Develop Bugs

BA connector fell off and I replaced it

50.000 plus km of motorcycle navigating (using Navigon) - so of that in hard rain with the BA "slightly" unprotected ....
So it doesn't like rain or vibration ...
Besides losing the two screws visible on the left and right top edges of the phone, another problem cropped up.
On a recent 6 hour ride, the main connector suddenly became intermittent. I have always hated that connector and I believe it's one of the weaker points on an otherwise less than quality device -but I digress.
I know how quickly the battery will empty using BT and the backlight all the time so I tried to jiggle the cable to get it to work while I was driving. It was not possible, and to add insult to injury, the intermittent connection kept interrupting the MP3s playing and would sometimes cause the SD card to crash, requiring a hard reset. Ugh.
In the hotel I was able to rig the connector so that the device would charge and the next day while at work I figured the device was toast anyway so I took a look inside.
4 screws out from under the battery compartment, and another three screws to get the mainboard loose enough so I could see the connection.
I found the connector so loose that with the slightest touch it fell out in my hands.
Apparently, all of the solder joints had been loosened by the rainwater.
I think this should be a caveat here for all devices left in the rain. I understand that rain water or distilled water is very "agressive". You may be able to get your device to work again. For a while.
I don't think toilet water or moisture from tap water is as bad.
- but again I digress.
Before I went any further, I went out and got an O² XDA-III. HAving safely restored my ability to communicate, I proceeded with the fiddeling.
I was actually able to get the connector resoldered onto the board using a 25+ (pre SMD) year old soldering iron. I actually don't believe it myself but it still works.
I was also able to correct an annoying rattle the phone had almost since I bought it.
The telephone antenna is a raised plastic piece on the back of the board. That raised piece forms a box in which one of the screws for the board onto the frame was "stored". Don't know how it got there but I guess the production people at HTC should listen up.
Well I thought it was fun. anyway.

Accidentaly put rhodium in washer, can it be saved?

I accidentaly put my rhodium in the washing machine (forgot to check my jeans pockets) and it was in there for a few minutes.
When I noticed I took out the battery, SD card and sim card and dryed everything with a towel. I then put it in a bowl of rice for day (read that tip online somewhere) to drain out any excess moisture.
It seems to be completely dry now from the outside, although I can't say for sure about the insides. It still won't turn on.
Any ideas? or is my brand new Rhodium dead?

you get points for positive thinking.
sorry to say, but your toy has had it.

woeds said:
Any ideas? or is my brand new Rhodium dead?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds to me like you need to make use of that insurance policy that you sensibly bought for your TP2.

I read somewhere on xda forum that sometimes wet devices would turn on after a couple of days...
If you're not in a hurry, maybe wait some time... but don't hope too much

Wow! got to be more careful next time. This is a very expensive phone. Got to take real good care of it.... "Handle with care"
I guess wait at least 72 hours before turning it on back again and not before that.... else will be RIP.
btw, if your phone is "ON" while in the washer...forget about, get a new one.

One thing to try, sometimes batteries will self destruct and save the phone. Get a replacement and see if it powers up, I know that worked with one I took into the pool a couple years ago.

A hiardryer on very low heat setting normally works quite well for removing moisture

Damn, that's a bummer...
I'd try someone elses battery, but wouldn't expect miracles to happen...

how you didnt know is beyond me! i hope you get it sorted and take more care next time i dont believe it

White rice trick
Here is a trick, take out the battery and put the phone in a bag of white rice. Make sure it's completely covered with rice!. Leave it there for at least 72 hours.
This trick worked on my wife's iPhone. It was revived after being completely dead for 3 days.
Hope it helps.

dam man! thats bad luck!
i hope you use a top brand softener with it other than that it would be sacrilege
one of my phone fell in the toilet once, i removed the battery and took it apart and the washed it with alcohol [not the drinking type] after a day drying it worked just fine.

some phones will work without the battery if connected to the charger. You could try that to see if it's the battery. If you're willing to take it apart there's a spray technicians use to remove all moisture. I've been told never to apply hear (so if you use a hairdryer use one with a cold setting), and yeah, just wait, make sure it's gotten rid of ALL the moisture, and hope for the best. If all the moisture isn't gone, you could short circuit it by trying to turn it on.

My charmer fell into the toilet one evening when I was very drunk. It went of immediately but being too drunk I took it home and left it as it was. The next morning I gave it the hairdryer treatment but it still didnt power up. I threw the phone under my bed and left it for dead. About 4 nights later I woke up at night and I saw 'the light' from under my bed, on closer look my charmer was miraculously switched on. I tried to charge it but it just showed a red light. Later that day I tried again and it started to charge.
The phone went on to serve me without any problems for about 6 more months and I eventually sold it for £80.
Moral of the story; You could get lucky (fingers crossed)

The water itself does not cause the short circuiting. You need purified water to cleans it from the salt and other particles that cause the short circuit.

Yes, water itself is not conductive. Everytime we see someone get electrocuted in the movies thanks to a mixture of water and electricity it's because of the electrolytes. But considering that almost no one has truly pure water running through their washer etc, I just simplified. But the reason why you shouldn't apply heat is due to the catalyst factor of heat. Water and metal don't mix (rust, oxidization), and applying heat can accelerate that process. The end of the story is to get it truly dry, don't apply heat, and keep your fingers, toes, and eyes crossed.

solsearch said:
Yes, water itself is not conductive. Everytime we see someone get electrocuted in the movies thanks to a mixture of water and electricity it's because of the electrolytes. But considering that almost no one has truly pure water running through their washer etc, I just simplified. But the reason why you shouldn't apply heat is due to the catalyst factor of heat. Water and metal don't mix (rust, oxidization), and applying heat can accelerate that process. The end of the story is to get it truly dry, don't apply heat, and keep your fingers, toes, and eyes crossed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is true. While it is possible to safe an electronic device after a soaking for a while, once it has been doused in water, unfortunately, its lifespan is already shortened. If you get it working again, it might last a few months, or even a year. But eventually, corrosion WILL claim it. It might be possible to open it up, and clean every contact, every piece of solder, copper or electronic pathway. If you do that, then maybe you can keep it from corroding.
My roommate lost his phone during winter. Come to find out, he had dropped it in the snow When it melted he found it. It was dead for a few days till it dried out. Then it worked again for about 5-6 months then finally died completely due to corrosion.
Good luck.

Saved about 10 different phones, some multiply times and many other electronic devices, from pools, ocean, garden hoses, sprinklers.
Most important thing is to remove the battery, IMMEDIATELY. We are talking seconds the better, don't think, rip it out. The battery will power up the short circuits and cause the damage. Leaving the battery in for only a minute may be enough time to fcuk something.
Ok preparing
Disassemble the phone as much as possible, the more the quicker it will dry. If the water was salty or dirty , wash them under the tap trying to get into everything.( I am serious)
To dry(cook
Test you oven temp is accurate from 40c to 50c with temperature probe. Set temperature to 40c to be safe, 50c if your in a hurry, 45c would be safe, but it's an oven it may randomly jump up 10c??? hence 40 is safe. Around 50-60 some plastics start to deform, ( this I have learnt first hand).
OK spread the parts out on clean metal is best or ceramic plate/s and place the plates in the oven.
Drying time. Depends on the parts and how big they are and if water could be trapped in them.
Bare, open parts, no touching surfaces, keyboards can be pricks. 2-4hours at 50-40c.
Touching parts but nothing complex, i.e. no water stuck between the keyboard parts. 6-9 hours.
Whole phone 1-2 days.

Thanks for all the tips guys. It's still drying out now in a big bowl of rice. I'm going to try to turn it on again tomorrow. A friend of mine has one too, so if it fails to work I'm going to try his battery to see if that's the problem.
I'm using my N95 now, and it sucks :/

Use DISTILLED water to rinse it out, NOT tap water

IT'S ALIVE!
There is water behind the screen though (or between the casing and the screen). Do you think that'll just dry out over time, or do I need to take it apart to wipe it off?

Wet TP2: My experience

My Touch Pro 2 is currently sitting in a bowl of rice while I gather the courage to install the battery and test my methods of drying it out.
Yesterday, my sister walked into the swimming pool with the phone in her back pocket. It only took her a second to realize her error and thankfully I was right there. I popped the battery out without turning on the screen and layed the seperate parts out in the sun for a few hours. When I got home, I dumped the phone into a bowl and filled it with rice in the hopes that the rice would absorb any excess moisture.
This morning, I broke out my tools and broke the phone down, looking for water damage. I found some residual water under the screen, but with so many layers of plastic, I would rather not take it completely apart. To help with this little bit, I placed the phone screen up on the dash of my car for 1 hour. Since sunlight is deadly to a phone, I didn't dare leave it longer.
We have a central heating and air unit outside, so I placed the phone atop the unit outside (it blows warm air from the top) for another hour.
I checked the screen for moisture and can't see any now, but with all of the various layers, it is hard to say for certain.
The last thing I will try is to hook up a universal air pump used for blowing up air mattresses and such to the bowl of rice. With a cover on top and a few vents on the side, I am hoping to blow dry air in and the last remaining moisture out.
If anyone has any other tips or tricks to add, I would be happy to give 'em a shot. I am in no hurry and a few days is worth the wait if it means the chances of the phone recovering are greater with other methods.

If you can create a vacuum (use duct-tape creatively to form a seal between the container* and the universal blower, and have the suction end of the blower making the connection) that would probably be best. Water between button contacts and on the circut board, in my past experience, has been the most lingering after-water problems.
When my blackjack ii took a dive in the doggy dish, it was about a week before it was completely dry, as evidenced by the lack of odd behaviour from the power button. I considered myself pretty lucky in that one. Good luck.
*The best you can probably do for a vacuum container would be to use a good-quality plastic baggy. Cut the zip-lock part off, insert the phone and a folded piece of cardboard to keep the bag from completely colapsing/getting-sucked-up, and duct tape it to the suction end of the universal blower, or even better, the suction end of a cleaned electric leaf blower. -Just a thought.

Update
After allowing the phone to spend yet another night in the bowl of rice (I decided against introducing forced air out of laziness), I plugged the battery back in and tried to boot it up.
The phone did not respond, at all.
I plugged the phone in via the official charger and noticed a momentary blip of the orange LED near the speaker. This seemed familiar, so I pulled the battery out and tried plugging the charger in again: Sure enough, I got the exact same response. The battery was either dead or the phone wasn't recognizing it.
The replacement phone came in Tuesday, but with some medical emergencies in the family, I didn't attempt anything until this evening. I removed the new, charged battery from the replacement phone and put it in the one I have been working on.
Voila! The phone booted straight up with the new battery!
I noticed some residual damage to the dispersal plastic behind the screen as the phone booted with a white background, but once the phone booted completely up, I couldn't see any difference from before the accident.
While I haven't been able to completely test every aspect of the phone, I plan to update this thread once the new battery (buy dot com, ftw!) comes in on Monday.
I am very pleased with the results and it was definitely worth the time and effort I put into the drying process.
If anyone stumbles upon this tiny thread, please keep in mind a few things:
The phone was only briefly immersed in water for about 30 seconds, inside a pocket
After removing the phone from the water, I pulled the battery before turning on the screen
I allowed the phone to dry over the course of five days
I consider the fact that the phone is now working to be a freak coincidence, results are not typical

a friend of mine had his immersed in water for about 3 min before he realized he had it in his pocket....since we are airplane mechanics, we deal with A/C alot, therefore we have a vacuum pump handy for evacuating A/C systems. He put his phone (dunno what kind, it was touch screen though) in to a vacuum chamber ( a glass jar with a hole tapped in the cap to allow for vacuum to be pulled) and pulled a vacuum on it for a day...it is still working and it was 2 months ago. So just an idea, i realize the equipment is not available to everyone, but it worked for him.

planedoc said:
a friend of mine had his immersed in water for about 3 min before he realized he had it in his pocket....since we are airplane mechanics, we deal with A/C alot, therefore we have a vacuum pump handy for evacuating A/C systems. He put his phone (dunno what kind, it was touch screen though) in to a vacuum chamber ( a glass jar with a hole tapped in the cap to allow for vacuum to be pulled) and pulled a vacuum on it for a day...it is still working and it was 2 months ago. So just an idea, i realize the equipment is not available to everyone, but it worked for him.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is interesting!
Chemistry suggests that reducing the air pressure to a near vacuum would reduce the temperature needed for the water to evaporate, allowing it to do so at a highly increased rate... but keeping the phone inside an air-tight (and thus water-tight) container would actually prevent the water from escaping.
What am I missing here?

Snarksneeze said:
This is interesting!
Chemistry suggests that reducing the air pressure to a near vacuum would reduce the temperature needed for the water to evaporate, allowing it to do so at a highly increased rate... but keeping the phone inside an air-tight (and thus water-tight) container would actually prevent the water from escaping.
What am I missing here?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The vacuum pump has a way of letting the vapor out of it in the process of pulling the vacuum...you can see the vapor as it escapes from the vacuum pump and by the time you reach 29.92 or close, you usually never get a perfect vacuum, but close....moisture is mostly gone....let it set, with a set of guages of course (forgot to mention that) monitor the vacuum, anytime it goes below 28-29 or so, turn the pump on again to remove the moisture....untill it holds for several hours making sure its all gone...a little overkill never hurts with these expensive devices.

Possibly broken defy (from water damage!)

I might have the first defy dead from water damage from what I can find. My defy recently underwent repair for an earpiece problem, where they replaced the entire motherboard, but not the front panel, which was what they did the first time. my defy took a light, probably 10 second dip into a pool, but it ended up taking in alot of moisture from what I can tell.
I removed the battery. I tried shaking out as much water as I could, with a sort of rapid pendulum motion. The water marker on the back of the phone was and still is white. when attempting to boot the phone up (I know, my mistake), I could see water/moisture behind the glass. I removed the battery again and let it sit in some rice in a sealed ziplock bag. Moisture looked gone. The phone just booted to the M logo, and the indicator leds turned on. After a while the screen went black and I think it displayed a red led. I tried lightly blow drying it on low heat to maybe try get more moisture out and then put it back in the bag.
Now, im wondering if my defy is dead. After the quick dip in the pool, the phone still worked and showed no signs of water damage. just dried it off, and stuck it down on a table. When I came back, the phone was off. I thought nothing much of it, and tried rebooting it. this was the first time I saw the phone display the motorola as well as a bunch of leds. After my first drying attempt, it booted back up normal and the phone was functioning 100%, but i still saw moisture behind the screen, so i took the battery out.
Im not sure if my defy is salvageable. the moisture indicator is still white, but im sure there are other signs of moisture inside the phone if I tried sending it off for repair. Im going to try leave it in rice for another day or two, try to get it booted then. If not, I might have the first water damaged defy

Wait for some days or else open up the screws if you are confident with it and dont damage anything just explore something and u will find it out...........BE CONFIDENT
Check whether it boots into recovery

Wont opening the screws void the warranty? I mean, the moisture indicator is still white. I still have the send it in to motorola option.

If your warranty is ok.then go to moto service center or wait for some days till it gets dried...........Water in your screen wont dry up until u clean

If it is still operable, then its ok. Try silica gel instead of rice. Leave it room temp
Sent from my MB525 using XDA App

Boot IC broken because of water damage!!!!....I lost my defy!!...Its seems it l cost around 3500rs for it to fix that!!

[Q] Drowned Desire :(

Hello,
I accidentally jumped into the water with my desire in my pocket.. I realized it soon so it was underwater just for a few seconds.. It turned itself off straight away.. I quickly took out battery, sim and sd card and let it dry up for about 40 hours. Now I tried to put it together and turn it on but nothing has happened, it seemed dead.. Then I tried to charge the phone, and it managed to turn on right after I plugged it in. Fortunately everything seems to work so far but one thing.. As soon as I unplug it from the charger, it turns off.. The battery is almost fully charged so I suspect I'll need a new one.. Is there something that can be done to save this battery?
btw, it was a normal lake outside, not see or thermal water..
Thanks for every answer in advance,
Adeon

HTC Desire with water
Mate
First thing you should not do, would be to charge your HTC,
as it was full of water inside and therefore you can damage
main board, the heart of your phone.
Now, follow the article included, dismantle your HTC as in
the article, dry everything with a hairdryer and be carefull
with flat cables or with board components.
In both boards carefully remove the small metal covers,
as it can retain water inside, you also use a tooth brush
to clean those areas, but again carefull with components.
Leave digitizer in place and remove display, with hair dryer
try to dry as much water as you can, otherwise, later you
will see spots when display is working.
Try it out and then let me know results.
Regards
John