Database Users

permanent water damage?

This question was just asked to me by avery close friend.
Has anyone dealt with the phone recovering from being completely submmerged under water?
Below is the procedure followed on my friends phone after it fell in the toilet. ( I don't know how he managed that)
He took out the battery and left the phone open and face down, to let it air dry. Thiis happened around 9:15 pm est (02/24/09)
I told him to give the phone a few days to dry, I will post to see what happens.
Any suggestions from the community?
Thanks in advanced.

Tell him to put it in rice.

first things first, is the little sticker in the battery compartment still white? if not then keep reading, if it is then call t-mo when the phone stops working and get warranty exchange.
if the sticker is no longer white then it is out of warranty and the fun stuff begins, go here to see how others have fixed it

I washed my G1 on accident. Finicky on starting up, but I took the battery out immediately, took the blowdryer and did that for about half an hour (on cold), and then let it sit out for a few days. It sometimes will just display a blue LED and do nothing else. I've noticed holding the trackball and pressing the power button multiple times it started up more often, not sure why. Touchscreen kinda doesn't work and the home key goes bananas once in awhile.

Thanks
Ok so it is now in rice after I blow dried it from about a foot away on cold for about 10 minutes. My friend said he will pay me $50 to get it working again.
he doesnt have the time to do it and just took is sim card out and put it in a different phone...
i guess i will leave it in the rice for a couple of days. I hope the rice doesnt puff up and get stuck in the swivel compartment... LOL
Anyways- - off topic and all but I am also making a theme for the competition. Maybe I will test it on his phone (cant get any worse in case there is a problem)
Thanks all for the help.

cheap way to fix it
buy a new battery
switch them
tell Tmo that your phone doesnt work anymore
and there you go

roguestatuskat said:
cheap way to fix it
buy a new battery
switch them
tell Tmo that your phone doesnt work anymore
and there you go
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
and how is that gonna fix the fact that the water damage indicator is no longer white???

you will have a completely new battery that already has untouched battery indicator

Dry
Put it in front of blow dry cold for an hour. I had two iphones one fell in bathtub and other in the toilet. I even washed the one hat fell in toilet 3-4 times. To my surprise the indicator of the headphone didn't change colour. Blow dry does a good job. Remove everything from sim to cattery and SD card

roguestatuskat said:
you will have a completely new battery that already has untouched battery indicator
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you are an idiot the sticker is on the phone NOT on the battery, take your battery out right now and look on the side wall of the battery compartment in the lower right hand corner, that is the battery indicatot. maybe you should read before you look dumb. i tried to be nice with my other post in hinting that you were wrong but you didn't get that hint

wet g1?

okay, I put my phone in my coat pocket when it (the coat)was slightly damp for at least 2 hours and later, I found that my phone kept showing the option to power off and my keys werent responding...the keys didnt seem to be stuck...I then wiped then reflashed, which in itself took a good while since my keys werent responding fast enough...but even the reflash didnt work...so did I ruin my phone because of the damp coat? And if so, anybody know how I can fix it? I'm thinking about blow drying my phone...good idea or not?

Don't try to turn the phone on anymore. Remove the battery, battery cover, memory card and SIM card. Place your phone in a bowl of rice to absorb moisture. Sometimes there's just a bit of water left in the system. Let it dry off, phones come back to life most of the time.

SolemnWishing said:
Don't try to turn the phone on anymore. Remove the battery, battery cover, memory card and SIM card. Place your phone in a bowl of rice to absorb moisture. Sometimes there's just a bit of water left in the system. Let it dry off, phones come back to life most of the time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im going to try this, but just in case anybody else has any ideas, here's a few more details on my phone...it'll turn on, touch screen works, but it's when i use the hard keyboard and press the keys that the option to turn off shows up on the screen...and the phone's green and end keys are flashing on and off like the phone is turning itself on and off, on and off...never seen anything like this on the forums...weird...

naars90 said:
Im going to try this, but just in case anybody else has any ideas, here's a few more details on my phone...it'll turn on, touch screen works, but it's when i use the hard keyboard and press the keys that the option to turn off shows up on the screen...and the phone's green and end keys are flashing on and off like the phone is turning itself on and off, on and off...never seen anything like this on the forums...weird...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
oh and thanks for the quick response...

No problem. The lights on the buttons going on and off is the water interfering with the circuitry. I highly recommend you leave your phone off, or you run the risk of shorting it out.

If water is making it run wrong, it **IS** shorting out.

my G1 was completely submerged in a lake for 5 minutes while powered on. as soon as it came out of the water i powered off, and blew it dry with an air compressor. left battery out for 24 hours and, worked 95% ever since. only had some random touch screen sensitivity loss.

if you are ok with taking the phone apart and the rice solution doesn't fix it then send me a PM and i'll let you know how to make absolutely sure nothing MORE goes wrong. right now though you probably messed up the phone cause you turned it on and off repeatedly

ok...did the rice solution...didnt work, so does anybody know any good, reliable cellphone repair shops in chicago that does the g1? Googled , found a place called CPR(cellphone repair) but the yelp reviews werent really convincing...so I thought I'd ask the people on here... you guys seem very reliable and I thought I'd rather ask you guys' opinions than go to a repair shop with poor to average reviews...pretty please?

oh, tubaking...ty for the reply...but I looked up the service manual and taking apart the g1 seems to take a lot more skill and experience working with electronics than I have, so that solution's out....thanks a lot anyways....peace, bro

there is no fix for permanant water damage, any shop is just gonna do the same thing i said unless they have access to the main board and all proper pieces to the phone. usually at times like this i go on ebay and buy a real cheap G1 with a broken screen or some other defect that the seller wants to get rid of the phone quickly and cheaply

I left my phone in the rain for a couple of hours and had the same issue. I know this is not the best solution (due to heat) but it fixed mine completely. I removed sdcard, battery, and bback. Then placed it on an egg carton and put in my toaster oven at 150 degrees for an hour or so. Didn't touch it for another day then powered it on. Power button glitched the first time I pressed it but has worked great ever since (been about 3 months)

dumfuq said:
I left my phone in the rain for a couple of hours and had the same issue. I know this is not the best solution (due to heat) but it fixed mine completely. I removed sdcard, battery, and bback. Then placed it on an egg carton and put in my toaster oven at 150 degrees for an hour or so. Didn't touch it for another day then powered it on. Power button glitched the first time I pressed it but has worked great ever since (been about 3 months)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is awesome.

G1 at bottom of lake revived!
I think we should have a sticky to this Thread! Or maybe a a wet willie.
This weekend I dropped my G1 to the bottom of Lake Conroe and was able to fish it out within 5 minutes. Fortunately I was docked in about 6 feet of water. I totally took everything apart and when I got home placed the phone and parts in the direct sun wrapped in a white cloth. I suppose this is equivalent to the egg carton and toaster oven method.
That night, I put the pieces in a box of rice and put it back together in the morning and voila it worked!! For a few hours I had issues with the backlight coming in and out but after about 8 hours of use it works perfectly. I didn't even have to wipe or flash anything - everything like new.
Whew!!!

well, if people stopped playing with there phones and fingering it, it wouldn't get so wet, maybe you should try a personal lube if you can't keep your hands off

gridlock32404 said:
well, if people stopped playing with there phones and fingering it, it wouldn't get so wet, maybe you should try a personal lube if you can't keep your hands off
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Click to collapse
Damn it you beat me to it. I saw the title and said damn this is to easy, wet g1. haahaha.

I dropped my phone in boiled hot dog water and here's what worked for me. I took my phone completely apart and wrapped it up in tin foil. I then put it in the microwave on med-hi for 1:32. Once that is done you take it out and put the phone (disassembled of course) in a bag of bbq potatoe chips (yes it has to be bbq or it won't work) over night. In the mean time you need to feed your dog a snickers bar (this is a must). The next day you need to take magic fairy dust (found a good deal on ebay) and sprinkle it over your g1. Then put your phone back together and slap your momma. Push the power button and bam a perfectly working g1 again. I can write a detailed "how to for dummies" on this if it will get stickied.

supreme, you forgot they need to eat the bbq chips while powering the phone on.

crpercodani said:
supreme, you forgot they need to eat the bbq chips while powering the phone on.
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Click to collapse
Oh yea, I also forgot to mention with a tall glass of chocolate milk.

I'd bump your guide, if I would have had this then I wouldn't have spank the neighbor's wife's ass instead of my momma's, no wonder I still have a wet g1. Wait. What are we talking about, something about crickets and penut butter, I'm confuddle. Oh well back to spanking his wife's ass, mmmm cottage cheese thighs

Dropped in water : The Saga Begins

Dropped the Slide in the garbage disposal (yeah), pulled it out, was still on, pulled the battery within 30 seconds.
Dried it out the best I could for about 30mins. I know I shouldnt have but I turned it on, it got to my CM6 lockscreen and froze, after another restart it would not get past the logo.
Fastboot worked but said touchpanel : fail, instead of Touchpanel : Synaptics "XXXX".
So I did complete dissasembly and the board and the panel is in a box of rice.
I will update as I go along for those who may be curious about the effects of a dunk on this device.

OK. First off, that sucks. I have been there a few times myself, and it was worse. One in the toilet, one in the dish water, and one in the swimming pool (deep end). Second, you need to take it completely apart (look for an assembly manual on XDA), use 90% rubbing alcohol to clean the boards without getting any under anything you cant get it out from (this will remove contaminates), and leave out for 24 hours before re-assembly. It sounds simple, but take a lot of attention to detail. I have done this for people about 40 or 50 times (ex-T-Mo employee with a heart), and only lost about 10 of them. If you're up for it shoot me a PM and I will help you as best I can.

I am a repair technician by trade so the assembly was the least of my concerns. I noticed the inside did not get wet very much at all, I think the touchpanel connector got a drop in it, i made sure it was clean and i used a razor to skim a fresh metal surface for all the contact points on the phone. The phone is 100% functional as of right now.
It was quite a scary moment when the panel tested as fail, and the ROM seemed to be MIA.

Wow, only 30 min. I accidentally took my phone into a lake with me one and was swimming around for about 5 min before i remembered it was on me lol. It had alread powered itself off. I gave it 2 days to dry before powering on. A little excessive but at least it was a little longer than 30 min 0_o so lucky nothing fried. Glad your slide is still working
Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide using XDA App

i dropped mine in a puddle. immediately tore it apart and placed it in bags of rice. it worked after a day of being in rice. didnt need to do anything else other than that. i did notice some sms and call issues after that but rooting it resolved the issue so i doubt it was a hardware issue

donepate said:
I have done this for people about 40 or 50 times (ex-T-Mo employee with a heart), and only lost about 10 of them. If you're up for it shoot me a PM and I will help you as best I can.
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Click to collapse
never dropped a phone in water myself, my g1 hit a puddle once(not deep at all) but i still tore the thing apart and got the battery out before anything bad could happen. i try to help out my custs as much as possible, but so many of them just leave it on and don't think anything is wrong until it stops working a few days later.
the best thing to do is what was mentioned with the alcohol, my uncle dropped his phone in the lake and he turned it on a few times and i was still able to get the thing up and running within a day for him.

Drowned S2 Revived but...

So, i drowned my S2 white into the lake. Don´t ask how)
I kept it for 3 days into rice...and after some battery tweaks VOILA! The phone got back to life...i managed to start it 3 times and working perfectly, but i´m having some sort of problems that i don´t manage to understand. It goes like this:
Once the phone is up and running, at the first shutdown/reboot or whatever it´t won´t come back on only if i pull out the battery for about 4-5 hours, plug the charger and once the charging icon appears i can turn it on.
I tried flashing a new firmware, only the PDA file, without luck, on the first reboot needed the phone just died. I mean, even if plug back in the charger it won´t turn on. Now i gotta leave it with the battery out for another 4-5 hours and it´ll come back to life.
Anyone has an idea of what could it be? Thank you!

Maybe there is still moisture or something. It is recommended that you leave that in a bowl of rice for a month.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium

ephraim033 said:
Maybe there is still moisture or something. It is recommended that you leave that in a bowl of rice for a month.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was thinking about that. But when i turn it on, i can keep it running for always without problems if i don´t turn it off. If there would be still some moisture inside...it would turn off or something right?

xSurgery said:
I was thinking about that. But when i turn it on, i can keep it running for always without problems if i don´t turn it off. If there would be still some moisture inside...it would turn off or something right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know buddy but it definitely has a little moisture inside of it that's playing a trick on your circuitry. 3 days is a very short time for that. Try leaving it for a month, because if you don't, sooner or later it will die on you suddenly. Just a friendly advice
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium

A lake huh? Did you wash the phone under clean water before the drying regime, without battery attached of course? Because if you did not, there may be some conductive residues left over on your phone parts after the water dries off.
Besides rice you could try other absorbent materials. For example silica gel that photographers use in dry cabinets. In South East Asia we have this thing called thirsty hippo to keep clothes cabinets dry.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda app-developers app

The battery might be damaged, and todays batteries + water doesn't mix well.
It's recommended that if you water damage a battery, you should change it, in worst case it will blow up.

This morning i mananged to turn it on. With the stock firmware and all and still nothing. After the first reboot dies and for about 4-5 hours i can´t do nothing. Well...i´ll take it to a service store, maybe they´ll know what to do better. Thanks guys

i ever read somewhere that said must leave the phone in the rice for 2 weeks and the container must be closed tight

Rice for two weeks in a sealed container. Plastic containers work well

Remove battery and throw it away. Buy a new one.
Drop the entire phone without battery into pure Isopropanol Alcohol for a couple hours, then stick it in rice overnight, in a warm cupboard.
Change the rice and leave it in the cupboard for at LEAST a week and up to a month. (DO NOT EAT OR SNIFF THE OLD RICE)
Maybe, MAYBE then it should be okay.
Isopropanol can be purchased cheaply from a bunch of places. Drugstores/computer supply places. Make sure and get 100% pure stuff, not the pre-diluted crap.

xSurgery said:
So, i drowned my S2 white into the lake. Don´t ask how)
I kept it for 3 days into rice...and after some battery tweaks VOILA! The phone got back to life...i managed to start it 3 times and working perfectly, but i´m having some sort of problems that i don´t manage to understand. It goes like this:
Once the phone is up and running, at the first shutdown/reboot or whatever it´t won´t come back on only if i pull out the battery for about 4-5 hours, plug the charger and once the charging icon appears i can turn it on.
I tried flashing a new firmware, only the PDA file, without luck, on the first reboot needed the phone just died. I mean, even if plug back in the charger it won´t turn on. Now i gotta leave it with the battery out for another 4-5 hours and it´ll come back to life.
Anyone has an idea of what could it be? Thank you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if the phone was in it can be hardware that taken a good damage (it takes more damaged when its on) and then your phone can have som problems like this. i wish you good luck, and as stated above use rice ! :good: its some good stuff,

I removed the battery, opened the case of the phone, and sealed it into a plastic bag full of rice.
New battery is on the way...i heard about that Isopropanol, and with your advice too i´ll do it. But still...why does he turn on if moisture is still inside? If i don´t turn it off for like, never......it´s working great))))

Hmm open your phone up its really easy to do. Search youtube vids on how to.
Clean your phone with a soft brush and alchohol.
My phone was water damage so I replaced the charging port mic flex which cost about £5 on ebay.
Phone finally charges and connects to the computer after this.
NO RICE WAS HARMED OR USED IN THIS PROCEDURE :laugh:

Don't ask me how but. I managed to revive my old iPhone 4 that fell into the toilet while I was taking a dump, by doing this:
(SGS2 ModeN)
removing the back panel to expose the motherboard and the other goods.
(taking out the 7 screws)
and laying it.
Grab a fan you know.. the hair dryer thingie..
Place it like... 20 cm away from the exposed phone. Turn it on on max, and leave it be for 30 minutes.
My phone was completely okay.. Untill I traded it in for a SGS2 that I happen to own now. Give it a try!
Oh
Leave these parts behind.
Battery
SD Card
SIM

Not sure if leaving it in for hours is wise. Washing to get rid of residues is fine, but soaking too long might dissolve stuff you don't want it to dissolve.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda app-developers app

the rice thing is interesting.
while it gets moisture out and around the edges, what does it do to moisture inside?
honestly, I sometimes think sticking it near my window where there's plenty of active airflow does a better job. i've done this for a camera and various electronics that i've dropped. rice first, but honestly let it air out afterward. airflow does a lot more to get through the small crevices.

I heard that blowing hot air could really damage the phone. It‘s still in rice since my first post. I opened the whole case. Tommorow my battery will arrive. I’ll keep you posted with the results. Thanks for your help anyway. Isopropyl has to way for the moment

Sooooooo....3 weeks of rice, no isopropyl, new firmware flashed, new battery and no change. It started on itself when the new battery was inserted but after the first restart, no response for a couple of hours
Any ideas left?

Technically, what you have is kinda like a Tethered iPhone Jailbreak.
I lived with a tethered Jailbreak for MONTHS, so its not that hard to do...?

xSurgery said:
Sooooooo....3 weeks of rice, no isopropyl, new firmware flashed, new battery and no change. It started on itself when the new battery was inserted but after the first restart, no response for a couple of hours
Any ideas left?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It could just be dead.
I don't mean to sound negative, but if the phone was powered on and used while wet/moist a short circuit could've occurred. This may have damaged part of the phone which is why you're having these weird issues.
Even if this isn't the case, corrosion could set in from the water damage. This means that even if your phone does recover, after time more issues could occur. Could take a week, could take a month, could take a year.
I'd try the alcohol suggested earlier, then place back into the rice for a solid month.
Like I said, sorry for sounding negative but it sounds like your phone's had it.

HELP!! SOS!! Black screen by isopropyl Alcohol(99%)

PS: you can skip this deatils to my main problem
Somebody pls help me
my galaxy note 3 was water damaged nearly an year ago. But i was able to recover at that time by using isopropanol(99%).
In Detail: After water damage i loosed all hope for around 2 days, then outtanowhere i got this solution over the internet and then i submerged my phone's green board into that alcohol and then in rice. Unfortunately it doesn't turned on. I kept putting my phone outside under sun light, still the display wasn't working. Then i left my phone for about 1 and a 1/2 month in my cupboard abandoned....It got fully recovered!!! i was living a happy life then.
:Main Problem:​Now in today's date i was feeling something is wrong in the phone because it was discharging these days too quick(abnormally and this things were happening after recovery too). So i decided to put the whole phone(deassembaled the green board) in the isopropyle(99%). after 30mins later i picked it up back and assembled every thing back turned on the phone and guess what the screen was black again. I putted the phone under sunlight again but case got even worse (but i think it is good both) at the same time. My note 3's screen is turning on and working but inplace of black screen its showing dark smudges or a quit a bit of screen(not cleared but seen-able) like some kind of weird shape/spots of black. Now HELP ME
Tell me what to do!! i don't know what is this happening because 99% isopropanol isn't that conductive and will not harm the phone whatever the case is.
What should i do to get all the things back at the track? should i submerge the phone again in alcohol or should i leave it for now.
*i hope somebody read this, waiting for reply and help*
BTW: i'll keep updating this thread if something happens

Whats the 1% ?? Water ??

When a phone gets wet, I never recommend dunking anything in alcohol or any other liquid, especially the screen. Sounds like the alcohol may have seeped in between the glass and LCD.

Update:
So after putting it under sunlight for 2 days. My phone's screen is completly BLACK.
just a tiny part was showing lighted up but that also gone after about 15mins.
What the heck should i do now. I removed the battery now and putted the phone in the cupboard again (hoping for a miracle).
Any help will be appreciated.

New screen or bin the phone .
Sent from my SM-N930F using XDA-Developers Legacy app

You made a huge mistake by placing the phone in alcohol. You should only submerge the motherboard. It seems like you have alcohol/some water inside the display assembly now.
Use a hairdryer to completely dry the motherboard, place the display/ rest of the phone in rice and give it 3 days or so.
Should work.
PS: You may have killed it by turning it on while it had the spots on the display, i.e.. caused a short.
Good luck.

Skander1998 said:
You made a huge mistake by placing the phone in alcohol. You should only submerge the motherboard. It seems like you have alcohol/some water inside the display assembly now.
Use a hairdryer to completely dry the motherboard, place the display/ rest of the phone in rice and give it 3 days or so.
Should work.
PS: You may have killed it by turning it on while it had the spots on the display, i.e.. caused a short.
Good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alright man i'll try it. Thanks for helping, as i said well appreciated:good:
i already done the hairdryer part for 10mins or so.
And also putted the phone packed in a bag full of rice. Lets see after 3days :crying:

Update guys: so after putting my isopropyle damaged phone's screen into a bag of rice for 3+
days lol nothing happened. It seems that rice done nothing, my screen is still black sadly. My phone is booting and speakers etc. everything is working fine the only problem is in the screen.
Please don't forget to read my detailed post in which i stated that-
nearly a year ago i was able to recover my phone which was water damaged and for that solution i gave a bath of isopropyle alcohol. And after a month i was able to recover my phone just by putting it somewhere without battery
So at last i want to only ask you what the heck should i do to GET MY PHONE BACK AGAIN HELP!!!!

Buy a new screen .
Sent from my SM-N930F using XDA-Developers Legacy app

if phone dropped into water or something,make sure u put the phone into a sack of rice and leave it for 1 day,for sure your phone will be back to normal,i already done it for sure and it work,sorry for my english grammar

Try reading what's been posted first .
Sent from my SM-N930F using XDA-Developers Legacy app

It takes effort to accept that the best thing to do is just to get a new phone. I remember when I wanted to stick to my old, microUSB-port damaged Galaxy S II but I had to accept that I needed to move on.
I know sometimes it's difficult ($$$) but yeah, save some money up and you'll see that this will be just a small episode in your history of smart phones.

ShaDisNX255 said:
It takes effort to accept that the best thing to do is just to get a new phone. I remember when I wanted to stick to my old, microUSB-port damaged Galaxy S II but I had to accept that I needed to move on.
I know sometimes it's difficult ($$$) but yeah, save some money up and you'll see that this will be just a small episode in your history of smart phones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ah...hh...am crying rite now:crying:
You are write bro, it's very difficult to move on and breaking the relationship with the current phone. I am just forcing me to reject this naked truth that My phone is now old
Well for now i'll still wait a month hoping for that miracle to happen cause my pocket is empty rite now lol.
If something happens in this 28 days i'll post it ASAP may god bless me

JJEgan said:
Whats the 1% ?? Water ??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
maybe.....
but seriously it maybe any kind of impurity but i'm sure it is not water.

I would suggest to buy a new phone. You could TRY changing the screen, but there is no guarantee that the screen is the only issue. + a used Note 3 is almost the same price as a new screen.

Sorry that the method I suggested did not work. :/
Since this didn't work, you probably fried the screen driver when you turned it when it was filled with liquid under the display.
Change the display or the phone.
Never, ever attempt to turn on a liquid damaged device. I know it's tempting. This is an expensive lesson!

Skander1998 said:
Sorry that the method I suggested did not work. :/
Since this didn't work, you probably fried the screen driver when you turned it when it was filled with liquid under the display.
Change the display or the phone.
Never, ever attempt to turn on a liquid damaged device. I know it's tempting. This is an expensive lesson!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You dont need to say sorry bro.
Well from all the experience i gain from this incident and including my experience with isopropyle alcohols, i don't know definitely what happen but i can guess what may be going on there.
So, in recent months a previous phone (not my phone) was water damaged and the owner gave it to me as a last hope lol. I 100% submerged that phone in isopropyl for 3days!! lmao and as a result the phone's some part like speaker and screen (which are stacked by an adhesive) were floating in the solution and then i picked up that phone up and situation got even worse the phone's screen was a bit hanging i turned the phone on and the screen was working perfectly but as i said the phone's screen was hanging so it was not touching fully the digitizer and hence the touch was not working but the screen was turned on i dunno why.
Now i look at my phone which screen was just dipped about 15mins and still not able to show anything. I think the cause may be a part between the screen and the phone which might be displaced by that solution.
Now i ask you guys that should i remove the screen only by heating & removing and stick it again. Will this solve the problem? any advice?