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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

Water Damage Help

Hey guys, whatsup? Anyway, first post here on the forums, but I've been hangin' around here since sometime last year when I got my first aria. Just recently I got an HTC Inspire. Everythings been going great the last few months with it, rooted and running Android Revolution nosense... until today.
I was out fishing when I got a phone call. When I went to hang up I dropped my phone into about 2 inches of water on the side of the pond. I picked it up after about 4-5 frantic seconds of getting out of my chair and going down the bank to get it. I immediately removed the battery and let it dry out. I came home about and hour later and the phone was completely dry looking so I decided I would try it out and hope for the best. Put the battery in and turned it on and... Vibrated 3 times and the LED was flashing red. Took the battery back out and put the phone and battery in a bag of rice. I have used the little rice "trick" on a past phone and worked out for me fine.
Now to sum my story up,
Dropped Phone in water
Removed Battery Immediately
Put battery back in hour later
Powered up
Vibrated 3 times and flashing red led
Removed battery and put in rice
So my question, what does the vibrations and led mean? Is my phone FUBAR? I have the att insurance so I'm covered on water damage. Trying to avoid the deductible.
Any Help is greatly appreciated.

rj 420x said:
Hey guys, whatsup? Anyway, first post here on the forums, but I've been hangin' around here since sometime last year when I got my first aria. Just recently I got an HTC Inspire. Everythings been going great the last few months with it, rooted and running Android Revolution nosense... until today.
I was out fishing when I got a phone call. When I went to hang up I dropped my phone into about 2 inches of water on the side of the pond. I picked it up after about 4-5 frantic seconds of getting out of my chair and going down the bank to get it. I immediately removed the battery and let it dry out. I came home about and hour later and the phone was completely dry looking so I decided I would try it out and hope for the best. Put the battery in and turned it on and... Vibrated 3 times and the LED was flashing red. Took the battery back out and put the phone and battery in a bag of rice. I have used the little rice "trick" on a past phone and worked out for me fine.
Now to sum my story up,
Dropped Phone in water
Removed Battery Immediately
Put battery back in hour later
Powered up
Vibrated 3 times and flashing red led
Removed battery and put in rice
So my question, what does the vibrations and led mean? Is my phone FUBAR? I have the att insurance so I'm covered on water damage. Trying to avoid the deductible.
Any Help is greatly appreciated.
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Sounds like hardware failure if it vibrates 3x
Leave it in the rice for a day or two without the battery. See if it comes back a live.

Damn, that was exactly what I was hoping I wouldn't hear. Anyway thanks, I'll post back with results tomorrow.

My Inspire took a swim with me when I got pushed into a pool. As I was falling into the pool, I automatically reached in my pocket and grabbed my phone and handed it to a person on the pool deck as soon as I could. I let it dry out for many hours and it was fubar. It did the same, it vibrated and flashed a red LED. It seems like the Inspire is ultra sensative to water damage. I have heard of other inspires getting fried with little water exposure. I had insurance on it and got it replaced.
I would recommend the same for you...call the 800 number to cash in on the insurance. The insurance deductible will be $125...but that's better than paying full price for a new one, unless you are eligible for an upgrade. They will mail you a brand new phone, and you will have to ship your damaged phone back with the provided shipping materials.

cavsoldier19d said:
My Inspire took a swim with me when I got pushed into a pool. As I was falling into the pool, I automatically reached in my pocket and grabbed my phone and handed it to a person on the pool deck as soon as I could. I let it dry out for many hours and it was fubar. It did the same, it vibrated and flashed a red LED. It seems like the Inspire is ultra sensative to water damage. I have heard of other inspires getting fried with little water exposure. I had insurance on it and got it replaced.
I would recommend the same for you...call the 800 number to cash in on the insurance. The insurance deductible will be $125...but that's better than paying full price for a new one, unless you are eligible for an upgrade. They will mail you a brand new phone, and you will have to ship your damaged phone back with the provided shipping materials.
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Thats assuming he has the insurance from at&t.

good luck!!! hope the phone will live again

ATT says you have 90 days to add the insurance after purchase. Just dont tell'em its dead when ya call and add it. Then call'em a few days later to report its demise.
I have never heard of any electronic device that was "on" recovering when they hit water. If the water hits the board its over. If it had been off, the dry'n out thing would prolly work.

tweaked said:
ATT says you have 90 days to add the insurance after purchase. Just dont tell'em its dead when ya call and add it. Then call'em a few days later to report its demise.
I have never heard of any electronic device that was "on" recovering when they hit water. If the water hits the board its over. If it had been off, the dry'n out thing would prolly work.
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I believe its 30 days. Not 90

kirk123 said:
I believe its 30 days. Not 90
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You could be right. I was just there and could swear the idiot at the counter said 90 days.

30 days, don't believe the counter-monkeys. However, if you call and it's slightly over the 30 days, you can get approval; I believe I was closer to 45 days when I got mine, the rep had to get supervisor approval. I think it helped that I was calling from the very phone I wanted to add insurance to.
The only way you are going to save a phone that has been immersed long enough to wet all of the innards is to immediatly take the battery out and open the phone up to where you can expose the circuit board, then blow dry it slowly. That might not even work depending on the phone. I've save a couple of older phones that way, but not a smart phone; these are probably too difficult to open that quick anyway.
Backup to dropbox and phone insurance is your best friend when this happens.

tweaked said:
You could be right. I was just there and could swear the idiot at the counter said 90 days.
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Idiots at the counter say a lot of dumb ****. I had a coworker who told customers that the Atrix and Inspire were LTE phones, and didn't stop even after I corrected him.

SmittyRN said:
30 days, don't believe the counter-monkeys. However, if you call and it's slightly over the 30 days, you can get approval; I believe I was closer to 45 days when I got mine, the rep had to get supervisor approval. I think it helped that I was calling from the very phone I wanted to add insurance to.
The only way you are going to save a phone that has been immersed long enough to wet all of the innards is to immediatly take the battery out and open the phone up to where you can expose the circuit board, then blow dry it slowly. That might not even work depending on the phone. I've save a couple of older phones that way, but not a smart phone; these are probably too difficult to open that quick anyway.
Backup to dropbox and phone insurance is your best friend when this happens.
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I wouldn't even use a blow dryer. It can push water further into the tiny openings you can't see. Open the phone as much as possible, and let it sit in uncooked white rice in a warm area. Windowsill works well for that, and keep the top on the container open so any water can evaporate out. Most phones I'd recommend a full 24 hours in rice, this phone I'd be more inclined to say 48+ hours in water to be sure.
There aren't many parts that will be damaged by the actual water, maybe just the screen, speaker and microphones. The damage comes from the short-circuit as the water bridges contacts. Hence why you should pull power immediately and don't even think about turning it back on until you are certain the inside is dry, and then waiting a few hours on top of that.
It's hard to wait when your phone is floating, but it can be worth it if you do it properly. I've saved phones that have gone swimming for a good 10 minutes using the rice/don't touch it method. I've also seen phones die within five minutes of a hair dryer and moderate rain.
Be careful guys, phones & water don't mix.
EDIT: 30 Days for sure on Insurance, I distinctly remember being told that in the AT&T store.

I was working in a bathroom above a toilet in the stall above the ceiling, pulled my phone out to check the time and it slipped out of my hand, hit the rim of the toilet, and it was like slow motion as I watched it to see what way it would fall, and of course it was the water side. Luckily it was a new bathroom in a commercial building with clean water. The phone was FULLY submerged for about 5 seconds before I got it out and immediately pulled the battery. Shook it out as best I could, took both covers off and put it in my work truck, Got home, sprayed it with the air hose real good, turned it on and bam-booted right up, no problems at all. I have two, the one that was submerged still works, I just don't use it. I was really pretty shocked that it still worked. The water damage sticker isn't even pink. Weird, I know. I guess mine was just sealed really well.
I would still get a new one if I were yon, cause even if you don't have problems now, chances are down the road you will

My Tilt2 fell off a counter right into my dogs water bowl. It might've been in there 5 seconds. Took it apart and set in close to the fireplace for a few hours rotating it once and a while. Turned it on and all was good.
About 6 months later I dove in a lake going after my sunglasses and realized as soon as I hit the water my phone was in my pocket. It was in the water close to half a minute. took it apart as soon as I got out and set it in the sun. When I got home I packed it in rice and set in a warm oven over night. Turned it on in the morning and again all was good.
The phone was on when it hit the water both times, albeit it was in standby.

anit77 said:
My Tilt2 feel off a counter right into my dogs water bowl. It might've been in there 5 seconds. Took it apart and set in close to the fireplace for a few hours rotating it once and a while. Turned it on and all was good.
About 6 months later I dove in a lake going after my sunglasses and realized as soon as I hit the water my phone was in my pocket. It was in the water close to half a minute. took it apart as soon as I got out and set it in the sun. When I got home I packed it in rice and set in a warm oven over night. Turned it on in the morning and again all was good.
The phone was on when it hit the water both times, albeit it was in standby.
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You must have stepped in your dogs poop cause you are very lucky your phone worked after all that. lol

Don't forget the fact that if you add insurance by calling ATT they place a call to your phone to make sure its in working order to add the insurance...
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App

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

Dropped Phone In Toilet!!

My friend dropped her brand new Razr HD in toilet today. She pulled it out pretty quick and turned it off. I'm wondering if there is anything else she can do other than wait for it to dry out before turning it back on? How long should she wait?
The crazy thing is the reason she bought this new phone is she dropped her old Droid 4 in the toilet too. It worked for a while but we turned it off and started blowing canned air in the ports to get the water out and bunch came out. After 15 min or so she tried to turn it back on and the phone would work but the display wouldn't.
Anyways, any advice would be much appreciated.

Open the phone up as much as you can and put it in a bag of rice or sylica packets.
Sent from my YP-G1 using xda app-developers app

My friend dropped her Atrix HD in the toilet and pulled it out just as fast. I told her to put it on a bag with some rice and leave it for a few days. After that, I took a look at it and managed to make it boot up after leaving it on the charger for a while. Luckily, everything worked after that, although the screen had a few water drops on the inside that took a while to dry out.

since the phone has an integrated battery, it wasn't such a good idea to use the canned air, you should've put the phone in rice and/or dried it using a handkerchief or something like that..
Anyway, try to disassemble it and hope for the best

I keep hearing of people dropping their phone in a toilet, like you really can't set it down for 2 minutes or close your legs if you are taking a number 2? I just don't understand how one accidently drops anything besides waste into a toilet, but best of luck to you I've heard the rice trick is about the extent of the tricks for water damage.
Droid RAZR HD (current)
LG Optimus One P-504 (For Sale)

What's worked for me with a friends iPhone was to power down, pull the SIM and shake / smack as much water out the openings and use a hairdryer for the rest. Leave it off for at least 24 hours.
Rice has the potential for getting inside the phone.
Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using xda premium

the mistake that most people make is, to turn the device on before trying to fully dry it out in the rice for a few days.
Trying to turn it on prematurely just makes a bad matter worse.

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.