Dead Galaxy S4?

[amonfort]

Hello Everyone,

New to the forums and have an issue with my phone.

I was given a Galaxy S4 i337 by a friend which had a cracked screen but it was better than my iphone 4s.

On day I dropped the phone and the screen cracked even more and the phone powered off... I tried to turn it back on but it would not respond. I ended up going back to my old phone for a couple days and when I check the Galaxy again, it started working. Since the screen was cracked and the phone was working I ordered a new screen assembly that came with everything except the logic (motherboard) and rear camera.

Everything worked fine for a couple days then the phone died again and would not come back to life. It wouldn't recognize the charger, the computer or power on. When the new display assembly came in, I replaced it thinking maybe it will fix the issue. I transferred the motherboard / camera to the new assembly, connected all the ribbon connectors, and closed it up. Still nothing.

I've also tried swapping batteries with someone else's at work and still no good.

The new assembly has new USB port so that's not the issue either.

Can anyone suggest any possible fixes, or is the phone bricked?

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Golfdriver97]

Welcome to the forums. I don't think the phone is bricked, as you haven't done anything software wise to it. The drops, however, may have damaged the motherboard.

 

[amonfort]

Thanks for the reply. That's what I'm afraid of. I don't know if that is something that can be fixed by taking it to a phone repair shop, or if I need to basically replace the motherboard, essentially a new phone. Now, if I do have to replace the the motherboard, can they be found easily from reputable places?

Well if anyone else has any other suggestions, I'm open to hearing them.

 

[Rukbat]

You don't replace it yourself if you have to ask where they can be gotten. If you do, the most likely result is that you'll break something else, causing you to spend more money on more parts, breaking something else, etc., etc. You may have broken a connector, or not connected it fully you may have pinched a wire, there are a lot of ways to put a phone together wrong and only one way to put it together right, so your odds of having done it right the first time you tried are slim.

Bring it to a good repair shop and get a rough estimate. Don't be surprised if it's going to cost close to the retail price of the phone. (You're going to be paying for a lot of hours of checking everything, to make sure they don't miss something and the phone fails again in a couple of weeks.)

If you do decide to do it yourself, a clean motherboard (clean IMEI) can run anywhere from around $90 used to $150 new on eBay and more from Samsung. You can buy an AT&T S4 in fair to good condition for $175 to $225 on Swappa. Is it really worth the work and risk for that little difference? (You'll probably have to flash a new ROM in a used board, and if the fuse is set to 4.4, you can't go back to 4.3, you'll have to find a 4.4x AT&T ROM ROM.)