Archos 80 G9 Digitizer Repair

Generally, I stay away from tablets and smartphones because they're very difficult to repair because of the glue, small connectors, soldered components, etc. I got my hands on an Archos 80 G9 with a broken digitizer. The device turned on and the LCD was working. I decided to open it up to see if it was repairable and it seemed harmless enough. Make sure you have some Kapton Tape, this is the one that I have here, on hand to replace the tape holding the components in place.

First things first, power off the device. Hold the power button for 10 seconds and tablet with shut itself off. There's only 1 screw underneath the kickstand. Using the iSesamo pry tool, work around the edges of the tablet to free the plastic clasps.

Once the case is separated, the only thing holding the tablet together is the LCD ribbon cable (the wide yellowish cable), the digitizer cable (the narrow white cable), and the WLAN antenna cables. Remove the metal shielding and detach both the LCD cable, digitizer cable, and WLAN antenna cables.

When getting a replacement digitizer, make sure to get the matching digitizer. The Archos 80 G9 apparently has 2 different types. One is the HannsTouch which has 2 chips on the connector. The other has a single chip and they are NOT compatible. My particular model used the HannsTouch. I got a replacement model here or search from ebay.com. The replacement had RF/EMI shielding tape over the chips, but it was a HannsTouch digitizer with LCD assembly.

Put the pieces back together and used new Kapton Tape to keep the components in place. Be sure to replace the Kapton Tape otherwise, the ribbon cables will NOT stay in place. They will pull apart. When I turned the tablet on, the LCD powered up and the digitizer worked!

The Archos 80 G9 is an interesting device in that it has a USB port on the back for a USB WWAN device for cellular data. However, the tablet supports other devices on that port. Firstly, enable the USB port by enabling 3G stick in Settings. I got the Logitech K400 keyboard and touchpad to work with the Archos 80 G9. The keyboard and mouse will work with a USB hub attached, but a USB flash drive will not. A USB flash drive MUST be directly attached. The USB power port also supports devices per the manual, but I've not verified it. You will need a micro USB to USB female cable to attach additional devices. See documentation here.