Recover Lumia 640 from water damage

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hello, my microsoft lumia 640 fell into water at work i took out the battery and then i took it home and placed it into rice. I realized that it didn't helped so I brought it to a phone technician who worked on it. the phone started to work well, however, it no longer reads the signals of the telephone service provider therefore i am unable to recieve/place calls. what can i do?
 

11B1P

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Rice is an old wives-tale. To even get close to effectively cleaning it, would require it to be completely stripped down and all of the water removed from the inside and off every part. You're looking at a ticking time bomb on when it completely stops working. As stated above, spend $30 or whatever and just go buy a new one.
 

abhishek singh21

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Apr 27, 2014
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what kind of water was that? you need to be aware that sea water is ionic and could cause corrosion and there won't be any other solution left than to replace the device.

regular water required you to strip the phone apart and leave it to dry off for a week. i have never had a device which has taken a dive into the water so i cant confirm what works best :)
 

pdaneophyte

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Rice is an old wives-tale. To even get close to effectively cleaning it, would require it to be completely stripped down and all of the water removed from the inside and off every part. You're looking at a ticking time bomb on when it completely stops working. As stated above, spend $30 or whatever and just go buy a new one.

Eh no, rice is hygroscopic material. It will absorb moisture. Trouble is you need to submerge / enclose the phone with rice completely for a few DAYS, not hours to be effective.
 

Mad Cabbie

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Whilst rice is hydroscopic, I doubt you would be able to get enough surface area to have a real effect on a mobile. I'd suggest leave it to dry naturally with battery etc removed and the device placed face up. I've recovered a 635 that way.

Unfortunately if the transmit / receive chipset is damaged, it's game over. Definately try another sim, just in case, but having taken a few apart, they are fairly well protected. It could even be the sim slot. There are tiny little pins in there, and they are'nt happy being abused
 

11B1P

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Eh no, rice is hygroscopic material. It will absorb moisture. Trouble is you need to submerge / enclose the phone with rice completely for a few DAYS, not hours to be effective.

Yes rice will absorb moisture, to a degree. These phones are so tightly built inside, the rice cannot get to the water. I've worked on my fair share of phones (oh yeah almost forgot, I owned a business doing just that). Therefore, rice is a wives-tales. And we're talking about a $30-$40 phone. You're going to spend DAYS trying to dry out a phone instead of just buying a new one?
 

pdaneophyte

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Yes, people do and did that. Even in the USA. If you can read the old TreoCentral posts you will find people did that. Even now, there are posts about iphones and other phones took a drink and people desperate & willing to do anything even remotely possible to get their phone working.
That US$ 30 - 40 is USA prices. Where I live Lumia 640 still sells new for US$ 200, because that is how much small shop retailers buys from the distributors. Heck 2nd hand iphone 5 still retails for around US$300. Also keep in mind, even US$ 30 is expensive if your wage is US$ 5 per DAY as in my country.
 

Mad Cabbie

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Yes, people do and did that. Even in the USA. If you can read the old TreoCentral posts you will find people did that. Even now, there are posts about iphones and other phones took a drink and people desperate & willing to do anything even remotely possible to get their phone working.
That US$ 30 - 40 is USA prices. Where I live Lumia 640 still sells new for US$ 200, because that is how much small shop retailers buys from the distributors. Heck 2nd hand iphone 5 still retails for around US$300. Also keep in mind, even US$ 30 is expensive if your wage is US$ 5 per DAY as in my country.

iPhones taking a drink? Is that why they bend because they are vomiting? :)
 
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