Help Android ZTE Z665C Screen blank even after battery removal

[Pirate_Queene]

So, I'm obviously NOT the first person with this problem. My Android (admittedly a hand me down and, I'm pretty sure, no longer insured) has a lovely BLANK screen.

As others have said, I can hear notifications, texts, all that other stuff happening, but am totally unable to do anything about it. I do get a vague, dark screen for a split second when I power up, but not long enough to do anything about it. Yes, I have taken out the battery, lots of times and read that doing a factory reset (blind-EEK) can sometimes work.

My fear about doing a factory reset on this thing is that it won't solve the problem, but will reset my phone. So, I'll have a reset phone, with no way to add all my info back, effectively just having no phone at all.

Has anyone ACTUALLY used this method to fix this problem? And if so, is there a way to avoid it in the future???

 

[Hadron]

If it's software, then a factory reset will clear it (as long as it's not because it's rooted and some system modification was made - a reset won't clear that).

If it's hardware, a reset will do nothing.

So, how to tell? When you power the phone up, does the screen light up for a welcome "splash" screen, then go dark as it boots, or does it stay black? An Android problem wouldn't affect it until it was actually running Android, so you should get the splash screen in that case. Or if you boot into the bootloader (using a button combination which varies between manufacturers/models, and you've not said what phone you have) do you see the bootloader screen or is that still black?

From what you've said I have a suspicion that the problem might be more fundamental than a settings problem which could be fixed by a reset. But if you try to boot into the bootloader or recovery and the screen is still black that would confirm that fear.

 

[Pirate_Queene]

I have a ZTE Model:Z665C Valet.

I can say that when I try to turn it on, I get a split second of screen. I can see, for a what feels like half a second, either the ZTE emblem, of my lock screen, then it goes away faster that I can actually do anything about it. I can't really say if that counts as seeing anything or not.

Unless someone has a brilliant idea, I'm kind of resigned to a new phone...I wonder if I can get a new one from them with little hassle?? Doubt it...

 

[Hadron]

Well if you are resigned to replacement there's not much to lose in doing a factory reset (after getting what data you can off it).

It's odd: a brief flash of an image suggests it's not that the screen driver or the backlight has broken completely, though if it's also a dark flash that isn't encouraging. Lockscreen doesn't tell us much (it's running Android when the lockscreen is operating), but being like that on first power up is definitely discouraging - only odd thing is that it does that at all, rather than just staying black. But if it is like that from the start when powered up from cold then I don't personally see how a reset can change it: that just erases android apps, data and settings, but won't touch system software or firmware, and the android system isn't running at startup.

Did anything happen before this started? And has the phones' software been modified in any way?

 

[Pirate_Queene]

I ended up calling them, and they are sending me a replacement.

Nothing happened out of the ordinary that I can recall. No big drops or getting it wet or anything. It just started with the 'take the battery out' blackouts, then that stopped working. I haven't fiddled with the software-just normal, basic downloads.

It just seems like it's a pretty common flaw with this model.

Thanks for your help, though!!!!

 

[Hadron]

Well I'm pleased they are sending a replacement, as that didn't sound promising from your first post.