Database Develop

Help! Water Damage - Buttons not working - Warranty Void!

Hi,
I'm having a total nightmare. Over the past few days my handset has been a nightmare. I was out last Saturday, and dropped my phone when it was raining. When I checked the phone it seemed to be OK, but there was some water still on the battery when I woke up and removed the cover on Sunday morning.
The phone seemed to be working OK at the time, but over the week there have been 2 issues.
1. The hardware buttons stop working intermittently. At first, the Call Send and Call End buttons were the wrong way around, but then now they have totally stopped functioning. The volume keys no longer work also. (The standby button on top is fine).
2. Every so often, the phone will go crazy, and its almost as if someone is pressing the buttons. It keeps going into Quick Launch mode and switching to Airplane Mode, and also keeps dialing Voicemail by itself.
I've just ran through the troubleshooting on the T-Mobile site, and it ask "Is the indicator sticker white?" - Mine is red
I am then told I have voided my warranty.
When I got handset, TMOB asked whether I wanted insurance. I said No because I thought I had it through my bank (I pay like £6 per month for my account and one of the advantanges you can choose is mobile phone insurance)
For this reason, I declined to take out the T-Mobile insurance.
This evening, Ive checked my banks insurance page on the website and in the small print is states:
Phones which have a primary use for the making and receiving of telephone calls, SMS text messages and data. We do not cover PDA type devices. Please see the definition of mobile phone/phone in section B of the Policy Document. If you are unsure as to whether your handset can be covered please contact us
Section B:
Mobile Phone/Phone
Your handset and SIM card specifically identified by the IMEI number and mobile phone number. The handset must be your property or responsibility. Your SIM card will not be covered unless it was inserted into the SIM card slot of the phone at the time of the incident.
The handset must be a hand-held electronic device for which its main use is for the making and receiving of telephone calls, SMS text messages and data. We do not cover devices which have Windows Mobile®, Symbian OSTM, or Palm® operating systems or a similar PDA type of interface, whose primary function is of a business nature. The cover of handsets will be at our discretion, and if you are unsure as to whether your handset can be covered please contact us.
Now, its too late to take out the T-Mobile insurance and I am stuck with a handset which doesnt work.
I am fully aware this is my own stupid fault.
I've been trying to check repair websites, but they seem to claim with Water Damage, there is no certainty that they will be able to fix the device, and it might come back in a worse state than it was sent in.
Any advice that could be offered would be greatly appreciated.
Does anyone know whether you can pay HTC directly to repair your device? I've tried calling but they are now closed.

HTC does service but they are slow.
Try putting the phone in a zip lock with some white rice, this will dry it out completely.
You have probably damaged the electronics due to using it when it was wet, however I would remove the battery and try to dry it as best you can before putting power back to the unit.

once heard that you can get the red dot back to white with some bleach.
Never tried it though

nightlife31 said:
once heard that you can get the red dot back to white with some bleach.
Never tried it though
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I heard HTC sued some people for trying that trick. so be careful!
As far as rain/water damage goes...the rice bag trick has worked for me in the past, as well as taking the phone apart and cleaning all the contacts, etc with alcohol.
My phone is in for repair (thankfully under warranty) at the moment, so i'm half feeling your pain.
Good luck!

Thanks Drag-on.

Thanks for the advise guys, will let you know how I get on

If it can start and operate, the device is probably able to be safe. At this moment, the moisture in the electronic board is shorting out. I would start with using a hair drier to dry out the moisture. Hot air it a few minutes and cycle this a few times within an hour should have the moisture removed. Hopefully, there are no residue left behind by the water that is 'conductive'.
For proper cleaning, I think the best is use either alcohol swaps or contact cleaner aerosol to clean the PCB boards, buttons.
Hope it will recover.

my topaz is having similar problems as mentioned by the OP but it didn't get wet ever. however the humidity has been on the higher side for last 2-3 weeks at this place, could that be the reason for this misbehaviour? the h/w keys (except for power button) and volume keys are not working at all as i make this post

!Aman! said:
my topaz is having similar problems as mentioned by the OP but it didn't get wet ever. however the humidity has been on the higher side for last 2-3 weeks at this place, could that be the reason for this misbehaviour? the h/w keys (except for power button) and volume keys are not working at all as i make this post
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried placing in a bag of rice to draw the moisture out?
Not sure if humidity could cause this but it's worth a try.
Otherwise I would assume worn contact points.

i dont have any idea about "bag of rice" yet so didnt try. but i kept it shut down for the whole night and buttons are working right now. it could def be the moisture problem.
PS: so while trying out this 'bag of rice' thing, should i disassemble the phone first or just i've to keep it as such? and as i said it never got wet, would it be better to just use a hair dryer?

!Aman! said:
i dont have any idea about "bag of rice" yet so didnt try. but i kept it shut down for the whole night and buttons are working right now. it could def be the moisture problem.
PS: so while trying out this 'bag of rice' thing, should i disassemble the phone first or just i've to keep it as such? and as i said it never got wet, would it be better to just use a hair dryer?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The hair dryer can push the moisture around and cause more damage. Plus if its on heat, that too can damage something.
For the rice, just get a zip lock bag, put the rice in it then place the phone on top and seal the bag. No need to disassemble. The rice will draw the moisture out. I think a few hours would be suficient.
Glad you got it working again.

Bruce Inman said:
The hair dryer can push the moisture around and cause more damage. Plus if its on heat, that too can damage something.
For the rice, just get a zip lock bag, put the rice in it then place the phone on top and seal the bag. No need to disassemble. The rice will draw the moisture out. I think a few hours would be suficient.
Glad you got it working again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks Bruce, i'll try the Rice method and till then i'll just keep it turned off with no battery inside.

Just a short update about using rice, obviously you will use uncooked rice. Also, if you have or can find the vacumn bags, put the rice and phone and battery in the bag and get as much air out as you. The vacumn will help in pulling the moisture out of the device, and of course the rice absorbs the moisture. I used this trick on a Moto Razr that had been completely under water while on. Powered down, removed battery, rice, phone, battery into ziplock vacumn bag, one day later...perfect condition.

none of the methods mentioned above worked, so i took it to HTC service centre and it turns out that the motherboard has to be replaced which is gonna cost around 160 USD.

!Aman! said:
none of the methods mentioned above worked, so i took it to HTC service centre and it turns out that the motherboard has to be replaced which is gonna cost around 160 USD.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ouch!, you can get a new phone for that.
Sorry Bro....

Bruce Inman said:
Ouch!, you can get a new phone for that.
Sorry Bro....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah, and my warranty was over just a month ago. so its just unfortunate and my bad luck

Don´t panic
Thats´s ok, my Topaz have felt into a water, LCD haven´t works, SD slot have been destroyed.. I send it for guarantee, and they made it everything ok for free I get new button, new LCD and motherboard for free.. Try to send it
EDIT: woops, warranty ended.. Go, and make grave for your device

HOW TO: fix Droid/Milestone touchscreen lack of responsiveness and Ghost Touch issues

NOTE: THIS SOLUTION IS POTENTIALLY DAMAGING AND MAY NOT WORK FOR EVERYONE
PROBLEM: touch screen acts erratic, notification bar keeps opening, screen appears to be touched by someone else continuously (Ghost Touch), and parts of the screen DO NOT RESPOND TO TOUCH.
MY OWN SPECIFIC CASE: I had the Ghost Touch issue for 3 days suddenly without intro, which often used to go away after a reboot or two, then phone worked normally after I removed the battery and left it in a dry area (in a closed drawer between books, no air entering, very dry atmosphere), however the RIGHT SIDE of the screen (Search button, rightmost letters [L and Delete and sometimes ENTER] do not work. If the phone is in normal landscape, you cannot open the notification bar by dragging it normally.
DIAGNOSIS: for some people, the problem is more severe. The Digitiser itself could be malfunctioning and has to be fixed, while for others it could be a true problem with the screen itself. However, for MANY OF US, it is a problem of HUMIDITY. The humidity sensors are causing the phone to act like that. Some say part of this problem happens because the way the keypad affects the phone internally as you open and close it a lot.
SOLUTIONS:
1- To be safe: send the phone to the shop. Ask them to open the phone and apply an extra layer of insulation, in case the digitiser and the screen are okay.
2- If something is faulty, replace it at the shop.
3- MY OWN SOLUTION: based on something I read many times, the solution was to apply DRY HEAT for at least 45 mins. What I did, based on averaging out many experiences I read online, was to remove the SD Card and SIM, remove battery, I heated up a toaster oven for 10 minutes, waited until the temperature was at about 60-70 degrees Celsius, SHUT DOWN THE HEAT, put the phone on its screen on a plate, screen facing down and covered by a cloth to protect it from direct contact with metal, then all inside the oven. The oven is a relatively big one, so phone was AWAY FROM A SOURCE OF DIRECT HEAT. I closed the lid, then every while 15 minutes I would heat the oven for 40 seconds to maintain the temp. This is LIKE (ALTERNATIVE SOLUTION) leaving your phone in the glove compartment of your car while its parked in a sunny spot, to find it really hot in the morning and tough to touch for a while. TO CONTINUE, after the phone was out of the oven (I can't believe I am saying this), I left the phone overnight in a dry area for 8 hours (could need less time). Then, I put everything back in, plugged it, and THE PHONE IS WORKING PERFECTLY NOW!
NOTE that solution number 3 could affect your keyboard buttons if heat is too much. It may cause the glue holding the keys to melt a bit. Be delicate with your keyboard after you restore your phone.
Again, I only did this YESTERDAY. With the exception of some keypad stickiness, the phone is working perfectly now.
I hope this was useful
B.
EDIT: Today is the First of May, phone is still working without a glitch
N.B. Press the Thank you button if you wanna congratulate me on daring to toast my milestone in the name of scientific inquiry
SECOND EDIT: Phone did it again for 2 days. Applied the same method, and it worked again. I think partially it happened because I was in a very humid location.

That didn't work for me, I had no option but to replace the touchscreen/gorila glass.

I love the idea of toasting a milestone
Thought with all my aggression against Moto, I think I just might leave it in there
Luckily I dont have these problems so I wont get tempted

AirLancer said:
I love the idea of toasting a milestone
Thought with all my aggression against Moto, I think I just might leave it in there
Luckily I dont have these problems so I wont get tempted
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have to admit, I cared litte whether or not this actually worked. I just wanted to toast it But it did work, so

Pretty tempted to try this out, I think I will when I have free time.
My phone had the dead zone problem for 2 months now, but in some very rare cases, like when it's a very hot day, the screen will work normally for a minute or something. Then it goes back to dead part. I assume this would fix it?

Lesiroth said:
Pretty tempted to try this out, I think I will when I have free time.
My phone had the dead zone problem for 2 months now, but in some very rare cases, like when it's a very hot day, the screen will work normally for a minute or something. Then it goes back to dead part. I assume this would fix it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it DOES indeed work on hot days, then it means the phone is not entirely dead. But I would suggest you do something less drastic first, such as the Glove Compartment method. No responsibility though

If you're trying to remove moisture, you could also try putting it in a baggie of crystaline cat litter (NOT the clay kind!) - this stuff is sold at a MUCH higher price as a way to save a phone from water damage, but it's the exact same substance. Does a great job removing moisture. It's the same sort of silica gel that's in those packets in medicine/vitamins that says "Dessicant - do not eat".

Or you could just put it in a sealed bowl with raw rice for a couple of days... this is the best and cheapest way (and then you have the silicon "grains", the ones that you find in shoe boxes or computer parts boxes).
Sent from my Milestone using Tapatalk

CybeRNerO said:
Or you could just put it in a sealed bowl with raw rice for a couple of days... this is the best and cheapest way (and then you have the silicon "grains", the ones that you find in shoe boxes or computer parts boxes).
Sent from my Milestone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pretty sure that rice doesn't do anything, I don't know how that started as a suggestion, but its not better than anything else; its not known to be absorbant, but the silicon is.

I've tried the method but the right segment of the digitizer still doesn't work.

My biggest issue with regards to "lack of responsiveness" are the 4 capacitive buttons. Pressing the Home key is always hit and miss. I know I hit it all the time because I can feel the vibration feedback but it only goes to homescreen 50% of the time.

Will also be testing this out as soon as I have the spare time. My screen started acting up after I accidentally put my milestone in a small beer spill at a party Hopefully this will work out for me too!

Abazel said:
I've tried the method but the right segment of the digitizer still doesn't work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Luckily for me, I was still under warranty, heh. Cause I had insurance. This is my second Droid this has happened to. Hopefully my replacement won't do the same thing.

How many times did you reheat the oven? I tried just once and it didn't help. My phone has been having this problem since January.

decon89 said:
How many times did you reheat the oven? I tried just once and it didn't help. My phone has been having this problem since January.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I feel I am on a cooking show
Well, depends on your over. Mainly I was trying to maintain a temp varying between 50-60 c. Mostly 50, but sometimes 60 to up the ante a bit and make sure things stay warm. 30 minutes at least. However, I have to say that I did this twice in 6 weeks, and after that the phone just died again, and I found my warranty card and sent it there to be fixed, and they fixed it, but ruined something else.
If you have the warranty card, take your phone and send it to them Someone told me the method worked and the phone has been good for quite a while, but most of us seem to re-experience the issue after a while.

I've been having these issues for a few days now too, and I think I know why. I've been using this Milestone for 4 months now, and I never had this problem until a few days ago. What I noticed yesterday was that after some acting up, the phone started working properly again. So I ran Touch Test. And I noticed that if I pressed really hard on the top side of the phone(where the logo and the ear piece are located) it started acting up again. My first impression was that the glue holding down the gorilla glass was loose. So I left the phone as usual on my night stand and then I tried the same thing with the pressing on the same area. Guess what? It didn't happen again. Now there seems to be no problem. So I tried to remember what happened yesterday before the screen started acting up, and I remember talking to my wife for a while when I was in my car. Yesterday was a pretty hot day and I was a little sweaty when I talked to her. Now since only that specific part with the earpiece was causing this issue(I tried pressing equally hard on other areas without any problem my guess is that the insulation between the earpiece and the touchscreen has been breached. Maybe because of all the sweat that went in there in time. You know the salt and acids in the swear are known to melt things, and poor quality glue is among them.
How to fix this? I do not know yet, but I do have a good idea that I'd like to share. I want to buy a screen protector foil, and put just a little band around the ear piece. That would probably lower my in-call volume, but since the Milestone is very loud anyway I hope it the quality of the calls won't be too much affected. After that I'll use it in normal conditions again and see if the ghosting happens again.

try completely formatting your SD CARD/PARTITION.
& then reinstalling using (FAT 32/EXT 2, 3, or 4)
sometimes traces from the previous ROM might interfare with touch codecs (maybe)
just trying to help. had similar issue & this is what i did.

bandroid842 said:
NOTE: THIS SOLUTION IS POTENTIALLY DAMAGING AND MAY NOT WORK FOR EVERYONE
PROBLEM: touch screen acts erratic, notification bar keeps opening, screen appears to be touched by someone else continuously (Ghost Touch), and parts of the screen DO NOT RESPOND TO TOUCH.
MY OWN SPECIFIC CASE: I had the Ghost Touch issue for 3 days suddenly without intro, which often used to go away after a reboot or two, then phone worked normally after I removed the battery and left it in a dry area (in a closed drawer between books, no air entering, very dry atmosphere), however the RIGHT SIDE of the screen (Search button, rightmost letters [L and Delete and sometimes ENTER] do not work. If the phone is in normal landscape, you cannot open the notification bar by dragging it normally.
DIAGNOSIS: for some people, the problem is more severe. The Digitiser itself could be malfunctioning and has to be fixed, while for others it could be a true problem with the screen itself. However, for MANY OF US, it is a problem of HUMIDITY. The humidity sensors are causing the phone to act like that. Some say part of this problem happens because the way the keypad affects the phone internally as you open and close it a lot.
SOLUTIONS:
1- To be safe: send the phone to the shop. Ask them to open the phone and apply an extra layer of insulation, in case the digitiser and the screen are okay.
2- If something is faulty, replace it at the shop.
3- MY OWN SOLUTION: based on something I read many times, the solution was to apply DRY HEAT for at least 45 mins. What I did, based on averaging out many experiences I read online, was to remove the SD Card and SIM, remove battery, I heated up a toaster oven for 10 minutes, waited until the temperature was at about 60-70 degrees Celsius, SHUT DOWN THE HEAT, put the phone on its screen on a plate, screen facing down and covered by a cloth to protect it from direct contact with metal, then all inside the oven. The oven is a relatively big one, so phone was AWAY FROM A SOURCE OF DIRECT HEAT. I closed the lid, then every while 15 minutes I would heat the oven for 40 seconds to maintain the temp. This is LIKE (ALTERNATIVE SOLUTION) leaving your phone in the glove compartment of your car while its parked in a sunny spot, to find it really hot in the morning and tough to touch for a while. TO CONTINUE, after the phone was out of the oven (I can't believe I am saying this), I left the phone overnight in a dry area for 8 hours (could need less time). Then, I put everything back in, plugged it, and THE PHONE IS WORKING PERFECTLY NOW!
NOTE that solution number 3 could affect your keyboard buttons if heat is too much. It may cause the glue holding the keys to melt a bit. Be delicate with your keyboard after you restore your phone.
Again, I only did this YESTERDAY. With the exception of some keypad stickiness, the phone is working perfectly now.
I hope this was useful
B.
EDIT: Today is the First of May, phone is still working without a glitch
N.B. Press the Thank you button if you wanna congratulate me on daring to toast my milestone in the name of scientific inquiry
SECOND EDIT: Phone did it again for 2 days. Applied the same method, and it worked again. I think partially it happened because I was in a very humid location.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for that Solution.
It fixed the Issue of my friends MS without other problems

I'll have to try and the oven methode again. My phone has started to really act up again.
I've tried to install new roms, wipe ect. and it doesn't help with the screen.
Have anyone tried to replace the digiziter? They are pretty cheap on ebay

My milestone started freaking out just an hour ago. No more warranty here but I'm not brave enough to do the oven method. Had anybody tried the Rice alternative?

Insanely problematic M8

I'm not sure if I got a dud phone or it's a problem I caused but since I've gotten my phone about a month or so ago, it's been really glitchy. The screen rotates (even completely upside down) even with the setting turned off, the screen turns on randomly, "car mode" launches randomly, the headphone jack randomly doesn't work, apps misbehave. The problem has slowly gotten worse and worse. I've tried roms, multiple factory resets, I just don't know what could be causing this. Any ideas?

Try cleaning your charging port/headphone port with q tip and a very small amount of rubbing alcohol. Dry before using.

Just a quick answer to anyone facing the same issues I was, water damage seems to be the culprit. Had to deal with Asurion's bull**** for an hour but new phone is on it's way now.

xizzmatt said:
Just a quick answer to anyone facing the same issues I was, water damage seems to be the culprit. Had to deal with Asurion's bull**** for an hour but new phone is on it's way now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We're glad to hear that a replacement is on the way! If there is anything more we can do to assist, please let us know. Thanks!

Found a Midnight OnePlus 3T on Craigslist for $10! The issues are...

Hey guys,
So I've personally owned this device before and sold it, however, luckily I was looking about on Craigslist and managed to run into a post where this lady was selling her Midnight 128gb OP3T for $10 due to the wifi not working. The phone is literally spanking new and the only thing I can think of is water damage. She said the wifi suddenly stopped working and spoke with OnePlus Tech support and wasn't going to pay $275 to fix it so she just wanted it gone. So I figured whats there to lose, right? I went home performed a factory reset on the phone and the wifi actually was working. Then I realized it's intermittently working. I found that out because after sometime it suddenly disables itself and I have to sleep the device for like two minutes and it'll kick back on. The proximity sensor is also dead too. I did the *#808# to test the sensor and nothing is generated. These are the only real issues this phone has. The loud speaker also sounds a bit off... I'm sure I could easily replace that too.. It could just be me. I've posted the snapshot of the proximity sensor test. The wifi was currently working when I took that snapshot and like I said it's a hit or miss.
I haven't gotten into the device just yet, however, I'm planning to check the water damage sticker once I do as that is my suspicion. I'm waiting on my tool set I ordered on Amazon at the moment. My question is, do you think replacing the wifi antenna cable will fix the wifi connectivity issue? The phone is currently on 8.0 Oreo and I haven't tried performing a complete reset/restore so I'm not sure that could be a fix. Also the phone doesn't get too hot and usually with water damaged devices the phone typically overheats pretty fast due to corrosion. I guess I'll find out after I open the device, but for now do you guys have any other suggestions? I've heard of the whole IPv6 intermittent wifi issues and can assure I have IPv6 disabled.
Thanks for taking the time to read my question!

The WIFI thing isn't something I think you can just replace, I think you would just need to replace the board right?

Yes, you would need to replace the mainboard of the phone. However 10$ is quite cheap for a spare screen and midnight black metal casing. Just find a cheap 3T with broken screen and switch mainboard with that one and you have a working phone. [emoji16]

Before doing that, check the phone's board and look for corrosion. If you find any, try cleaning it up gently, with some alcohol and if you manage to get it all cleaned up, try testing it again to see if it solves the problem.

If you get the schematic for this device and have a boardview program you could find the wifi circuitry..... it is more than likely some short to ground due to the fact that you are feeling heat.... due to liquid damage or not. Sometimes changing a small component can fix the issue but you need a microscope, heat gun, solder pencil, etc......

Pixel 5 multiple sensors and software issues

Hello everyone,
Since a few weeks I have several issues with my Pixel 5, mostly sensors issues (compass, gyroscope, proximity, etc.) but also some weird system software behaviors.
It began mid November when I woke up and realized my phone restarted on its own during the night.
Since then I have these issues :
- Compass not working
- Proximity sensor not working
- Gyroscope working only for a few seconds at start, and then completely stop.
- Phone freezes almost every time I unlock it. It freezes for like 3 to 5 seconds, the colors of the screen are dimmed, and then it finally unlocks.
- When the phone is playing audio content (songs, ring, alarms, etc.) the sound cuts out every 10 seconds (exactly) for like one second and then come back.
- In random moments, the phone will display an error "Process is not responding".
- The small proximity sensor LED is always blinking if I enable "Always on Display" feature.
- Finally, I can't install any Google Play System updates. I perform the installation, reboot the device, but a few minutes after this restart the phone will restart on its own and the Google Play System update will not be not applied (I can perform it again, and again, and again, etc.)
I tried several things : safe mode, factory reset, but I also reinstalled the whole Android 13 image with adb and fastboot. The issues still continue.
I sent the phone to be repaired by Google but they were "unable to reproduce these issues".
They also told me the phone has been damaged by water, which seems weird because the phone didn't had any incident with water that I can remember. I think I had one time the message "Liquid or debris in USB port" about six months ago, I don't understand why the problems would suddenly appear now.
They sent it back without any repair.
I don't know what to try anymore, I was convinced it was only a software issue (and that all the issues were related) but even reinstalling the whole android image didn't solve it. So is it a hardware issue after all ?
Any recommendation on how to process with these issues would be much appreciated. Or maybe I need to give up and buy a new phone ?
Thank you.

It's either water damaged or it's not. Google saw the moisture sensitive indicator(s) showed water exposure. So somehow this happened. If it's been exposed to water the first thing to do is disconnect the battery and allow it to dry out completely then see what you got.
At this late stage the damage may be permanent.
If it was salt water it's already dead. Sweat is salt water... keep 'em in a good case and keep it clean.

blackhawk said:
It's either water damaged or it's not. Google saw the moisture sensitive indicator(s) showed water exposure. So somehow this happened. If it's been exposed to water the first thing to do is disconnect the battery and allow it to dry out completely then see what you got.
At this late stage the damage may be permanent.
If it was salt water it's already dead. Sweat is salt water... keep 'em in a good case and keep it clean.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for your response.
But what I don't understand is why the issues would suddenly appear months after its contact with water, which was only rain by the way.
I am 100% sure it did not had any water incident at the time the issues appeared.

Water damage is insidious which is why manufacturers won't warranty it. Damage can be delayed sometimes taking weeks or months to become apparent.

buying used P5 now due to water damage :-(
Almost went for P7, great device, but I think I'll be fine until the P8 and hopeful Google will have a good trade in value like this year.
$200 for mint P5
$540 + shipping taces etc I believe if you have one od those.
but I think I'll save the $300 for now.. If i had the cash I'd go P7, but P5 is a wonderful device,