T-Mobile Galaxy s II Corroded Charging Port

[mmccormic90]

Hi everyone,

My phone died last night and when I went to charge it, it wouldn't work. I went to T-Mobile today and they told me that the charging port was corroded from water damage, and I'd have to buy a new one. My phone has not been near water, and I keep it in the android equivalent of the Otter Box at all times but I'm afraid they are still going to try and ping me for water damage. Should I try to go through them, or maybe have the port changed out myself?

 

[bosshaug12]

If the inside of the port is just corroded you can try taking a toothbrush with some isopropyl alcohol and scrubbing the inside of the port. That will hopefully work as long as it hasn't corroded the pins too badly.
And I wouldn't worry about them tellng you its water damaged because sometimes charging ports can get corroded without the phone ever being water damaged. As long as the white stickers arent red, you knowit hasn't been in water, and the phone works fine then you should be ok.

Also, I would not recommend trying to replace the port yourself. You probably can do it with just a cheap soldering iron but it probably won't be anchored properly and will likely break again. Try taking it to a repair shop and see what they can do for you. They usually have the right tools and more experience in doing these repairs.

And remember when taking your phone to the repair store.... you get what you pay for.

 

[Rukbat]

The charging port is on a separate little board, and the whole assembly isn't expensive. Have a repair shop do it. (There's no soldering involved - it's all plug-in. But, as bosshaug said, don't try to do it yourself.

As far as water damage, having the phone in a pocket when you're sweating will corrode the port beyond usefulness in a couple of hours. So will leaving the phone in a cold car overnight, then bringing it into a warm house. Those are both forms of water damage.