I dropped it in water can you fix it?
As of February 6th 2010 I am 1854 successes and 237 fatalities at iPods and iPhones "dropped in water", put "through the washing machine", "went into the hot tub", "forgot I was using it and
went in the pool with it on", "bent over a pot of soup and it slipped out of my pocket" (chef), "got doused in chloraseptic", "my bottle of sparkling water blew up in my gym bag",
"my daughter dropped it in the toilet" problems. Call me to discuss what has happened to yours..... I'll bet I've heard it before and have brought an iPod back from that disaster.
I have become an expert in water immersion. This started in December 2004, when Gina Pittler, a real estate developer friend in Petaluma, California mentioned to me that she and her husband had bought a rather expensive iDock for their daughter for Christmas and just discovered their daughter had dropped her iPod into a sink of water in the bathroom while at a bar recently.
They hadn't counted on buying her a new iPod, and it was two days before Christmas when she told me this. Anyone that knows me, understands that I like challenges and she brought it over.
I opened it up, and dis-assembled it completely so there were only exposed
surfaces to all the parts. Then I wiped down all the contacts and used a
fine art brush to remove the moisture that remained on the surface of the
contacts. Next, I cleaned all the contacts, then elevated the temperature of all the parts in an open area so any remaining moisture would evaporate and freely leave the parts without re-condensing.
Then I put it all back together again after burnishing an area that had any lead-oxide corrosion developing.
It worked! Christmas saved!!
Since then, I've done this many times for other clients. The most amazing instance is the story of Jason Rockhill, an executive at SonyBMG records country division in Nashville. He had a serious emergency that I was able to take care of and it shows the degree of intensity I exhibit at my work. It really is a most amazing story.
http://www.isickbay.com/call--1-877-IPOD-PRO/recent_fixes/recent_fixes_13.shtml
Martha R is a Realtor here in the area. She gave her son new 2nd generation Nano for the same Christmas. He is just 8 years old and left his Nano in his pants pocket the night before Martha threw his clothes in the washing machine. It went through the entire wash cycle and she discovered it prior to throwing it into the dryer. It arrived here officially dead. Using the same techniques, I was able to restore it to 100% perfection the next morning by working on it over night. All music files intact, perfect operation.
This washing machine theme shows up more than once. Betty Fine in Cloverdale, California (a bit north of here) errantly washed her daughters second generation Nano also. This one went through the washer *and* the dryer. She only found out it was in the dryer, when it started banging the interior while tumbling the clothes dry. In this event the outer case of the Nano was actually bent from being smashed up against the dryer drum.
Using the same techniques, I was able to get her daughter Robyn's blue
Nano working again. This is Betty picking it up.
Water Immersion - Dodging a Bullet??
"After putting it through the washer, I've kind of got my iPod working again!"
This is an actual message from a client:
"I stumbled upon your site after googling up how I could possibly fix my 2nd Generation Ipod Nano. It was dropped into a pool of water for a very short time. For a few days I left it alone, because it wouldn't work at all, and I left it under a lamp to try and dry it out. Now its working to a certain extent. The wheel feels a little stiff (sand might of traveled its way in there) and the backlight doesn't work anymore. Is there anyway this can be fixed? What are your prices for fixing something like this? Please let me know, thank you!"
This really exemplifies a frequent set of circumstances. The iPod gets dropped in water or put through the washer and the owner puts it in an oven or in the sun or (god help me) uses a blow dryer to "dry it out".
When people start to get marginal utility back in their iPod post water immersion they frequently think they've dodged a bullet, the problem is there is no way to evacuate moisture from the iPod effectively except taking it apart. When the temperature of the device is raised to "dry it out" what actually happens is the water turns into a vapor but remains inside the device. When the temperature is lowered again the vapor re-condenses to a liquid state. Since the iPod is always lying on it's back, the re-condensed water rolls off the top of the devices on the logic board and down the leads. It collects at the bottom of the solder leads of the parts. At that point oxygen from the water and air begin to combine with the lead in the lead/tin alloyed solder and start to establish lead oxide corrosion. Once the lead oxide corrosion begins it doesn't end until the device stops working permanently or someone like me opens it and cleans out and burnishes all the contacts. The lead oxide occupies far more space than the solder does so as the corrosion builds it actually lifts the parts right off the logic board rendering the logic board useless. Concurrent with this the leads (really called traces) on the ribbon connectors used to make the LCD screen, headphone, scroll wheel, and battery work begin to corrode away. In the case of Christine's above, the backlight trace on the LCD ribbon had been eaten away with her requiring a new LCD.
If you don't the iPod up and clean it even though it seems to work afterward unless it is a superhuman iPod, it will merely stop working at some point in the future and you may not even the water event with its eventual death. You will think you dropped it once to many times, or plugged it into a bad outlet.
The $40 I charge for a "classic" (4th, 5th Gen video, 6th Gen video) or $60 for an iPod Touch or iPhone model is really small insurance to have me go through and correct things as against it's eventual death by leaving it to time and chance.
Even more about water cases on the Next Page»
I'm in Sonoma County... Northern California wine country.
If you live nearby, are traveling through or live in the San Francisco Bay Area bring your iPod to me and I can do the work while you wait or go wine tasting for a while. Send me an
email just to make sure I have on hand whatever parts your repair will require.
Call or email me
with questions or to set up a repair. You can also call, I am here most days from 8am to 8pm
Toll Free 1-877-iPod-Pro (1 - 877 - 476-3776)
Send the device to:
Frank Walburg
2145 Service Court
Santa Rosa, Ca 95403-3139
Methods of payment
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