repaired T68i!

To those who haven't followed my saga, I had apparently purchased the
non-swimming version of the T68i which, when it fell into a cup of water,
decided it didn't like the world anymore.

For the first day or so it sorta worked, and then died. Weird symptom- it
wouldn't turn on/off, but when you attached a charger to it, it showed the
normal "charging" screen, leading me to hope that the electronics weren't
totally fried. Plus, pressing *any* key other than the on/off button would
wake it up from "sleep" mode while charging (light up the screen).

I called up a repair place, who said it would probably be best just to buy a
new one (repair would be too expensive). And I was getting frustrated
trying to find a suitable replacement, so...

Went out and bought a T6 torqx wrench and took it apart. More than once.
Cleaned it up (contact cleaner), looked for anything amiss, reassembled.
Couldn't see anything that might be causing the trouble.

Finally decided to give it one last go tonight, concentrating entirely on
that on/off button. Had to pry away a white plastic piece that was glued
over the circuit board and, underneath that were the button contacts.
Cleaned them with a pencil eraser, then used some alcohol on them,
reassembled and voila, she works!

The screen has a slight discoloration on the bottom third, but I'm not going
to mess with that until I have a replacement screen available (I understand
they break very easily). For now, I'm just happy to have a phone that works
again!

By the way, don't attempt to do this sort of thing without a lot of light
and a magnifying glass.

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
http://www.ChainReactionBicycles.com

---

› See More: repaired T68i!

There are companies that reclaim water damaged electrical goods. The items
are placed in a partial vacuum which is then heated to 50C. Water boils in
these conditions and is therefore removed (steam) from those inaccessible
areas.

How do I know, well I used to machine the vacuum chambers for someone who
manufactured the chambers.

clanger
"Mike Jacoubowsky" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> To those who haven't followed my saga, I had apparently purchased the
> non-swimming version of the T68i which, when it fell into a cup of water,
> decided it didn't like the world anymore.
>
> For the first day or so it sorta worked, and then died. Weird symptom- it
> wouldn't turn on/off, but when you attached a charger to it, it showed the
> normal "charging" screen, leading me to hope that the electronics weren't
> totally fried. Plus, pressing *any* key other than the on/off button
would
> wake it up from "sleep" mode while charging (light up the screen).
>
> I called up a repair place, who said it would probably be best just to buy
a
> new one (repair would be too expensive). And I was getting frustrated
> trying to find a suitable replacement, so...
>
> Went out and bought a T6 torqx wrench and took it apart. More than once.
> Cleaned it up (contact cleaner), looked for anything amiss, reassembled.
> Couldn't see anything that might be causing the trouble.
>
> Finally decided to give it one last go tonight, concentrating entirely on
> that on/off button. Had to pry away a white plastic piece that was glued
> over the circuit board and, underneath that were the button contacts.
> Cleaned them with a pencil eraser, then used some alcohol on them,
> reassembled and voila, she works!
>
> The screen has a slight discoloration on the bottom third, but I'm not
going
> to mess with that until I have a replacement screen available (I
understand
> they break very easily). For now, I'm just happy to have a phone that
works
> again!
>
> By the way, don't attempt to do this sort of thing without a lot of light
> and a magnifying glass.
>
> --Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
> http://www.ChainReactionBicycles.com
>
>
>

Over the past decades I've dunked lots of electronics, including cellphones,
radios, and hearing aids. I even recovered a cellphone that went overboard
in shallow salt water and a $3000 hearing aid that made its way into the
toilet. All worked afterward with this procedure: instantly remove
battery(ies), disassemble, soak in a couple of changes of distilled water,
then dry at 50 deg C or so (perhaps a hair dryer at 1', on the Godiva
setting). Depending upon the degree of disassembly, let the thing rest a
while and dry again, and perhaps again.

In one case where complete disassembly wasn't possible but fluid had
certainly entered, I bored two small orifices and used a water pick
(distilled water).

Remember, at the voltages in such devices electricity will NOT flow in
distilled water. Any impurities dissolved by such water, however, can create
electrical paths.

Sometimes contaminants may have entered spaces that are difficult to flush
out; in my case, it was the area between the circuitboard and plastic
contact sheet.

Another very important thing to remember is NOT to try and turn off the
power to a cell phone that's been dunked in water... remove the battery!!!
The on-off switch may have shorted out and be of no use, and you really want
to cut power to the circuitry as quickly as possible. Batteries can usually
be removed very quickly.

--Mike--
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com

"HLE" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Over the past decades I've dunked lots of electronics, including
cellphones,
> radios, and hearing aids. I even recovered a cellphone that went overboard
> in shallow salt water and a $3000 hearing aid that made its way into the
> toilet. All worked afterward with this procedure: instantly remove
> battery(ies), disassemble, soak in a couple of changes of distilled water,
> then dry at 50 deg C or so (perhaps a hair dryer at 1', on the Godiva
> setting). Depending upon the degree of disassembly, let the thing rest a
> while and dry again, and perhaps again.
>
> In one case where complete disassembly wasn't possible but fluid had
> certainly entered, I bored two small orifices and used a water pick
> (distilled water).
>
> Remember, at the voltages in such devices electricity will NOT flow in
> distilled water. Any impurities dissolved by such water, however, can
create
> electrical paths.
>
>