N8 dropped in water please help!!

6 replies · 12,548 views · Started 25 May 2011

gustokonyan 25 May 2011, 02:49

stupid me.

yesterday, i dropped my n8 into the toilet bowl and so it got soaked in water. and not just water!! huhu. water with my urine! yeah, it's just nasty, but i acted as fast as i could and removed it from the toilet bowl..

I then tried to dry it off with a towel.

I assumed the phone turned itself off because the screen went black. But after about 10 minutes or so, it became hot. I then felt it vibrated once, very briefly, and saw the light indicator (next to the usb port) blinking! I assumed it is currently turned on, and so I pressed and hold the power button until the light indicator stopped blinking.

Then i saw white long line at the bottom right edge of the screen, and turns out, it was evaporated water (or crap, urine water ). I was like, f*ck!! Then i checked the camera lens, and yes, there's evaporated urine too.

Next, this is what i did..

- I shook/wiggled the phone repeatedly for about 5-10 minutes. I could see the all the water coming out (very little drops) until I saw no more water coming out.

- I removed the sim and memory card (i should have done this first thing, *sighs*)

- I put it in a small container and filled it with rice

- I cursed myself

This happened yesterday night, so i left the phone with rice overnight. This morning, i was not able to resist the urge, and tried to turn it on.. nothing happened. I plugged the charger.. nothing happened.

And then, i cursed myself again for about 5~ minutes or so

And then just a while ago, i had the chance to google about this, and learned that salt water can cause the most damage on the n8 internal parts. urine = salt right? FAIL

I actually thought of rinsing it with water again, right after dropping it, but I was thinking, I just removed it from water, i dont want to get it wet even more!

I am trying to accept the truth that there is nothing i can do anymore to save my phone.

But still, i am hoping that someone here could say something that might help, or at least, ease the pain,

It really sound stupid but, will it help if i rinse it with distilled water now? to wash away the salt water? and maybe increase the chance of reviving the phone, if there is any?

EPIC FAIL

(sorry for the bad english)

malcolmlau 25 May 2011, 04:38

i previously dropped my E71 into the kitchen sink when i was doing the washing up. i immediately removed the battery, sim and mcard. Shook off the water, and put it into direct hot sunlight for an hour or so. Then got a blow drier and under warm heat got rid off all the water on the screen. I had to blow dry it numerous times as water reappeared several times. In the end, it had all gone.

It worked and stayed working for the next few days but i traded it in for a new phone just in case.

So you can try blow drying it on low heat and repeat until you think its dry. And see if it can start up. The sell immediately!

slashd0t 26 May 2011, 22:10

You dropped your phone in dirty toilet water. Toss it and buy a new phone. Sorry for the loss, but, that phone is gross now 😎

jApi NL 27 May 2011, 14:29

My 9210 was soaked in clean water for several hours . Took out the battery and had it dried in Sunshine for about a week .
After it worked fine .
Success !

😊 Regards jApi NL

jmkoding 28 May 2011, 02:58

same thing happened to my n8, fell in the toilet. like others did, i removed the battery, mcard and sim. shook it dry, left it near the exhaust of my gaming rig while i gamed a few rounds (i don't hv a blow dryer).

Next, i put it in a jar filled with uncooked rice and let it sit there for 24hrs. rice is a desiccant and i used that because it was handy. you may opt for a desiccant such as those found in supermarkets.

After the long patient wait, i reassembled everything, stuck the charger in and everything was ok. phone could boot and just to be sure, i did a reformat. works like a charm.

It is crucial that YOU REMOVE THE BATTERY from the phone as quickly as you can.

Similar thing happened to my ipod nano 5G which had a non removable battery. i did the same thing to save it and no probs whatsoever.

Give it a go.

Stuntman 30 May 2011, 23:29

About 12 years ago, a colleague of mine dropped his cell phone (old analog Motorola flip phone) in the ocean on a beach. It just so happens that there was an electrical engineer there. The advice the engineer gave to my colleague was the following:

Take the phone apart. (I believe this includes removing the battery.) Rinse the circuit board under fresh water. Then let it sit for a few days to dry. Put it back together after drying. The basic idea is cleaning the dirty water or other deposits away, then letting it dry.

His phone worked again. Note that this is an old style analog phone. Circuits for modern smartphones may react differently to this procedure. Also, I'm not sure if taking it apart (down to exposing the circuit board) is possible and if it is, I'm not sure how easy it would be to put it back together properly. You have to do this at your own risk.

gustokonyan 12 Sep 2011, 10:48

Last week of august, I looked for my N8 and tried to plug a charger and turn it on (again), there is nothing to lose anyway... The last time i tried this was around first week of June i guess.

And it turned on! It was unbelievable. I thought i was dreaming, but I wasn't lol. Every feature seem to be working fine. I was able to play the videos stored on mass memory, speaker seem to be working alright. I tried the camera, it's working too, with xenon flash. I was very happy.

The menu button and the volume rocker does not work though. After a few minutes, i decided to restart the phone and see if the physical buttons would work after that.

And then, during shut down, the screen flickered, and went totally blank. My dead n8 just died again on me. After that, i left it off for a week. Tried to turn it on again.. Nothing..

But it seem to be booting alright. Because when i touch the screen, the haptic feedback triggers. So probably the amoled screen is the only problem now. And i am planning to bring it to repair center to see what can be done.

Actually, when i leave it on for a few minutes, my Nokia Sleeping Screensaver is triggered. But whenever i try to unlock the phone or press the menu button, the screen would just briefly display a faint white and then immediately goes black again. So this proves the phone seem to be running fine, the display is just not working alright.

have anyone experienced this before? Any opinions regarding this or suggestions on what I can do to revive my N8 will be highly appreciated. thank you!