(NOTE: This article is aimed at a general audience. For more detail on the technical issues, see our in-depth Tristar damage/repair article.)
The Important Points
- We can repair iPhones and iPads with various charging-related problems at affordable prices. (Click here to arrange a repair.)
- These problems are commonly a sign of damaged charging circuits. Such damage is often caused by use of non-approved Lightning cables.
- Original and MFi-certified Lightning cables contain special chips that set up charging safely and filter the current to remove damaging overcurrent, spikes, ripples, etc. before they reach the iPhone or iPad.
Introduction
Apple held their September 2017 special event for the first time at the Steve Jobs Theater and there were some exciting announcements. These included the iPhone X, an iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, a series 3 Apple Watch, a new Apple TV (supporting 4K video) and, of course, iOS 11.
From a repair perspective- the focus of our business and what we’ll be concentrating on with this article- the models of most concern to us are the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus and the iPhone X, which we’ll take a look at here.
(NOTE: This is an in-depth article aimed at more technical users. Customers simply looking to have their iPhone or iPad fixed may find “iPhone or iPad Not Charging?” more straight to the point.)
Introduction – How Cheap Non-MFi and Fake Cables Can Damage Your Device
This article is a summary of the issues surrounding Tristar repairs, and how the damage can be caused by fake or cheap unofficial cables.
Most ordinary Apple users aren’t aware of this, but the company’s official Lightning cable isn’t simply an overpriced USB lead. It contains several chips that complete the “handshake” with the device and protect it from voltage fluctuations. This also applies to cables from other manufacturers that have a genuine official “Made for iPhone/iPad/iPod” (MFi) certification.
When Apple released the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus last year, they changed quite a few things about the internal design of the home button. While these aren’t an issue for users in normal use, there are some things you need to know if it gets damaged or needs repairing.
Our latest article goes into depth on how this affects your repair options as explaining how we think Apple are trying to eliminate independent repair stores, and what we’re doing to get round the problem. Click here to read more.
A customer brought this Western Digital external hard drive to us as it wasn’t being recognised by their PC.
The most likely cause of this- and indeed, the most common fault with external hard drives- is that the USB interface (rather than the drive itself) had stopped working. This used to be a simple repair because most external hard drives were little more than internal SATA drives- either 2.5″ laptop or 3.5″ desktop size- with a case and USB interface attached. Once the case was opened, the SATA drive could be unplugged from the USB interface and put in a new enclosure (essentially just a replacement interface and case) that could be bought for less than £10.
A significant proportion of the more “interesting”(!) repairs we get in are those handed to us by other stores. This is because most of them are jobs that they can’t manage by themselves- i.e. the more difficult ones! On top of which is the fact that they- or other people- have often already messed things up further in a failed attempt to repair it.
This is a typical example. We took a look at this iPhone 6 for another local business. They hadn’t attempted to repair it themselves, but someone else had had a go, and really hadn’t done a good job at all.
Update
Good News! Since this article was first written in 2017, we’ve invested considerable time and money in equipment for glass refurbishment and we can now carry out glass-only repairs on a wide range of Samsung screens. These include:-
- Samsung Galaxy Note 8
- Samsung Galaxy Note 9
- Samsung Galaxy S5
- Samsung Galaxy S6 and Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge
- Samsung Galaxy S7 and Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge
- Samsung Galaxy S8 and Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus
- Samsung Galaxy S9 and Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus
We’re also able to carry out repairs on a wide range of Apple iPhone and iPad devices (not listed here). Please ask for further details through our Dundee shop or via “Disc Depot St Andrews”.
We’ve kept the original article below, but please note that a lot of this is now out of date. The part about replacing the glass yourself still applies, though! As mentioned above, we’re now able to carry out these glass replacement repairs only after investing considerable time and money- without this, it’s unlikely to be worth your time and risk.
Introduction
Many people come to us asking how much a screen repair for a Samsung Galaxy S8, S8 Plus (S8+), S7 Edge or S6 Edge will be. The bad news is that replacement Samsung AMOLED screens cost a lot, and this is why our repair price is relatively high for these models.
Many people have only broken the glass, not the screen itself, and wonder if that alone can be replaced for a lower price. We sympathise with this, but the answer is unfortunately no. We’ll explain why here.
Changes
When Apple released the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, they made quite a few changes to the internal design of the home button. This doesn’t affect users under normal circumstances, but there are a few things you need to know if it gets damaged or needs repair.
To cut a long story short, it appears that the changes have been made solely to make repair of iPhones by independent companies (including ourselves) more difficult. (Click here if you want to skip the details). These changes include:-
Read More
Did you know that many repair stores rely on beginners’ “howto” guides for carrying out phone repairs?
Is this a good idea? Does it matter? Well, yes- it does. This article explains why phone repair can’t be boiled down to an easy ten-step guide, and why it’s bad news if the person fixing your phone does this!
Introduction
It’s common sense that going for the cheapest repair store isn’t likely to get the most time or expertise spent on your smartphone or tablet. (For similar reasons, the same applies to “no fix, no fee” businesses).
However, you might be tempted to give our rivals a chance anyway. After all, if they fail, you still have the option of bringing it to us… right?
Unfortunately, this doesn’t account for the fact that an incompetent repair can turn something that might have been fixable in more skilled hands into a complete write-off, regardless of how good the next technician is.
