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So, about 11 days ago I got my iPhone 6 wet with river water… I let the phone dry out for a few days and tried to turn it on. It’s keeps rebooting. It gets to the white screen with the apple logo for about 7 seconds and then goes black and continues on this cycle. What is the problem here? Should I just replace the phone’s battery? I read this: Electronics Water Damage Or do you guys think it’s more than the battery? Please let me know. I mainly want to get the phone working again for data recovery. Another note: The phone does have a light yellow diagonal line through it when I get to that white screen with the apple logo. I’m assuming it’s water damage.
It could be just the battery but that is unlikely. The water is inside the phone, on the logic board and under the shields, even under the IC’s. The real problem is the mineral deposits that can cause short circuits or corrosion as the water eventually evaporates. Leaving the power on the device accelerates the process. Try these steps: Open your phone and remove the logic board (follow this guide)Inspect the logic board, especially around the connectors and look for corrosion.Inspect both sides of the board. Unfortunately, 80% of the board is covered in shields. That’s usually where the damage is occurring.Put your board in a container with >90% isopropyl alcohol and let it sit for a while.Use a soft brush, like a toothbrush and lightly brush away any corrosion you see.Rinse in alcohol and repeat.Let it air dry for a day.Re-assemble and hope for the best. You should also consider getting a new battery if it has swollen. Resist the temptation to pop it to let the gas out. A compromised Li-ion battery is a fire hazard. If the device appears to power up but behaves erratically, then use a tool like 3uTools to flash the firmware as it may be corrupted. A professional repair shop that does water damage repair may be able to recover your phone or the data because they have access to pro-level ultrasonic baths and specialized cleaners as well as the skills to troubleshoot your board. Many shops have a no fix/no fee policy so you don’t have to spend money to find out if the phone is fixable or not.
Did you inspect the water damage indicators on the board? There are a few stickers located on top of the board, usually one near the sim card tray area and the top of the logic board as you see it’s a vertical oval white sticker. If one of the stickers are red it means it has been in contact with liquid. Also I hope you have at least made sure to check the screen connectors and battery connector for liquid damage. Sometimes you may be able to get the phone to boot by unplugging the front and / or rear camera ribbon cables from the logic board.
My phone keeps restarting after it booted on from a few hours or being submerged in rice. It was only the top half of my phone that got wet. It powered on normally with a charger to help boot it on, I was about to make a call and then it started continuously rebooting. I placed it in rice again and will wait 40+ more hours as I only did it for about 8 hours. My question is, although it is rebooting and I place it back in the rice, will I still be ok? Will it work although it’s in rebooting mode?
