We get many stories submitted with the devices we receive for repair, and some Apple product owners are more liberal with the details than others. Sometimes it can be fun to try to fill in some of the details, though. We recently received a second generation iPad from an owner in Gladstone, Michigan. The device had some pretty significant damage, but the owner only told us that the iPad had been dropped and that it was no longer able to access the Wi-Fi feature.
That description was a bit of an understatement! When we took a look at the 16 GB Wi-Fi iPad 2, it was clear that the device had been dropped – but it looked like it had fallen out of the owner's pocket while skydiving. The glass digitizer was severely cracked around the home button on the bottom of the device. We also discovered that the Wi-Fi cable was torn, which was what was keeping the owner from using that feature.
Regardless of how severe the damage looked, we were able to perform an iPad screen repair. We replaced the glass digitizer and the Wi-Fi cable to get the device back to working order.
Having problems with Wi-Fi connectivity is a relatively common problem whenever there is clear damage that is centralized around the home button of the device. This correlation is because the Wi-Fi cable sits directly beneath the glass that is just to the right of the home button. Plus, the cable is a particularly flimsy ribbon cable, and it is very easily torn. So, if the device is dropped and hits the ground with enough force to crack the glass screen, the broken glass can tend to cut the cable lying underneath.