C500 smartphone - how to tell if water damaged?

[Guest krycheck]

**Se my last post - I've managed to fix the problem**

A few weeks ago I dropped my Orange C500 smartphone into shallow water - it was submerged for less than 5 - 10 seconds.

I dried the phone out and put it back together and everything was working fine; no sign of any problems.

In the last few days one of the buttons on the keypad has stopped responding, but all the other keys work fine. I thought this was a simple warranty repair, but then I wondered if the water could have anything to do with it?

HTC will repair the phone under warranty, unless they decide the fault is caused by water damage, then I will have to pay. How obvious will it be that the phone has been in water, and how do I decide if water is the cause of the problem?

Edited July 27, 2005 by krycheck

[Guest Pondrew]

A few weeks ago I dropped my Orange C500 smartphone into shallow water - it was submerged for less than 5 - 10 seconds.

I dried the phone out and put it back together and everything was working fine; no sign of any problems.

In the last few days one of the buttons on the keypad has stopped responding, but all the other keys work fine.  I thought this was a simple warranty repair, but then I wondered if the water could have anything to do with it?

HTC will repair the phone under warranty, unless they decide the fault is caused by water damage, then I will have to pay.  How obvious will it be that the phone has been in water, and how do I decide if water is the cause of the problem?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Unfortunately all you can do is try but I suspect if somethings shorted and they find evidence of water ingress on the 'board they'll probably call the warranty void and charge for the inspection let alone any further repair.

I've registered a warranty claim through HTC before sending off my E200 for repair and saw the terms and conditions. They cover themselves very well citing accidental damage or neglegance as not covered.

Sorry can't be more positive... :|

[Guest krycheck]

Unfortunately all you can do is try but I suspect if somethings shorted and they find evidence of water ingress on the 'board they'll probably call the warranty void and charge for the inspection let alone any further repair.

Is it possible for something to short and only affect one of the buttons? I would have thought the whole keypad would have broken, but everything else works just fine.

[Guest celica1.8st]

It doesn't sound too good. Water normally takes a while to affect the boards. On older phones I have had, it has taken up to 3 months or so for the water damage to take effect, but when you dismantle the phone it will be very obvious that it has had water damage.

It could of course be a coincidence and it could just be a dirty circuit board. If that is the case they take the keypad off and clean the board behind with something very similar to a rubber and put it back together

[Guest krycheck]

If I look at the space where the memory card would go, I can see blue/green coloured flakes between the gold coloured connectors.

Is this evidence of water damage or something else?

[Guest HEKTIK]

A few of the more recent Nokia mobiles Ive been able to look inside have a little bit of paper like material fixed inside the case.

When the engineer opens the phone up they can tell immediately if it's been in water or not...

Anyone know if HTCs have this too??

[Guest krycheck]

A few of the more recent Nokia mobiles Ive been able to look inside have a little bit of paper like material fixed inside the case.

When the engineer opens the phone up they can tell immediately if it's been in water or not...

Anyone know if HTCs have this too??

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hmmm, looks as if they might do. Underneath the SIM is a small strip of pink paper. I honestly can't remember if it has always been that colour. Can anyone check on their C500?

[Guest Confused Stu]

Sorry dude, my C500's been teetotal since I bought it (ie never got wet) and my strip under the SIM is WHITE - definitely not even a shade of pink.

Can't post a picture as the only DigiCam I own is the C500, but I promise you - it is white. :)

[Guest ronny]

Hmmm, looks as if they might do.  Underneath the SIM is a small strip of pink paper.  I honestly can't remember if it has always been that colour.  Can anyone check on their C500?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

it's white on my O2 XphoneII. maybe it is a water damage indicator.

[Guest oldyeller]

Hmmm, looks as if they might do.  Underneath the SIM is a small strip of pink paper.  I honestly can't remember if it has always been that colour.  Can anyone check on their C500?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think I can pretty much confirm this is for checking exposure to water. My SMT5600 HAS been wet, and the strip of paper is pink.

[Guest bills1974]

I think I can pretty much confirm this is for checking exposure to water. My SMT5600 HAS been wet, and the strip of paper is pink.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I actually had an MPX220 that had a little rubber like white sticker near the upper part of the battery, the phone got a little moisture in it, stopped working and that rubber piece became a pinkish...I peeled it off and gave the warranty a shot and they sent me an SMT5600...worst case is they said they charge me $225 if the phone is found to have water damage which is still less than I would have had to pay for the SMT without a contract...

[Guest sponge]

I've just checked my C500 and have nothing like that at all under my cover. :?:

[Guest Pondrew]

Just checked on my E200 and no sign of a white or pink bit of paper or sticker either.

[Guest davethekite]

Hi, I have exactly the same problem. My daughter managed to drop her C500 down the toilet while it was on (don't ask me how). She recovered it and switched it off straight away. At once I took it apart and placed it on a cloth to dry, after it was fully dry, about a day, I powered it up and all was fine.

About a week later the '3' button stopped working, after stripping the phone fully to get to the keyboard PCB I discovered the buttons and in fact sealed 'bubbles' not open tracks as I expected.

I have yet to cure this problem, any suggestions would be appreciated.

Dave

[Guest merguez]

Obviously, the white strip under the SIM card connector is a water damage detector. If water fells on that strip, its colour changes. It is written in the confidential HTC Typhoon service manual.

[Guest krycheck]

I've just spent the last 40 minutes playing about inside the phone, and I've now managed to fix the broken number 8 key.

I'd like to claim that I knew what I was doing, but I literally took it apart (unscrewed everything), tried to clean it up as best I could, then put it back together.

The first time (using the softly-softly approach) did not work, so then I tried again with less caution.

Now the keypad and phone are 100% working again. I understand that water damage can take a few months to show, but at least I've extended the life of the phone temporarily.

If anyone is interested, I took a few photographs:

[Guest Pondrew]

Way to go! Self help, good to see.