Introduction

If you have scratches on the screen surface of a kindle, instead of changing the whole screen part, you may peal off the surface layer (light guide) and replace with a PET screen protector (common smartphone screen protectors)

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    • To save your time, yes the screen surface layer, or officially named light guide, can be easily peeled off.

    • Don't worry, it will not damage the touch screen and will not affect the touch sensitivity.

    • Then you can crop any common anti-glare PET screen protector into suitable size to replace the light guide

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    • Actual guide starts from here, first uncover the frame. You may refer to other Kindle disassembly guide if you want more detailed steps.

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    • Start to peel off from any of the 4 corners. Just be careful not to scratch the touch screen, which is the glossy surface under this plastic light guide.

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    • This is the peeled off light guide. which is an anti-glare layer.

    • It has a thin sticky layer at the back to stick to the touch screen

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    • After peeling off the original light guide, replace with any common anti-glare PET screen protector

    • You may get a matt screen guard designed for kindle. But this one I got lower the resolution of the screen, i.e. the text became less clear.

    • I then tried another anti-glare iPad PET screen protector. Cut it into Kindle's size. This one does not lower the resolution, but the anti-glare effect is not as good as the original light guide.

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    • Refer to the image, the left is a PW with original light guide and the right is the one with iPad protector

    • The anti-glare-ness is not as good as before but at least the annoying scratches are gone. If you found any good anti-glare screen protector that is as good as the original nanoiprinted light guide. Please share with everyone.

Conclusion

To fix a PW with scratched display in a low cost. Instead of replacing the whole integrated screen part, we can replace the light guide with an anti-glare PET screen protector.

potechto

Member since: 11/12/22

298 Reputation

18 comments

Does the light work with the non original light guide layer?

Cyberman -

Yes the backlight will still work, 100%, no worries.

potechto -

Also thank you very much for the guide

Cyberman -

Thank you, fingers crossed, will try. I’ve managed to get these deep scratches on 2 kindles.

Cyberman -

Good luck! Feel free to share with us your fixing experience

potechto -

What anti-glare iPad PET screen protector did you buy?

Stefan -

It doesn't even have a brand, I just bought a cheap one. Just get an anti-glare protector for any recent ipad, because the resolution of ipad is higher than Kindle I think

potechto -

Congratulations on the article, it has been tremendously useful for me. I have a couple of devices that are quite scratched, and your article has been extremely helpful. For now, I will use a tempered glass as a protector. I may use an anti-glare film on my second device to compare the results.

Pedro Ayala -

I'm glad to hear that. It's always a joy to to me give an old device a new life, especially in a low cost way. feel free to share with everyone the comparison result!

potechto -

I want to buy a Kindle Paperwhite 2 6th screen, where can I buy it?

Máy đọc sách Kindle Dinhtoan -

Does this effect the front light?

Sam Lewis -

You mean the screen light? No it will not be affected.

potechto -

I thought the layer kindof acts like a difuser to spread the light around, but I guess that happens with any old screen protector. Thanks!

Sam Lewis -

Does anyone have a before/after photo of this repair? I have a kindle with scratches that only appear when the backlight is on (they look like bright glowing white scratches and are very visible, but the rest of the screen lights up normally).

If I attempt this repair, do you think it could fix that issue? I would really like to be able to comfortably use the backlight again.

Here is a photo of my screen: https://imgur.com/a/WqLOdTj

Sato -

It looks to me the cracks are deep down in the touch screen layer (you may refer to the picture in Step 3), judging by the shadow above the cracks.
So I don't think replacing the light guide can fix your issue.
How did those cracks come, did you drop something on the screen by accident?

potechto -

@potechto thanks for the response. I see what you mean, it's possible the cracks are deeper but I can't be certain.

This kindle was given to me by a relative and I'm not sure how they damaged it. It's quite old and has been sat in a draw for a long time so anything could have happened really.

Do you think there is a fix for this or would I likely have to replace the entire screen?

Sato -

I believe you will need to replace the whole screen assembly to fully fix the issue. Otherwise just keep the light off and only read it in bright enviornmet. Considering it's such an old model, I'd rather buy a new model if i were you, replacing the screen assembly is too costy.

potechto -

Thanks again. I am completely confused how there seems to be scratches inside the screen. If I run my finger over those bright scratches I can't feel any damage, its just flat. There are other, normal scratches I am able to feel so I'm wondering how this sort of damage even happened.

Sato -