Database Users

Droped my HD down the bog...but...

...it's still working!
I think it's the luckiest HD in the world.
It was in it's stock pouch and was scooped out within seconds. The battery quickly taken off and with the back off, card out, etc put straight into the airing cupboard (the little cupboard where the hot water tank is). This all happened at about 8am this morning. Got a call from the girlfriend at about 4pm this afternoon telling me she'd put it back together and it was cool. Wasn't too happy she'd done that, was gonna give it at least 48 hours but it's working. Seems to have dried out perfectly. Nothing under the screen, everything work fine.
I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!
I think it was the pouch that saved it, probably soaked up the water before it got to the device.

Thanks for sharing this. I use mine every morning in there too but it's not happened to me yet. I will be extra careful from now on maybe take the pouch with me

custardo01 said:
Thanks for sharing this. I use mine every morning in there too but it's not happened to me yet. I will be extra careful from now on maybe take the pouch with me
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It was actually the process of puting my HD back in the pouch that made me drop it but thank god it made it back in just in time. I know what you mean though, every morning while dropping a bomb i'm checking my mail and seeing what the M1 is like before deciding on my route to work!

no kidding...you are luckier than sh#t!

If it plays up, wash it in distilled water and then dry it for 48 hours.

unwired4 said:
If it plays up, wash it in distilled water and then dry it for 48 hours.
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Yeah, I really think the pouch saved it though. I'll never stop using it now...
...and never use while on the john again!

crankshaft said:
It was actually the process of puting my HD back in the pouch that made me drop it but thank god it made it back in just in time. I know what you mean though, every morning while dropping a bomb i'm checking my mail and seeing what the M1 is like before deciding on my route to work!
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Lol thanks for the warning, I'm gonna take my laptop in instead now, like to see me fit that one down the toilet!

joey7415963 said:
Lol thanks for the warning, I'm gonna take my laptop in instead now, like to see me fit that one down the toilet!
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LMAO! Did this a couple of weeks back with my sons iphone, spent 2 hours blowing all the water out via the headphone socket lol. That works better now than before, he reckons it cleaned the crap from out the speakers and now is louder than ever lol. Maybe we should start a new section on the weirdest things you've managed to do with you're phone

lewyharvey said:
Maybe we should start a new section on the weirdest things you've managed to do with you're phone
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I like it! Need some more comedy on here lately

crankshaft said:
I think it's the luckiest HD in the world.
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not entirely convinced that yours is lucky...
I consider my HD lucky that it hasn't yet had the pleasure of meeting last nights curry.

fwaaaar!! ur must have been pooing ur pants! i dropped mine on concrete as i got out of my car a few days a go.. my heart jumped out of my mouth but i wasnt too worried about that.. i was scared about what happenned to my phone! picked it up screen was fine.. few marked on the corners which im pissed about and i seem to check them every now and again to see if they've healed.. i know they wont.. but i have hope lol..

supasye said:
few marked on the corners which im pissed about and i seem to check them every now and again to see if they've healed.. i know they wont.. but i have hope lol..
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Lol, the I have hope comment is a classic

crankshaft said:
Yeah, I really think the pouch saved it though. I'll never stop using it now...
...and never use while on the john again!
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You might want get a new pouch though, I mean its been down the bog. lol

joey7415963 said:
Lol thanks for the warning, I'm gonna take my laptop in instead now, like to see me fit that one down the toilet!
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Take care a close friend of mine dropped the EEPC in the toilet. He was smoking, some ash fall down on the legs, he opened them to avoid burn and the little toy from asus made a dive. All this happened before flushing the toilet, so before he got it to the service center he had also to clean it and parfume it.

A way to avoid this happening would be not to play with "toys" in the bathroom!!

From the last few posts i can say : none of the WM devices stink, even those which have been in toilet!!!!!!!
and gues im not looking for a new pouch -- keeping the original one!!!!

Boy oh boy that is damn funny, my old man did it many yrs ago when the first StarTac came out.
He came around the hallway swearing, googley eyed looking left and right and stated, "that was the most expensive s..t I ever had!"
He had stood up and flushed and at the exact same time the phone had popped off his belt and disappeared.
Incidentally he did get it back, it stuck to tree roots further down the drain, mind you it never worked again. heh heh.

unwired4 said:
If it plays up, wash it in distilled water and then dry it for 48 hours.
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Personally, I find dehydrated water is kinder and produces more consistent results.

widu13 said:
Personally, I find dehydrated water is kinder and produces more consistent results.
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LMAO, sorry, but when you say "personally" & "produces more consistent results", does this mean that this happens to you a lot?

[Q] dropped vibrant into the toilet...

i was at a bar i didn't even want to be at in a small town in colorado.
at first i just stared at it for 10 seconds thinking "at this point i should just leave it there because the damage is done"
then all of a sudden it started goign crazy with lights and "samsung vibrant" flashing everywhere on the screen, so i decided to dive in and save it. then i violently washed it with hotwater under the sink and only after washing my hands did i finally open it and take out the battery (at this point, the screen shown brightly with "samsung vibrant).
3 hours later, hoping it had dried completely, i put the battery in and again it came to life with the samsung vibrant text. i quickly took the battery out.
i jsut tried it again and it wont turn on at all. is it over?

maeglutz said:
3 hours later, hoping it had dried completely, i put the battery in and again it came to life with the samsung vibrant text. i quickly took the battery out.
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You shouldn't have done that, the phone was still wet. When you did that you fried your phone. If you would have put your phone in a bag of rice or let it dry out for a few days then it might have been ok. Hope you have insurance.

Yeah, I always heard that half the time, if you power it off and let it dry, and make sure it's dry before trying to power it on again, you can luck out.

omg omg omg!!
when you responded, my heart dropped and then i ran over to see if it would start again one more time (i plugged it into the charger) and i pressed the on button and it showed it was charging. i'm goign to leave it alone now in a bag of rice like you said. but i dont know if i can wait 3 days.... i never learn my lesson

Hahaha I dropped a phone in the toilet once. Good luck

i know i'm getting ahead of myself, but just SAY that if i finally do get it to power on, but nothing shows up except a "samsung vibrant" screen, is there a way to reinstall the OS?

My son left his ipod nano in his pants pocket. It got washed. I dried it and did the rice thing for 2-3 days (can't remember how many). Charged it up. Just like new.
The moral of the story? If you can't wait 3 days to see if it has been salvaged, you don't deserve a new phone...

Droidicus said:
My son left his ipod nano in his pants pocket. It got washed. I dried it and did the rice thing for 2-3 days (can't remember how many). Charged it up. Just like new.
The moral of the story? If you can't wait 3 days to see if it has been salvaged, you don't deserve a new phone...
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ugh. fine. i'll wait. but i dont know what i'l do with myself in the meantime.

maeglutz said:
i know i'm getting ahead of myself, but just SAY that if i finally do get it to power on, but nothing shows up except a "samsung vibrant" screen, is there a way to reinstall the OS?
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Uh, dude, it would not be a software problem... If it doesn't boot up its a hardware problem.

Just make sure its sitting nicely covered in the dry rice....wait...you did use dry rice right? Not cooked rice??? lol kidding...

Droidicus said:
Uh, dude, it would not be a software problem... If it doesn't boot up its a hardware problem.
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if you read my question, i asked what i could do if it DID power up but only with a generic screen

I wouldn't even bother trying... It's fried man...

nearblack said:
I wouldn't even bother trying... It's fried man...
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we'll see. the green charging light gives me hope. i will definitely not pay full price for a new one. this was $99 through costco-- which is what a phone should cost.

Don't over cook the rice. Stir-fry it with some egg, carrots, scallions, peas, and barbecued pork. Everything should be okay.

maeglutz said:
we'll see. the green charging light gives me hope. i will definitely not pay full price for a new one. this was $99 through costco-- which is what a phone should cost.
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This is why the data is so expensive in America. The companies need to get back the money they lost on the phone.
The phone might be fried since you didn't wait to turn it off. I've read the bag of rice will work. Next time wait until you phone is dry and just reroute you calls with Google Voice. I'd still try the rice too.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

Did you say after you took it out the the toilet you then washed it under hot water? Seriously? You thought "oh, its wet, I shall now soak it some more?"
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

Arghh..kill this nasty thread...lol
Sent from my Samsung Vibrant using XDA App

To clarify a little... when you drop the phone in water, the FIRST thing you do is take out the battery and sim card. Then you let it dry COMPLETLY, this takes days, not hours. Like said above, rice does good, you put it in a zip lock, take out the air and seal it.. leave for AT LEAST 3 days so the rice can absorb the moisture, THEN you try to turn it on for the first time. If you try turning it on when there is moisture you will fry the phone, water conducts electricity and brings power where there is not supposed to be and burns circuits, so by putting the battery and attempt to turn it on prematurely, you are killing it causing short circuits internally.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

make sure you throw the rice away after you're done or better yet, feed it to some iphone fanboy

dq13 said:
To clarify a little... when you drop the phone in water, the FIRST thing you do is take out the battery and sim card. Then you let it dry COMPLETLY, this takes days, not hours. Like said above, rice does good, you put it in a zip lock, take out the air and seal it.. leave for AT LEAST 3 days so the rice can absorb the moisture, THEN you try to turn it on for the first time. If you try turning it on when there is moisture you will fry the phone, water conducts electricity and brings power where there is not supposed to be and burns circuits, so by putting the battery and attempt to turn it on prematurely, you are killing it causing short circuits internally.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
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+1 and ty , I just read through this post and wondered when someone would point out the OP already turned it on to "check" it after being in the water.
Time to order a replacement, even if it does for some magical reason power on that phone is going to be issue city.

Samsung FTW

So I do a lot of reading on this forum but rarely post.
Last night, my phone fell out of my hands while I was sitting outside the hottub and went right into it. It was like how something falls to the bottom of the ocean in a movie. I got it out right away dried it off, took out the battery and sd card and looked at it.
It seemed that no water got into the system at all. The phone works just as it did when before the dive. The only thing that is touchy is the charger now, but oh well.
Samsung ftw

My friend dropped his Incredible in tea. He thought the same thing, but now, the phone reboots itself when it gets warm at all, and if it gets cold, the touchscreen becomes unresponsive. It was stupid to turn it back on. You should have immediately stuck it in dry rice and never turned it on, as that can prevent damage from happening.

Yeah, regardless of manufacturer/model, never turn a dunked phone on until you're 100% sure it's as dry as you can possibly get it.
Pull the battery and SD card, then shove the whole mess into a bag of white rice for AT LEAST 24 hours, more if you can. The longer it sits in the rice with no power, the more likely it is to survive the dunking.

Nah dehumidifier is better lol
Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk

Anyone know of any cell phone shops that have a wet phone recovery service?
I would place the phone inside a small pressure vessel and pull a deep vacuum for 15-20 mins (or until I archived 1000µm). Then break the vacuum with dry nitrogen. Repeat 3x's.
This is the method for pulling moisture out of refrigeration systems and it does work well.
I would think a small phone shop could easily get $50 a pop to save someones phone.
Hope yours stays happy! good luck

Hair dryer.
Sent from my CM7 SCH-i500

dw77x said:
Anyone know of any cell phone shops that have a wet phone recovery service?
I would place the phone inside a small pressure vessel and pull a deep vacuum for 15-20 mins (or until I archived 1000µm). Then break the vacuum with dry nitrogen. Repeat 3x's.
This is the method for pulling moisture out of refrigeration systems and it does work well.
I would think a small phone shop could easily get $50 a pop to save someones phone.
Hope yours stays happy! good luck
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I would worry about the screen in a vacuum.
If it were my phone though, I would completely disassemble it and make sure I got all of the water out that way, maybe hit it with some 99% isypropal to help get any water out from under chips and in tight places, and let it dry for a few days in silica beads.

A hairdryer is a horrible idea. It can't pull the water out. On the contrary, it's more likely to force the water into worse places.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App

xmrbonesx said:
A hairdryer is a horrible idea. It can't pull the water out. On the contrary, it's more likely to force the water into worse places.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
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And cook the inside components. hehe forgot the /sarcasm tag. I'm not stupid
Sent from my CM7 SCH-i500

I'm not so sure about the phones, but my samsung led tv survived a house fire... Pretty proud of that little purchase.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA Premium App

sageDieu said:
And cook the inside components. hehe forgot the /sarcasm tag. I'm not stupid
Sent from my CM7 SCH-i500
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I know that, but there are people that will blindly follow anything they read on these boards, and I've seen a hairdryer suggested before.

AlexDeGruven said:
Pull the battery and SD card, then shove the whole mess into a bag of white rice for AT LEAST 24 hours, more if you can. The longer it sits in the rice with no power, the more likely it is to survive the dunking.
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Rice is a good option and works well, but the small silica packets that are used as desiccant work even better and can be purchased very cheaply.
Putting your phone in some sort of vacuum or near-vacuum is probably a bad idea because the hardware was likely not designed to withstand such conditions.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App

Ok guys update.
So its been what a couple of days now, and my phone is working pretty good. all the main things work. the only thing that is a little touchy is the charger, and it keeps saying usb connected, but i can live with that.

I uses to work at a sign shop and my bosses kids were terrible about throwing phones in water so he found the little pink water detector strips so I know if you do that you can put it on and trade out your phone
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA Premium App

Golgotha theskull said:
I uses to work at a sign shop and my bosses kids were terrible about throwing phones in water so he found the little pink water detector strips so I know if you do that you can put it on and trade out your phone
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA Premium App
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Probably super illegal or at least in violation of like everything in the contract you sign about insurance and replacements. Lol
Sent from my CM7 SCH-i500

sageDieu said:
Probably super illegal or at least in violation of like everything in the contract you sign about insurance and replacements. Lol
Sent from my CM7 SCH-i500
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I second that LOL.
Anyways, I just want to say Samsung FTW because this phone has just been amazing in so many ways. Abilities to super customize in any way, shape and form, awesome screen...I was VERY hesitant on buying an all touch screen phone. Coming from a Blackberry Tour I was very use to a real keyboard and buttons. Yes this phone has it's up's and downs, but all in all the pros really out weigh the cons.
I'm in absolute NO rush to get a new phone any time soon. I love my Fassy

Toilet phone

Just thought I'd share how lucky I am.
Last night I dropped my phone into a toilet whilst it was on. I immediately got it out took the cover, battery, SD card and SIM out, put it in a food container with rice and left it on a radiator. The phone seems to be working perfectly now!

If it got wet inside, you'll be lucky only for some time.
It's pretty sure that the phone will corrode.

celeronix said:
If it got wet inside, you'll be lucky only for some time.
It's pretty sure that the phone will corrode.
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If he had it in rice, all the moisture will be sucked out. of course it all depends on how quickly he put it in rice

this make for a good laugh
no offence by the way

****ty phone.

I've heard of that working before. Glad to hear it fixed your phone!

It has happened to me in the past and the rice trick worked and the phone kept chugging along for at least 2 years. Then I switched to SGS. Just dont eat the rice when your done.

Good advice on not eating the Rice!

Too late. ^^
Sent from my Galaxy S using XDA Premium App

I hope the toilet was... er... unused.

I think phones are more durable these days.
My n1 was sitting in a puddle of water in a bag for I don't know how long and it was still on!!! Screen was white and phone was hot so I pulled battery and shook it dry. Did as op did and next day switched it on. All working as new even speaker.
Still no probs 2 months later.
If it is water and you can power down quickly should be no issues when dry.
Good luck with your phone mate.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

Well, the minerals might still be deposited on the ICs which can corrode after some time...hope that doesnt happen to you man.

Wow, I guess I should try to remember if my phone ever tries to commit a suicide in my toilet.
The other solution is to never use your phone right above the toilet...
Sent from my Galaxy S (ICS Beta 1) using Tapatalk

DarkMaster3960 said:
Wow, I guess I should try to remember if my phone ever tries to commit a suicide in my toilet.
The other solution is to never use your phone right above the toilet...
Sent from my Galaxy S (ICS Beta 1) using Tapatalk
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I can't get my mind on how you would use a phone, standing up, while using the toilet...
And I can't help but remember that:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLw6FemRavs

Well, I was replying to a text and when putting the phone back in my pocket, I missed!

Lol, Congrats on your phone surviving.
I tend to check my Twitter/email/facebook when on the loo so I can see how this could easily be accomplished.
It all comes down to one thing...
Real geeks don't read newspapers.
Sent from my Ice cream Sandwich using xda premium

muzicfreako said:
Well, the minerals might still be deposited on the ICs which can corrode after some time...hope that doesnt happen to you man.
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Therefore you should wash the phone in demineralized water to get the minerals of.

Understand it's logical, but man, washing your phone of, the pain a man must feel washing his precious phone.

Ahh that sucks

My wife did the same thing a long time ago with a blackberry storm and i put her phone in a bowl of rice next to the heater and her phone worked perfect for like a year later until she upgraded.

Need reassurance!!!!

So I just dropped my beloved vibrant ok the toilet and need reassurance, anyone whos done it before, will it live? So far its working ok, random color spasms and headphone port sounded distorted for a second but stopped when I paused music. It hasnt happened in about 15 minutes and the phone fell about an hour ago and dryed for about 30 minutes. I ran it over with a bike before on accident and it still worked and I love this phone so hopefully it will survive. Anyway worst damage to happen to your phone and it still worked?
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA Premium App

Turn off your phone, take out the battery and put it in a bag of rice. Good as new in about 2 hours.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using XDA App

Before you put it in rice, might want to clean the ports and anything that you can access with distilled water. This will hopefully prevent corrosion from rusty, particle ridden toilet water.

I was at an Ace Hardware where they were selling, for five or ten bucks, a plastic bag with some dessicant for wet-phone rescue. Rice or any dessicant should work fine. I would make sure no rice dust gets into phone.
If you have any kind of blower or compressed air, blowing it out gently on no heat first might be a good idea. Also, I would first take phone somewhat apart, remove battery, sim, sdcard. Dry loose parts by hand, then blow out phone, especially all ports and contacts.
Some kind of tuner-cleaner might be an option if needed.

Thanks guys I took the whole phone apart yesterday and air dryed/ blew air in to dry it out and its working great. Only issue is the volume down rocker doesnt work 100% I have to press it a couple times to make it work. Any way to fix that?
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA Premium App

your phone has been through hell haha!
unfortunately there isnt much anyone here can tell you. there are certain things you can do to get as much water out as possible like the rice trick, swabbing all ports, etc. but in the long run, theres really no way of telling if any water got in deep enough to go unnoticed/uncleanable, and actually reached a point where it could cause damage <--- and if thats the case, like Woodrube said, you may experience issues somewhere down the road, even long enough to the point when youve totally forgotten about dropping it in the toilet, and youll say "how come this started happening all of a sudden?"
sucks man, gotta be careful...i went to the bathroom one night to relieve myself, after 1 or 2 drinks , and for some reason i thought that holding my phone in the same hand that was aiming wasnt the worst idea ever......yup, i ended up pissing on my blackberry

sneakysnake16 said:
Thanks guys I took the whole phone apart yesterday and air dryed/ blew air in to dry it out and its working great. Only issue is the volume down rocker doesnt work 100% I have to press it a couple times to make it work. Any way to fix that?
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA Premium App
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If it was my phone, I'd get some tuner-cleaner and shoot it into the switch and hope.

TopShelf10 said:
i went to the bathroom one night to relieve myself, after 1 or 2 drinks , and for some reason i thought that holding my phone in the same hand that was aiming wasnt the worst idea ever......yup, i ended up pissing on my blackberry
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Lol. No really I laughed out loud and these ladies sitting next to me turned and looked. Brings new life to the phrase "piss on blackberry".

Woodrube said:
Lol. No really I laughed out loud and these ladies sitting next to me turned and looked. Brings new life to the phrase "piss on blackberry".
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100% true story...not my highest point haha, although it did ultimately lead to me getting my vibrant, so i guess it can be considered a win of sorts