOTS of times with no consequences, so long as one is careful). Perhaps this kind of testing would tell you whether the problem is with the actual LCD display or just with its connection to the motherboard???

Anyway, don't give up just yet! You still might be able to resurrect your X5 display.

If you end up deciding that you do want to pursue replacing the X5 motherboard, PM me with a request and I'll let you know what I can offer for doing that at a VERY reasonable price.

Good luck! :approve:

Best regards,

Steve B
quovadis7

Originally Posted by soupersnake

I tried this and it didn't make a difference. The large ribbon cable seems to be well connected, but the colors are all still inverted. Here's a picture of what the screen looks like. This is with the default Microsoft background. Obviously, the colors are opposite from what they're supposed to be. It's a pain in the eyes to try to read text on the screen like this. Here's a photo of the cable that I think is the problem. You can see the "dent" on the left side of the cable where a protrusion on the cover pushes against it. Is the cable ruined? Can I just replace this cable, or will I need a whole new LCD/Digitizer and glass?