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[Q] Clean up cola inside my phone

Hello. I had an accident, and my phone paid for it dearly. I have a HTC Desire and unfortunately the other day I spilt a rather large amount of Coke onto it, which has caused all the keys to be a bit sticky, and worst of all the power button to be constantly 'held down'. Which means the phone is very often asking if I would like to power it of, I cant tell it when i want it to lock, nor unlock. I have gotten round this by setting screen time-out to 15 seconds and installing the No Lock app, but this is very far from ideal.
Is it possible i can clean the cola out from my phone? It looks like it would take some disassembly, but I'm willing to try.
On an interesting side note, it seams when the phone is at the right temperature (body, in fact) the button works perfectly fine, but if it gets too hot or cold, its gone again.

maaaaaan just sell it as is , its gonna STANK later

STANK?
souljaboy said:
its gonna STANK later
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Click to collapse
"STANK" I'm not sure what you mean dude. Cola doesn't smell?

Do the usual. Separate all parts of the device, remove memory card and battery and let the rest sit in a bowl full of rice for 12-24 hours

Pickx said:
Do the usual. Separate all parts of the device, remove memory card and battery and let the rest sit in a bowl full of rice for 12-24 hours
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Click to collapse
Well its been 3 days, isn't that enough airing time? and its cola, I fear there may be residue causing the issue, not just left behind water that will evaporate.

Well,as far as i know if you unplug any power sources from the device you can just clean it with water and then ley it dry again..for a long time to completely dry up.

radu_wizu said:
Well,as far as i know if you unplug any power sources from the device you can just clean it with water and then ley it dry again..for a long time to completely dry up.
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I am of the same thought, but I really don't want to pour water on my phone lol

Don't pour water. Use a cotton bud perhaps with water or isopropyl alcohol (if the plastic is ok with it) perhaps. Don't submerge it or pour liquids over it

And submerge it on rice to absorb all humidity left

Peelypeel said:
Well its been 3 days, isn't that enough airing time? and its cola, I fear there may be residue causing the issue, not just left behind water that will evaporate.
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Click to collapse
There is definitely residue. Just clean it as previous post suggested.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

Ok, thanks alot guys, Ill try just dabbing some water on the corners of the power button so some goes in, then putting it in rice. All while the phones off and battery is out of course.

[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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Click to collapse
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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Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.

What Should I Do if I Drop My Cell Phone in Water?

Did you leave it in your pocket and run it through the washing machine and at times it's possible that your friends dunked you in a swimming pool just for the fun of it? Did you get beaten by the rain or did you forget and go swimming with your cell phone in your pocket? Or perhaps it fell out of your pocket and into the pet's water bowl?
If you drop your cell phone in water, it is often possible to salvage it. Time is of the essence, however, so the first thing to do is to get your cell phone out of the water as soon as possible. Leaving a cell phone in water for even a few seconds might damage it beyond repair, but there are a few things that you can try and that sometimes work. The main things are opening the phone as much as possible, taking out the battery and completely drying off all of the components.
Step 1
Remove the battery from the phone, if possible, or at least turn the phone off. Most of the damage you are trying to prevent occurs when the device is electrified, so removing the battery helps considerably.
Step 2
Disassemble the device, if possible. This should only be done if you have taken your phone apart before and feel comfortable doing it. This will speed up the drying process as you can easily remove water from around the circuit board. This will void your warranty, but if your phone is wet the warranty is no longer in effect anyway.
Step 3
Blow compressed air on the device to remove as much water as possible. If you didn't disassemble your device, blow the air into a port or earpiece opening to try and force water out of another hole. Continue until no more water comes out of the device.
Step 4
Fill a container three-quarters full with dry, uncooked rice. Submerge your phone, or all the pieces of it, into the rice. Seal the container.
Step 5
Wait 48 hours for the rice to do its job, then open the container, reassemble the device and turn it on.
Tips
Dry rice is most often recommended because it is likely to already be in your possession and time is of the essence. Other desiccants, like silica gel packets or calcium chloride, will work faster and if they are on hand, would be preferable to rice.

BAD LUCK....: O
via XDA Premium

wet phone
poordonnao said:
Did you leave it in your pocket and run it through the washing machine and at times it's possible that your friends dunked you in a swimming pool just for the fun of it? Did you get beaten by the rain or did you forget and go swimming with your cell phone in your pocket? Or perhaps it fell out of your pocket and into the pet's water bowl?
If you drop your cell phone in water, it is often possible to salvage it. Time is of the essence, however, so the first thing to do is to get your cell phone out of the water as soon as possible. Leaving a cell phone in water for even a few seconds might damage it beyond repair, but there are a few things that you can try and that sometimes work. The main things are opening the phone as much as possible, taking out the battery and completely drying off all of the components.
Step 1
Remove the battery from the phone, if possible, or at least turn the phone off. Most of the damage you are trying to prevent occurs when the device is electrified, so removing the battery helps considerably.
Step 2
Disassemble the device, if possible. This should only be done if you have taken your phone apart before and feel comfortable doing it. This will speed up the drying process as you can easily remove water from around the circuit board. This will void your warranty, but if your phone is wet the warranty is no longer in effect anyway.
Step 3
Blow compressed air on the device to remove as much water as possible. If you didn't disassemble your device, blow the air into a port or earpiece opening to try and force water out of another hole. Continue until no more water comes out of the device.
Step 4
Fill a container three-quarters full with dry, uncooked rice. Submerge your phone, or all the pieces of it, into the rice. Seal the container.
Step 5
Wait 48 hours for the rice to do its job, then open the container, reassemble the device and turn it on.
Tips
Dry rice is most often recommended because it is likely to already be in your possession and time is of the essence. Other desiccants, like silica gel packets or calcium chloride, will work faster and if they are on hand, would be preferable to rice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Put it in rice. At night a couple of asian guys will come and fix it.

Rice! I've saved a phone and an iPod this way. Hope it works

Water Damage Boots To Black Screen

So I've had this phone water damaged. I left it in rice in a very hot room for maybe 4 months. It boots into recovery and download mode fine and the screen works well. But when i boot it normally after flashing fresh Stock Firmware (It didn't boot before just stuck on splash). I plug phone into charge and the Samsung charger plug sound plays. That means its actually loaded into Android. Any ideas how to fix this?
I thought of replacing the LCD but since Download and Recovery shows up fine then it shouldn't be it?

You need to pull the battery asap after water exposure. The phone needed to come apart right away. Perhaps the mobo has conformal coating but the connectors do not have any protection.
You need to pull the whole thing apart, inspect and dry it completely.
Its long term prospects aren't good.

blackhawk said:
You need to pull the battery asap after water exposure. The phone needed to come apart right away. Perhaps the mobo has conformal coating but the connectors do not have any protection.
You need to pull the whole thing apart, inspect and dry it completely.
Its long term prospects aren't good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's been dried for a whole 2 or 3 months in rice and a hot room. Phone boots fine now but only to Download mode or Recovery mode. Screen doesn't work past splashscreen when booting

blackhawk said:
You need to pull the battery asap after water exposure. The phone needed to come apart right away. Perhaps the mobo has conformal coating but the connectors do not have any protection.
You need to pull the whole thing apart, inspect and dry it completely.
Its long term prospects aren't good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's been a few months after it's been water damaged I havent run it since BTW

Hamisxa said:
It's been a few months after it's been water damaged I havent run it since BTW
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You mean you tore it down right away?

blackhawk said:
You mean you tore it down right away?
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Click to collapse
No I mean i tossed it in rice for 2 months in a very hot room and left it there. I tried to take the back off but it started crackling so I didn't try to take it further. I thought the battery might blow up.

Hamisxa said:
No I mean i tossed it in rice for 2 months in a very hot room and left it there. I tried to take the back off but it started crackling so I didn't try to take it further. I thought the battery might blow up.
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Click to collapse
The battery won't blow up unless you get it really hot. You can't leave water in these devices at all, every minute counts especially if it has a battery.
Sorry but the rice method doesn't cut it.
My Buds case fell in my coffee and sunk to the bottom. Fished it out and tore it apart on the spot. Flushed with RO water, then rinsed with anhydrous isopropyl alcohol using centrifugal force to get as much of the alcohol off (no compressed air in the car) then let it dry.
Amazingly it still is working a year latter; I got lucky, but I was also acted fast and did the right things.
Aside from nose diving it into my full cup of coffee.
I wouldn't invest to much money into this device. Water damaged electronics are insidiously unpredictable and there's no time limit to when it will fail again even if you do manage to get it working.
Dirt minimum; take it apart and carefully inspect it. Pull the micro ribbon connectors and inspect the contacts. Make sure they're completely dry.
Anhydrous isopropyl alcohol (99%) can be used to displaced water. Be careful around LCDs if present as it can poison the liquid crystals.

Exactly the same story with a smartphone at work. The phone starts into recovery with no prolem, the display is working fine. But when I start the system it only shows me the "Samsung Galaxy A51" lettering, "Secured by Knox" and the "Powered by Android". After booting the display remains black but the device gives a feedback when pressing the volume up/down buttons.
Is there any way to reinstall the whole OS? Or maybe authorize the Fingerprint of my PC to check if there's any display output via scrcpy?

Folsense said:
Exactly the same story with a smartphone at work. The phone starts into recovery with no prolem, the display is working fine. But when I start the system it only shows me the "Samsung Galaxy A51" lettering, "Secured by Knox" and the "Powered by Android". After booting the display remains black but the device gives a feedback when pressing the volume up/down buttons.
Is there any way to reinstall the whole OS? Or maybe authorize the Fingerprint of my PC to check if there's any display output via scrcpy?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It could one of many possible damaged contact surfaces or shorted/open surface mount devices including cpu or ram flat packs or mobo traces. Even after the water is gone if it wasn't promptly removed* damage will continue to surface long after the incident.
You need to tear it apart asap. Even a few minutes may be too long.
Water damage electronics are insidious failures waiting to happen.
Cut your loses.
*prompt removal is no guarentee but greatly improves chances of success.