Database Develop

[Q] Xperia Z does not turn on.

Hello everyone,
In the past week, I have decided to sell off my Nexus 4, and I went on to buy a new cheap unlocked 40$ android phone and a used water damaged Xperia Z.
I had just got the Xperia Z a few hours ago, and the guy who I bought the Z from, said a bit of water leaked into the phone about 2 weeks ago, and ever since then the phone does not turn on.
So far I have pretty much disassembled the whole thing, and noticed that all three water indicator stickers at the ports have turned red.
But I seriously cant find any water, damage or corrosion on the phone's connectors, internal frame, battery connectors, anywhere.
I guess only a few drops has entered the phone and over time the water evaporated.
Now after drying the internal components in the sun, and using 70% isopropyl wipes (I looked everywhere for 99% isopeopyl Alcohol liquid, I cant find them everywhere) I wiped it over the phone's motherboard and then used a toothbrush to remove any dirt or corrosion building up in the board.
Now the thing is that the phone does not do anything when I plug in the charger.
But when I remove the battery, and plug in the charger, and press the power button, the phone's LED blinks red for about half a second, then vibrates once and then a blue LED light comes and stays on. However nothing comes up on the screen.
I tried the Power button and Vol.Up button, but it does not do anything.
The Z's battery seems fine, as I tried it out on my Xperia C and it works perfectly there.
And I tried the Xperia C's battery on the Z. Same thing no response from the phone
What should I do?
I guess look around or a 99% alcohol solution and properly wash the Z's motherboard?
Or is this some sort of a software issue?
Any help will be appreciated.
Thanks!

Akash434 said:
Hello everyone,
In the past week, I have decided to sell off my Nexus 4, and I went on to buy a new cheap unlocked 40$ android phone and a used water damaged Xperia Z.
I had just got the Xperia Z a few hours ago, and the guy who I bought the Z from, said a bit of water leaked into the phone about 2 weeks ago, and ever since then the phone does not turn on.
So far I have pretty much disassembled the whole thing, and noticed that all three water indicator stickers at the ports have turned red.
But I seriously cant find any water, damage or corrosion on the phone's connectors, internal frame, battery connectors, anywhere.
I guess only a few drops has entered the phone and over time the water evaporated.
Now after drying the internal components in the sun, and using 70% isopropyl wipes (I looked everywhere for 99% isopeopyl Alcohol liquid, I cant find them everywhere) I wiped it over the phone's motherboard and then used a toothbrush to remove any dirt or corrosion building up in the board.
Now the thing is that the phone does not do anything when I plug in the charger.
But when I remove the battery, and plug in the charger, and press the power button, the phone's LED blinks red for about half a second, then vibrates once and then a blue LED light comes and stays on. However nothing comes up on the screen.
I tried the Power button and Vol.Up button, but it does not do anything.
The Z's battery seems fine, as I tried it out on my Xperia C and it works perfectly there.
And I tried the Xperia C's battery on the Z. Same thing no response from the phone
What should I do?
I guess look around or a 99% alcohol solution and properly wash the Z's motherboard?
Or is this some sort of a software issue?
Any help will be appreciated.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To me it rather looks like the seller modified the software and hard bricked the device... My Xperia T had the same sympoms when it was hard bricked....

I would have thought the battery had shorted out
Bang a replacement in

Oadbylad said:
I would have thought the battery had shorted out
Bang a replacement in
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Every fault is not caused by a faulty battery. I know you fixed your phone with a replacement battery, but that is not the solution to everything.
If you had read his post properly, you would see the battery powers another device just fine. A shorted battery would surely not function at all.
Akash434 said:
The Z's battery seems fine, as I tried it out on my Xperia C and it works perfectly there.
And I tried the Xperia C's battery on the Z. Same thing no response from the phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my C6603 using Tapatalk

Well today, I bought some distilled water and washed the phones motherboard with a toothbrush to displace any particles left on the board.
Now When I plug in the charger (with out the battery, as the phone does nothing with the battery plugged in) the phones LED blinks red and the phone vibrates once. It then goes on to repeat this process over and over again.
But my computer kinda detects my phone, as it tries to install the phones drivers. If I remember correctly the devices name on my computer is 'S1 FlashBoot'
But for the computer and Sony PC Companion to detect my phone, I have to remove the battery ribbon to let the phone start up on USB power, and then reinsert the battery ribbon when the phone vibrates and flashes its LED once, and then I have to remove the Button ribbon since, for some reason if the button ribbon and the battery ribbon is connected at the same time the phone shuts off.
Sony's PC software detects my phone, but since I cant press the power button due to the removal of the button ribbon from the motherboard, I cant repair my phone using the software.
Maybe theres something wrong with the power button/ribbon is having a few issues?
I also found some corrosion bottom right hand corner under the network antenna, and a severely corroded 3 segment ribbon, where 2 out of 3 segments were non functional due to corrosion,. As I tried to open the connector, I sneezed and accidentally ripped it.
Dammit.
It didn't work before I ripped it, so I wonder if I somehow fix this ribbon would it help solve a few of the above issues with my phone?
What does this small dinky ribbon do, anyways?
You can read about it here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/xperia-z/help/break-t2748834

Akash434 said:
Well today, I bought some distilled water and washed the phones motherboard with a toothbrush to displace any particles left on the board.
Now When I plug in the charger (with out the battery, as the phone does nothing with the battery plugged in) the phones LED blinks red and the phone vibrates once. It then goes on to repeat this process over and over again.
But my computer kinda detects my phone, as it tries to install the phones drivers. If I remember correctly the devices name on my computer is 'S1 FlashBoot'
But for the computer and Sony PC Companion to detect my phone, I have to remove the battery ribbon to let the phone start up on USB power, and then reinsert the battery ribbon when the phone vibrates and flashes its LED once, and then I have to remove the Button ribbon since, for some reason if the button ribbon and the battery ribbon is connected at the same time the phone shuts off.
Sony's PC software detects my phone, but since I cant press the power button due to the removal of the button ribbon from the motherboard, I cant repair my phone using the software.
Maybe theres something wrong with the power button/ribbon is having a few issues?
I also found some corrosion bottom right hand corner under the network antenna, and a severely corroded 3 segment ribbon, where 2 out of 3 segments were non functional due to corrosion,. As I tried to open the connector, I sneezed and accidentally ripped it.
Dammit.
It didn't work before I ripped it, so I wonder if I somehow fix this ribbon would it help solve a few of the above issues with my phone?
What does this small dinky ribbon do, anyways?
You can read about it here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/xperia-z/help/break-t2748834
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Found this post through google while looking for a solution for my Xperia Z.
My first experia also had the same problem, sort of. The battery would jump from 90% to 60%, then 73%, then 20%, then 71% and so forth.
I decided to update the system software, to which it turned off during the process. The OS became faulty, and it rebooted all the time, showing a weak red light, then a strong red light, turn on, turn off and so on. The authorized service replaced my battery, but I guess that's not your problem in this case, and I doubt it that it's a faulty OS. Because even with a faulty OS, it would atleast show the Sony or Xperia logo.
Now I have the same starting issues and I blame the ribbons I guess, since when I press it the right way, it suddenly accepts charge and boots up. Replace the ribbons, and you might be fine. Guess there's some short circuit.

[Q] Water damage

I water damaged my Z, the water got in through the power,usb flap.
I turned it off,I opened the device back cover,and let it in rice for 3days.
When it turned on it booted all nicely but when I tried to open the lockscreen the device shuts down.
Now I put it in a wall socket and it gives the red light,when i turn it on it vibrates but doesn't do anything,black screen.The xperia doesn't want to charge too.
The fastboot works,so as the flashtool.Only connecting to pc doesn't work.
I don't have warranty and no Sony centre in my country.What should I do?

beni8978 said:
I water damaged my Z, the water got in through the power,usb flap.
I turned it off,I opened the device back cover,and let it in rice for 3days.
When it turned on it booted all nicely but when I tried to open the lockscreen the device shuts down.
Now I put it in a wall socket and it gives the red light,when i turn it on it vibrates but doesn't do anything,black screen.The xperia doesn't want to charge too.
The fastboot works,so as the flashtool.Only connecting to pc doesn't work.
I don't have warranty and no Sony centre in my country.What should I do?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bad luck my friend, your phone is dead. Water probably damaged screen and motherboard. You can try to clean it with contact cleaner (contact spray) like this: http://www.wd40specialist.com/products/contact-cleaner/ but don't expect miracles.

beni8978 said:
I water damaged my Z, the water got in through the power,usb flap.
I turned it off,I opened the device back cover,and let it in rice for 3days.
When it turned on it booted all nicely but when I tried to open the lockscreen the device shuts down.
Now I put it in a wall socket and it gives the red light,when i turn it on it vibrates but doesn't do anything,black screen.The xperia doesn't want to charge too.
The fastboot works,so as the flashtool.Only connecting to pc doesn't work.
I don't have warranty and no Sony centre in my country.What should I do?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
man the same happen to me but i take it to someone he open it clean it and changed something inside cost me 35$.
try to find someone good to do the same to u.

What is that thing you've changed?
Sent from my HTC One using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

neoxx3m said:
Bad luck my friend, your phone is dead. Water probably damaged screen and motherboard. You can try to clean it with contact cleaner (contact spray) like this: but don't expect miracles.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I find it a little too fast to say that the phone is dead.
Do you know how much battery charge you had left? Because the Li-Ion batteries have a safety circuit that shuts them down when the battery voltage gets below a certain point. The battery still has some charge, but only to maintains its health for a limited amount of time, and you would have to find a shop that can "jumpstart" it. Your battery is in "safe sleep" if it shows 0,00 - 0,10V or anything like that.
Replace the USB port if the RED light doesn't light up at all, or blinks irregularly. If the phone shows the red led constantly, but doesn't want to turn on, measure your battery and charge it directly. There has to be some shop nearby that works on circuit boards, and if you ask them nicely and bring them the parts, they will surely change the port for you for a few nickels . But that's only if you' re sure that the battery is in good condition.

emiglet said:
I find it a little too fast to say that the phone is dead.
Do you know how much battery charge you had left? Because the Li-Ion batteries have a safety circuit that shuts them down when the battery voltage gets below a certain point. The battery still has some charge, but only to maintains its health for a limited amount of time, and you would have to find a shop that can "jumpstart" it. Your battery is in "safe sleep" if it shows 0,00 - 0,10V or anything like that.
Replace the USB port if the RED light doesn't light up at all, or blinks irregularly. If the phone shows the red led constantly, but doesn't want to turn on, measure your battery and charge it directly. There has to be some shop nearby that works on circuit boards, and if you ask them nicely and bring them the parts, they will surely change the port for you for a few nickels . But that's only if you' re sure that the battery is in good condition.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oxydised components on motherboard are probably shorted out, I see this so many times in repair center. The best solution is to first clean motherboard with contact cleaner and than try to plug battery back and see if the battery is charging. Shorted out motherboard, in 80% of cases, is dead motherboard.

My motherboard is perfectly fine.
I opened with my friend my Z and his Z.He put my motherboard in his device and his Z worked with my motherboard and all my files were shown there. So i guess my screen is dead? What do you think guys?
Sent from my HTC One using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

beni8978 said:
My motherboard is perfectly fine.
I opened with my friend my Z and his Z.He put my motherboard in his device and his Z worked with my motherboard and all my files were shown there. So i guess my screen is dead? What do you think guys?
Sent from my HTC One using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try with your friends battery?

St.Jimmy90 said:
Try with your friends battery?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
He wanted to change the battery too but he said it is much harder than changing the motherboard.
My current symptoms are:
When i touch the power button the red light blinks three times.(that means the battery is empty)
When I press volume up+power button it vibrates three times.
The device connects to flashtool,adb

Water damaged, only red led on AC

Hi all, my z3 compact has been damaged by water.
I opened it and let it dry.
But now it seems dead.
I am not able to turn it on at all: no boot, no screen on, no vibration and no led with power button ( also tried the power button + vol +/-)
When connected to the charger: only the red led stays on but no boot, no screen on and no vibration with power button.
Any advice to repair my phone?
Maybe have to replace the battery? Or disconnect and reconnect the battery?
Thank you for advices

Unfortunately non of those will fix Your problem. First You should disassemble Your phone, take out motherboard, take off alu shields from motherboard and clean whole motherboard with isopropyl alcohol. After that you can try to charge battery but if there is some short circuit on motherboard made by water damage charging Your phone without cleaning motherboard can damage it completely.

Ok, thank you for your advice

Is it possible to check my battery with an ohmmeter or ampermeter? If yes, what are the results for a healthy battery?

Sorry to hear that, i also experienced the same water issue. It was my first xperia, Z. I did the same thing, disassembled completely every detachable components, let them dry and clean but still dead. You will have to find a spare working motherboard, maybe you can still use some components -if working- like batter, speaker, buttons.... i found an old one (screen, hardcase and buttons broken but battery and motherboard still working), replaced the inside components and made it work.

tebra said:
Is it possible to check my battery with an ohmmeter or ampermeter? If yes, what are the results for a healthy battery?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If there was short circuit on motherboard battery can be fully discharged but to charge it again You need to remove short circuit first. After that if nothing is burned by electrical circuit You can charge battery regular way.

Repairing water damaged phone

Hi,
i send my phone down the river and probably killed it. backplate was broken and charging lid as well, there is no warranty any more.
i dried it for a week in a box covered with rice and tried to turn it on afterwards. No reactions on buttons, but after i plugged in the charger, the LED got red and Display turned on showing the "Sony" Screen. after a second or two LED and screen went black and the procedure started again. and again. after a few repetitions i put the plug away. so i didn't charge the phone any longer than ~5min and have not plugged it to the PC.
first question is if someone has encountered the same symptomes and can give a statement of chance to revive the phone. Second one is: Where to start? there are lots of guides to disassemble the phone, thats not a problem i think, i have all the tools i need and a little bit technical knowhow. I want to start checking the battery, pretty shure its dead. afterwards i want to check the board for signs of corrosion. but then?
grateful for any tipps, especialy want to know whats the real death sentence for a water damaged phone. after i have seen the screen working i thought main functionality is there and only the battery died.

xant05 said:
Hi,
i send my phone down the river and probably killed it. backplate was broken and charging lid as well, there is no warranty any more.
i dried it for a week in a box covered with rice and tried to turn it on afterwards. No reactions on buttons, but after i plugged in the charger, the LED got red and Display turned on showing the "Sony" Screen. after a second or two LED and screen went black and the procedure started again. and again. after a few repetitions i put the plug away. so i didn't charge the phone any longer than ~5min and have not plugged it to the PC.
first question is if someone has encountered the same symptomes and can give a statement of chance to rivive the phone. Second one is: Where to start? there are lots of guides to disassemble the phone, thats not a problem i think, i have all the tools i need and a little bit technical knowhow. I want to start checking the battery, pretty shure its dead. afterwards i want to check the board for signs of corrosion. but then?
grateful for any tipps, especialy want to know whats the real death sentence for a water damaged phone. after i have seen the screen working i thought main functionality is there and only the battery died.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would leave it plugged in and see if you can build up any sort of charge in the battery. It seems that changing the battery would be an obvious first step, if you can get enough charge in the phone to fire up the mainboard, then you will see what else needs to be changed. leave it plugged into a charger for 24 hours.
Do you want to repair it to salvage what data is on the phone or is it financial reasons? tbh the cost of new mainboard and battery, plus replacement back screen is going to be more than a second hand phone off ebay. If it's a science project then bravo, not enough people try to rescue thier old kit from the bin, but I'm saying there are easier options than pulling it apart.
Having never pulled a phone apart myself I can't really offer any more advice, but you might want to drop @Chamelleon a PM, as he regularly contributes with hardware fixes and knows his stuff.

its more about financial reasons, data is all backed up. Buying a new phone should be the last option. i want to repair it cause i like repairing things and i want to make clear that the phone is absolutely dead or not. i dont think i would buy a new mainboard/display/battery if i am not completely shure that this will fix all problems. in this case id rather buy a new phone.
i am a bit afraid that if i charge the battery for 24h and still have a circuit on the motherboard i will completely destroy it.

xant05 said:
its more about financial reasons, data is all backed up. Buying a new phone should be the last option. i want to repair it cause i like repairing things and i want to make clear that the phone is absolutely dead or not. i dont think i would buy a new mainboard/display/battery if i am not completely shure that this will fix all problems. in this case id rather buy a new phone.
i am a bit afraid that if i charge the battery for 24h and still have a circuit on the motherboard i will completely destroy it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A week in rice in a warm place means there's no moisture in the phone.
The phone won't be damaged by trying to charge the battery and you need to find out if there's anything working from a full charge.

I recently had a waterdamage too. I took it apart and i saw that there was some corrosion on the board by the display connector. I put the mainboard in isopropyl alcohol (you can get that in the pharmacy). I carefully cleaned the affected part with a soft toothbrush and let it dry for a while. And now my phone is back a life and everything works as it should
Good Luck!

Didgesteve said:
A week in rice in a warm place means there's no moisture in the phone.
The phone won't be damaged by trying to charge the battery and you need to find out if there's anything working from a full charge.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, turns out this guy is right. Phone is working after charging. Vibration is dead and there are some residues of the wather in or behind the display, but nothing else i can find now. i think i will still disassemble the phone, and clean all parts. Maybe i will replace the vibration motor, but i think i can live without one...

[Solved] Dropped in WC, no actual water ingress, only buttons ..., NO TURN ON

I Dropped my A2 into the WC, lucky the phone didn't immerse in full only the side with the buttons, the accident was with the included case, the phone cant turn on.
I take it apart and I verified no water damage to logic board. battery usb connector, barely the buttons got some water , most like sweat in normal use.
I cleaned the contacts, re-assembly and nothing, plug into the PC and nothing is shown in ADB.
It's possible this killed my phone, I have recovered phones with actual wet logic board, pissed, etc, what happened do not use to require more than superficial dry with an towel.
curious I plug the charger and even do not show nothing.
Any Cues ?

@AcostaJA, put the phone in a can of rice over night...the chinese will come over night, repair the phone and eat all the rice
(I love chinese people, please this is only a joke, no offense intended)
The phone has moisture in it, it needs to dry out...the phone in a can/jar of rice is a serious proposal, do it !

minnuss said:
@AcostaJA, put the phone in a can of rice over night...the chinese will come over night, repair the phone and eat all the rice
(I love chinese people, please this is only a joke, no offense intended)
The phone has moisture in it, it needs to dry out...the phone in a can/jar of rice is a serious proposal, do it !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did, then I cleaned the buttons with contact cleaner and leave the phone opened in a shoe box under the sun, logic board was neves wet, so this is strange unless those buttons are really weak about moisture.

i bet that the bottom board, with the usb connector, got fried.
I would also check the display connector for burn marks as it's usually the first thing that fries when water ingress occurs.

It is a very strange situation, because, from the tests on youtube, the phone has a very good water resistance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3SaQCVa8sM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_n9E3VOOss

pecholino said:
i bet that the bottom board, with the usb connector, got fried.
I would also check the display connector for burn marks as it's usually the first thing that fries when water ingress occurs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Bottom board/connector was never exposed, Display also was dry when I take it apart.

i can't imagine how the phone fell into the toilet, submersing the buttons and not the usb port.

minnuss said:
It is a very strange situation, because, from the tests on youtube, the phone has a very good water resistance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3SaQCVa8sM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_n9E3VOOss
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I saw this, also I verified the speaker is hermetic do not allow water in, the display is also sealed, indeed the only water that managed to get in was at the power/volume button, and almost minimal.
I'm considering to get another A2 and keep this for spares I I found no solution/cue on what's hapening.
A thing I noted when I first turn on the phone is this phone was somehow reluctant, it took me 3 tries to power on.

pecholino said:
i can't imagine how the phone fell into the toilet, submersing the buttons and not the usb port.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this phone is quite long, it felt almost sideway, the WC was not deep/wide enough.

did you check the buttons connector on the main board?

pecholino said:
did you check the buttons connector on the main board?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I removed the mainboard, the connector in the ribbon from the buttons also was dry.

Update, after checkint the battery connector I saw it was covered by phone's own thermal paste, I cleaned it properly with contact cleaner, I checked battery boltage with an multimeter it shown 4v, then I assembly the phone, and try to power it on, it vibrated and androidone logo showed, then battery logo appera as depleted, led blinks and the phone shutdown.
If I plug the charger it means only the phone repeat this cicle (androidone logo,-> then battery logo, then led blinks, the reset then repeat)s.

AcostaJA said:
Update, after checkint the battery connector I saw it was covered by phone's own thermal paste, I cleaned it properly with contact cleaner, I checked battery boltage with an multimeter it shown 4v, then I assembly the phone, and try to power it on, it vibrated and androidone logo showed, then battery logo appera as depleted, led blinks and the phone shutdown.
If I plug the charger it means only the phone repeat this cicle (androidone logo,-> then battery logo, then led blinks, the reset then repeat)s.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Boot in fastboot and let it charge completely, then remove the charger and reboot

Nebrassy said:
Boot in fastboot and let it charge completely, then remove the charger and reboot
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
same behavior in fastboot, do not last more than 11 seconds between reboots.
I opened again and put in rice, I'll wait another 48h until try again, maybe there are still something wet there.

AcostaJA said:
same behavior in fastboot, do not last more than 11 seconds between reboots.
I opened again and put in rice, I'll wait another 48h until try again, maybe there are still something wet there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After some extra days to dry, still the same behavior.

Solved.
The issue was some mist at the USB port, cleaned dried, plugged, and turn on.
Working like ever, I resealed with silicone.
Sent from my Xiaomi Mi A2 using XDA Labs

AcostaJA said:
Solved.
The issue was some mist at the USB port, cleaned dried, plugged, and turn on.
Working like ever, I resealed with silicone.
Sent from my Xiaomi Mi A2 using XDA Labs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the update. It would be really helpful for someone in future.