dropped tb in water. can see water inside screen

[harmoni3]

around 1:30ish am on thursday night(or rather friday morning) i accidentally placed my wristlet containing my phone in water, i immediately pulled it out. i can't really remember exactly what i did after that (i was very intoxicated) i know that i tried to turn it on though, i think i even tried multiple times (the exact thing you shouldn't do i know but i wasn't exactly thinking straight at the time) i did get it to turn on at some point and from what i remember the screen was all mutlicolored and messed up. i took the battery out and left them separately in my car from 3am-11am. at 11 i turned it on again and it worked but the screen was darker in some areas and you can see the water inside it plus the right edge side would not respond to touch, plus when it timed out the bottom touch buttons didn't go dark. i put it in rice for the rest of the day, but did turn it on for 5 minutes after it sat for a few hours. also when i try to power off the screen just goes black and i have to just pull the battery back out.
since then i have had it in rice, for over 24 hours straight now.

i know i did many things wrong, but can it still be saved? and if i were to try and repair it myself does it need a new digitizer or lcd screen?

any help greatly appreciated!!!

 

[CR6]

Unfortunately there's not much you can do aside from getting a new phone, and most insurance plans don't cover water damage. I read somewhere awhile ago (as you noted) that if you fill a tupperware bowl with uncooked rice, and put the device in there for a day or two, (with the lid on) that will draw out the water. Not sure how well it works though.
Good luck!

tap'n

 

[fatboy97]

The rice trick even works in a ziploc bag... but it works best if you immediately take the battery out and don't put power to your device until it's been in the rice for at least two days... and that's only a maybe.

 

[bjboucher]

Hope you have insurance!

 

[Jude526]

Insurance DOES cover water damage. Mfg warranty doesn't. I have a friend who has dropped hers in the toilet. Twice.....it was covered.

sent from my Thunderbolt....and the thunder rolls !

 

[judpma012]

Rice........try it.. you have nothing to lose....give it a couple days....take back off ,battery out as was suggested earlier.......

 

[defcon999]

This may sound weird but it works. Take the battery out and place the phone in a bowl of rice......uncooked rice.........actually bury it.....leave it in the rice for a day or so.....rice absorbs moisture

sent from my TBolt.....still better than an iPhone any day

 

[javadandy]

Rice works! Really it does.

I dropped my phone into a toilet last May. A clean toilet, thank goodness! Crazy phone slipped out of my pocket and into the bowl. I whipped it out of there as fast as I could. I had a tpu case on it (which may have helped, as my battery does not show pink to this day) which I whipped off and somehow, I got the back off really quickly (which is also amazing) and popped the battery out. Rolled the whole thing in paper towels and shoved it into my purse. Later than night I tried it and it wasn't working correctly, but I didn't have the opportunity to shove it into a bag of rice until later. Got home, put it into the rice and let it sit for about 2 days. It worked! Phone works perfectly. No problems observed so far.

 

[jd07bos]

Rice might have worked if you didn't immediately turn it on after it happened, hope you got insurance!

 

[anon(394005)]

If enough water got inside (sounds like it), there isn't enough rice in the world going to help. Things are going to start to corrode on the circuitry at some point. I wouldn't even mess around with it, get it replaced if you have insurance or eat it and get a new phone and call it lesson learned.

 

[waker]

Rice might have worked if you didn't immediately turn it on after it happened, hope you got insurance!

This.

Sent from my Bolt via Tapatalk.

 

[rage151]

Rice might have worked if you didn't immediately turn it on after it happened, hope you got insurance!

seriously!? Do you think that turning it on activated some type of pump to distribute water throughout the handset?

 

[bjboucher]

seriously!? Do you think that turning it on activated some type of pump to distribute water throughout the handset?

Ummm, it sends electricity to parts that will fry when they are wet genious! No need to be rude.

 

[TBolt]

Did you guys have the battery cover off when you dunked the phone into the uncooked rice?

I already took out the battery & SIM cards.

A family member dunked her DINC 2 into the water -- thanks for the input.

 

[realitydigg]

My list of things to do when yet another phone is immersed in water is:
- Immediately pull the battery
- use a vacuum cleaner to suck out as much water as possible. Doing this pull air through the phone and speeds up evaporation (vacuum the USB port for example).
- stick it in as much dry rice as you are happy using.
- leave it there as long as you are willing to (at least 24 hours)

If you don't see any signs of liquid still being present - then put the battery back in and pray. If you see anything funny, pull the battery again and stick it back in the rice. A few dumb phones have survived this way. knock on wood no smartphones immersed yet.

 

[droidman2177]

My wife dropped her phone right in the throne and i tried the rice trick (was VERY skeptical) and IT WORKS! Don't listen to these other buttholes. If you can wait 2 days for this to work, you have nothing to lose. if it doesn't, then go grab another phone. Battery cover off and submerse that sucker(in rice of course). I will never forget how this works. Like magic.

 

[TBolt]

Thanks. We pulled the phone out of the rice; it's not working well ... yet. During boot, it takes over 10 minutes to load beyond the HTC splash screen, which usually appears for only a few seconds. Once it finally boots up, the touchscreen doesn't work -- can't unlock the screen.

It's probably toast, but was worth a shot. I'll leave it in the rice for another week. hehe

 

[rbrusuelas]

Don't give up yet.. Try rice one more time (or, the silca packets that often come in packages can be used since they draw moisture).

If that still doesn't work look for a business called Cell Phone Repair (or CPR). They will charge you Around $100 but they will have way to extract moisture, treat with a drying agent, clean any corrosion and hopefully restore your phone.

 

[TBolt]

If it doesn't work after another week, I'm just going to open it myself and tinker with it. I'm already writing it off as a loss and replacing it. Would be nice to have it as a backup phone for international use, though.

 

[recDNA]

Ive been rooting for you!