Argh! i just spent the last 20 mins typing up a post and lost it! So lemme try this again...
Ok long story short, I goofed and dropped my s4 into a cup of coffee. It was submerged about 1/3 of the phone , on the top portion of the phone. I removed it immediately, pulled the battery and used a small vacuum to suck out as much of the liquid from the phone before i opened it up. Im pretty good with these kinda projects and have fixed many a phone over the years for friends who busted their screens etc. I hadnt been inside an S4 before this though, so i approached with caution. I used alcohol and a lint free microfiber brush to clean off anything that had coffee on it. All and all everything went pretty smoothly. After cleaning i put the phone in a bag of rice and silica gel for a few hours then put it back together and turned it on. It loaded up quick as usual, everything was pretty normal. But suddenly the screen would stop responding to my touches for a few seconds, and then start working again. So i turned it off, took it apart again and dug a lil deeper. I cleaned off all the contacts for the ribbons, and anything else that had any kinda sticky coffee residue on it. I put it back in the bag last last night and opened it up today and reassembled it. Turned it on , and like magic, everything was great! well 99% great. The phone is acting like it always has,and no more screen unresponsiveness or anything like that. All except for a small sliver of the top of the screen under the Samsung logo. Just a tiny sliver of the screen doesnt respond to my touches, which is a big pain in my butt because its just enough to not be able to swipe down the pulldown menu, and in some games i play, i cant click anything thats on the very edge of the screen in landscape mode. The screen looks normal, no signs of damage like ive seen in other devices when digitizers become damaged etc. Just that tiny little line of screen wont pick up touches.
I only went so far as to taking out the mobo and looking underneath that. I know i can go deeper, and would have to if i needed to replace the digitizer, but before i go through all that, i figured id seek the advice of the XDA Gurus first. Is there possibly anywhere else that i missed cleaning out the junk a that could be causing the problem in that area? Ive been very careful thus far and everything is working accordingly, hell the headphone jack even works still and that thing was full of coffee!! And all the other problems after the initial cleaning have gone away,and im left with this little line of screen that wont read my touches!! So i must have done something right so far! Im hoping that maybe i just overlooked another possible place to clean up any leftover junk and then will get full function of my screen again. if not, then i guess ill be ordering a new digitizer sometime soon.
Thanks for your time, anyone who reads this. I hope to hear some good news *crosses fingers* soon, and get my phone working properly again.
I'm impressed. Not just in your skills but with the build of the S4. Coffee is highly acidic. I once tore apart a keyboard that my wife spilled coffee on. The coffee etched the traces right off the P.C. board. If the S4 survived coffee on the inside workings they use a pretty good coating. It is possible they missed a spot and the coffee got it.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk
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guys - severe problem here
had my 8525 for 2 years or so and have had it insured thank goodness - two trips to the shop have been done already, one for the RED LED problem that i thought ruined my device.
now out of the blue yesterday the phone started shutting off on its own. seemingly randomly, at no specific times, it will just turn off, as if i held the power button down for 5 secs and hit ok.
it will only come back on if i hit the soft reset button or hold the power button and then it reboots. it is making life very frustrating as i'm missing calls and messages often because i have to constantly watch for the green LED to be on to know that the phone is still working
i have three accumulated three batteries over the years so i know thats not the problem, it occurs with all three.
anyone suggest anything before i send it back in? not excited to pay another deductible as i've already doubled the price i paid for the phone in insurance fees!!
My advice would be to do a complete backup, and then hard-reset. Assuming that the issue disappears after the HR, then restore from your backup. Hopefully, you will not restore the issue as well. If you do, then HR again, and DON'T restore from the backup ... install everything fresh.
HTH,
-pvs
There have been a few reports that the battery contacts can become less firm against the battery - causing random switch offs. This was easily solved by having a thin strip of card between the battery and the casing on the side opposite the contacts. Thus pushing the battery a little more firmly against the contacts. (Also make sure the contacts are clean)
Something easy to try at least.
Remember to search - here's one example:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=315591
Mike
thought of that halfway through the day today when i was fidgeting with it and realized there was a little bit of play in the battery compartment. actually put a thin piece of paper on the opposite side of the contacts and the phone has stayed on for an hour so far!!! sure hope that was the fix - would make me pretty happy - keeping my fingers crossed!
i had done a hard reset last night hoping for a fix but to no avail. thanks for the suggestion though.
the weird part is no jarring or dropping took place so i am surprised this issue arose out of the blue??
thanks for the help - and i did search but will look more thoroughly in the future
Hope it works long term - I wonder if thin paper is enough, we'll see.
Sorry about the search comment
Cheers
Mike
the weird part is no jarring or dropping took place so i am surprised this issue arose out of the blue??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, those spring contacts can get a bit tired and maybe a little oxidised and they loose the spring in their step - a bit like me really. I'm stuffing in the cream cakes however not slips of paper but I still randomly switch off from time to time, in fact more and more often!
haha - yea i suppose same goes for me!
however it stopped working =\ worked for about an hour and a half then i bent down to pick something up with phone in pocket and it died. seems like slightest movement would make a difference, but then later on it died at my desk again =\ thought i had found the culprit too
on the gold prongs, on the phone part, there is a tiny bit of evidence of melting on the black plasting holding the prongs. on either side of the black plastic where it meets the green board of the phones interior, there is a silver weld. on one side, it looks like the black plastic melted a bit and the silver weld is barely visible. the plastic is rough and not the same edge as the other side. that's the only noticeable difference
thought i had found a quick fix, but i suppose the last option is the old $50 deductible for the third time =\
Mmmm.. not good. However it seems it is a contact problem and there have been reports of that complete battery contact assembly coming off. Some have been successfully re-soldered, but in one case the contact was broken inside the mult-layered board.
I'm slightly puzzled about the melting - almost as if someone has previously been re-soldering it. (seems a little improbable that a poor contact at that ampage could cause enough heat to melt it - but I could be wrong)
Mike
mine was doing this and nothing fixed it apart from a reflash, its been working fine since i reflashed two days ago
hope this helps
Dear forum members,
2 days ago i spilled some beer on my front pocket, exactly where my HD2 was located. It wasn't much, maybe one or two sips. The water damage seal is still white. I immediately grabbed my phone, pulled the battery out and put it in my other (clean) pocket. When I got home I immediately put my phone on top of the radiator (which i turned down a bit) A day later I turned my phone on again. Everything worked as normal, normal clear boot screen, the intro tune sounded ok, and it even vibrated. I was pretty relieved. The touchscreen works perfectly but only the phone turns the volume up all the time. I can't do anything with the phone because the volume is pernamently raising and thus going to the volume screen. Today I rinsed the volume buttons with demineralised water (very little and careful). The phone is currently drying in a sack of rice. Does someone have any ideas or suggestions how I can fix this issue?
Thanks in advance
EDIT: MY PHONE IS WORKING AGAIN! I just turned it on, the volume was still raising. I don't know why, but something told me i had to suck the "vaporised water" out of the phone. I used my mouth and sucked air out of the small openings of the phone. The phone immediately stopped raising the volume!
You should be able to find instructions for taking the phone apart somewhere around here... I've seen a thread about it I'm almost sure.
Apart from waiting and hoping I don't think you can do much else apart from trying to take it apart and see if there is anything that needs cleaning.
Ok weirdest **** ever just happened. Touch HD was working fine, all day, came home, pulled the phone out and the screen wouldnt respond, coudlnt unlock the screen. Looking at the screen carefully, I could see these "swirly marks", looked like water was underneath the screen, or moisture, and i could move it all around, it was all over the screen in small dots.
I was looking for another phone to put my sim in with no luck. Was just sitting here flashing my HD2 and i thought let me try again with the touch HD, and while booting, i noted the "swirly marks" had disappeared, and sure enough, the screen responded!
Any ideas? maybe i should trade it in while its still working!
i used to work in a phone repair shop and ive seen loads of phones that have been dropped in water and then been fine.
i dropped my old kaiser in a glass of milk and it stopped working, so i took it apart and cleaned it all with a small brush and some alcohol. put it back together and it worked fine.
but on the other hand ive seen phones that have been destroyed by simply keeping it in a pocket.
moisture can build up inside the phone because of humidity and the warmth of the phone and your leg etc...
when the phone dries again sometimes the residue of the evaporated liquid is non conductive and harmless and the phone works normally again.
if the phone is powered (most are on, duh) or the residue is conductive it can sometimes cause temporary malfunctions, that can be fixed by 'washing' the phone like i did with my kaiser, or it might have caused permanent hardware damage. then you have to get new parts for it.
so basically you were lucky. try to keep it out of the sauna
oh yeh, just to be safe check all the features of your phone like gps, wifi, camera, etc... try to keep your phone in less humid or cooler places, like your outside pockets on a jacket, and try to keep it somewhere where it can get cool fresh air
ah cheers for that! good timing too since i just replied to another topic with a similiar problem, maybe they can read this too
Maybe the hot weather had something to do with it, i dunno, it was in my jeans pocket!
Hi everyone.
I remember some user made a topic with same problem, but i am not able to find it.
Theres some weird solution, like when you mix oil with water, inside or on top of my LCD. its in middle of the screen and the touch itself doesn't work properly where that weird patch is.
I tried drying it up but to no avail. I placed it in front of an air heater 7 to 8 inches apart. without battery, with screen side in front and then back side in front. first for 15 mins then for quite a bit of time.
First it went away but it appeared again when i turned it on. Did the drying again but it came again after some time (<-- didn't count it) i didn't even put the battery in it this time. Now i cant just keep it off so i am using it.
Any proper solution to kill this water thingy between lcd?
don't tell me to open it and clean it. The sale value would go crapppyyy low.
Hi,
I think your device has newton rings (use search in this forum to get more details). If your case matches, then send in to HTC service, this is usually covered under warranty.
If your device is not under warranty, you'll need to change the digitizer.
NOO!
This is it! i am done with this crap. Now i need to spend money in this stupidity?!?!? i just spent loads of money getting new PC, now i have to somehow ask my dad to get this repaired ? :/ and he will kill me too. whot its been 5months i got his.
I use the scotch tape to clean LCD's, but never knew one can fix it this away. nop i didn't helped.
Tried lighter trick, nop didn't helped. It moved/disappeared then came back.
i am extremely angry and disappointed.
What a story!!
I bought a galaxy note 4 right on launch day first thing in the morning. Ive had just about every phone but have been waiting for a while now to get my hands on the new note 4.
I ended up buying the phone at the St . Bruno shopping center in Quebec, Canada and once i singed all the papers for my contract and got home, I finally open the box and took the phone out of the box. I loved it, it did everything one would expect from the highest end phone on the market.
A week later however, I started noticing that my buttons, especially my home button were slightly loose and my phone was also developing a weird oil spot under the home button.
So I went back to videotron but this time at St. Catherine street corporate branch store and the manager there obviously didnt know much about phones because he looked at it and proceeded with putting windex on a paper towel and wiping my screen with it and than told me that theres nothing wrong with it.
After frustratingly explaining everything to him, he told me that if the phone makes calls and works, than these issues arent covered for any kind of exchange as its not affecting the functionality of the phone. My logic tell me however that if one buy's a ferrari and realizes that the paint is f-up, wouldn't the dealership do something about it??? Anyways, without any luck I eventually left disappointed.
The following week After exhaustive attempt to solve the matter with Videotron to no avail, I found out that there was a store here in montreal called Service Absolute which is a samsung repair center that I could bring my phone to. I called them first to not waist more of my time and was than informed that yes they could help me but that it could take nearly a month before they would have any parts for this phone.
So after patiently waiting, I finally got a call back from them and droped off my phone the following day. I only had to wait two days before i got my phone back and thought that the turn around time was great! Only after few minutes of playing with it however, I noticed that the phone's new screen which now didn't have the oil spot was actually lifting from the housing about 1mm at the top of the phone and that the buttons were all still loose.
Its easy to imagine at this point how infuriated i was with all the time spent dealing with a phone that should of been right in the first place.. All the waiting, calling and runaround I got only to get a phone that was now even worst!! I could actually see inside my phone and behind the screen. Dust was starting to get inside the phone and under the camera lens and so on and I was really starting to freak out and was completly desperate to fix this issue asap to prevent things from getting worse and worse.
So I decided at this pont to take matters in my own hands and use my old trusty screwdriver to take this thing apart and get
To the bottom of the loose buttons and screen seperation.. I know! Scray [email protected]$ but it had to be done because at this point I needed a working phone for work and nobody seemed to help me. So after watching a few youtube videos, I unscrewed the screws at the back and gently seperated the phone from the metal frame with my fingers.
The whole assembly came out of the metal frame the same komd of way the old HTC phones used to. After doing so, the first thing i found out was that if your going scatch your phones metal frame which makes up most of the phone outer surfice, it's no big deal as it can be swapped out for around 40 to 50 bucks.
Next I noticed that all the buttons (volume and power) aren't adheared to the frame but only clipped in with a few pins stratigically placed. So its normal that they have play and wiggle. They're not gonna break and we're likely engineered to be this way. The wiggling is not really important as it won't affect anything on the phone's motherboard.
The next thing I noticed was that the glue between the inner midframe (the part that holds the motherboard to the screen assembly) also wasn't glued properly and was able to gently seperate it from the lcd/digitizer assembly without a heat gun or anything.. after doing so, the home button fell out and was simply dangling from its flex cable. It wasn't actually glued in place or held in with clips or anything. It's only connected to a flex cable on the left side of the button but thats it. I was easily able to pull it out and inspect it. It was built to be completely free floating between the midframe and the screen.
Which means that again, no need to worry about anything breaking as the home button is not a solidified part to start with and only in place where it is because of the space tolerence engeneered in the screen's home button whole. So it being slightly loose is normal and something that will eventually happen to all note 4's sooner or later. The slight looseness actually makes sense to me as any dust material that will get in between the home button wont get stuck as as much as if the space toleren was less. In my opinion, I thik that iPhones have less issues like this as the home button is part of the screen assembly and is also round.
In the end, I wasn't able to adhear the screen back in place as I didnt have double sided tape but manages to send it back to samsung and get it serviced again. I clearly asked them to fix it properly this time and it looks like they finally did and glued it back properly now.
This was a crazy experience and all I can tell you is that I definatly got an up close look of this phone and decided to keep it afterall as it's still better than a refurbished one and also because it's super easy to repair if anything ever broke on it.
Anyways i know this is a long post but I thought I'd share my experience with everyone and put some of your worries to rest.
Cheers!