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dropped N1 in bathroom .. got water on it .. D:

i wiped it dry seconds after it dropping with a microfiber towel.. put it back together and tried turning it on. it worked by the screen acting weird... kinda greenish?? turned it off and threw the phone in a bag of uncooked rice in hopes its some water that seeped into somewhere that will come out D:
any ideas what happened?

"any ideas what happened?"
hmmmmm.....water damaged!!! all i know water damaged electronics gives u random issues even after a month from drying.
claim it if u have insurance with asurion on t-mobile.

bought directly from google D:

with or without contract on t-mobile?

Follow the same procedure as posted on this forum dozens of times.... Don't turn it on until it's BONE DRY, ie: no moisture in the container you're drying it in at LEAST TWICE.
Otherwise might as well as flushed it.

very hard for a bunch of rice to get wet .. xD but ill leave it in the rice for a few hours

I used hair dryer. My n1 works fine after beeing in water for a few min.

my dog peed on my n1, bur I just put it in the microwave and its been fine ever since. The only problem it has now it it dosnt turn on.
Sent from my Nexus One using Tapatalk

android01 said:
my dog peed on my n1, bur I just put it in the microwave and its been fine ever since. The only problem it has now it it dosnt turn on.
Sent from my Nexus One using Tapatalk
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LOL>> You had me rollin, just think of the smell

lol u guys xD
i threw it in a bag of uncooked rice for like.. 6-8 hrs. took it out. dusted it off and popped everything back in and turned it on. works fine now
oh man D: so scared ><
but thx guys for the suggestions

my n1 has been completely soaked visible water under the screen, and it came back to life (after a week in a bag of rice) i think you will be just fine

I use 100% isopropyl alcohol. It forces out the water and dries fairly quickly when placed somewhere warm with good air flow. The more you can open up the case the better though.
Isopropyl is what I use to clean electronics when soldering. It will not hurt the circuits, but you need to let the alcohol evaporate completely; though this happens quicker than water by far.

G2's Healing powers

I just wanted 2 share my experience about my power button getting wet twice and being unresponsive for 2 weeks after that it still works, anyone experienced this? Its amazing that it still works cause I left it upside down, power button dipped to water for 30mins(accidentally).
They should have called it HTC Wolverine instead of vision..
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA Premium App

From what I hear if you stuff your dunked phone into a bag of rice for a week or so, the absorbancy powers of the starch will pull out moisture. I can't actually verify this myself, but it is logical.

chances are is when it wouldn't turn on, there are water drops thats shorting something out, after leaving it dry for 2 weeks, it dried up and lucky for you it didn't create too much rust to disconnect the connections
and yes rice does a wonderful job at absorbing water =]
just ask any of your asian friends if you don't believe me

Bag of rice works 90% of the time, I work at a retail store and that's what we always recommend to our customers.
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App

I met a guy who worked at a repair store and he said that he would take apart water damaged/shorted phones and soak the components in rubbing alcohol. After leaving to dry he'd reassemble the phone and they'd come back to life.
Has anyone ever heard of anything like this? Sounded crazy to me but he was convincing.

Rice works, I had to use it on the mytouch once, I've heard about the rubbing alcohol as well. Seems like rice and not taking apart your phone would be a better option if you're not comfortable taking apart your phone.

xda45 said:
I met a guy who worked at a repair store and he said that he would take apart water damaged/shorted phones and soak the components in rubbing alcohol. After leaving to dry he'd reassemble the phone and they'd come back to life.
Has anyone ever heard of anything like this? Sounded crazy to me but he was convincing.
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Click to collapse
if you're willing to take a part your phone, that would work wonders, but the problem is, the phone might not work not because it was wet, but you failed to put the phone back together =D
so i'd stick with rice if you don't know what you're doing

This is common with many electronic devices that get wet. Eventually, some of them come back to life on their own.
Nice to learn about the rice trick.

xda45 said:
I met a guy who worked at a repair store and he said that he would take apart water damaged/shorted phones and soak the components in rubbing alcohol. After leaving to dry he'd reassemble the phone and they'd come back to life.
Has anyone ever heard of anything like this? Sounded crazy to me but he was convincing.
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Click to collapse
Pretty common practice. The alcohol has a high rate of evaporation, so basically you can use it to displace all of the residual water and then let the alcohol naturally evaporate (usually all gone within a couple of minutes, if that long).
But yeah, using rice or any kind of desiccant is usually easier...

xda45 said:
I met a guy who worked at a repair store and he said that he would take apart water damaged/shorted phones and soak the components in rubbing alcohol. After leaving to dry he'd reassemble the phone and they'd come back to life.
Has anyone ever heard of anything like this? Sounded crazy to me but he was convincing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
During my time in the plumbers union when I had access to 100% isophopyl alcohol I used it to clean the most unholy gunk off of the tubes underneath heavy chemical sinks where flash memory wafers were produced. Despite its volatility, if used properly I can entirely envision parts being cleaned of oils and grime, let alone water. All you have to do is remove it from the equation, and since alcohol is a non-conductive expectorant I fully expect he was telling the truth.
If you attempt this do not use less than 90%. I do not believe 100% is available to consumers without commercial contacts, so you might be hard pressed to find a gallon jug. God knows, I'd give one of my less favorite toes for a self-renewing gallon of 100% IPA.
Edit: EFB with less wordy reply.

I fixed my power button and q tips but make sure you use 90% isopropyl. If anyone can't ever fix their power button I remember I found an app that re mapped buttons and I used it for my search key until I fixed mine.
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App

any hope with GT-i9000 dropped in sea water

i dropped my Samsung into the sea after only 2 days from buying it . went the technician said that the board is bad and need to replaced . it is very expensive .
can i buy cheaper board from anywhere online ??

From the best of my experience with things like this, you are probably better off just buying a new phone than trying to replace the board. Isn't exactly an easy swap.

Should have took it apart and put it in a bowl of rice, the rice absorbs the moisture and if your lucky the phone will survive
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA Premium App

I don't think that would work with sea water, the water would be absorbed, but you'd get salt deposits left behind.
check if you can claim it on your household insurance.

Exactly, the rice trick would most likely not work due to the presence of salt in water.

Oh too bad. :-(
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

And since salt water is alot more conductive than regular water you most likely have something fried
Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk

One last resortis to remove battery and rinse phone in distilled (mineral free) water then dry totally in silica gel or rice, maybe remove back plate whilst drying, for a couple of weeks, then try, but only as a last resort!
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA Premium App

Ultrasonic cleaning might help, however chances are very low.

Today, my Samsung Galaxy S I-9000 got dropped in approximately 2 feet of sea water, at the beach. My phone was dead.
Took battery out plus SIM & SD card didn't seem wet, card contacts were dry
battery was dry. What happened was sea water went into the circuit board through the headphone jack. I took my phone completely apart underneath the circuit board was 1 drop of water, but lots of salt on the metal parts, grabbed a Q-tip and rolled it around the back of the board, let it dry under a halogen lamp for aprox 30 mins, put it all back together and I could not believe it phone booted up normally tested all features wifi, bluetooth cameras, barcode scanner and of course the phone. One thing is that there is a water marker behind the plastic case by the headphone jack there is a small white square that turns purple when it gets wet.
anyhow I'm happy my phone is back to normal. Antenna seems to work better to as usually I only get 1-2 bars of signal, now getting 2-3 bars.

Water Damage

So I dropped my N1 in water. Took out the battery as soon as possible then I dried what I could with a towel.
After this I tried hours of the rice method (putting my N1 in a bag of dry rice to dry it out). And I was able to successfully boot up my phone again, almost everything works fine but the digitizer/touch screen has some issues.
The rightest side of the screen, about an inch worth is completely unresponsive, so if I load up my app drawer and try to click anything on the right it won't work at all just so you know what I mean.
What can I do about this? Is this a simple fix? Do I just need a new digitizer? Or is it something else?

Water damage can affect anything. Luckily the digitizer is only $25 and there are tons of videos on how to disassemble the phone.

Sounds to me like you've still got a short somewhere inside your N1. Here are some suggestions.
1. Rice is a desiccant, it takes a LONG TIME to actually dry-out something like the internals of a phone. If you can part with the phone for that long, I'd suggest leaving it in the rice for more like 72hours!!
2. If you can't give it that much time, and you've got some tools, skills and a willingness to take apart your N1? Then search youtube for "nexus one disassembly" and take it apart, being extra sure to manually dab dry all areas possible (especially in the digitizer area as you've stated issues around there).
3. Finally, if those steps don't work, you're looking at a digitizer replacement. Which, if you've already taken apart your N1 from step #2, will be an easier swap out for you to handle.
My N1 too went for an unwanted splash as well. Total submersion for a good few seconds as I had to fish it out. Water had gotten into the screen, EVERYTHING was wet.
I had the tools and the mindset that my N1 was likely dead anyway so taking it apart couldn't hurt any further. So I took it completely apart, used a paper towel to dab dry everything possible that I could. Then I left everything out on the table overnight to dry.
Next morning I put it all back together and to my delighted surprise everything worked!
Our N1s are troopers! I'm confident you can bring yours back to full life!
Good luck!

Thanks for the responses!
I will definitely try taking it apart and I'll post back soon on the outcome, if I get lazy though I'll just buy a new digitizer.

How is it possible that water doesn't hurt your N1? It's completely incredible. Few years ago i had a samsung player (my son in fact) that was in contact with water (no immersion!!) and after drying for a week (air then hair-drier!) it was impossible to get it on again.
Is N1 that strong!! So lucky you are!!

abccg said:
Thanks for the responses!
I will definitely try taking it apart and I'll post back soon on the outcome, if I get lazy though I'll just buy a new digitizer.
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Well if you buy a new digitizer you're gonna have to take it apart anyway haha.
Sent from my Nexus One using Tapatalk

abccg said:
So I dropped my N1 in water. Took out the battery as soon as possible then I dried what I could with a towel.
After this I tried hours of the rice method (putting my N1 in a bag of dry rice to dry it out). And I was able to successfully boot up my phone again, almost everything works fine but the digitizer/touch screen has some issues.
The rightest side of the screen, about an inch worth is completely unresponsive, so if I load up my app drawer and try to click anything on the right it won't work at all just so you know what I mean.
What can I do about this? Is this a simple fix? Do I just need a new digitizer? Or is it something else?
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Click to collapse
Use rice is a real bad idea, hairdryer is the best and i'm pretty sure you can find one in your house or borrow one from your neighbour
Seems like there is still a short in your cellphone and i would recommend you call your manufacturer for this. Anyway, it's risky to repair a cellphone by yourself.

A little over a year ago I washed my Nexus One in the washing machine. Extra bleach, long cycle with an extra rinse cycle since it was a bunch of dirty clothing.
I remembered it was in my pocked when I went to remove my clothing, I was sure it was dead.
I pulled the battery and put the phone on the dry air vent of my dehumidifier for two days. The vent blew warm, completely dry air directly into the open back of my phone.
I popped the battery back in and it's been working like new ever since. The camera colors are ever so slightly off, however.
Let the phone dry out before you try to turn it back on.

Recently had the same issue. In my case was a bit easier.
What I did - removed back cover, battery, SIM, sd-card..
Switched my laptop and loaded it with compiling linux kernel. Then decoding HD video with handbrake. The aim was to get a constant flow of warm air (abt 70 degrees Celcius). And I put my phone close to vent fan out of my laptop. It is not overheating too much (like you can with air dryer).

I had a water damage as well, sliped with phone into the while geocaching. The salt walter wasn't good for my phone... :-(

CCpotter said:
Use rice is a real bad idea, hairdryer is the best and i'm pretty sure you can find one in your house or borrow one from your neighbour
Seems like there is still a short in your cellphone and i would recommend you call your manufacturer for this. Anyway, it's risky to repair a cellphone by yourself.
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I always thought rice, particularly instant rice because it is so absorbent, or any dessicant was a good strategy.
On the other hand, hair dryers seem a very bad idea. Heat from the dryer can be damaging, but the real damage from a hair dryer is that is sends the air at a strong velocity and it blows the water further in the device.

CCpotter said:
Use rice is a real bad idea, hairdryer is the best and i'm pretty sure you can find one in your house or borrow one from your neighbour
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cyberstoic said:
I always thought rice, particularly instant rice because it is so absorbent, or any dessicant was a good strategy.
On the other hand, hair dryers seem a very bad idea. Heat from the dryer can be damaging, but the real damage from a hair dryer is that is sends the air at a strong velocity and it blows the water further in the device.
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Click to collapse
Rice is actually a very good thing to use just like cyberstoic says. It sucks the water into the rice and gets it out of the device.
The reason he listed for the hair dryer is valid, but it isn't the main reason. The main reason is that the hair dryer will just cause the water to evaporate, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the super humid air will leave the device, so as soon as it cools back down, you will still have that moisture in there.\
This is why rice or other desiccants (like all those silica gel packets that come with a lot of packaging) are used. They actually pull the moisture out of the device.

Rice worked for me when my N1 spent a night soaking in seltzer. (not completely submerged, but enough to get a big batch under the screen) But first I used a vacuum to suck out as much of the seltzer as I could. Then I put it in rice for about 30 hours.
Sent from my Atrix 2 using Tapatalk...

cyberstoic said:
I always thought rice, particularly instant rice because it is so absorbent, or any dessicant was a good strategy.
On the other hand, hair dryers seem a very bad idea. Heat from the dryer can be damaging, but the real damage from a hair dryer is that is sends the air at a strong velocity and it blows the water further in the device.
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Click to collapse
What about the dirt in the rice? If you use rice to dry those water inside, the dirt with rice will melt with the water inside and make damage to your elements.
If you use hair dryer in a proper way, it can dry your water inside without causing any damage. Have seen after-sale repair workers do this many times.

CCpotter said:
If you use hair dryer in a proper way, it can dry your water inside without causing any damage. Have seen after-sale repair workers do this many times.
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Did you read my response at all? While it is possible for the hair dryer to fix the problem, it can also cause the problem to remanifest itself if that humid air doesn't actually leave the casing. That is the point of the rice. Dirt in the rice is irrelevant. We aren't talking about that much water, and the phone is still in its casing. The rice is just removing the moisture from the air.

[Q] Nexus 4 dropped in water

Hello
2 days back i accidently dropped my nexus 4 in a bucket full of water.The phone was into the bucket for 4-5 seconds.I immediately turned it off.After an hour or so i put it in a jar full of rice.It was there for about 24 hrs.(with sim tray removed i did not open the phone)
Now i am using it and everything works perfectly fine.Should i keep using it this way or do something to prevent internal damage?

raghavaggsss said:
Hello
2 days back i accidently dropped my nexus 4 in a bucket full of water.The phone was into the bucket for 4-5 seconds.I immediately turned it off.After an hour or so i put it in a jar full of rice.It was there for about 24 hrs.(with sim tray removed i did not open the phone)
Now i am using it and everything works perfectly fine.Should i keep using it this way or do something to prevent internal damage?
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Click to collapse
To be completely sure its dry take the phone apart and use a hair dryer.
Since i'm more of a realist than an optimist, i think your phone will survive this accident but have in mind that there is a chance of hardware failure in the future.
Water + electronics = corrosion

Mashed_Potatoes said:
To be completely sure its dry take the phone apart and use a hair dryer.
Since i'm more of a realist than an optimist, i think your phone will survive this accident but have in mind that there is a chance of hardware failure in the future.
Water + electronics = corrosion
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I think its completely dried but i read in forums that using hair dryer is not a good idea. I can't believe such a fragile phone like the nexus 4 survived it.I have my phone insured (yes water damage is included) but the guy at the service told me to wait for a month or two and afterwards get my touch and motherboard changed.

While ago I had my N4 for a week or two dropped it in a toilet bowl
I did panic almost stripped a screw opening it and unglued the LCD with an hairdryer! Same phone same situation DONT USE IT!
more to that my engineer friend told me I coulda done more damage by unsoldering some IC's
hairdryer big no-no!!

Ltdrev said:
While ago I had my N4 for a week or two dropped it in a toilet bowl
I did panic almost stripped a screw opening it and unglued the LCD with an hairdryer! Same phone same situation DONT USE IT!
more to that my engineer friend told me I coulda done more damage by unsoldering some IC's
hairdryer big no-no!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Using hair dryer could be the worst idea resulting in a solid burnt state motherboard.I think i should keep using it till it works fine and get it repaired under insurance if i face any problems

Same happened to me last autumn. What I did was; First hard shake to remove all the water, then immediately in a bag of rise, after 12 hours (I couldn't find a screwdriver earlier) I took it apart, disconnected the battery and left it in a bag of rise on a sunny window for another 48 hours. Checking the water damage indicators shows only little purple (not the whole, only small parts) on sim tray and usb, on the main board indicator is like new. After this whole procedure phone is working without a problem since then.