Water damage sticker located at USB port? - Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I plugged my phone into the charger as I always do when I go to bed. When I woke up the green LED was lite up to say it was fully charged but my S3 was turned off for some odd reason. It wouldn't turn on despite trying different batteries and chargers.
I took it into the Carphone Warehouse to get it repaired under warranty and last night I get a call to say it's fixed so I go to collect it. The chap brings me my phone after he had a long talk with the "expert" in the Geek Squad, and told me it's not fixed as there is signs of water damage at the USB port. But how can he tell? I didn't think there was a sticker there to show this.
I just don't understand how it can be working fine then the next morning it's broke and they claim it's water damage. I thought if water got into any electrical device it would break it then and there? Either way I haven't let any water drip on it, it's always in a case and I look after it. But they told me even moisture from moving from a warm room to the cold outside can cause water damage Just seems to me they can claim anything to avoid repairing it.
It's being sent off to their main repair center for a second look.

Related

[Q] Vibrant wet ... ):

Ok so I accidently bumped my fence which had my phone on it which had a pot of water next to it. Then my phone dropped in it and i pulled it out as quickly as possible and took out the battery. FYI: My phone was still working underwater. HUGE MISTAKE. I popped in my battery to see which things worked and etc and also when i booted my phone back up the battery dropped 20%. Then i took out the battery, sim card, and sd card and let it dry in the sun. My camera is all foggy and stuff now. Can anyone help me fix my camera, speaker and battery?
*EDIT* Also my speaker was jacked up too i think because the speaker wasnt sounding very clear.
*EDIT* #2 The good news is that my battery strip thingy didnt turn red/pink. Its still white.
No problem, because you got the insurance from T-Mobile - Right?
If you do then it is covered. Water damage is specifically mentioned as covered.
If not . . . hmm, since the dot is still white you might still have a chance. Usually there is more than one though. The one near the battery is for a quick spot check, often there is also one inside for confirmation. Provided everything is ok, and it is still under warranty, maybe removing all signs of water (water marks, fog, ect.) and then attempting warranty fulfillment MIGHT work.
But my phone is rooted lol... so should i restore it before i do?
wierdoha said:
But my phone is rooted lol... so should i restore it before i do?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you want, but from the several times here that I have seen where ppl send in their rooted Vibrants for warranty repair (usually GPS), it does not seem as if T-Mobile/Samsung really give a d4mn.
One word for you ...rice. put your phone in a bag of rice for 24 hours and don't touch it. After that take it out and clean it all up, put your battery back in and it should work perfect.
I actually washed my wife's phone and this worked. Hope this helps
Sent from my Simply Galaxy 3.3.....totally badass Rom!!!!
Yea right now my phone and battery is in a bowl of rice. Its been in there for about 5 hours. Hope it works
is rice like a dampness soaker?
movieaddict said:
is rice like a dampness soaker?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It absorbs humidity.
By the way, in the future don't put the battery back in until you've let everything dry as long as possible. Any water could short circuit the phone if you put the battery back in.
I would think also about very detailed disassembling and let dry very very well for long time before trying powering the phone.
alcohol is good for wiping off some certain parts but it can break the screen seal
Hope That Helps
Depending on your own morals, you could probably still get a warranty replacement after the water inside dries out. T-Mobile won't open the device up to check for internal water damage most likely, so if your sticker is white then you should be fine.
And FYI, bleach on a Q-Tip will turn all red water damage stickers white again.
I put my vibrant/battery in rice for 24 hours exactly and now everything works perfectly!
Speaker, battery life, camera, everything is ok
So happy.
Thanks forums!
awesome DUDE i have dropped my vibrant at least three times in water and what can i say THIS THING IS a beast my microphone doesnt work anymore but ehhh small price to pay actually does anyone know where i can find a replacement mic ive looked everywhere
XPLANE9 said:
Depending on your own morals, you could probably still get a warranty replacement after the water inside dries out. T-Mobile won't open the device up to check for internal water damage most likely, so if your sticker is white then you should be fine.
And FYI, bleach on a Q-Tip will turn all red water damage stickers white again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't waste your time with bleach and q-tip, just ask for the replacement and when it comes, take off the new sticker with a hair dryer, 10 seconds or so, and tweezers. Then replace the water damaged one with the new one. Just like operation.

[Q] Galaxy S 2 always thinks it's plugged into USB

I am pretty sure this is a warranty claim but I wanted to run it by the community. Excuse any poor typing I'm literally on a mountain right now.
I think some moisture got into the bottom port. My s2 always thinks it's plugged into a computer. I get samsung kies connection prompts when I get into the os and battery usage tracker shows the phone as charging when I look at usage with wild spikes up and down. Can't toggle USB dev mode because it always tells me to remove USB cable. Luckily I got a tibackup just a few days ago that I offloaded to my memory card.
When I power it down I immediately get the green battery showing it's charging. In a few seconds it starts flashing between that and a battery with a temperature gauge and a exclaimation point.
Only way to get her to turn on is by plugging into a power source and holding down power.
Did a factory reset same problem. Won't be able to reset the kernel till I get home in 10 days.
Any ideas or straight back to phones 4 u warranty claim? If water damage then insurance claim ( loved my baby. Thanks
mate please in case you returned it tell me if they accepted it. I have the SAME problem :|. please tell.
Get some rubbing alcohol solution (Isopropyl alcohol) from your local pharmacy.
Pour it into a bowl.
Remove the battery cover.
Remove the battery.
Dip your phone into the bowl, and swirl it around.
Place on an air conditioner to have the alcohol and water sucked out from the dehydrated cool air conditioned air for overnight. If it is winter, put near the heater which also has dehydrated warm air.
Place battery into phone.
Turn phone on.
See if you have the problem again.
No, I am not joking.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isopropyl_alcohol
I'm having this same exact issue - I've even had my phone unplugged for about 2 hours, yet when I go to battery status, it says it's only been on battery for 2 seconds... how did your warranty replacement go?
There was somebody on a Dutch forum who has the same problem.
His phone was wet.
And if it is water damage, i hope for you that you have warranty and dont have big water problems ...
netchip said:
There was somebody on a Dutch forum who has the same problem.
His phone was wet.
And if it is water damage, i hope for you that you have warranty and dont have big water problems ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
had it sealed in a ziplock bag, so no outside water got in - perhaps it got too hot in the bag or there was moisture in the bag when it was sealed? (I should've put in some silica gel or something..)
Hello,
Sorry for going MIA.
Basically I returned this to phones4u, sent it in, and they processed a warranty replacement. They didnt say anything luckily about water damage but I think its because on a rainy day some water got into the bottom. From what I could tell they cleaned up the connector at the bottom with alcohol or something - it was spic and span when i got it back and the phone worked ok.
Side note, I recieved it and saw they scrached up my phone pretty good so i complained and sent it in a second time. Recieved it and the scratches were gone, but to do this they did a new screen replacement.
THe new screen had a bright red stuck pixel. I thought I could live with it but it drove me nuts as my original screen was perfect. So i went back to phones 4 u and sent it in a third time, this time they're saying they will just give me a swap. So although the problem was fixed a mess ensued and now i'm sitting around waiting for my "swap" and next surprises with dealing with them.
THey have been ok though I'm almost sure there is water damage on that phone but they dont seem to have picked up on it, i hope i can get it swapped and then dont have to worry about water damage again.
Cheers.

Smoke when recharging...

I have had my Samsung Galaxy S2 for a bit more than a year now. I have had some proper trouble with it from the start (ranging from forced close loop to rebooting or simply turning off randomly).
About half a year ago I installed a custom rom (GalaxyMOD I believe), with which I had little to no issues (thanks for providing those, by the way).
This morning it wouldn't turn on (even though it was on before I went to sleep). I simply thought the battery was low (it had reasonable % the night before, though) and connected it to my charger. Then, all of a sudden, smoke came out of my phone near the micro-USB port. I immediately removed the charger.
Just to be sure, it's impossible that the custom rom caused this, right? I'm thinking that somehow the inside must have gotten damp. Should this be the case, will it still qualify for warranty service? I mean, the smoke was not caused by irresponsible use. Of course, the phone might have been dropped once or twice since I own it, but that's still no reason for the smoke to occur... I didn't place it anywhere different than I do usually during the night and it has never directly been in contact with water (I don't use it in the rain f.e.).
Thanks in advance.
smoke
Dam, i know you can alter the amount of juice through a USB cable to fast charge but it should be no where near enough to cause ignition or
smoke.
Even if the phone was damp it isn't going to generate that amount of heat to get smoke.
And even if you had a bunch of lint (dust) in the exact right place you still shouldn't have smoke.
Im at a complete loss as to why this has happened??
sounds like a serious issue, have you dropped the phone?
IF the phone is damp, best way to get rid of that is to place it in an air tight container overnight covered in dry rice.
The dry rice will slowly pull any damp into the gains and out of the phone.
Good luck
Seutekop said:
I have had my Samsung Galaxy S2 for a bit more than a year now. I have had some proper trouble with it from the start (ranging from forced close loop to rebooting or simply turning off randomly).
About half a year ago I installed a custom rom (GalaxyMOD I believe), with which I had little to no issues (thanks for providing those, by the way).
This morning it wouldn't turn on (even though it was on before I went to sleep). I simply thought the battery was low (it had reasonable % the night before, though) and connected it to my charger. Then, all of a sudden, smoke came out of my phone near the micro-USB port. I immediately removed the charger.
Just to be sure, it's impossible that the custom rom caused this, right? I'm thinking that somehow the inside must have gotten damp. Should this be the case, will it still qualify for warranty service? I mean, the smoke was not caused by irresponsible use. Of course, the phone might have been dropped once or twice since I own it, but that's still no reason for the smoke to occur... I didn't place it anywhere different than I do usually during the night and it has never directly been in contact with water (I don't use it in the rain f.e.).
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) If it's been exposed to moisture, unlikely to honour warranty regardless of what's wrong with it. Depends on whether the moisture indicators in the phone have been tripped
2) Rooting/flashing non-stock firmware on your phone voids the warranty. Having said that, if you go back to stock firmware & reset the flash counter, many people still get warranty service. Tho in your case 1) is a concern.
In other words, go back to stock, reset the flash counter & send it in to Samsung/authorised repairer & see what happens if the rice trick doesn't work.
hypnobabes said:
Dam, i know you can alter the amount of juice through a USB cable to fast charge but it should be no where near enough to cause ignition or
smoke.
Even if the phone was damp it isn't going to generate that amount of heat to get smoke.
And even if you had a bunch of lint (dust) in the exact right place you still shouldn't have smoke.
Im at a complete loss as to why this has happened??
sounds like a serious issue, have you dropped the phone?
IF the phone is damp, best way to get rid of that is to place it in an air tight container overnight covered in dry rice.
The dry rice will slowly pull any damp into the gains and out of the phone.
Good luck
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I have dropped the phone. However, the last time I dropped it was at least three weeks ago and I have recharged it without any problems multiple times since then.
I would like to try the rice idea. Do I need to take anything into account when doing so? Like removing battery, or even disassembling it?
MistahBungle said:
1) If it's been exposed to moisture, unlikely to honour warranty regardless of what's wrong with it. Depends on whether the moisture indicators in the phone have been tripped
2) Rooting/flashing non-stock firmware on your phone voids the warranty. Having said that, if you go back to stock firmware & reset the flash counter, many people still get warranty service. Tho in your case 1) is a concern.
In other words, go back to stock, reset the flash counter & send it in to Samsung/authorised repairer & see what happens if the rice trick doesn't work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would love to go back to stock, but how can I do this? It won't boot and it won't connect with my PC either.
Thanks for your replies.
Give it a few days in the rice as Hypnobabes suggested & see if you can get it to boot. If not, you're going to have to take your chances, send it in & see what happens. If they do want to charge you for the repair, ask them for a quote. If you're not happy with the price, ask around local mobile repair shops & see if they'll fix it more cheaply.
Seutekop said:
I would love to go back to stock, but how can I do this? It won't boot and it won't connect with my PC either.
Thanks for your replies.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

[Q] i9100 won't turn on

Last night my phone was working fine, when I went to bed it was charging and still working. When I woke up this morning the screen was black, with no response. I tried to get into recovery and download mode with no luck. I tries these steps to get into download mode except for the usb jjg The phone is rooted and a rom has been flashed, but I did that a couple of weeks back. I have no idea how this could have happened. Also when I plug it in to charge there is no response from the phone. The screen stays black no matter what I do.
Also about a week ago, I dropped my phone outside, it was in torrential rain over night. The next day when I found it, it booted up no problem and has been working perfectly until today.
Does anyone have any ideas or solutions?
I'd really appreciate any help,
Dillon
I'd faced the same issue once. In this state, even if the phone is connected for charging, all that happens is the phone becomes warm. I tried everything and the final solution was to get it replaced. My phone was covered under warranty.
rajasiman said:
I'd faced the same issue once. In this state, even if the phone is connected for charging, all that happens is the phone becomes warm. I tried everything and the final solution was to get it replaced. My phone was covered under warranty.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately mine is not, I guess I could get a replacement motherboard then, are they easy to replace yourself?
The only replacement motherboard you'll be getting is a 2nd hand one; Samsung don't sell new motherboards (unless you're paying one of their service centres to replace it).
Given it was exposed to water 'overnight' & given it sounds like you used it immediately after water exposure (as opposed to immediately shutting the phone down, removing the battery & leaving it in a bag of rice for a week undisturbed), there's a fair chance even a motherboard replacement won't help if other components are damaged.
Water + electronics = unhappy ending.
Might want to start looking for another phone.
MistahBungle said:
The only replacement motherboard you'll be getting is a 2nd hand one; Samsung don't sell new motherboards (unless you're paying one of their service centres to replace it).
Given it was exposed to water 'overnight' & given it sounds like you used it immediately after water exposure (as opposed to immediately shutting the phone down, removing the battery & leaving it in a bag of rice for a week undisturbed), there's a fair chance even a motherboard replacement won't help if other components are damaged.
Water + electronics = unhappy ending.
Might want to start looking for another phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I did use it straight away, not the smartest move I must admit. I guess I will, just annoying having to buy a new phone. Thanks for the info, and thanks for reminding me about the bag of rice, in case something like this happens to me again.

Water got inside my phone, again

I wrote this because I'm about sending the phone back to the service center for warranty the 3rd time in less than 2 months of use. And as having been owner of some Sony devices (phone and laptop) for 4 years, I really got p*ssed off because of this "flagship" phone.
1 week after buying the phone, I realized that its battery drained way too fast. The service center agreed that this was manufacturer fault and did a fix for me.
When I took the phone back and started using, it constantly reminded me to Close covers: Please close the external connector covers to secure waterproofing (see attachment). I began to worry as all the covers were really closed. I put it in a water basin, and no doubt that the water got inside: back camera and microSD port were full of moisture. The service center said there was problem with the flaps and agreed to fix this for me. I even requested them to print the waterproof test result.
Since then, I have just taken the phone back again for 3 days. The water still got inside after putting the phone in water, making the screen flickering real bad. I opened the flaps and there was no water inside the SIM and microSD ports, so I'm pretty sure the water has found another way in.
The indicator paper of my phone is still white (no red-ish or pink-ish). Now I'm packing the phone, along with the "passed" waterproofing test result and send them all back to the service center to see what these guys should answer.
* At the beginning I was really fascinated by the commercials from Sony. And after these experiences, I think they are all lies.
There isn't any sensor for the flaps. The phone only knows you've opened them because you have done one of the following. Either charge it, remove Sim or remove memory card.
Just to dismiss any misinformation.

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