[Water Damage] OV stuck at LG screen on startup

PinkV · November 26th, 2012, 04:56 PM

My phone has served me well for 11 months, but yesterday it suffered some mild water exposure. It was still on, so I wiped it off and everything. The touchscreen worked and all my apps work. I did not get a chance to test the speakers before I realized the buttons at the bottom weren't responding so I rebooted the phone. A terrible mistake, because I've essentially bricked my damn phone.

All it does now is load to the LG screen and then stays there until the battery dies. I've turned it on an off at least a billion times, I've charged it, and have left it in a bag of rice for about 8 hours. Now I know what you're thinking, it's my fault for turning on a water damaged phone, but I figured the phone was fine because like I said, apps were working, memory intact and touch screen responsive. The only problem was the buttons, and I could live without those.

The good news is I haven't put it in any alcohol or any other liquid. I've just charged it for a few minutes, restarted it a few times and bagged in it rice for a few hours. If I plug the phone in without booting it it will go to the charging screen, but if I press power again it goes to the LG screen and stays there.

When I boot into safe mode or w/e it goes to the black screen. I feel that my phone is still in there somewhere, I just need to find a way to force it to boot past the LG screen. Any tips?

PinkV · November 27th, 2012, 06:08 AM

Update: I can Emergency Mode. PLEASE help.

badblue1 · November 27th, 2012, 04:45 PM

Is your phone rooted?
Do you have a custom recovery?
Did you flash a rom?

I don't know how much water you got on or in it, but if it was a lot i would leave it in rice for 5 to 7 days!
Do you have a computer?
We need to know these things before we can help!

PinkV · November 27th, 2012, 05:30 PM

No, no, no and yes.

badblue1 · November 27th, 2012, 06:41 PM

I think you might have to leave your phone in rice for a while because all of the unbrick guides, at least the ones i know, you need the buttons working.

I don't have time, but read the guides here : http://androidforums.com/optimus-v-all-things-root/453389-optimus-v-all-things-root-guide-updated-06-14-2012-a.html

If you get the bottom buttons working ...turn off phone, hold home, volume down and power button all at the same time until phone comes on then release. This will do a factory reset.

Hope this helps!

jerofld · December 3rd, 2012, 10:54 AM

Rice doesn't pull out the sediment that causes water to conduct electricity. When the water dries (or evaporates), the sediment is often left behind and continues to short out pins or corrode them, causing the device to not function. Sometimes leaving the device to dry out will make it so the sediment doesn't make contact with pins anymore, and the device will work. Sometimes it doesn't. Also, some types of sediment will corrode the electrical contacts and solder joints, causing permanent failure. So you can try rice, but I'm not very optimistic about it working.

The only real way of cleaning out sediment is to disassemble the device, separate the main board from the display, case, battery, etc. and then dip the device's circuit board into a bath of isopropynol alcohol. Swish it around gently and then blow it out with some low-pressure air. Isopropynol is also known as "rubbing alcohol" and is a common disinfectant for cuts and other wounds. So you can use that, so long as it's just rubbing alcohol and nothing extra is added in (like other disinfectants). For low-pressure air, a CO2 duster can works well.

After it's blown dry (do not let it sit and dry after the alcohol bath), reassemble and test.

iwantbruce · December 17th, 2012, 12:08 AM

I dropped my phone in a creek, sealed it up in a plastic bag of white rice (battery removed!) for four or five days and it did start working again. A few months later, during a very humid few weeks it wouldn't boot again, so I had to dry it out again using he bag of rice trick, no problems since. Try it out, should work. If not, send it in for service, though warranty won't cover repair costs due to water damage. The battery's litmus paper will have turned pink from water contact.