new name iSickBay.com




The Process
About iSickBay
About Me, you may as well know about me... the perfectionist mad scientist
Arrange a repair of your device, the steps involved
Pricing
How to Make Payment
What happens when you get my device... the iPhone, iPad or iPod?

You can
FaceTime me!
FaceTime
(video/audio "call")
iMessage me!
iOS iMessage
(email in real time)
iMessage me!
OSX iMessage
(email in real time)
merely click the symbol to start the session

add me to your Snapchat!add me on Snap!

isickbay

or Snap the code at left to add me on Snapchat
or you can Call toll free!!      1-877-iPod-Pro
or you can Call toll free!!      1-877-476-3776
About My Work
›iPad Repairs:
›iPhone Repairs:

›iPod Touch Repairs:
›iPod Nano Repairs:
›iPod "Classic" (hard drive model) Repairs:
›My Digital Camera Repairs
›My Cell Phone Repairs
› 1000's of Stories on Repairs I've done from all over the world. Pages -> 550|500|400|300|200|100|50
Customer Comments on my work
My Most Complex Patient Cases
›Ads I run on Craigslist
Other Services & Info
New Announcements & News
Opinions on some iPod models
How to Select a Used iPod
Where to Buy a NEW iPod CHEAPLY
Which Docking Station to buy???
What car adapter should I get???
Opinions on the Microsoft Zune
How To's and Tips
How to Reset Your iPod
Choosing an iPod Format
Format Mac iPod for PC
Copy iTunes Libraries
Add a folder to iTunes Library - Macintosh User
Add a folder to iTunes Library - PC User
How to Rip iPod Movies
iPhone 4/4S or an iPhone 5/5S with faulty Home Key / Home key button. I can fix it!



Your Home Key doesn't work? Fixable

I have a reputation for repairing iPhones that have been dropped in water. I also repair non-water immersed iPhones. The most common repair is for a cracked upper glass but I also do many other types of repairs.

When I repair your iPhone, all of your music, videos, photos and data of all types will still be there afterward. So will your contacts and calendaring and apps

I always encourage people to call me to discuss what they are having as a problem before sending their iPhone into me. There is a big tendency to think you know the problem and solution but without a broader sense of the device you can easily mis-diagnose the solution. I see this all the time. In the case of a Home button that doesn't work in say an iPhone 4 or a 4S iPhone

That problem could be just one of a number of possibilities.

In the case of the i4 or i4S the problem can be:

1) corrosion beneath the dome closure of the switch
2) grime acting as adhesive and not allowing the button to travel
3) corrosion from water exposure at the Home Key ribbon connection's plug and jack beneath the docking module
4) failed electronics *on* the docking module not conveying signal

There are a few causes for the Home Key not working so I usually ask people to call me so I can talk them through their symptoms. When I learn how the Home Key problem started I can usually track the cause down on the phone.

In the case of the iPhone 5 or the 5C or 5S the problem can be:

1) corrosion beneath the dome closure of the switch
2) grime acting as adhesive and not allowing the button to "travel" or press
3) corrosion from water exposure at the back of the Home Key switch on the pads that the docking module springs lay against that prohibit signal to docking module
4) failed electronics *on* the docking module not conveying signal to the logic board

To analyze or correct the problem in the 4 Series phones, the entire phone has to be torn down. You go in from the back and remove every part, to unglue and release the front display assembly so you can finally gain access to the Home Key switch. In the 4 Series phones it is practical to repair the Home Key only if you were already replacing the front screen or were prepared to pay for a new screen while in the Home Key repair.

To analyze and correct the problem in the iPhone 5, is considerably easier. To speak frankly, the 5 series phones were actually made to be repaired. No one in this industry could say that about the 4 series handsets. The Home key in the 5 series phones, has a shaped plastic key top with a frail outer flange. Behind the Home Key is a switch made up of concentric contact circles that have different polarity. Over these is a metal "dome" that the plastic key top presses on. When that pressure occurs, it inverts the dome with a snap and closes the circuit. The Home Key switch actually "tips to ground" and when that circuit grounds, it tells the logic board to "shrink" back to the Home position. At the back side of the screen, the Home Key switch has a steel backplate the switch backs up against. This keeps the travel of the switch fixed. The steel plate is held in place with two small machine screws. There are two spring touch pads as part of the switch. These lay onto two springs that rise from the docking module. When the switch is closed, the pads convey the signal to the springs that move it through the docking module's connection to the logic board. The biggest point of failure for the i5 Home Key is the thin outer flange or skirt. The flange breaks away in common use. when enough breaks away the plastic Home Key key top merely falls out.

The iPhone 5C is... in fact a re-packaged iPhone 5 and the packaging is really Crap. The 5C backplate exhibits such flex in dropping the backplate racks and flexes so much the front gets damaged quite easily. On average the screen on a 5C lasts 5 months before a drop obligates replacement. By comparison... the 5S with a metal back plate has an average front replacement cycle of about 16 months... just once in a 2 year contract instead of the 5C's three times. The Home Switch on the 5C is like the one on the iPhone 5.

In the iPhone 5S model, things are all quite different. The 5S models use Touch ID but the switch system has some strong similarities to the i5. The Touch ID and Home Key are "baked" into a single system. There is an optical sensor along with a body capacitance sensor in the Touch ID covered by a thin piece of manufactured Sapphire. The first thing the Touch ID does is detect through body capacitance there is a finger on top of it. Then it opens the circuit that reads the finger print on top of it. Once the scan is complete it makes a comparison to the ones it has in Library of unlock finger prints. If it finds a match the screen unlocks. (Although the software that drives the unlock has gotten much better than the first iteration, if you find the Touch ID isn't reading your finger print, then scan the same one 5 times in slightly different states, this will generally make the phone unlock the first time.)
Once the phone is unlocked then the Home Key can becomes useful. The Home Key in the 5S works basically as the one in the i5 and the i5Crap do. There are two concentric circles as contacts with different polarity with a metal dome over the top. In this case the entire Touch ID gets pushed back into the metal dome top and it inverts the dome closing the circuit. As in all the iPhone models, it's a ground circuit, so when the Home Key switch tips to ground the screen shrinks back to its Home position.
The Home Key replacement for the iPhone 5S is pricey because it actually obligates the entire replacement of the entire Touch ID assembly. If you have a problem with that assembly or its connection to the logic board, several things stop happening. Without it and it being properly connected to the logic board the Power On/Off button stop working. It is seriously awe inspiring technology but it all has to be working to make the handset function properly *at all*.

Below are tables that reflect prices for these types of solutions, the 5S seems high but it replaces the entire Touch ID system.

It's also sometimes practical to notice what the condition of your battery is. It's a good time to replace the battery when this is being done because they both tend to wear out at the same rate. look at the "plus new battery" column for pricing that includes battery.

Pricing for all these aspects is in the tables below. Look up what it is for your model iPhone.
iPhone repair pricing
iPod Touch pricing
You can either bring or send your iPhone to me.

Here is how to bring your iPhone in.

Here is how to send your iPhone in.

More on methods of payment is here:
http://www.isickbay.com/payments.shtml

These are comments people have sent me after they received their iPod back fixed.
http://www.isickbay.com/comments/comments.shtml

My most complex iPhone water case ever
http://www.isickbay.com/call--1-877-IPOD-PRO/recent_fixes/recent_fixes_497.shtml










Call 707-544-4400

or

email me at repair0121@isickbay.com with questions or to set up a repair.

HOURS:

Monday through Friday from 10am to 7pm, and Saturday & Sunday noon to 6pm.


I'm in Sonoma County... Northern California wine country,

    Frank Walburg
    Service Court
    Santa Rosa, Ca 95403-3139




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