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perky9988

Suspended
Original poster
Aug 8, 2019
3
0
ontario
Trying to diagnose my iPhone SE, help. The story started about a month ago, I went swimming with my iPhone SE in my pocket. I left it in a bowl of rice for a day but when it turned on, the power button was water logged making it continuously pressed and the screen was unresponsive with lots of marks and streaking. So I took it apart and blow dried it wich made the screen functional, but when I went to watch YouTube the headphone jack thought that headphones were plugged in even when they weren't, this caused no audio to come out of the speakers. I proceeded to use it like this for a full month, until this morning when I woke up my phone was completely unresponsive. I tried pressing the home button, volume button, plugging it into the wall, plunging it into my computer and even holding the useless power button with no luck. Confused as to why it decided to give up now rather than sooner, it makes me wonder if it has nothing to do with the water damage.
 

JPack

macrumors G5
Mar 27, 2017
13,568
26,262
Yes, corrosion.

Immediately after drying, you needed to clean the contaminants away using alcohol or PCB cleaner. Drying the phone does nothing to stop the corrosion. In fact, it speeds it up. It’s the same reason why when aircraft black boxes are recovered, they keep it submerged in water until it can be cleaned.
 
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44267547

Cancelled
Jul 12, 2016
37,642
42,495
Trying to diagnose my iPhone SE, help. The story started about a month ago, I went swimming with my iPhone SE in my pocket. I left it in a bowl of rice for a day but when it turned on, the power button was water logged making it continuously pressed and the screen was unresponsive with lots of marks and streaking. So I took it apart and blow dried it wich made the screen functional, but when I went to watch YouTube the headphone jack thought that headphones were plugged in even when they weren't, this caused no audio to come out of the speakers. I proceeded to use it like this for a full month, until this morning when I woke up my phone was completely unresponsive. I tried pressing the home button, volume button, plugging it into the wall, plunging it into my computer and even holding the useless power button with no luck. Confused as to why it decided to give up now rather than sooner, it makes me wonder if it has nothing to do with the water damage.

Side note:

Just an FYI- Rice is and always will be myth. It does nothing, it doesn’t contain enough materialistic compound to absorb enough moisture to be drawn from the device. I’m not trying to be insensitive to your main concern, I just want to spread the word for those who believe that rice actually is a solution, when it’s the complete opposite.

In the future as a temporary solution, you can use the ‘gel silica packets’ that you can find in shoeboxes, they can be purchased in bundles online for relatively cheap, and have a much higher absorption rate.
 
Last edited:

perky9988

Suspended
Original poster
Aug 8, 2019
3
0
ontario
Yes, corrosion.

Immediately after drying, you needed to clean the contaminants away using alcohol or PCB cleaner. Drying the phone does nothing to stop the corrosion. In fact, it speeds it up. It’s the same reason why when aircraft black boxes are recovered, they keep it submerged in water until it can be cleaned.
so all i need to do is put my phone in a bowl of alcohol then let it dry?
 

flashflooder

macrumors 6502
Oct 14, 2011
420
198
Side note:

Just an FYI- Rice is and always will be myth. It does nothing, it doesn’t contain enough materialistic compound to absorb enough moisture to be drawn from the device. I’m not trying to be insensitive to your main concern, I just want to spread the word for those who believe that rice actually is a solution, when it’s the complete opposite.

In the future as a temporary solution, you can use the ‘gel silica packets’ that you can find in shoeboxes, they can be purchased in bundles online for relatively cheap, and have a much higher absorption rate.

are you suggesting using rice is somehow detrimental to the phone?
 

JPack

macrumors G5
Mar 27, 2017
13,568
26,262
so all i need to do is put my phone in a bowl of alcohol then let it dry?

It's too late for any cleaning.

After the phone gets wet, you need to take it to repair shop immediately for disassembly and internal cleaning.

Right now, you're probably looking at one or more chips that have corroded legs.
 

scottcampbell

macrumors 6502
Aug 7, 2017
343
812
My wife's SE also has some water damage, and it's manifesting in strange way like deleting random contacts, poor internet speeds, etc.
 

bobnugget

macrumors 6502
Nov 15, 2006
420
203
England
poor internet speeds, etc.

Probably corrosion on an antenna. I've got a 3GS that survived a full wash cycle back in the day. Bio poweder with calgon, too. Worked perfectly apart from WiFi after a battery replacement. (I disassembled it and sprayed it with IPA then dumped it in a bunch of silica beads in an airing cupboard for a few days after the wash finished).
 
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