HERO took a quick dive in Water....

[klockk]

My wife dropped her Hero in the toilet today.. (TWO Weeks OLD!!!)...
She said it continued to work for a while, then started acting odd... (duh...)

I have it apart now.....
I have her battery in MY phone.. it seems to be working okay....

I used compressed air to get rid of all the water I can find....
Hopefully this will do the trick and I can get her phone working again....

I got it dried out and back together.... BUT.....
When I plug it in to a USB Port... The Orange LED lights up.. Ok.. good so far...

When I power it up... on USB or Battery....
The LCD turns on, and short vibrate occurs....
... The LCD remains on for ~4 seconds (Displaying HTC)
then it turns off... for about 4 seconds.....
then on for 4 secs, and off for 4 secs...
It seems like it will do this forever if I allow it.... only way to stop it is to remove the battery....

Now What!?!?

Any ideas?
At least parts of it work.. if I have to buy parts.. maybe I can not go broke replacing this 2 week old phone!!

 

[LBPHeretic]

Sorry to hear that happened. I hate to say this but she should have really not turned it back on or continued to use it after it fell in the water. There may be shorted out connections on the system board now. That is a shame.

Ideally, if an electronic device is submerged in water, it should be immediately turned off if it is not already off and left to dry for at least 48 hours. Usually sealing it in with a dessicant like dry rice or something will speed this drying process. Sadly, it sounds like there may be irreversible damage to your wife's Sprint HTC Hero. I am not sure there is much you can do about it.

 

[klockk]

I hate to say this but she should have really not turned it back on or continued to use it after it fell in the water.

Um.... yeah... You and I know that...
1) Was on at the time..
2) Kept working....
3) Duh.. she never thought to turn it off....

There may be shorted out connections on the system board now. That is a shame.

That's what I am curious about... is it possible to buy a new system board and just replace that??
Seems like it might be cheaper than buying a new Hero on eBay....

 

[LBPHeretic]

I am sorry I cannot be of more help. I really do not know if you can buy a new system board.

Do you have a warranty with the place that you bought the handset, like Best Buy? My wife has a warranty on her Palm Pre from Best Buy that also includes water damage.

 

[klockk]

I am sorry I cannot be of more help. I really do not know if you can buy a new system board.

Do you have a warranty with the place that you bought the handset, like Best Buy? My wife has a warranty on her Palm Pre from Best Buy that also includes water damage.

Couldn't affort the insurance plan...

Is a Warrantee really goign to cover water damage?

 

[LBPHeretic]

The Best Buy one does. I am not sure about the stock Sprint warranty.

You may be stuck with buying a second hand Sprint HTC Hero on eBay after all. Does anyone else have any ideas?

 

[Little Darwin]

At this point, I would flush it very well with clean water and dry it completely, just to see if it cleans any contamination. This is unlikely to help, but it can't hurt at this point.

My ex-wife put a pumpkin on top of the TV once, and with the warmth fromn the TV it rotted and filled the TV with pumpkin juice. I took it apart, brought it outside and flushed it with a hose, and waited a couple of days. The TV worked for at least another 5 years before we tired of it and upgraded...

BTW - with my klutziness and history with cell phones, I can't afford to not have insurance.

 

[Hemlox]

Sprints Insurance is only $7 a month. You can not afford that? And no one will know there is water damage if you do not tell them.

 

[NCHornet]

yeah but Sprint doesn't cover water damage!! Most of the phpones have a sticker in them that will turn color if exposed to water. So they know if you tried to dry it out. As far as I know you can't buy a spare board. You may look for one on Ebay that somebody dropped and you could try swapping the internals. Many have used the Rice trick and I have had success with another phone I had. Just fill a zip lock bab with rice and drop your phone in there for a day or so. The rice will absorb any moisture. But as already been said the damage may be done.

 

[LBPHeretic]

I hate to disagree with you Little Darwin, but the last thing I would do is get the handset wet again. There might be a slight chance that the water sensing dots on the hardware were not activated the first time it fell in the water.

I really think klockk has little recourse but to search for a replacement handset on Craigslist or eBay. Hopefully his wife were have learned her lesson and try to be more careful with her next handset.

 

[LBPHeretic]

Sprints Insurance is only $7 a month. You can not afford that? And no one will know there is water damage if you do not tell them.

Sorry, but this is wrong. All cell phones and smartphones are equipped with SEVERAL water sensing stickers that turn red in the event of water contact.

These water sensing stickers are hidden all throughout the handset so that even if it was only partially submerged they will know. By the way, Best Buy's insurance is $10 a month, but it is worth it because it covers ALL damage and it does not require the deductible like Sprint's insurance does.

 

[dhinez]

A way around the Sprint insurance is to file it as a lost or stolen device. They usually don't ask any questions and suspend the account for the number until your new phone arrives. If you are a Sprint Premier customer they do next day shipping. Down-side to this is that you may have to pay a $100 deductible. In some cases you get a brand new phone or a refurbished one. I lost my phone one weekend and received a new Hero the next day.

 

[lil goat]

If you open the Hero both the battery and the phone have visible water detection devices, they are pink until they get wet. In about another 2 weeks with the Evo out now should be lots of Hero's for sale cheap.

 

[klockk]

If you open the Hero both the battery and the phone have visible water detection devices, they are pink until they get wet. In about another 2 weeks with the Evo out now should be lots of Hero's for sale cheap.

That is precisely hat I am hoping for..

 

[EgeBamyasi]

If you want to bother opening it up again, try using a hair dryer to evaporate any excess moisture. You don't want to put it right up to the unit - depending on the hair dryer output, maybe a foot back on low.
Used to do this to audio equipment when some drunk would spill beer into something while it was plugged in and on. Would do this trick later and almost always worked like a charm. Of course, that doesn't mean that there hasn't already been some irreversable damage done already. But give it a try at least. Good luck!

 

[cyberhound]

I've found the best thing to flush out electronics is rubbing alcohol. It's non corrosive, doesn't leave deposits, and dries much faster than water.

 

[mkhopper]

And I've read in various places that you should bury the device in a bowl full of uncooked rice for a few days.

Apparently the rice absorbs the moisture, even inside the case, leaving you with a working device again.

I haven't had the guts to purposely dunk my phone to try this though.

 

[lil goat]

And I've read in various places that you should bury the device in a bowl full of uncooked rice for a few days.

Apparently the rice absorbs the moisture, even inside the case, leaving you with a working device again.

I haven't had the guts to purposely dunk my phone to try this though.

Not sure if it will help the phone but I would have loved to have done that with my x-wife, oh I guess I should make her hold the phone huh.

 

[Squiggy]

And I've read in various places that you should bury the device in a bowl full of uncooked rice for a few days.

Apparently the rice absorbs the moisture, even inside the case, leaving you with a working device again.

I haven't had the guts to purposely dunk my phone to try this though.

Worked for my sister's iPhone last month.

 

[glen4cindy]

If you open the Hero both the battery and the phone have visible water detection devices, they are pink until they get wet. In about another 2 weeks with the Evo out now should be lots of Hero's for sale cheap.

So **that's** what those dots on the battery are for!

I have always wondered what those were, but, I've never had any idea. I always thought they were some sort of sensor of some sort, but, never thought it was a water sensor.