Ipad 3rd Generation Wi-Fi Broken Front Panel & LCD

Il Mio Problema

My wife's iPad 3rd Generation fell out of my truck and the front panel shattered. Then I broke the LCD while trying to repair the front panel.

La Mia Riparazione

I had a difficult time removing the front panel even with the iOpener. This would have certainly been an easier process if my front panel were not completely shattered.

I ended up ruining the LCD with one of the iFixit Opening Picks. The repair guide actually advises caution with these picks, but I got so distracted with trying to pry one of end of the panel up, that I did not realize I was pushing one of the picks to deeply in the device from the other side.

Once I finally got both the front panel and the LCD replaced the device appeared to be working until I tried typing a message with it, and then I realized that the keys Q, A, and shift were not working. Hence, I had to take the device apart again and reseat the front panel cables. After doing this the iPad is finally working like normal again. The whole process took me about 3 weeks, including time spent waiting on the to separate shipments of parts to arrive, and time spent troubleshooting the keyboard issue.

Il Mio Consiglio

I've repaired iPhones before and now an iPad. The iPhone is significantly easier to repair than an iPad. If your iPad's front panel is shattered you can fix it using the guides on this website and parts, but you are going to need patience, and you are going to need to use a lot of caution. Oh, and you also need a vacuum cleaner to be handy because the shards of glass get everywhere.