Dropped My 950xl in the river

i hope you washed it thoroughly with fresh water afterwards, othewrise the salt will destroy the phone and even the rice trick wont help. But yes, if you washed it fully under a tap or something STRAIGHT AWAY should be aiite
 
It was in the mountains, so i dont think there is salt. There is power and MS logo shows, but then it doesnt get past that
 
Well if you're confident there's no salt, then yeah just let it dry out in a bag of rice too easy. If you're not confident, i'd wash it with bottled water or something (i know this sounds counter productive, but non-salt water will always dry and leave nothing behind).

and leave it in its parts (i.e. open the back cover and take out battery)
 
I know this is after the fact, but if you get it back to working condition, I recommend nano-coating it. I had my 950 XL DS nano-coated and it has taken a couple of dips with no ill effects.
 
Don't try to start a phone that has been in water before it's spent a few days in a bag of rice.

The steps to raise the chances of reviving a dunked phone:
1. Do NOT start it.
2. Open it and remove the battery.
3. Put it in a bag of uncooked rice at least 48 hours.
4. Place the closed bag in a dry environment just to be safe.
 
The chances are that once it's dead, it'll stay dead. Lumias have far more sophisticated wiring than the old feature phones. If water gets onto the mother-board and shorts something out, then nothing will un-short it.

Drying it is worth a shot, but I certainly wouldn't give it much chance of success, especially when the phone was powered on during or shortly after it's submersion.
 
You should disassemble it a bit and dry the insides. I.e. get the necessary screwdriver and remove the whole back, not just the cover. It might have water in there.
I once dropped a nokia 808 in the tap, and I did this. It had water inside, which I dried. Also used compressed air afterwards. After a few hours of letting it dry, it was 100% fine.

Also, how do you nano-coat a cellphone???
 
Guys! This is crazy but, i did run the phone through water again to rinse it out... Then did the rice thing for three days, and today it works!
 
Sounds like you're not sunk after all!

Keep an eye out! It might never be the same but I hope it continues to function well!