OH GOD HELP ME!!!

[mofotron]

man this is one,i was feeding my cat before i headed off the bed with my exec in the side pocket of my jacket, as i bent over i felt my exec slip and before i knew it, it landed in the cats water bowl..

like a ninja i grabbed it so it was under for maybe .5 of a second, i dryed it out over night with toilet paper and a hair dryer, it doesnt turn on, but when i plug it in over usb, windows see;s it and instead of a green light for charging i get a red one.. can my exec be saved?? i love her dearly

-mofo
:( :cry: :cry: :( :cry: :(

[belfast-biker]

Delete this thread and start one with a less stupid title.

[mofotron]

the title is thus, as i have dropped my $1200 mobile into a bowl of water on this mobile is stored my day to day running of my company, it is 11pm on a sunday night and i have lost all the infomation i need to pull a pay cheque for the following week, so i belive the title is not retarded i belive it is fair.. lets see what you say when you drop yours in a pool/spa..

cheers

-MoF0-

[belfast-biker]

lets see what you say when you drop yours in a pool/spa



I'll say - "HELP: Dropped handheld into water - How can I bring it back to life?"

Not "OH GOD HELP ME!!!"

[richardlai]

So, Mofo (?), does ActiveSync still work?

[mackem]

man this is one,i was feeding my cat before i headed off the bed with my exec in the side pocket of my jacket, as i bent over i felt my exec slip and before i knew it, it landed in the cats water bowl..

like a ninja i grabbed it so it was under for maybe .5 of a second, i dryed it out over night with toilet paper and a hair dryer, it doesnt turn on, but when i plug it in over usb, windows see;s it and instead of a green light for charging i get a red one.. can my exec be saved?? i love her dearly

-mofo
:( :cry: :cry: :( :cry: :(

1. Buy a new exec
2. Sync it to your PC to recover your files
3. Buy a memory card
4. Buy a backup program and learn how to use it

[matt1971]

man this is one,i was feeding my cat before i headed off the bed with my exec in the side pocket of my jacket, as i bent over i felt my exec slip and before i knew it, it landed in the cats water bowl..

like a ninja i grabbed it so it was under for maybe .5 of a second, i dryed it out over night with toilet paper and a hair dryer, it doesnt turn on, but when i plug it in over usb, windows see;s it and instead of a green light for charging i get a red one.. can my exec be saved?? i love her dearly

-mofo
:( :cry: :cry: :( :cry: :(

Normally when you get a red light it means that your exec is not recognizing that there is a battery inside it.

Perhaps check the battery? Is it seated right after the fall? could water have got inside the battery? Maybe your exec is OK but your batt is dead

I read somewhere that drying with heat ie hair dryer is a big no no - they need to dry naturally.

I shudder at the thought of this happening to me - but i read elsewhere that a guy dropped his in a puddle and it lived - so maybe you'll be lucky too.


Matt

[mofotron]

cool, im over it, im sure its dead, so all i can do i pull it apart and clean all the boards and hope for the best..

as soon as it hit the water i pulled the battery pack off it, so less than a 3 seconds wet, then with a hairdryer on low.. i heated the case so i belive i got most of the water...

now.. when i plugged i tried to active sync it.. it didnt sync.. but windows found a usb device.. unplugged it.. ready to be pulled apart.. i got my t9 torx screws and switch cleaner anti static gloves/cloths also called into work sick,,.

still not sure about the red light tho.. atleast i got a light i guess.

-mofo

[richardlai]

USB device huh... Like in bootloader mode I guess, but I don't know if this would help. Sorry.

[mofotron]

cool im happy now, after doing an all nighter, and reading the serivce pdf, i pulled it apart blasted it with board cleaner and soaked all the boards.. dryed them by hand.. 6hrs and 14 cups of coffee later its back up :lol:

its up 110% i say 110% because before it took a bath it was looking grubby, bits of crap in the cracks etc etc.. now it looks brand new and works..

now if this should happen to anyone else i took the following steps

as soon as you get your hands back on it.. pull the battery out straight away..

wrap in a clean cleaning towl and gently shake the excess water out of the device

now this part is open to debate

i used a hair dryer to dry the device before i opened it.. on a low heat.. not directly onto the device.. but to heat it..

i rested the device on the heating vent for 4 hrs before cracking it open.

i have to say the confidential service manuel PDF is great thanks guys!!..

after opening the device.. i noticed a few spots of residual crap.. not much, it was easy to clean, few hairy moments put it back together fired it up and now its on the active sync doing its thing, the screen is bright and very clean

cheers guys, and the guys that pmed me, thanks ill return the tools after i get some sleep :)

[richardlai]

Congratulations dude! Now don't forget to get a backup program for your Universal before something bad happens again! :wink:

[shuflie]

I'd just like to point out to anyone reading this that if your Universal is looking a bit on the grubby side, chucking into the cat's water bowl and taking a sickie next day to get it all dried out is probably not the best way to go about cleaning it. You run a fairly good chance of a broken phone, and a scratched nose from your very pissed off cat. :lol:

[jmdrizen]

lol @ shuflie!!

Dude, where's that PDF file? I'm having problems looking on the FTP at the mo. :-/

[mtbsoft]

Guys,

We have a radio technician as one of the moderators over on MTekk and he recommends Isoprophil Alcohol (from Dick Smith) to expel the water. Ironically it was only a couple of days after he told us what to do that I dropped my XdaII down the toilet (flushed fortunately)!

Steps:

1. PULL THE BATTERY! It is current PLUS water which damages the boards.
2. If you have one (and can)... pull the backup battery.
3. Hold the thing tight and spin it around at arms length to spin out as much water as possible.
4. Open the thing in a clean area on some kitchen towel (or whatever) and fairly drown the boards in the Alcohol, this dispels the water. Use a number of orientations to get the stuff everywhere - under components is the important place. Try not to drown the screen itself, any water in there will disperse over a few days.
5. Use some canned compressed air to blow under suspect areas - gently and not too close or condensation forms, it's cold stuff.
6. Allow the device a good few hours to dry in a naturally warm, but not hot, area. Do NOT use a hair dryer, it can overheat the tiny compnents and literally blow them off the board.
7. Cross your fingers/pray/whatever and fire it up.

My backup battery didn't survive as I couldn't remove it and it shorted out, but the device has been pretty good since, all things considered. A few tiny marks in the screen is the only visible sign.

p.s. While I understand your feelings the post title really is crap, I nearly didn't bother to look.

[mdaexecfan]

Dear Mofotron, sounds to me like your device not restarting had more to do with your heating it up for 4 hours. Next time go straight for the isopropryl (aka rubbing) alcolhol and flush all the water out that way. :twisted:

[beachmeat]

Congratulations, awesome that the device is still working!
Is there any chance to see that PDF document´?

[sub69]

It's in the ftp site somewhere...

Yep, this link should do it:

ftp://xda:xda@ftp.xda-developers.com/Universal/UNniversalL_Service_Manual_CONFIDENTIAL.pdf

[fermin]

cool im happy now, after doing an all nighter, and reading the serivce pdf, i pulled it apart blasted it with board cleaner and soaked all the boards.. dryed them by hand.. 6hrs and 14 cups of coffee later its back up :lol:


You must feel very happy indeed :D

If you're looking for a good backup program, I suggest using SPB Software Backup (http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/products/backup/?en)....

[mofotron]

Well its been almost a week now and i cant belive my luck, everytime i look at it, i get flashbacks of seeing it sitting in the bottom on the water bowl with the camera flash flickering.

ive had a zillion pda over the years from the palm 1x to the newtons 900/2000/2100 psions etc etc so ive had a fare experience when stuff goes wrong, just this time i think emotion really come over me.

being so late at night at the time 11pmish on a sunday i wasent really in the clearest of minds.. i had to get as much water out of the device as soon as possible, so resting on the a/c vent on 24deg and gently warming it with a hair dryer where the only options i had.. then i started digging in the garage for my old techie kit at like 1am, when i found most of the tools i needed and even borrowed a few off a local off this board!!! as soon as i cracked it open i felt better it was clean water so most of the water stains where easy to remove.

but now it works and thats all i care about.. no visable damage at all, no dead pixels or keys only werid thing is everytime i sync it now the date/time changes to 2-may-2004 3am, but i can live with that.

the sequence of recovery can be explain thusly

retrive device

remove battery and back up battery if you can

try and expell as much water as possible

crack it open

Iso Alcohol everything ( i used isorub its an australian product, from supermarkets, for general household use )

let everything fully dry out before reassembly ( 2-3 days i covered my boards in an anti static cloth for a day and a bit )

carefully put everything back together the video cable cant be bent at a certain point so you only have like 1-2mm or wire to fish thru the connectors.. all should be well if not, im sorry get another device and use it as parts.

-MoF0-

o2 Exec back from the dead.. " ZombieExec "

[PReDiToR]

Well done MoFo, you managed to recover from a disaster that my wife puts her phones through on a regular basis.

Imagine, knowing that every time you go to the bathroom you have to drop your jeans, then keeping your mobile in your back pocket ... she has heard a premature splash 5 times so far.

Where in Tesco would one find IsoAlcohol? I don't recall seeing it thus far, but I'd have thought WD40 was a pretty good water dispersal agent too?

Good old WD40. Like my grandad said to me all those years ago:

If it needs sticking use duct tape, if it needs unsticking use WD40!
(Anything else and you have your Leatherman, right?)
If only Leathermans had Torx bits, life would be so cool.

On the topic of thread titles, how does one become part of the Mod team? I see a lot of posts here relating to the title, and I would have been happy to change it =)

[mofotron]

its just a Isopropyl alcohol product like 70% pure, i suggest you go to a electronics store and buy a can/bottle as this is used to clean wounds, it was under the sink in the kitchen, and like i said it was soo late at night, its all i had, but im sure its the same, how different can pure alcohol be??


i wouldnt use WD40.. something about the greasy film it leaves behind.. i hope to hell no one has to refer to this later down the track..

im sure the key is just getting the battery off as soon as possible

Current+water = fried

-mofo-

[mikealder]

Where in Tesco would one find IsoAlcohol? I don't recall seeing it thus far, You probably won't find it in Tescos, try looking for your local Maplins store product code RE79L for the spray can type or RE71N for a jar full to brush into place. Its worth keeping a can handy in the house - Mike

[mofotron]

okay cool, looks like im not THAT lucky after all.. everytime i sync it to goes back to the same date and time, of the incident.. any ideas how to fix this??

[jmdrizen]

okay cool, looks like im not THAT lucky after all.. everytime i sync it to goes back to the same date and time, of the incident.. any ideas how to fix this??

Have you deleted the profile with ActiveSync (when the phone's not connected). Re-connected the phone and re-setup?