Help Water damage support.

[suziejb]

Hello,

I dropped my HTC one in some water 3 days ago and have had it in a n airung cupboard drying out since but still nothing I get a red flashing light sometimes but thats about it. Does anyone have any ideas as to how I can get it working again

Thanks

 

[EarlyMon]

Welcome to the forums, sorry for your woes.

Keep it off, water only hurts when there's power. Definitely keep it off the charger.

Have you tried putting it in a desiccant? Many of us have used dry rice for that.

Wrap loosely in a baggie, just to keep the rice from working its way in, place in a plastic container surrounded with rice, put lid on, but allow it to breathe, and sit in a warm place. I've used a windowsill and sunlight for this.

If that doesn't work, check back, we can discuss an alcohol bath.

 

[Rockale]

Welcome to the forums, sorry for your woes.

Keep it off, water only hurts when there's power. Definitely keep it off the charger.

Have you tried putting it in a desiccant? Many of us have used dry rice for that.

Wrap loosely in a baggie, just to keep the rice from working its way in, place in a plastic container surrounded with rice, put lid on, but allow it to breathe, and sit in a warm place. I've used a windowsill and sunlight for this.

If that doesn't work, check back, we can discuss an alcohol bath.

Out of curiosity, what is an alcohol bath?

 

[ocnbrze]

Out of curiosity, what is an alcohol bath?

well alcohol has a drying effect in that it is highly evaporative and is soluble with water(dissolves in water), thus lowering the boiling point allowing for faster evaporation of said water. you do, however, need to find the right kind of alcohol to do this. i think rubbing alcohol might work, but i have read that it can be a bit risky.

i also found this for you op:
How to save a wet mobile phone - and what not to do | Reviews | CNET UK

 

[EarlyMon]

Never a good idea to use a hairdryer.

You'll drive water into the little nooks and crannies that you're trying to dry.

Remove battery only on phones with user-replaceable batteries.

 

[Rush]

Welcome aboard... Suziejb.

Again.. Sorry to hear what has happened to your phone. If all of the above method fails, hopefully you have insurance on such an expensive device. You should then contact Asurion (insurance company for most carriers) and file a replacement claim.

I believe the deductible is either $150 or $200.

Best of luck.

Edit: I moved your thread over to the Htc One support forum for a wider viewing from other users of this device.

 

[PyroSporker]

If that doesn't work, check back, we can discuss an alcohol bath.

Out of curiosity, what is an alcohol bath?

Well alcohol has a drying effect in that it is highly evaporative and is soluble with water(dissolves in water) ... you do, however, need to find the right kind of alcohol to do this. I think rubbing alcohol might work, but I have read that it can be a bit risky.

In my minimal experience with fiber optic cable, and other expensive electronics, I've found that a higher purity % will dissolve slightly faster and leave less residue. The rubbing alcohol you buy at the local drug store is usually slightly below or around 87.9% pure (the difference is usually water dilution).

If you can find a product that is in the high 90's % pure, slightly better results can be achieved. (if you can believe the claim on the bottle, 99.9% pure IPA is the good stuff)

I personally wouldn't try the alcohol method here, and it doesn't sound like we are going down that route, just a tip I've picked up

 

[Tlicious1020]

Sorry for the loss of your phone and may your HTC rest in peace. Damn, I want to cry because this phone is amazing. Anyway, I'm going to build cell phone floatees due to your incident. I see them on dogs..why not a phone?

 

[suziejb]

I have managed to dry the phone out and retrieve the data via my laptop, I have been able to fully charge the phone and everything seems to be working ok apart from the screen it is not working so I still can't use the phone.

 

[EarlyMon]

I have managed to dry the phone out and retrieve the data via my laptop, I have been able to fully charge the phone and everything seems to be working ok apart from the screen it is not working so I still can't use the phone.

Power down, go back to the drying routine.

If you're lucky, that's caused by a non-fatal short, screens are the hardest to dry.

I've had it work out once for me, give it another day.

Best luck, keep us posted.

 

[Tlicious1020]

It's ALIVE...must have been the defibrillator!

 

[skarface1988]

I found someone on craiglist selling a htc one that is water damage. And he did the rice trick it still wont turn on. Is there any other solution?. I havent bought it yet by the way...

 

[marctronixx]

please dont waste your time on purchasing a water damaged phone.

would you purchase a car that was in a flood? (I hope not)

there will forever be problems lurking around inside just waiting for the right time to cause mischief.

plus you dont know just how much damage the phone went through. this is a stranger selling you something--who knows what that seller is leaving out.

NO dont waste your money.

 

[skarface1988]

please dont waste your time on purchasing a water damaged phone.

would you purchase a car that was in a flood? (I hope not)

there will forever be problems lurking around inside just waiting for the right time to cause mischief.

plus you dont know just how much damage the phone went through. this is a stranger selling you something--who knows what that seller is leaving out.

NO dont waste your money.

Thanks , i was just wondering thats all. But im not going to buy it even though he selling kt for 120. Thanks again

 

[Hadron]

Yeah, I came across someone selling a water-damaged Desire S on ebay the other day. They described it as "for spares", but I was thinking that the only spare I'd touch on a water-damaged device would be the case or the glass.

 

[jaipreet]

Hi Guys,
So last night I accidentally put my phone in a glass of water. Only the lower part of the was phone submerged under water ( the charging port and lower speakers) not more than 10 seconds. As i was driving then i forgot to switch off the phone and when i reached home after a couple of minutes, i dried the whole phone using tissues. The main blunder i created was that i didnt switch off the phone and used it for 15 minutes , tested out its speakers and stuff. After some time, the phone showed low battery and i started charging it and in a couple of minutes it turned off. It wasnt charging at all.Also i dried my phone using hair dryer for 5 minutes. Then i put the phone in uncooked rice for the whole night and the next morning i tried to switch it on but no success. But when i tried to charge it a dark red light started blinking and later the charging light started but when i switched on the phone , after the htc logo appeared the phone switched off again. From now i am not able to even charge it , no light comes , i think the phones dead now.

Also when i checked the liquid damage indicator, it hasnt turned red which it is supposed to if your phone is damaged my liquid.

So can i know that what should i do now? I am still under the HTC one year warranty but i dont know whether they will repair my phone or not?

 

[EarlyMon]

The blinking red light means that there isn't enough charge to power up.

If water has - or is - shorting the battery then you want to expect that.

The moisture indicator is just that. You can trip it and have no damage or not trip it and have damage. It's just an indicator for service staff.

Take it off the charger, give it another day in the rice. Let it sit somewhere warm like a windowsill if you can. (If your windowsills are warm now lol.)

Avoid the hair dryer, that's just breaking up the water into smaller bits and forcing them deeper into nooks and crannies.

Best luck, keep us posted!

 

[RedRocker]

The wife was riding in a boat with her phone in her shirt pocket & got splashed a few times. Noticed later the battery was low & put it on the charger, bad move I know. So it quit working, but after a few days I was able to plug it in to my computer & after jacking with the on switch for a while could get it to boot up. I could bring up all her pics but before the computer discovered all of them the phone shut down. I did this two or three times & gave up. So it seems the info is in tact, but for sure the battery is fried. Any ideas who might be able to recover the photos? Don't care about bringing the phone back to life, we got another one, but would like the pics. Thanks

 

[marctronixx]

Probably more than the battery is damaged since the phone has been turned on.

If the phone can't stay on then there is no way to retrieve data.

Since you have a new device, I suggest using one of the many cloud based storage services that will allow you to auto upload direct from the phone.

 

[RedRocker]

Yeah, we did that on the new one, didn't know how before. Thanks.

 

[amebb]

Hi there can anyone help me please on this matter.

My wife has a HTC One M7. last week the phone fell in to the bath. I managed to open the phone up and clean it.
The phone was taken apart and cleaned correctly using the correct circuit board cleaning solution (sorry cant remember the name).

I then ordered a new battery as the old one was not holding full charge. I also ordered a new screen + digitizer as the old one was cracked.

I have put everything together and charged the phone.

The phone charges correcrtly and has no problems at all.

When i switch on the phone it starts as normal and makes normal sounds etc BUT the screen is dead.

There is NO life in the screen at all even though its a new screen etc.

I know that the old screen is working and even using that i still get nothing.

Has anyone else come across this issue ?

Are there any guides to test the screen driver IC etc ....???

Thanks for your help in advance

 

[marctronixx]

phone is faulty. water damage will harm way more things than you can see from the naked eye.

only recourse is to cut your losses and sell it for parts. htc will not fix a water damaged device.

 

[amebb]

The phone has been soaked and cleaned in alchol and then dried in a warm place over night.

the mother board is totally dry.

I have noticed that one of the connectors for the screen I thing is slightly broken. so the ribbon cable goes in to the socket and the socket can be closed but, due to the breakage I feel this may be the reason why there is no screen activity.

I just need a technical diagram or pictures showing me what the connectors are for.

Thank you

 

[marctronixx]

if the phone was POWERED on when this happened, the board was energized and other components were affected. only if the phone was not powered or energized could these tricks you mentioned possibly save it.

you can let the phone sit foe a few days/a week un-powered and then restart it, but its not going to work reliably from this point on if it does power up.

---
if you DO feel its just a connector,

you can try a different screen/digitizer but now you are pouring money into a device thats likely beyond the value of the parts.

ive seen this occur many times. you are not the only one who has had this issue.

There is a thread here that shows dismantling of the phone. you are also welcome to try youtube for a video showing this or reach out to a parts supplier on ebay or similar who may be able to provide you with a schematic of the device.

 

[shakethia beckham]

I have a ZTE Speed only had for about a month my son dropped bubbles out on my phone it has not been working for two days i now have in uncooked rice and oatmeal any other options. I cannot afford to buy a new phone just yet.I hate the fact that the battery does not come out any suggestions would greatly be Appreciated....Thanks in advance