w300i Problem

Recently my w300i got wet in a rain and now my phone keeps saying "Insert SmartChip". Am I screwed? I keep trying to dry it off but it got wet in places I can't reach unless I disassemble it. I keep taking the battery out and fitting the SIM card back in, but nothing (I'm guessing that's what that thing is under my battery, I don't know if it's the same thing as a SmartChip) Other than that I'm not sure where the SmartChip is, unless I'm guessing it's inside and I have to open the thing up and dry everything. And now the front part with the LCD has a bit of condensation. That doesn't look good.
So what should I do? Should I go back to a RadioShack or some other carrier for Cingular/AT&T and get a replacement? I hope not... I keep trying to dry this thing off and looking around it but it doesn't seem I'm getting anywhere. Any help is appreciated!

You should have taken out the battery immediately, carefully taken it apart, and thoroughly dried it off for at least a week with a hair dryer or placed on a vent. Water itself does not harm devices. It is when a device is wet, and is running an electric current does it damage to its components.

Yes, the SIM card is the SmartChip.

Again, you should have taken it apart and dried it off completely.

RadioShack is not your carrier, it's just a dealer. AT&T is your carrier. And AT&T warranty is voided if a phone is water damaged. The best thing you can do right now is to look up on the net and find ways how to fix water damaged phones, and do it yourself. If you're not comfortable in any way with fixing it yourself, bring it to a cell phone repair shop local in your area. Otherwise, just buy a new one. Hope that helps you.

I've been drying it for a few days. I don't think any permanent damage has occurred to the circuits. So far the condensation is gone from the LCD, but as a precaution I'm leaving it wrapped in a dry towel for one more. I've read many methods for cleaning it like washing it with denatured alcohol and drying it off or something of the sort and also dipping it in dry rice grains, but I think that other method is too risky so I've settled to wrap it with a dry towel ( pretty much equivalent to dry rice grains, I don't have any on me right now ). So I suppose in due time it'll be dry enough to be safely used. I'm too afraid to open it up, I might destroy it or be unable to put it back together because it's not immediately obvious how to crack open the LCD.

i dropped my phone in tha toilet when i was taking a piss, W300i, took it out and set it out to dry for several days and BAM!!! started working perfectly again, love SE

You were lucky. I dried mine as much as I could, but I guess I didn't take out the battery soon enough. Even though the service works fine and I can still make calls, there were a few damages to the phone. The small LCD screen that shows up when you close the phone no longer shows anything and my Bluetooth is also damaged. It freezes when I try to send stuff and turn it on and off. Other than that it works fine. Should've dried it off better. Oh well.

I guess if it didn't work, you would've been pissed...sorry, couldn't help it.

You could probably find a used one that works perfectly for a cheap price. Check out craigslist.org, and see if there might be one available. I've seen some W300i go for $75, even as low as $50.

yeah you should for sure go back to the store for a replacement. they should be able to help you with out a problem.