Ipad Mini - Blank screen after LCD / Digitizer replacement

[MaineTech]

Hello IPad community, I'm a Tech from Maine searching for some assistance with an IPad mini Model# A1432 if at all possible. My niece mistakenly dropped it and cracked the digitizer and LCD so I'm attempting to fix this for her.

I'm pretty technically savvy and have replaced tablet screens a few times before. But this one has definitely been a challenge. So far I have carefully removed the old digitizer and screen. Then I replaced them both with new ones, but all I am getting is a blank screen

Here's where I'm at so far.

• You can hear the sounds from the IPad and the computer recognizes it, but no display at all.
• Checked the connections for the LCD and the Digitizer and battery several times. Snapped into place securely.
• Unplugged the battery and left it for an hour or so, still not working.
• Held a bright light up to the screen while powered on, cannot see anything.
• I even tried going back to the old LCD to test, it was showing some colors before, now nothing shows up.
• I've held the power and the home key several times and had it power off and back on.
• I then used a multi-meter, tested the fuse, It appears to be working, i'm getting a reading at least for continuity. I also tested the connectors for the LCD and Digitizer, those are getting power.
• I've zoomed in with my smartphone to get a close-up look of the fuse and board, there's nothing that is visually obvious. I posted a couple pictures I took below. If there's anything anyone sees or knows of something I should try, please let me know.

Thanks in advance for any assistance provided!

Fuse and board.

LCD and Digitizer connectors on board closeup.

 

[The OB]

Hello MaineTech and welcome to the forum. I've moved your thread to the iPad DIY.forum as that may well give better prospects of assistance. Any posts will still be seen by all members within "Active Topics" up top but the DIY forum may be more often specifically visited by techies like yourself.
Best of luck with this problem
Regards, Andrew

 

[Brian 244]

Did you unplug the battery before unplugging the LCD and digitizer? If you didn't then the odds are that you damaged the backlight circuit.Hold a flashlight up to the LCD to see if there is a faint image. Look for ipadrehab on youtube, Jessa does board level repairs and has many videos on the ipad mini. She's also in upstate NY so not too far from you.

 

[MaineTech]

Thanks for the reply Brian.

Yes, I have held a flashlight to it and I do not see any faint images. I did find a few posts about the fuse going if the battery wasn't disconnected first. So that's what I was thinking too, but I cannot see anything with the flashlight on it.

The first time I connected the new iPad screen and digitizer the battery was not disconnected however. The tutorial I was using didn't call for it believe it or not. But every time after that when I'm disconnecting or reconnecting I made sure to unplug the battery. I read tutorials that highly recommended it due to the fuse issue.

Could it still be the fuse even though the flashlight trick didn't work? Is there anything else that could cause this? I don't see any physical signs of trouble anywhere on the board or with the fuse.

Thanks for your assistance.

 

[Brian 244]

Are you sure it's not a Retina LCD that you are trying to connect to your mini (non - retina)? It is also possible that you have a faulty LCD, did you you reconnect the old one to see what happens? The connector pins are also known to be very fragile on the iPad mini. Like I mentioned , check out the ipad rehab channel on you tube there might be something there will help you out.

 

[MaineTech]

Yup, I'm positive it's not a retina. I even grabbed the serial# off of it and verified it's the right one. I did put the old one back on to test. Before it was displaying at least some colors, now nothing. It's very odd.

I've been watching her videos at ipad rehab and they are very informative. I wish I had micro-soldering tools, it looks pretty interesting. Something to throw on the wish list.

Thanks again for your help Brian.