can mobile phones be repaired after being in water

mrelephant_2

Just like to say thanks to everyone who replied to my original message and advised i let my phone dry out naturally.

I am pleased to say that as of today my phone has now begun working again, the only side effect has been that the screen is very slightly tainted, but only very slightly.

Otherwise everything seems to be working fine.

Derek

thor

msdl28712 wrote:

Forgotten to mention under the battery somewhere there is a round white sticker or should be white if its red or any signs of red then yes its had contact with water. if its totally white which moto would look at in the first instant and see whether water has come contact with the phone then i would def recontact moto and explain that the issue that again that no water has come into contact and tell them regarding the sticker

There is another problem which I should have mentioned and that is that it is getting harder and harder to get the phone to start at all. I have been trying since yesterday but it refuses to switch on so I've not had the chance to try the hash/star procedure you mentioned. When it does start I'll let you know the outcome.
I have plugged the phone into mains via it's power adapter and this displays similar behaviour to when the phone is powered by the battery only(unfortunately I don't have a spare battery either). The backlight on the screen comes on and the number pad lights up but that is all it does(except on the rare occasions it goes all the way and powers up properly).

I had a look for the sticker but could not locate one when I removed the battery however just below the battery there is a shiny circular sticker(at least it looks like a sticker)on the phone casing. Could this be what you are referring to? If so, it is coloured white so that would suggest that no water has got to it. When Motorola sent the phone back they included a picture of the water damaged area of the pcb and it does look like a liquid has caused the damage. It is just that there is no way that this could have happened when I had the phone. It has been many months now so I can't imagine that if water was shorting anything out then it is still doing so now as it surely must have evaporated. There is a possiblilty of shorts causing permanent damage I suppose but I would not know where to look when it comes to identifying which component has been damaged.

drahcir_2

thor wrote:

There is another problem which I should have mentioned and that is that it is getting harder and harder to get the phone to start at all. I have been trying since yesterday but it refuses to switch on so I've not had the chance to try the hash/star procedure you mentioned. When it does start I'll let you know the outcome.
I have plugged the phone into mains via it's power adapter and this displays similar behaviour to when the phone is powered by the battery only(unfortunately I don't have a spare battery either). The backlight on the screen comes on and the number pad lights up but that is all it does(except on the rare occasions it goes all the way and powers up properly).

I had a look for the sticker but could not locate one when I removed the battery however just below the battery there is a shiny circular sticker(at least it looks like a sticker)on the phone casing. Could this be what you are referring to? If so, it is coloured white so that would suggest that no water has got to it. When Motorola sent the phone back they included a picture of the water damaged area of the pcb and it does look like a liquid has caused the damage. It is just that there is no way that this could have happened when I had the phone. It has been many months now so I can't imagine that if water was shorting anything out then it is still doing so now as it surely must have evaporated. There is a possiblilty of shorts causing permanent damage I suppose but I would not know where to look when it comes to identifying which component has been damaged.

it has got worse because of electrolysis from the battery which is causing more corrosion inside - thsi is why some phones seem to work after liquid damage but later develop faults. best bet would be to strip it and clean as best you can - pref ultrasonic clean -or try toothbrush and iso prop alcohol on the pcb

thor

Any idea on the cheapest place I can find this alcohol? Also managed to get the phone on one of it's good days and got into the bootloader mode long enough to see that the battery is declared as being ok before the phone went dead again. If the battery is working but it is causing problems then perhaps I should take it out to prevent further damage being caused(until I've had a go at cleaning it) or does it not matter as I have already left it in the phone for a few months now and it can't cause any further deteriotion?

drahcir_2

try chemist?

msdl28712

Yes thats the sticker just below the battery on the left hand side shown here as you can see red as this phone went through a washer resulting in the phone operating except the lcds backlight.



As yours is still white this would highly suggest that no water damage occured. But as you say they included a photo which showed the damage.

If its shutting down in bootloader mode than at least this has ruled out software probs.

Id do as suggested strip it down and check the board against the pic and give it a clean.

thor

Yeah that's the one and it is still white.

Here is cropped picture of what motorola sent to me(If I've done this right you should see a part of the phone pcb)




Now it seems like the resistors are looking a bit dodgy but I've metered them out and they are of the correct resistance or at least what their markings indicate that they should be. I've not checked the diodes as they are slightly harder to diagnose and I would not know what they could be replaced with. So what do you guys think? Do you think that the pcb itself could be knackered?
I think i could really do with a schematic of the pcb as this would increase my confidance about what components I should be replacing/cleaning.

drahcir_2

looks like some corrosion around the 3 chips below the watch battery
try brushing the area with a toothbrush dipped in white spirit then dribble a bit on to rinse it off and let it dry before testing

raymond

If you get your phone wet, the best thing is to remove the battery immediately. If the water was contaminated with for example detergent, I would recommend washing it thoroughly and quickly with warm water. Leave it in the water for half an hour or so and then rinse agin with warm water. The warmer the better, but not boiling as it will damage the display.

Then leave it to dry in a warm (not too hot) place for a few days or maybe a week, the warm water will hopefully have washed away the contaminants and it should be fine but the display may have watermarks.

The only real problem I have come across is that the display is usually connected to the pcb by a rubber conductive strip and if the pcb is even slightly dirty around this area it will not work, but thats easily fixed with some VERY fine abrasive paper or an ink rubber.