Zopo froze, now screen has dark lines. Is it HW or SW problem? ZP950H

[eurpneng]

Bought Zopo ZP950H 1G RAM a week ago.

Now there is dark lines on the screen. Top of the screen is ok. I hope it is just SW but may be also display electronics broken. Phone is usable but the screen looks messy because of the dark lines.

For curiosity I took screenshot. Screenshop image is clean, no dark lines.

How the problem started:
Phone was in standby
Call coming in
Answer call
End call
Press home key
Press power key ( to switch off screen )
After this phone froze and got warm. Pressing power key long time rebooted phone and the dark lines appeared on screen.

This may be related to Zopo freezing problems. I have also Zopo C7 and it is sometimes freezing also. It seems Zopo phones get confused when something happens when they are in standby mode. For example call coming in, USB cable plugged in etc.

Phone data:
Android 4.2.1
Build: ZP950H 20130427-162946
Build fingerprint: 'ZOPO/V6/V6:4.2.1/JOP40D/1367051265:user/test-keys'
Bootloader: unknown
Radio: unknown
Network: AIS GSM
Kernel: Linux version 3.4.5 (user@linux-user) (gcc version 4.6.x-google 20120106 (prerelease) (GCC) ) #1 SMP PREEMPT Sat Apr 27 16:27:13 CST 2013

   

[GizBeat]

This doesn't look good my friend. Have you tried flashing new firmware? Is the phone still under warranty?

[eurpneng]

I bought it from Huaqiangbei in Shenzhen in Zopo shop. I have not yet tried to flash new rom on it. If I am fairly sure reflashing fom could help fix the screen problem then I would try.

I may visit Shenzhen again. Then I can try to negotiate in the shop. I dont have the original box anymore though, only receipt and some quarantee papers. The salesguy did test the phone in the shop. He used several of the factory test functions ( display, microphone, loudspeaker test ). It is possible to access factory test functions with some keycode *#..... ( I dont know the code ).

It looked like the salesguy tried to make sure phone was ok so I blame him less than Zopo factory letting bad quality phones out.

[GizBeat]

It's not difficult to change firmwares. Update to the latest stock firmware. There's no way to tell for sure whether it will fix the problem unless you try.

Access factory mode by holding volUp and power button when turning the phone on.

[eurpneng]

This phone does not have recovery installed :-(. And if I install something extra the shop may deny any quarantee.

I check if I can use flashtool to reflash later rom or even the same rom.

I found a way to start engineer mode
dial *#*#3646633#*#*
There was some display test but that did not help or give more information.

I still did not find how to start factory test mode. It can be started by dialling some code in the same way as engineer mode.

[GizBeat]

It's quite strange for Zopo ZP950 to not have a recovery mode.. Recovery is not the same as factory mode. Did you test both VolUp+Power and VolDown+Power when turning on the phone? One way will enter recovery if you have it, the other way enters factory mode.

[ydur]

It's quite strange for Zopo ZP950 to not have a recovery mode.. Recovery is not the same as factory mode. Did you test both VolUp+Power and VolDown+Power when turning on the phone? One way will enter recovery if you have it, the other way enters factory mode.

I was holding the Power Button and the Volume+ button at the same time while booting. This didn't work. What I did was I pressed [B]first [/B ]the Power Button, and then immediately the Volume+ Button. Not simultaneously. And it worked just fine.

Also, unrelated, have you noticed that powering up the phone with Power + Vol- takes you to a "Factory Mode" menu? It's all in Chinese, but it seems to me that it is Quality Check menu where you can performe some routine tests of the phone.

[eurpneng]

I tried to start recovery:
power Vol up, nothing happens, display stay black
power on first, very soon Vol up, nothing happens, display stay black
power Vol down, phone vibrates, display stay black even if wait for longer time.

I found factory test menu:
Dial *#66#
It is in chinese. Is there a translated version somewhere?
LCD and GPS I tested. The same black lines can also be seen during LCD factory test.


   

[eurpneng]

Another Zopo ( Zopo C7 ) broke down in the same way. Incoming call. I did not answer. Soon I checked the phone and display start to get dark. I switched phone off, took battery out and waited for a while. Then I put battery back and switched phone on. 75% of display was dark, the rest looked normal. Display switched of totally by itself. It came back by pressing power button shortly. Now the display is totally dark. Can not see anything.

Two Zopos got broken by itself! Now I know. Zopo is chinese crap. I took a risk and trusted chinese brand. I bought the phones from Zopos own shop in Shenzhen.

On paper there is one year guarantee. Does anybody have experience does Zopos guarantee work? Or do I have to have long fight with them before they my money back or something usefull. Their phones are not usable any way.