yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Nexus 5 General] vonapets:
link

Hey guys,

I bought a phone in dead condition. It only happened to be water damaged. The motherboard works and the phone boots. I replaced the screen because it would light up the backlight but would show no picture. The phone is up and running again with a new screen however I was wondering if anyone knows how to resurrect the old one just as a spare. Sometimes when I turn the phone on with the old screen it would show a white background with some crazy speckled colours such as pink and blues.

I have tried the screen with a couple of other nexus 5 motherboards which have not been dunked in water and the result is the same. Backlight works on a black background, sometimes crazy colours.

Cheers,

Dimitry.
[Nexus 5 General] humzaahmed155:
Wait. So the phone works with the new screen? And the old screen DOESN'T work??

Leave the phone how it is now! If you want to try getting the damaged screen to work, try to dip a toothbrush in 99.9% isopropyl alcohol and brush the screen's contacts with it.
[Nexus 5 General] lalakersfan88:
so, my phone just got submerged in water and now it can't turn on or get charged at all. it is now in a bag of rice as well as those silica packets. do you guys know if it is possible to retrieve data and/or get the phone to work again?
[Nexus 5 General] humzaahmed155:
The fact that you plugged it into the charger may of slimmed down it's chances even more. But, what you can do is: get a guitar pick and pry the back casing off, put the phone in rice/silica for a week WITHOUT touching it and pray that it boots up.
[Nexus 5 General] saman0suke1:
Hi, I just got my phone wet yesterday, as soon as It got wet, I noticed the screen got distorted, with lines with different colors horizontally, I removed the back of the phone, and cleaned what I could, it was not wet actually from the inside, I tried to remove the battery however I don't have any tools with me since I'm traveling, I'm planning to put it in a bag of rice, I tried to turn it on and it does not respond, do you think it still have a chance to survive? It's the best phone I've ever had. I would appreciate your comments, thanks.
[Nexus 5 General] :
Water can often ruin something important right off the bat and drying it out doesn't always help. But since you tried to turn it on, you likely sealed is fate. Power is what shorts components out. Leaving it off would be the right thing to do.

You can still try the rice, but it may be too late I'm afraid.
[Nexus 5 General] spinky360:
Take it apart, go to electronics shop, buy flux, spread on the connectors, all over motherboard, ( special POWER IC ), and use a heater at maxim 180 degree Celsius.

With round movements start from power ic and go to the screen connector.

Don't hold it on plastic ( you will have a bad day )

After the mother board is hot let our cool alone. Take a soft brush and using alcohol (99 degree) gently brush the flux.

Chances are 50-80% to start after is chilled out

Best of luck

Sorry I just noticed that you are traveling
[Nexus 5 General] saman0suke1:
It's ocean water, I opened it and it's kinda white in some parts, so I know salt is corrosive right? I disassembled the battery, cleaned those white parts, and it's on rice, maybe I will try to turn it on again when I'm back in my country, what do you think? dead? :(

Don't worry, thanks for the help, what do you think based on what I just wrote before?
[Nexus 5 General] wulsic:
[MENTION=3659745]saman0suke1[/MENTION] from what I remember you need to wash your phone a bit immediatly with sweet normal water to wash way the salt, if the phone dries up then the salt will remain etc and the chances to fix it are going down. You can still try that bag rice things etc. I wish you luck on your journey to fix your phone :good:
[Nexus 5 General] subzerold:
I work at a Cell phone repair shop, we use an immersive jewelry cleaner to repair water damaged devices. Works alot more then you would think. So does alcohol.
[Nexus 5 General] spinky360:
Nope and yes.

Yes. Of you will try powering on

No of you will clean it. Alcohol is not dissolving salt. Flux it is. Flux is coming under a sort of oil / cream that when you are heating it up is taking all the impurities from connections, flat wires ( flex cable ) etc. And after that is cooled down alcohol will dissolve the flux.

Is your choice how you will do it. Best of luck with it
[Nexus 5 General] saman0suke1:
I was thinking, what if the battery is dead? could I give it a try? thanks!
[Nexus 5 General] spinky360:
No. The power command is minim 3.5 volt. So don't risk it
[Nexus 5 General] saman0suke1:
What do you mean? I was thinking about getting a battery replacement, is that dangerous? thanks!
[Nexus 5 General] :
Personally, since you had water damage, I think you'd be wasting your money. I doubt the only thing damaged would be the battery. In fact I doubt it would be damaged.

I'd save that money to put on a replacement.

Just my 2 cents. ?
[Nexus 5 General] spinky360:
I'm in doubt that the battery is damaged. But here is my advice to.

Go to a gsm service.
[Nexus 5 General] saman0suke1:
I've seen some tutorials where they suggest to put the phone in distilled water so it removes the salt, then dry it, some other says that the phone being wet discharges the battery, so the battery might be discharged, what would you suggest? just wondering, thanks!

EDIT: I cleaned the board with isopropylic alcohol and tried to charge it with no luck...what do you think about the distilled water? how am I supposed to dry the phone after that? I also have the flux option, but I have to completely disassemble right? I've just took apart one piece with 6 screws to remove the battery.

Thanks!
[Nexus 5 General] :
Funny enough, me with my stupid jokes, karma came.

I was installing a toilet paper holder next to the toilet and using the phone as a flashlight,and dropped it in the toilet.

I immediately pulled it out, wiped off the screen, turned it off.

Then pried off the back cover, and put a hair drier over it for 15 minutes. Then I let it sit in front of a space heater for a couple hours with the back cover off

Then I left it overnight to dry with the back cover off.

It is working just fine today, so hopefully nothing will corrode or short out down the line.

Also luckily there were no butterfingers or snickers bars in the toilet.
[Nexus 5 General] PJK2011:
I had water thrown on me today. The phone was in my pants pocket. It has survived this before, but I just noticed (6 hours later) that the microphone and speaker are not working. (I have sound if I use earphones.)

Are the mic and speaker components that can't expect to survive water? I noticed a lot of people dropping the phone in water, and reporting it works after drying. When I opened the case, the only noticeable water was on the bottom edge of the case where the mic and speaker are.

***

Update:

I see two days and no responses, so I will just leave the resolution for the sake of future visitors to the thread. 20 minutes of the open phone in front of the fan and 30 minutes sitting on top of a warm UPS must have evaporated what little water was affecting the speaker and mic and the phone works fine now.
[Nexus 5 General] eastpac:
haha unlucky, any updates on your phone? still working?
[Nexus 5 General] eastpac:
Nice, good to hear it works now. Seems like a lot of people have had success with traditional means of drying i.e fans and heaters. I've always erred on the side of caution and didn't use these methods as I was worried that too much heat would damage the internals. But I guess if you're careful with the phone and control the heat properly it'll work well.
[Nexus 5 General] PJK2011:
Yes. The UPS is just warm, not hot. It sits to the left of my monitor, so it was just something conveniently near and warm to set it on after air drying.
[Nexus 5 General] :
It kept working just fine no issues however I am selling it on eBay - just got this i9205

The space heater and open back saved the device
[Nexus 5 General] saman0suke1:
So I dropped my phone, and did all the steps that I've read with no luck, is there any chance that the battery might be dead? I could get one for $20 dollares, but what do you think? thanks!
[Nexus 5 General] :
Same thing I always say. Save your money for a new one. The chances that a new battery will help are slim to none.

Water can affect so many things at once, trying to fix things is usually like a dog chasing it's tail.

Sorry to hear about your phone.
[Nexus 5 General] saman0suke1:
I understand, I just came up with that when I was about to put it on the trash, thanks!
[Nexus 5 General] spinky360:
Don't put it in trash. Sell it as parts or sell it all
[Nexus 5 General] humzaahmed155:
I second that. You can get quite a bit of money from those parts if you eBay them.
[Nexus 5 General] saman0suke1:
Thanks guys, the problem is that I don't live in a country where I'm eligible to sell things on eBay, however that would be great. Regards.
[Nexus 5 General] valgers97:
HI!

I dropped my Nexus in water too. After that it worked , I turned it off, and after few hours disconnected the battery. After a day drying, I tried to turn it on, but it does not turn on. I connected phone to charger and red led started to blink. I ordered new battery. When I replaced battery, it was turning on, USB recognized phone, but screen wasn;t working, so I ordered new screen assembly. Now screen is working, but...

youtube.com/watch?v=-WAD2vxR03M (sorry, I can't insert links)

The screen has a defect or other parts?
[Nexus 5 General] :
You would have been better off following the advice in this thread and saving the money you've spent towards a new device.

Water almost always destroys multiple things. So you replace one thing, find something else doesn't work, replace that... Oops, something else wrong ... Replace that.... Etc. Waste X amount of dollars, just to buy a new device in the end. ?
[Nexus 5 General] neomasterpt:
The best way to do it

The best way to do it is to Turn off the phone and take the battery out.

Go to a drug-store and buy Isopropyl alcohol and deionized water.

Take your phone apart and flush your phone with the deionized water to remove salts, minerals or chlorine. You can use a toothbrush to help and if it was submerged in pool or salt water you can leave it in water for 2h or more to help with the clean up. Take close attention to the board specially behind the shields.

Then flush the phone with the isopropyl alcohol and submerge the phone in the alcohol for about 5 min to displace all the water, then let it dry out for 1-2h.

Rebuild the phone and it should be working.

I tried the method above with my nexus 5 and the rice did not help.... the frame had lost of salt build up and the lcd was not responding.

Had to replace frame and lcd plus the main camera. The second time it happened use my method and it is still working. :laugh:
[Nexus 5 General] :
I did not read all of these, because I have done myself but don't know now its damaged or working.

It fell into mug of water, then after few second I realized that its there, took out of from there, opened the nexus 5 (already opened few times before), then cleared water from every connected point. I thought now everything is fine and cleared all water, then put battery connection. And pressed power button, then nexus 5 screen flashed and now its not even starting. I removed the battery connection.

Please tell me what to do now. I don't have that much money to repair it or buy new mobile. What to do about this? please help.

Is my battery gone?? how to get new battery then??
[Nexus 5 General] :
You powered it on wet. Unfortunately it's surely toast now.

Don't waste money trying to fix things... Anything could be damaged.

You'll have replace it.

Sorry. ?
[Nexus 5 General] :
you mean to say that its short circuited now?? What if i try again after packed into rice??

If short circuited, battery is shorted or motherboard?? :crying::crying::crying:
[Nexus 5 General] :
It won't hurt to try rice for a few days...

And as far as what might be damaged... It could be anything... And multiple things. That's just it. You can start replacing things one by one... And spend who knows how much money... And still have no luck.

Water and electronics are an evil combo.

If it were me, and many will agree, if it isn't turning on, or has signal issues, or the display won't come on but you hear noise.... Doesn't matter. Just replace it.

But that's just me. To each their own. All depends how much your willing to spend, what skills you have to do repairs, your patience level and how long you can be without your device for.

Good luck whatever you decide! ?
[Nexus 5 General] :
Please reply

I connected all part of nexus 5 and then started the mobile it is working perfect. Only problem is that the screen has water in it. What to do to remove the water should i set up the screen awake time to 30 min??? What should i do??? Touch is working perfectly...
[Nexus 5 General] spinky360:
With a hair drier, set it on medium heat and do circular movements so you can heat the weather to evaporate. ( get out the bat from it )
[Nexus 5 General] :
Hey??? From which side??? From where I use the screen or back side??
[Nexus 5 General] spinky360:
On the front side
[Nexus 5 General] :
Water is still there .?? Nothing happened.. How much time hair drier will take???

Or should I remove screen? How to remove screen then??
[Nexus 5 General] defaulted:
It is going to take ages. I once got rubbing alcohol between the digitizer and the lcd, on my SGS2. Took about 3 weeks to evaporate.

Personally I would put it in the oven, on something that doesn't conduct heat well, and on low temperature. It will take longer, but you don't have to do the work.
[Nexus 5 General] :
Will this water affect my screen?

Should I replace screen then??? How much it will charge?? Is it available online to buy??
[Nexus 5 General] humzaahmed155:
I spilt a bottle of water HTC One X once, that was around a year ago yet it still has water stains in the screen.

So if the water doesn't disappear, its probably gone into the layers of the LCD and behind the backlight. So you'll want to consider a replacement LCD assembly.
[Nexus 5 General] eastpac:
A few others have experienced good results with this method as well. Did you submerge the entire phone (including screen) minus the battery into the isopropyl?

Also how did you know you had to replace the frame/lcd/main camera? Did you have another unit to work with, otherwise it's impossible to tell which component isn't working if the phone doesn't turn on after dunking it
[Nexus 5 General] kayl2:
My Nexus 5 fell in about 6 inches of muddy water on Saturday morning. I picked it up, shut it down, and shook as much water out as I could. Went home, rinsed multiple times in high purity rubbing alcohol, stuck in a ziplock bag of rice while I went to Michaels and got silica gel. Packed it into quart size zip lock bag full of silica gel. Let it dry in there for 36 hours, pulled it and it boots fine. I do have some water spotting on the LCD and the power button is flakey, so I've got a "one time exception" replacement enroute from Google.
[Nexus 5 General] vdefender:
I dropped mine in a cooler full of ice water, about 4 inches deep, it was in there for about 4 seconds. When I pulled it out it was still running, so I immediately turned it off. Unfortunately I was out on a boat so I couldn't enact my normal recovery procedure right away so I just left it sitting in the sun for the next 6 hours.

Then back at my hotel I was able to begin my phone recovery process that I've been using for 10 years and has not failed me once.

Procedure:

1: TURN OFF IMMEDIATELY and pull battery out if possible.

2: Lean the phone up against something like a stack of porcelain plates on the kitchen or bathroom counter.

3: Grab a hair dryer, turn it on high and lay it on the counter blowing on the phone from about a 6 inch distance. Aim the air directly onto the back of the phone in the center.

4: Check the phone every 5 minutes or so for the first 20 minutes to make sure you got the distance right. The phone should be HOT, but not so hot that you literally can't touch it. Don't melt it!

5: Once it feels like it's maintaining a steady HOT temperature and not going to melt, just let it sit for an hour at a time and check on it.

6: After a few hours that sucker should be bone dry inside.

7: Turn on and profit.

I should mention that I do have some small water damage on the screen, but it can only be seen by holding the phone at an angle and looking across a bright white screen.
[Nexus 5 General] Genestealer:
I had my Nexus 5 splashed with water many times, had it soaking under heavy rain for a few minutes, then even put it under water intentionally to take a picture, didn't do anything to it except wipe it with a dry towel, still works fine, no water under screen or anything, i think mine is waterproof.
[Nexus 5 General] :
Hey, its impossible to evaporate water from lcd and digitizer...

I removed LCD and some paper stuff was there... I carefully with soft hands removed water from paper stuff.. and now its working perfectly... I think screen is looking even brighter now...

I searched on youtube and tried the same thing... (Dont do it your own, removing LCD is big headache, requires 70+ degree celsius temperature for removing glue between LCD and digitizer, if you did not do properly you will damage your touchscreen)

But the problem is that paper stuff got the scratches... while removing water... But screen and touch working perfectly.. will it be any loss in quality of screen??

screen replacement with frame is around rs 8000 in India.?
[Nexus 5 General] bananafeller:
Backlight not working

Hey guy phone got rained on and I didn't realize, so i want ahead and turned it on and the screen flashed and went dark. Anyways I took it apart and soaked it in rice. After a day I turned it back on and everthing except the backlight works fine... the digitizer works, I can answer calls the image is even visible if you but it under the right light. It just doesn't light up.

Anyone know what I can do to try and get it working again?
[Nexus 5 General] dotawowman:
Can I clean it now?

Hello guys! My Nexus 5 got wet, jumped into the toilet for a second, and gosh, the feeling is terrible :)

However, I turned it off and removed the back cover, and in the removing process I accidently turned it on, my stomach shrinked even more XD, but I turned it off again via the bootloader.

Removed the back cover, wiped the 2 drops of water I saw and putted it in rice for 4 days. Today I turned it on and IT WORKS! I have marks on the screen but it works.

Then I didn't had the tools to disassemble it. So I want to ask you is it too late to open the phone now and clean it with rubbing alcohol?
[Nexus 5 General] Jms122589:
my story

Well heres my story. traded my N5 with my dad temporally for an iphone 5s, (dumb i know). few days later got a call saying he accidentally ran my nexus through the wash. -_-. anyways use the iphone for a while then get a G2 on the cheap. my bro turns on the nexus after a month, the screen is all washed out and pink, looks like **** bro. fast forward like 4 months. see my old nexus in the cupboard, decide to grab it and flash some dank ass roms. bring it home charge it up, turn it on...everything is freaking fine...everything. screen, battery, camera, speaker, SIM, calls...freaking everything. feels good bro.

been using it all day everything is fine...so i guess it healed itself? freaking wierd
[Nexus 5 General] dotawowman:
I hope that I'll have your luck and I'll be able to use my phone for at least one year :D
[Nexus 5 General] siren215:
how much time does it take to replace motherboard in india? anyone knows?
[Nexus 5 General] dotawowman:
Update

The screen dried (?) almost completely, only a few spots left. Maybe they will be gone too :D
[Nexus 5 General] 0Tenebrous0:
The unthinkable happened last night -- I accidentally dropped my Nexus 5 in the toilet (before using it thankfully). It took me about two seconds to suppress my horror and disgust until I finally reached in and grabbed the phone.

I turned it off immediately and then found a way to take out my SIM card. Used an air-spray (usually used to clean dust off my keyboard) to push out as much water as I could and then let it rest for about 8 hours. Would have preferred to wait longer, but had to make some calls.

Made all my calls (about a half-hour) and then turned off the phone again for about another 4 hours. Again, had to make some calls and then turned it off again.

As it stands, I have not noticed any difference in the phone (thankfully). Haven't tried the camera yet., but in the limited use of making and receiving calls, have not noticed a difference.

Have been reading that some people have been taking off the back cover. Did not do that - should I take it off and peek inside or is it too late to make any difference?

EDIT:

One thing that I did do, that I have not seen mentioned (although I didn't read all the comments), is that I kept my phone vertical -- I believe I kept my audio input facing down.
[Nexus 5 General] :
Absolutely take off the back cover.
[Nexus 5 General] RabbiShe:
How do you even do it? How do you drop your phone into the toilet? Are you doing hand stands on it by any chance? The only way i can think of for it to fall in, is people taking pictures of their "achievements" and it slips out of their hands.
[Nexus 5 General] bblzd:
Never happened to me but it seems to always be the same thing: phone is in the side pocket and slips out during the "clothing adjustment period" before and after they do their thing.
[Nexus 5 General] 0Tenebrous0:
Decided against it because it was likely too late to make a difference.

For whatever reason my phone still works as it did before - thankfully - flawlessly. For this reason, I am wondering if it truly is a good idea to remove the back cover when wet. The cover wasn't meant to be removed and I have never removed it before, so maybe this had something to do with how my phone managed to survive despite resting in water.

Also, for anyone else struggling with this issue, I kept my phone vertical - with the audio hole facing down I believe.

Again, not sure how much anything I did after the event managed to help, but in the end, I am just so glad my phone works fine.

---------- Post added at 10:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:33 PM ----------

Lol, it's called an accident for a reason. Regardless in my situation, I had a few drinks wanted to use the restroom without waking up our newborn and was using the phone as a soft light. Near the toiled my dog decided to hop on me, the phone dropped and I had to quickly, but quietly close the door to turn on the light. Took a moment to see and plunged my hand in after my phone. Entered my code and shut the phone down for a few hours. The rest has already been chronicled.

Honestly, it sucks - would not want anyone to have this happen to them.
[Nexus 5 General] neomasterpt:
Yes I submerged the hole phone minus the LCD/frame

About the LCD ... it was broken ate the time so better to replace....

And the camera... well the build-up of salts was so great at the frame/LCD that the camera disintegrated on removal...

But I am talking about a phone that felt in a salt water pool....

I did have a HTC one x that felt in a small pond... did the alcohol approach and after dying is was clean and working...even the LCD...
[Nexus 5 General] djalouk:
Hello,

After heavy rain, my pants got soaked and I noticed some humidity marks on my screen, I've removed the back cover, use a blowdryer for 5-10 mins and here is what my screen looks like (see attachement). I've noticed that the big horizontal mark has moved down since I dried the phone.

What should I do? Leave it off and keep on drying it?

Thank you for your help.
[Nexus 5 General] :
Yes, power it off before moisture hits the wrong spot. Dry it, put it in a bag of rice... Anything.... But I wouldn't be powering it on while there's sign of moisture.