My darling wife dropped her phone into water - it's far from waterproof. She stuck it in the airing cupboard to dry, but it won't start up. I've taken it to pieces, and dusted off any obvious salts. It's still dead.
Is there anything else we should try before binning it?
How long did you leave it to dry?
Fresh or salt water? If salt water possible a soak in fresh or de-in ionised water before drying out again.
The battery may have gone flat, can you remove it ?
I know this sounds crazy but try putting it in some rice. You might want to warm the rice in the oven first. It is a reasonable desiccant.
Chances are though that if the phone was switched on when it went under the water there will be enough corrosion to damage it unless you switched it off very quickly. Falling into water did for my last phone.
+1
My phone, fortunately off at the time, fell into clean water and was completely submerged. I took the back off and battery out, and left it in dry rice for 3 days. It worked perfectly when reassembled and turned on.
I don't think it's corrosion which is the problem, so much as water-induced short-circuits to sensitive ICs.
Clean water isn't all that good a conductor. Mine was on went it fell in and it did work for a short while after drying but then conked out. I suspected electrolytic corrosion as the cause (ie traces of sodium hypochlorite/hydroxide from electrolysis of the water it fell into).
If I ever do it again I would probably rinse it with distilled water first after taking out the battery.
I have also destroyed the odd keyboard with wine and coffee. The latter makes much more of a mess but isn't always fatal to the electronics whereas wine seems to clean up OK but the thing never works again!
A good wash through with IPA would be my first choice, then allow to dry completely while in bits. The check if it will power up while connected to the charger.
Is there information on it that is important to recover? Is it an expensive phone to replace?
(if the answer to both of those is "not really", then it's probably not worth spending to much time on it)
It is worth a clean and time to dry and the rice trick but no more.
It might also still power up as a USB memory device when connected to a PC even if other functionality like mobile TX/RX is caput. So there might still be a chance of getting data off it even if it is damaged.
Normally phones are ruined by the current at the dunking or any inductors inside get full of water or have soluble bits. Then there are speakers to worry about as well. Is it not insured as part of house contents or by the supplier? Brian
Hi, everyone, and thanks for all the good ideas. I had tried most of those. Rice - tick. Recharged it - tick. Plugged into PC - tick.
DW refused to switch it off, or even dry out the obvious openings into it. "It worked okay last time I dropped it in water." "Yes, last time I grabbed it, switched it off, and mopped up as much water as possible from the little holes." "Well, it's still working now. So, that's fine. Oh, it's stopped."
It was really quite an old phone, and the only thing she needed were her contacts. Google may have backed those up for her. Who knows? Time for a new phone.
Of course, she won't be able to log into Google as she doesn't know her password.
I love her tremendously, but not for her technical skills.
Any sd or sim card with data may still be OK
Clean water is rarely a problem, especially if the battery is removed PDQ. Salt water would require a dismantle and good wash in clean water.
There were some issues with anisotropic conductors that were used with LCD displays that would fail, but few phones now use these.
TBH, rice is at best a complete waste of time, and often just introduces a delay that compounds the problem and makes matters worse.
The key requirement is to get the battery disconnected as soon as possible. Then flush with IPA to drive water out and let it dry.
All the time it's is powered and wet, you will be eroding tracks and pads on the PCB.
That's sounds pretty terminal then...
Look at contacts.google.com while logged into the same google account.
There is a "forgot password" option - but that may want to send a recovery SMS. You may need to do that once you have the number ported to a new SIM (although the one you have may still work)
I dropped one in the loo once, mid piss. I hadn't noticed it wasn't quite in my pocket and as i'd undone my keks in it went, it took me a few seconds to realise what the spectacular technicolour display I was presented with was all about.
This was a few years ago and one which you could pull the back off, it survived but I wasn't keen holding it to my face afterwards.
I went through an expensive phase of falling asleep with a laptop on my knee and a whisky in my hand. I've managed since to retrain myself to not nurse the glass.
That's the worst, when you think you've got away with it :/
If there isn't a quick-access door (as there was for my Samsung Galaxy S2) and removal is a convoluted process involving prising off hooks on plastic parts, then I regard the battery as "non-removable". The video for the Samsung Galaxy S7 recommends a heated pack (heat in microwave) and hairdryer - presumably to soften glue that has been used to weld the back to the front. Someone *really* doesn't want you getting in there!
Likewise for my new laptop. When (not if) the battery stops holding its charge, as has happened after about 3 years with every laptop I've ever owned, then it will be a major exercise to remove it and replace it. In the past, there were quick-access doors for battery, RAM and HDD. Nowadays those are no longer available. Why? I can understand easy-access doors being a problem with phones that have to be water resistant, but this doesn't apply so much to laptops.
I wonder how much designs will change with the new legislation about equipment being designed to be repaired rather than disposed of. Maybe we'll go back to simple access ports and (in the case of laptops) lots of screws but no clips or glue.
-1000 Very bad advice. See for example this page:
This is what perpetuates the rice myth. People who got lucky that their phone still worked *despite* them putting it in rice, who then tell others to try it.
That is because it is :-))
Really no, not on any level:
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