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[Q] Spilled water on phone. Now "Unable to start wifi" message

Guys, been hanging out here long time now. First incident with about 6 month old captivate. I dropped a glass of water on my captivate yesterday. I immediately removed and took out the battery and wiped it dry. Did not see much of seeped in water so did not do the rice method. Turned on Wi-fi this morning and it says "unable to start wifi". Same with bluetooth.
Call,sms, camera everything works fine. At work, so blew dry the phone and also have kept it next to a warm laptop exhaust. Should I dismantle the phone and try to dry the swb23 chip (wifi/bt) ?
Please help guys !
stock and unrooted captivate

thelastjedi said:
Guys, been hanging out here long time now. First incident with about 6 month old captivate. I dropped a glass of water on my captivate yesterday. I immediately removed and took out the battery and wiped it dry. Did not see much of seeped in water so did not do the rice method. Turned on Wi-fi this morning and it says "unable to start wifi". Same with bluetooth.
Call,sms, camera everything works fine. At work, so blew dry the phone and also have kept it next to a warm laptop exhaust. Should I dismantle the phone and try to dry the swb23 chip (wifi/bt) ?
Please help guys !
stock and unrooted captivate
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You can't see the water that got inside. Would have been better to do the rice method before switching it back on but you should do it now nonetheless. Just be warned, you may have cooked the WiFi chip already.
Are the moisture indicators clear? If so, you should send it for warranty replacement. If not, then you can resort to opening it up, wiping the traces, etc.

ianwood said:
You can't see the water that got inside. Would have been better to do the rice method before switching it back on but you should do it now nonetheless. Just be warned, you may have cooked the WiFi chip already.
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Yeah, pretty much ^^

uggg...may be too late. If you get a significant amount of liquid on or in your phone the worst thing you can do is turn it on.
You should have:
1. immediately removed battery and placed on a paper towel.
2. immediately place phone in a bag of rice for a minimum 24 hours if not 48 before ever powering back on.
Still its worth a try....remove battery and leave in rice for 24 hours....try again....maybe it didn't fry anything when you powered it on...but you definitely need to finish getting the moisture out of the inside via the rice absorption.
I had my old tilt in a pocket submerged in a swimming pool for a good 15 minutes before realizing my blunder. When i realizing it i didn't try to turn it back on. Left it in rice for 48 hours and everything work fine (luckily the phone was powered of when i got in the pool so that probably helped avoid anything frying).

Haha, I once accidently dropped my old Samsung Epix in a bucket of water and it still booted up and worked but most of the features are dead but screen and all still works. It looked like it was wrecked. I got it replaced under my insurance which is a good thing.

Lol.....Captain Hindsight......i love South Park.......
Sent from my pocket.

swedishcancerboi said:
Lol.....Captain Hindsight......i love South Park.......
Sent from my pocket.
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funny
but being aware that you shouldn't turn on an electronic device when it is wet hardly requires hindsight though does it? =)

Thanks guys, I have put my phone in a bowl of rice hoping it will get cured.
If not, will ATT not service my phone under warranty ? I read somewhere that replacing the wifi/bt chip costs $70 with ATT. Has anyone done this here ?
Thanks all for your quick replies ! Much appreciated. I will keep everyone updated on how this issue pans out so it will help someone in the future

Tesist the urge to take out Nd test.....leave at least 24 hours without touching
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

ianwood said:
Are the moisture indicators clear? If so, you should send it for warranty replacement. If not, then you can resort to opening it up, wiping the traces, etc.
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How do I check for the moisture indicator ? Any easy steps ?

It is the white (or not so white anymore) square in the battery compartment.

bames said:
funny
but being aware that you shouldn't turn on an electronic device when it is wet hardly requires hindsight though does it? =)
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I just felt like being ornery. I think i read a "you should have....." and it just got me laughing thinking of that episode. No disrespect intended towards anyone.

swedishcancerboi said:
I just felt like being ornery. I think i read a "you should have....." and it just got me laughing thinking of that episode. No disrespect intended towards anyone.
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i know i thought it as funny haven't seen that episode in a long time...almost as good as towlie
i am just always surprised to see the posts where someone gets there phone wet (washed in laundry, dropped in toilet, spilled significant amount of liquid on it) and the first thing they did was tried to turn it back on almost immediately.

btw if your looking at the moisture indicators for warranty purposes its quite possible you have to completely open the shell. Usually they have one visible without taking the phone apart but its not uncommon to have a secondary marker inside the phone where it would be harder for someone to tamper with. Can anyone confirm where all the cappys markers are?

Been a while since I had mine apart but I don't recall seeing one inside.

newter55 said:
Been a while since I had mine apart but I don't recall seeing one inside.
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wasn't sure....my Tilt2 had one in the battery compartment and one on the motherboard that could only be seen by opening the casing

[Q] A "washed" through laundry HTC Diamond

Hello,
by a rediculous accident I forgot my HTC Diamond in the pocket of my jeans when running the laundry :-(
Afterwards, I opened the cover, took out the battery and let the phone dry out for 2 days. Now I've put it back together, and connected it to the charger. The "ring" is flashing, so the battery is charging but the phone itself is not starting and the display remains completely black, not even the vibration kick on starting...
Is there anything I could do? Or perhaps there is a chance to get out some photos I have shot earlier, would also be something...

ive heard that taking apart your phone and leaving the parts in rice can help (because the rice absorbs moisture)

Off topic:
I read one Desire went through a washing sequence in a washing machine in Desire spesific forum and now this?
Is this a new hobby? I mean... washing smartphone

darkman088 said:
Or perhaps there is a chance to get out some photos I have shot earlier, would also be something...
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If the photos are on your micro sd card, you may be able to plug that into an adapter and plug it into your PC and gain access to them that way. Just be sure that micro sd card is thoroughly dry before doing so.

WORKING !!!
Hello,
thanks for the replies... This morning the phone booted!!! I was able to download the photos!!! But the screen has stains, obviously the remaining water.
PLEASE advise on how to dry that thing completely !!!
I think that I'm gonna pass on the rice thing.
@aaa - YOU ARE A JUNKA$$ !!! You think that's really funny?!? Especially when I'm currently TIGHT on budget and need the money for other things and the next phone is planned no earlier than Christmas... I'm hesitating whether you're a real human being...

You can dry it completely in an oven for three hours at thirty degrees or so. I've done this three times. If you have a fan forced oven, just turn the fans on, that'll be enough.
A safer way (if you can obtain it) is to leave the phone for 24 hours in a bowl of dessicant silica gel. You'll often get a small packet of silica gel when buying new electronics or other moisture-affected things. That small packet is enough, just put it in an airtight bag and leave it for 24 hours.
The next step would be disassembly and a thorough swabbing with denatured alcohol, but that's pretty extreme and only needed when the device isn't booting.
Some LCDs are hard to get moisture out of, some are not. Leaving the phone with the silica gel for longer will have a better effect. As the previous poster mentioned, rice also works (quite well), but takes longer than silica.
Good luck with it!

Another thin that will absorb moisture is common table salt. Take the phone apart very carefully. Remove battery first, make sure you're grounded as well.

Hello everybody.
thanks a lot for the numerous advices...
Unfortunately, I have more to report...
The phone dried out and booted 2 or 3 days later, as I said. The stains on the display disappeared as by magic one day later.
Everything was fine for a week until I launched the camera 2 days ago. The backlight of the display went off and came back only after removing the batter for 15 minutes.
Now the backlight is going off pretty often, sometimes it requires to remove the battery 1-2 times before it starts working again and yesterday it happened that it got activated again when I got a call...
Any ideas please?

And also the phone keeps overheating from time to time without real load (GPS or wi-fi) which dries out the battery. But I had this problem also before the laundry

Sounds like that moisture in the LCD unit left a bit of residue and is shorting the backlight somewhere.
Only option there would be to disassemble and swab the LCD boards and cables/connectors with denatured alcohol.
Alternatively, a new LCD unit should fix the problem if it persists, just make sure you alcohol swab the connectors before plugging them back in
Someone also mentioned drying out in salt before. While that does work, salt is extremely corrosive on solder and SMCs, so I wouldn't recommend that route.

i heard hair dryers are the bomb at the screen moisture, just take off all that you can and blow dry it.

I just don't understand your refusal on using white rice. It have saved countless phones.
Uncooked white rice is VERY mosture negative. Just put layer of rice, put your phone on it, cover it completely with white rice, seal it in. Ziploc could work too.
In a day or two your partially dry phone will be bone-dry. If it was soaked still you could first try to shake out water as much as can, soak it in distilled water to remove minerals, then white rice it for 3 to 5 days.

I had this problem with my Touch Diamond. Everything worked, but while i was trying to dry it I broke one of the battery "hinges" but the phone still worked after except only with black screen. The best thing to do probably is just leave it for a couple of days and hopefully your phone will be back!

XXCoder said:
I just don't understand your refusal on using white rice. It have saved countless phones.
Uncooked white rice is VERY mosture negative. Just put layer of rice, put your phone on it, cover it completely with white rice, seal it in. Ziploc could work too.
In a day or two your partially dry phone will be bone-dry. If it was soaked still you could first try to shake out water as much as can, soak it in distilled water to remove minerals, then white rice it for 3 to 5 days.
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exactly what ive said. ive read everywhere that rice is one of the best solutions out there

Like was said before you most likely have some corrosion on a few contacts, if you have about 6 bucks you can spare you can get residue free contact cleaner in an aerosol at radio shack or any electronics store and save yourself having to scrub each contact and connector. Just tear the phone down down spray all the contacts and connectors with contact cleaner let it sit for a few then spray it down with air duster to get any thats get under the resistors, in the connectors, etc that hasn't dried; let it sit till you're positive everythings dry and put it back together. Does the same thing as alcohol just alot less scrubbing.
Sent from my i897 w/Andromeda 3, Suckerpunch kernel, & 1.3Ghz OC using Tegrak.

Hello,
thanks for narrowing the problem down.
But for me it looks like something different, because:
1) I have been using the phone for 1 week without any problems and it got screwed after I've launched the camera app for the first time
2) The backlight works when I power on the phone. But its stop is event-triggered, like when I launch the sound or video player or when I get a call... Similar events would trigger the backlight back on.
Perhaps reflashing the software could fix that?
I went to a shop today and put another battery. The phone booted, anyway without any backlight, twice...
At least the device is still alive.

There probably was a tiny water bubble and it messed with phone when you turned camera on.

darkman088 said:
Hello,
thanks for narrowing the problem down.
But for me it looks like something different, because:
1) I have been using the phone for 1 week without any problems and it got screwed after I've launched the camera app for the first time
2) The backlight works when I power on the phone. But its stop is event-triggered, like when I launch the sound or video player or when I get a call... Similar events would trigger the backlight back on.
Perhaps reflashing the software could fix that?
I went to a shop today and put another battery. The phone booted, anyway without any backlight, twice...
At least the device is still alive.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
remove the back cover and battery from the phone, and put everyting in a bowl of rice for a day,. should fix everything,

XXCoder said:
There probably was a tiny water bubble and it messed with phone when you turned camera on.
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Either that or a short in the cameras circuit from corrosion, either way i'd pull it apart before it gets worse and check it out.
Sent from my i897 w/Andromeda 3, Suckerpunch kernel, & 1.3Ghz OC using Tegrak.

Post Water Damage Recovery, Now Bricked

excuse me for the very long title. I being the brilliant human being that i am went into a pool on the day of our independence with my beautiful HOX in my pocket. i sat there for about 5 min, totally sober mind you, then realized what an ass i was. i immediately went inside, shut it off and placed in rice. the next day i turn it on to see if it works and indeed it does. The only visible problem was water under the screen though the screen worked fine. i turned it back off and put it back in rice so as to give the rice ample time to perform its magic. 3 days later i check again and it still works. i decided to switch back to the HOX and things were great. 2 days later however it would randomly shut off and take AT LEAST 30 min before it would turn back on. at the end of the day i took out the sim and threw it back in rice. the next day it wouldnt turn on and thats the way its been ever since. no light when charging ether. ive left it in rice for the past 3 weeks checking every once in awhile but to no avail.
so i know that water damage is the culprit as is my stupidity however im asking to see if there is anything that anyone can think of that might revive my phone? perhaps a batter replacement? or screen replacement? or find out what i shorted? ive taken it apart a little but have held back out of fear of being unable to put back together my already broken phone lol
any help is appreciated. Thank You

No resolution likely
sdonn said:
excuse me for the very long title. I being the brilliant human being that i am went into a pool on the day of our independence with my beautiful HOX in my pocket. i sat there for about 5 min, totally sober mind you, then realized what an ass i was. i immediately went inside, shut it off and placed in rice. the next day i turn it on to see if it works and indeed it does. The only visible problem was water under the screen though the screen worked fine. i turned it back off and put it back in rice so as to give the rice ample time to perform its magic. 3 days later i check again and it still works. i decided to switch back to the HOX and things were great. 2 days later however it would randomly shut off and take AT LEAST 30 min before it would turn back on. at the end of the day i took out the sim and threw it back in rice. the next day it wouldnt turn on and thats the way its been ever since. no light when charging ether. ive left it in rice for the past 3 weeks checking every once in awhile but to no avail.
so i know that water damage is the culprit as is my stupidity however im asking to see if there is anything that anyone can think of that might revive my phone? perhaps a batter replacement? or screen replacement? or find out what i shorted? ive taken it apart a little but have held back out of fear of being unable to put back together my already broken phone lol
any help is appreciated. Thank You
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Sorry about you phone. Being an electronic technician, I would say you unfortunately made a fatal mistake by turning the phone on before it was totally dry inside. Almost anything on the circuit boards inside could have shorted or partially shorted while wet. I don't think anyone could guess as to what component is bad now without swapping in known good parts. It might have been damaged considerably before you got the chance to turn it off after the soaking, and there's nothing you could have done after that point, although it seemed to OK for a short time. I'm sorry that I can't recommend any further remedies.

dmech1 said:
Sorry about you phone. Being an electronic technician, I would say you unfortunately made a fatal mistake by turning the phone on before it was totally dry inside. Almost anything on the circuit boards inside could have shorted or partially shorted while wet. I don't think anyone could guess as to what component is bad now without swapping in known good parts. It might have been damaged considerably before you got the chance to turn it off after the soaking, and there's nothing you could have done after that point, although it seemed to OK for a short time. I'm sorry that I can't recommend any further remedies.
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alright i assumed as much but thank you for the help. i feel like i can finally let go off my HOX

Take it apart and sell for parts. The digitalizer probably works fine.
Sent from my sexy white HTC One X on T-Mobile

You really have to take it apart before putting it in the rice. These things are sealed up pretty good these days.
Might just be the battery. If water got in the pack, it would behave as you described from internal shorting.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda app-developers app

Open it
At this point, you have nothing to lose by opening it up and drying it out for a week or 2. At least you'll get out any remaining moisture. You may just get lucky.

Also if there is corrosion, use 99% alcohol to remove it.
Sent from my One XL

[Q] Galaxy S4 got wet - almost turned on

I dove into a pool the other night with my GS4 in my pocket, I didn't even realize it until the entire pool lit up with a flash - I guess thats the liquid sensors letting me know or something it was pretty cool though.
I got it out and put it in some rice right away and left it there overnight. I tried it in the morning and it still didn't work so I put it in a bag of rice, it's been in there until today, about a day and a half later, and when I turned it on it brought up the samsung screen with the dead-bolt lock. It stayed there for about 5 seconds and then turned off again.
I decided to take it a part and see if I could see any water damage. I had it taken a part and did see some chlorine residue, so I got a toothbrush and scrubbed all of that off. I scrubbed every connection/terminal.
When I put it back together the blue LED light on the top left came on, then slowly dimmed. It's still lit up, but I can't see it unless i cover it with my hand, and even in that shadow its still very dim.
I don't know if I should let it sit in some rice some more or not. That's my only idea, but I'd love to hear from you guys if you have any ideas/solutions.
Thanks in advance!

mfelten86 said:
I dove into a pool the other night with my GS4 in my pocket
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Honestly, you've tried the rice trick which is the best bet as it's a natural dessicant. After that, and stripping it down, I think you might just have to accept that you made a really expensive mistake. The only thing maybe worth trying is to get a new battery - you might be really lucky and find that's all you've killed, but it is a seriously long-shot.

Thanks, I'll definitely try the battery, I'll post here if that was the problem.

Water Damaged AT&T LG G2 D800

Hi guys. Today I made the mistake of dropping my AT&T LG G2 D800 into the toilet.
I promptly removed the phone from the toilet, it was submerged for about 2-3 seconds. The phone stayed on for a few seconds but then froze and powered off. I disassembled it as quickly as possible (accidentally cracking the back cover in the process), and put the disassembled pieces in a large container of rice.
I'm wondering if you guys have any suggestions, and was also wondering how the battery can be completely removed.
I've also taken a photo of what looks like some sort of corrosion/damage on the logic board - if it helps. Otherwise, I don't see anything that looks damaged electronically anywhere else on the phone.
Any ideas or assistance would be appreciated, thank you!

First off, I'm sorry to hear about your loss I once gave my sister her first smartphone and she dropped it in the toilet as well good thing it wasn't a G2. The battery is hard to remove due to its design. They utilized all the space they could, so you have to remove some parts from the phone to be able to pull out the battery. Keep it in rice for a few days, reassemble and try your luck. Put the rest of the device in rice too, to ensure that all water has been drained.
Sent from my LG-D802 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Dropped in a basin of water
It's my usual practice to bring with me my g2 in the bathroom. I dropped it, I dont know how, in a basin of water, a little fortunate than the toilet bowl. I was able to touch the screen coz I want to turn it off. But it just suddenly did not work. So, I gave up and left it in sunlight in the living room. The next day I tried to turn it on. Led turned on then dead again. I gave up again and just left it somewhere. After two days, I, out of habit, took it where I left it and turned it on. Viola! It turned on! What I did, I turned it off and charged it full. Now, to make sure, I put it inside our rice dispenser. I'll try to turn it on again tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

faithraze said:
It's my usual practice to bring with me my g2 in the bathroom. I dropped it, I dont know how, in a basin of water, a little fortunate than the toilet bowl. I was able to touch the screen coz I want to turn it off. But it just suddenly did not work. So, I gave up and left it in sunlight in the living room. The next day I tried to turn it on. Led turned on then dead again. I gave up again and just left it somewhere. After two days, I, out of habit, took it where I left it and turned it on. Viola! It turned on! What I did, I turned it off and charged it full. Now, to make sure, I put it inside our rice dispenser. I'll try to turn it on again tomorrow. Fingers crossed.
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Your best bet friend, is or was to turn off immediately and tear it down pull battery and hit with a dry chem spray heavily. Well not too heavy but then after that hair dry. Rice works in time but not many people will tell you rice can leave a starch film inside of your internals leaving you in a bad way if ever it was heated to liquify the starch. It will coat the internals and youll never get it working again. Though rare. It happens. Try to get a can of water erase. Or canned evaporater. I use it on repairs and have had many positive outcomes. When pulling battery on the devices especially lg be careful of the older nexus 4 and older devices as their internal battery flex terminals with pull right out.
Anyway. Hope you get it working bro. Peace
Sent from my LG-D800 using XDA Free mobile app

Droid2drummer said:
Your best bet friend, is or was to turn off immediately and tear it down pull battery and hit with a dry chem spray heavily. Well not too heavy but then after that hair dry. Rice works in time but not many people will tell you rice can leave a starch film inside of your internals leaving you in a bad way if ever it was heated to liquify the starch. It will coat the internals and youll never get it working again. Though rare. It happens. Try to get a can of water erase. Or canned evaporater. I use it on repairs and have had many positive outcomes. When pulling battery on the devices especially lg be careful of the older nexus 4 and older devices as their internal battery flex terminals with pull right out.
Anyway. Hope you get it working bro. Peace
Sent from my LG-D800 using XDA Free mobile app
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The thing is, d802's battery is not removable and I dont have the tools to remove the back cover. No service center here too. Luckily, my mighty G2 is working perfectly now.