[Q] Help - I Drenched My A500... - Acer Iconia A500

Need some help here. I "managed" to drench my tab. Yeah, I know - stoopid me. So what's done is done. Currently the tab's display in not working. I think I was able to power it up - white light on the power button but this stays on forever.
I'm going to return the tab. So here's the question - how would I go about doing a factory reset without actually logging in to the tab?
Thanks in advance.
Bang...
Yeah I really did a banged up job on the tab. LOL!!

Could try to salvage it first and restore and then return it. Odds are if you turned the power on after drenching it you messed it up badly so youre data is gone anyways.

First of all, you should not have tried to turn it on until it was dry. That can cause shorting.
Any time an electronic device gets wet, pull the battery as soon as possible.
Stick it in a bag of dry rice for a week or two (pulls the moisture out) before trying to power it on.
I have a friend who's phone went to the bottom of a lake 3 times. Came back from it all three.

entropyiv said:
First of all, you should not have tried to turn it on until it was dry. That can cause shorting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Indeed. NEVER turn on a wet electronic device. Especially in case where it's got as heavy-duty battery as a tablet or laptop has.

+1 For the rice trick. Silica works as well (the stuff that comes with a new pair of shoes).
+1,000,000 for never ever turning on a moist device! Water conducts electricity, so as entropyiv said, you probably shorted it out.
I'm also thinking that returning the tablet isn't going to work. They'll know immediately that it got wet, and that's a pretty straight forward warranty killer!
Good luck, and let us know the outcome!

most stores dont check for water damage. If you biught it at target youre in luck. When i worked there we were liniant if you had a reciept.

This is why I bought the accidental warranty...

I ride a motorcycle and have gotten radios and such wet in the past. I make sure and turn them off immediately, remove power and then once I'm home I leave them in the hot garage for a few days and I've never had a one that didn't come back to life.

Thanks...
for your responses. I'll try going the usb route to get rid of all my personal data off the tab. Once again, thank you!

The best advice I could give you as a former Compaq Computers Engineer is to take the back cover off, disconnect the battery if you can and unplug anything back there that you can. Leave the tablet in a relatively warm room for 24 hrs, reconnect everything and 9 times out of 10 it will work again. I'm not sure if you permanently ruined it trying to immediately trying to turn it on, but try this advise and see if it will work for you.
Good luck!
Ted

Wish I had the accidental on mine, i'm in the same boat. Only I cant do much with it.
BTW, anyone want a perfectly good iconia battery?

Markon101 said:
Wish I had the accidental on mine, i'm in the same boat. Only I cant do much with it.
BTW, anyone want a perfectly good iconia battery?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There was a guy with a busted screen.another withbdamaged case.part it out and you can get most of your money back.
Look for other damaged and droped unit threads
Good luck to you both

If it's warrantied, I would put the charger in it and toss it back in water to make sure it's fried good. Anything so it doesn't appear to power-up.
Or... if it had Recovery loaded, try to work through the menus for wiping before adding a mod. Touch screen isn't used.
What happened ? I only ask because the case seems like it would hold water back for at least a couple seconds, enough to get it out without the components getting wet.

Hello and thanks once again to everyone who'd responded.
I left the tab with some silicon gelica thing in a bag in a hot room for two days. Powered up the tab, looked like it was going to work - e.g. acer logo came up, as well as the android logo. I was feeling optimistic that the tab may just be fine. But alas, the LCD just won't work. I got a screen that's constantly flickering, snow, etc. It sure looked like the TV from the movie Poltergeist. lol!!
At least I can boot this sucker up. Now to see if the HDMI port is working or not. If it does, then I can hook it up to my TV, plug in a USB hub for a mouse and keyboard...then I should be able to do a factory reset to clear my personal data. Keeping my fingers crossed that this will work. Worse case, my Win 7 PC should see the tab and maybe I can "format" that thing from there.
Don't worry, I am NOT returning this to any retailer...this unit was not "store bought"...it's an engineering sample that was on loan to me... ;-)

Related

Help with Vogue - Won't turn on

My friend asked me to take a look at her phone for her and its got me stumped. Basically it was in her purse, it dropped off the car seat onto the floor of the car, and that was it. When she took it out of her purse to check for messages she turned it on, all she got was a jagged line across the screen. She did a soft reset, and that was the end of it. Now it won't turn on. The only sign that it once had life is the glorious red light that goes solid when its plugged in. Sometimes it stays solid, other times it goes off after a few seconds or minutes.
I've tried that battery in my phone, and my battery in her phone and mine still works and hers still doesn't.
I understand that its probably a brick but are there any last ditch efforts I can try to either verify its toast, or that it still might be salvageable?
Thanks
It may be that something just got knocked loose when the phone dropped.
Check out this thread here - I have read several threads where different members were complaining of similar sounding problem -
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=476152
This seemed to work for many people - Keep in mind this thread is for ELf and I am unfamiliar with the insides of the Vogue - however if you open it up and try something similar it might just work. Good luck.
Rod
Hey thanks for the idea. I just tried that putting a piece of plastic behind each of the metal guards and it doesn't appear that it did anything. It certainly makes sense for that to be the problem, but...no dice.
will it hook up to active sync?
Nope. The ONLY sign that was designed to ever work is the solid red light that comes on when its plugged in.

Possibly trashed my G1

Hey.
I'm wondering if someone can lend me a hand here. I was rock climbing last weekend, left my phone in my jacket pocket, and I suspect someone may have stepped on / thrown my jacket.
In any case... it's not working right now. It doesn't start up, and there's no light when I plug it into the USB/wall chargers. Any hints on whether this thing is totally trashed? The phone was in its case the whole time, and its exterior looks completely undamaged as far as I can tell, with no scratches, etc. Another possibility is that it got rained on, but I highly doubt that the water penetrated the outside of the phone (especially given that it was in the case the whole time).
If anyone can help me getting my phone working again I would be eternally grateful.
you're kidding me,right? your phone doesn't start,no led comes on when you plug it in,and you want someone to tell you if it's trashed? did you check that the battery is properly seated?
hey whats going on? Heres what I suggest, take it to the tmobile store and tell them that the phone was charging and it started acting funky so you turned it off, and than it never came back on. From there they will switch out your battery, than if that dosent work they will just give you a new phone right there in the store. Long as no water damage which i dought it does. Just do that and you will be ok, I have done that many of times lol.
>did you check that the battery is properly seated?
Yes. I also wiped the contacts on the battery and the device.
mikesx4911 said:
hey whats going on? Heres what I suggest, take it to the tmobile store and tell them that the phone was charging and it started acting funky so you turned it off, and than it never came back on. From there they will switch out your battery, than if that dosent work they will just give you a new phone right there in the store. Long as no water damage which i dought it does. Just do that and you will be ok, I have done that many of times lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately it isn't quite that simple for me. I live in Canada; I purchased this phone several months ago basically new off eBay (it was used for a couple of weeks). Funnily enough, my iPod which was "naked" in the same pocket as my phone is also undamaged and continues to function normally. Are there any tests I can do to better determine the location of the problem?
sorrofix said:
Unfortunately it isn't quite that simple for me. I live in Canada; I purchased this phone several months ago basically new off eBay (it was used for a couple of weeks). Funnily enough, my iPod which was "naked" in the same pocket as my phone is also undamaged and continues to function normally. Are there any tests I can do to better determine the location of the problem?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're gonna need some technical know how. Open the phone and check the mobo for any disconnected cable and/or water damage. There is really nothing you can do that you haven't already done from the outside of the phone. If possible, find a local repair shop and have them take a look at it.
Update: so basically I took out the battery, waited a day or so, put it back in, and all the buttons lit up on the phone (but the LCD remained blank and so did the charging light).
Took the battery back out, waited another day, put it back in, and the phone suddenly turned on and has been working fine since. Anyway, thank you everyone for your help.

Battery won't charge, power button broken, me going crazy

Ok, im going to start not from the beginning beginning, but from where problems started.
Friday night, went out, I was writing an sms when somebody pushed me and i dropped my wiz, i picked it up, to find that the battery was gone, nowhere to be found, i did find the cover tho. i tried to look for the batt, but i was in the middle of the club so it wasn't that easy.. I knew that a friend of mine had a spare one so i didn't worry that much.
Sunday I got the replacement, tried it, no luck, it ran out i thought, but when i tried to charge it, nothing happened. Buying a new one is not that easy when you are in Argentina, and they are expensive, so i decided to jump sart it. good news: it worked, i could turn on the phone, so the battery is fine. bad news: it still doesn't want to charge!
I previously had problems with the usb, and i had to have it soldered again, pretty strong, but I thought that might be the problem again, so i disassembled my wiz. new problem: the power button broke, the tiny, tiny black piece fell off, AND I LOST IT! DOH!
Anyways, the usb is still soldered pretty strong, i don't think its gonna go loose again, so thats not the freaking problem!
So now, instead of the initial no-charge problem, i have a disassembled wizard, that won't charge the goddamn battery, AND a broken power button (tried to glue it, but fell off again and thats when i lost the piece).
Regarding the button, i've studied my options, what would you recommend and how would you do it?
option 1: turn on the phone with the soft reset hole, and remap the screen on/off function to another button.
option 2: replace the power button internal piece with the one from the voice command button (i never use it). i've taken a look and they seem to be the same, but i don't know if taking it off and soldering it back would work..
anyways, that leaves me again with my initial problem, and i do have an hypothesis. I THINK (because I THINK i remember this happening to me before), that the battery won't start charging until windows has started, and the jump star power the battery has is not enough to get it started (tried to tape it and leave it for a while to see if it charged a bit more, but didn't work, the phone turns on but goes out when loading, and since i've my wiz pretty loaded it takes its time to load).
So to try this out i would need a way to charge the battery manually, and i don't have access to another wiz to have it charged (my friend had a spare batt because his wiz is broken).
So, if you have a solution to this, ANY different solution, or even an IDEA, please give me a hint!
For what i've read, this are common problems, so there must be something out there.
Man, that's a bad thing
I'll try to help you as much as I can.
You are right about Wiz only start charging when it's on. After my N78 was stolen and I went back to the Wizard, the battery was without any charge for months... I plugged it and no red LED... Turned it on and, bingo, red LED and charging!
The voice command and the on/off buttons are the same, so (in theory) it would work 100% IF you were able to change their places (at least for me, it is impossible to do manually, never found any good equip here =\ )
With a lot of patience (and a small soldering iron) I would try to take the voice comm button off and place it where the on/off was.
For the battery, maybe someone here can point if there is a "battery charger" standalone device, or such a thing...
Good luck man
hey thanks for the quick reply!
i'm not thinking of doing it myself, i'm not not that precise nor is my solder, but i know a guy, same dude that fixed my usb. I like that idea more than the other, but i guess that remapping the screen on/off and using the soft reset button would be much safer.. i haven't made up my mind about that yet.
Weir thing about MY wiz, at least thats what i think happened to me last time my battery was completely discharged, is that not only the device must be ON for it to charge, but it needs to have WINDOWS already loaded, i know for most devices it's not like that, but i think thats how mine works, or at least thats the only explanation i could find!
btw, i love your case modding concept, and since i might have my wiz sitting for a while, i might go ahead and try something too! nothing as extreme as yours of course.. i'd love to see more updates on your project along with some guide to see what ideas i can take
slight detail while thinking my options.. if i was to remap the screen on/off function to another button, would i need to have the device in sync? or connected via cable? because when i had the usb soldered, don't know how nor why (all the pins seem to be ok) but the device won't be recognized by any computer, usb only works for charging (or used to work, at least, still haven't figured why it won't charge now).
If its only an app that i can load to the phone, once i have it working (that if i ever will), i can load the app thru minisd, BT or IrDa so that would't be a problem.. i haven's investigated that issue yet.
Hey jinxie, how's your Wizard?
If you're still stuck with the battery (I hope not), check this out...
I think this will solve your battery problem:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=4963547&postcount=5
That's probably to work, just be carefull with the battery's temperature. If it starts to heat, stop the process and wait it to get normal, then start again.
Good luck!
i tried keeping the wires attached to the contacts for a while, didn't think it'd work better doing it just for a little and then repeating the process, i'll try that!
yeap, i'm still stuck and i think i will be for a while, i have to solve the battery issue first (would be useless to do anything else if i'm not certain i will get it to work), then i have to decide what i am going to do with the power button, and then i might paint it, i'm thinking matte black, or maybe take some ideas from your project if you have made any progress at the time!
thanks for the tip, i'll try it today and i let you know how it went
development: phone DOES NOT turn on with the soft reset button as i thought, i was sure it did, but after jumping the bat once again, tried the wiring method (not repeating the jump start but wiring it directly to de device pins), and tried to turn it on with soft reset and dind't work, while it does turn on with the power button, wich is broken, so in order to turn it on i cannot have the phone assambled, wich means that in order to try to make it work, i will need to hold the battery attached with my hands, and it is a pain in the.. you know where.
update: i wired the charger i was using to jump start the battery to the pins in the wizard, then held the battery in place with my hand, with a small screwdriver i pushed the broken power button. wizard turned on, IT FINALLY LOADED WINDOWS, but don't rush, i then (with my MOUTH) connected the USB wall charger to the port in the phone, and removed the wiring, i was expecting the goddamn light to turn on and the screen to tell me that my phone was finally charging. I WAS WRONG. then i had to let go because my hand was killing me and it went off
and the damn thing refuses to charge! what could it be????????
2nd update: I AM MACGYVER !
i figured the wiring had given the bat enough power to load windows on its own, so tried once more holding everything together with my hand but without wiring the pins this time, and at last the amber light turned on!!! im so proud of myself lol
SO NOW: device works ok, charges ok, battery has enaugh power to load windows, WHAT CAN I DO ABOUT THE BROKEN POWER BUTTON? i know you can't remap the power function since its hardware, but the screen on/off function might be remapped. soft reset button DOES not turn on the phone, is there any other way of turning it on? or my only option is to take off the voice command button and soldering it where the power button should be?
well, found the little button part that was missing, glued it (yes, GLUED it), and it kinda worked, i had painted the casing already, so i assembled everything back again. i used a folded piece of paper to hold the button still so it won't fall again and i think it was too big cause now its kind of hard to press but i can live with that, what i cannot live with is NO SIGNAL.. i mean, CMON!! are you kiddin me? now that the button works, battery works, phone assembled, and now this?? when i dissassembled the phone i forgot to take out the sim card, so the metal parts that hold it opened a bit, but i pressed them back, the sim in no way loose, so i guess i might have screwed the attenna :S
i've just checked, i can see the sim contacts so... [CENSORED] !!!
also now the screen looks weird.. like if it had less colours, like when you format your pc and haven's installed the graphic drivers yet, 3d effects look funny..
Hey man, have you painted ALL the Wizard parts, on both sides?
'Cause there is one that has a piece of copper board inside. It makes contact with the antenna. Without that contact, you'll never have signal
The piece I'm talking about is the one that has the camera protection, saying "1.3 MP camera". Look at its back and see if there's no paint on a green and golden plate. Remove the paint if it got there (the golden part is the important one, since it makes contact with the antenna).
Good luck man!
hahah lol, no of course i didn't paint both sides! but anyways im gonna take it apart again, clean it, and try again..
done. it had some paintng yes, but they were very tiny spray drops, so i don't think that is, anyway i cleaned it. On the other hand, i found that the antenna is loose on the left side :S what can i do about it?

I love my dog

So this morning I'm laying in bed and hit snooze on my phone not wanting to go to work...so I doze off and wake up a couple minutes later to my wonderful dog chomping on my phone. I have teeth marks on the bottom, but the best part is, she took a nice deep bite into the power button, so I no longer have any function with it.
Now I can't power off, boot into recovery, anything. GG dog.
t0nnn said:
So this morning I'm laying in bed and hit snooze on my phone not wanting to go to work...so I doze off and wake up a couple minutes later to my wonderful dog chomping on my phone. I have teeth marks on the bottom, but the best part is, she took a nice deep bite into the power button, so I no longer have any function with it.
Now I can't power off, boot into recovery, anything. GG dog.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well obviously your dog was trying to give you a message....
Yeah, I guess she was...
My phone is almost useless now...If I let the battery die by accident i'm screwed. Can't flash anything either.
I'm thinking maybe I can try and pop the button out and just use it like that
t0nnn said:
Yeah, I guess she was...
My phone is almost useless now...If I let the battery die by accident i'm screwed. Can't flash anything either.
I'm thinking maybe I can try and pop the button out and just use it like that
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is the switch itself broken? Or did the tooth just mess up the button?
I certainly would take it apart. Even if you end up with a hole in the front of the thing, as long as there's a working switch, you can poke it with a pen. If the switch itself is broken, it is easily replaced when the phone is in pieces.
The buttons pressed in so much it won't click..do u know of any how-to's on taking it apart?
Sent from my T-Mobile G1 using XDA App
Disassembly guide : http://www.formymobile.co.uk/googleg1disassembly.php
Thanks man, I'm gonna pick up those torx screwdrivers this week. If the switch is actually broken, where can I get a replacement?
t0nnn said:
Thanks man, I'm gonna pick up those torx screwdrivers this week. If the switch is actually broken, where can I get a replacement?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's lots of places to get a replacement. Try finding an electronic components store LOCAL TO where you live (not rat shack -- they don't got squat). There should be LOTS, but they do tend to hide themselves well since they only cater to a very specific niche who typically know where to look.
Alternatively, some place like DIGIKEY (website) will have it.
Note: if the switch itself is screwed, don't worry too much about replacing it with the exact same switch. Just find something that fits and preferably has the same shape of contact pads. If you can't find one that has matching contact pads, then you may need to consider WIRES and GLUE.
You can download quickboot from the market to reboot to recovery if you have to, and from there you can restart it. Your best bet is probably to replace whatever is broken though.
either you download quickboot like the previous guy said or you just type "reboot" (after "su") to reboot.
for flashing its enough to only press "Home" during startup --> recovery (power button not needed)
if you phone dies by accident becuase you battery was too low:
remove the battery --> plug in your phone --> insert your battery ==> phone should reboot
i'm not 100% sure about the last thing. pls try it only if you're phone already died and not to test it out. perhaps somebody can confirm this method with a working powerbutton (just in case )

Dropped phone in water

So i dropped the phone in water. Took it out and dried it and after couple of mins i turned it back on. Goes after the S animation and black screen. Turn off and turn on again, now it wont go after main screen. After i used hair dryer for few minutes.
It was only in water for <2 seconds.
It constantly is restarting the phone and won't go past the i9000 screen. Am i screwed? Anything i can do to get warranty or no?
Ny friend put his phone in uncoocked rice for a while and that helped his phone, otherwise when did you get the phone? What carrier?
sent from my rooted captivate
I won it off a contest bell had. Have all papers. Got it in september and got warranty left. Never modded, except unlocked but i believe i can put lock back on
also as soon as i put battery, it turns on. in the event of repair, what do i say to samsung?
1. You shouldn't have turned on the device until you're sure that it's dry internally
2. Moisture indicators are likely to indicate that your device has been in contact with water. Samsung may deny the warranty or give some courtesy by closing an eye. Depends on your luck.
3. You may attempt to continue drying it and prays that it functions again
4. Perhaps try entering bootloader/download mode and reflash?
I dissemble it completely. Now one thing i need to fix is the side grill (silver strip) can't seem to put it back on..
ok sweet, it was able to boot further. I will be putting it back inside rice but any help with the side strip?
Also that big black thing is kind of lose (top right). Supposed to be like that?
ok, really weird issue
At first it worked fine, after i managed to put the strip on, i turn on and see blueish screen and everything is fine except graphics looks like 98 with blueish screen on top!
There are plenty of advises on the web if you Google for your subject. The most interesting ones are to place the phone without battery into rice for a week ot so, the other one is to place the phone without battery in refrigerator, well, all of them say to NOT TURN ON YOUR PHONE at least for 4 - 5 days if not more. However, I had this problem with my previous device and now it is working like a gameboy with no radio. My home insurance payed me for this, so if you have home insurance, be prepared to claim.
EDIT : the moment problem has happened you must pull battery out and place it as far as possible from your phone for a few days.
Sent from my GT-I9000
so what do i do now???
Any way i can claim warranty - as in do something to the cell etc?
The blueish screen = nothing on internet can be found
Also its impossible for me to lock back the phone
Turn your phone off, remove battery throw it into a dehumidifier for a day. Don't touch it. The more you turn it on the more likely something will short circuit and permanently damage your phone.
Most warranties do not cover water damage and there is nothing you can do about that.
If you have insurence my advise report it lost and claim replacement i insured my sgs against everything i already replaced it once from killing it flashing it but i am covered for water and accidental
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Most devices have a moisture detector for if you ever drop it into water, voiding your warranty.
bad move turning it on worst thing anyone can do.
If your in blackpool, uk i can look at it for you.
best thing to do if this happens to anyone is.
take battery out.
put phone in a sealed pub of rice.
leave for 2 weeks and pray.
never ever turn it on after liquid thats when the damage happens
Grim, just grim!
oh boy :-(
thanks for the tip with the rice, good to know just in case..
Sorry for reviving this thread.
I too got the phone wet. I put it through a blower dryer and in a bag of rice.
the screen is fine no discolorations and it booted right up,but crashes on the desktop. i restart it and it stays at the galaxy s2 screen. i can enter recovery and so on, but i don't want to restore if i have too.
What should I do?
velvetmxo said:
Sorry for reviving this thread.
I too got the phone wet. I put it through a blower dryer and in a bag of rice.
the screen is fine no discolorations and it booted right up,but crashes on the desktop. i restart it and it stays at the galaxy s2 screen. i can enter recovery and so on, but i don't want to restore if i have too.
What should I do?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A crash at the desktop would normally indicate a software problem, but it is highly unlikely that the water had caused damages to the software. Rather, the water probably damaged the processors necessary to run the software. You can enter recovery mode probably because recovery mode does not require the full power of the processors.
So I think if there is any hope of saving your phone at all, you should reflash the firmware from recovery mode.
Do a nandroid backup, reflash and see if it was problem with ROM.
Sent from far, far away GalaxyS
lukaszD. said:
Do a nandroid backup, reflash and see if it was problem with ROM.
Sent from far, far away GalaxyS
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i attempted a nandroid (I already have a saved nandroid) but wanted to backup this one since i'm not sure it sync some of the contacts.
when attempting the nandroid i got an error during thee backp portion of the data.
does that mean i should just recover from my original backup?

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