Water in my T665 - Need advice!

[kcrady]

Hi, I've been lurking on the forums for a long time but this is my first post.

On my way to the office this morning, my bookbag fell over; water from a supposedly water-tight cup spilled all over everything and soaked my T665. Now the recharge light is glowing orange, the memory stick light is glowing orange, and periodically the vibrator goes off. Needless to say, it won't turn on.

What's the prognosis? Have I killed my Clie, or is there a possiblilty that it will work once it dries out? How long will it take to dry out? Any suggestions?

(Update - as I type this message, the orange lights have started flickering... sigh...)

[turtletea]

My wife actually dropped her CLIE into a sink full of water, and I managed to revive it. Here is what I did:

1- Don't try to turn it on!
2- Remove the screws located around the sides and the back of the CLIE, and around the jog dial.
3- Carefully remove the back of the CLIE.
4- Disconnect and remove the battery (white rectangular thing)
5- Carefully remove the internals (circuit board, screen, etc.) of the CLIE, trying to keep every thing together.
6- Place on a heater overnight to dry out.
7- Reassemble the next day.
8- Press the power button and ITS ALIVE!

Well at least my wife's CLIE was alive.

[kcrady]

The flickering lights have gone out. My Clie was fully charged this morning, so either it drained VERY quickly, or the water has shifted so that those particular circuits are not shorted out... or it's dead...

I can't open it up and dry it out until I get home this evening... I have it sitting propped up so that (hopefully) gravity will help the water drain off of the circuits.

I'm going to give it a few days before I start looking for a replacement... hope I can still find another T665, 'cause I really love this form factor and don't want to switch!

[Serotta]

I do not think you are out of luck at all. Last week I spilled coffee on my 415, it froze, I reset, and the vibrating alarm went off with everything else black. I dried it out, and it's up and running again with no problem.

I would suggest:

1) Open up the back and bottom to allow air to get to it, but don't completely disassemble. Especially remove the MS and use something to prop the little "door" open.

2) allow it to go completely dead, fully discharging the battery.

3) dry it completely. Use a hair dryer on cool, and leave it open for 2 days.

4) reassemble, fully charge, and then hotsync.

I would be surprised if this does not work. Good luck.

[kcrady]

I guess I now have some spare parts for my NEW T665...

After a couple of days of drying out, the clie is still not working - charging/memstick lights stay on even after I take it off the charging stand, it won't turn on, reset does nothing... I think it sat in the water longer than I realized, and was pretty well soaked. The ROM may or may not be ok, but something is definitely shorted out.

Good news is I was able to find a replacement on clearance at Fry's for $299... (glad I've got tax returns coming in a couple of weeks!)

Thanks to all for your suggestions and support.

[DaveTN]

Rather than leaving the unit on a heater you may want to try using a hair dryer to blow warm air on it. One particular problem will be mold unless you completely dry your Clie out. Chances are that it did not suffer permanent damage, so hang in there, follow serottas directions but try a hair dryer. Good luck

Dave

[Chatbox]

3 Things that you always need to do....

1. Never turn it on until you've dry the unit. The water inside basically just created a rather random short circuit layout. If you try to power it on, you'll have high chance killing the unit.

2. Strip everything apart (only to the extent where you still can re-assemble it). Try to use a fluff-free cloth to "soak" up the water. Don't try to wipe, since the motion will scratch (ever so tiny, but still) electical parts, and can induce static.

3. Use a hair dryer to blow dry the parts, low temp, steady blow. Have patient during this part, dont' heat up anything. Also, using a hair dryer can help to blow away any dust or fluff from part one. And you have more control over which part to blow dry on.

Then put everything back to gether, fingers crossed.

An extra step here if you want to make it perfect: During the blow dry process, the water disappear, but might have left behind some minerals or trace elements on any conduction parts (depending on what sort of water you dropped your clie into). This can be a problem is the unit is picky on conductivity. So, find some alcohol cleaner, wipe with a fluff-free cloth, then low temp blow dry again (just to make sure, even though alcohol do evaporates slowly).

Good luck

[nsingleton]

Mine fell into a 50 gallon water tank and was in there for about 30 secs before I realised what I had dropped. Dried it out for a day with the case opened and it worked fine for two weeks.....Then started behaving strangely, swithcing on/off on it's own, then died completely. It seems that the tank I dropped it in had been chlorinated to clean it & the chlorine attacked the pcb etc.

[katlenski]

I actually dropped my Clie in the washing machine, and Sony was able to repair it for about $50. You might consider giving them a call before you buy a brand new one. (Unless you want a brand new one. I'd get a brand new one every six months if I could!)

[hotpills]

My Palm fell into the bottom of my backyard pond today. It was in there for about 2 minutes before I could reach it. I opened it up and let it dry out. I tried to turn it on but it wouldn't. After a while it turned on but it was acting weird - lot's of errors, probs with the digitizer screen, wouldn't hotsync, buttons didn't work. I did a hard reset and luckily it works now. I was really suprised that it survived.

[rob_squared]

Instead of PDA horror stories, now we get PDA survival stories. :)

[Unregistered]

I've had a similar experience, dropping my palm into a puddle. The buz alarm wouldn't turn off and so I decided to get the battery out. Unfortunately, I made a bit of a mess of things and the battery contacts are torn now. Does anyone know where I could send my clie to get it repaired (other then sony that is. I loathe their support policies. They make life as difficult as possible. )

Thanks.

[cehaney]

Originally posted by Unregistered
Does anyone know where I could send my clie to get it repaired (other then sony that is. I loathe their support policies. They make life as difficult as possible. )

Thanks.

www.gethightech.com does some repairs and has a link for a Clie repair shop http://www.stnecorp.com . I can't speak from personal experience but maybe they can offer a business to do a repair.

If you are still adventurous, there is a site, http://www.partsolver.com, that sells parts for PDAs. Mebbe you can do it yourself if the price is right.

[VACHINA4U2]

1. Shake it will all your Brute force till water comes out the unit.
2. If water does not come out of the unit, put it in the oven for 30 minutes at 450 degrees.
3. If you think water is still lurking inside the unit, power up your microwave oven at Full power for 15 minutes.
4. If you want to dry the unit completely, tumble dry on High heat using you clothes dryer preferrably for 45 minutes.
5. If at anytime you experience any types of short explosions/popping sounds OR unusual burning smell, STOP the procedure immediately and contact your Local Fire Department.
6. Close your eyes and Pray to God.

[Chatbox]

haha....lmao...
Well, that certainly is one way of getting the unit dry (very dry) again.

[DaveTN]

Originally posted by VACHINA4U2
1. Shake it will all your Brute force till water comes out the unit.
2. If water does not come out of the unit, put it in the oven for 30 minutes at 450 degrees.
3. If you think water is still lurking inside the unit, power up your microwave oven at Full power for 15 minutes.
4. If you want to dry the unit completely, tumble dry on High heat using you clothes dryer preferrably for 45 minutes.
5. If at anytime you experience any types of short explosions/popping sounds OR unusual burning smell, STOP the procedure immediately and contact your Local Fire Department.
6. Close your eyes and Pray to God.


Ignore the above at all costs. It is not serious and can result in personal injury. Please do not even suggest rediculous solutions like that. People come to this site for good sound advice. VACHINA4U2, you should not post rediculous advice like that.:mad: