[Q] Galaxy S4 got wet - almost turned on - General Questions and Answers

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.

Related

My light won't shut off.

My fault entirely, but I dropped my HTC Fuze in the toilet...
Well, I pulled it out and popped out the battery and quickly dried it up as well as I could. I exposed as much as I could and let it sit to dry for a couple of days. Now, it turns on and it runs perfectly fine, the only problem is that the flashlight stays on, and does not turn off no matter what I do. Don't know what to expect to accomplish by posting this here, but maybe some of you have any ideas?
I've been trying to open it up and see if anything looks weird, but I don't have a screwdriver small enough...
Eh, no suggestions as to what I could do?
That's really weird. But weird things always happens when electronic devices are dropped in water!
I would try nuelight: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=456908 and see if that shuts it off. Otherwise, you may as well take out the LED light physically.
Out of curiosity is it on normal or extra bright and how long has it been on for without burning out? I use my light quite alot and am rather paranoid about frazzling it.... A personal message would be extra helpful as i may not check this thread again
Many thanks.
whenever you subject ANY electronic device to moisture follow this suggestion - Ive seen it fully revive seemingly dead electronics:
Remove batt/power ASAP!
Remove as much moisture by hand as you can
Put device in the fridge for AT LEAST 3 days before attempting to power it up again. the fridge will wick all moisture out of your phone/mp3 player/etc much as it will fully crustify your loaf of bread.
Be patient! firing it up early will not help...
also putting it in a bowl of rice helps
i used a blowdryer on an old samsung years ago and it worked for about 8 months then apparently rusted up inside after going in a pool
chopsxxx said:
whenever you subject ANY electronic device to moisture follow this suggestion - Ive seen it fully revive seemingly dead electronics:
Remove batt/power ASAP!
Remove as much moisture by hand as you can
Put device in the fridge for AT LEAST 3 days before attempting to power it up again. the fridge will wick all moisture out of your phone/mp3 player/etc much as it will fully crustify your loaf of bread.
Be patient! firing it up early will not help...
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Click to collapse
Sounds like it works, would it work a couple weeks after the original fall into water though? I thought it was dead, but after sitting in front of a fan full blast, it turns on just fine, but the flashlight just comes on and stays on. Even if the phone is off and just the battery is in it, the flashlight comes on and stays on. I could easily use it like this, but the battery life is another pain.
lbhocky19 said:
also putting it in a bowl of rice helps
i used a blowdryer on an old samsung years ago and it worked for about 8 months then apparently rusted up inside after going in a pool
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I heard about putting it in cat litter. I don't have cats though. Hah, eight months is better than nothing, eh?
Agent Blair said:
That's really weird. But weird things always happens when electronic devices are dropped in water!
I would try nuelight: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=456908 and see if that shuts it off. Otherwise, you may as well take out the LED light physically.
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Click to collapse
True. It pissed me off because I had just been watching Dane Cooks new comedy where he says... "I just joined the 'I just dropped my phone in my own piss' club." There was nothing in the toilet when it decided to take a dip, but still... Hah. I was trying to take out the LED light, but I couldn't even break through the shell. I realized that I need tiny tools to do so. I was also looking for a place I can order replacement parts, but if I can't get into it, that'd be a waste of time. I was just going to try to let the LED burn itself out, but until then I'd still not be able to use it, battery life is awful.

potential long term damage?...

Yesterday my phone got wet, the screen is howing some kind of wet spot under in, but heres the thing?
At the edges it seems the water damage is lightening the screen, yet in the middle theres a dark shadowy patch!
Any advice is great thanks?
take the battery out put the phone at a bowl with a dry rice give it a 48 hours
and your phone will be like new (tried a lot of times)
roytev said:
take the battery out put the phone at a bowl with a dry rice give it a 48 hours
and your phone will be like new (tried a lot of times)
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Click to collapse
This. Do this.
And do not delay.
If the phone works at all now it's because you're lucky and the water didn't get to anything sensitive yet. But the key word is 'yet'. It only takes a drop of water on a circuit board to ruin the device. If you don't have any rice at home right now, turn the phone off and pull the battery out NOW. Then go get rice. Don't leave the phone on to go to the store. The sooner the power is off, the better.
What happens is that the board gets slightly wet and when electricity is introduced there's a short. And tiny little circuit boards aren't designed to deal with electrical shorts. It hurts them. Badly. And quickly. And irreparably.
So taking the battery out is key as there's still electrical power in part of the circuits when the power to the phone is off. (Something's got to be polling the power button to know what to do when it's pressed. Something has to regulate the charging that works when the power is off, etc)What the rice does is creates a very dry environment by absorbing moisture.
In 2 days the rice will have sucked the water right out from under the screen.
And once you put it in the rice, don't touch it. Don't test it. Don't fuss with it. Just leave it there for 2 days and use another phone.
jamiee6610 said:
Yesterday my phone got wet, the screen is howing some kind of wet spot under in, but heres the thing?
At the edges it seems the water damage is lightening the screen, yet in the middle theres a dark shadowy patch!
Any advice is great thanks?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
DO NOT RUN YOUR PHONE IF IT GETS WET. PULL THE BATTERY RIGHT NOW.
Even if your phone gets wet it is usually only damaged by running it after it is wet. If you let your phone dry for a few days it should be fine.
Thanks for the advice, that much i was already aware of - it was the dark area that appeared on the screen.
I have had the phone back on and run it with the screen max brightness and the dark patch has almost gone theres 2 small dots that are slightly lighter.
I will see what its like tomorrow.
jamiee6610 said:
Thanks for the advice, that much i was already aware of - it was the dark area that appeared on the screen.
I have had the phone back on and run it with the screen max brightness and the dark patch has almost gone theres 2 small dots that are slightly lighter.
I will see what its like tomorrow.
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Click to collapse
It should go away completely. I got mine where it was dark all the way around,and a fairly large spot in the middle. I just left my phone off four 24 hours, then used it, the spots were still there, but they went completely away.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA

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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Click to collapse
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

Water Damaged Phone, Help!

Hey!
So On Saturday I dropped my phone down the toilet by accident, i removed it from the toilet, after about 5-10 seconds, and it was still on, it seemed fine, so I was like ohh okay...i dried it ect ect and it was working fine, but some parts of the touch wasn't working so I left it on as i could not switch it off. On that night i dried it with the hair dryer as well, didn't work, so wrapped it in a towel and but it in the boiler cubard to keep warm for around 12 hours maybe more...tried to switch it on and it didn't work again.
the day later (Sunday) decided to take it apart, and dry the insides, still wasn't working, but the notification light is on and sometimes flickers so i slept with it under my pillow as it would keep warm over night, on Monday, i put the charger in and the screen came on to that battery charging screen for around 5-6 seconds and it said it was on 0%....the notification light was still on.
I Put the phone in some rice in a box, wrapped it in a towel and left it in the boiler cubard again until Wednesday, afternoon....
what can i do?? will this work?? how much would it cost to get fixed?
is the touch screen broke? do i need new battery? ect ect
THANKS!
Best thing to do if you get a phone wet is turn it off and leave it off for at least a week. The problem is that moisture gets inside the phone itself and just takes time to evaporate. If you turn it on or leave it on after water gets in you run the risk of shorting something out and killing the phone (which is what sounds like happened). As far as repairing it is concerned, might as well get a new one, it'll cost less.
your phone should survive just give it some time in the rice, my brothers samsung ace went through something similar and he put it in rice and it was fine after a day buried in it, there is videos of the moto g submerged in water for a while and still works fine
good luck

Water resistance question

Hey all, new owner here. So I spilled some ginger ale on my phone, not a lot, but I thought well hey, this phone is water resistant, I'll rinse it off. So I rinsed it off in cold water, and put it under and inch or so for cool factor for a minute or so. I then dried it off, and shook it to get the water out of the ports. All seemed fine, but an hour or so later I went to use it, and the screen wouldn't turn on. The back/recent lights came on, and the blue notification light came on for a bit too with more prodding, also the screenshot combo seemed to work, and seems to have taken a picture of the lock screen. I let it sit for another half hour or so, at which point I tried power/volume down or up, can't remember, either way it rebooted. Finally it's on now, I use it for a bit, and it does the same thing. I let it sit another 10 mins, and do the button combo again. This time it seems to stay on. I charge it that night, and unplug it once it's charged and turn it off. the next morning I turn it on, 92% battery left. Weird. Using it through the day today it doesn't seem to be draining extra fast or anything. Is this anything anyone else has encountered? Should I be worried?
Needless to say I'm a little scared to test water resistance any further right now...
speedyink said:
Hey all, new owner here. So I spilled some ginger ale on my phone, not a lot, but I thought well hey, this phone is water resistant, I'll rinse it off. So I rinsed it off in cold water, and put it under and inch or so for cool factor for a minute or so. I then dried it off, and shook it to get the water out of the ports. All seemed fine, but an hour or so later I went to use it, and the screen wouldn't turn on. The back/recent lights came on, and the blue notification light came on for a bit too with more prodding, also the screenshot combo seemed to work, and seems to have taken a picture of the lock screen. I let it sit for another half hour or so, at which point I tried power/volume down or up, can't remember, either way it rebooted. Finally it's on now, I use it for a bit, and it does the same thing. I let it sit another 10 mins, and do the button combo again. This time it seems to stay on. I charge it that night, and unplug it once it's charged and turn it off. the next morning I turn it on, 92% battery left. Weird. Using it through the day today it doesn't seem to be draining extra fast or anything. Is this anything anyone else has encountered? Should I be worried?
Needless to say I'm a little scared to test water resistance any further right now...
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Click to collapse
Looks like it is not ginger resistant only water.
Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk
speedyink said:
Hey all, new owner here. So I spilled some ginger ale on my phone, not a lot, but I thought well hey, this phone is water resistant, I'll rinse it off. So I rinsed it off in cold water, and put it under and inch or so for cool factor for a minute or so. I then dried it off, and shook it to get the water out of the ports. All seemed fine, but an hour or so later I went to use it, and the screen wouldn't turn on. The back/recent lights came on, and the blue notification light came on for a bit too with more prodding, also the screenshot combo seemed to work, and seems to have taken a picture of the lock screen. I let it sit for another half hour or so, at which point I tried power/volume down or up, can't remember, either way it rebooted. Finally it's on now, I use it for a bit, and it does the same thing. I let it sit another 10 mins, and do the button combo again. This time it seems to stay on. I charge it that night, and unplug it once it's charged and turn it off. the next morning I turn it on, 92% battery left. Weird. Using it through the day today it doesn't seem to be draining extra fast or anything. Is this anything anyone else has encountered? Should I be worried?
Needless to say I'm a little scared to test water resistance any further right now...
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Click to collapse
Have to say that in my opinion the phone is really water resistant. Tried it in normal and salt water couple of times exceeding the recommended 30 min. Even use it underwater to take pics and videos. Probably you should dry it very well. After every water situation i noticed that it wont charge until the connector is completely dry. Sometimes the phone says that 3.5 mm jack is in use (can assume that water is fooling the software) Just try to dry it really well and maybe is just a coincidence and your firmware is faulty. Than reinstall using odin and if the problem persist - claim waranty. Good luck
kirilorius said:
Have to say that in my opinion the phone is really water resistant. Tried it in normal and salt water couple of times exceeding the recommended 30 min. Even use it underwater to take pics and videos. Probably you should dry it very well. After every water situation i noticed that it wont charge until the connector is completely dry. Sometimes the phone says that 3.5 mm jack is in use (can assume that water is fooling the software) Just try to dry it really well and maybe is just a coincidence and your firmware is faulty. Than reinstall using odin and if the problem persist - claim waranty. Good luck
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Click to collapse
Thanks for the input
kirilorius said:
Tried it in normal and salt water couple of times exceeding the recommended 30 min
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*facepalmus enormus*
You can make this test.
How to test if your smartphone is waterproof or not, without putting it in the water?

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