How serious is the water damage of my phone?

[monaka25]

 My phone is a Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3. Well I know i shouldn't have but I left water on my desk, I went to lay down, I couldn't go to sleep. I got back up after like 20 minutes, and notice my water was spilled(I blame one of my cats), and I cleaned it up naturally. I forgot my phone was on the desk.. it didn't splash on my phone mostly but it did get inside the case.. and I forgot to get the water out of the case, so it seeped into my phone. Right after the incident, the phone kept on trying to turn on, and doesn't turn on, keep on trying.. until the loop ended. Now when you try to turn it on, but NOW at this point there is no vibration, I took the back off of my phone which took me using a tiny tiny flat-head screwdriver. Ever since the accident last night, I've had my phone in a cup of rice. Just about a hour ago, I took the back of the phone off(since it wasn't easy since it isn't really meant to come off), there was moisture inside of it. Do you think the thing is fried...? Ect ect, or do you think some more time in the rice now without the back of the phone will fix it? Think its fried for good?

 

 To sum it up, NOW when I plug it in, it doesn't even vibrate when I hold down the power button. And since last night, there is no screen showing when it tries to turn on, which now at this point, it doesn't try to turn on(judging by no vibration).

[Vigilante505]

If the rice in a bag didn't work it's probably toast

[monaka25]

Just now, Vigilante505 said:

If the rice in a bag didn't work it's probably toast

     Well I only got the back off my phone less then a hour ago. And the rice couldn't reach the moist inside of the phone. 

 

Also, the light on the top of my phone that shows up when its plugged in(a tiny white light), turns on when its plugged in.

[Vigilante505]

It's gotta sit in a sealed bag with rice over night with the phone off. 

[monaka25]

Just now, Vigilante505 said:

It's gotta sit in a sealed bag with rice over night with the phone off. 

   Ok! I will also pull the battery out.

[Juanse]

Well,the rice won't work, it won't take the corrosion generated by the water, or even if something got shorted

[migeo]

Just now, Juanse said:

Well,the rice won't work, it won't take the corrosion generated by the water, or even if something got shorted

thank you! rice is a myth. it won't do anything useful

[W-L]

6 minutes ago, monaka25 said:

-SNIP-

As mentioned rice does do much good you still probably have corrosion or contaminates which is the main thing you want to get rid of. You can try using 99% isopropyl alcohol to displace the water and clean off the PCB once you take the phone apart. 

[monaka25]

2 minutes ago, W-L said:

As mentioned rice does do much good you still probably have corrosion or contaminates which is the main thing you want to get rid of. You can try using 99% isopropyl alcohol to displace the water and clean off the PCB once you take the phone apart. 

 I really don't want to take my phone all the way apart, is there any other way? :l

 

EDIT: Also, would 70% work on the PC. that is exposed without the back off?

[exercutor5]

2 minutes ago, monaka25 said:

 I really don't want to take my phone all the way apart, is there any other way? :l

Yes, keep your phone still assembled, and it stays fried.

[Juanse]

1 minute ago, monaka25 said:

 I really don't want to take my phone all the way apart, is there any other way? :l

There's no real insurance in that the isopropyl will work, if a short blew or busted any resistor or IC, the thing is busted, will need a board repair or new board

[monaka25]

So if I tried 70% on the PCB that is exposed, would that be fine? Or would I have to use 99%, because I don't have any of that lying around. 

[Juanse]

Just now, monaka25 said:

So if I tried 70% on the PCB that is exposed, would that be fine? Or would I have to use 99%, because I don't have any of that lying around. 

No, if the isopropyl gets to any of the glue of the screen, it will dissolve it, getting it not to stick to the glass

[W-L]

3 minutes ago, monaka25 said:

 I really don't want to take my phone all the way apart, is there any other way? :l

EDIT: Also, would 70% work on the PC. that is exposed without the back off?

You need to take it apart to properly get into it and clean it off, you can try giving it a go to just use it to displace the water but it's hard to say with water damage. Ideally 99% would be best for PCB and electronic boards especially since your getting rid of water but 70% would be passable.

[monaka25]

2 minutes ago, Juanse said:

No, if the isopropyl gets to any of the glue of the screen, it will dissolve it, getting it not to stick to the glass

-nevermind, already answered right when I posted this-

[Juanse]

2 minutes ago, monaka25 said:

Meaning it needs to be 99%? 

the isopropyl or any alcohol will get the glue disolved, making the display and the glass not stick

will have to take it apart

https://www.ifixit.com/Device/Alcatel_One_Touch_Idol_3

[monaka25]

     Yeah it is completely dead. Took it apart, put it back together, sat in rice for like a week, doesn't do a thing, except vibrate when I plug it in. I have pictures on the memory card that were fairly recent at the time I wish to get off, is there any way to do this?

[monaka25]

  I really want it fixed as I had to travel quite a bit around my state to get the pictures on the dead phone. Any way, even through soldering and making it a USB drive(BIG stretch) that I can get the pictures off of it?

[W-L]

2 hours ago, monaka25 said:

     Yeah it is completely dead. Took it apart, put it back together, sat in rice for like a week, doesn't do a thing, except vibrate when I plug it in. I have pictures on the memory card that were fairly recent at the time I wish to get off, is there any way to do this?

If you want to try and recover the data if it's a removable media you can try it on the PC to see if you can grab stuff off of it but if it's the built in storage you can try data recover software to see if it can grab the stuff off of it at least since it sounds like the unit is not 100% dead. 

[monaka25]

6 minutes ago, W-L said:

If you want to try and recover the data if it's a removable media you can try it on the PC to see if you can grab stuff off of it but if it's the built in storage you can try data recover software to see if it can grab the stuff off of it at least since it sounds like the unit is not 100% dead. 

  How would I do that, since last time I plugged into my pc, it doesn't show any external device. Yeah, it was Internal storage..... unfortunately.

 

Right now I can't find the phone, and I'm turning my house upside down looking for it.

 

Edit: Found it.

[W-L]

2 minutes ago, monaka25 said:

  How would I do that, since last time I plugged into my pc, it doesn't show any external device. Yeah, it was Internal storage..... unfortunately.

Right now I can't find the phone, and I'm turning my house upside down looking for it.

If it doesn't detect it in anyway even with a recovery software like Andriod Data Recovery, you might need to send it off to a professional to recover your data directly off the flash chip if it's still intact, however that can get very expensive very quick. 

[monaka25]

4 minutes ago, W-L said:

If it doesn't detect it in anyway even with a recovery software like Andriod Data Recovery, you might need to send it off to a professional to recover your data directly off the flash chip if it's still intact, however that can get very expensive very quick. 

   What kind of software do you recommend? And I have 1 idea, to look into my usb devices.. but I don't know which one would be my phone. The best thing I see in device manager is.. http://prntscr.com/cfv823  And nothing happens when I look into it. 

 

The software needs to work with phones that are dead... or won't be detected, because the ones I find initially seems like for phones that work but with accidental file deletions.

[Syntaxvgm]

for desiccant to work, the container must be sealed, like a tupperware container or something. 

For future reference, if you can avoid it, don't attempt to power on wet things until they dry fully, it really helps your chances. 

It might help to disassemble the phone before putting it in the rice, btw. 

 

So for your current situation- 

as said above, 99% iso. Use a new toothbrush to scrub all of the contacts on the pcb if you can, getting rid of surface corrosion. It MIGHT power on so you can grab files after if the corrosion is causing something to bridge BUT didn't damage any of the components. 

 

[monaka25]

Just now, Syntaxvgm said:

for desiccant to work, the container must be sealed, like a tupperware container or something. 

For future reference, if you can avoid it, don't attempt to power on wet things until they dry fully, it really helps your chances. 

It might help to disassemble the phone before putting it in the rice, btw. 

 

So for your current situation- 

as said above, 99% iso. Use a new toothbrush to scrub all of the contacts on the pcb if you can, getting rid of surface corrosion. It MIGHT power on so you can grab files after if the corrosion is causing something to bridge BUT didn't preeminently damage any of the components. 

 

Its been dead for weeks, I think its too late at this point. It also sat in rice for over week so, it being wet isn't a problem. I already took it apart, and unfortunately, I don't have any iso, and all that matters to me since I'm already using another phone is that I get the files off of the internal storage of the dead phone :l

[Syntaxvgm]

Just now, monaka25 said:

Its been dead for weeks, I think its too late at this point. It also sat in rice for over week so, it being wet isn't a problem. I already took it apart, and unfortunately, I don't have any iso, and all that matters to me since I'm already using another phone is that I get the files off of the internal storage of the dead phone :l

well that's my point. the first part was about future water incidents. 

Right now, cleaning corrosion off of it is your only chance, slim as it is I've seen it work.