n900 swimming: now dead!
 

Hi guys, I have my n900 from March/April and I had it with me in my last holiday travel. One sad day it felt down in the bathroom (thanks to God before to use it, so the water was clean) and naturally it was turned on. I recued it, taken off the battery and tried to dry it. I left it opened (just the battery cover and the keyboard slide open) 2 days and half. Then I tried to put battery and turn it on. It turned on normally, but asked me for the date. Then turned off alone and just stayed so. If I connect the nokia charger the led stays fixed yellow for a time, then just turned off. The battery is charged, 'cause I charged it using a Nokia x6 for charging it. I tried to flash it (I am not expert in it, I never flashed the phone before) Anyway it seems the computer don't recognize the device.
Could someone help me? Ideas? Possible solutions?

Re: n900 swimming: now dead!
 

difficulty I think..

I ever dropped my n900 inside a toilet bowl that is full of faeces....
I dont think it can be boot up and I also dont want to clean up..

Re: n900 swimming: now dead!
 

hmm, you could try put your n900 in a bawl of rice[take it apart first], as rice will take all moisture away. however, this should be done BEFORE the first turning on. There is a good chance a current spike killed it by now.

Re: n900 swimming: now dead!
 

mine has taken a dive too

i instantly took out the battery, dropped the lot in a bowl of rice for 20 mins or so. the took the hair dryer and gave it much hot air (mostly from the front as i thought the N900 would be tougher from the front). back in the rice bowl, and after that more hot air (don't overdo that too much heat can be harmful too ofcourse)

altho my n900 gave only a short swimming demonstration, when i turned it on i saw some blur for a while but after that its functions came back one after another and it has been functioning OK after that. i even have got service for the usb-port problem after that (altho i positively have the same set now i dunno if they have swapped the motherboard)

Re: n900 swimming: now dead!
 

in addition

question
does your device turn on and have you tried to skype or something, and its other functions? why do you try to flash the device? it asking for a date is just normal procedure when the battery has been taken out...

Re: n900 swimming: now dead!
 

dude......

Re: n900 swimming: now dead!
 

Thanks for all answers. I didn't write before but yes I used hairdryer for trying dry more the device in the two days. From the first time device trned o, asked for date and tjem tirned off alone it is as dead. Doesn't turn on, no boot, anything. For that I thought about flashing, maybe the bootloader os corrupted... I don't know...

Re: n900 swimming: now dead!
 

weird story indeed

????
but you keep it still? where do you keep it then, in a plastic bag?

Re: n900 swimming: now dead!
 

oof.....
this doesnt give a man hope. if you dont get even a little LED signal or something i think it's indeed what you say: dead. How wet was the inside when you opened it ( i had seen only 1 or 2 little droplets, looking back im very glad for the good build of the case).
FYI, mine took a full dive in the bath in which i was sitting after which it took 1 second or sth to bring it above the water.

What went wrong: i held it pretty much above the bath taking a photograph of my girlfriend but i mistakenly thought it would stick nicely in its case. it didnt and the rest is history. well my girlfriend noticed what i had been doing and thats another story:)

Re: n900 swimming: now dead!
 

I accidently dropped it from my left hand when I am cleaning my A-S -S hole......at that moment, I think about 10 secs....finally after I clean up my hole, I change my clothes and go to nokia shop buy a new one...really sad !!!!

Re: n900 swimming: now dead!
 

well
you didnt end up in surgery did you ;)

i would have cleaned the n900 up unless i had eaten haegis or somethin

Re: n900 swimming: now dead!
 

guys, too much information and off topic

Re: n900 swimming: now dead!
 

This thread is full of SHITE.... what sort of dirty minds have you lot got :confused: i suppose the next line will be all about scaat ? :rolleyes:

For your information you can drown your N900 for a good few hours in water and as long as it aint got acid of some kind it will still work after a proper wash and dry out, all be it you might have blown a fuse on the votage input from the charger when you first plugged it in not being dry enough but that is an easy fix.

I think the hardest fix will be to get off the hardened shite that has stuck to the case.... yukkkkk.

Change the bloody subject for gods sake.

Re: n900 swimming: now dead!
 

since i had a succesful full recovery I'll post my experiences. i didnt take it apart cos i cant. if someone took it apart please post what parts were rescued better by doing that

-remove battery ! ASAP!

-open the phone and remove the biggest drops with kitchen paper or sth. ensure the paper will be retracted intact

-ASAP: RICE attracts moisture really well but comes loose after using it (dont use salt it will stick!) leave your phone in a bowl of rice (i had the front Upwards)

-I think I have left it 30mins there but those minutes lasted long maybe it was 20 mins

-then I began using the hairdryer extensively. Try to envision how you can let the air spread thru your phone

-i had it do a second dip in the rice bowl

-after i think 45 mins or so i dared to turn it on. i thought by that time i could perhaps prevent further corrosion as parts of the phone would be heaten up by the battery and the last water would be vaporized

-more hot air, some restarts

Re: n900 swimming: now dead!
 

few hours??? you think it would survive after being SOAKED?

Re: n900 swimming: now dead!
 

Dude!!!.......

:D

Re: n900 swimming: now dead!
 

For your information it is normal practise to soak pcb's in cleaning fluid for sometimes hours depending for the reason for the wash and then dry them out, the only difference there is you dry them by hanging them up and you can not do this if you don't take the pcb out of it's case.

Many times i have washed mobile phones in hot soapy water then cleaned them with pcb cleaner, dry out and put back together, it is a 99% success rate unless corrosion has set in.

Corrosion takes weeks or months even not a few hours so i really do not know what the fuss is all about, you just got to be prepared to take it all apart, clean it properly and put it back together again.

We are only talking 3.7 volts here and milliamps. the only thing that could get damaged is the actuall battery, even the camera's clean and dry out ok.

Re: n900 swimming: now dead!
 

intruiging
ye OK: cleaning fluid, taking pcb out of case

practically speaking a common user like myself don't have the capacities let alone the means to do that on short notice.

Service manual topic

Re: n900 swimming: now dead!
 

As for putting a mobile still in its case into rice... no way, it will not work simply because moisture can stay inside mobiles indefinitly unless they are opened up so forget the rice idea.

The gap between surface mount components and the pcb can be so small that it has to be blown out or hung up so it evaoprates and has a way out to disperse, so how do you get grains of rice that close to "draw" out moisture?, will never work if the pcb is still inside it's case.

The biggest failure would have to be the lcd display and even that can be washed and dried out if you know what your doing.

Re: n900 swimming: now dead!
 

Then if you leave it for a long time you will get corrosion on just about every component and that is bye bye, you either do it the proper way or throw it in the bin, it really is as simple as that.

Forget rice forget hair dryers, take it out its case and wash it in hot water dry it out outside of its case and it will work again.

The secret is making sure it is dry before you fire it back up again.

PS if i had a pound for every pcb i have washed and put back together again i would have enough to go on a very long luxurious holiday and still have enough to buy a mobile when i got back lol.

Re: n900 swimming: now dead!
 

my luck then (it has diven AND survived for more than an year)

-i was really lucky to get it quickly out of the water.
-prior to that i had noticed the case was built better. the interior is way more dustfree than my last phone (nokia 6600)
-perhaps the combination of rice-heat-rice (and a little shaking) has made every last droplet either come loose or evaporate by heat

either way what's really clear is
-take out the battery ASAP

Re: n900 swimming: now dead!
 

It was mentioned so much time in this forum, that I'm very surprised there are still people repeating the same mistakes all over again.

first thing - *never* ever try to turn it on, if You soaked it by accident... First thing to do ASAP is to remove battery. then, after drying it as much as You can with paper towels, disassemble it completely (it's not hard process, many youtube videos showing it etc), and put parts into bag of rice. Personally, I would left it for at least few hours there. Using hair dryer (after bag of rice) may be good idea also.

After that, left it for *few days* in dry, warm and *well ventilated* place. Yea, you heard correctly - leave parts for few days. You'll be on safe side, cause some moisture can still be left in very hard accessible places.

Then, it should be safe to put parts together, insert battery and turn on.

Of course risky people try to turn it on after few hours of drying, or even without taking it fully apart - just removing cover - it may work after that, even for months, but You're risking oxidization damage showing up after unspecified amount of time. I think you can left N900 in warm, dry and ventilated places, for sake of it's good health.

Re: n900 swimming: now dead!
 

The reason we wash is to get out any substance than can cause corrosion as this process can take months and months to occur, the tell tale sign is components go white or even yellow or brown.

Often than not there is already dangerous substances already inside of your mobile that will get "washed" about inside which actually spreads and starts the erosion procedure that can take many months to even start.

ANY mobile or electronic device MUST be stripped down and washed if it has been anywhere near water because you just do not know what is in the water and more important what the water will do when it get's inside of the device.

Mobiles are very low voltage and use little current and unless you got some kind of step up circitry inside such as switch mode power supplies there will be no damage normally except of course fuses and they can be replaced.

Lcd's can be damaged because of the "step up" voltages needed to light the screen.

Re: n900 swimming: now dead!
 

Drown your N900 for a good few hours?

Yeah, whatever you say you clown.

Re: n900 swimming: now dead!
 

as said my N900 has functioned 100,0% for 15 months post facto, so +1 for build quality

perhaps i'll strip my n900 then if i have the time

is there any known method to estimate / measure the damage done? i mean other than visual inspection?

1339 CET: thx for all info
might come in handy since i'm sometimes on sea/sweet water with my n900
and dutch summers are not what they have been lately either ;)
im heading on byebye

Re: n900 swimming: now dead!
 

You can use a watchmakers eyeglass and inspect every component close up for dis-colorisation and the obvious green color "mould" and if all looks ok, thank yourself a lucky man to have dried it out properly in the first place.

I once got a bach of mobile phones from a water damaged basement and they were all completely under water for maybe 2 months and after a few of us stripped them down we had a 99% success rate after replacing some minor components such as fuses lcd's and mostly dead batteries.

Some people obviously know very little about electronics to even understand that water damage is not always fatal.
If your dealing with high voltage and high current then the situation totally changes.

Re: n900 swimming: now dead!
 

1st step. . take out battery!

put phone in container of rice. . dry rice. .

leave for 3 days. .

it will return to u. .

same **** happened to me. .

good luck. .

3 days then reboot!

Re: n900 swimming: now dead!
 

It's always unfortunate when people recommend putting electronics in rice, rice is dusty and makes for a rather poor desiccating agent. It wont dry out your N900 any quicker than if you just put it on your kitchen table.

Wet N900? Remove the battery, strip it down to pieces, dry each part as best you can, then hit each part with a hair dryer or put it all in your oven at a temperature of not more than about 50 degrees C until you are convinced that it is utterly dry.

Once you are convinced, don't be. You've probably still got moisture underneath the surface mounted IC's. Pull off all the metal covers and hair dry it for another half hour or so. Then leave it all for half a day or so and let nature do what you might not have.

After this, if your N900 works, it works, if not, it probably never will.

Don't use rice, you would get far more benefit just sticking your N900 on a sunny windowsill than you ever will by submerging it in rice.

Re: n900 swimming: now dead!
 

You should do a little research before you jump to gut instinct conclusions. An N900 in water for a few days could very well survive, in fact it probably would so long as the battery was removed and the water relatively clean.

I used to routinely wash dusty motherboards, heat sinks, and video cards in an industrial dishwasher, soap and all, then I'd leave the parts in the sun for a day after rinsing. I don't recall having ever lost any hardware from this either, though more than a few machines became less buggy after removing all the crud from various ports.

Re: n900 swimming: now dead!
 

HAHAHA this made me laugh, the good old days eh... mind you i never had an industrial washing machine as we had to do it the painfull way hahaha good one.

But yes water inside a device does not mean it end's its life at all, far from it as many many people who know understand just a few are not knowedgable enough to know this.

Batteries these days have an internal fuse and that will pop under a short condition appearing so even when batteries are inside of the device during the accident it can still survive and in fact i could go as far as to say that every device dropped into water IF taken apart and washed WILL survive if you do it properly.

Thankyou for your comments as i am sure people think i am crazy when i talk about water "damage" hahahaha.

Re: n900 swimming: now dead!
 

Ok first thing first remove the battery as quickly as you can! whatever you do dont turn on the phone unless its 101 percent dry! The best thing to do is put in a bowl of rice for a day or two few hours isnt really gonna be much help its better to take the whole phone apart but not necessary! Put the phone on top the home central heating radiator vent for a day or two make sure the radiator heating is on not too hot just warm temperature! Unless you are 101 percent sure its completely dry then put in battery and try to power it up! If it does then you are lucky if it doesnt then sorry you were too late!

The above message was typed on a N900 which dived in a bathroom sink full of water and recovered 100 percent using above method! d:-)

Re: n900 swimming: now dead!
 

True. Rice is just a moderate drying agent and it is dusty.

Buying a bag of silicon gel (see attachment) and immerse your phone in them in a air-tight container. Silicon gel is a pretty strong drying agent which would turn from blue to white pretty quickly if it's exposed to normal atmosphere. So becareful.

You can easily find silicon gel in any professional camera shop. Do not confuse it with 'silicone gel', which is used to enlarge breasts.

Re: n900 swimming: now dead!
 

Some sort of adventure... haha. And, yeah, it sounds sad. :)

Re: n900 swimming: now dead!
 

That explains why my N900 is so busty lately. Sexy phone though!


Extra dry lol on an already dry subject

Re: n900 swimming: now dead!
 

Yeah that extra silicone makes N900 look so sexy. :D

Re: n900 swimming: now dead!
 

Meh. Who needs to do research when one can use a big bundle of common sense instead? Like, keep electronics away from water and N900's in your hand rather than dropping it down the toilet.

I know I sound a bit self congratulatory here but I will never believe these things can survive being drowned in water.

Not only that, you can never be fully sure that it's all dry, switch the thing on, it short circuits and could cause a fire.