Dropped my GN 10.1 (2014) - now, black screen

[DrJim2]

I dropped my GN 10.1 (2014) from my lap onto the hardwood floor, about 2 feet. The tablet landed flat on its back. It was working fine before I dropped it. When I picked it up, the screen was black. There is no apparent damage that I can find on the outside. The screen appears to be intact. The menu and back buttons on the bottom border light up.
I tried holding the power button to shut it down. That seems to work: the menu and back buttons go out, and do not come back on. Holding the power button again seems to work: I can hear the Samsung startup theme. Just a black screen however. Again, the menu and back buttons light up.

I put it on the charger for a few hours, but the symptoms remain the same.

I have created a ticket at Samsung tech support online waiting to hear back.

In the meantime: any thoughts or advice? Is this going to be an expensive repair?

Thanks,
Jim

 

[Golfdriver97]

Welcome to the forums.
It depends on what was damaged after the fall. Anything hardware related may be rather expensive. It coule be anything from the digitizer, a ribbon or a part of the chip set.

 

[Raymond Tan]

Most electronics today are pretty expensive to fix, usually around 50 to75% of the price you paid, depending on what they have to replace. I've worked for Good Guys, Best Buy, and Circuit City, and if you didn't get the extended warranty your usually screwed(not saying you should always get the extended, most of the time it's not worth it).

Samsung will most likely tell you to send it in(at your expense) and charge you a diagnostic fee, which will be non-refundable(its usually around $75). From that point they will give you a list of what's wrong and the price will sky rocket from that point. By the way this may take a week to months, and you may have to send or call multiple times to get a response(just speaking from experience). You may also get no response until you take it upon yourself to badger them. Turn around time varies greatly as I have encounter devices returned in a couple of weeks, to up to a year. Even if you decide not to get it fixed it may take a while for it to get back to you, but I guess at that point it doesn't matter. Also really check the tablet if they claim to repair it. I've seen a lot of items come back that still have the same problems even after they claimed to have fixed it. Some of the items didn't even turn on. Not just Samsung, but all manufacturers.

You could be lucky and it might just be a connector that came loose. If thats the case you'll just be out the diagnostic and shipping.(fingers crossed)

If its still under the store return policy you could try returning it and claim it just stopped working, since you stated that it has no external damage.

Good luck. One of the reasons I have a good case on all my mobile electronics. Even my DSLR as a rubber case around it.

I dropped my GN 10.1 (2014) from my lap onto the hardwood floor, about 2 feet. The tablet landed flat on its back. It was working fine before I dropped it. When I picked it up, the screen was black. There is no apparent damage that I can find on the outside. The screen appears to be intact. The menu and back buttons on the bottom border light up.
I tried holding the power button to shut it down. That seems to work: the menu and back buttons go out, and do not come back on. Holding the power button again seems to work: I can hear the Samsung startup theme. Just a black screen however. Again, the menu and back buttons light up.

I put it on the charger for a few hours, but the symptoms remain the same.

I have created a ticket at Samsung tech support online waiting to hear back.

In the meantime: any thoughts or advice? Is this going to be an expensive repair?

Thanks,
Jim

 

[bluzman]

If its still under the store return policy you could try returning it and claim it just stopped working, since you stated that it has no external damage.

"...claim it just stopped working,...". In other words, you're suggesting that the OP lie instead of actually taking responsibility for his/her own actions. At best, you've presented a case study in unethical behavior despite, I'm sure, some justifying rationalization that's waiting to bubble to surface.

 

[DrJim2]

This is a follow-up to my original posting. I am sorry that I have been too lazy to report back sooner.

My experience was exceptional. I contacted Samsung and was honest with them. I told them I dropped it from about 3 ft. That it landed on a hard wood floor on its back. And, that the screen was black. It appeared to be working; although I couldn't see anything, it gave the usual alert sounds. I told them that I could find no external damage.

He told me that if they found external damage and they had to replace the screen that it would cost around $200.

I sent it back to them. They didn't find any external damage. They replaced the screen and the main board. Returned it to me in around 10 days. They paid shipping both ways, and charged me nothing!

My only complaint: since they replaced the main board anything I had stored on the device was gone. Not a big deal for me.

Jim

 

[bluzman]

Guess your mother was right - honesty is the best policy. Glad this turned out well for you.

 

[Adila Jaleel]

Re:i DROPPED MY TABLET ..now its screen is black

Hello everyone..
my HCL Me tablet fell from the bed to the floor ..the height from the bed to the floor is nearly 30 cm....but after that my tab is not responding at all...the screen is always black..i tried charging it for days...now i can hear messages popping......alarms....and i can also play songs assuming their places on the screen and swiping the screen without seeing anything......i think its the problem with the screen.......what can i do ??? please help me out :-[ i bought i from a hypermarket in doha,qatar..and i dont think they will accept it back :-\:'(

 

[vernhes]

I had the same issue: fall on tiles. with a protective case in hard plastic at the corner where it hit the floor.
Screen was black afterward.
I opened the Galaxy Note 2014 as shown in the 14'16" youtube video named "Samsung Galaxy Note 3 10.1 2014 Edition SM-P605 Display Austausch Glas Tausch Reparatur disassembly" (I can t post link since I am a newbie on the forum). There is already 25000 views, many people had problem.

In my case the LCD/disply flex cable was disconnected not on the end shown in the video, but on the other, under the metallic adhesive tape. It was obvious, since the with line on the cable was largely angled compared to the connector.

To open the connector you have to do the same thing as shown in video at 6'24 except that the black tap to lift is at the back (opposite from where the cable enter the connector), but you lift it the same way.
Put the cable back in place with white line on cable aligned with white line on circuit board. Lock the connector tab again. Put the other nd of the cable in ots connector and battery connector also. press power button. For me it worked.
Put the cover back in place Et voila!

 

[burnrome]

.

In my case the LCD/disply flex cable was disconnected not on the end shown in the video, but on the other, under the metallic adhesive tape. It was obvious, since the with line on the cable was largely angled compared to the connector.

To open the connector you have to do the same thing as shown in video at 6'24 except that the black tap to lift is at the back (opposite from where the cable enter the connector), but you lift it the same way.
Put the cable back in place with white line on cable aligned with white line on circuit board. Lock the connector tab again. Put the other nd of the cable in ots connector and battery connector also. press power button. For me it worked.
Put the cover back in place Et voila!

The usual fixes of removing where the LCD and power cables attach to the mainboard didn't work for me, but the above one did FYI - the other end of the LCD cable where it attaches to the LCD panel....