"Bricking the phone..." Topic

Oops. Left the cell in the pants pocket. Washed the pants. Heard the "thunking" in the dryer.

Uh oh.

The phone started up… then promptly died after a few seconds of operation. Plugging in the charger causes the exterior LCD screen to light up, display the Verizon logo, then promptly go blank. After that first time starting up, the power button now no longer does anything.

So… how dead is it likely to be? "Get a new phone" dead? "Get a new battery" dead? Or is "Wait a day or two for it to dry out, and it'll live again"?

(Basic LG flip-top phone— no bells or whistles, not even a camera. Can't find a model number, but it was Verizon's "free" phone model. Gray plastic, sort of rounded, not flat.)

Well, the first "mistake" was turning it on without knowing if it was completely dry inside. Second was plugging it into the charger.

Cell batteries have a 'wet' indicator on them which tells the repair department if the phone has gotten wet or not (90% of people lie about this apparently). It is basically a piece of paper which turns from white to red.

How do I know this? My daughter tried texting while in the shower. Doh.

You can try setting it in the sun on the window sill a couple days to let it dry out a couple of days but my guess is it is probably fried at this point.

Regards, the Gorb

Let it dry, and good luck. One of us here (naming no names) washed a flash drive, and it was OK once it had dried a bit.

Dropped my first cellphone into a puddle once. Immediate short out. Turned it off, shook water out, left it in hot water cupboard for a day. Worked fine for years after.

I threw one of my mobiles into a lake once – I was actually trying to feed the ducks and had some bread in one hand and my phone in the other hand…the message from my brain to my hand didn't quite get to the correct hand – so pretty much "wet".

I tried to turn it on but it didn't work so I left the phone in the airing cupboard (hot water cupboard) for a day and then turned it on. It started up and there were no problems.

Parzival, Sounds like I might have washed the same model phone (my daughter threw her jeans in the wash with phone in pocket). I opened it up, dried it out, and waited four days. When I turned it on, it flashed the Verizon screen and died. The battery would not take a charge. Eended up having to replace it.

Its probably dead, which means there's no harm trying things, but its probably dead.

If something gets wet disconnect power and let it dry completely before reapplying power. That's your best bet, but the odds aren't good. The odds are worse if its more than water – laundry detergent is bad. So is salt water. In my case it was a can of Pepsi that went into a PowerBook 3400 keyboard on the first day of a business trip. That's why I normally drink Coke.

Big difference between a flash drive and a cell phone. Flash drive has almost no parts, no battery, no switches, little sensitivity.

The memory in your phone may be okay. Its probably too new to have a sim card, but if you had pictures on a memory card they may be okay.

Cost of modern life.

Andrew

Even a drop of water on a circuit board can fry a device, if it's in the right spot. Never turn on a electronic device that has gotten wet, even if the outside is dry.

Open the device as much as you can, remove batteries, removable data cards, covers, open it up as much as you can. This next bit sounds odd, but if it was in dirty water, get distilled water and rinse the device. Particles in the water will be left on the circuit boards as the water dries, and if they can carry a charge, your device can fry. Leave the device in a warm dry place for several days, that has good air flow.

Then put it back togther, and turn it on. I have seen a laptop that got emersed in rusty water for 20 minutes (laptop case got put in the trunk of a taxi, and during the ride, it slipped down into the spare tire well that had filled with rain water). The user did not turn it on and brought it in for repair. We took it apart, flushed the circuit boards and let it dry. One week later we put it back together and it worked like a charm.

The two big points are, one, never turn a electronic device on that has gotten wet, until it is completely dry. Water doesn't ruin electronics, electricity in wet circuit boards ruins electronics. And second, be patient letting devices dry out. Droplets of water can stay for days in small cramped spaces, give things time to dry.

Brought to you by your local computer repair specialists.

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Left it in the bright sun on my window sill, popped the battery back in this afternoon and "hey, presto"-- up and running. (Above link was my response exactly.)

Thanks to everyone for your advice.