Service manual, how to take apart to fix sticky buttons?

[Ohmster]

I love my Droid X. Cannot live without it anymore. But the 4 front buttons are very important, especially
Home button. This is the button on the bottom front (There are 4 buttons in a row), 2nd from the left. It gets stuck down. Not all the way but the other buttons push down with a nice downward soft "click" and pop right back up again. My Home button is sort of permanently "stuck down". If you press it really hard, it will light up the screen or bring you home again. But it does not pop back up, something is gumming it up underneath I am pretty sure.

I have been a full time electronic tech for over 25 years so I am not afraid to open and fix things. I have taken my SLVR apart many times to replace the faceplate and buttons when they have broken. But this Droid X is a whole new animal. At least I had the service manual for the Motorola SLVR L7. This thing I have user manual only for.

How can I gently open the front case of this phone, examine the 4 buttons, clean them up, and reassemble properly so that they will all "pop" up and down again like they did when it was new two months ago?

Has anybody opened a Droid X before or have a guide, HOW-TO, or service manual for a Motorola Droid X that gives disassembly instructions and shows how to get at the buttons to fix it? I have full warranty on the phone and can return it for a new one but then reinstalling and setting up all my apps, pictures, and everything else is a super pain in the arse. All I want is the home button to stop being "glued down" and loosen it up again.

Can somebody help please?

• Service Manual for Motorola Droid X
• How-To guide to diassembly and reassembly
• web pages with pictures that show how to do this
• Any personal experience you have had with stuck buttons or opening the unit yourself?

Thank you very much.

Ohmster

[gerio]

To answer the immediate question at hand, t his is the sort of topic that you'll have to search around the 'Net for the so-called "Geek Boy" websites for information like that as the folks around here might consider it "attempting to modify". I doubt anyone here will offer such information. Being in concert production and electronic repair for 30 years myself, I certainly know where you are coming from with wanting to repair the phone. I just wonder, did this problem crop up recently or has it been like this since day 1? I met a guy on the road who had just gotten his X and had the same complaint. He compared his to mine and there was definitely something wrong with his. I found later that he he had his phone replaced when he got home (which I know you are trying to avoid).  And of course, you didn't spill any liquid on the phone.....(?)....

I'm certain that this info is available out there somewhere. There's places like developer sites, AndroidForums.com, Droid X forum.com, places like that. As popular as the X is, there's a whole lot of 'em out there. I have heard from one of the local phone repair guys that the screen can be replaced, so there's bound to be a somewhat practical way to repair the buttons, unless, in the case of the guy I mentioned above, it turned out to be a manufacturing defect.

Good luck, I'll be curious to hear how you make out with that.

Geri O

[Wildman]

I am sure there may be a service manual floating around on the web but I am sure Motorola wouldnt want you to get your hands on it, they dont even give the infomation to Verizon techs, this is why the phone gets replaced instead of serviced because Motorola want to restrict the device being service by anyone but their service techs....   Now with this said, check put these videos located here: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=disassemble+droid+x&aq=f this should give you some answers.

[TheOhmster]

Oh way the {word filter avoidance} cool on the video tutorials at youtube!

No the phone was not like this from day one.

Of course nobody spills liquid on, around, or anywhere NEAR the phones, because if something like that did happen, then perhaps a soft drink could seep under a button or two, all seems well after drying it immediately and completely, and then the button would tend to be "gummed up" after that. Then the only way to fix it would be to remove the front cover if possible, remove the button, moisten a Q-Tip with Windex, wipe away any and ALL signs of anything sticky, and then carefully reassemble the unit. You would then be left with a perfectly working phone where all 4 front buttons are out to their fullest extension, softly "click" when depressed, and then immediately pop back out to 100% extension again.

Since nothing of the sort happened to THIS particular phone, it is really hard for me to imagine just what did cause the Home button to partially collapse like it did. This must be one of life's great mysteries I am afraid. This is Florida, the climate is very moist and tropical, the humidity is very high at all times, perhaps some mildew grew under the button, it is hard to say, other than I, of course, would NEVER do anything to compromise the warranty on my dear and beloved Droid X.

I will check out the videos. I do have a super small Torx screwdriver that came with my L7 case replacement. Even *that* tip is a tad too big for the 2 visible Torx screws under the battery door on my Droid X. Service manuals do leak out to the public in pdf form, but this phone is so freaking new that not enough time has gone by for some employee to snatch the manual, scan and then up it. The best ones have a functional index page where you can look at 98 pages of various topics and then click the index to get you there. Will just have to wait and see if such a thing occurs. In the meantime, I am off to the video pages and may just have to break down and get a warranty replacement. I have to push so hard on the Home button that no longer clicks that I am deathly afraid that I will break it for real, just by pushing on the button so hard.

Thanks for your help, will keep monitoring this subject to see if anyone gets a manual or I will post what my final resolution is/was for the benefit of others with similar issues. Thank you.

Paul

[jmccoy70]

Paul

Did you forget to lick your finger s

[gerio]

I gotta admit, Paul,  I feel the same way about taking care of my X. I even try to be conscience of other people placing drinks around or near my X. I frequently have to admonish people for even thinking about setting a drink on or near a $65,000 mixing console, so I have developed a sort of 6th sense about that. 

The most peril my X has come in contact with was last August when I was flying out a speaker array during a load-in for a show. My trusty stagehand was supposed to be managing the cable bundles as the array went up, but being new, he wasn't paying attention as he should. The array went up to the point of suddenly pulling the bundle out of its case and up against my thigh rather hard, hard enough to make a bruise. What I didn't notice was that one of the cables slid up my leg, under the phone's holster clip, and took it off my belt. I didn't notice it being lifted from my belt (I was in a wee bit of pain and looking sternly at my now-ashen-faced newbie stagehand), but when the array was almost to trim, someone asked "What is that little thing hanging on the cable bundle?" I looked up just in time to recognize this "little thing" as my beloved Droid X in its holster and its sudden release from the cable and subsequent drop. I decided that this phone was NOT going to hit the ground and I actually managed to catch the phone, saving it from a 30-some-odd drop and impact onto a concrete arena floor. Woooo, a really close one.

Yeah, I luv my Droid X....

Good luck, Paul.

Geri O