Develop Bugs

i just dropped my tilt 2 in water...

yea i can't believe it happened... my question is i have flashed a cooked ROM before and all and now i am running spb mobile shell with a custom theme from mobilecustoms.... i do have a warranty on my phone... do you think i can get away with replacing my phone?? i notice that my sleep/wake button does not work and the vibration feeling is very low... so do i need to flash to a the stock ROM? can i leave it the way it is and bring it to them? does insurance even cover water damage??? any help is MUCH APPRECIATED. thanks!

Take the battery out. Put the battery and the phone in a bag of rice for 2 days. After that the phone should work fine. My wife did this with her Blackberry and it worked fine after a couple days.
Typically insurance doesn't cover "water" damage as they can tell you did it. On the battery and on the inside of the phone there are 2 stickers than turn red when they get wet. So once you take it in and ask, they will crack open the phone. Never hurts to ask though.

drhuggybear said:
Take the battery out. Put the battery and the phone in a bag of rice for 2 days. After that the phone should work fine. My wife did this with her Blackberry and it worked fine after a couple days.
Typically insurance doesn't cover "water" damage as they can tell you did it. On the battery and on the inside of the phone there are 2 stickers than turn red when they get wet. So once you take it in and ask, they will crack open the phone. Never hurts to ask though.
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really rice? lol. ahhh i dont have any rice at the moment lol. ive been meaning to buy some as well... anyways yea the stickers i noticed that.... but if i were to bring it in and they saw how my phone was modded but using spb mobile shell, does that void the warranty?

toawkanavngthded said:
yea i can't believe it happened... my question is i have flashed a cooked ROM before and all and now i am running spb mobile shell with a custom theme from mobilecustoms.... i do have a warranty on my phone... do you think i can get away with replacing my phone?? i notice that my sleep/wake button does not work and the vibration feeling is very low... so do i need to flash to a the stock ROM? can i leave it the way it is and bring it to them? does insurance even cover water damage??? any help is MUCH APPRECIATED. thanks!
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Click to collapse
Shame to hear about your Rhodium
Covering it with rice is a common practice to absorb the humidity
I don´t remember where but I´m sure in general section I read a thread regarding solving water probs.
Hope you can save it
And don´t forget to vote!

Are you sure insurance doesnt cover water damage? I thought warranty didnt, but insurance covers from what I know any incidents. U might want to double check that. And as for SPB Mobile shell no they wont care about that.
And if the rice idea doesnt work, then take the phone and put it under direct sunlight for 4 hours with the screen facing down and no battery or battery cover. If you are in winter where you live, then do not put it outside, but keep in a warm room with direct sunlight shining thru for about 4 hours. My Ex's daugther did the same with her pantec and the rice didnt work, but my idea did

orb3000 said:
Shame to hear about your Rhodium
Covering it with rice is a common practice to absorb the humidity
I don´t remember where but I´m sure in general section I read a thread regarding solving water probs.
Hope you can save it
And don´t forget to vote!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks! the sleep/wake button comes and goes... other than that it seems like its still working good.... . ill see what happens though... i wanna see if my insurances covers it....
AngelDeath said:
Are you sure insurance doesnt cover water damage? I thought warranty didnt, but insurance covers from what I know any incidents. U might want to double check that. And as for SPB Mobile shell no they wont care about that.
And if the rice idea doesnt work, then take the phone and put it under direct sunlight for 4 hours with the screen facing down and no battery or battery cover. If you are in winter where you live, then do not put it outside, but keep in a warm room with direct sunlight shining thru for about 4 hours. My Ex's daugther did the same with her pantec and the rice didnt work, but my idea did
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Click to collapse
u made a good point... now that i think about it i think ur right about the warranty and insurance. even if i have a modded theme from spb mobile shell? if so that would be great! but i hard spl my phone from before... is there a way of them finding out? do i need to do the whole rice thing or place phone in direct sunlight??? that sounds a good idea . should i call a rep or just go to the at&t store?

Sunlight + Rice.
I dropped my old phone into water (completely immersed), but was workign after 2 days of drying.
As for the hacked shell, unless you modified you ROM (HardSPL?) you're OK.
Warranty does not cover water damage, but insurance should.

Rice seriously? LoL
Thats just a silly old myth.
As somebody who has opened up many phones before, I know for a fact that it's just a silly myth people believe in.
Think about it, is the rice going to magically suck the water out of the phone through the tightly sealed housing.
Rice is not going to do anything.
What you need to do is order is some torx screws off ebay and read a disassembly tutorial so that you can dry out your phone the proper way.
http://forum.smartphonejunkie.com/f498/touch-pro-2-basic-disassembly-pictures-56k-warning-192003/

I went snorkeling with my Touch Pro
When I took it back to the service, first thing they looked at is the stickers and told me its water damaged and that warranty is now gone. Firstly, I gave it lots of sunlight, then got a new battery, then opened the whole thing up. Yep, it took me a while but it was cool to have a look inside. What I found is that water did not really hurt it, but salt did. Using a cotton bud and pure alcohol I cleaned up all contact and solder points on PCB.
It works finenow, except the screen has visible marks, almost like dead pixels, where salt ate it away.

Rice seriously? LoL
Thats just a silly old myth.
As somebody who has opened up many phones before, I know for a fact that it's just a silly myth people believe in.
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Have you ever tried it? If you haven't then how can you be so condesending about it?
As someone who has done this and seen it work ... I believe in it. The phone was not opened. Was not put in direct sunlight but kept in a drawer in a ziploc baggie full of rice. 2 days later it powered on and ran for almost a year before we upgraded my wife to another device. I would bet that if I pulled it out of the drawer and charged the battery it would probably still work but who wants to use a blackberry
As with anything, your milage may vary but it worked fine for me.

kmx said:
Rice seriously? LoL
Thats just a silly old myth.
As somebody who has opened up many phones before, I know for a fact that it's just a silly myth people believe in.
Think about it, is the rice going to magically suck the water out of the phone through the tightly sealed housing.
Rice is not going to do anything.
What you need to do is order is some torx screws off ebay and read a disassembly tutorial so that you can dry out your phone the proper way.
http://forum.smartphonejunkie.com/f498/touch-pro-2-basic-disassembly-pictures-56k-warning-192003/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If the housing was really tightly sealed it wouldn't get enough water into it to break the thing. The rice trick won't work if it was anything othan than plain water, but it generally works well for water spills.

kmx said:
Rice seriously? LoL
Thats just a silly old myth.
As somebody who has opened up many phones before, I know for a fact that it's just a silly myth people believe in.
Think about it, is the rice going to magically suck the water out of the phone through the tightly sealed housing.
Rice is not going to do anything.
What you need to do is order is some torx screws off ebay and read a disassembly tutorial so that you can dry out your phone the proper way.
http://forum.smartphonejunkie.com/f498/touch-pro-2-basic-disassembly-pictures-56k-warning-192003/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, make sure you add spices, and brown rice for extra flavor.. Seriously, get a clue. It's a dessicant. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desiccant

The rice also helps speed up evapouration since it can absorb moisture in the air surrounding the device and it's readily available. You can use absorbing gel used by people like photographers instead if you want, but you can't cook and serve it with your meal afterwards (just kidding).
In fact, you don't need to use rice or any other material at all - take out the batt and leave it to air dry opened, but this can take over a week or two, even longer if the humidity is high.
PS. I read elsewhere an alternative to rice is to submerge it in alcohol, let the alcohol absorb the water then take it out and let the alcohol evapourate....

I also have to admit that it worked for me. The most important thing about water is to try and vacuum it up out of the phone. Hot air just forces it into places it may not have been. I then put it in a jar with rice for about a week. When all was said and done it worked fine. I may have worked anyways but I figured I had nothing to lose.

toawkanavngthded said:
thanks! the sleep/wake button comes and goes... other than that it seems like its still working good.... . ill see what happens though... i wanna see if my insurances covers it....
u made a good point... now that i think about it i think ur right about the warranty and insurance. even if i have a modded theme from spb mobile shell? if so that would be great! but i hard spl my phone from before... is there a way of them finding out? do i need to do the whole rice thing or place phone in direct sunlight??? that sounds a good idea . should i call a rep or just go to the at&t store?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont know about the hard spl, the SBP mobile shell is not tinkering with it, custom roms, or hard spl might, insurance I dont know, but if anything I would get a stock rom for your carrier, and if you do a search there is a spl reversal which can lock your phone back. And you dont put it under direct sunlight in the rice bag. If rice didnt work, then you put it under direct sunlight screen down in the open air.
As for person who said "mythical" rice. I beg to differ, as someone said it does absorb moisture that is in the air. Rice is not solid, its a grain which any science nut would know is poreous, which just like carbon can adsorb and absorb moisture in the air, hence putting a wet phone in a ziplock bag would indeed remove water and water vapors due to evaporation.
But also take something else into account, the rice idea only works for a certain amount of time, to the person who said they left it in the rice for a week, sorry the rice didnt get rid of the water, normal sequence of water drying did, you could have taken that same phone and left it on your kitchen counter that long and it would have worked just the same.
And as a side note. Salt works too, its just too fine to put a phone into it. And I never thought of the alcohol trick, maybe I'll try that with a phone I could careless about, til then not a chance.
Lastly, anyone who buys bagels by the dozen, if they give you a bakers dozen, get a salt bagel and leave it in the bag with the bagels, helps keep the rest of the bagels fresh
We now return you to our regularly scheduled program, already in progress LOL!

Don't cook the rice first!

thank you all for ur responses. the night i dropped my phone i just took out the battery and just wiped everything as dry as i can. i had to charge my phone that night and so i did it anyways... the next morning it charged fine and everything was working fine... that night my sleep/wake button started functioning correctly. the only problem i have is that my vibration isnt as strong but its ok. so i guess i got lucky? i have insurance so if anything starts acting up ill try my best to switch it.

If you have insurance (you pay monthly) then it is covered, but there is a $125 deductible I believe. If you do not have insurance and are referring to the 1-year warranty then no, water damage is not covered.

petard said:
If you have insurance (you pay monthly) then it is covered, but there is a $125 deductible I believe. If you do not have insurance and are referring to the 1-year warranty then no, water damage is not covered.
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My insurance paper says that the insurance co pay is 50 bucks. That being said, if you can go without your phone for a few days, pay the deductible and tell em that you LOST your phone. Asurion does cover the phone if it is lost.
PS. The rice does actually work. I didn't believe it myself, But I had to do that once on my Touch Pro 1 and two days later the phone was completely dry, and worked like a charm.

jmy72 said:
My insurance paper says that the insurance co pay is 50 bucks. That being said, if you can go without your phone for a few days, pay the deductible and tell em that you LOST your phone. Asurion does cover the phone if it is lost.
PS. The rice does actually work. I didn't believe it myself, But I had to do that once on my Touch Pro 1 and two days later the phone was completely dry, and worked like a charm.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lost phones are an $80 co-pay through asurion, not sure how the other insurance companies are.
*edit*
I've had an experience dropping my Treo 700wx in water. The screen was shot for a couple days (and you could see the receding water). After about 4 days it was working fine with just about everything but I still replaced the phone and the replacement refurbished phone was worse than the original. Basically water damage isn't too bad, just let it dry and don't use it for a couple days. It will shorten its lifespan, but it will still work. At the very least its better than getting a refurbished phone, because in my experience those seem to have more problems.

A terrible terrible thing happened this morning..

So this morning, still half asleep I dropped my TP2 into the toilet while it was on. I grabbed it out of the toilet, and removed the battery as fast as i could (while a string of expletives came out of my mouth), let it sit under a lightbulb for a few hours.. then put it in a bag of uncooked instant rice, and left it in my warm car for most of the afternoon.
I never have been a very patient person so after about 8 hours of drying off, i put the battery back in and tried it. Phone boots up fine, everything seemed to work.. could see some moisture on the inside of the lcd still. Seemed I got lucky.. till i tried the keyboard. Some keys don't do anything, some make random crazy strings of letters.. oy. Took the battery out again, and it's back under the light bulb (sick of cleaning rice dust out of my phone).
Anyway, i'm wondering if anybody's had a keyboard on a phone screw up like that and work properly after completely drying out? I've had a few computer keyboards that screwed up like that but worked fine after drying a few days so i really hope the keyboard comes back, especially with USED tp2s still going for over 200 bucks on ebay.. yikes. Touchscreen works fine, was able to send a text no problem using the stylus.. but man i miss the keyboard!
Sorry for the novel.. any input would be appreciated!

if you can, take it fully apart so you can dry the back of the keyboard directly
as you said, i've had PC keyboards that worked after drying, but i always had to take them apart to properly dry the innards

Urgh!
I feel for you! I sit in the bath and surf and read on my TP2 and I am so careful! But accidents can happen!
Was the toilet water, err, fresh? I would suggest always leaving things with the battery out and in a warm place for at least 24hrs, as tempting as it is to power it up.
The keyboard membrane may dry out over a few days, I would suggest you don't use it for a few days.
Let us know how you get on.

aerotec said:
Urgh!
I feel for you! I sit in the bath and surf and read on my TP2 and I am so careful! But accidents can happen!
Was the toilet water, err, fresh? I would suggest always leaving things with the battery out and in a warm place for at least 24hrs, as tempting as it is to power it up.
The keyboard membrane may dry out over a few days, I would suggest you don't use it for a few days.
Let us know how you get on.
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Unfortunately no, had a lil liquid waste in it.. i'm thinking about getting some rubbing alcohol to swish the phone around in.
to defaultdotxbe:
I would but i don't have the proper screwdriver, looks like a tiny little allen key type deal

meadams314 said:
Unfortunately no, had a lil liquid waste in it.. i'm thinking about getting some rubbing alcohol to swish the phone around in.
to defaultdotxbe:
I would but i don't have the proper screwdriver, looks like a tiny little allen key type deal
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rubbing alcohol isn't absolutely safe. It's only 70% alcohol, for one thing, and the rest is water. So you're actually putting more water INTO your phone when you use it, even though the alcohol helps it to evaporate faster.
I tried cleaning my old BlackBerry keyboard and trackball with rubbing acohol. The keyboard went nuts for a while. Eventually, after many days, it settled down, but now the trackball has a distinct tendency to bounce -- send two clicks instead of one, which is a drag when you click Delete and it instantly sends the Confirm click as well!
There's probably something better than alcohol, like ether, but I dunno where you'd get it.

meadams314 said:
Unfortunately no, had a lil liquid waste in it.. i'm thinking about getting some rubbing alcohol to swish the phone around in.
to defaultdotxbe:
I would but i don't have the proper screwdriver, looks like a tiny little allen key type deal
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
its a torx 5, i have this screwdriver: http://www.homedepot.com/Tools-Hard...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053
EWAdams said:
Rubbing alcohol isn't absolutely safe. It's only 70% alcohol, for one thing, and the rest is water. So you're actually putting more water INTO your phone when you use it, even though the alcohol helps it to evaporate faster.
I tried cleaning my old BlackBerry keyboard and trackball with rubbing acohol. The keyboard went nuts for a while. Eventually, after many days, it settled down, but now the trackball has a distinct tendency to bounce -- send two clicks instead of one, which is a drag when you click Delete and it instantly sends the Confirm click as well!
There's probably something better than alcohol, like ether, but I dunno where you'd get it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
most stores carry 91% alcohol too, and and some places will have 99%
although im always hesitant to put more liquid into the electronics, lol

Right.. i havent yet because it just doesnt feel right putting a 650 dollar piece of electronics into liquid. Heh.. Anyway, ran up to the local grocery store and all they carry is 50/50 alcohol/water. Leaning towards just letting the phone dry out now.. it has already been 14 hours since the dip in the toilet, and the water wasn't filthy just had a little pee in it (trust me, i stopped real quick when the phone hit the water, lol)
EDIT: So if it turns out the keyboard is shot, but the rest of the phone is fine.. is there any way of replacing the keyboard? I searched around online but all i could find was replacement lcd/faceplate/front keypads.. no keyboards.
Also.. unimportant but I thought it was kind of interesting, the water sensitive sticker on my battery is completely un-touched; looks good as new. However the one on the inside of the phone which couldnt be more than an inch away from the other sticker is completely washed out.
EDIT: (again lol) so on second thought.. the water in the 50/50 rubbing alcohol should be purified, correct? I'm really starting to worry about corrosion from the minerals in the toilet water and thinking it might be a good idea to wash it out with the rubbing alcohol. I've seen stories of people who left their phone underwater for long periods of time without a battery and once it dried out it was fine, one guy put a test phone under water for 3 days, then dried it out and it was fine. So that begs the question- take a risk on corrosion but let the phone dry out quicker OR get all the minerals/salts out of the phone but risk more water damage and deal with a longer drying time..

Note that Walmart sells 90% rubbing alcohol, and many pharmacies stock 99%.
(I don't have an opinion if washing your phone in this is a good or bad idea; just wanted to let you know where you can find it).

So after reading probably a couple hundred different "i dropped my phone in the toilet, ran it through the wash, or jumped in the pool with it in my pocket" stories and their outcomes...
Decided to put the phone back into a sealed container of uncooked rice (only because I couldn't find any silica gel) and leave it in a warm area overnight minus the battery. It'll have spent 30 hours drying in a desiccant come noon tomorrow so I'll fire it up and again and see what happens.
To condense everything I've read in the past 4 hours: Water + electricity +electronics = bad, remove the battery immediately (duh). Let it dry, do not turn it on (you'd be surprised how many people turn it on right after towel drying, and leave it on till it fries). Taking the phone apart and cleaning with alcohol and a q-tip seems to help, as does completely soaking the phone in alcohol; however I saw quite a few people who said their LCD quit working after the alcohol bath so I'd use it as a last resort only if even after extensive drying the phone still won't work (might as well give it a shot then, right?) ...just try to keep it away from the lcd.
Anyway, gonna try the TP2 around noon tommorow.. I'll let ya know how it goes.

this is horrible, its like my worst night mare, but i just recently switched to at&t and specifically didnt get the iPhone because i am a very strong windows mobile user lol, but anyway, im selling my tp2 that i had, almost perfect condition, but if i can get it apart, i would sell you the keyboard, i didn get a sale on ebay, but i dont think the guy is gonna pay ((, but ill keep in touch, i hope all goes well

thesyntax said:
this is horrible, its like my worst night mare, but i just recently switched to at&t and specifically didnt get the iPhone because i am a very strong windows mobile user lol, but anyway, im selling my tp2 that i had, almost perfect condition, but if i can get it apart, i would sell you the keyboard, i didn get a sale on ebay, but i dont think the guy is gonna pay ((, but ill keep in touch, i hope all goes well
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Click to collapse
Cool, I'll have to take you up on that if the keyboard doesn't return to normal. Coming up on 20 hours now it's been drying in rice at not quite 100 degrees.

Just checkin up on ya before I go to school. I'll be checkin the thread all day, im really interested to hear if you get it working again, if so, I think this post thread should stay in the archives as "Opps..."

Well it's been 30 hours.. crossing my fingers and powering it up...

Still some signs of moisture inside the lcd, but definately less than yesterday.. phone still boots up properly. Keyboard still doesnt work.. when i press the buttons i can hear water inside it. Thinking the rice doesn't work as well as silica gel would so today at work i'm gonna see if i cant find a few big packets of silica gel to let the phone sit in. Starting to get pretty impatient.. i need my phone!
Starting to seriously think about getting some 99/1 rubbing alcohol and dipping the keyboard in it for a few minutes too..

tempted to just put the battery back in and bring it to work with me.. can use the touchscreen no problem.. but ARGH dont wanna damage my phone!
Sigh.. guess it's going back in the rice and sitting in my car for another baking session I work till 10pm tonight, and go back at 6am tommorow so if the keyboard's still not working by the time i'm off tommorow i'm gonna run up to home depot, get a torx 5 and take the stupid thing apart to dry/clean it better.

Oh I wouldn't "dip" the phone into alcohol if I were you, that can only make the problem worse.. Best thing you can do is open the phone (if you have the appropriate screwdrivers) and try to make it dry with a hair dryer or something like that!
And yeah you should definately try the Silica gel!
Dude I feel so sorry for you, must be harsh to drop your phone into your own piss x'D

atticus182 said:
Oh I wouldn't "dip" the phone into alcohol if I were you, that can only make the problem worse.. Best thing you can do is open the phone (if you have the appropriate screwdrivers) and try to make it dry with a hair dryer or something like that!
And yeah you should definately try the Silica gel!
Dude I feel so sorry for you, must be harsh to drop your phone into your own piss x'D
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only problems i've seen caused by alcohol is with the lcd.. was thinking about dipping just the keyboard, but yeah.. thinking it might be better to get a torx 5 and take it apart.. water's been in there too long, dont want any corrosion.

meadams314 said:
So this morning, still half asleep I dropped my TP2 into the toilet while it was on. I grabbed it out of the toilet, and removed the battery as fast as i could (while a string of expletives came out of my mouth), let it sit under a lightbulb for a few hours.. then put it in a bag of uncooked instant rice, and left it in my warm car for most of the afternoon.
I never have been a very patient person so after about 8 hours of drying off, i put the battery back in and tried it. Phone boots up fine, everything seemed to work.. could see some moisture on the inside of the lcd still. Seemed I got lucky.. till i tried the keyboard. Some keys don't do anything, some make random crazy strings of letters.. oy. Took the battery out again, and it's back under the light bulb (sick of cleaning rice dust out of my phone).
Anyway, i'm wondering if anybody's had a keyboard on a phone screw up like that and work properly after completely drying out? I've had a few computer keyboards that screwed up like that but worked fine after drying a few days so i really hope the keyboard comes back, especially with USED tp2s still going for over 200 bucks on ebay.. yikes. Touchscreen works fine, was able to send a text no problem using the stylus.. but man i miss the keyboard!
Sorry for the novel.. any input would be appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Reminds me of the time my old Ericsson T28 went through an entire wash cycle. The battery was shot, but the phone worked fine once I got a new battery. That was a full 10 years ago, and phones were a bit tougher back then (though still not warranted to be cleaned that way)!
Good luck on the phone. I gather you don't have insurance on the TP2 through your carrier?
Also, if you are willing to extend your contract, you can get a new TP2 for under $200 with a two year extension.

da9th_one said:
why are you updating this tread every few minutes like it's a blog...???
never take you phone into a bathroom people...IT HAS 3 MAJOR WATER SOURCES...!!!
there are 3 places one should never take a phone: bathrooms, beaches, battlestar galactica...
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Click to collapse
Hehe there are actually 4 places, because you forgot Chuck Norris! Never take your phone to Chuck Norris, he will roundhouse kick it out of your hands, right back into the toilet xD..
And some other tips that might help the guy with the broken phone:
- Give time for the phone to dry. Don't experiment with putting the battery back on to see if it works as this would risk damaging the phone with a short circuit.
- Be patient and wait. Yes - be patient! Let nature have its way; just leave it in a warm place and let the water evaporate.
- Place it on top of the vent of a cable box, monitor or TV for at least 24 hours (up to 3 days). The low heat emitted is enough to gently dry out the phone.
- Do not under any circumstances heat the battery - it could leak or explode. Lithium-ion batteries are sensitive. If you use an oven or hairdryer, remove the battery first.
- If you use alcohol for the drying process, only do so to the outside, and do not apply heat in any way shape or form, not even the gentlest of heat. Do not connect the battery until the alcohol smell goes away
- And, if it's not stating the obvious, do not put the phone into the microwave. You will fry the components and probably ruin the microwave!

atticus182 said:
- And, if it's not stating the obvious, do not put the phone into the microwave. You will fry the components and probably ruin the microwave!
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Click to collapse
I was more worried about a toaster oven...

[Q] Screen dead spots after a dunk

I dunked my phone in water but rescued it quickly and dried it out. The phone mostly works except for two dead spots where the W and S keys are in portrait mode. (When I press each of these keys, they register either or both of the letters next to them on the keyboard.) I have the same problem whether using the stock or swype keyboard.
I will dry the phone out more, between uses to see if ridding the phone of any excess moisture helps.
Any ideas on the problem and solution?
I don't have TEP. Given that the phone is rooted and probably has wet damage indications, would Sprint repair the screen or digitizer if I paid the $35? The phone is five weeks old.
If not, would self-repair with a digitizer bought off the internet likely fix the problem? Or is the problem likely to be elsewhere upstream of the digitizer?
TIA

dynamicpda said:
I don't have TEP. Given that the phone is rooted and probably has wet damage indications, would Sprint repair the screen or digitizer if I paid the $35? The phone is five weeks old.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, they won't. Once it hits liquid, the store won't touch it at all.

entropism said:
No, they won't. Once it hits liquid, the store won't touch it at all.
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Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply. I dried it a few hours more with the dessicant and the problem seems to have fixed itself. We'll see if it stays fixed.

dynamicpda said:
Thanks for the reply. I dried it a few hours more with the dessicant and the problem seems to have fixed itself. We'll see if it stays fixed.
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Click to collapse
Yeah, these screens don't do too well with the least bit of water/moisture on them. As long as you dried it thoroughly you should be in the clear. Glad to hear it worked out

Taking a shower and streaming pandora not a good idea then?

Out of curiosity, where is the moisture indicator sticker on the Evo?

SolsticeZero said:
Out of curiosity, where is the moisture indicator sticker on the Evo?
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Click to collapse
There is a few of them that I know of. One is on the battery, another on the back under the battery cover and a third buried somewhere in the phone.

dynamicpda said:
Thanks for the reply. I dried it a few hours more with the dessicant and the problem seems to have fixed itself. We'll see if it stays fixed.
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Click to collapse
Usually, and I mean usually, these things are dried for a couple of days. With batteries pulled.
Get access to a real desiccator with something like Drierite, have them suck all the all air out with a water aspirator, and leave it in for a few hours.
That ought to do it.

I went Jet Skiing with my EVO a while back, and got it completely soaked. The phone went completely dead, so I took out the battery and let it dry. After drying in the sun for a while, I turned it on, and it was able to boot, but my entire screen was a different color with blotches of water marks. I tried drying it out in the sun some more, putting it in rice, you name it. Nothing worked, but it ended up fixing itself after a few days. The water marks just slowly went away, now it is completely back to normal. I hope its the same case with yours. My EVO has the OLED screen, not the Super LCD.

Has nobody here learned the "bag of rice" trick? Put a handful or two of dry rice into a ziplock bag. Take your battery out of your phone, leave the cover off and put all of it in the bag of rice. Leave it for 24 hours. It's worked for everyone I know almost every time.
Now, jetskiing with your phone might be a bit much, but it'll fix a phone dropped in a toilet and rescued fairly quickly.

The dead zone problem came back and now I have discovered it is a whole strip running up and down the length of the screen pass through the W and S keys in portrait mode; if I use the phone in landscape mode with the keyboard on that side, the whole lower strip of keys do not work. (The temp solution is the type in landscape on the other side.)
I drove to the market the moment it happened and got instant rice to dry it out in. Later I got Damp-Rid from Home Depot.
I haven't seen a real dessicator since chem lab back in college. I do have a food saver vacuum sealer.... if i could find the missing hose part I lost!
One other problem with the display is it being washed out and streaky (vertically) sometimes upon boot. This started happening BEFORE the dunk; I'm still seeing it from time to time. Rebooting once or twice usually fixes it.

Man I hope your phone recovers! Stories like this make me sad.
Sent from my Full Android using XDA App

nabbed said:
Usually, and I mean usually, these things are dried for a couple of days. With batteries pulled.
Get access to a real desiccator with something like Drierite, have them suck all the all air out with a water aspirator, and leave it in for a few hours.
That ought to do it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
nabbed, that's brilliant. i've been using Damp-Rid, your aspirator idea led me to use the Food Saver system to speed the drying proces. I stuck the phone and damp rid dessicant in a FS food container and sucked all the air out. I'll leave it overnight and see what happens.

LearnIIBurn said:
Man I hope your phone recovers! Stories like this make me sad.
Sent from my Full Android using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use to laugh at phone who dunked their phone until it happened to me, I understood. We love our phones too much; it's a constant part of our lives.
Boundaries must be drawn!

xHausx said:
There is a few of them that I know of. One is on the battery, another on the back under the battery cover and a third buried somewhere in the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I lost the official red battery. Been using replacements. And I didn't pay attention to the moisture indicators before the accident, so I don't know any color changes. I just see several red stickers on the red plastic inside the phone. The only obvious water indicator is a slightly opaque plastic chamber that seems to have a rubber gasket around it. It's located to the right of the camera. When the phone was wet you could see water sloshing inside. Now that the phone is largely dry, you can see a few small droplets. It doesn't seem to have another purpose other than to hold water.

That small chamber your talking about is the speaker. If you play music and put your finger over it, you'll lose almost all sound.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

Why dont you have insurance? You a retail $450 phone rooted and no insurance.

entropism said:
No, they won't. Once it hits liquid, the store won't touch it at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is only if you don't have TES.
Also, to buy a new screen it costs $100, even if you have TES or not. Sucks major balls.

letshaveDEX said:
That is only if you don't have TES.
Also, to buy a new screen it costs $100, even if you have TES or not. Sucks major balls.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you mean TEP, and no it is not $100 for a replacement screen. For a non liquid damaged phone it is Free with any ESRP or TEP on the account.
IF, any customer has not been paying the $4 for ESRP or the $7 for TEP the repair fee is $35 for screen repair with the option to add TEP after repair...but again...not for liquid damage. Liquid damage is something we do not repair around or for, we consider the phone Damaged Beyond repair and set you up with the # and website for Asurion insurance for the replacement.
The plans changed around 4 months back.

letshaveDEX said:
That is only if you don't have TES.
Also, to buy a new screen it costs $100, even if you have TES or not. Sucks major balls.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, let me clarify: Like I said before, if you have TEP or not, the STORE will not touch a liquid damaged phone. You can order a replacement phone through Asurion for $100 if you do have TEP, you're ****ed if you don't.

[Q] Dropped Epic in Toilet

Dropped it in toilet drunk, got it out. Noticibly slower, many things FC, some keys don't work.
Already have 2 insurance claims this year, can't get a replacement that way. How can they tell it's water damaged? I noticed a pink sticker thing on the battery, is this some sort of water damage indicator? I have a spare battery if thats the only thing that would alert the techs to this being my fault.
If I took it in with a different battery after odinging to stock would they just think it crapped out on me due to no responsibilty of my own?

That suck man.... here's a link about the water indicator's..... and I think the reps would look for corrosion over the indicators because if they get the phone before it rusts then they can dry it out correctly......
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1147570

Yeah, looks like I'll have to take it to them and play dumb, and if they mention the water damage and refer me to asurion who I don't think will do more than 2 claims in a year, I'll just pull the cancel card, bring up the 2 100 dollar rebates that I never got and get a nexus s for 250

this is the third time i've heard about the epic being dropped in water and it still worked(ish) freaking incredible! kudos samsung

I could be mistaken but I thought TEP allowed you more claims than just 2 a year, maybe quite a few more. Good luck.

xopher.hunter said:
this is the third time i've heard about the epic being dropped in water and it still worked(ish) freaking incredible! kudos samsung
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Me as well. Someone dropped theirs in a pot of Tomato Soup and it still worked. If you havent , let it dry without battery,back cover, also remove SD. You may get lucky and have a full functioning phone again. If that doesn't work, try saying you work construction and phone got damp from being in your pocket while working. My touchscreen broke and I took it to get repaired. At first the tech said I was screwed because of a hairline crack in the plastic around the screen. I explained that it failed before that. So, I was extra friendly. I started talking about upcoming phones,etc. Well, he ended up giving,me a new screen, keyboard, back cover. Only my motherboard was original. Paid nothing. If you don't have insurance, be cool and don't get upset. I bet $35 gets you a new whatever needs to be replaced...maybe some extras like I did
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA Premium App

I think it will dry out, it was running fine for a bit, all keys working, not going slow, then it started going slow and a few keys stopped working. Decided to just go ahead and get the nexus s, CM7, oh yeah...

"Three claims within any consecutive 12 months with a maximum replacement value of $1000 per claim" http://shop2.sprint.com/en/services/service_repair/phone_protection_services.shtml

Yeah, you do get three claims but I figured dry out and sell the epic if I get it working 100% keep a claim in case I drop the nexus, and enjoy cm7
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using XDA App

Ha. Dropped mine in the toilet 2 weeks ago. Seriously had it out of the water within 1.5 seconds. Left it in rice overnight. Worked on bootup the next day. But after about an hour it went kaputz. Had to use assurion.
Posted via Premium XDA app from my Samsung Epic 4G.

I sat this one in rice a few hours, then let it sit by a fan all day, reoodined stock ec05. Gonna give it a few days to make sure it still works fine and sell that bad boy.
I don't miss my hardware keyboard one bit.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using XDA App

My girl dropped her EVO in the toilet, dead. I dropped mine in a sink full of water, it actually sat there for about 3 full seconds until i reailzed what the splash was. Pulled it out, set it next to a little portable heater for a few hours and to my astonishment it still worked perfectly. Some water must have gotten in the screen as it is a little blury in a small spot but other than that I'm still using it like it's new. If you've ever taken one of these apart, it is easy to see how hard it would be for water to fully get inside the case.

Son spilled soda all over mine. I cleaned it up and dried out battery. That was 7 months ago and it works like a champ. I am getting a galaxy s 2 when they hit the u s.
Sent from my Epic on Midnight or my Galaxy Tab rooted (feels naked without a ROM)

Reading this thread laughing then yesterday I fu#$*!!! Dropped my sh!{+^!! On the ground. It didn't get a scratch. Anywhere. Not on the seido case. Not on the glass. So yea. That's. My. Story.
cake or pie?

Try the rice trick. I'm a service tech and see water damaged phones all the time. Truth be told, we'll replace it for you and not send you through Asurion if you're nice enough to us.

Try the rice trick. I'm a service tech and see water damaged phones all the time. Truth be told, we'll replace it for you and not send you through Asurion if you're nice enough to us.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's good to know thanks.
"The greatest respect you can earn is self respect" Louie Simmons

Just dropped mine into the toilet about an hour ago. when i finished getting over the idea that I, too, was now one of those people, i put down the litter box I was about to scoop and fished it out.
Next thing I did was rip the back off and dump the battery, idea being to avoid any shorts caused by water mixed with power on circuit board. It had been in there for like 3 seconds, maybe 4.
I knocked it about for a while to see how much water would pour out - not much! So I let in dry out for like 10 mins, knocked it out a bit again, then put the battery in. First thing I noticed was that it seemed to turn on BEFORE I pressed the power button, something I specifically noticed. Hmmm.
The rest seemed normal enough. I was crazy impressed! Even a small dunk in a toilet (clean, luckily) is not a drop in a shallow puddle.
However, a bit later I needed to boot into recovery, and I couldn't get the freakin' phone to shut off. I mean it would shut off but come right back on again. I was thinking, water drop in the power button or worse a permanent short.
When I took the back off I saw that the camera had moisture inside of it. I remembered when this happened to a telephoto lens of mine recently and I extended the lens all the way as I walked. The lens casing heated in the sun and the moisture came out through the uh, rings? of the fully-extended lens.
So imagining that if the water could get in, it could get out, I broke out the hairdryer. It's a small one I've used for putting that plastic stuff over windows in the winter. I put it on high and held it like 2 or 3 feet from the back of the phone (cover off) for a while, always moving it to avoid hot spots on the phone. After a min or 2 the moisture was gone. I spent another min waving the dryer over the power button.
Wallah! works perfectly. nice....

bilestoad said:
Just dropped mine into the toilet about an hour ago. when i finished getting over the idea that I, too, was now one of those people, i put down the litter box I was about to scoop and fished it out.
Next thing I did was rip the back off and dump the battery, idea being to avoid any shorts caused by water mixed with power on circuit board. It had been in there for like 3 seconds, maybe 4.
I knocked it about for a while to see how much water would pour out - not much! So I let in dry out for like 10 mins, knocked it out a bit again, then put the battery in. First thing I noticed was that it seemed to turn on BEFORE I pressed the power button, something I specifically noticed. Hmmm.
The rest seemed normal enough. I was crazy impressed! A small dunk in a toilet (clean, luckily) is not a drop in a shallow puddle.
However, a bit later I needed to boot into recovery, and I couldn't get the freakin' phone to shut off. I mean it would shut off but come right back on again. I was thinking, water drop in the power button or worse a permanent short.
I took the back off and while noticed the back camera had moisture inside of it. I remembered when this happened to a telephoto lens of mine recently and I extended the lens all the way as I walked. The lens casing heated in the sun and the moisture came out through the uh, rings? of the fully-extended lens.
So imagining that if the water could get in, it could get out, I broke out the hairdryer. It's a small one I've used for putting that plastic stuff over windows in the winter. I put it on high and held it like 2 or 3 feet from the back of the phone (cover off) for a while, always moving it to avoid hot spots on the phone. After a min or 2 the moisture was gone. I spent another min waving the dryer over the power button.
Wallah! works perfectly. nice....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If anything goes wrong I'm sorry to say it was because you rushed it all. You more than likely should have had it drying days not minutes and you never use a dryer. But, I'm knocking on wood, good luck!
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium

I suppose one has to know the rules before you can break them. I have some experience with electronics and circuit boards, and have a feel for how much heat I could safely apply to the thing. I tried to indicate this in the original message by writing that I kept the dryer a few feet away from the phone, that it is a small dryer, and that I always kept it in motion. Oh and that I performed this maneuver over a period of a few minutes.
If anything goes wrong I'm sorry to say it was because I dropped it into a toilet. The age old tried and true blow dryer method, when properly applied, wouldn't be a problem.

bilestoad said:
Just dropped mine into the toilet about an hour ago. when i finished getting over the idea that I, too, was now one of those people, i put down the litter box I was about to scoop and fished it out.
Next thing I did was rip the back off and dump the battery, idea being to avoid any shorts caused by water mixed with power on circuit board. It had been in there for like 3 seconds, maybe 4.
I knocked it about for a while to see how much water would pour out - not much! So I let in dry out for like 10 mins, knocked it out a bit again, then put the battery in. First thing I noticed was that it seemed to turn on BEFORE I pressed the power button, something I specifically noticed. Hmmm.
The rest seemed normal enough. I was crazy impressed! Even a small dunk in a toilet (clean, luckily) is not a drop in a shallow puddle.
However, a bit later I needed to boot into recovery, and I couldn't get the freakin' phone to shut off. I mean it would shut off but come right back on again. I was thinking, water drop in the power button or worse a permanent short.
When I took the back off I saw that the camera had moisture inside of it. I remembered when this happened to a telephoto lens of mine recently and I extended the lens all the way as I walked. The lens casing heated in the sun and the moisture came out through the uh, rings? of the fully-extended lens.
So imagining that if the water could get in, it could get out, I broke out the hairdryer. It's a small one I've used for putting that plastic stuff over windows in the winter. I put it on high and held it like 2 or 3 feet from the back of the phone (cover off) for a while, always moving it to avoid hot spots on the phone. After a min or 2 the moisture was gone. I spent another min waving the dryer over the power button.
Wallah! works perfectly. nice....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That there is a true success story lol. Good job man, glad to hear we didn't lose another phone to the evil toilet monster!
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA Premium App

Phone went for a swim...

Dropped my Evo in the lake over the weekend. It filled up with water and died immediately. I was able to take it all apart and blow it out with compressed air til it was all dried up. The phone now boots fully and everything appears to work (sending this from my Evo!) except for the camera. Neither front or back works and I don't have insurance so Sprint totally turned me away. Does this sound like an easy fix? The camera turns on but the picture is all fuzzy and I can't actually take a photo or video. I found replacements on eBay for around 20 bucks but don't know if that will fix it. Any thoughts?
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

it's possible that the compressed air messed up some of the solder on the MotherBoard... i don't know much about phones (mainly work on PC's) but if it's anything like a pc there is a motherboard and the solder could have been weak and the compressed air blew it right off...
or maybe there is still some moisture... if that is the case... i have heard of a couple of solutions... open the phone back up and submerge it in a bowl of rice. let it sit over night... put back together see if that works.
if not... i have heard that dipping it in a bowl of WD-40 and letting it dry over night works...
i have never tried the latter but have used the former once...
as far as replacing the camera itself... i wouldn't know sorry

Replacing the camera modules should be pretty easy. The rear camera module in particular sometimes has a tendency to come loose on its own, so it shouldn't be too much work to remove it. The front camera module should also be pretty easy, though you'd need to do more disassembly to take that out. I would look up the various teardowns of the evo that are available online for details on doing that.
As for whether it will fix your issue; you won't really know until you try. That's one of the things that kinda sucks about water damage, it's not going to do the same thing with every device, that's why in general people usually don't even bother trying to fix water damage and either live with the damage or get a replacement.

Best bet for a fix is to take out the battery and submerge the phone in distilled water and let it soak, slight aggitate the water.
That should remove any deposits on the board. The problem with normal water is it has all kinds of crap in it that get left behind if you just let it air dry.
Than take it out and stick it in a bag of uncooked rice to 3 days to dry it out.
Power on and test.

Bielinsk said:
Best bet for a fix is to take out the battery and submerge the phone in distilled water and let it soak, slight aggitate the water.
That should remove any deposits on the board. The problem with normal water is it has all kinds of crap in it that get left behind if you just let it air dry.
Than take it out and stick it in a bag of uncooked rice to 3 days to dry it out.
Power on and test.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not a bad idea, although it's kinda scary to try that! If you do, I would also get some of that computer duster air and dry it again gently. I used my wife's hairdryer on mine as well, and then the rice trick.
I wonder if electrical parts cleaner would work as well?

Replacing the camera modules are easy I did mine when I replaced my digitizer......bought this EVO for 20 bucks on Craigslist paid like 60 in parts not a bad deal
Sent From My "DECK'D out SAVAGE of an EVO" Using XDA Premium

Thanks for all the input guys, I really appreciate it! It now seems as though the camera is working properly, for now. If I start to have further issues, I will use your suggestions to try to fix. Thanks again! Looks like I may have really dodged a bullet here!