Ok, so this is how it went.. I was brushing my teeth this morning and got that paste **** everywhere.. I was frustrated and was wiping down the counter. Well my Droid was on the counter and got bumped.. knocked off into the toilet(thank god there was nothing in there).

After a through cleaning and about 6 hours sitting directly on an industrial AC blower, the phone was dry, powered up and worked perfect. The only exception was the screen, there was moisture in there and looked terrible, screwed up the touch screen as well. This guide is how to open the phone to clean the inside of the screen.

I searched on the Internet for a good tear down guide and was out of SOL. My misfortune is your luck. I did a tear down and took pictures along the way.

As the Droid A955 and the A855 are basically the same with design this guide will help with both. This is my first time ever doing anything like this so if there are any questions ask, is you are not an ECA member, join and ask(though you should introduce yourself along the way in the Introduction thread which can be found under “Welcome to the ECA Forums\Introduce Yourself”)

Instructions follow this quick guide. Details and steps are listed before the picture. All screws are marked with red circles, pieces that need to be removed have bright green dots around them. Anything with a light color surrounding the will be explained below the picture.

Have fun with this and take it slow, do not brick your phone, and keep track of all pieces and screws.
To do this tear-down/repair I used a Husky 14-in-1 Screwdriver Set that I picked up at Home Depot

Lets get started!

01. First and foremost remove your battery. You will see in the image there are two pieces that need to be taken off. Use a fine flat-head or a very sharp knife to get under the edge and work the plastic up. On the A855 model the plastic will have the Goggle logo. The tin mesh needs to be removed with extreme caution. I found that sticking the tip of the knife in the center and then sliding the cutting blade in both directions, towards the sides of the phone, did the trick for me.

[IMG]http://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/z428/DroidA955/01.jpg[/IMG]

02. Once the plastic pieces and tin are removed you will see seven(7) screws that need to be taken out. The screws are TORX screws. I do not know the size of the driver needed(its about the smallest you can get). Remove all the screws.

[IMG]http://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/z428/DroidA955/02.jpg[/IMG]

(yes I know my battery is in the phone, don't hate)

[IMG]http://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/z428/DroidA955/03.jpg[/IMG]

(To remove the back ease a fine flat-head under the small lip of the phone(base). Work your way around and be careful at the bottom of the phone(when holding it in your hand), the lower speaker is right against the frame of the phone. Once one side is down the rest of the frame should come off by hand without issue.)

3. The back of the phone will now be exposed. Remove the speaker, there are no wires for the speaker. Remove your camera button, power button and volume button. Store those where they will not be lost. In the picture below you will note the two pieces that need to be removed. The larger of the two will lift up then slide towards the base of the phone, this will expose a screw. The second piece is simply a rubberised piece that needs to be pulled loose. The speaker cable is running on one side of the phone, use a pair of needle nose pliers and pull the connections loose(if needle nose pliers are not available use the flat-head screwdriver. Insert the flat-head into the gap between the circuit board and the cable connection, gently twist the screw driver to loosen the cable.

Remove the three(3) screws that are exposed. At this point the “brain” of the phone is now loose, except for the three cables that are attached to it. To remove the cables use a fine flat-head screw driver, gently insert the head of the flat-head under the cable connector and twist the screw driver. The cable will now become loose. Repeat for the remaining cable connections. One is located under the board, lift the board on the cable-less side to expose the third cable connection.

[IMG]http://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/z428/DroidA955/04.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/z428/DroidA955/05.jpg[/IMG]

(The image above. The highlighted connector in light blue, almost white color is the touch screen input. The highlighted connector in yellow is the display for the phone. The highlighted connector in purple is the keyboard input.)

04. The picture below is slightly blurry but you will notice the sticker the is under the battery is pulled up on one side. The side that is pulled up is the side of the sticker that lays on the black plastic of the frame. Pull up one corner of the sticker and work it off the black plastic(if this is not down the rest of the frame will not come off).

Remove the connection for the vibrate motor. The connection is noted with green dots. Lift the connection just as you did with the three(3) other connectors.

Now begin work on removing the rest of the frame. The easiest way I found to do this is to begin where the blue dots are in the picture then work around along where the red line is, remove the bottom of the frame in the same manor as with the top, then work on the front. To finish lay the phone face down, as in the picture, grasp the top left of the loose frame and lift it up and continue lifting until the frame becomes free.

[IMG]http://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/z428/DroidA955/06-1.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/z428/DroidA955/10.jpg[/IMG]

05. Now remove the screws from the back of the screen. To do this open and close the phone, you will notice the screws that needs to be removed.

[IMG]http://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/z428/DroidA955/07.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/z428/DroidA955/09.jpg[/IMG]

(Work the screen open and closed, do this slowly, you will notice one(1) screw, along the side that does not have the deep groove. There is a section of the keyboard frame that has an indention in the metal, remove the screw via that access point.)

06. Gently insert the flat-head screwdriver into one of the two deep groves of the screens frame, lift. DO NOT insert more than enough of the flat-head into the screen than needed to twist. The display is under the screen and can be easily damaged. The screen should lift up easily, some work may be needed to lift it up but not much. The top of the display should NOT be lifted, only the bottom section of the screen should be lifted. See the picture below for more clarification on this.

Perform your cleaning of the screen. Do not use chemicals. I used dry q tips. Make sure the underside of the screen is clean, thoroughly clean the display. Quickest way to see if you have any lint or debris in the screen area is to close the screen, like a Pac-Man, and look for anything that isn't a deep black color.

[IMG]http://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/z428/DroidA955/08.jpg[/IMG]

Reassembly is a snap. Follow back the steps you performed to open the phone. All the pieces and connectors will only fit in one direction. Reassemble carefully.