How can I get my cellphone to work again after water fell on it??? (1 Viewer)

[Van Patton]

My cell phone won't turn on now because I accidentally spilled a little bit of water onto it. Is there anywhere I can get it to come on again?? I heard if you dip it into rubbing alcohol it will??

 

[MickeS]

Pour some alcohol in a little bowl, open the cellphone, take out the circuit board, put it in the alcohol for a little while. Dry it with a blowdryer, take q-tips dipped in alcohol and clean it more in detail (you'll most likely see the corrosion where the water is). I worked as a cell-phone repair guy for a while, and this did miracles on most phones that had water damage, unless the corrosion was too wide spread.

/Mike

 

[Van Patton]

How do I take out the circuit board?

 

[MickeS]

Normally there are little screws here and there on the phone to open it, often hidden behind a sticker or glued-on thin plastic plate on the back. If it's a sticker you can just poke a hole in it where the screw is, or peel it off and put it back on when you're done. If it's a plastic plate, just peel it off and glue it back when you're done.

Once you have it open, and the screws are gone, you should be able to just pop out the circuit board.

This voids your warranty, but that shouldn't be a concern anyway since the warranty doesn't cover water damage, unless you bought some kind of additional insurance.

/Mike

 

[Van Patton]

ok i got my phone to come on again but it's responding all weird now.

 

[MickeS]

Did you clean it out?
Unless you did, the problems will most likely come back sooner or later, as the corrosion sets in. However, with cellphone technology advancing and prices coming down, if you can get another year out of it without cleaning, you might be better off just buying a new one when it stops completely.
It's always fun to poke around in them though, and you have nothing to lose if it's not working.
/Mike

 

[Van Patton]

anymore advice?

 

[Shayne Lebrun]

If the advice of the cell phone repairman isn't satisfactory, then I don't know what you're looking for.

It's been damaged. You either fix it, get somebody else to fix it, do without, or replace it.

 

[PatrickM]

This advice is obviously a little to late but for anyone who spills liquid on an electronic component that isn't turned on at the time, whatever you do, do not turn it on! If you dry it out and then turn it on, it most likely will work. If you try to turn it on when its still wet you will most likely fry something.

Patrick

 

[Matt Stryker]

Also clean the contacts on the battery; use a pencil eraser.

My wife dropped hers in a cup of Coke, and after draining and cleaning the contacts, it works just fine.

 

[MickeS]

Yes, the battery contacts should be cleaned too. If the phone turns off on you every once in a while for no apparent reason, it's most likely just dirty battery contacts.

/Mike

 

[Scott Merryfield]

A simpler solution is to just call your cell phone service provider. Even without any insurance plan, they will usually replace the phone for free to keep you as a customer. My wife's Sprint PCS phone stopped working last year, and Sprint provided a free replacement when I told them I was going to cancel the account and switch to Verizon.

They give the phones away for free to new accounts, so it should not be a major hassle to get them to cough one up for an established customer.

 

[MickeS]

Yeah, Scott's idea is probably the best if you don't want to or can fix your phone. Check what the cellphone company says. Of course, they might look at your billing history and determine if it's worth it to them to give you a new phone, but it's worth a shot.

There's always the option of going with a different cellphone provider and get whatever free phone they're offering at the moment, too.

/Mike