Dropped EPIC into toilet...

[eriksseven]

Wow... Yeah, tried to be a one-handed wizard using both devices above the toilet and well, the epic tumbled out of my hand and plunged deep into the depths of my toilet bowl. I yanked it out, started waving it as hard as I could, blew into the USB slot etc. rubbed it down with a towel and then popped off all the covers, battery and SD card out. This all was in a matter of a couple minutes.

Anyways, I used a blow dryer on it for about 5 minutes and the thing seemed pretty dry and well-sealed. Put it all together and it worked flawlessly for like, 2 hours after that.

After getting home I pulled it apart again so that it could dry out more if it needed to. I wanted to show my roommate some pics though, so I assembled it again, turned it on, went to my browser really quick before the screen flashed and then turned blue!

So yes, I shut it down and restarted it and now it starts out blue.

WATER MODE!!!

Everything works perfectly and the shadow of everything can be seen "beneath" the blue screen (apps, contacts, etc. are all visible and working). The speakers worked great, 4g, call-quality etc. before this screen fail.

I'm guessing there's some sort of water "trigger" that senses water in the phone guts??? Somewhere? Why else would the screens fail-mode create a BLUE SCREEN--seems planned. Perhaps this "blue mode" is so that when I go into Sprint tomorrow to exchange it during my 30 day initial period they can say, uhhh bro, your screen is blue--you dropped it in your toilet--that'll be $100 (aka my insurance deductible cost).

Lesson learned--don't whip out both above the toilet, or at least hold the phone off to the side...

 

[bipoler#AC]

Lol dang man too Epic lol but that does suck

Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk

 

[ls108]

Not sure if it works on the newer phones, Get a zip lock bag and fill it with rice and seal it and place the phone in it for at least 24 hrs... That worked on some other phones I had in the past!

 

[rsbenedict]

Or just don't drop it in the toilet. What were you doing balancing two phones over the toilet? Seems to me there were no more hands to do anything else. LOL

 

[Atlienzz]

Or just don't drop it in the toilet. What were you doing balancing two phones over the toilet? Seems to me there were no more hands to do anything else. LOL

I'm pretty sure the other "thing" he was holding wasn't another phone.

 

[dragonol2]

Wow... I actually was doing the same thing this morning and was thinking to myself "man, it would suck if I dropped this into the toilet"

Luckily for me, I had a friend do this very thing a few years back, and he actually dropped his and it fizzled out on him and he had to order a replacement... suffice to say, I am now extra careful whenever I'm in a situation like this just because of my friend's bad experience...

When in doubt, use good judgment! Your phone will be fine for the 30 sec - 1 minute it takes you to do your bid-ness...

 

[sasha]

I'm pretty sure the other "thing" he was holding wasn't another phone.

LMAO...Now that's Epic!

 

[ywenz]

5 minutes of drying is simply not enough. Hope you have an insurance plan.

Was it a clean toilette bowl or was it already "filled" ?

 

[p-niiice]

your phone may be fine but it could take up to a week to fully dry out. wait it out.

 

[eriksseven]

Hahahaha, luckily it was clean water. I was quicker whipping the phone out, you know, no zipper.

UPDATE: The phone was propped up on a big box-fan all night. I put it back together, started it, got the "blue screen" for a split second before it booted up normally with it's crisp, clear "black screen". Phone ran fine/normally for about 2 minutes when out of nowhere. *BAAM* back to the blue screen...

Pain.

It's currently it a freezer bag with a box of baking soda. LOL. Probably make a trip to the store in a bit to pick up more AND maybe some rice too. I figure it's worth messing around a little bit to "fix" it myself as opposed to simply just dropping $100 and being done with it. The phone is perfect besides this little mishap...

 

[Addie_Goodvibes]

use good judgment! Your phone will be fine for the 30 sec - 1 minute it takes you to do your bid-ness...

That about says it... Respect the phone..what is so important that it can't wait until you do your business,.. Unless your business involves using the phone while doing your "business"..

Good luck drying the phone out.. I probably wouldn't have put the battery back in for a good 6-12 hours.. Give the phone adequate time to dry out..

 

[mulcher]

Hahahaha, luckily it was clean water. I was quicker whipping the phone out, you know, no zipper.

UPDATE: The phone was propped up on a big box-fan all night. I put it back together, started it, got the "blue screen" for a split second before it booted up normally with it's crisp, clear "black screen". Phone ran fine/normally for about 2 minutes when out of nowhere. *BAAM* back to the blue screen...

Pain.

It's currently it a freezer bag with a box of baking soda. LOL. Probably make a trip to the store in a bit to pick up more AND maybe some rice too. I figure it's worth messing around a little bit to "fix" it myself as opposed to simply just dropping $100 and being done with it. The phone is perfect besides this little mishap...

Do they really have to know that you 'aggressively cleaned' the phone when you return it? Is it obvious?

 

[Spyderfry]

Do they really have to know that you 'aggressively cleaned' the phone when you return it? Is it obvious?

They have litmus paper-like indicators located all over the phone that tell water damage pretty obviously. Most people are going to check that, and it's not really honest to be honest.

 

[eriksseven]

I was speculating that the "blue screen" was almost like the litmus indicator for water damage, LOL. It would make sense?

Update: I ziplocked the EPIC in a freezer bag with a box of baking soda and then placed it in front of a heater for about 5 hours. The temp was probably around 100-110F? The hope would be basically turn any water into a vapor which would then be "sucked" into the baking soda...

I needed to make a call, so I took it out, put it together, GOT THE BLUE SCREEN (flickering, the top 1/4" was unaffected so I could see my "info bar" or the drop down menu where you change to 4G etc.)

I squinted through the BLUE enough to navigate to my phone, made a call and then hooked up a USB to transfer all my music to my laptop in case I decided to just return it. Well, as I fiddled with it, the BLUE started flickering, so I fiddled some more and the blue went away.

The screen will now go from PERFECT to flickering blue--now a much lighter blue--which is easy to see through. As of right now it's sitting next to me on a 30 minute screen-timeout on full bright with audio playing.

Sometimes it's perfect--like normal. Other times as I turn on apps, or turn the screen on and off, it will flicker light blue--or stay light blue for several minutes.

Yup, I'll give it a day to see if it "fixes" itself or needs to be exchanged.

 

[tndank]

My guess is water got into the one of the flex cable connectors. I would open it up and blow dry and reseed all contacts. Back should lift off, then unscrew from the slider mechanism. Unscrew the back of the screen piece and remove and you'll see the main board.

Detach any connectors you see and leave it out to dry for awhile. Use some compressed air and then reattach and reassemble. I've seen lots of screens showing funky behaviors fixed by just reseeding. Disassembly is fairly easy, just keep track of how the flex cable is routed and connected as you work.

Might save you the $100 deductible.

 

[eriksseven]

My guess is water got into the one of the flex cable connectors. I would open it up and blow dry and reseed all contacts. Back should lift off, then unscrew from the slider mechanism. Unscrew the back of the screen piece and remove and you'll see the main board.

Detach any connectors you see and leave it out to dry for awhile. Use some compressed air and then reattach and reassemble. I've seen lots of screens showing funky behaviors fixed by just reseeding. Disassembly is fairly easy, just keep track of how the flex cable is routed and connected as you work.

Might save you the $100 deductible.

Cool, I think I'll give that a try... But what EXACTLY do you mean my reseeding? I googled the term and found nothing. Not (I hope) resoldering? LOL

I was a bit hesitant to unscrew the backplate for warranty reasons, BUT the insurance covers theft/loss, so who cares right? I guess I'll do what I can do to get this bad-boy back up and running.

It's been sitting in a large tupperware full of rice for several hours. I pulled it out a few minutes ago to test and still get intermittent blue screen on POWER UP and after screen-timeout refresh. Other than that, perhaps blue screen is nearing defeat...

 

[DrSuSE]

Cool, I think I'll give that a try... But what EXACTLY do you mean my reseeding? I googled the term and found nothing. Not (I hope) resoldering? LOL

He meant reseat. Just unplug it if you can and reattach it... overall just make sure the connections are good and clean.

Reseat Definition - What Does Reseat Mean?

 

[MissG#AC]

The couple of times I've broken my phone by dropping it on pavement or in water, I've taken it to the repair center and they've replaced it w/ out charge. I don't know if they'll be the same way with the Epic though.

 

[ywenz]

FOrget rice.. get those silica gel packets they put into various items to suck moisture..

 

[Andrew Ruffolo]

FOrget rice.. get those silica gel packets they put into various items to suck moisture..

As a pharmacist... I have access to tons of those Maybe I'll pocket some of those as an "insurance" policy.