iPhone 4S Dock Connector Cable Replacement

Written By: Walter Galan
  • Comments: 15
iPhone 4S Dock Connector Cable Replacement

Difficulty

Moderate

Steps

4

Time Required

No estimate

Introduction

Internal prerequisite.

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    • Remove the following screws securing the dock connector cable cover to the logic board:

    • One 1.5 mm Phillips screw

    • One 1.2 mm Phillips screw

    • Remove the metal dock connector cable cover.

    Are the screw sizes switche up by any chance? A 4S i have here has the left hole bigger and one of the screws didn't want to go into the right hole when it went nicely into the left one.

    primozresman -

    Fabulous tutorial! Many thanks! i have now a working iPhone back after display crash and glass brake!

    In Step 8 I think the colors of the screws are inverted. The larger screw is at the left (near the sideboard) and the smaller is in the middle, near the battery (iPhone 4S).

    Markus -

    Was trying to fix guide but accidently messed some things up in formatting and I too also believe the picture is incorrectly displaying the 1.5mm(which is the left screw) and the 1.2mm(which is the right screw.

    Mars Starcruiser -

    I believe the guide is correct, but be careful as the screws are not the same as the other 1.2mm screws from later on. Length is the same, but the diameter is not... just keep them all separate.

    Dave -

    Organizer: tape cheap duct tape tacky side up to a tray. Get a ball point or roller ball pen. For every screw, write step number and a letter for color (R, O, Y, etc.) then stick the screw there. I bumped the table and nothing moved. Also use a big white towel as a work surface: nothing bounces away if you drop it. This helped re-assembly

    griffn -

    Also remove 4 screws holding metal cover plate adjacent to camera lens, remove plate to expose camera plug. when removing the rear facing camera, be careful not to loose the small grounding finger mentioned in step 21

    Robin -

    Same for me as for various other posters here: the bigger screw goes on the left, the smaller on the right. Doesn’t fit the other way.

    jack.jansen -

    Switch the position of the screws, it’s incorrect in the pic.

    laurenzano.alex -

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    • Use the edge of a plastic opening tool to pry the dock cable up from its socket on the logic board.

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    • Peel the dock connector cable off the adhesive securing it to the logic board and the side of the speaker enclosure.

    My gold adhesive has torn, exposing a sliver of the flat wire beneath it. I have put a bit of insulation tape to prevent any contact between the wire and the top of the vibrator and metal piece on the logic board. I don't know if this is sensible or not. Depends whether the gold adhesive is intended to be an electrical contact with these bits, or an insulator from these bits! I will post to update once the phone is powered up / blown up!

    David Thorne -

    I just broke the cable with frame. Careful…

    adrielito_loquito_2006 -

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    • Use the edge of a plastic opening tool to pry the cellular antenna cable up from its socket on the logic board.

    • De-route the cellular antenna cable out from under the metal fingers attached to the logic board.

    Ok, I did all the steps and phone seems to be OK, wifi is actually working again, yaaay.

    But cellular connection is messed up. It will have full reception (5 pins) for about 10 seconds, then drop to 1 pin for a couple seconds, then go into "searching" mode. After a few seconds in "searching" mode it will go back to full reception and the process repeats itself in a timely fashion, over and over again. Obviously I messed up somewhere but where? Which connections are faulty/beyond repair?

    Colorblend -

    I dismantled the phone again and concluded that the digitizer cable was kind of loose (don't know if that affected anything, but i put it down firmly this time). I had 2 problems, the cellular connection I mentioned plus the phone would charge to 3 percent, die, and then repeat the procedure. What I did was I took out the battery, the tin plate above the cables, and lifted the dock connector. So I did not redo that much. I cleaned all contact surfaces as I had been told but chose to not do before.... I also took out the grounding clip by the battery connectors and bent it upwards quite a bit while also peeling away 2 mm of the black insulation material on the back of the phone to make sure the grounding clip connects well to the back of the phone. I also cleaned that surface with window cleaner, which is basically isoprypol alcohol as has been recommended. The cellular antenna connector I pushed down firmly to make sure it was connected, I was gentler the first time, now everything works.

    Colorblend -

    Note that the antenna cable goes around the the right side of that little guiding hook/finger. On the photo it shows the cable on the left of it. The hook is almost right below the socket.

    jasperm -

    Thanks Jasperm, that info was a big help!

    Don Hayashi -

Conclusion

To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.

Author

Walter Galan

694047 Reputation

One comment

tres belle c'est manifique

nabiljemjami92 -