Screen is dead / can't tranfer files to PC

[LaMarghe]

Hello all,

I hope you can help me with this, or at least give me some information on how it is best to proceed.

All of a sudden the screen of my phone has gone black. It does show some backlight when I try to turn on the screen, and when I restart it, the screen becomes all white with some pink vertical stripes down the middle.

Other than the screen not working, eveything else is fine. I hear and see LED notifications for messages, calls, etc.

I need to transfer some really important files from the phone to the pc, but obviously, with the dead, black screen I cannot choose the option to unlock the phone and so the Xperia Companion keeps telling me to unlock it first.

The Windows File Manager sees the phone when I connect it, but it tells me "This folder is empty".

I am out of ideas... Please help?

Thank you!

[MarlonUk1]

1. try to check your google account on a pc. it may have synced some data such as contacts 

2. insert your sd card on a card reader so you can see some data stored on the card like media

3. I'm not sure if it works but, have you tried to connect the device via hdmi thru a tv? or something simillar?

4. try to send your device to your local service center to have the screen repaired

[Jonas]

Hi @LaMarghe, sorry to hear about this.

Since the display isn't working although the device is turned on, the option will be fairly limited and my best recommendation would be what @nolramlb mentioned. Connect the device to an external screen using HDMI/MHL and then upload the files to some kind of cloud services, for example Google Drive.

It will probably a bit tricky to unlock the device and manage it in general, but you should be able to see on the external screen where you are tapping and hopefully get to where you need to get to transfer the files.

Let us know how it went!

[LaMarghe]

Sorry for the late reply! 

Connecting the phone to the tv sounds like an idea that may work! I hadn't thought about it, thank you so much!

I went to a store this afternoon to see if they had a cable like that (Micro USB to HDMI) and they didn't have one in store, they asked what it was for, and they told me that even using that, the phone would ask me for confirmation on its own screen before sending the image to the tv screen. I'm not so sure they are correct, because after all it is not a file transfer or PC USB connection...

What do you guys think? Waste of time because I won't be able to confirm anything on the phone's screen, or worth a try to save my data before sending the phone to the Sony Assistance?

Oh, and I have already installed the SD on another phone, so all that data is safe, and unfortunately the most important data , obviously, was not backed up to my Google Drive... alas.

Thank you for the idea!

[Jonas]

Hi again @LaMarghe!

As far as I know, there will be no prompt on the actual device, but I don't have a MHL adapter/cable available so I can't try it for you.

May be you can try it in the store before purchasing it, depending on if they allow this.

Keep us posted!

[LaMarghe]

Well, I am sorry to say we won't get to know the answer this time. I looked everywhere for the cable, but it is only available in online shops, like Amazon and Ebay. I did bring the phone to an assistance point, not Sony since there isn't one where I live. They changed the screen and it works perfectly now. Maybe when I have the time I will buy the cable for the sake of trying, in the meantime I have promptly saved all of my most important data and I will try not to get caught off guard in the future. 

Thanks for all the info and ideas!

[Jonas]

@LaMarghe, totally understandable!

I keep as much as possible synced to my Google account, but of course not everything can be saved there and I'm not very good at backing up my data either, but I have done it just now at least, as your post was a good reminder!

No problem at all and let me know if there is anything else!