[Q] Revived water-damaged SGS2 (almost - advice needed) - Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi everyone.
<SKIP> (if you don't like reading a lot)
So, I managed to do a very silly thing *slaps own wrist*. After spilling some food on my brand new pair of shorts, I chucked them straight in the washing machine without thinking. After about 5 minutes, I noticed a slight knocking noise coming from the washing machine, and alas, when I dug my hand in the water to try find the culprit item, I pulled out my drenched SGS2.
Now, as any technically-minded person does after such an incident, I immediately pulled out the battery, SIM card and memory card, and went sifting through my kitchen for rice. It was in the sealed bag of rice for about 1.5 weeks, after which I tried to turn it on. It worked! However, the touch screen wasn't responding, so bag into the bag.
Closer to two weeks, I took it out again. This time, everything seemingly worked fine! I did however notice while using the back camera that some residue from the water has stuck onto the rear camera lens. It also took me a while to notice that the bottom microphone isn't working, which defeats the point of having a phone.
Everything else works fine. I took it to a local repair shop (which I'm a bit doubtful of) and they came back to me saying they couldn't do anything.
</SKIP>
So, in conclusion, the bottom microphone isn't working (people can't hear me during calls), and the rear camera lens has residue on it (which can be seen when using the camera):
1) Assuming the warranty is now void due to water damage, do you think I should try my hand at replacing the microphone/USB board on my own? Has anybody done it, and has some pointers? Anyone know a good place to get these?
2) Is anyone aware if the camera area can be broken down to such a point that I can wipe the residue off the lens?
I'm tempted to just take it to another repair shop for them to try - really don't want to go to Samsung though, as they'll likely charge a small fortune.
Thanks for the help in advance,
MrP.

MrPadie said:
Hi everyone.
<SKIP> (if you don't like reading a lot)
So, I managed to do a very silly thing *slaps own wrist*. After spilling some food on my brand new pair of shorts, I chucked them straight in the washing machine without thinking. After about 5 minutes, I noticed a slight knocking noise coming from the washing machine, and alas, when I dug my hand in the water to try find the culprit item, I pulled out my drenched SGS2.
Now, as any technically-minded person does after such an incident, I immediately pulled out the battery, SIM card and memory card, and went sifting through my kitchen for rice. It was in the sealed bag of rice for about 1.5 weeks, after which I tried to turn it on. It worked! However, the touch screen wasn't responding, so bag into the bag.
Closer to two weeks, I took it out again. This time, everything seemingly worked fine! I did however notice while using the back camera that some residue from the water has stuck onto the rear camera lens. It also took me a while to notice that the bottom microphone isn't working, which defeats the point of having a phone.
Everything else works fine. I took it to a local repair shop (which I'm a bit doubtful of) and they came back to me saying they couldn't do anything.
</SKIP>
So, in conclusion, the bottom microphone isn't working (people can't hear me during calls), and the rear camera lens has residue on it (which can be seen when using the camera):
1) Assuming the warranty is now void due to water damage, do you think I should try my hand at replacing the microphone/USB board on my own? Has anybody done it, and has some pointers? Anyone know a good place to get these?
2) Is anyone aware if the camera area can be broken down to such a point that I can wipe the residue off the lens?
I'm tempted to just take it to another repair shop for them to try - really don't want to go to Samsung though, as they'll likely charge a small fortune.
Thanks for the help in advance,
MrP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I replaced the earpiece (speaker) in my HTC HD2. It was a pain in the ass to tear down. I imagine that my SG2 would be even harder.
I found the earpiece on ebay for only about $10, and it even came with a few tools needed for the tear down (plastic pry tools). It was not for the faint of heart...meaning that I was stressed to the balls, and wasn't sure until it was over if I had destroyed my phone. So the microphone should be possible to replace, if you're careful and technically inclined.
The camera will also probably need to be replaced (although, you might find otherwise when you take it apart). The good news is that it shouldn't cost more than $20, but I have no idea really...just estimating. Here's a link to a guy's G+ post who did it click me.
If you look on google, you'll find youtube videos about the tear down and how to do it.
I'd watch those first to check the difficulty. I think I've also seen instructions somewhere, but don't remember exactly where.
Good luck. Stay calm and be careful.

Related

Has anyone disassembled the monet?

Topic says all
If someone has (or had) the time to make a guide about this it would be nice
prodigyfied said:
Topic says all
If someone has (or had) the time to make a guide about this it would be nice
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have got the OS.nb , do you needed?
This can be of use We'll talk in skype about that
I'm also asking about physical disassembly of the device
I took one apart and put the good cover from one with a damaged screen onto the one I had with a scuffed cover.
It was successful but a real pain in the butt.
Take off back cover/battery cover. and unscrew the screws you can see.
Next bit is the hard bit and I just did it by brute force, but you then need to take off the white pearly bit around the camera, as other screws are hidden under there. I just used a small screwdriver and edged my way around the top, but it was pretty firm and took some getting off.
Once that was off, I undid two more screwsand that allowed me to edge off the black section where the battery sits from the main phone bit (green computery hardware bit sorry, I'm not very techy!! ) I again did this slowly but it needed some force as it's very very snugly fitted. There are some black clips as part of this middle section that you can push inwards to release the front with screen and keyboard and reveale the phone inards.
You immediately notice the ribbon attaching the camera to the main motherboard/phone and it pops out . I then unscrewed the 4 tiny tiny screws attaching the screen to the frontof the phone and very gently prised the whole phone guts out and immediately dropped it onto the new front I had ready. Screwed the screen back in place and also one other ribbon plugs into the motherboard from the keyboard Front section.
Trickiest part was re screwing the screen screws as they were teeny and I had to use tweezers to hold em in place. Then replugged in the bottom ribbon (Think it was power button? ) and placed the battery section back on top of the motherboard bit.
Another tricky bit was re attaching the ribbon from the camera as I had to almost close the black battery section and just leave a tiny gap and use the flat end of my tweezers to gently push the ribbon connector in. It's doable but bloomin fiddly.
After that I clicked as much of the battery/middle section back onto the front/screen and keyboard section, but inevitable it's not quite as fixed as it was, and there are signs that it's been taken appart as I found it impossible to take appart with out some force and some of the plastic clips were either bent ir broken in doing it. I screwed the screws back on and put back the white section round the camera - luckily everything started up and worked OK, but I'm sure I could have easily messed it up
Its a very fiddly thing to attempt. I only did it as I'd got two handsets reasonably cheaply and wasn't risking much. But it's a phone that obvioulsy wasn't made with cover changes in mind. LOL Once fully put together again it's robust and no loose bits, and everything working fine.
Daisy xx
i had one of those lovely phones (despite what everyone else says, i loved that mobile) and eventually, after a LOT of use, it became useless so i took it apart. i cant remember how i did it exactly, but it got to the point where i could take the entire thing apart, put enough parts together for it to work and then re-asemble it again. it was a great thing to show to friends at college as none of them really knows whats inside mobiles there.
i miss that phone
then again, i now have a vox
At last...
So glad to see someone has written down a guide on how to take the Lobster apart. I have been trying to dismantle mine and can only see me breaking it as I can't see any way in. I will try your step by step guide daisy...thanks for that. I'm also a proud owner of a vox now but I do have miss my Lobster and would quite happily use it again if need be. Thats if I can get it apart and fix it of course!
Thanks Dayzee, nice article
if anyone puts apart their lobby soon, please make some photos, and share them here, I think it'd be useful too

The most aweful experience of my life.

Final Update: Its with a heavy heart that I bare this news unto all of you.. After 8 hours of struggling, Howard Dean the Second, know to his friends and family as HD2, has passed. To say he was simply HD2 is not enough... He was MY HD2. 4 hours into operation things were grim, but we held our heads high as he sat in front of the fan, hardening his frame and removing the moisture from our eyes. In hour 6, his buttons became stuck, immobilized by the same glue that was to be his savior. And in hour 7, just before he could pull through, the unthinkable happened... He failed to boot. Not a sound.. not a look. Gone. Screen replacement is an almost impossible procedure.. we did our best. You will be missed my friend.
SELLING PARTS HTC LEO FOR PARTS TMOUS RELEASE PM ME!
So I broke my screen, ordered a replacement with digitizer of ebay. Finally arrived today after 3 weeks, and I braced myself for a tough hour or two. It's now been 5 hours and I have the touch screen, lcd and middle piece put together. I decided to go with gorilla glue, which after 4 attempts is being left to dry with glue streaks around the screen (between the touchscreen and lcd). In an previous try at cleaning off the lcd I must have left some moisture on it, because now there is a big spot in the middle of the screen.
I'm not sure how this will look, because it's currently drying and I haven't even tried to put my Leo back together. I guess my question is, whats the best way to try and be rid of this? I already broke the volume ( at least the volume, maybe more) when removing the copper colored opaque stick from the motherboard. If my phones ruined I'm going to be extremely disappointed. I got to play with Android on my hd2 for a whole 10 minutes before it broke.
Any advice would be amazing. Ill update this as well with my findings once my phone is dried and back together. Sigh.
Attempt 6: Buttons were stuck when I went to check on the device. Disassembled and placed correctly, re-glued, and slightly more enraged. I feel the need to wear purple cutoff jean shorts and paint myself green, then proceed to smash everything in sight. Hopefully this doesnt occur.
that really sucks mate. I tried to fix my HD2 as well and failed miserably.
Pretty much everywhere I have read says don't bother getting the digitizer/screen separate. Obviously it costs more to buy the whole screen unit but it is near impossible to get it right if you try and attach the digitizer yourself. Besides, cheaper than a whole new phone
Otherwise, if you still have the receipt try for warranty? I had mine repaired under warranty despite the damage being clearly my fault and a very obvious failed home repair attempt.
Best of luck anyway
Here's to you ol' friend.
In Germany we say: "Mein Beileid."

[Q] Water Damaged Thunderbolt, Worth fixing?

My roommate spilled god only knows what on her Thunderbolt. This is her 4th and they cancelled her warranty so no replacement. She has since moved to AT&T and the iPhone. Gave me this mess and said I can do "whatever" with it. I already took out the 32Gb memory card for my HD2 (WP7) As for the rest of it, I'm not sure what I should do. The phone won't power on at all!
1) Toss it in the garbage after smashing it and running over with my car.
2) Send it away to be checked and an estimate for repair. Has anyone on here had any luck with those places? I would like an android phone to load various roms and help test for developers on here.
3) Try to fix it myself. Currently I've disassembled the entire phone and put in a bag of white rice over a weekend. Reassembled, but not change. Is there a good site with a writeup of how to proceed in this situation.
Put it in rice for a few days. Your chances of saving it go up significantly if you do it immediately after it's wet and even higher if it was off when wet. I can tell you now though if she's already moved it's already dried (it's been a few days at least). If it doesn't turn on now it is a glorified paperweight. It will never turn on again. You can send it off for an estimate but they're going to tell you one thing: totaled. Multiple things on the board would have been shorted as well as some to all peripherals. Parts and labor would be many times more than buying the phone new at retail.
It's not necessarily dead, and using rice is only good if the phone has water (as in pure fresh water) damage only. If it's pool water, salt water, a sugary drink, etc, then a bag of rice is the absolute worse thing you can it your phone in. Get a toothbrush and some 91% or higher alcohol. Take the EMI shields off of the board and clean it as good as you can. Don't forget to clean out the microUSB port as well. Also if you do get some lights when you pug it in, but no picture, then shine a light on it when it,s on and see if you see anything. HTC makes lovely phones, but their LCDs tend to die quite easily when they come in contact with water. If you have no use for it, I would be happy to take it off your hands. I repair phones full time for a living, and I have an extra LCD that I could test on the phone. If it turns out to be fixable, then we can get into details, if not, I can either toss it or send it back to you. Send me a PM if you're interested.
In the future invest $59 in waterproofing the device. You can swim with it or drop it in a fish tank as a conversation piece and it will still function normally.
http://www.liquipel.com/
The battery could be dead. You could see if a friend has one, or bring it to VZ on the off chance you could get a decent tech to help you.
I dropped my phone in a lake, completely submerged and waterlogged. I dried it out over an AC for a day and it booted back up. The screen had some distortions for a while which cleared up over a few days (Still some very minor lingering damage, almost unnoticeable). Actually the only thing that really became a permanent annoyance to me was that the speaker seemed to get damaged and has been slightly muffled ever since.
All that was 6 months ago. This phone has been a tank, it's earned my respect...

My Truesmart get moisture

Hello,
Something happened to my watch. I opened it to install an SD card. I did as the instructions says, carefully. The rubber gasket was well placed and I tightened the screws the maximum I could, with the provided screwdriver. I guess it would not be tight at all, because, although it has been wet three times and anything happened, Yesterday it was exposed to sweat for a while, and then washed the same way like previous times. Today it worked well all the morning, but around noon, I saw it appeared many stripes on the screen and checking the clock externally I've finally seen condensation into the lens, so I guess, obviously, that moisture has entered inside the watch. I've opened the watch, remove battery and SD card, and then introduced it into rice, using an airtight container to try drying it.
Lens condensation has disappeared, but in the display is still appearing lines.
I wonder what can I do, who should I contact for assistance to repair, where should I send it for repair in case I can't revive the screen, because as I think, this type of damage is not covered by warranty.
I am disappointed with this device because of this. It should not be so complicated to close it and to keep it well sealed. Its design in this particular point is disastrous. I can ensure that the rubber seal was installed properly, and the only thing I can imagine is that the screws do not stay tight properly, but I repeat that I tightened it all the way I could, strongly, until the limit of not to damage the screw heads, and checking for the joints are well sealed. If I finally can fix the watch, the next time I need to open the back cover, I'll pre-tighten it with a sergeant tool before tightening the screws... it seems to be necessary...
Thank you for your help.
It is ruined. Sell it for parts maybe. A shame.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
lanzas said:
If I finally can fix the watch, the next time I need to open the back cover, I'll pre-tighten it with a sergeant tool before tightening the screws... it seems to be necessary...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is a waste of time. There is no way to make the existing case waterproof - not just the two screw openings but also the antenna, speaker, microphone and buttons are all possible routes for moisture ingress.
One look at the SIM cover and its pretend gasket convinced me of this. There is not enough structural integrity to ensure a good seal. The gasket will not be compressed in a way that makes a watertight seal - over tightening might even make things worse by deforming the plastic.
If you ever get it to work again, keep it dry.
lanzas said:
Yesterday it was exposed to sweat for a while, and then washed the same way like previous times.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not a very good idea to wash an electronic device that has no water / moisture protection what so ever (the seals don't do much good, and there are lots of other gaps in the watch where water can get in). Sometimes devices can recover when dried completely. Maybe put it in a bag of rice, that's great for absorbing moisture... But most likely, it's dead.
It is supposed to be a waterproof watch...
Definitely the screen is broken. The watch works fine, but the screen shows a lot of lines that don't allow clear visualization. No one from Omate answered my email...
I feel cheated... and silly...
You WERE cheated, we all were. Don't feel silly though, you were misled by a pro.
You might possibly be able to replace the display with an iPod Nano display, but I don't know anyone who has and an iPod Nano display might be worth more than your TrueSmart.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Batteries and rear glass adhesive driving me NUTS

Okay, story time. Some time ago, the battery in my Z5c swelled up and pushed the battery cover off the back of the phone. I replace the battery myself, & also order new (supposedly OEM) adhesive for the back glass. It does NOT stick on well, popping off one side or the other every few minutes. After fighting it for a while (ordering additional replacement adhesive and trying to re-clean and re-apply it a couple more times), it seems to finally stay in place.
Fast-forward a few months. I see the back glass coming off again. Oh, great, here we go again. I peel it off, and find that the replacement battery is a *little* inflated. Not by much, and not nearly as much as the original battery, but even though it seems to barely be a problem, it's also clear that the battery cover is not skin-tight as it was when it went in. Perhaps it was "enough" that given the tolerances inside, it still managed to push the back glass off. Okay, fine: I bought 2 replacement batteries at the time, so I'll put the other one in.
Fast-forward another few months to a couple of weeks ago. SAME BLASTED THING. Battery barely inflated, back cover coming off, but not really 100% clear whether the battery *really* is the culprit, or whether this adhesive I keep buying is just crap, or if I'm not applying it correctly.
Well, this time I'm running into the same problem trying to re-apply it that I did the first time around: it simply Will. Not. Stay. Put. I've tried the usual tricks I have read about: namely, making sure everything is squeaky-clean, and warming up the adhesive before pressing the back glass onto the phone, and then giving it a little time to cure with something heavy on top of the phone (if I had some clamps, I might try to use those instead). It helps for a couple of hours, but then the back cover just comes RIGHT off again.
Here is my hypothesis: either my phone's chassis is was not quite up to manufacturing standards, or I keep re-assembling it wrong, or something along those lines, because the battery sticks up slightly above the surrounding black frame. And what I can see when the back first starts coming off is that it is slightly "bowing" a bit...the top and bottom are sunk slightly below the plastic frame, but the middle bows out to the point where it rises slightly ABOVE the plastic frame. It's as if either the battery is sitting too high inside the phone, or the frame around the battery is sitting too low.
I have tried taking it all apart again and putting it all back together, but no dice.
Has anybody ever experienced anything like this? It's super frustrating. It seems clearly like a design defect. I just wish I could understand how things are different right now vs. when it was originally assembled at the factory.
Right now I'm sitting here seriously thinking that maybe the answer to this is to layer TWO back adhesive stickers on top of each other, in order to raise the edges of the glass back up enough above the battery that the back won't bow out anymore...
Argh!
...oh, also: and are genuine Sony batteries REALLY this crap in terms of quality?? If so, they should be ashamed and should have recalled many of these phones. I have yet to run into a genuine Sony Z5c battery that doesn't have at least a small build-up of gases within the battery pack after a few short months of use. I have been shying away from third-party batteries by no-name companies, but at this point I'm thinking that those could only be worse if they managed to spontaneously burst into flames.
In case anybody else who is struggling with the same thing ever ends up stumbling across this in the future, I seem to have finally managed to successfully tackle this problem. I finally got more pre-cut adhesive in, and yes: at least in my case, stacking two of them on top of each other has done the trick. (It's not easy lining them up in order to apply them to each other, either...I can tell you that much.)
I don't know if maybe all the adhesive that is out on the market is not "genuine" Sony and so not built to the same spec (maybe the genuine article is much thicker?), or if my particular phone's manufacturing tolerances are just outside the norm (either the battery is sticking up farther than it should, or the edges of the frame are sunk in further than they should be), or what. But using 2 stacked on top of each other instead of 1 seems to be the perfect thickness, allowing for the back glass to remain flush with the plastic frame's edges while also remaining perfectly flat.
I can tell you that at least on my phone, this is still not enough to ensure a tight water seal (pressure sensor doesn't change with increasing outside pressure). But it's hard to know if that's due to the way the back is applied, or some other issue elsewhere that's entirely unrelated.
ARGH. Nope. It lasted a lot longer than previous attempts, but now the upper-left corner, where the camera lens is, is already starting to lift off again.
This is *such* a stupid design.
Try using B7000 industrial glue from Aliexpress or other vendors, it can still be unglued by heat if repairs are needed, but should stay glued better and longer then these precut adhesives which are low in quality...
Thanks for your thread. I can feel your frustration! I'm having problems with the flash LED making weird green shadows in photos (like here https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/camera-flash-bleed.3368004/) I was thinking about opening the back cover to try and fix this and maybe install a new battery and a new camera lens while I'm at it. But now I'm afraid to open it up. I am pretty sure that a this point all "original" replacement parts that are available are fake. Should I ever find the courage: Is the back cover and camera lens made from one piece or must they be replaced separately?
Try to get the OEM adhesive strips and battery.
3m makes all sorts of industrial double sided strips. Get the right thickness if you go that route.

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