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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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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

[Help][Water Damaged Device] Cannot boot

Hi all,
My friend has a handset that was dropped in the bath. Daft idea, yes, but that's how it is.
The device will register the charger by flashing the LED. The first boot screen will appear, but then it will boot loop.
You can access the menu from Power + Vol Down, but the device will not load in to recovery, it will just boot loop again.
I haven't tried system restore because she doesn't want to lose her data.
The device is unmodified.
Does anyone think that her data may be recoverable? Also, do you think it will be possible to restore it to life to at least remove the data before sending it away for repair / replacement?
If anyone has any advice, it'd be much appreciated.
Thanks.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

I don't think system restore will repair any water damage. Hopefully she did a recent Google sync first contacts and calendars. SD card should be fine and I hope she has handset insurance. Cheers.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T769 using xda app-developers app

If I were you, I would definitely not power it on after dropping it in the bath. That will cause short-circuits within the phone. RMA most likely will not accept the phone, due to water damage. Leave it in dry rice for about 4 days. Then, depending on the software whether it was unbranded or branded, run an RUU. It might or might not work.

eggytoasty said:
I don't think system restore will repair any water damage. Hopefully she did a recent Google sync first contacts and calendars. SD card should be fine and I hope she has handset insurance. Cheers.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T769 using xda app-developers app
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Click to collapse
There's no SD card in the One S unfortunately.
She does have insurance at least!
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

The very first thing to do when that happens is to take the battery out, not a straight forward task with a one s. I'm thinking the phone is fubar'd after trying to power it up while wet, but you/they may be lucky. Get the battery out and leave the phone somewhere dry for a couple of days (airing cupboard, near a radiator...) till you're sure it's completely free of water then check for corrosion, it will look like white/green crystaline stuff on exposed metal contacts. Gently clear away any you find and only then re connect the battery, keeping your fingers crossed.

It sound freaking stupid but it worked: A guy put a phone which was dropped into water and didnt turn on, in the freezer for a few days and it turned on after that and worked perfectly. Funny as hell eh :cyclops: :good:
Edit: If you know what distilled water is, you can try rinsing the phone in it, then wait and dry it out.
The thing is, cause it was dropped into a bath it might have dried up something-something in it, which can conduct electricity and cause problems.

This time, I think the phone is finished. Insurance ftw. If any of your devices in the future become water damaged, don't try to turn them on. Take them as apart as you can and toss it in a bag of rice for 3-4 days.
This will work 99% of the time. The rice sucks out all the moisture, insuring that you don't fry your motherboard or anything. I spilled an entire cup of water onto my laptop and after 3 days of rice treatment it was back up and running. This was two years ago and it's still going strong.
Sent from a baked One S
If I've helped hit the thanks button

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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Click to collapse
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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Click to collapse
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.

[Q] Yet another Nexus 5 dunked in water. Trouble shooting help please.

Little toddler nephew threw it in a pitcher of water. Sister dried it with a blow dryer and she couldn't get it started to so asked me to try so here I am. She tried to turn it on once about a MONTH ago but nothing since. I'm not sure where to start the trouble shooting so any help would be appreciated. I've taken apart a few devices so I'll be doing that shortly as well.
1) I THINK it's charging but there's no charge indicator at all. A red light came on the first time I plugged it in very briefly but it never came back on again. I'm guessing it's not the battery.
2) I've tried all the button combo to try to get it in various modes, no joy here.
3) The phone vibrates when I hold the power button ( or various button combo ) but the screen doesn't come on.
4) Computer ( Win 8) sees the phone as Nexus 5 but when I click on it, it's blank. The properties show me, LGE, Firmware 1.0, and its serial number. Power source: Battery
5) Several times that I've tried the button combos it would play a little jingle. I'm guessing it's a default LG jingle.
Any suggestions on what the problem will be ? I will probably dunk the thing into alcohol once I take it apart. I'm guessing the display would be the obvious guess but it's a bit pricy to buy just to find out that it's not the screen.
Thanks .

Ahh.. Aren't you suppose to NOT turn it on? You shouldve disassembled it first and extracted the battery then clean and dry. I surely hope it hasn't caused any short circuits from all those multiple tries.
Also the Nexus 5 does not produce any boot sounds.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

1) hairdryer - big no. Made it worse.
2) turning it on - big no. Made it worse
In short, don't waste any time on this handset
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

If you didnt let it dry for at least 24hr min before turning it, then its as good as dead... you maybe be lucky that half the things work but over time, you will find it frustrating not having able to use the full features..

i hope the next nexus is water resistant

rootSU said:
1) hairdryer - big no. Made it worse.
2) turning it on - big no. Made it worse
In short, don't waste any time on this handset
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
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bushako said:
Ahh.. Aren't you suppose to NOT turn it on? You shouldve disassembled it first and extracted the battery then clean and dry. I surely hope it hasn't caused any short circuits from all those multiple tries.
Also the Nexus 5 does not produce any boot sounds.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
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gd6noob said:
If you didnt let it dry for at least 24hr min before turning it, then its as good as dead... you maybe be lucky that half the things work but over time, you will find it frustrating not having able to use the full features..
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Click to collapse
Agreed, but like I said it's not mine. I'm still on a trusty Samsung Galaxy 1.
I'm going to pry it apart just to see.

It may still be able to be saved. Open the device up, take a soft tooth brush and some rubbing alcohol, scrub the whole board, breaking away any corrosion that started to build up. If there are any black scorch marks on the connections, then take a pencil eraser and use that to help get those off.

I've heard of using rice to help absorb moisture in cases like his. Might not help now but can anyone confirm if this is maybe a good idea for anyone else faced with a similar problem?
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app

Bag of rice is the immediate first action to take after water
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[Q] Washing machine vs Nexus 5

So... my n5 was submerged into washing maching for at least 10-15 mins. and I'm using the traditional method, ( dip into rice bucket ) and leave it overnight, for the rice to absorb all the moisture and stuff. :crying:
I've remove the sim tray and cover n5 with rice.
I hope when I wake up later, it'll be able to work.
Is there any method I can restore the phone's files even if it is dead?
For example, using adb to control the phone?
Or better yet, if phone is able to boot, but screen is damaged, can it emulate the *image* to some software and we control from there or something?
Please give me all the possible solutions for getting the phone dry up or restore the files..
Update 1: sorry for not reading the main thread in General, was too furious.
When I wake up, tried to turn on, but fail. Then I went to remove the cover, there's water inside, then remove the screw and battery, there's water inside. After drying up everything, I put to rice again. Now I'm in office, hope my phone will wake up from deep sleep dead sleep later.
But still, any idea to recover the files inside the phone? I hope I don't damage the internal when I tried to turn on just now, how to check if battery or the motherboard is damaged?
Help please :crying:

up, updates.

Shouldn't really bump if it's been less than 24 hours. But, I'd leave it in the rice for two days. Overnight isn't long enough. Good luck!
If it starts up and you are unlocked and have a custom recovery you might be able to save files.
Sent from my Nexus 9 using XDA Free mobile app

jd1639 said:
Shouldn't really bump if it's been less than 24 hours. But, I'd leave it in the rice for two days. Overnight isn't long enough. Good luck!
If it starts up and you are unlocked and have a custom recovery you might be able to save files.
Sent from my Nexus 9 using XDA Free mobile app
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Click to collapse
yes, its unlocked and have custom rec and custom ROM installed. I'm just hoping it could boot up or at least show some sign that its still half alive. I really need those files asap. I refuse to use my whatsapp in another phone. And it is my main source of connecting people other than calling.

I would use silica gel over rice

xIceCream said:
When I wake up, tried to turn on, but fail. Then I went to remove the cover, there's water inside
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Sorry, but your device is now likely not to boot at all regardless what you try now.

Always , Always , Always open up the phone after a water immersion. Open , disassemble completely , rinse with IPA , then distilled water , then dry with a blow drier . Saved an iphone 3g , a samsung s2 , htc desire and desire x like this. My desire x ( after a 15 min dunk in the river ) still works - and it's been 2 years since then.
Rice doesn't work - at all in my experience. And just leaving the battery in for 24h means you have every chance to kill you phone.
Edit : data recovery will be IMO almost impossible without paying at the very least a few thousand dollars. If the EMMC is fried ad another order of magnitude to the bill.

Niflheimer said:
Always , Always , Always open up the phone after a water immersion. Open , disassemble completely , rinse with IPA , then distilled water , then dry with a blow drier . Saved an iphone 3g , a samsung s2 , htc desire and desire x like this. My desire x ( after a 15 min dunk in the river ) still works - and it's been 2 years since then.
Rice doesn't work - at all in my experience. And just leaving the battery in for 24h means you have every chance to kill you phone.
Edit : data recovery will be IMO almost impossible without paying at the very least a few thousand dollars. If the EMMC is fried ad another order of magnitude to the bill.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't have and don't know where to get IPA at my country here, will search around later.
how in the world would it takes a few thousand dollars. thats insane!! damn.
Hopefully it'll show me some signal of the phone later when I got back from work. :fingers-crossed: But I have a bad feeling. Lol.
Anyway, thanks for your answer! Will note it down

Most of the time there's no chance of reading the NAND using the phone itself.
That means you need to desolder it ( extremely hard for Nexus 5 since it's epoxied as well , you need to mill the pcb from the back side until you reach the solder blobs ) , prototype a break-out board for it , interface it and read it. No one will give you any warranties for the success of the process.
A brand new NAND without glue , full datasheets and known protocol ? 300$ an hour with a 6 hour minimum.
Water damage + glue ? I never got a quote for that , but it's probably going to be 3000$ an hour - and it will take at least 2 hours just to mill the pcb off. Add another hour to clean it , 3+ hours to proto the board and either make it in-house or have it made at some pcb fab (though they won''t bill you for the waiting time if you are lucky ) , another hour to put the chip in , and countless hours to reverse engineer the protocol and get the data out - probably somewhat corrupted as well.
TLDR : unless you need 64bit variables for your income statement NOT worth it.

If the data stored on the phone is so damn important, why didn't you have a backup of it? Why was the only copy of this data on an easily lost, easily broken, unreliable storage medium in your pocket?
The problem with washing machines is you're not just dealing with water, you have some fairly serious soap too, and this is really what your concern is. Soap is alkaline and corrodes the traces inside the phone. You really need to immediately strip the phone down; rinse the phone thoroughly with distilled water and then dry well for a few days.

You should have just put it in the dryer after its wash
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk (the older 4.9.5 not that new 4.10 abomination they released for god knows why reason)

GoneTomorrow said:
If the data stored on the phone is so damn important, why didn't you have a backup of it? Why was the only copy of this data on an easily lost, easily broken, unreliable storage medium in your pocket?
The problem with washing machines is you're not just dealing with water, you have some fairly serious soap too, and this is really what your concern is. Soap is alkaline and corrodes the traces inside the phone. You really need to immediately strip the phone down; rinse the phone thoroughly with distilled water and then dry well for a few days.
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Click to collapse
15 minutes , powered on at first in very conductive water ( soap+dirt+hot water) . It's too late for a rinse since I doubt there will be anything working in that phone anymore. Not to mention the mechanical action . If the battery wasn't in it might have survived , albeit with a lot of possible damage.

Ladies and gentleman. My phone survived.
Just plugged back everything, and it boots up. Thank god man. Now I jsut need to back up everything and extract the data out of it. Yay.
My screen has a new 3d effect tho. Water is inside, LOL. It has some nice blue color. Happy me. Woots.
Thank all of you guys for the possible solutions and feedback! Rock on!!

xIceCream said:
Ladies and gentleman. My phone survived.
Just plugged back everything, and it boots up. Thank god man. Now I jsut need to back up everything and extract the data out of it. Yay.
My screen has a new 3d effect tho. Water is inside, LOL. It has some nice blue color. Happy me. Woots.
Thank all of you guys for the possible solutions and feedback! Rock on!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Considering it was in the washing machine, you didn't remove the battery, attempted to turn it on, then water came out when you finally opened it up..
You're lucky it has any sign of life at all.

Lethargy said:
Considering it was in the washing machine, you didn't remove the battery, attempted to turn it on, then water came out when you finally opened it up..
You're lucky it has any sign of life at all.
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Yes, I know right!
Took out from w.s, turn it on, screen flashes > dip phone to rice for 8 hours > tried turn it on, nothing happens > remove cover and screws and everything > dry up water > dip to rice for another sweet 15 hours ( working + part time studies ), now reached home, assemble everything, turn it on, and WALLA!
Backing up everything now. :fingers-crossed: :highfive: :laugh: :victory:

xIceCream said:
Backing up everything now. :fingers-crossed: :highfive: :laugh: :victory:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am really happy for you Next time though, set up automated backup options so that you don't have to worry about the data inside the phone.

xIceCream said:
Ladies and gentleman. My phone survived.
Just plugged back everything, and it boots up. Thank god man. Now I jsut need to back up everything and extract the data out of it. Yay.
My screen has a new 3d effect tho. Water is inside, LOL. It has some nice blue color. Happy me. Woots.
Thank all of you guys for the possible solutions and feedback! Rock on!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm amazed! I suppose it's possible the water was conductive enough to actually put the battery into protection right away

KreAch3R said:
I am really happy for you Next time though, set up automated backup options so that you don't have to worry about the data inside the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you! Yea, will do that next time. Painful lesson to learn! Will note that!
Niflheimer said:
I'm amazed! I suppose it's possible the water was conductive enough to actually put the battery into protection right away
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Yea. Nexus the magician! But all in all, speaker doesn't work, 3.5mm jack doesn't work. At least all my data are there!

Take a backup and buy a new phone. Lol.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Free mobile app

Could still fail yet..