Help water damage - next step?

[meghan712]

just my luck, i broke my brand new droid turbo. it slid into the sink and was 1/3 submerged in water for about 2 seconds (the bottom 1/3 by the charging port was submerged). i immediately took it out of my otter box commuter case and dried off what i could. i was at a hotel so the best i could do was shake it and get some water out and then i left it drying propped up at an angle (screen down, charging port down) for the night. the phone vibrated occasionally all night and the red sensors on the bottom of the phone were on. in the morning i got it in rice and the next day i removed the back cover of the phone, put it in a sheer stocking an placed it back in rice. it has been in rice for close to 60 hours now and is still occasionally vibrating, the buttons on the bottom also are occasionally illuminating for 10 seconds and dimming off. this morning (after the 60 hours) i charged the phone and nothing new happened, however it is vibrating more often now and the phone heated up after 15 minutes of charging. when i tried plugging the device into my computer, it did not connect or appear to exist.

symptom recap
-water damage
-60 hours in rice
-heating up when charging
-not recognized on computer
-still vibrating / lighting up

if it does not work after another 24 hours in rice, what would you recommend i try?
my thoughts are take it in and get a new battery or cut my losses and buy a new phone.

 

[EarlyMon]

Are you saying that it's still powered up, or that the water is shorting something and it's powered down and vibrating?

Also, keep it off of the charger for now.

 

[meghan712]

Are you saying that it's still powered up, or that the water is shorting something and it's powered down and vibrating?

Also, keep it off of the charger for now.

i believe that it is still on and vibrating. the screen is black so i can't tell if it is on or off. when it is properly functioning, the way to turn it off is to hold down the on/off button and then to tap the option on the screen that says to either turn off or to change to airplane mode, so with the screen not working, i am unable to choose the option to turn it off.

 

[EarlyMon]

Does it have some form of power reset to force it off?

Long press on the power for example?

I take it the battery is non-removeable.

 

[Thom]

Holding the power button down for 5 seconds will simply reboot. I don't know of a way to request a power off that does not use the screen.

OP said she took the back off. Was this the back of the phone or the back of the case around the phone? Opening the back of the Turbo will void the warranty.

Waiting for 3-4 days with the power on will force it to eventually power off.

... Thom

 

[meghan712]

Does it have some form of power reset to force it off?

Long press on the power for example?

I take it the battery is non-removeable.

i haven't been able to find a force off option through trial or internet searches :/
and correct, i did open the phone up to try and remove the battery, but i don't have the correct tools to open the phone. i was just able to get the back cover off

 

[meghan712]

i followed this video and stopped copying him at 4:40 in the video. i don't have the right kind of screw driver to remove the screws

 

[Thom]

The fact that power is still on while the phone was opened is frightening.

Have you considered taking it to a professional who repairs phones that are no longer under warranty?

... Thom

 

[EarlyMon]

I see here that you can power reset, but not force a power down from there.

http://www.verizonwireless.com/support/knowledge-base-117689/

I'm with Thom and don't recommend phone disassembly.

Normally, I would strongly, very strongly, not recommend a hair dryer because it tends to drive moisture deeper into the device - and the point is to avoid driving water in and causing an electrical short.

I'd say that your phone is far past that point and water has been shorting it from what you've described.

Take a hair dryer to it and see if you can mitigate the effects.

Never thought I'd recommend that but yours is an extreme case.

Failing that, or if your instincts make you pause for even a microsecond, go straight to a repair center as Thom advised, definitely.

 

[lunatic59]

According to the Motorola website, to force restart the phone you press and hold the power button for 7-10 seconds ...might be a little longer. This forces a reboot.

Holding the volume up and then long-pressing power *might* get you into recovery but the instructions I found were from a powered off state.. I also saw some references to holding the volume down and long pressing the power button for a shutdown, but i can't confirm that.

You might want to try all of them.

EDIT: The ninjas are out in force today.

 

[Thom]

Holding volume down plus power takes a screenshot.
Holding volume up plus power does a reboot.
Holding power does a reboot.

You need to be power off to boot into recovery with volume down plus power.

I know of no way to simply power down without using the screen other than waiting for the battery to run down.

I find the concept of toing anything with it while the power is on to be simply frightening (including possibly touching it with a hair dryer that is plugged into a wall outlet).

... Thom

 

[meghan712]

i think professional help might be my best bet!! from what i've described, does it sounds like a new battery might do the trick? is it a good or bad sign that it is still vibrating? (i really need it to work so i can save my vacation pictures- only 10 of a few hundred saved to my backup account since wifi was bad)

 

[EarlyMon]

i think professional help might be my best bet!! from what i've described, does it sounds like a new battery might do the trick?

Great decision.

Impossible to guess.

It could turn around and be just fine.

It could really be borked beyond comprehension.

I hope it's the former.

There's no way to tell until it's been professionally serviced.

Fwiw, I've seen batteries survive a good dunking.

 

[Thom]

That's a great move.

The damage comes in by applying power while it is wet. It can short out components. Only an expert can tell for sure.

... Thom

 

[meghan712]

Thank you guys so much for your advice! if anything, i am more confident in spending the money to try and fix it now!

 

[Thom]

Repair or replace will come after the quote form the repair professional.

I have the 64GB Turbo and it is the best phone I have ever used or owned. The camera outdoors is publisher quality. Indoors is iffy.

Be sure and tell us how it works out.

... Thom

 

[meghan712]

well it seems to be officially dead. nothing has changed, but i took it to a phone repair place in spain and they were unable to help, they dont have parts since the phone is new and pretty specific to verizon. soo i purchased an ipod touch since i don't currently have a phone plan anyways. thanks for the help, i will be posting another question about memory and storage to try and at least recover my lost pictures! again thank you all for your help, the advice lessened my stress level while i was waiting for my phone to turn back on!!!