I've had my XDA for less than a month and just learned the lesson of *not* carrying it in a shirt pocket when it fell out into some pretty disgusting water.
Remarkably, in my drunken state, I retrieved it almost immediately, and, thinking "it's already wet through" just rinsed it under clean water to get the surface muck off.
More remarkably, having got it home and opened it up to clean out the muck and charged it up again, it still works *partially*. :?
While it's on the charger all is well. When I take it off the charger and switch off it manages to keep flashing it's signal indicator for several hours, then as soon as I switch it on and start any programme it dies - dead - hard reset - recover from cold boot - reconfigure all my settigs and reinstall all additional software. :x
This is a bit useless.
I suspect I've killed the battery by submerging the unit in mucky water, and in trying to clean it out I've voided the warranty.
I'm open to trying to replace parts so long as it doesn't need microsurgery, but where can I get a replacement battery from? Is it just the LiPolymer inside the back plate, or is there another within the main body (like the 'backup' battery on a desktop motherboard?).
Of course if a replacement unit is cheaper than the parts I'll go far that. Any luck anyone getting a £99 refurb model?
Maybe replying to your own post is bad etiquette, but does anybody care?
Things are getting worse. Now it dies as soon as I disconnect from mains power, so the battery isn't doing anything at all for it.
Obviously that 'guest' was me. (I am sure I had logged in!)
you know if that wasnt so tragic it would be funny !!
sorry... but I personally havent seen any sites that offer repairing or spare parts..
I know the warrenty is void... but you could still try contact O2 to see if they can sort you out... what cost though I dunno
soz...
Ian.
Thanks for your sympathy. That's the best I've had so far.
I tried drying it all out, and short of removing soldered parts I disassembled the thing into as many pieces as I could. I thought I'd got all the moisture out, but it still came up dead. :?
I took it to the Phones4U shop where I got it, and as soon as I mentioned water their immediate response was "beyond economical repair - you need to buy a new unit", so I went to the O2 shop and they wouldn't handle it because it came from a Phones4U shop - even though I was expecting to pay for the repair! :x
Back at home I messed with it some more, and (by luck) got it to the stage where verything worked - the OS, the installed software, the phone (including GPRS), ActiveSync - everything, until you unplugged the charger - then it died again.
So, armed with my newfound certainty that it was not "beyond economical repair" I marched back in to the Phones4U shop to ask them to send it away. I insisted on showing them everything working, to prove that it was just the battery or the power management chip that needed replacing, and spent 15 minutes going through the setup and demostrating (to the assistant who had never seen an XDA working before!), and then when I unplugged the power cord . . . it stayed on! :shock:
I didn't know whether to be pleased or embarrassed, but I left with a working phone.
I got home again and set up ActiveSync to restore everything I'd had previously, and then after about 10 hours the unit spontaneously did itself a hard reset (while sitting on the cradle!) and lost everything.
Off the power cord it stayed on, with the power meter reporting 100% in the battery, but after a few hours it died again, and only came back when the power cord was plugged in.
From this I work out that the battery is probably OK but that the power management chip is fritzed, OR there's still some moisture in there that shorts the 'hard reset' at unpredicatble times.
hmmm that’s ****ty :-|
I'm surprised O2 wouldn’t offer you a new phone at cost price or close to it (like for their employees)
the fact you bought it from phones4u shouldn’t matter since
A: Its an O2 Phone
B: O2 SIM..
Are O2 now trying to say that O2 aren't O2? lol
I'm sorry with or without a warranty I'd have kicked up the dirt in that shop...
your phone might have been £300 but your 'saving' another supposed £200 by using their O2 contract... and that O2 contract subsidises your O2 phone... so therefore the O2 shop still have some form of responsibility for it.
Try getting on to O2 via phone... get tech support and ask to speak to a supervisor... explain the problem and as if they offer such things...
I've heard of people having similar probs with other hardware... and the slight chance of mentioning a bad review on zdnet can influence someone with the power to please the customer... maybe it would work for you? (or something similar)
I guess you are one of the few that should have taken out the extortionate insurance *weak laugh*
is it possible your cradle is damp? Strange how it would work in the shop but not at home..... bit speculative I know but if you put it back in the cradle... the water might run down ... and each time you put it on you dampen the connections... prolly BS but its just a thought I had...
anyways when did you get it wet? maybe it just hasn’t dried out fully yet... and your effort to at least get some of it working is that proof...
:?
I feel your pain.
Ian.
What about contents insurance, some policies have "contents away from home" cover for loss, theft & accidental damage usually up to £1000 per individual item.
Most people who are tricked into getting mobile phone insurance dont realise this. If you have this you could make a claim, there might by an excess of £50 but its a damn sight cheaper than a new (even on contract phone) All you'd need is a written statement/letter from the phone shop that said it was beyond reasonable repair, and your insurance company should pay up for a new phone (without contract) e.g. full price.
As you already have a contract (presumably)
You could always then sell the damaged handset on ebay, or to some of the clever chaps on here... explaining the problems, you never know someone might find it useful even in its current state!
the fact you bought it from phones4u shouldn’t matter since
A: Its an O2 Phone
B: O2 SIM..
Are O2 now trying to say that O2 aren't O2? lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Phones-4-U and O2. Hmmm, let me think, yes, they're different. O2 are O2. Phones-4-U are not O2.
You really have no idea what you're talking about, do you? Call O2 yourself, then see who LOLs.
Try getting on to O2 via phone... get tech support and ask to speak to a supervisor... explain the problem and as if they offer such things...
I've heard of people having similar probs with other hardware... and the slight chance of mentioning a bad review on zdnet can influence someone with the power to please the customer... maybe it would work for you? (or something similar)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're a self-important ****wit. Tell you what. Why don't you call them and pretend to be in this situation? It'd be interesting to hear what you come back with.
Tulaine - put the unit in the airing cupboard with a packet of silica gel for a day or two. Don't place it too close to any heat sources, warm air should be sufficient. If that does not work then it's ****ed. Sorry mate.
Bad luck, by the way.
Hey Anon, that's some great slander you built up there... did it take you ALL week to get it together? God all that hard work and most people will think you still had to take breaks to go to school!
Phones4U aren't O2.. But whom may I ask did they get the phone from? I'm sure HTC wouldn’t give you a thousand O2 branded phones just because you asked for them, I think O2 might have something to say about that.
You're a self-important ****wit. Tell you what. Why don't you call them and pretend to be in this situation? It'd be interesting to hear what you come back with.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually I've had many problems with O2, they are a HOPELESS company.
But all companies need one thing, and that’s popularity. Last time I looked that never grows on trees and I know through experience that moaning even politely gets you everywhere. By the looks of your comment Anon, I'm not so sure you know what polite means so it wouldn’t surprise me that you've never got anywhere.
As far as the self-importance goes Anon, I have rights and I use them. By the looks of your comments you don’t deserve them.
And in all honesty, he did do as you suggested.... only a week ago. Sorry you were a little late in replying, maybe you should stop typing so much drivel and you might be in time for the next response
Sleep well Anon, the sheep will always be there for you.
(\).
Be nice (Dammit!)
Hey folks....
I really must insist we all remain nice to one-another here. There's already so much shouting and cursing out there. Every day people die of starvation, or as victims of awful wars. A larger and larger part of the global pie is eaten by fewer and fewer people. So your silly conflict over how to get or not get phones fixed really isn't something to get worked up over. Save it for something big...
Related
I bought a refurbished Lapdock from All4Celullar and it works amazing while plugged in, but it doesn't work if plugged out.
I live in Argentina and it would be more expensive to return it, so I'm trying to fix it myself.
The battery indicator works while plugged in (3 dots first time I touched, 5 an hour later) so I guess there is a battery inside but with some malfunction.
Does anybody have any idea about how to repair it? Or things to check to identify what's the faulty part?
I googled a lot and it seems I'm the only one (I guess the lapdock without battery powered is such an evident flaw that everybody returns them). I'll be very grateful if you can give me a hand, at least pointing to something I should read.
Did you ever find a fix for this? It seems that mine has developed the same problem. MAJOR issue for me, I literally love the little guy and don't have the money to replace it right now.
I guess if nothing pops up, I might just have to find someone who is willing to buy it despite the issue.
In my case, I get 5 flashing lights when I try the battery indicator
I know double posting is frowned upon, but I wanted to present a slightly more obvious solution to this issue (because it's what I did)
Try to send it in to Motorola. If you haven't had it for a year and bought it new, or as a refurb, you should be able to warranty it for repair or replacement. I sent mine in a couple days ago and they have it currently. Hopefully I'll get it back and in working order soon.
The worst that might happen is they tell you no. IF that happens, then you might want to try to find another way to fix it.
It's always surprising how frequently people don't think to consider manufacturer's warranties. Typically you don't need a receipt or anything, I didn't for my lapdock. I look forward to getting it back.
Hi all. Managed to drop my phone down the bog mid flush a couple of weeks ago and despite getting it out straight away, removing battery, sim etc before putting into rice to dry out, the phone will no longer power on. Have tried different batteries but all to no avail.
Given the above, I've resigned myself to having to fork out for a repair but was wondering if anyone in the UK (London would be even better) could recommend a decent mobile phone repair service?
I've heard so many horror stories that I'd like to know that the one I'm sending it to has a solid background.
Thanks in advance.
simply take it to the phone dealer, and pay up for the fix, have them inspect every small bit in the phone from head to toes... could be something internal and bad costing u more than a new/used phone.... thats what happened to my old 8910hd with parts going bad after just fixing the phone from a drop in the sink.. ended up paying more than the cost of a used unit
Yeah, have already resigned myself to paying up, was just looking for a reputable repair centre. Phoned Samsung and they gave me another number that wasn't even in service.
Working perfectly yesterday, dead this morning - I received it *exactly* 4 months ago. Put in on to charge last night and the green light was showing as normal this morning, but when I went to use it, well... Nothing. Tried all the usual: battery pull, other battery, connect to computer, get into recovery, jig, etc, etc..nothing apart from a stubbornly dead phone. After speaking to the retailer and to Samsung CS, I dropped it off at a service centre (thankfully there is a small one a mile up the road from where I live). It's on stock ICS but rooted and obviously I couldn't, erm let's say "tidy things up" so fingers crossed that it can be revived without them finding out
I am bit miffed right now to be honest (to put it nicely) as I have never had a phone die on me in the last 15 years. I did keep my S2 though so at least I have a phone to use in the meantime!
Hope my S3 won't do that to me.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
unlucky man, I wouldn't worry about the rooting issue, if its dead for you it will be dead for them as long as its not just the battery, they'll probably strip it for parts and bin the rest.
Hi all, overnight my phone is dead. Did with it during night. I can not start it, I can not do anything with it. It is only 4 and some day after purchase. What is going on?
da.trute said:
unlucky man, I wouldn't worry about the rooting issue, if its dead for you it will be dead for them as long as its not just the battery, they'll probably strip it for parts and bin the rest.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I'm *really* hoping it's properly dead... It's most definitely not the battery itself, at least that would have been easy to sort out!
I'm going to pitch in with a last resort tip that I have seen reported to work rarely, and is used also on hard drives.
Seal in plastic bag and in the freezer overnight, sounds ludicrous but always worth a try as a last ditch attempt for those without warranty!
Bought mine 2 weeks ago. Exactly 1 week later woke up stuck to the initial samsung galaxy sIII letters and nothing i'd do would make it past that. Had not rooted or done anything to the phone so i didn't even try anything, went to the store and got it replaced. It did reboot randomly a couple of time during that week.
In the store, they were the very definition of assholes about it, not peacefull at all and i was fully expecting it. They said they were doing me a favor by replacing it (i do know otherwise, according to the law they must replace it within 15-30 days of purchase, even if there's no reason), didn't want to replace the battery or the back cover. I agreed to stay with the back cover because acording to them "was scatched", although i swear to the best of my abilities i could not see anything but a very smooth surface on the back cover, so whatever. I did not agree to not having the battery replaced though. I asked the dude if he could prove my phone wasn't malfunctioning because of the battery and since he couldn't, he had no choice but to replace it after a few phone calls.
This was on a fnac store in Portugal, to whoever knows it. This is the same store that agreed to reimburse my money if i needed to return a laptop when i was buying it but lied to my face telling me they said nothing of the sort when i was actually returning it making me take credit in their stores instead for a value of about 1000 euros. I managed to get my money back through trading credits for money to friends who needed to buy stuff over 1 year but it says a lot about how much of a scumbag they can be.
The only reason i went to them is because they were the only store around on boat with the 30% discount campaign samsung did recently and i took the chance to get the phone 30% cheaper.
Nothing wrong with my new unit ever since.
Guys I owned a Galaxy SIII white GT-19300... had it for 3-4 months, bought it brand new. used really carefully, only had one or two falls that's it.
Finally it decided to crap all of a sudden like it had a silent heart attack, just a couple of hours ago. It wasn't charging or was in process of updating or anything. Just that I was sitting and having a sms conversation where in the middle it just won't budge at all. It just went completely pulseless.
These are the symptoms:
-No display
-Won't power up by any means
-No charging light
-No sign of booting up
What I tried:
-Hard reset
-Remove SIM and SD card, still no activity
-Swapped battery of working S3
What should be the next step?. Thankfully warranty period hasn't elapsed yet.
How should I approach now?. Will the warranty company replace the set or more likely create some unsolvable obstacles, like them assuming fall or label the phone rooted etc?
Thanks for your time
saadxe said:
Guys I owned a Galaxy SIII white GT-19300... had it for 3-4 months, bought it brand new. used really carefully, only had one or two falls that's it.
Finally it decided to crap all of a sudden like it had a silent heart attack, just a couple of hours ago. It wasn't charging or was in process of updating or anything. Just that I was sitting and having a sms conversation where in the middle it just won't budge at all. It just went completely pulseless.
These are the symptoms:
-No display
-Won't power up by any means
-No charging light
-No sign of booting up
What I tried:
-Hard reset
-Remove SIM and SD card, still no activity
-Swapped battery of working S3
What should be the next step?. Thankfully warranty period hasn't elapsed yet.
How should I approach now?. Will the warranty company replace the set or more likely create some unsolvable obstacles, like them assuming fall or label the phone rooted etc?
Thanks for your time
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Warrant may be void if its rooted or custom rom or modified status or rom counter above zero .
No way to reset those on a non booting phone .
Dropped damage incurred again who knows until they take the phone apart .
jje
JJEgan said:
Warrant may be void if its rooted or custom rom or modified status or rom counter above zero .
No way to reset those on a non booting phone .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If the phone's truly hard-bricked, there's no way the service center would be able to discern that. Dead is dead.
Agreed, if the phone is truly dead no one in the sammy repair could able to detect that.
Sent from my GT-I9300
I'm sorry but I have to disagree, just because the power port has died, by no means means the memory/storage, or anything else for that matter really is down.. (not that it'll come up, just making a point)
it sounds like you really did everything right to troubleshoot it huh.. well let me just throw a few things out, you probably didnt, but hopefully did overlook..
the cord you're trying to charge it with, could it be not working/charging it?
have you tried another cord, or maybe even a USB cord? was it plugged in when it died? some low quality/defective cords can have some weird effects on phones, like less responsive digitizers, or even short out a phone
did you have any custom CPU settings? over/under clock/volt? had you played with you min/max CPU settings?
it doesn't turn on, did you determin this by seeing no display? seeing if there's any hapticfeedback, or even calling it from another phone and seeing if it rings on the callers side.
I know it seems silly but I'm just throwing out things from personal expirence ..
so now your phone really is dead, well having it under warrenty is great. having worked at an AT&T corporate retailer, I can tell you what happens on our side when you bring in a damaged phone.. well try it ourselves, well ask what happened, if you don't know well ask things like, 'did you drop it', 'or it was in contact with water'. (were actually required to ask, since these things aren't covered under warranty. which let me say, is so broken that we push the extended warranty on you, because it covers basically nothing.. we have a quota that says we need to sell X amount of a list of product/services each month.. but I digress).. anyway, once you tell us it just died out of nowhere we take your phone, put it in an envelope and ship it back to the manufacturer. in the mean time well offer you a loaner phone if you need one (just whatever we have on hand at the time, usually phones we get from trade-ins) (you keep your battery and sim) , and we put a 50 dollar hold on your card (yes on a creditcard, not your account) until your phone comes back in and we get our loaner phone. they'll send you a phone back to us, not yours, usually a refurbished version, then we call you and let you know your phones ready.
NEVER have I ever seen or heard anything ever of checking for root. most of our reps don't even know what that is.. once we submit a replacement form, the new phone is on transit to our shop usually by the next day (meaning they send out the replacement before they get the one we sent).
my advice is once you're sure the phone is dead, take it in to your retailer, tell them it died out of nowhere while you were texting, and it won't turn back on. you don't need to go into anymore detail than that..
clearly I have a problem with rambling this morning haha so ill stop talking there. if you have anymore questions tho, ill be happy to answer. goodluck!
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
soraxd said:
I'm sorry but I have to disagree, just because the power port has died, by no means means the memory/storage, or anything else for that matter really is down.. (not that it'll come up, just making a point)
it sounds like you really did everything right to troubleshoot it huh.. well let me just throw a few things out, you probably didnt, but hopefully did overlook..
the cord you're trying to charge it with, could it be not working/charging it?
have you tried another cord, or maybe even a USB cord? was it plugged in when it died? some low quality/defective cords can have some weird effects on phones, like less responsive digitizers, or even short out a phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Didn't mention it. I underwent much thoroughly then what I typed.. Yup tried 3 different cables, couple of chargers, usb cable.
And no it really wasn't plugged in. I really was expecting a sms at that time, when it took too long, I took it out from the pocket and voila DEAD!
soraxd said:
did you have any custom CPU settings? over/under clock/volt? had you played with you min/max CPU settings?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No didn't.. was too scared to try that!
soraxd said:
it doesn't turn on, did you determin this by seeing no display? seeing if there's any hapticfeedback, or even calling it from another phone and seeing if it rings on the callers side.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tried everything you mentioned and even more then that!
yup lifeless like a brick.
** By the way an incidental finding found before claiming warranty. While having the battery in the phone. It was still warm. Removed it. Became cooler, upon reinstall, it became warm again. What gives??!
It's more like a phone in coma!
soraxd said:
I know it seems silly but I'm just throwing out things from personal expirence ..
so now your phone really is dead, well having it under warrenty is great. having worked at an AT&T corporate retailer, I can tell you what happens on our side when you bring in a damaged phone.. well try it ourselves, well ask what happened, if you don't know well ask things like, 'did you drop it', 'or it was in contact with water'. (were actually required to ask, since these things aren't covered under warranty. which let me say, is so broken that we push the extended warranty on you, because it covers basically nothing.. we have a quota that says we need to sell X amount of a list of product/services each month.. but I digress).. anyway, once you tell us it just died out of nowhere we take your phone, put it in an envelope and ship it back to the manufacturer. in the mean time well offer you a loaner phone if you need one (just whatever we have on hand at the time, usually phones we get from trade-ins) (you keep your battery and sim) , and we put a 50 dollar hold on your card (yes on a creditcard, not your account) until your phone comes back in and we get our loaner phone. they'll send you a phone back to us, not yours, usually a refurbished version, then we call you and let you know your phones ready.
NEVER have I ever seen or heard anything ever of checking for root. most of our reps don't even know what that is.. once we submit a replacement form, the new phone is on transit to our shop usually by the next day (meaning they send out the replacement before they get the one we sent).
my advice is once you're sure the phone is dead, take it in to your retailer, tell them it died out of nowhere while you were texting, and it won't turn back on. you don't need to go into anymore detail than that..
clearly I have a problem with rambling this morning haha so ill stop talking there. if you have anymore questions tho, ill be happy to answer. goodluck!
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the detailed reply man, really appreciated. Especially since I was already trying to read the minds of these warranty dealers!
So just a while ago I gave it in for warranty. I was adamant of it going dead while I was doing an sms (although true!).. just said no to whatever cause they tried to find (wasn't any, honest!). They were pressing me though for the graze it got (a month ago).. I said 90% of the phones are scratched, and how many do die? He went okay we'll see then, 'yeah you are right we buy that, most that gets damaged from a fall is a phone with shattered screen!"'. Next question, the tricky one!. Did you modify/update software?
I was like, I keep my phones as stock and was totally acting alien to terms like 'rooting' 'firmware' 'kernel' etc (not being honest, but i'm sure that's not the cause)
He was like okay hand it over, we'll do the rest!
Hopefully they don't ever get to revive the mobo or i'm screwed for real!
my phone just died after flashing morfic A10 kernel. i am running stock rooted rom and the best part my sgs 3 was bought 11/18/12 from target, cant go to download mode, cant go to recovery i even tried adb recovery and download mode hoping to turn on nada, charge for an hour no led flashing. my sgs3 totally dead. called target and they said just bring it and they will replace it with new one if the phone wont turn on. is that mean i will be okay even my phone is rooted?
UPDATE:
Thank God.. got my SIII fixed in warranty, now it's back to life!
Just had a motherboard replacement, no further details given.
Hence kind of proven!:
if the phone is truly dead no one in the sammy repair could able to detect that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am having a problem after my phone was dropped in water. The phone is now fully dry but I am having battery issues. It seems that the phone believes the battery to be empty all the time. I can charge it whilst the phone is off until it states it is at 100% but as soon as i turn it on it says the battery is at 0% and turns off even whilst plugged in.
I have flashed a few different roms to see if the software had any bearing on it. The only difference I got was with CM 10.1 I was able to run the phone whilst it was plugged in but as soon as I unplugged it died.
I have tried the battery in other phones and it works fine and I have tried batteries from other phones (ones that I know are fine) and it says they are empty.
I did have one case when the phone came on and stayed. The battery level stuck at about 70% and never decreased over 24 hours. As soon as I rebooted it it said it was empty.
To me it seems like the bit of hardware that checks the battery level is failing. I have opened up the phone and given it a clean but no joy.
Any Ideas?
Yes since sensitive electronic components dont seem to mix well with water youll have to replace them.
Start with the usb board,then maybe motherboard if nothings changed.
Can anyone point out on the boards which bits are responsible for power management.
Also where would I be able to get replacement boards from?
TheUnderling posted a link to the service manual a week or so ago, search through his recent posts to find it. That has schematics/parts lists in it.
Re: getting another board, your best bet is to find a screen damaged phone on eBay or similar, Samsung aren't in the business of selling just motherboards (they'll charge you maybe half of what a new phone would cost to replace it).
You could see if Kevin Costner is going to make Waterworld 2,then he could maybe buy it off you.
You can get a new s2 now for £199.99 from Orange.
Gold
theunderling said:
You could see if Kevin Costner is going to make Waterworld 2,then he could maybe buy it off you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
theunderling said:
You could see if Kevin Costner is going to make Waterworld 2,then he could maybe buy it off you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not funny and not useful
Sorry,I shouldnt make jokes about it.What to do is take it to the man from atlantis and get a quote for a repair.
I don't mind you making jokes actually. It means you keep bumping my question to the top of the boards and then maybe someone who actually is helpful may help me out.
You got your help. The motherboard (at the very least) is cactus. And maybe other components. What else are you hoping for anyone else to tell you ? You dropped the phone in water, think about it. Ain't rocket surgery.
MistahBungle said:
You got your help. The motherboard (at the very least) is cactus. And maybe other components. What else are you hoping for anyone else to tell you ? You dropped the phone in water, think about it. Ain't rocket surgery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hes got to start "splashing" the cash on a battery>usb board for starters.
And whos to say it aint going to end up in water again.
Best to sell the phone on and hope a mug buys it.
I guess I was juts hoping for more positive suggestions rather than sarcastic comments
Theres no point in having a go at me or mistahbungle,its "water off a ducks back" to us.
Youve been advised what to get(if you must)....in cheapest order.You can hit the search button and see threads about water damage which will give you an idea of solutions.
Ive read 100's of posts about water damage and some people have not had any problems.
So as things stand,your looking at spending between £8 to £150.