Help Galaxy S5 touch screen non-responsive after water damage (water indicators still white though?)

[LamboHD]

Ironic isn't it? My water proof S5 got water damaged? Well, I've gone swimming with my S5 numerous times before without any noticeable problems, except that a couple of days ago when I went again I saw the screen display a very nice variety of colors, before turning off. I knew that water obviously somehow got inside (which is weird, because I always triple check the charger cover and case before placing it in water) so about 20 minutes later when I arrived home I placed it in an airtight Ziploc bag with uncooked rice.

Anyways, a couple of days have passed, and it seems like everything is fine, because when I turn it on it brings me right to the lock screen and shows my notifications and all that, however the touch screen remains non-responsive.

The weird thing is that the two water damage indicators on the phone and battery remained white, even though it was obviously water damaged. I was thinking that the motherboard could have been damaged from the chlorine eroding it, in which case I have no idea how to fix that.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[Clonier]

Can u go into download mode? if yes try reflashing with odin.
I don't think putting ur phone in bag with uncooked rice is a good idea even tho "uncooked rice can save phone from water damage" apparently.

 

[LamboHD]

It's volume down, home button, and power button right? It doesn't seem to boot into download mode when I hold them down. I read online about it for a bit and noticed that the phone has to be in dev mode, which requires me to unlock the phone and go into settings and such, which I can't do because the touch screen refuses to work

 

[AZgl1500]

IMO purposely placing any cellphone in water is not a good idea period.
You WILL definitely ruin the device, I don't care how many certifications it might have.

IP67 is "resistant" to accidental splashes, not to be totally submersed intentionally over and over....

I have worked in the electronics field as a technician since 1958 and there is NO such thing as "Water Proof"...
They will ALL fail sooner or later.

Super Expensive cameras fail under water eventually.

 

[Clonier]

It's volume down, home button, and power button right? It doesn't seem to boot into download mode when I hold them down. I read online about it for a bit and noticed that the phone has to be in dev mode, which requires me to unlock the phone and go into settings and such, which I can't do because the touch screen refuses to work

Try connecting it to kies 3 while the screen is unresponsive. See if its recognized. If it is then go on tools then firmware upgrade and intializion..... U should be able to reflash the phone to its original firmware. Make sure u backup IN kies 3 before doing that.

If it doesn't get recognized and u cannot go into download mode then do a factory reset in recovery mode.
IF non of these worked for u AND UR ABLE TO GO INTO RECOVERY MODE then download the firmware OR AN UNOFFICIAL FIRMWARE like Cyanogenmod and put it into an external micro sd card. While in recovery mode simply choose apply update from external sd and install that new firmware from there.
BTW to go into recovery mode. press and hold volume up, home and power buttons until u see a blue sentence saying loading recovery or recovery loading at the top.

 

[LamboHD]

IMO purposely placing any cellphone in water is not a good idea period.
You WILL definitely ruin the device, I don't care how many certifications it might have.

IP67 is "resistant" to accidental splashes, not to be totally submersed intentionally over and over....

I have worked in the electronics field as a technician since 1958 and there is NO such thing as "Water Proof"...
They will ALL fail sooner or later.

Super Expensive cameras fail under water eventually.

Yes I just looked up the IP67 rating definition and realized I was just testing my luck each time I went swimming with it. Guess it finally decided to give.

Try connecting it to kies 3 while the screen is unresponsive. See if its recognized. If it is then go on tools then firmware upgrade and intializion..... U should be able to reflash the phone to its original firmware. Make sure u backup IN kies 3 before doing that.

If it doesn't get recognized and u cannot go into download mode then do a factory reset in recovery mode.
IF non of these worked for u AND UR ABLE TO GO INTO RECOVERY MODE then download the firmware OR AN UNOFFICIAL FIRMWARE like Cyanogenmod and put it into an external micro sd card. While in recovery mode simply choose apply update from external sd and install that new firmware from there.
BTW to go into recovery mode. press and hold volume up, home and power buttons until u see a blue sentence saying loading recovery or recovery loading at the top.

Clonier sir you are actually amazing, the factory reset worked somehow!! I'm not even sure what that has to do with it because I thought it was possibly a hardware failure, but surprise surprise the touch screen is now responsive again! Thank you so much for the help

 

[AZgl1500]

glad it is working again, and I hope the phone manages to avoid a water test again

 

[Clonier]

happy to help.