iPad 2 Screen cracked, I cried, hubby fixed it!!

My lovely husband bought me an iPad 2, just like this one.

I am a very lucky girl!!
Picture courtesy of ...
http://poshonabudget.com/2012/03/refurbished-electronics-deals-wireless-laptops-ipadsoreck-and-more.html

A month or so ago I took my car into the garage for it's annual service! As I walked inside, my bag slipped off my shoulder & onto the floor ... No biggy!!! It wasn't until I placed it back on my shoulder, I suddenly remembered that my iPad 2 was in there. I was so scared to look inside to see what the damage was. I told myself not to look until I got home. I didn't want any tears or tantrums whilst out in public!  Well it turns out I don't listen to myself and as soon as I sat down I unzipped my bag & saw the fanned cracks across the screen. My dread had become a reality!

This is how the corner looked and the fanned cracks ran over all the screen ...

Not so bad eh?  sniff sniff

It was still usable with no damage to any of the other workings.  I was very hopeful.  I contacted Apple hoping they would say 'don't worry - come in & we'll replace the screen ...' I thought it may cost about 100€ and that I was prepared to pay. So I started my research on the internet. Some people were saying they had had theirs replaced by Apple for free as a goodwill thing and as I read on further down the forum streams, others were reporting that they hadn't been so fortunate. I didn't mind paying for a repair - I had dropped it after all, there was no fault on Apple's part!! I called them up to be told that the cost for my particular model would be 410€ & then I would get a refurbished model back, not my own particular one!! Yikes, that's really not that far off the price of a new iPad. Saying I was disappointed was an understatement. I had quickly grown to love the convenience of having/using it.

I was eager to find a solution before reporting to hubby that I had dropped, destroyed, smashed this gift he had given me. I researched further & found a great YouTube clip on how to replace the screen yourself, now known as the digitizer! You can watch this clip here.  There was hope! I had found a solution ... hubby would fix it!! hahhaa ... except I still wasn't laughing at this point.

To go down the avenue of replacing this ourselves was voiding any warrantee we had with Apple - but I wasn't concerned with that.  I sourced a digitiser and I chose to go with amazon.co.uk.

Usually I find amazon deliver to Germany from the UK and I don't have to concentrate or worry about getting the wrong end of the stick with the German language as I can do on amazon.de.

I am blessed in the fact that my hubby can pretty much turn his hand to anything and create or fix and repair.  After watching the youtube clip I mentioned earlier, he was happy to give it a go. I purchased the digitizer from a company selling through amazon.co.uk called ConsoleParts4U.  Here's the link to their actual product.  

Their service was reliable in terms of costs, quality, communication and delivery prices and times. So I would highly recommend them.  Another reason I was impressed with this deal was it came with a tool kit to do the job and also with the pre-cut adhesive strips to glue this back on.  Some companies were charging £5 for these adhesive strips alone.

When the digitizer arrived he made sure he had plenty of time set aside so he didn't have to rush.  And off he went .... Unfortunately I didn't document any of it - I don't think of photographs when the stress levels are high!! The information on the youtube clip is pretty much how it went ... except for .... the wifi antenna!! We damaged that removing the digitizer.  This is what that part looks like.

Seemingly 9/10 people damage this when removing the original digitizer.  If I had read that before maybe I would have purchased one to have on standby - but I found out after we had damaged ours. So after almost being in tears with dread of losing the iPad 2 altogether, I began researching on the internet again and came across this information on Youtube.  You can watch about replacing the wifi antenna here.  These tips on the internet are invaluable!!  

I found a company who would deliver to Germany.  I've just checked their site to share the link with you and can't find the product I ordered, so I must have bought the last one!! It is called an iPad 2 bluetooth antenna as I have the 3G model.  Check which item you need to purchase for your particular model. Search the internet and I am sure you will find another company selling these.  It was really cheap and only cost about £5.  Phew!!

It arrived and again we waited until we had extra time so as not to rush the job! Hubby replaced the antenna and connected the digitizer.  We tried to get some power to the iPad before we stuck down the digitizer just incase we needed to do anything else ... and guess what???????? NOTHING!! I was so gutted!!! Neither hubby or I could see anything else that was damaged ... my fingers jumped on my keyboard and I searched forum after forum to see what could be the problem.  I finally found the answer.  Hold down the home button and the power button until the apple lights up .... duhhhhh!!!

Needless to say it has worked and I have a fully operational iPad 2 once again!! I am one happy girl!! I hope this blog post has helped someone out there in BLOGLAND!!