Water damage :( what now? - Nexus 6P Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi. This happened a while ago but I finally have the time to deal with my poor Nexus 6p. It spent a few minutes in a hot tub a few months back. Rice for more than 48 hours - nothing. Brought it to Staples where they put it in the machine that heats the gel balls (?) to remove the moisture. Charged it for a few minutes there and it actually turned on! Awesome, except the touch screen doesn't work. Battery seems to hold a charge, screen turns on and looks fine, volume and power buttons work, and I couldn't figure a way to test the fingerprint scanner or camera. Factory reset it. So now the phone is stuck to booting to the options menu with recovery mode and all that.
Is it possible to determine or guess what is wrong from this information? I've looked at the teardown, and I'd assume there is an issue with the pressure sensor, but I don't know enough about phone construction and parts to know if it's the sensor, or the part that connects the sensor to the screen, or something completely different.
I wanted to get some advice on what to do from here. Other than tossing it or leaving it forever, I have three options:
1. Repair shop: This seems like the easiest option, but potentially expensive enough that I'd be better off getting a whole new phone instead. Would a diagnosis be a separate process/transaction than the actual repair service? There are a few nearby shops for me to check out.
2. Fix it myself: The 6P seems like a pain in the ass to take apart and put back together (2/10 repairability score). I don't think it's beyond my ability, but the time and risk that it involves for me to do it myself makes me very hesitant. I also don't know exactly what I'll find inside the phone.
3. Sell it: Sell for parts and buy a new phone. If it comes to this, I need to know what I should expect to get for it. It's good hardware, and the parts that still work seem in good shape.
I wanted to consult the internet before going any further. So, how boned is my phone? Any different suggestions? Thanks for reading and I appreciate any advice.

eak.the.human. said:
Hi. This happened a while ago but I finally have the time to deal with my poor Nexus 6p. It spent a few minutes in a hot tub a few months back. Rice for more than 48 hours - nothing. Brought it to Staples where they put it in the machine that heats the gel balls (?) to remove the moisture. Charged it for a few minutes there and it actually turned on! Awesome, except the touch screen doesn't work. Battery seems to hold a charge, screen turns on and looks fine, volume and power buttons work, and I couldn't figure a way to test the fingerprint scanner or camera. Factory reset it. So now the phone is stuck to booting to the options menu with recovery mode and all that.
Is it possible to determine or guess what is wrong from this information? I've looked at the teardown, and I'd assume there is an issue with the pressure sensor, but I don't know enough about phone construction and parts to know if it's the sensor, or the part that connects the sensor to the screen, or something completely different.
I wanted to get some advice on what to do from here. Other than tossing it or leaving it forever, I have three options:
1. Repair shop: This seems like the easiest option, but potentially expensive enough that I'd be better off getting a whole new phone instead. Would a diagnosis be a separate process/transaction than the actual repair service? There are a few nearby shops for me to check out.
2. Fix it myself: The 6P seems like a pain in the ass to take apart and put back together (2/10 repairability score). I don't think it's beyond my ability, but the time and risk that it involves for me to do it myself makes me very hesitant. I also don't know exactly what I'll find inside the phone.
3. Sell it: Sell for parts and buy a new phone. If it comes to this, I need to know what I should expect to get for it. It's good hardware, and the parts that still work seem in good shape.
I wanted to consult the internet before going any further. So, how boned is my phone? Any different suggestions? Thanks for reading and I appreciate any advice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could flash the factory image but I guess you still wouldn't get past the setup screen without touch. I've been repairing electronics for 10+ years and if it came into my work I would disassemble it and look for obvious signs of damage/corrosion at the screen/digitizer connections, and look for track marks on the motherboard where a short could have occurred, or blown fuses/resisitors/diodes for the digitizer. Beyond that it's really a matter of swapping in a screen assembly (we have cracked glass 6p lcd assemblies that would work fine as a test unit). If that doesn't fix it, I'd order a main board. Having said that, it's not a phone I would want to own or even repair for a customer without telling them about the potential for future issues from the water damage. PM me if you want to sell it cheap for parts.

Screen and digitizer assembly is 'only' $60 - $80 on ebay or ali. So that is worth the risk. If this is not the problem you can sell it again for the same price, so no money loss here.
Waiting a few months though, is a long time to wait to dry your electronic devices. When it happens the best is to take it apart immediately to avoid corrosion.
The 6P is not easy to take apart, but it is do-able. Hardest part is the glass on the back. But if it cracks, a replacement will cost you less then 10 bucks.
What I would do is order the screen, take the phone fully apart, if there is a lot of corrosion, wash the mainboard in a contact cleaner (or if you don't have this, wd40 could work) then wash it with alcohol (to remove the wd40) and let it dry. Assemble the phone with the new screen, and hopefully it works. This way I fixed an Oneplus One 6 months ago, and it is still running perfectly.

To add a bit of clarification - use 99% USP Isopropyl Alcohol. It shouldn't be more than five bucks at your local pharmacy (Shoppers Drug Mart in Canada sells it for $1.99 for 500mL).
While using the 75% USP won't cause any serious issues, it is diluted with water, as it's more of an antiseptic (I can explain why 75% is better for wound cleansing than 99% if anyone wishes), and you'd just be prolonging the drying/repair process.
Use a lint-free cloth to dab the components - keep it away from the battery terminals on the battery itself. It is OK to clean the connecting terminals on the motherboard though. There are sandwich clips all over the LCD/motherboard, so be extra careful dabbing the cloth in there - one bent pin in any of those clips and your phone will need to be sent away for repair by a specialist.
DO NOT POUR IT ALL OVER THE COMPONENTS OR LEAVE IT SOAKING IN ANY AMOUNT OF ALCOHOL.

Related

Dropped my hermes in the toilet

Hi, dropped it in the toilet today.
Been drying it off for 7 hours in front of a heated fan. Tried to turn it on, the HTC screen comes up but it's really faint so I took the battery out straight away.
What are the chances of it working again?
ethos84 said:
Hi, dropped it in the toilet today.
Been drying it off for 7 hours in front of a heated fan. Tried to turn it on, the HTC screen comes up but it's really faint so I took the battery out straight away.
What are the chances of it working again?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So you took the battery out after the 7 hours? - Not good in such cases the first thing to do is always to take out the battery - However I had a similiar problem a while ago - but with a nokia phone - local electronics store took it to repair it for free but **** happens I sim unlocked it and they told me I had to pay 200 bucks for the repair - I googled a bit and found that you should take the whole device apart and try everything seperated then put every single part into ethanol (I think it was ethanol not shure :S) over night and in the morning let it dry - repeat up to 5 times - if no hardware was fried everything should work again - my phone worked again
No, I took the battery out after like 20 seconds.
I then took it apart and wiped it off and put it in front of a heated fan for about 7 hours!!!!
I dropped my 8125 in a cup of Vodka and Sprite and took the battery out right away. Let it dry out for 12 hours, turned it on and got a white screen. Took the battery out again and decided to order an 8525 to replace it thinking it was dead. Hours later, I tried to start the 8125 again and it magically started working. Guess it was a long hangover but just shows that given enough time, it might come back.
WELL... left it in the airing cupboard overnight.
It now turns on fine, the screen is working but I can still see a little bit of water but other than that it all works fine.
Going to leave it in front of the heater again today to hopefully clear the last of it up.
CHUFFED!
To my home fish tank
My old sony eriksson drop into my fish tank.!!!
Initially it don't work.
I put phone and battery apart inside a big cup and covered it with rice and voila..., after two days it was like new.
It was an old trick form my mother.
Hope it help
Hints and tips available.
The best way to recover a water damaged device is to get yourself a good denture brush and some denatured alcohol. Take the device apart down to its base components. The board, LCD board components for your soft keys ect. The biggest problem that I've experienced is that it sometimes fries out the flash for the camera which will stay on. Now with your denatured alcohol and your brush just gentle scrub the board components and the connections this will absorb the moisture upon evaporation. Also its always good to have a nice heat gun thats also a good way to reflow contact points on the board say you have connection issues with your mini USB port. I've been doing electronics repair on PDA and cell phone devices for sometime. So anyone who has questions feel free to ask. I hate hearing about people who dump 200 dollars for a repair that you can fix by spending 5 dollars.
I would like to start a thread but since my membership is at the junior status I dont see it being read. But I will post it anyway.
C Brown said:
...I would like to start a thread but since my membership is at the junior status I dont see it being read. But I will post it anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, I don't follow your logic. Post up what you know, based on your experience. I assure you it will be gratefully received.
Do a separate thread though, so it can be turned into a sticky by the mods.
Thanks
WB
Give it more time. I say 2-3 days to completely dry then try.
C Brown said:
The best way to recover a water damaged device is to get yourself a good denture brush and some denatured alcohol. Take the device apart down to its base components. The board, LCD board components for your soft keys ect. The biggest problem that I've experienced is that it sometimes fries out the flash for the camera which will stay on. Now with your denatured alcohol and your brush just gentle scrub the board components and the connections this will absorb the moisture upon evaporation. Also its always good to have a nice heat gun thats also a good way to reflow contact points on the board say you have connection issues with your mini USB port. I've been doing electronics repair on PDA and cell phone devices for sometime. So anyone who has questions feel free to ask. I hate hearing about people who dump 200 dollars for a repair that you can fix by spending 5 dollars.
I would like to start a thread but since my membership is at the junior status I dont see it being read. But I will post it anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1, the best way to clean your water damaged device and have hope of it working again.
It may take a while to work properly again; my 8525 went into water not once but twice! The first time I thought it was dead--lights on but only white screen. Had instantly removed battery and opened it up as much as I good and took some canned air to it. Kept checking it over the next week without success so went and bought another.
Anyway, about 3 weeks after the dunking I put the battery back in and on a whim turned it on and surprise!, works fine. This became my back up phone that I later took to Africa with me where I proceeded to drop it in a toilet. Since the air temp was 130 degrees it didn't take long to dry out and it's still kicking!!! Important point is to immediately remove the battery, take the device apart as much as you can, dry completely over a few days then attempt to turn on.
Hope this helps,
Steve
Mine went into the toilet this morning. I have disassembled it according to the directions (http://inuchanbt.blog54.fc2.com/blog-entry-100.html) and put it all back together after cleaning surfaces and connectors with alcohol.
It powers up now, which is far better than it was doing just after I fished it out of the pot. USB connection works, speaker phone works, etc.
However, touch screen does not. If I hold the screen at a certain angle I can see a faint outline of where water has creeped into the screen about 1/2 of the way across. Touch screen worked decently on first power up but now it does not work at all. All buttons work okay.
I am going to disassemble again after work and inspect the screen more closely. Hopefully will save me from having to replace the machine!
speckledpig said:
I am going to disassemble again after work and inspect the screen more closely. Hopefully will save me from having to replace the machine!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
...and if its just the screen that doesnt work, thats a cheep, easy fix!
I just reassembled after cleaning again and touchscreen works.
I am going to evaluate tonight and we'll see!
Those disassembly photos were EXTREMELY helpful; thanks MUCH to whoever originally posted them.
I managed to spill an entire beer on mine, turned it off and let it dry as above,. everything worked great but the scroll wheel started to get confused as to which way i was scrolling it, cleaned as above with alcohol and no problems. Actually I have found that the scrollwheel on my tytn gets hinky every couple of months or so and have taken to cleaning it regularly, onve youget over the inital fear of opening up your baby it's a breeze.
That reminds me of my old Siemens SX1 *chuckles* i went swimming in the sea and i forgot i had it in my pocket.. after 15min i suddenly felt it.. I dashed to the shore and pulled it out of my pocket.. And it was still running! While water was dripping out!
And to be honest, i never cleaned it afterwards. i just let it dry in its current state.. but hell that SX1 has endured some hazzards, and its still working ^^
Altho a bit oldfashioned now
Anyway this is pretty offtopic i know sorry bout that
Hmmm. The keyboard doesn't work. It worked yesterday. Neither does the screen rotate when I slide.
I guess it will have to come apart again.
The connector had popped loose, or maybe I didn't connect it at all yesterday.
Anyway, works great, and the water in the backlight is noticeably less. It is drying on its own.
Fully functional 8525!! YAY!!!!!
O dropped my Atom in a mop bucket once.
Took battery out and tried to dry but was FUBAR. Sold it on eBay for $90AUD =D used that money to get a Hermes for $400AUD
ethos84 said:
Hi, dropped it in the toilet today.
Been drying it off for 7 hours in front of a heated fan. Tried to turn it on, the HTC screen comes up but it's really faint so I took the battery out straight away.
What are the chances of it working again?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you flush before dropping the phone? If not, make sure to clean out all the "brown bits"

Likely Death to my G1

today was a horrible day...
apparently leaving your g1 in your pants while they are in the wash doesnt work so well.
does not power on
anyone have any idea what can be done to bring it back or is it most likely fried
and if it is done then does anyone want to buy it as is?
I guess this is an excuse to get a g2
*UPDATE*
I guess no G2 for me just yet.
My phone works great now. Did not do anything special. Did disassemble the phone though so I can wipe down any residue i saw on main components such as the keyboard.
My advice to anyone that has this misfortune is not to rush things. I think i turned my phone on 2 days too early but I got lucky and it did not affect my phone. I figured this out because there was a lot of visible moisture in the screen when the backlight turned on. The keyboard was not functioning correctly either.
I did leave it in rice for about 36 hours but I do not really think that did much as far as the drying process goes. Best thing to do is go to a hardware store and pick up a torx driver set(mine was $4 at Home Depot and it was 36 piece set including torx philips hex slotted and pozi) open up the phone *be careful* of course and let it air dry for 3-4 days (not absolutely necessary to take apart the entire screen but if you feel comfortable go ahead). While it was open I wiped down the main board and the keyboard. I did not take apart the screen because I just did not want to take any other risks(mostly because i knew the screen worked) even though there was moisture, I knew it would eventually dry out. But the key to all of this was patience(I know its tough to go 3-4 days without your baby).
the link for the service manual is http://mikechannon.net/PDF Manuals/HTC Dream SM (A04).pdf
Most of the time, phones can live through the washer and live. You MUST take out the battery and do NOT attempt to turn it on for atleast 48 hours, as you will likely short out the phone. Put the phone in a big bag of rice to let it soak up the water, also use a blowdryer to help dry the phone out. However, your warranty is now void, and there likely will be some remnants of water within your screen.
Yep! worst thing you can do is turn that thing on (or try) before its dry.
my g1 hasnt had a bath but other phones have (none with touch screens) and i take as much apart as possible and leave it that way till the waters gone (then like 4 more days just to me sure )
artifical drying sources reccomended (dont get too hot!!!)
I have had it in rice for about 24 hours now and its sitting on top of my dvr because it gives off a little heat so it should help the process.
just remembered that i didnt remove the sd card...
i was thinking that since it was in the washer with detergent, shouldnt i have just removed the battery and try to clean it in some type of solution...
I have read about a alcohol solutions but kind of scared and i just noticed that there is condensation around the edges of the screen
I'd say take it apart, Blow dry what you can, leave the pieces in a warm area for a couple hours, and then try putting it back together and turning it on.
anybody know how sensitive the screen is because i want to try and blow some heat on it but not sure if it will damage it
best part about handset insurance cover lost or stolen phones...hint hint
bladepbc said:
best part about handset insurance cover lost or stolen phones...hint hint
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
good point but im on att network using the g1 unlocked...
plus i rather not cheat my way out of it because this is my own fault
good news and bad news...
first of all it powers on and boots fine. Secondly the screen seems to be working perfectly (touch and all)
bad news i might have turned it on too early because screen still had noticeable water spots all over it. The keyboard also just spews random letters and commands (ie one of the letters controls the volume)
other good news 1.5 has onscreen keyboard
anyone have any advice on how to go about fixing the keyboard?
Advise for fixing the keyboard: take it apart and clean it.
ok well im taking it apart to clean it out and i see some residue but what should i use?
microfiber cloth?
cleaned out as much as i could but seems like the menu button is now acting up while the keyboard is still messed up
Aside from parts made of paper, parts with thin films (like the lcd), speakers, batteries, or fine parts that are difficult to dry, you can do a very neat job with 99% iso alcohol followed by deionized (aka distilled) water. This includes most (but not all) plastic casing, buttons, pcb boards, etc. Follow up with a hair blowdryer set on low heat (or if you have an electric heatgun, even better).
Get a semi-shallow dish, fill it with the solvent, submerge the part and scrub it lightly with a soft toothbrush. (probably don't scrub for polished surfaces like the exterior casing). Then directly rinse it under a stream of the deionized water. Finally, clean the dish out, fill it with the di water and scrub with the brush.
^ almost exactly what I did to recover a "dead" water soaked phone. Worked great, and learned a lot about how the phone is built
couldnt find 99% near by but got 91% which im assuming should work...
is it ok if i use bottled water(kirkland)?
oh and the spots on the screen are still there (light and dark areas)
thanks for the help guys
kp126 said:
couldnt find 99% near by but got 91% which im assuming should work...
is it ok if i use bottled water(kirkland)?
oh and the spots on the screen are still there (light and dark areas)
thanks for the help guys
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I bought my 99% iso from Safeway. It comes in a 16oz container. Look for it in the medical supplies aisles. Don't use bottled spring/mineral water, as that contains... minerals. You need buy deionized (also referred to as distilled) water. Distilled water contains a significantly lower amount of mineral ion, which for the purpose of cleaning electronics would be considered contaminants.
Do the spots appear to be blotches of moisture? Perhaps there is fluid trapped between the various layers of the lcd.
ok ill go check out safeway tomorrow morning. thanks for clearing up the water thing.
it looks like its moisture because after leaving it off for about 5 or 6 more hours i saw a few spots fade a little bit.
I will take the screen apart tomorrow as well. Any special instructions on handling the screen or even cleaning it?
You might want to search for the service manual for the G1. It details a complete teardown and rebuild of the dream hardware.
some sort of a miracle just occured because my phone is not acting up at all anymore and i didnt even clean it with the alcohol solution yet.
Just woke up in the morning and turned on the phone and worked perfectly, with absolutely no problem with the keyboard(except that i think i forgot a screw and a few keys are a little loose) everything works fine.
only problem is that the screen still has what looks like condensation.
but the blotches in the screen seem to be slowly fading. Gonna pop it open right now and leave it out overnight.
thanks for the help
oh and the manual has a few mistakes in it as far as procedure goes but any person with common sense should be able to get past those
Damn, thats rough man. I dropped both my old phones in the toilet(damn you superbowl, damn you!!!)and both of them worked after taking them apart and drying them off but never really worked 100% the same...
Just a note too, those were non-touch screen phones.
Best of luck.

HD2 in Washing Machine(Very Desperate!...Please Help!!!)

Hi guys,
i accidentally left my HTC HD2 in my jeans,which i put in my washing machine.It spent 15 mins on full cycle,after which i managed to figure out my disastrous blunder and pull my HD2 and its batt out. Im extremely desperate to restore life back into my phone.I know HTC will not repair it since all 3 water indicators are pink. From a few online tips, ive taken apart the housing and the main LCM Module. I have placed these two parts in a container of rice. I have not stripped it to the bare parts as i fear i might ruin it further. Moreover, i have not submerged it in alcohol yet. the only thing ive done is flush out the soap with water(did that only for abt 10 secs though...is it enough?) and put it in rice. Its been 2 hours since ive put in in the rice. Im going to leave it in the rice for abt 2-3 days before turning it on(hopefully it does...).I really need help fast guys. Should i use alcohol NOW before putting in rice?...Should i strip it to the bare essentials?...Should i use a vacuum cleaner?...if anyone can help,please do.Im really desperate and worried here.I really love my phone...and please do not ask me why i did this effing mistake...im still hating myself more than ever in my life for leaving my HD2 in my jeans.tks alot for your time and i look forward to your suggestions.tks again.
PS:Also, after i pulled my phone out,there didnt seem to be any patches or bubbles of water under the screen.Does that mean the whole screen is flooded or no water went inside?...And i do see water inside the camera.So is the camera dead forever?tks
Well,
i once found a Nokia without a battery in a roadside-stream of water... after drying and powering it on it worked flawless...
the real thing you have to worry about will be the water in the cam module. i have no clue as to how get it out. i once had water in the speaker of a very expensive babysitter-device. i never got it out. never. it stayed in there for a year or more. it was toilet water. very nice.
what happens to your leo when it is in contact with water while the battery is connected? do you know that?
well, if not, this is what i know: the electrical current will eventually short some circuits and thus might break them. if you are lucky the shorts will not break anything. if you are not lucky, something will be f****.
then, the energy, metal and water will lead to some "galvanizing" effect i have observed before, meaning, some circuits on the board may build some micro-connections with a whitish coating. what exactly happens there is beyond my knowledge. i have seen it on some devices which had been exposed to water and energy for a while. i could still fix them by scraping (yes, indeed) that off with a micro screw driver, being extremely careful not to harm any print circuit or smd-parts. that is a tough nut to achieve, for real. its not easy.
I am unsure, how the CPU is soldered onto the mainboard. there is a guy here who created some heatsink for those who had broken solderpoints and heat problems. he had said that, if you want to take off the chip you need break it because there is some epoxy around it. that would mean its connections (the little ball solderings) are waterproof. that would already mean you only have to spend attention to the surroundings. that is very relieving.
you might want to check the Internet for a replacement camera module if you don't figure out how to get the water out.
Make sure you keep your impatience under control and don't power on the device with the water still in the cam. it will do damage. the cam has electrical connections too, remember.
If i was in your situation i would assume the phone lost and use it to experiment a little. this will eventually help people here.
what i would do is the following: disassemble completely.
take all parts that can withstand a certain amount of heat and put it in an oven.
power on the oven with not more than 40 degrees Celsius. make sure not to put it under more heat-stress as it will loosen the solderpoints at about 60 degrees i think, maybe even at lower degrees. i am unsure.
warm it up for a while so that excess water dries away fast.
then check the mainboard and other parts for hidden spaces where water could have remained unseen (e.g. the camera).
then check for the witish coating, some hard to see, nearly transparent layers of water and/or soap residue. i am nearly sure that this witish coating i once observed came from high chalk (calcicated) water. this would be removable physically (scraping) or with citric acid and a soft cloth.
now, what to do with the screen? well, unsure here. check for water. if you think its very dry just leave it and connect it.
if it contains water i would probabyl also just try to let it dry. i cannot really advise here since i have not disassembled the hd2 yet.
i only know that replacement screens are not too expensive. you should possibly buy a new one rather then risking to further damage the phone with invisible shorts.
i need to cook for my wife now, hope i could give you some input mate.
good luck with your device. bad story man. bad story...
try to put for 24h into an ermetic box (closed), with salt in lower part and rice on the upper part (1/4 salt, 1/4 rice, phone, 1/4 empty) and close the box
this method can remove the major part of umidity
you can try for 3/4 days replacing salt and rice every day and cleaning the ermetic box
you can try too with a little oven for 10/15/20 minutes (max 60° Celsius and without battery of course) but i think that salt and rice is a better method
of course if you're able to open the HD2 (i done it 2 times and it's not so easy), you can use an alcoholic solution to clean chips and remove oxide (i use a Flux NO CLEAN)
DO NOT POWER ON PHONE UNTIL IT'S NOT FULLY DRY
Update
Hi,
my phone seems dry now(after 2 days of drying).I have not disassembled it completely though. The LCM module doesnt show any signs of corrosion,A few contacts and wires look okay.Not sure of the condition inside the module. Before waiting it out for another day or two, can i ask if i can use denatured alcohol to flush out any impurities or residue left by the laundry soap? Will it do any good or will it do any harm? cus im worried the alcohol might wet the phone again,now that it is dry,or maybe spoil some components. Also,may i ask if any data loss on the ROM or any damage to the cpu is likely?Tks alot.
I dropped a old cell phone in water and this was the guide i used to bring it back to life...well most of that guide anyway as well as a few other notes I picked up.
1st.) you should never try and turn the phone on intill it has had time to dry, (48 hours min)
2nd.) take apart as carefully and best you can..so that you uncover as much of the phone as you can
3rd.) dont lay the phone flat. stand it inside a cup and pour rice over it till it covers it.
I had to let my phone sit for almost a week and tried it after two days and every day after that. On the third day it turned on but still acted really odd, with each day it acted better and better. finally after six days it was back to its old self.
Please also know to not use a heat source like an over, microwave or hair dryer. If you do use a hair dryer ONLY use the "cool" setting. Hot air can make it more difficult for you to get it back on its feet. You can use rubbing alcohol to try and clean up any residue left behind by the laundry soap. I've seen sites say to submerge your phone in alcohol but i would suggest to use a q-tip and wipe the inside clean as best as you can. Make sure you do this well, the alcohol will not harm the phone farther but its the minerals or other deposits from the detergent that will.
If its available, you should use an alcohol concentration of 95% rather than rubbing alcohol that usually contains only 70%.
I hope this helps you as it helped me. I was lost when it happened and didn't know what to do. I pieced together this method from different instructions found online and it worked for me perfect. If all else fails you can call t-mobile and do whats called an out of warranty exchange. Each phone will have a different out of warranty exchange price but I had to do this once with a old phone I had and at the time it was only $100 for that model phone (htc mt3gs). It could be much more, like i said it all depends on the phone.
htccraze said:
I dropped a old cell phone in water and this was the guide i used to bring it back to life...well most of that guide anyway as well as a few other notes I picked up.
1st.) you should never try and turn the phone on intill it has had time to dry, (48 hours min)
2nd.) take apart as carefully and best you can..so that you uncover as much of the phone as you can
3rd.) dont lay the phone flat. stand it inside a cup and pour rice over it till it covers it.
I had to let my phone sit for almost a week and tried it after two days and every day after that. On the third day it turned on but still acted really odd, with each day it acted better and better. finally after six days it was back to its old self.
Please also know to not use a heat source like an over, microwave or hair dryer. If you do use a hair dryer ONLY use the "cool" setting. Hot air can make it more difficult for you to get it back on its feet. You can use rubbing alcohol to try and clean up any residue left behind by the laundry soap. I've seen sites say to submerge your phone in alcohol but i would suggest to use a q-tip and wipe the inside clean as best as you can. Make sure you do this well, the alcohol will not harm the phone farther but its the minerals or other deposits from the detergent that will.
If its available, you should use an alcohol concentration of 95% rather than rubbing alcohol that usually contains only 70%.
I hope this helps you as it helped me. I was lost when it happened and didn't know what to do. I pieced together this method from different instructions found online and it worked for me perfect. If all else fails you can call t-mobile and do whats called an out of warranty exchange. Each phone will have a different out of warranty exchange price but I had to do this once with a old phone I had and at the time it was only $100 for that model phone (htc mt3gs). It could be much more, like i said it all depends on the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks alot for the detailed post.I will definitely follow all the instructions in the above posts.I have already done most of them.I just have to clean my phone with the alcohol. Regarding the warranty exchange, there are many problems.Firstly,im not using T-Mobile,im actually in Singapore and my operator did provide a 1 year warranty,but sadly the warranty expired 2 months ago.Moreover,all the 3 water indicators and blazing red,and while unscrewing the modules,the 'warranty void' sticker was also torn through...so yep,im left with myself and the help of the wonderful members here.tks alot for your help so far.ill report back in 2 days time,when i power up my phone.
The phone that I sent back was the phone that had water damage. Four months after I took mine for a swim my charger port broke. I told them that the phone works fine but it does have water damage. I'm not sure why they didn't charge me the $100 they said because my water damage indicators showed bright pink also, still I was glad they didn't. Since your not through t-mobile that wouldn't work for you though.
If this comes to this, fingers crossed it don't but I have seen some with water damage sell on eBay around $90-$125. You might be able to sell it and then put an additional $30 to it to buy one that's in good working order, after all I bought mine on there for $120.
Sent from my HTC Leo using XDA App
htccraze said:
The phone that I sent back was the phone that had water damage. Four months after I took mine for a swim my charger port broke. I told them that the phone works fine but it does have water damage. I'm not sure why they didn't charge me the $100 they said because my water damage indicators showed bright pink also, still I was glad they didn't. Since your not through t-mobile that wouldn't work for you though.
If this comes to this, fingers crossed it don't but I have seen some with water damage sell on eBay around $90-$125. You might be able to sell it and then put an additional $30 to it to buy one that's in good working order, after all I bought mine on there for $120.
Sent from my HTC Leo using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
alright dude...but you mean your HD2 went for a swim? So did it work after that or was the broken charger port the only damage?...and regarding the eBay sales,i dont mind if i can get a good price,but i also need to buy another used HD2(preferably an unlocked T-Mobile one)..but lets just hope i dont go there...i want my phone to come back to life and wreck havoc on the iPhones and LGs like before
Yea after I did the above mentioned steps it work just fine. Then after a few months the charger port stopped working. It getting wet didn't have anything to do with the charger port malfunctioning.
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA App
htccraze said:
Yea after I did the above mentioned steps it work just fine. Then after a few months the charger port stopped working. It getting wet didn't have anything to do with the charger port malfunctioning.
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow...thats reassuring news.tks
Update
Hi,
i am very pleased to say that my HTC HD2 is back alive and kicking. I followed all the useful steps provided by the very helpful members here and its working well. A few niggles of course, include a few patches of slight texture variation at the top of the screen if tilted about 150 degrees,but it is very hard to see otherwise,so no worries. Secondly, the mic is dead since no one can hear me on the other side. Other than everything is perfectly fine!...didnt expect such a recovery after that washing machine incident. So, thanks alot for your help and also thanks alot to HTC for making a good phone!..now,a small question.any ideas on where i can buy the mic module separately? tks alot
I would look on ebay. There is also several repair shops you might have some luck contacting. Here in the US there is a company call cellphone CPR or something along those lines that could probably help find and install the mic for you.
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA Premium App
htccraze said:
I would look` on ebay. There is also several repair shops you might have some luck contacting. Here in the US there is a company call cellphone CPR or something along those lines that could probably help find and install the mic for you.
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's the thing.here in Singapore,most of the repair shops fear to dissassemble the phone and repair the components.those shops that do are not well established,so I wouldn't really trust them on my phone.my best bet is to send it to HTC,but I need to order the warranty and water indicator stickers from eBay,else they wont repair it.and I've checked eBay,they don't sell the Mic on its own.I suspect its a whole module by itself,but I don't mind soldering a new Michael myself.just can't find one.
It's a difficult job as the microphone is assembled to the main board found at the base of the unit.
This entire mainboard would have to be replaced and it houses the Qualcomm CPU and other items.
If you do dissemble there is a rubber black protector on it. Try removing it and cleaning it. Perhaps some dirt or something got in there and has blocked the microphone function.
Good luck...
xlr8me said:
It's a difficult job as the microphone is assembled to the main board found at the base of the unit.
This entire mainboard would have to be replaced and it houses the Qualcomm CPU and other items.
If you do dissemble there is a rubber black protector on it. Try removing it and cleaning it. Perhaps some dirt or something got in there and has blocked the microphone function.
Good luck...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if theres some dirt, theres gotta be at least some sort of noise audible to the person on the other side...i suspect the whole mic to be broken.anyway, cant expect all to be well after a ride through the washing machine haha...ill ring HTC and ask for the repair cost.doubt it would be anywhere near affordable though...
Well, i'm following this with great interest. I am very happy to hear how good the recovery went.
Kawshigan, please update the thread once you know what htc said. I'd be interested to hear too.
Thanks
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA App
I had ordered the HTC water damage stickers and the little void stickers for the screws on the back off ebay.
I know its not ethical but i just couldn't afford what HTC wanted to repair the phone ($185) so i got it back and
sent it to T-mobile instead. HTC told me if they find water damage on the motherboard that it voids the warranty
as well as if the stickers are red/pink. I don't know what they can trace on the motherboard or if T-Mobile is the
same but i didnt have a problem returning it to them. I was never charged the $100 T-Mobile said it would
be for a out of warranty exhange either.
kawshigan said:
That's the thing.here in Singapore,most of the repair shops fear to dissassemble the phone and repair the components.those shops that do are not well established,so I wouldn't really trust them on my phone.my best bet is to send it to HTC,but I need to order the warranty and water indicator stickers from eBay,else they wont repair it.and I've checked eBay,they don't sell the Mic on its own.I suspect its a whole module by itself,but I don't mind soldering a new Michael myself.just can't find one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not a module, it's just the mic itself, but you need some skills to desolder and solder it back on motherboard.
If you have no other solution, PM me your adress and I'll send you one.
---------- Post added at 09:59 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:55 AM ----------
xlr8me said:
It's a difficult job as the microphone is assembled to the main board found at the base of the unit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Kind of true, but not for a skilled service guy (a 15 minutes job)!
xlr8me said:
This entire mainboard would have to be replaced and it houses the Qualcomm CPU and other items.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Totally false!

[Q] Screen 'leaking' internally. Crack is branching and growing everyday. Help Needed

An internal 'crack' seems to have appeared on my device. Since the last two days it has grown and is now more than half the length of the device. Device is still under warranty so will take it to the service center over the weekend. Anybody seen anything similar?
http://i.imgur.com/13LG6lS.jpg
aceutosh said:
An internal 'crack' seems to have appeared on my device. Since the last two days it has grown and is now more than half the length of the device. Device is still under warranty so will take it to the service center over the weekend. Anybody seen anything similar?
http://i.imgur.com/13LG6lS.jpg
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are facing this from the first day of buying there's a probability that you got a defected piece.
According to me hardware doesn't come under warranty. You need to buy another display for your phone.
aceutosh said:
An internal 'crack' seems to have appeared on my device. Since the last two days it has grown and is now more than half the length of the device. Device is still under warranty so will take it to the service center over the weekend. Anybody seen anything similar?
http://i.imgur.com/13LG6lS.jpg
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks like a screen lifting. As i see it the glue in-between the glass layer is not holding up. I have a similar case but i did not posed a picture here in Xda. It happened on my device last year (Note 8.0) at the bottom screen near the home button, though i have no proof to show mine because the day it happened i immediately took it to the shop where i bought my unit and they fixed the screen after 3 weeks wait. I got a note from the tech explaining that the glue in-between the lcd etc.. was not holding up, hence the lifting occurred. Hopefully the service center will fix it for you or rather replace the screen.
I concur with the above. It looks more like an adhesive failure vs. a glass failure.
I've repaired a number of older generation devices - namely iPhone 4s, SGS3s, and SGS4s. The latter two are expensive LCD/Glass replacements, as such I did the ole heat and separate to replace busted glass trick. I was able to do so w/o destroying the digitizer/lcd. The first one I was scared $#|tl3ss and took my time, which paved the way for being comfortable doing the others I did...
If I was personally faced with your situation, and having the experience I do, if the device is under warranty with the source, I'd go that route. If it isn't under some sort of warranty, I'd try to heat things up with a heat gun (to ~60-65 degrees centigrade - assuring that I didn't get things too hot by using a handheld contact-less thermometer) and while it cools, push down on the glass (not crushing the device like a neanderthal... ) to see if I could reactivate the adhesive and get the lcd/digitizer to stick to the back of the glass. Absent success with those two options, the last three options you may have, as I see it, are:
Service Center Repair - likely expensive and slow...
DIY - Glass/LCD/Digitizer/Subframe replacement as a single unit - likely just a bit lesser expensive, but much quicker as one wouldn't be w/o the device.
Getting one's hands dirty with a home-brew repair (many videos on youtube) where you remove the glass from a functional LCD/Digitizer and replace the OCA (Optically Clear Adhesive) and reassemble the unit.
This is likely the most cost effective but also the riskiest as one could damage things beyond repair, if one is not mechanically skilled, properly equipped, invests the time to learn, and is patient.
EDIT: It is also prudent to note that going this route requires a very finite attention to detail and proper application of processes, if one doesn't want to end up with a device that has a bunch of air bubbles between the glass, adhesive, and digitizer/LCD - been dhere, duhn dhat...
EDIT 2: Beware that there are a S#|t tonne of parts out there that won't work but look like they will. One needs to do their home-work and verify that one can return whatever units were ordered from a given retailer.​
Hope this helps. Good luck.
-t

Pickled Moto (liquid damage)

I had my phone in my breast pocket in my chef jacket, bent over a bucket of pickles, and my phone slipped right into it.
Submerged for just a few seconds, and I had no idea how to deal with water damage. So I left the phone on, rebooted it three times. Speakers fine, headphones fine, charging port okay.
Few hours later battery died, wouldn't turn back on. Researched and found out keeping it on was a mistake.
Disassembled and Soaked it in 99% isopropyl alcohol for a few hours and let it naturally dry after some light brushing to remove corrosion.
It boots, screen is responsive save but for a few dead zones, and the screen is completely off.
What I'm asking is what part is likely the issue. I can obviously replace anything except the board.
Edit: And by the screen being off I mean that it doesn't light up at all. Completely dead
Zertech said:
I had my phone in my breast pocket in my chef jacket, bent over a bucket of pickles, and my phone slipped right into it.
Submerged for just a few seconds, and I had no idea how to deal with water damage. So I left the phone on, rebooted it three times. Speakers fine, headphones fine, charging port okay.
Few hours later battery died, wouldn't turn back on. Researched and found out keeping it on was a mistake.
Disassembled and Soaked it in 99% isopropyl alcohol for a few hours and let it naturally dry after some light brushing to remove corrosion.
It boots, screen is responsive save but for a few dead zones, and the screen is completely off.
What I'm asking is what part is likely the issue. I can obviously replace anything except the board.
Edit: And by the screen being off I mean that it doesn't light up at all. Completely dead
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
u shud have took ur phone immediately to moto service center nearby u instead of performing anything widout knowing any knowledge about it
now it'll cost u more than directly reporting it to Moto service center
all the best
Sagar_1401 said:
u shud have took ur phone immediately to moto service center nearby u instead of performing anything widout knowing any knowledge about it
now it'll cost u more than directly reporting it to Moto service center
all the best
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know about where you live, but in the US there are no "Moto Service Centers" anywhere... you have to contact support, wait for an RMA, and send the device off to the, wait a week or two, and get it sent back to you.
To be honest, the real problem here isn't water damage... "pickle juice" is a water, salt, and vinegar solution, in other words a conductor and a mild acid, both of which are very, very bad for electronics. It didn't stand much of a chance unless immediately disassembled and cleaned with a 99% isopropyl solution to remove the contaminants and acid. If this would have been just water, it would likely have been fine. I have dropped Moto G3 and X Pure in water on multiple occasions, even a 5 gallon bucket of marinara once and hosed it off with hot water at the dishwash station, but I digress, the point is water isn't the problem, its the stuff in pickle juice that is.
Honestly, at this point I don't think I would trust any components on this device... at a minimum I would replace the battery and screen assembly, and maybe the USB port assembly as well, and I still would only give it a 2/3 chance of survival. Problem is at this point you are almost better off to replace the device because you would be into it for over $100 (assuming you did it yourself) and still not know for sure if it would be viable for any length of time, or at all for that matter.
acejavelin said:
I don't know about where you live, but in the US there are no "Moto Service Centers" anywhere... you have to contact support, wait for an RMA, and send the device off to the, wait a week or two, and get it sent back to you.
To be honest, the real problem here isn't water damage... "pickle juice" is a water, salt, and vinegar solution, in other words a conductor and a mild acid, both of which are very, very bad for electronics. It didn't stand much of a chance unless immediately disassembled and cleaned with a 99% isopropyl solution to remove the contaminants and acid. If this would have been just water, it would likely have been fine. I have dropped Moto G3 and X Pure in water on multiple occasions, even a 5 gallon bucket of marinara once and hosed it off with hot water at the dishwash station, but I digress, the point is water isn't the problem, its the stuff in pickle juice that is.
Honestly, at this point I don't think I would trust any components on this device... at a minimum I would replace the battery and screen assembly, and maybe the USB port assembly as well, and I still would only give it a 2/3 chance of survival. Problem is at this point you are almost better off to replace the device because you would be into it for over $100 (assuming you did it yourself) and still not know for sure if it would be viable for any length of time, or at all for that matter.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A reasonable answer.
I figured pickle juice was the worst thing I could've possibly dropped it in vs almost anything else in the cooler.
I'd rather be down a hundred or so and attempt repair myself, considering that money is tight and a new phone is a decent amount more. Worst case I return the replacement parts if I can and just save for a new phone.
Thanks for the advice.
I have nothing useful to add.
But props to Zertech for the clever thread title. I got a good chuckle. But I do feel for you and hope you're able to achieve a perfect repair. Are you in Kimberly Wisconsin? I'm up in De Pere.
And thanks to acejavelin for the "5 gallon bucket of marinara" comment.
rm40f2 said:
I have nothing useful to add.
But props to Zertech for the clever thread title. I got a good chuckle. But I do feel for you and hope you're able to achieve a perfect repair. Are you in Kimberly Wisconsin? I'm up in De Pere.
And thanks to acejavelin for the "5 gallon bucket of marinara" comment.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Kimberly Idaho actually lol.
And thanks for the luck
Just wanted to drop an update. 70 dollars bought me a new display setup, and two batteries. One of which was a mis-shipment and was for moto x, not the pure.
I assembled it today and everything has worked so far.
Only permanent damage is the top speaker was blown

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