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Fixing a broken screen in a harmony 890

post #1 of 17
11/7/08 at 8:38pm
Thread Starter 
A couple of months ago, my Harmony 890 screen started acting up, there were white lines in the display, but it still worked enough to read it.

But, a few weeks later, the display completely died, nothing showed up on it anymore. Its pretty hard to use a 890 when the screen is not working.

I called tech support, and they had me load the latest firmware, but it did not help. They sent me to level 2 support, but they could not help me either. Since it was 1.5 years old, it was no longer under warranty. I could send it in for repair, but I was not sure how much that would cost.

So, I decided to look for a broken 890 on ebay, which had a working screen. I found one, but was outbid on it. Broken 890's are kind of rare on ebay.

So, I took a chance, and found a broken 880. It would not charge anymore. Cost was $34, including shipping.

I bought it, took apart my 890, removed the screen, and then installed the 880 screen.

My 890 is working again.

Hopefully this will help somebody with a broken 880 or 890 display.

BTW, the "broken" 880 I bought, that would not charge. I think the 880 was fine, the charging base was not working. When I placed the 880 on my 890 base, it turned on fine. It would not do anything with the base that came with it.

Randy
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post #2 of 17
11/8/08 at 8:53am
Thread Starter 
In case there are other brave souls, I will add a little more detail.

First there are two little philips screws in the back of the remote, that you must unscrew. One is in the battery compartment.

After that, there are a bunch of plastic tabs holding the two parts together, so you have to kind of pry the remote apart at the middle. I ended up breaking a tab on each remote, so I'm not sure the best way to do this.

After you get it apart, there are two little screws holding the circuit board to the body, unscrew these.

There are a few wires, going from the battery compartment to the board, you have to pull off the connector at the end of the wires.

In the 890, there is a little RF board that you must also remove. You simply pull it off.

The display has a thin flat cable, the connects into the board. There is a little piece of plastic, that lock the cable into a connector on the big board. You have to pry this plastic up, and off, then the cable will come out.

Then, there are four little plastic tabs holding the display to the board, that you must unlatch.

Putting it together is simply the reverse

Randy
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post #3 of 17
3/9/10 at 5:49pm
I would like you to know that I went through the AVS registration process merely so that I could reply to this post. We have been living with a Harmony 890 with a broken screen for about a year. I finally called Harmony about it and, since it was out of warranty, they couldn't do anything about it but gave me a discount on a new remote. I decided to do some research before I chucked it anyway. I saw your post and, based on that, bought a screen from a broken 880 off of eBay for about $30 with shipping. My wife and I just took the remote apart, put in the new screen, and, voila. Good as new. We didn't break any tabs because, thanks again to you, we knew to look for them. We are indebted to you. Thanks for posting the information.
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post #4 of 17
3/24/10 at 1:43pm
anyone wanna sell the outside plastic and all the keys for my harmony 890 remote that has a few broken off?
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post #5 of 17
9/9/10 at 5:45am
Thanks, randytsuch1. Worked exactly as described on my Harmony 890 refurb. Found an eBay seller who sells new screens for $22.50 with free shipping. Took 2 weeks to get from Hong Kong, but now I have a "new" remote that works flawlessly. Thanks again.
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post #6 of 17
9/10/10 at 3:41pm
MaryKay, I just did the same thing on my Harmony 890. It's been broken a year and I just fixed it today. Perfect instructions by randytsuch1. Same experience with the screen from Hong Kong. Package label actually said it was something for a phone. Glad I got my remote back!! Thanks!
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post #7 of 17
9/24/10 at 6:21pm
i cracked my front screen and damaged the lcd. i was able to replace the lcd but has anyone been able to find a front cover so i can replace the crack?
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post #8 of 17
12/22/10 at 6:25am
I also fixed my remote with these instructions although trying to pry my remote apart I scratched it up. At least it works now with the screen.

My only frustration now is the fact that the motion sense doesn't work. When I pick it up now it doesn't light up until I press a button. Its not the end of the world but any idea that could help? Two little square plastic tabs fell out when I opened the remote. I caught one but the other is gone. They seemed trivial but it makes me wonder.
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post #9 of 17
12/23/10 at 5:57pm
aphex187 - I had a broken screen. The first time I took apart the piece I had trouble getting the screw out so of course a banged the unit. Doing that cause the black piece inside to come out and I heard rattling. When I opened it up I headr a bouncing noise on the floor. Thankfully I found it! The black piece snaps on under the daughter board and hold a little round metal ball that is used as the tilt sensor. If your black piece is in two pieces then that could be a problem. Do you have the little round metal ball? MAybe the thing you lost was the metal ball.

Thanks to these forums I ordered a new LCD screen off Ebay, received it today, fixed the screen, put everything back for the tilt sensor and like you had a few minor scratches opening up the unit it works perfectly now.

See these instructions - it explains about the metal ball and black square: http://reviews.ebay.com/Replacing-th...00000016184214
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post #10 of 17
1/8/11 at 11:22am
Quote:
Originally Posted by randytsuch1 View Post

A couple of months ago, my Harmony 890 screen started acting up, there were white lines in the display, but it still worked enough to read it.

But, a few weeks later, the display completely died, nothing showed up on it anymore. Its pretty hard to use a 890 when the screen is not working.

I called tech support, and they had me load the latest firmware, but it did not help. They sent me to level 2 support, but they could not help me either. Since it was 1.5 years old, it was no longer under warranty. I could send it in for repair, but I was not sure how much that would cost.

So, I decided to look for a broken 890 on ebay, which had a working screen. I found one, but was outbid on it. Broken 890's are kind of rare on ebay.

So, I took a chance, and found a broken 880. It would not charge anymore. Cost was $34, including shipping.

I bought it, took apart my 890, removed the screen, and then installed the 880 screen.

My 890 is working again.

Hopefully this will help somebody with a broken 880 or 890 display.

BTW, the "broken" 880 I bought, that would not charge. I think the 880 was fine, the charging base was not working. When I placed the 880 on my 890 base, it turned on fine. It would not do anything with the base that came with it.

Randy

Thanks Randy. I upgraded from 880 to 890 when we remodeled and set up a media closet for the RF function. A few months ago the remote fell off the bed onto the hardwood floor. The remote continued to work, you just couldn't see anything on the screen. We lived with a broken Harmony 890 screen for a few months until I finally decided to research how to fix it and came across your post. Following your directions, I put the screen from the 880 into the 890, making sure to work over a box to catch the little metal ball (and the little black ball cover) when they fell out. It is great to have my Harmony 890 remote working normally again. Thanks for posting.
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post #11 of 17
3/5/11 at 3:10pm
I followed randytsuch1's instructions and bought my screen on ebay (as suggested by jwhitley77). It works like new!
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post #12 of 17
3/14/11 at 11:39am
I have the same problem with the blue screen on my Harmony 890.

I just purchased a replacement screen on eBay for $29.99 + free shipping.

There were a few that were cheaper, but they were either used or came from China.

I bought the one shipping from NY that was NEW. I should have it in 2 days +/-.
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post #13 of 17
3/16/11 at 8:16pm
I have a working 900, and want to buy a broken one for my Home Theatre "on the cheap" I'm building

Anyone have any luck in finding a replacement 900 screen, or replaced one?
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post #14 of 17
8/14/11 at 1:43pm
The instructions listed here also fixed my broken remote

Previously, my remote's screen would light up but would not show any text or icons. To fix this, I would pull the battery for a little while, then put the battery back in to reset the remote. This would usually work.

Occasionally the reset would would fail, so I would reprogram the remote (which would normally work).

Finally, I thought it was really dead because neither of the two methods would restore the screen. I found this post, ordered my new LCD on eBay, and fixed the remote for $22.

I'm posting this because no one on the thread described what their screen looked like when broken. Hopefully, this additional detail will be enough for someone else to fix their broken remote.
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post #15 of 17
8/31/11 at 4:25pm
Thanks for all the help. Our daughter broke the screen a few weeks ago. Instead of buying a new Harmony, I luckily found this site. Purchased a new screen on ebay (one from the US) for about $30. We sat down and within about 15-20 minutes, the controller was up and working! Just followed the post from Randy and went step by step........EASY! Thanks again!!!!
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post #16 of 17
9/7/11 at 10:59am
Thread Starter 
I haven't been on this subforum for a while, and it was great to know that the time I spent describing the screen change helped other people fix their remotes.

Thanks for posting the follow ups.

Randy
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post #17 of 17
1/17/13 at 9:28pm
My 890 screen failed today. I can't seem to find any on ebay now. This is my second 890 to die, my first remote stopped taking software updates, so I bought a replacement, the screen went out on the second so I transplanted the screen from the first to the second, now that screen has died also. Looks like it's time to abandon Harmony.
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