Database Info

Possibly water damaged Captivate half-working

I may have possibly water damaged my Captivate last night. It was in my pocket when water spilled on my lap, and I didn't immediately take it out. Very stupid of me. The USB port was open so I'm thinking liquid may have gotten into there... Also, there were water beads on the inside of the camera lens.
My recourse was to take it apart and try to let it dry out. Initially it wouldn't do anything upon being plugged in to the charger, so naturally I thought it was bricked. I've let it sit all day on a dry window sill next to the radiator. After putting the battery back in and plugging it in a little bit ago, the phone surprisingly booted up. Here's where I'm at now:
The phone boots normally, however if I plug it in to the charger I get an error stating Battery Temperature too high or something, so charging is paused. Does anybody know what this indicates?
Secondly, after being on for a minute or so, the screen gets screwy. Dark transparent overlays start flashing over everything and it gets unresponsive... I haven't left it on like this long b/c I was afraid something worse would happen - I usually rip the battery out of the back to shut it off.
My phones currently pulled apart and drying in the window sill. Whatever water got on/in it is not visibly there, however I understand some parts might still be wet.
Any advice? Also, I believe the water indicator on the battery and near the pins where the battery dock in the phone are both fine. They're white squares and haven't changed color. Any chance there are other indicators?
The phone isn't insured and I bought it back in August. Would warranty possibly cover this or will they know about the water damage?

jmusso said:
I may have possibly water damaged my Captivate last night. It was in my pocket when water spilled on my lap, and I didn't immediately take it out. Very stupid of me. The USB port was open so I'm thinking liquid may have gotten into there... Also, there were water beads on the inside of the camera lens.
My recourse was to take it apart and try to let it dry out. Initially it wouldn't do anything upon being plugged in to the charger, so naturally I thought it was bricked. I've let it sit all day on a dry window sill next to the radiator. After putting the battery back in and plugging it in a little bit ago, the phone surprisingly booted up. Here's where I'm at now:
The phone boots normally, however if I plug it in to the charger I get an error stating Battery Temperature too high or something, so charging is paused. Does anybody know what this indicates?
Secondly, after being on for a minute or so, the screen gets screwy. Dark transparent overlays start flashing over everything and it gets unresponsive... I haven't left it on like this long b/c I was afraid something worse would happen - I usually rip the battery out of the back to shut it off.
My phones currently pulled apart and drying in the window sill. Whatever water got on/in it is not visibly there, however I understand some parts might still be wet.
Any advice? Also, I believe the water indicator on the battery and near the pins where the battery dock in the phone are both fine. They're white squares and haven't changed color. Any chance there are other indicators?
The phone isn't insured and I bought it back in August. Would warranty possibly cover this or will they know about the water damage?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well you want to put in rice, so that the moisture is gone

rice it for sure. but warranty WILL not cover it UNLESS the tabs on the battery and phone are white (It might not have gotten wet if it was in your pocket)
if they are still white, or if your phone is white and battery red (then buy another battery) and get to the store and tell them you don't know what is wrong with it. The only indication that it is water damaged is if it is red and those tags are notoriously faulty so you could always argue your way through it if you have an account in good standing.
best of luck.
I know someone who "claimed' that insurance was supposed to be added to the phone when he got it and noticed that the person didn't do it properly (the guy was new so it helped his cause) and the manager of the cor store told him that they'd do a courtesy replacement and charged him the 125$ for a new device.
you could go that route should you need too...

I don't have access to rice at the moment... Would it do any good even if I absolutely can see no water anywhere in/on the phone?
Am I doing my phone any harm/potential harm by trying to turn it on every once in a while, or should I just let it be for a few days?

Take the phone apart and focus the strongest fan you have on it over night. It's probably best to not turn it on for awhile. Maybe if you focus a blow drier on it for perhaps several hours, air will find flow through the small openings within the case.
You may not be able to dry some parts of it unless you do a complete dismantle, but that may require special tools
Consider shipping it to get repaired only as a last resort, as I've read some bad reports about that.

Rice or some other dessicant is the way to go - it will pull moisture out. Also, turning it on (even putting the battery in) is bad - you are powering circuits and possibly creating shorts where water is present. You may have already done permanent damage.
If you get electronics wet, the best course of action is to remove the battery and put it in a bag of rice for a few days.

Now that You have the phone apart get an alcohol pad and gentley scrub the main board. Sometimes when liquid touches the main board you will get a white looking residue. If you see anything like that simply wipe it off. I dropped my phone into a trash can at a very popular teriyaki restaurant here in Las Vegas my phone was submerged into a deep bath of teriyaki sauce. I quickly pulled the phone from the can and wiped it down vigorously. I was excited to see that it was initially working unfortunately this was not the case by the time I got home. The phone would not turn on for a whole week, until I decided that I was going to open her up. I found a tutorial on line describing a complete break down of the captivate. Upon opening it I found I was able to see exactly where the teriyaki had interacted with the electronics due to the remnants of an oxidized white film that was present on various parts of the main board. I grabbed a alcohol pad out of my first aid kit and began wiping it down to remove all of the white stuff,put the phone back together and to my surprise it turned on. Hope this helps!

Thanks for the info guys.
How would I go about getting to the "main board"? Taking out the battery and looking inside it only reveals where the battery connects, where the SD card and sim cards can go... I'm assuming if I remove the little screws around that fixture I can get to the "main board"?
I think I can see some minor corrosion around where the sim card connects, but I think I *should* be able to clean that with some alcohol.
The phone seems to be working fine (I've yet to put my SIM back in it, though, so no idea if the corrosion around there is affecting it at all). I just booted it up and was able to get on the web (wifi), run apps, everything just fine. Didn't get the flashy screens I mentioned earlier. However, if I plug in the USB charger, it still gives me the temperature error. I didn't keep it plugged in, however it did make me realize something:
The errors I was getting before, where the screen went all wacky, only happened if the phone was plugged in to the wall. Is it possible my battery is busted, or do you think the USB charger is busted? Remember that port was open when it happened.
Any thoughts? New battery? Or do you think I won't be able to charge the phone via USB charger any more?

jmusso said:
I don't have access to rice at the moment... Would it do any good even if I absolutely can see no water anywhere in/on the phone?
Am I doing my phone any harm/potential harm by trying to turn it on every once in a while, or should I just let it be for a few days?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes you are, because if there is water or moisture internal, it can short circuit, also rice will help dry up the phone completely

jmusso said:
Thanks for the info guys.
How would I go about getting to the "main board"? Taking out the battery and looking inside it only reveals where the battery connects, where the SD card and sim cards can go... I'm assuming if I remove the little screws around that fixture I can get to the "main board"?
I think I can see some minor corrosion around where the sim card connects, but I think I *should* be able to clean that with some alcohol.
The phone seems to be working fine (I've yet to put my SIM back in it, though, so no idea if the corrosion around there is affecting it at all). I just booted it up and was able to get on the web (wifi), run apps, everything just fine. Didn't get the flashy screens I mentioned earlier. However, if I plug in the USB charger, it still gives me the temperature error. I didn't keep it plugged in, however it did make me realize something:
The errors I was getting before, where the screen went all wacky, only happened if the phone was plugged in to the wall. Is it possible my battery is busted, or do you think the USB charger is busted? Remember that port was open when it happened.
Any thoughts? New battery? Or do you think I won't be able to charge the phone via USB charger any more?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you've never taken apart a smart phone before, and reading your first question, I'm going to assume that's the case, then I strongly advise you not attempt it unless you are willing to either A) buy a replacement after you break it or B) invest time/money into repairing mistakes you've made. This phone is not as difficult to disassemble as some, but I wouldn't want to break that $150 amoled screen.
No, removing the screws will not simply get you to the mainboard. It's more complicated and nuanced than that.

I'm a new user so I can't post the link but if you google Tech Republic Captivate tear down [/B]there is a website that will show you step by step how take the phone apart. There are two screws under the clip you pull down to take the back cover off. Be careful when pulling it back to expose the screws. I tugged on it pretty hard with no problems, but I imagine it could be broken if you pull too hard. Good Luck! It's actually really easy to take apart and the various ribbon connectors on the main board are really easy to unplug and plug back in after cleaning it.

So what do you guys think I should do if I'm still getting the battery error with the thermometer and yellow caution sign? Buy a new battery? Or do you think its the USB jack? Has anybody seen this before - the battery was working fine as long as it was not charging.
I'm trying to decide between a) buying a new battery, or b) buying a wall-mounted battery charger since the USB won't charge the phone.
Anybody have any experience?

Meguro2006 said:
I'm a new user so I can't post the link but if you google Tech Republic Captivate tear down [/B]there is a website that will show you step by step how take the phone apart. There are two screws under the clip you pull down to take the back cover off. Be careful when pulling it back to expose the screws. I tugged on it pretty hard with no problems, but I imagine it could be broken if you pull too hard. Good Luck! It's actually really easy to take apart and the various ribbon connectors on the main board are really easy to unplug and plug back in after cleaning it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you need to be careful about who you encourage to dissect their device. This guy asked how to get to the mainboard. Clearly, he hasn't opened a smart phone before. Telling him it's "actually really easy" is disingenuous at best. Performing smart phone repairs properly requires experience. I'm certainly not suggesting that noobs not try to fix their phones, only that they are made fully aware of the risks.

My Captivate was fully submerged in dirty water. I followed some instructions online and it's been working fine for over a month now. If your water-detection stickers are already red anyway, and rice isn't working, I recommend it:
1) Remove battery, SIM card, SD card
2) Submerge in a bowl of distilled water and gently agitate. This helps clean the insides. Distilled water (not spring water) does not conduct electricity.
3) Next, submerge in a bowl of high-quality rubbing alcohol (~95% pure) and gently agitate. Rubbing alcohol displaces water, removes corrosion, and evaporates quickly. (It's also flammable, so have good ventilation and no open flames nearby)
4) Leave it out to dry for two days or until it no longer smells of alcohol.
BTW I wouldn't dry it too close to a radiator, the heat may damage it.

jatkins09 said:
If you've never taken apart a smart phone before, and reading your first question, I'm going to assume that's the case, then I strongly advise you not attempt it unless you are willing to either A) buy a replacement after you break it or B) invest time/money into repairing mistakes you've made. This phone is not as difficult to disassemble as some, but I wouldn't want to break that $150 amoled screen.
No, removing the screws will not simply get you to the mainboard. It's more complicated and nuanced than that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not really. Once the screws are removed..including the two hidden by the battery cover lock slider...you can carefully pry the cover apart using your fingernail to get to the the internals. I have done it several times and am no expert by any means. Just don't yank like you are opening a present on Christmas morning.
Although I am mystified by the op stating they have no access to rice?! That should always be the second thing one does after a moisture incident...right after pulling the battery and sim. I guess in this case a trip to the store with a couple bucks may have pushed that to step three though..
sent from my captivate disguised as an i9000 running cyanogen

[Q] wet my garmin asus m10

Hi devs,
i accidentlly wet my asus m10 on my way to somewhere.then i removed the battery and let the handset dry for long time(around 1 hour in the sun).then i inserted the battery and tried to turn it on. No luck
then i came home opened the phone completely and sucked the water out using vacuum..let the phone stay in a sealed box of rice overnight(to absorb any leftover moisture). in the morning i reassembled the phone and tried to turn it on. it gave 2 dashes of vibrations(normal, when turned ON) but nothing came up on the screen.
then i removed the battery and again tried to turn it on..nothing..not even the vibration..since then i've tried everything from alcohol baths to plugging in the charger but the phone doesn't turn ON..pls help guys.

I'm afraid that It will not come on anymore. I don't know if letting it dry in the sun for about an hour was long enough. The problem is, when you put back your battery to soon, it will most likely cause more damage.
With vacuum do you mean vacuum cleaner? You have to be very careful with vacuum cleaners and electronics because of ESD (ElectroStatic Discharge). This can do serious harm to your product when it contains sensitive components. I've seen some strange behavior because of ESD in the past.
When you try to connect your phone to a computer, is it recognized? What can be, is that your software is corrupt. Maybe you can try to flash you phone. I don't have any experience with flashing phones, but there are a lot of people around here who have.

yes i used a vacuum cleaner..had no idea about the ESD thing
even when the phone is connected to a computer it is not recognized...there's no sign of any device connected to PC.

Putting in the battery after 1 hour in the sun was some what worst case scenario.
It hasn't really dried at all because of the enclosed space and the heat of the sun just evaporated the water into even more little corners.
In water damage cases the best thing you can do it rip out the battery as soon as possible and leave it for some DAYS in a bowl of rice.

The danger from vacuum cleaners is not the magnetic field from the motor but the electrostatic discharge from the moving air.another issue with the vacuum cleaners is the possibility of scratching the motherboard and thus rendering it nonoperative. This is more likely with metal than plastic but still a risk with plastic as well.

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?
Click to expand...
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.
Click to expand...
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.

Light and proximity sensors are not visible (Samsung)

Hi,
My customer brought to me a Samsung A40 after water damage. After cleaning up and replacing the screen to the original one everything looked great until the first call. It appeared that both the light sensor and the proximity one are not even visible under *#0*# menu. I can easily bypass that by switching the power off button to end the call but since then the smartphone also doesn't turn off the screen :/
I've set to turn off the screen after 15s, udpated the software, performed wipe cache and full factory reset. None of them had worked. Screen if not manually locked remains ON all the time. Can it be connected somehow to the damaged sensors? During the call screen is still blinking.
I would be gratefull for any tip in this case.
I can even root the device to just get rid of that "not turning off of the screen". Is there some app maybe to force screen lock after some time of not active?
BR

Check for moisture and/or corrosion on the ribbon cable connectors.
Water damage is unpredictable especially if the battery is not pull immediately.
The best thing to do is flush liberally with anhydrous isopropyl alcohol* and completely dry.
Salt water is always lethal... eventually.
*isopropyl or any solvent will poison LCDs, never use it near them. Use best judgment otherwise.

blackhawk said:
Check for moisture and/or corrosion on the ribbon cable connectors.
Water damage is unpredictable especially if the battery is not pull immediately.
The best thing to do is flush liberally with anhydrous isopropyl alcohol* and completely dry.
Salt water is always lethal... eventually.
*isopropyl or any solvent will poison LCDs, never use it near them. Use best judgment otherwise.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply. I've already put the phone apart and cleaned every single pcb, connectors, cables with isopropyl in ultrasonic wash and manually with toothbrush. Left it to complete dry for about 48 hours and put it back together. Before that the phone was completely dead. Now everything is working except those 2 sensors. I don't have any datasheet to this mainboard so i don't even know what else can I measure.
Whole thing happened like 2 months ago and the customer just tried to manually lock the screen but its not always possible and he noticed that his battery is drawing pretty fast due to screen on. On the current stage I'm just looking for some workaround to force the screen sleep and remains until power button pressed.

What is funny. The screen goes to sleep after 15s when connected to charger and locks after 1 minute just like I've set in the settings...
When it is inpluged from charger screen remains awake all the time :/ Maybe that's some clue for anyone?
More tests: light sensor seems to be working correctly. It adjust brightness when covered and uncovered despite the fact that it is not visible under "sensors" in "*#0*#" menu Proximity sensor still doesn't work. When calling someone screen remains black and just flashes from time to time...
But the main problem is still with those screen always awake. It is only going to sleep when connected to PC or charger :/ No moisture visible anywhere. I've found a post with the same problem but there was visible that phone was detecting periodically USB connection when it was unplugged. In my case Samsung is not noticing anything on tray etc. It just remains awake until pressed power button or connected to charger
I will try to replace USB charging PCB and give You the feedback

Maybe contacts on a BGA chipset corroded and shorted out a logic circuit pathway.
If it's under a chipset... game over, however it may on be an accessible area. Optical aid and good light.
It's also possible the water shorted out something enough to damage a chipset.

Replacing the USB PCB did the job. Everything works correctly, screen is going to sleep. Moreover the proximity sensor has started to work correctly
We may close this topic.

For the record, you can use *#77692# for the light sensor and proximity sensor if they don't show up in *#0*#.

Water Intrusion Recovery

Howdy. I've got a TMo S10e that suffered water intrusion through the SIM slot (failed seal). The phone initially reported that the sd card was removed unsafely, and then mobile data went. I hadn't realized it was water intrusion at that time, as the phone's been really solid all these years. I attempted to reboot to resolve the issues and the phone entered safe mode. Following the on screen instructions I restarted to get out of safe mode. That's when the boot looping started. The phone will start, full screen is visible, safe mode label is visible in the lower left of the screen. After approx 5 seconds the phone will reboot and enter safe mode again, only to repeat the process until the battery is drained. When the battery was initially drained I removed the SIM tray and found the intrusion. Into a bag of rice it went.
After 24 hours in a bag of rice visible condensation (camera lenses, etc) is gone. I attempted to give it a minimal charge to start the phone and on powering up the same boot loop is present. In the 5 seconds before the forced reboot I'm able to swipe up to unlock and enter one digit. I'm guessing that this is moisture in a button or a button contact has been eroded. I'm crossing my fingers that it's not memory corruption. Google backup and SMS Backup had both been failing for months silently, and there is some misc data I'd like to recover that wasn't saved to the removable sd card.
Holding volume down and power should have booted me into recovery I though, but I'm presented with a screen that endlessly prints "SD Card selected by key input" to the screen.
I've done a lot of custom OS installs in years past and while it's been a minute, I've dabbled with adb. I'm hoping that it'll eventually dry out and allow me access, but I'm not holding my breath. Are there any methods that are available to extract data from this phone in this condition?

Rice doesn't work!
Power it down and leave it off.
Remove rear cover and disconnect the battery asap. Powered buses accelerate corrosion, a lot.
Put in adry warm to hot room on it's side with a strong fan on it for at least 48 hours. More is better.
Anhydrous isopropyl alcohol can be used, carefully, to absorb water. Don't get it in the cams or between the display/glass. Drain it away immediately then dry as above.

Rice did manage to get a fair chunk of the water, but it definitely didn't get it all. All the shops were closed until Monday late morning so it was worth a shot.
Took it to a local shop with a good reputation. They identified the buttons as the issue with safe mode, opened it up and dried out what remained of the water inside and left it open overnight. New buttons were installed the next day and it exited safe mode, connected to wifi and I was able to initiate a backup for the data I couldn't get at via ADB.

blackhawk said:
Rice doesn't work!
Power it down and leave it off.
Remove rear cover and disconnect the battery asap. Powered buses accelerate corrosion, a lot.
Put in adry warm to hot room on it's side with a strong fan on it for at least 48 hours. More is better.
Anhydrous isopropyl alcohol can be used, carefully, to absorb water. Don't get it in the cams or between the display/glass. Drain it away immediately then dry as above.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Desiccants actually work pretty well, that's the whole idea with the "bag of rice" thing. However, rice can be pretty dusty, which is why I always recommend silica beads instead. Silica rescue packs are available on Amazon.

V0latyle said:
Desiccants actually work pretty well, that's the whole idea with the "bag of rice" thing. However, rice can be pretty dusty, which is why I always recommend silica beads instead. Silica rescue packs are available on Amazon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The phone needs to be opened up and the battery disconnected asap.
Passive air circulation is ineffective. Forced warm/hot air is needed. Heat effectively displaces water. The longer it takes to dry, the more corrosion damage. BGA chipsets and the power controller circuit are particularly susceptible. BGA contacts are inaccessible. Ribbon cables may need to be removed; their contacts can also be damaged especially if under power.
I provided the best shot to resolving this problem. Water damage is insidious and the device may fail eventually even if promptly dried. Time is of the essence; sooner is better. Best to pull the battery within minutes of water exposure and start the drying process. AMOLED's will be destroyed if exposed to water vapor.
Anhydrous isopropyl alcohol carries risks like leaving a residue on the display glass but removes water instantly. Never use methanol alcohol.
Never use isopropyl alcohol or any solvents around LCD displays, it will poison and destroy them.