Samsung Galaxy S6 Salt water damage - been told motherboard corroded

[Android Central Question]

Hopefully someone is out there who can fix my phone!! I dropped my Galaxy S6 Edge in the sea in Greece. I pulled it straight out and the phone was still on but went black. I made the mistake of switching it back on and trying to charge it . I’ve had it to a repairer but he’s been unsuccessful in repairing it - he’s told me it’s the charging fuse on the motherboard he has tried welding a new charging fuse to it but to no success. When I plug the charger in it acknowledges the charger with the symbol but no charge. I need the motherboard as this has all my data on it - I’m desperate to try fix this phone. Please help!!

 

[mustang7757]

Hi, welcome to Android Forums

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https://forums.androidcentral.com/showthread.php?t=409154

 

[mustang7757]

He tried welding that or soldering? Welding wouldn't work to good on small circuit

 

[anon(10614692)]

Be realistic, if the motherboard is corroded the phone isnt going to be repaired. You may be able to have the data recovered by a specialist who will remove the EMMC chip and recover directly from it. Should cost 300 bucks or so. This is why backups are important.

 

[belodion]

https://forums.androidcentral.com/showthread.php?t=967867

 

[B. Diddy]

Be realistic, if the motherboard is corroded the phone isnt going to be repaired. You may be able to have the data recovered by a specialist who will remove the EMMC chip and recover directly from it. Should cost 300 bucks or so. This is why backups are important.

Wow, it can be done for $300? I've seen quotes closer to $1000.

 

[anon(10614692)]

A quick Google came up with a few at $300. One charged $75 for confirming if it was possible.

 

[Rukbat]

I can tell you, as someone who's repaired more phones than I can remember, and lived near the ocean, that once a phone falls into salt water, unless you have a pan and about a gallon of alcohol immediately available, the phone is gone. Ten minutes and corrosion starts. Charge it and you're electrocuting a corpse.

If all they replace is the motherboard (that's what a $300 repair sounds like - and that's cheap), the rest of the phone - screen, mics, speakers, earphone jack, charging jack - are going to start going bad. Even if they strip everything out of the case and replace it all (and that's the $1,000 repair), unless the case is plastic, it's going to start going too.

See if you can get anything at all for a trade-in on a new phone (or buy a good used one). Buying a new (or good used) one is actually the cheapest way to go. Whatever data was on the phone is already gone, so you're not going to lose anything by replacing it - and, in the end, you'll save a lot of money.

Or take the opportunity to get something newer than an S6. You can get newer phones, in good condition (like Pixel 3s or 3XLs) for less than $300.