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mob phone water damaged

K

KarimM

Lurker
Hi,

Last week, I stumbled at the seafront. My mobile phone was in my pocket which the water reached to. I pulled out my mob and saw it still on...then got a message u can only make an emergency call and it switched off automatically.

Once home, I could not power it up. Tried to charge the battery when mob was switched off, but there was no indication of battery charging.

I was advised to put the phone in a pack of rice which what I did after removing the battery cover and drying the inside of the phone, there was clear water drops left inside the mobile phone.

After nearly 2 days, i removed the phone from the rice pack; the mobile powered up but did not recognise the sim card which I am able to use on another phone. Also, some buttons actions were irresponsive.

As such, I unscrewed the phone completely, cleaning the motherboard with isopropyl alcohol (91%); then left the phone to dry out. When i switch it on, it powers up for around 40 secs then the screen blacks out completely. My screen touches are not recognised anymore during the initial 40 seconds, I can't input the password to unlock the phone... when i unscrewed the phone, i swept with a toothbrush the area just underneath the screen...may be this action damaged the touch screen command interpreter. any advice, please?


Thank you
 
When you tried to power it back up before thoroughly drying it out was the one thing you should not have done. There's a good chance that shorted out some components inside. Also, sea water, as opposed to tap water, contains a lot of sediment and of course sodium chloride (salts) so the conductivity factor creates an even more damaging problem. From what you've described at this point the motherboard itself should probably be replaced. A S4 is still a capable phone but it is getting a little dated so you should think about how much time and money you want to put in to repair it or look around for a replacement.

Refurbished Galaxy S4:
https://swappa.com/buy/devices/samsung?search=galaxy+s4&type=phone
 
I think your best bet is to go with a refurb as @svim suggests. Sea water is probably the worst thing you can drop your phone into next to hydrochloric acid or lava. Drying it out after dropping in salt water is just as bad, because now all the corrosive elements are attached to your phone's components and no longer in solution. Even if you could get it cleaned up, I think the damage is irreparably done.

In the future, best practices for a drop in the ocean would be to turn the phone off and remove the SIM and battery (if possible), then immerse the phone in clean water ... distilled, if available, because even tap water has some mineral elements. The clean water should dilute the salt enough to cause minimal harm. Then, after draining/blotting up as much water as possible, give the unit a quick immersion in alcohol (again, denatured, not the rubbing variety.) and let the alcohol evaporate. This should displace a good bit of the internal moisture. Then put it in rice for 48 to 72 hours before you try and power it on.
 
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