Just wanted to share how I revived my phone after suffering minor water damage.
I knocked my water glass over on my night stand onto my phone (lesson learned, never put water next to phone), and did not find out until morning. I didn't realize my phone got wet until I took the case off to pull the battery, there was a little moisture in there (this was after an hour of use when it stopped working). I pulled the back cover off the phone, and it had condensation in there as well. however, after dismateling the phone, I did not see any obvious water damage or water inside.
I used my phone for an hour before it died with no problems, but then it became unresponsive. After I pulled the battery, It would only get to the SAMSUNG SIII splash, and then go black. The strange thing is that it would turn on right when the battery was inserted, which is abnormal. I thought maybe the on/off switch was permanently shorted or something.
I decided to tear it apart again, but this time i noticed some white corrosion on the logic board (underside) by the power switch. I cleaned this off with 91% isopropyl and a toothbrush. A little further down on the same side was a surface mount cylindrical thing, may have been a ferrite bead or capacitor of some sort, really couldn't tell (sorry no pics). Anyway I noticed it had some rusty corrosion on the top near where there was a tab spot welded on. I cleaned this in the same manner. I reassembled the phone carefully and inserted the battery, it didn't turn on by itself! I held down the power button, and it turned on as normal and is functioning 100% normal.
This just goes to show that you can revive a phone from water damage, I am as surprised as you are. The key thing is that this was MINOR water damage, no big ICs got wet, but a couple things on the thin part of the logic board did.
Anyway hope this will help someone one day.
I knocked my water glass over on my night stand onto my phone (lesson learned, never put water next to phone), and did not find out until morning. I didn't realize my phone got wet until I took the case off to pull the battery, there was a little moisture in there (this was after an hour of use when it stopped working). I pulled the back cover off the phone, and it had condensation in there as well. however, after dismateling the phone, I did not see any obvious water damage or water inside.
I used my phone for an hour before it died with no problems, but then it became unresponsive. After I pulled the battery, It would only get to the SAMSUNG SIII splash, and then go black. The strange thing is that it would turn on right when the battery was inserted, which is abnormal. I thought maybe the on/off switch was permanently shorted or something.
I decided to tear it apart again, but this time i noticed some white corrosion on the logic board (underside) by the power switch. I cleaned this off with 91% isopropyl and a toothbrush. A little further down on the same side was a surface mount cylindrical thing, may have been a ferrite bead or capacitor of some sort, really couldn't tell (sorry no pics). Anyway I noticed it had some rusty corrosion on the top near where there was a tab spot welded on. I cleaned this in the same manner. I reassembled the phone carefully and inserted the battery, it didn't turn on by itself! I held down the power button, and it turned on as normal and is functioning 100% normal.
This just goes to show that you can revive a phone from water damage, I am as surprised as you are. The key thing is that this was MINOR water damage, no big ICs got wet, but a couple things on the thin part of the logic board did.
Anyway hope this will help someone one day.