Can anything else be done to fix the white screen on a 3G besides restore/upgrade and DFU/restore?

Question

Can anything else be done to fix the white screen on a 3G besides restore/upgrade and DFU/restore?

It sat in a box for ages, so was completely dead. I plugged it in to charge, got the white screen (oh noes). Left it like that for a bit.

Tried a home+lock 15 second reset, screen went black, came back up to white.

I did the upgrade->4.2 first via iTunes (latest, 10.6.x), no such luck. Still a white screen. So .. Ok, maybe the firmware didn't overwrite something, let's do a DFU update.

Put it into DFU mode (took a couple tries, but only like 3 tries, I promise :p) and saw the DFU on iTunes and Windows 7 system tray, so I know I loaded the DFU mode correctly.

Did the restore, still a white screen. Note: since the 4.2 upgrade I can work it blindly, for things like swipe to unlock, press and hold power for 3 seconds, swipe to shut down. So I know the logic all works, it's literally just the white screen.

Any last takers on tips before I consign it to the bin? (give it back to my buddy who had it in a box and thought it would work)

Answer 1

If everything but the display works, you can try adjusting your display cabling and/or replacing the display unit. On that model, the digitizer is not tightly coupled to the display, so you can get a piece on ifixit. I remember once breaking the display on my third gen nano. It went white. Probably a defective display, but nothing that can't be replaced.

Before messing with it, I'd definitely give it a shot at the Genius Bar, if you're local to one. They have diagnostic tools and such.