Advice for water damaged note 3 - Galaxy Note 3 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I recently got my note 3 wet (clean-ish lake water) and immediately got the battery out and the phone dissasembled and into a bag of rice.
after a few days I reassembled it and booted it up and I can hear the startup sounds, feel the vibrations from power up, reboot & charge and I also can hear all of my notifications including ringing calls.
The problem is I cannot get the screen to turn on*.
What happens is the back button and menu button led's light up at the bottom and the screen sometimes flickers. I have got the screen to turn on though really rarely (playing with it and removing/readding the battery, rebooting etc..) and when I DO get it to turn on all functions work perfectly as if the phone was never damaged.
My question is, what components can I take a closer look at that would cause this behaviour? I would say that the screen is kaput but when it turns on everything works....
I am asking here as my google fu has not dredged up anyone with this specific problem before.
I have cleaned what appears to be corrosion or water spots on the larger copper traces on the mainboard with 99% iso and dried then reassembled but no change in behaviour (it did turn on once after I did this and work).
I tried a new OEM battery, no change.
Any and all advice is appreciated and yes I will order a waterproof quality case if I can get it working again

aridhol said:
I recently got my note 3 wet (clean-ish lake water) and immediately got the battery out and the phone dissasembled and into a bag of rice.
after a few days I reassembled it and booted it up and I can hear the startup sounds, feel the vibrations from power up, reboot & charge and I also can hear all of my notifications including ringing calls.
The problem is I cannot get the screen to turn on*.
What happens is the back button and menu button led's light up at the bottom and the screen sometimes flickers. I have got the screen to turn on though really rarely (playing with it and removing/readding the battery, rebooting etc..) and when I DO get it to turn on all functions work perfectly as if the phone was never damaged.
My question is, what components can I take a closer look at that would cause this behaviour? I would say that the screen is kaput but when it turns on everything works....
I am asking here as my google fu has not dredged up anyone with this specific problem before.
I have cleaned what appears to be corrosion or water spots on the larger copper traces on the mainboard with 99% iso and dried then reassembled but no change in behaviour (it did turn on once after I did this and work).
I tried a new OEM battery, no change.
Any and all advice is appreciated and yes I will order a waterproof quality case if I can get it working again
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You acted perfectly after getting the phone wet, so congratulations. But unfortunately, screen failures are fairly common in phone-wetting scenarios.
What you can do is try keeping the phone a couple of days more in silica gel bags/rice to see if there still is moisture in the screen assembly. If nothing changes, all you can do is replace the whole screen assembly.

totalnoob34 said:
You acted perfectly after getting the phone wet, so congratulations. But unfortunately, screen failures are fairly common in phone-wetting scenarios.
What you can do is try keeping the phone a couple of days more in silica gel bags/rice to see if there still is moisture in the screen assembly. If nothing changes, all you can do is replace the whole screen assembly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can the screen be submerged in isopropyl 99% to displace any water or will that damage it?

aridhol said:
Can the screen be submerged in isopropyl 99% to displace any water or will that damage it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alcohol should be harmless. Go for it, you have nothing to lose.

I think you should put your phone in sun light for 40 minute without battery. after that let you phone cool. then Try to boot.If not work then open that back part then try again for more 30 minutes. I think it will help you.
in my case it works on samsung galaxy s.
God bless you & your phone.

Related

How to fix a water damaged JasJam

Ok so my JasJam was in my bag and my water bottle leaked onto it. Thing is I didn't realise that it was wet for at least a couple of hours.
When I picked it up it had turned off because there was all this grime in between the battery terminals. I took the battery out and almost cried.
This is how to fix a water damaged JasJam...
1. Buy a can of CO contact cleaner.
2. Pull the entire phone apart.
3. Spray cleaner on the board and inbetween all contacts and scrub with a toothbrush.
4. Leave to dry for a day or so.
5. Put battery back in and turn on phone.
Ok so at this point the screen didn't turn on and none of the lights came on so I almost cried again. But then I noticed that when I flipped the keyboard out the keyboard lit up! So I held the power button in to turn the phone off and it made that beep that it makes when it asks you if you want to turn it off. My JasJam was still alive, it... just...couldn't see!
Ok so if your screen doesn't come back on follow the next steps...
6. Get a new screen or buy a faulty JasJam off ebay.
7. Take it apart and replace screen.
After replacing the screen try switching it on agian. Mine switched on! But the backlight wasn't working...?!? Go to the next step...
8. Replace the scroll wheel circuit board.
Done, my JasJam now works again! A very happy day!
is there any way to "bypass" the scroller? mine did the same thing but cant really afford a new scroller circuit or dead imate.
Rubbing Alcohol and Rice!
I always fix water damage with rubbing alcohol and rice...
Take the phone apart, soak the FEY layers (the green layers with all the circuitry) in rubbing alcohol, take it out, toothbrush it, put it into your oven at about 350 for like 3 minutes, take it out and place it into a cup of rice for 24 hours. Don't worry, it won't melt because the silicon and iron melting points are really high! And the rice just sucks all the moisture out of anything!
Good Luck!
Didn't find a workaround for the scroll wheel, you'll need to replace...

HD soaked with water

Hi guys unfortunately my HD was in a drawer during night and in the morning i found it soaked with water under the battery and both cards. I was in hospital so probably the infusion hose is the reason. I tried standart drying and isopropyl but it behaves like the "volume down" button is permanently pressed and my screen flashes touchFlo/volume. When i try to power it on by pressing power button it gets in bootloader. I must press both volume and power buttons together for a while to turn it on. Everything except the button is fine. I am stuck with that and warranty doesn´t repair water damage. I don´t want to disassemble it because it´s new only few weeks. Any idea please? Thanks
That realy sucks dude!
I've had experience with a Touch Cruise that got dropped in a bucket filled with water. After drying it for three days it actually worked (even till this day).
Don't think there is much hope for your device since it was covered with a fluid for a longer time. This also means that there is quite a big chance that the battery caused some short circuit in the device.
My advice is to remove the battery and let the device dry for a few days.
Also, never use a damaged battery, get a new one.
Try the submerging it in dry rice trick, the rice should help to absorb the moisture inside the device. @ this juncture it can't hurt to try.
Leave it for a couple of days before turning it on.

Touch HD In water, hints?

HI all, i've a really disappointing problem. My touch HD was in my pocket when I took some rain on my motorcycle . Arrived at home the phone was off. I opened it following the service manual. I've putted it behind the power supply of the pc, where the warm air comes out, dismantled, for a few days.
Then I assembled all, and now it turns on, but, it randomly restart. Do you think my mobo is broken? some contact?
I was thinking I can sell the various parts of my phone all the items works, sim, sd reader, camera (back and front) except the mobo ofcourse.
thanks in advance for your help
Hi.I have heard of one way of fixed water damaged devices and that is by putting them in a container covered by UNCOOKED rice. I think the rice is meant to draw the water out. Leave it for a day I think. Never tried it myself but heard it works
Phil G
Hi, thanks for your answer, the phone was behind the psu of the pc for a week totally dismantled, so I think is pretty dry
thanks again for you interest
I actually dropped me BS in a bucket of water. Dried it out in a heat cabinet at work (50 deg C) for a day and it works perfectly still
Hi la3bna, i'm trying to do as you suggested, was your bs powered when it fall in the water?
thanks for your answer
You should use the salt that is used to lower humidity (e.g. from Bison).
Put the bag of salt on the bottom of a plastic box.
On top of the bag a plate so your device has no fysical contact
with the salt. On the plate you lay down your device without
the backside. Seal the box airtight and leave it there for 7 days.
I did this with the Ipod of my son which had been washed for over
an hour on 60 degrees celsius. The Ipod was dead, but after the
procedure as described it was fully functional!
Thanks a lot, I'll try this!!
Yes mine was on, actually someone called my when it fell
I dropped mine in deep snow... I was holding it in my hand and slipped and also fell
It was very wet so I got scared it won't work but when I got home I turned it off,removed the battery,cards and just put it in some blanket to dry off
After an hour turned it back on and everything worked just like before
Also the other day I accidentally spilled some hand cream on my blackstone and it got inside but nothing happened again so I'm lucky...
thanks for your advices, trying the rice thing
lol, you guys are fecking useless
There is no way I would put myself in that situation, then again I have dropped it a few times so probably only lucky there wasnt water about
Well, I also dropped my Blackstone into water and, after drying it for some 2-3 hrs in the sun it works, except the memory card reader - the problem with the water and mobile phones is the fact that the water is oxidizing the circuitry - so, if it still malfunctions after a week of drying, then probably the phone is doomed.
Sorry for your loss!
for oxid, i've "bathed" the phone in Svitol, but nothing appens... i'm going to sell it as spare.
thanks all for your answer
open the device and dry it out..
already tried, using the service manual to open it, and dried for a week, but nothing appens.
thanks anyway
keep pressing the on/off button - eg, press button on off on off on off (while charging)
and tell me what happens, eg, a vibration??
hi, ti vibrate, then starts, show the smart mobility screen, load the SO, and all works for about 10 minutes. Then the phone restarts and get stuck to smart mobility screen. After that the only way is to press reset or remove the battery. After that if you press the power button the phone get always stuck on smart mobility, sometimes start to load the SO and then it restart before finishing to load.
Nicola
Solved
Hi, problem solved, just left the phone in its box for a month then acidentally tried to start it and from that day works great... guess that just needed to dry out.
Thread can be closed.
Thanks for all your advice.
Nicola
The end?
Dropped my Blackstone in the toilet last night (don't know how, I was drunk at the time). I believe it had been fully submerged for 2-3 minutes. It was turned on at the time. When I recovered it (thank God nothing had been done in the toilet at the time), it was off. I removed the cover and there was water behind the battery, in the SD card reader and SIM. Not a lot, but it was wet. Stupidly (drunk) and panicking , I dried off the back panel with a hand towel (possible static charge damage? - not yet known ). I left it on top of a t-shirt which is on top of the radiator. I don't yet want to turn it on fo fear of wrecking it (if it's not already wrecked).
What methods to people recommend I should take from above? Or maybe there are some new techniques? Would I be better taking it to a mobile service repair shop to see if they can fix it from the beginning, before I do any more damage?
1 dismantle the device into pieces. (if your not sure how i can give you a step by step guide)
2 now dry each of the parts of the device with cotton wool buds (the things used to clean your ears)
3 the put the device back together.
4 done.
....some people say to leave the device in rice etc because it draws the water from the device, IMO this does not work properly and there is nothing better that opening the device and actually cleaning it and removing the water yourself, and this should only take a few mins. it is also not recomended to send it to a service repair shop for something you can do yourself. just be carefull when dismantling the device. do not break any ribbons - used to connect the lcd amungst other things to motherboard.
might be possible you will need a new battery ^

Touchscreen problem

Hello.
I was working outside for more than 8h and at that time phone was lying in the sports bag covered with some clothes. When I turned it on the battery temp. widget showed 5 degrees Celsius (in fact it was cold).
The first problem was the screen - it showed some artifacts, random RGB pixellation when waking up and while writing SMS screen just froze and only touchscreen worked, had to turn the screen off and back on to get it work.
After warming the phone to 20 degrees the screen started to work properly with no problems but 1 hour ago something started to piss me off. Touchscreen started to self-detects touch points even when I don't touch the screen. It appeared for the first when I slightly pressed "delete character" button (I use better keyboard 8). That maked touch screen to work horribly and pressing random keys near delete, 3 or 5 times per sec for a second or two...
I've already tried factory reset and even reflashing the ROM (stock nordic 2.3.4) but the problem is still occuring.
Any advice? ...
Common problem with no apparent fix.
A way you can make it better is to install Swype, which is how I've got around the same problem on my phone.
I get it in the morning after sleeping in my 24 degrees room everynight...
Normally have to bring it out of my room for 5 minutes or so and allow it to function again.. If not a restart normally works..
Phone works fine if im using it while the aircon is on though, presumably because the phone is generating heat to counteract the cold ._.
Yesterday I got pissed off, grabbed the phone and started to heat it with hair dryer and then polished it with a cloth and everything is right with the touchscreen (maybe there was some dried sweat on the screen I know some guys who had this problem and sweat was the one who caused it).
But random pixellation and screen freezes are back. I think the problem is with the screens' ribbon cable because sometimes when I slide my phone it freezes for a few secs. I remember I've slided the phone when it was very cold, maybe something wrong happened with the ribbon cable. I have to disassemble the phone and check it out.
Sounds like a trace amount of water damage perhaps from condensation while in your bag.
Fortunately NO!
The problem was with the flex cable connecting down part of the phone with the upper part. It's partially broken, probably it happened because of cold wires and my sliding.
This ribbon connects everything from the upper part (LCD, camera etc.) so it needs to be replaced. I'm gonna see if any of my towns' repair centers are able to fix it.
edit: Professional diagnosis:
Interrupted flex cable connecting upper part with the bottom part - two most left pins broken, screen shows constant "random RGB pixellation".
Bringed my XPLAY to the authorized SE repair center and waiting for the ppl there to fix my beauty...
ribbon that connects everything from the upper part to the lower part? do you mean the long and wide ribbon that is kinda folded when you open your phone? IS IT? jeez that's my problem, too. I haven't been using my phone for more than a week now.

[Q] Wet LG G2 - Firmware Update screen

Hi guys!
Unfortunately I dropped my LG G2 into water yesterday. That was my first time that I had my phone wet, so I panicked a bit and acted on instict, which probably wasn't the best option.
The phone was in its Slim Armor case and was submerged in the water for maybe a second or two. I removed the case, quickly attempted to turn off the phone (it reacted normally, both the switch and display, although signalled that jack was inserted, which wasn't true). After drying the phone with a paper towel and mouth-blowing some water out of USB, jack and speakers I tried to turn it on again (which, as I read later, wasn't the best idea). At first there was no reaction. After drying it a bit more I tried again and... surprise, the LG sign showed up as normal! However, my enthusiasm extinguished quickly as Firmware Update screen turned on. and looked exactly like this (with only a bit different code). I cannot post links, so please enter it by yourself if necessary.
chip.de/ii/2/2/0/7/8/7/3/1/LG_G2-Unroot-Foto2-5a02458aba271a92.jpg
I have never seen that screen before and my phone has never been rooted. What is more, it ceased to react - it did not dim for hours and didn't notice pressing buttons in different combinations.
I then put it in rice and silica gel (still lit and showing the Update Screen) for some hours and tried to turn it off again. Fortunately, this time the switch button worked.
After a brief search in the internet, I removed the back cover and wiped out residual drops of water that were underneath it (not really much water was there, single drops spread all around, did not even look like penetrating into deeper parts... even the water indicator on the right of the camera remained white).
Now the phone has been sitting in a tightly closed jar with rice and silica for at least 12 hours.
What should I do next? Should I try to switch it on again?
May the Update Screen be a sign of a damaged motherboard, or maybe some less dangerous short in the USB socket and switches (as I read, the Update is turned on by a combination of switch and volume buttons and plugging an USB)?
I'd be grateful for any help!
Greetings!

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