Simon's Canon S40 LCD Replacement

My Canon S40 LCD surgery

This procedure WILL void your warranty. It should ONLY be performed by Canon authorized service centres. If you follow these instructions, you do so at your own risk.
The whole idea was started by this Canon forum post. It enlighted me to the fact that repairing my broken S40 (which just a day earlier took a nasty fall) just may be a cost effective option. Other related pages: How to replace the Date/Time battery on the Canon S40 Replacing the LCD Screen on Canon: Ixus 40, Powershot SD-300, SD300, Ixus 30, SD-200, SD200 Various Canon service Manuals .. this is a goldmine!
What to buy: You have two option when it comes to an LCD for S40. You can get: WG2-5219-000 - S40 LCD PANEL WG2-5219-001 - S40 LCD PANEL (SELECTION) WG2-5219-000 is the "regular" version used during production of these cameras. It cost me $70CDN as of Nov. 4, 2003 WG2-5219-001 is the hand-picked version which guarantees absolutely NO stuck or dead pixels. It was close to $300CDN .. needless to say, I did not buy this.
Some things you'll need: A Phillips head precision screwdriver A slotted/flat head precision screwdriver magnifying glass to see the details (not necessary, but nice to have) medical latex gloves to avoid leaving fingerprints on everything a plastic or wooden toothpick electrical tape of masking tape .. I had masking tape, so that's what I used. it may be a good idea to get the S40 parts catalog
Some helpful tips: It's a good idea to name the screws in a logical order to increase chances of recovery in case of a screwup. I'd suggest going from the thumbcontroller going clockwise (as if looking through the viewfinder). So the back cover would be fastened using SB1 through SB6 and Front cover SF1 through SF4. Take pictures or video if possible. You will not remember everything, I guarantee it. I used my trusty 3Com HomeConnect web cam. In my pictures below, YELLOW indicates a pointer to an item. GREEN indicated suggested direction of movement/motion
Step 1 Here I highlited the screws which you will need to remove and a suggested order/naming convention. Original exploded view PDF here.	Step 2 Once the SB screws are removed, you can carefully slide out the back cover. Make sure you've removed the battery and the CF card to avoid any shorts and/or damage to your camera.	Step 3 Here is my S40 with the back cover removed.	Crack detail Wow .. what a beautiful crack .. not.
LCD detail 1 Hey .. a Sony inside a Canon? :)	LCD detail 2 The LCD part number AM312A-1A is clearly visible ... for LCD or the metal cover?	LCD Detail 3 The whole LCD ... explosed!	LCD Detail 4 This was a big dissapointment. The connector for the LCD seems to go inside the digicam. This means a lot more work.
Battlefield 1 A bird's eye view of the back cover, the exploded view diagram, and all screws labeled and stuck to masking tape.	LCD Detail 5 Back to the LCD. It's held in place by four latches. To release the LCD, you need to gently pull it up with your finger nail or a toothpick.	LCD Detail 6 This is the little notch on the side of the LCD. There are four, one in each corner. Amazingly, that's all that's holding the LCD, but don't remove the LCD panel yet.	Step 4 OK, now remove the four SF screws which are holding the front cover. Once removed, carefully pull open the front cover of hte digicam. Be careful with the little latch in the midle of the top front edge .. it's a little stubborn.
Step 5 Slowly, the beast reveals its secrets.	The Battery 1 Hey, what's this .. a battery! Yes, it's the date/time backup battery. Once you disconnect it, all the settings will be reset. I think disconnecting the battery is a good idea, but not a must. It frees you up from the tangle. More detailed info on how to change the S40 battery	The battery 2 Here is more detail for the battery. Battery ID MS614F	Step 5 Carefully look at how the battery connector (and lens cover switch) runs across to the body of the camera. You will need to end up with something like that if you unhook the front facia from the body.
Step 6 (optional) Disconnect the battery connector by carefully wedging the clip open. I used a plastic toothpick to slowly release the clip. (sorry about the shift in perspective. Hope I did not lose anyone)	LCD Ribbon cable detail 1 S40 upside-down. Here is how the ribbon cable from the LCD runs under the other connections on top. Looking from back of the camera towards the front.	LCD Ribbon cable detail 2 S40 upside-down. The LCD Ribbon cable from the side	LCD Ribbon cable detail 3 S40 upside-down. The LCD Ribbon cable from the side. Looking from front of the camera towards the back.
Step 7 Carefully disconnect the LCD connector by wedging the clip open. Again, I used a plastic toothpick to slowly release the clip.	LCD Ribbon cable detail 4 The LCD ribbon cable unplugged.	Step 8 Now you can remove the LCD from the latches (see LCD Detail 5 and 6), then carefully pull the ribbon cable out of the camera body.	LCD Ribbon cable detail 5 Part number ACX312AK-7
The Body And here are the clothes of my Canon S40
Waiting waiting waiting ... actually, it took 3 minutes on the phone, and 24 hours later the part was at my door. Impressive, Canon! The order came to $70 plus $4 shipping for a total of $83.98CDN
The box 1 OK back to work .. the package arrived, here it is for size.	The box 2 Wow .. that's a lot of packing for a 3.5cm by 4cm by 2mm part. Not like I'm complaining .. it got here safe and sound.	Packing This is what's inside the box! Part number WG2-5219-000 visible on the plastic	The new, the old Here's the new LCD and the old one side by side.
S40 1 My S40 awaits further surgery. I placed it inside a anti-static bag for the duration of the wait. Probably not necessary, but I had one so I figured, why not?	S40 2 This is how the unit looks like now. Front and back cover separated from the body.	New LCD Here's the new LCD. Note the connectors .. they are straight. They need to bend 90 degrees, so right away I knew that putting them in will be tricky.	Step 9 You must now run the ribbon cable from the LCD through the tiny slot under other connectiors to the other side of the body.
Step 10 Once on the other side the ribbon cable must make a sharp 90 degree turn downwards to its port. Watch out for two tiny wires running along the front side (left arrow) .. they were a bit of a pain to pilot the ribbon cable over and above.	Step 11 I found it helpful to hold the LCD horizontally when fumbling with plugging it into the port on the front side of the camera. Once plugged in, you can swing the LCD down to its proper position.	Latches Here are those tiny latches again. Make sure all 4 are seated properly otherwise you'll have problems with the LCD and/or closing the back cover	Step 12 Well, the LCD is in place. Verify that everything is in place and prepare to close the casing. Remember to replace the peice of the blue tape if you removed it, as I did.
Step 13 Carefully reconnect the battery ribbon cable to its port. Since I've done that at least 4 or 5 time, the latch seemed loose. Hope it does not come apart any time soon.	Step 14 Manouver the front cover back to its place. Make sure you remember to close the LCD cover before you snap on the front cover .. otherwise it will not work.	Step 15 Now it's time to do the same thing as above but with the back cover. Remember, no force. If something does not fit, you did something wrong, so open up again and verify your work.	Step 16 OK, now that everything has been snapped back into place, before you replace all the screws, it may be a good idea to plug in the battery and some memory and hope for the best!
Oopsie In my case, no matter what I did, this hole did not want to align itself. Eventually I gave up and figured that I might have slightly bent this part during my numerous on/off cycles with the cover.	Ta Daaaa! Now replace all the screws back into their respective locations as per your markings in step 1. And here we go, a fully functional camera. The new LCD looks great. No dead or stuck pixels. Looks like success, hope yours is too!