Lost my phone in water, put it rice, waited, now what?

juno1337

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Jun 30, 2013
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Hi,

Don't even ask me how because I'm too embarrassed, but basically, I left my s4 in fresh water for about 15 minutes before I noticed.

Once I did notice, I took it out, removed the battery, mini sd and sim, dried it a little before putting it in rice in a sealed container. I did the same with the battery.

After over 3 days I decided to give it a go as everything seemed dry. I put the battery in, turned on, and the screen flashed up, not with the usual samsung logo, but just with a battery icon. It lasted for just a few seconds, but from what I can recall, it looked kinda like when the battery is low - it was more or less fully charged before the accident. Then it turned off, and I didn't manage to turn on the phone again with a charger either. I also tried with charger and no battery, but I guess that usually doesn't work anyway.

The screen seemed undamaged pixel wise, but I didn't get a chance to try the touch screen.

Now I've put the phone back in the container (can't use it anyway) and as I don't know of anyone else with a s4, I've ordered a fairly cheap replacement battery to see if that's the main issue. Any ideas? Any chance it might work with a new battery?

Thanks
 

bosshaug12

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Jun 7, 2012
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It could work with the new battery but 15 minutes is quite a while for it to be under water. When water gets into a phone is causes all the components that had been touched by water to corrode and rust. Running electricity through the phone speeds up the process too, so don't do that anymore than you have to.

The best thing you can do while you wait on your new battery is go to a local CVS/Wal-Mart/etc and buy a cheap toothbrush, some isopropyl alcohol(highest concentrate you can find 99% is best but hard to find), and very small philips head screw driver.

Take the screws out of the phone and take the back off. Unplug everything very carefully because the corrosion on the metal contacts weakens the metal so they are more susceptible to breaking. Once you have everything unplugged remove the motherboard and all of the chip shrouds. Then put some alcohol on the toothbrush and gently scrub the entire motherboard clean. If you want you can pour alcohol all over the board and let it soak, that sometimes helps. Make sure to clean the plugs and connectors too.
Let everything dry, then reassemble, and test it out. It might work or it might not. If it doesn't work then there is little chance of ever repairing it.


But, if you dont want to do all that you can take it to a repair shop and see if they might try fixing it for you.


Good luck!
 

ibcop

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Damn, that sucks. Don't be embarrassed. I once ran my phone through the washer and needless to say all it needed was a new battery. But this was the Motorola Z9 from back in the day.

All you can do is try a new battery - if a new battery doesn't do the trick, I'm afraid you'll have a paper weight.

Good luck!
 

juno1337

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Jun 30, 2013
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Thanks for the tips and support!

I tried turning on the phone yesterday, just to check. Everything worked, apart from the antenna. Sound, touch, screen, everything seemed fine. I didn't get a chance to test the microphone, though.

I'm using my old HTC desire now, so I'm not really in a rush. I'm going to buy isopropyl alcohol and a toothbrush tomorrow. Since I'm not really in a rush, and I want to make things work, I think I might just use a brush and soak the board as well, and let it dry. (in rice?)

I guess I should pay special attention to the antenna, since this seems to be the main problem. I'm not sure where it's located, though - does anyone know?

Thanks again!
 

smooth4lyfe

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Sep 16, 2012
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It could work with the new battery but 15 minutes is quite a while for it to be under water. When water gets into a phone is causes all the components that had been touched by water to corrode and rust. Running electricity through the phone speeds up the process too, so don't do that anymore than you have to.

The best thing you can do while you wait on your new battery is go to a local CVS/Wal-Mart/etc and buy a cheap toothbrush, some isopropyl alcohol(highest concentrate you can find 99% is best but hard to find), and very small philips head screw driver.

Take the screws out of the phone and take the back off. Unplug everything very carefully because the corrosion on the metal contacts weakens the metal so they are more susceptible to breaking. Once you have everything unplugged remove the motherboard and all of the chip shrouds. Then put some alcohol on the toothbrush and gently scrub the entire motherboard clean. If you want you can pour alcohol all over the board and let it soak, that sometimes helps. Make sure to clean the plugs and connectors too.
Let everything dry, then reassemble, and test it out. It might work or it might not. If it doesn't work then there is little chance of ever repairing it.


But, if you dont want to do all that you can take it to a repair shop and see if they might try fixing it for you.


Good luck!

Ummmm are u sure that is safe? U gotta be really careful not to damage the motherboard or any small parts
 

juno1337

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Jun 30, 2013
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Hi guys,

I tried cleaning the motherboard with isopropyl alcohol, without any luck. As far as I can tell, there's two things not working: One is the battery indicator, the second is the antenna. I can live with not having a battery indicator, but the phone is not much use without a working antenna. I don't know much about phone repair and stuff, but if I can provide a new antenna to whoever who will repair it that will probably be cheaper than having them find one.

From what I've read, the antenna is fairly easy to swap on the S4. I don't know about antenna cables and all that, but I found this part on ebay:

Genuine Samsung I9500 Galaxy S4 SIV Loudspeaker Ringer Buzzer Antenna Part | eBay

It seems to be both the speaker and antenna in one module, or am I wrong? Do you think it's worth a shot?