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Panic. It’s the first emotion you’ll feel if you ever see your BlackBerry immersed in water — or worse, soda or another sugary liquid. If it’s the latter, well, you might be out of luck. I’ll give a suggestion later on, but it’s really for the device-savvy only. For now, let’s stick with the problem at hand.
The first thing to do, obviously, is to get your BlackBerry out of the water as soon as possible. Next, pull the battery and wipe it dry. Make sure to store it in a cool, dry place. Then it’s on to your device. I would suggest taking out a dish towel and laying the BlackBerry on it, screen up. After 10 or so minutes, flip it over. This will drain some of the water out of the device. It won’t get it dry, but it’s a start.
What I would recommend is — and you might think I’m nuts:
Yup. Stick that baby in a container of rice. The theory behind it is simple. Rice absorbs moisture. The idea is that this will suck the moisture out of your wet phone, eventually rendering it operable. However, and I cannot state this strongly enough, wait 48 hours before inserting the battery! I’ve jumped the gun before and my device has worked, but this comes as a strong caution from the tech people I know. There’s a chance, albeit small, that you short circuit the thing.
Note, too, that your warranty does not cover water damage. If you try to get a warranty replacement, your BlackBerry will indicate that there has in fact been water damage, and your claim will be denied. Those who have insurance — which should be everyone, considering how expensive BlackBerry devices are — should still be able to file a claim.
If it’s something other than water that drowned your BlackBerry, cleaning it might be a bit trickier. Of course, pull the battery first. Then, you’ll have to clean it with demineralized water. For instructions on how to disassemble your BlackBerry, check out BlackBerry FAQ. That’s for the 8800 series, but they have them up for most BlackBerry models. Warning! Do not do this unless you’re confident of your ability to disassemble, clean, and reassemble your BlackBerry.
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I’ve heard that also pulling the battery and sticking the phone on the freezer for a few hours/days will do the work. Does anyone have done this?
(I’ve never had my bb or any other phone get wet)
The rice is cleaver idea however I’d first take a can of air (typically used for cleaning keyboards and other small electronic items) and spray down your BB first. This will most likely clear away the moisture. However I bought the replacement plan so I’m covered for anything.
“However I bought the replacement plan so I’m covered for anything.”
That’s why they call you Smarts. I can’t see why anyone wouldn’t pay the $5 per month for the insurance.
I dropped my BB in water. I did not do any back-up in the last weeks. Is it possible to recover all the data by putting the memory card in another BB?
Surfing, the only data you could recover in that case is the data on the memory card. But you shouldn’t lose the memory on your BlackBerry if you drop it in water.
Hey Smarts and Joe where do I get a replacement plan? Thanks.
Big Al, it sounds like you’re best off going to the place where you bought the Berry.
i have been searching for help or hours, can anyon answer this?? PLEASE!
I left my phone out side in the gravel (thought i had lost it) but my friend found it the next day and brought it back.
when i got my phone back the background had gone back to the default(zen) background… and about a week late, my radio signal starts shutting off.
no i can’t get my BB to stay on for more than 30 seconds at a time, i have to reconnect it to send a text. GAHHH!!!!
helllpppp please?!?!
or maybe you would like to lend a phone my way??? ha!
So i am a little impatient buy yesterday about 11am i dropped my blackberry in water, i got it out pretty quickly took the battery out and dried it off and set it aside to dry, i tried to start it after and it didnt so i let it sit a while longer, and later that night it did but the trac ball was typing the letters p and u so i pluged to charge for 2 min then took it apart again now the trac ball is not working, i have it in uncooked rice is there a chance that it will work like before i only had the phone for 2 weeks. please reassure!!!
@Magina.M - there is a slim chance that you will get your device back to working condition. The problem if any will lie in the various connections inside your device. If the rice can absorb any excess moisture before it corrodes those connections you will be in good shape.
If they have sat too long before being exposed to the rice treatment there may be no recovery.
Good luck!
Hi guys, I’m in a bit of a trouble here. My friend dropped my BB Javelin into the pool three days ago. I pulled the battery out of the phone right away and have been drying the phone for 3 days (I put it below a desk lamp). This morning, I tried to start the phone again but nothing works except for the flash light that is glowing. Any idea guys what I should do? Is it basically broken or do I still have a chance to make it work? Thanks for the input guys
Man, Albert, I dunno. I’d let it dry some more, but not under a lamp. Just leave it out, or do what I said above, stick it in a bowl of rice. Give it another 36 hours or so. If not then, well, it just might be junk.
Hey all,
I lost my BB Curve from Sprint to water damage, but talked the store rep into a new phone. I kept all of my #’s, but lost my agenda, tasks, speed dials, tunes, pics … etc. You get the picture. I have the same mem. card in the phone. Any clue how to retrieve any of the pertinent info I lost?
The only way you are going to get that information is if you had previously backed your phone up using BlackBerry Desktop Manager. If you do not have a backup then unfortunately you will have to start from scratch. my advice would be to do regular backups — biweekly or monthly to ensure you always have the ability to recover from a major error.
Hi Guys
I need some help last night someone accidently dropped mango juice on my blackberry.I got it all dried up in time by using the spray to clean computers and leaving the battery and phone laying aside each other overnight.Luckily for me I have it back on now but my problem is now with the track ball it does not work at all so I am unable to put in my password to access the device.Any suggestions ?
Keira, this is the best I’ve got:
http://www.bbgeeks.com/quick-tips/how-to-clean-your-blackberry-trackball-88916/
I just got my Black Berry Bold a few weeks ago and today i was playing football and it started raining so i put my sports bag under a bench with my phone inside and played. When i got finished the screen was really light colored and it looked foggy and stuff. You can see the little bit of water under the screen and i’m freaking out right now. I haven’t tried the rice idea yet, but idk if that will help if there is water in the screen. PLZ HELP i’m panicing. Thx
i dropped my blackberry pearl in the toilet. i took the battery out and let the phone dry. after about an hour or so i put the battery back in and the phone came on. i went to sleep and woke up the next day and the screen wasn’t on but the ball turned green. does that mean that the phone still works or does that mean that it has been short circuited? help plz
You are most likely out of luck here — try sticking the Pearl into a bucket of rice for a couple days - should wick out any remaining moisture. If your phone does not turn on after that you are out of luck =(
yesterday i dropped my blackberry pearl into the toilet bowl but picked it up within 5 seconds.
i let it air dry for only an hour and tried putting the battery in and the red light started flashing on the upper right corner. then about 3-4 hours later i cleaned it with rubbing alcohol and then tried putting my battery in after that and the red light was flashing and the track ball was flashing green too and so i let it sit in a bowl of rice… and maybe tried putting the battery in a couple [3-5] times after that and nothings changed. its sat in the rice for about 18 hours now and i tried putting the battery in again and the same thing is happening…..
is my phone junk now?
Unfortunately - it appears your phone is toast =(
hi, so i found my bb in a glass of beer it probably stayed there for no more than 5 mins. i took it out, took the battery away and left it to dry overnight, today a tried to turned it on and it works but when i type my password it only types the letters u,m and s, what can i do to fix my keypad,m the phone is only 3 days old. thanks..
my blackberry bold got wet (not very) and I dried it off. It asks for the password and the keyboard types in too many letters. Is there a way to bypass the password? I can take calls, and see that I am getting messages, etc…
The blowdryer works fine as an initial drying tool, just don’t turn on the heat. Most have a switch for hot and cool, use the cool. Then let it dry for a day or two. Has worked for me without fail.
I dropped my blackberry storm in the sink. It only got wet a little, but I did the rice trick, let it dry for two days with the aid of a low-heat stream of blow drier air appx. one foot away, and now everything works just as it did before except for the camera/video light glowing at all times, even when I cut the phone off. When I look through the hole where the light comes through, it looks like part of a blurry eye chart or one of those old movies that began with the circle with the oscillating line that came on for a few seconds before the movie begins. The light is muted, not as bright as the video light and definitely not as bright as the flash. It doesn’t drain the battery, just more of an annoyance since I just got the phone a month ago. Any advice on how to get this thing off? I don’t want to go through insurance because with this thing, I’m afraid I’ll need all the maximum replacements I can get (touchscreen = broken in no time).
Hey guys, somehow my BB Bold LCD screen got cracked inside the phone and the guys at the phone store are saying there is nothing they can do. I’ll probably just end up buying a new phone on Ebay for cheap and putting my SIM in it but I would really love to read all the texts people have been sending me. The phone still works and I have talked on it and hear it ringing all the time, the only problem is the screen doesn’t work. Is there anyway to sync my SMS to my computer and read them on here? Ive found a few programs you can put on your phone to do it via email, but mind you I can see anything to do that. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Matt,
This is the only thing I can think of, but I don’t know if you can do it without seeing your screen:
http://www.bbgeeks.com/blackberry-applications/keep-track-of-text-messages-from-your-desktop-881936/
Hi everyone,
Thought I lost my bberry this weekend but found it outside! The bad news is that it had rained for about an hour and didn’t find it until afterwards. I took out the battery and let it sit out for 3 days now. I put the battery back in today and the back light isn’t working well. I can get through the password screen but can’t see much when I get into it, definitely not enough to read an email. Should I try to dry a little longer or am I just SOL???
My wife spilled a glass of wine on my BB last night. I tried to dry it off as good as I could, used a blow dryer on cool (yeah, i hadn’t looked on the web for what and what not to do). When I first put the battery in it will go through start up, then it displays the password screen but I can’t type anything. The screen eventually goes black and stays back unless I remove the battery again and start all over. I just put in rice.
It’s a work phone and I just got this new one Wed because the my first one stopped working. If I go back in with “water” damage monday I’m toast. Any advice welcome.
mitch and KCChiefs, you both might have to wait for the device to dry off a bit. However, that might not be enough, especially if it’s been a few days.
There’s little you can do to clean it at this point, other than using demineralized, deionized water. Even then, you risk further damage and I don’t recommend doing it unless you know exactly what you’re getting into.
Ok, first I want to thank all of the previous posters because I’m feeling a little bit of HOPE and not quite as much of the dread I was.
My Blackberry Storm had a marginal amount of water dripped on the touch screen this morning. Maybe a tablespoon? As soon as I realized it (maybe 5-10min later), I dried it off and pulled the battery and dried the water that had seeped just under the cover. I could see the water under the screen before I pulled the battery.
I’ve tried putting the battery back in about 3 times now. The first couple, I couldn’t get the screen to come back on. I don’t have any rice here at work so I used an air can to gently try to blow some of the water out. The last time, the screen came on and was seemingly functional but still showed the water underneath. So, I’ve pulled the battery again and have it sitting facedown on a tissue.
What do you think?? Do I have hope? I do have insurance but obviously don’t want to use it if I don’t have to. However, I only have 60days to file a claim. What if problems don’t show up until after that time frame? Is that possible?
Thanks!
Hey,
I came here a few days ago because I realized my Blackberry Curve had obtained water damage without my knowing and was slowly deteriorating. I immediately did the rice trick for maybe 30 hours, turned the phone back on and it worked!
Now I’m back to where I was before. There’s no speaker. (I can’t hear anything but I can still make all the calls.) How could it possibly be backtracking like this? I have it just sitting out now. Any recommendations?
Update: When I get to the password screen I can type now, but when I press a key two stars appear in the password display, so i know it’s not typing correctly. It’s been like that since Sunday. Hoping for a miracle here. It’s taking a rice bath right now.
I JUST GOT MY NEW BLACKBERRY CURVE WITH THE CHIRP YESTERDAY. I DROPPED IT IN THE TOILET TODAY BUT IT WAS NOT IN THERE NO MORE THAN 5 SECONDS. SO I TOOK EVERYTHING APART IMMEDIATELY AND LEFT IT IN A TISSUE FOR LIKE 20 MINUTES. I THEN PUT IT REAL CLOSE TO A HEATER FOR LIKE 5 TO 10 MINUTES. I SAW THE SCREEN START TO FOG UP AND TOOK IT OFF AND STARTED TO CRY. I LET IT SIT FOR ABOUT 2 OR 3 HRS PUT THE BATTERY IN AND IT CAME ON HOWEVER THE SCREEN KEPT FLASHING UNTIL IT WENT OFF. I JUST GOT THIS YESTERDAY. WHAT ARE MY CHANCES THAT I CAN EITHER WAIT AND HOPE IT WORKS OR JUST CALL SPRINT. WILL THEY SEND ME A NEW PHONE ITS ONLY BEEN 1 DAY. WHAT DO I DO?
The other day i was checking my text messages while in the shower.. dumb. anyways the little bit of water that was on my hands after drying them off with my towel got onto the blackberry keys. no biggie right? my screen froze and i had to restart my blackberry. after restarting my phone, all of the buttons were acting crazy. the buttons would do things they werent meant to do and it was really frustrating. after a day and constant messing with it, all the keys returned back to normal but the trackball. the trackball moves and lets me do everything except for select. now i have been using my enter button. i took it to the att store and they said that there was water damage by indication of the water level sticker, but that doesnt make sense to me that only the select option of the trackball would not be working. ive blow dried my phone briefly a couple of times and let it set out for a couple of minutes. i feel like it is going to work soon, but what is the next step i should take? is the rice a good idea? help me please!
Definitely try the rice for a little while — first thing you should do though is pull the battery out while the device is powered on and replace after 30 seconds.
Also - here is an instructional video about using your BlackBerry in the shower ;)
http://www.bbgeeks.com/blackberry-commercials/building-a-better-blackberry-commercial-with-bbgeeks-shower-time-88415/
Is there a way to tell if my blackberry battery D-X1 got wet? If so, could that affect how it works. My BB still powers up but it is very sketchy in responsiveness. The white moisture indicator inside the BB is still pure white so I don’t think that got wet. The battery has a white rectangle on the bottom (next to the connectors) but it has a red stripe through it. Don’t know if that means something.
Help! I just dropped my blackberry in soda pop. Took out battery immediately, rinsed with regular water, blew dry and tried inserting battery - red light came on and phone tried to boot up - no luck. Took battery out again and started looking here. See that denatured alcohol has been successfully used. Dipped phone for 10 seconds and have in rice now - any other suggestions?
last week I was over at a friends for a bonfire and some drinks in the backyard firepit when it started raining, I didnt realize my BlacBerry Pearl slipped out of my pocket onto the grass. being a bit drunk, I walked home and didn’t realize that i didnt have my phone until the next morning. I phoned my buddy, who was at class on campus, and said he’d look around the house for it. When he got home around dinner time, he looked around the house, and the backyard, and found it sitting in a muddy puddle in the grass!! We immediately took out the battery and put it into a bowl of rice, waited 2 days and prayed, and it works perfectly!! The only problem is, now the water damage stickers on the battery and the inside are red. For a long time now the speaker has been crackly, but now im afriad to try and get it fixed because of “water damage”. but my phone shows no signs and works great (other than the water damage stickers!!)
Any ideas?
Im in Canada with Telus :)
Thanks guys!
So I was at a party my friend spilt everclear and redbull all over my curve, ive left it in rice for 2 weeks now, it works but some of the keys dont, is there any way that i can fix that i really love my curve!!`
[...] “what to do if your cell phone gets wet,” which is a shame, because if she Googled what to do if your BlackBerry gets wet she would have found our article on BBGeeks. Unfortunately, Fried didn’t follow much of the [...]
i was down loading a game to my bold 9000 and my phone froze, i tried turning it of but in the end i had to take the battery out. now my phone wont work, it wont turn on theres no flashing lights nothing please help
@claire if you plug your phone into the PC with no battery inserted do you see the LED light flash?
Okay so I had to walk a short distance in a down pour of rain today and after about an hour i realized my blackberry curve was a little foggy on the right side of the screen. When I got home I did what I’ve done before with previous phones and put a hair dryer on it but I found this forum and it said not to. Do you think since it was just a little rain that cause it and I didn’t drop it in a bucket of water or something that it will be okay??
i dropped my bb pearl in water last night, took the battery out and let it dry over night. This morning i put it back together and it seems to be working fine, but i can see what looks to be water behind the screen. Do i need to let it dry more? Or am i okay to use it???
Thanks
Caitlin and Gina,
You should both be fine. A little water from time to time happens. Most issues arise when the BlackBerry is completely submerged.
so, I was at work cleaning the women’s restroom, and my blackberry pearl was in my shirt,in my bra to be exact, and as i leaned over the toilet it fell in. It was in there for like 3 seconds bc i felt it falling and grabbed it as it hit the water…I immediately took the battery out, shook it out hardcore, then ran to the automatic hand dryer and dried it out as good as i could, battery and all. But i put the battery back in for like 20 minutes and all looked fine, until i tried to text, and my buttons are all jacked up. Half of them type other letters than what is on the pad, and my space button doesn’t work…this happened about an hour ago, and the phone is now taken apart and i have tried blow drying it out some more….but i am going to try the rice trick tonight….hit me up with any other advice…thanks
My Daughter Dropped My BB 8900 in our Ice Chest Last Tuesday, it was in there for about 15 min cuz I didn’t know where it was… I, (being a Dummy) turned it back on right away & it worked for a sec then Turned off… I Heard that if I left it in the Sun for 24 hours without the Battery it will turn back on… I attempted that about 3 times already, it works perfectly for about 5 minutes then just stops suddenly… What can I do??? It turns on fine & scrolls everywhere but wont respond to any buttons I push…
Hi i just got out of the pool and i placed my blackberry bold in the leather case on my side while still being a little wet. when i took my phone out to make a phone call i realised the screen was white and was not allowed to do anything. I tried taking the battery out and drying it with a dry cloth but that didnt work im going to try the rice thing but is there anything else i can do??? PLEASE HELP ME!!
Hi. I dropped my phone in the toilet for a total of 3 seconds last night. My phone turns on and shows that I have messages but after about 20 seconds fades off. I can see that there is still water behind the screen. Its the keyboard and the trackball that doesn’t work. When I plug it in to the charger it shows the time. I don’t have any rice around, Do you have any advice. It’s the curve 8900 and again, it turns on, my problem is the keyboard and trackball is not functioning. Please help!
Thank you!
Tamesia and JennyKC,
You just have to wait for it to dry. The recommendation is 48 hours of letting it sit without the battery.
Do not throw your BB away even if it doesn’t work after a month. I was volunteering with FEMA after Ike hit in Houston. I went to get water and my BB Curve fell in the ice chest, I immediately got it out and took the batter out, I set it to dry in the sun while I gave out supplies. I had to purchase another one since it wasn’t working after a week. Well how about after 9 months it is working again!! So now I have 2 BB Curves LOL. So don’t throw out your phone it may take some time but it may come back :)
Ok so I left my phone in a bowl of rice for about 3 days without the Battery & Sim Card… When I put the Battery Back in it worked fine for about 40 minutes so I took the Battery out to put the Sim card in, when I started up my phone it only worked for 5 minutes then stopped again… I don’t know if it has to do with me taking the battery out a second time after it has started up already… Another thing is it seems to stop responding when I try to use the (alt) button to use the number keys… what else can I do? its been 2 1/2 weeks shouldn’t it be dry by now? Or is it just never gonna work properly anymore???
I think you may be out of luck here. It may very well be that the damage was done before you got it into the rice =(
hey guys! i spilled alcohol right on my phone but it went directly to my trackball. my phone works perfectly still but my trackball wont down anymore. it goes left right and up. does anyone know how i can make it go up again? — i mean it sometimes goes up but i really gotta press on it but i dont wanna break it? any ideas? plssss.!
I have a problem seeing my new text messages, I see the envelope with the number of texts I have, but when I go to my inbox I can’t see them, I can only see the old ones… any idea what could it be??
Thanks
@Polly Depending on the BlackBerry settings or theme in use, txt messages could be going to a separate SMS folder. Check to see if you have a separate folder.
Alternatively, if you go to messages, you can see text messages by click the menu button from inside the message list. From the pop up menu, scroll to and click SMS Inbox. That will show you your received text messages.
OK, here’s a twist I haven’t seen anyone report yet. Coke spilled on Storm in car console, immediately dried off inside & out, tried to turn on right away (obviously I hadn’t planned on it happening and hadn’t researched what to do if it did). It works in that it powers on, and my touch will highlight the different icons on the screen, but it will not activate the icons, nor will the push buttons activate anything. I’m most upset about my extensive contacts and notes, which of course I secured through encryption, so my new Storm won’t read the card. Help me, Obi-wan. You’re my only hope.
Plug that baby into Desktop Manager and see if you can do a full backup before it dies.
Water damage is one thing and it is often just a matter of time before recovery if the proper steps are taken. Coke on the other hand is a very corrosive material and it can cause major damage if even a little bit is left on the components.
hey joe i have a question, if i left my blackberry flip in my pocket for about 10 min will it still work???? and this is wat i did i took out the battery and let it dry and same with my blackberry i put them on a towel and let them dry but sometimes when i try to put it back in and c if it works i try it and it has a green light but doesnt turn on, wat should i do???? is that correct???
Poo, you should probably let it dry for a good long while before putting the battery back in.
hay i am try it now becuz i drop my phone into water like 3 days ago and got it out rite after and then i banged it and wipe the inside out it work for a little i hope this works cuz i just replace a blackberry it sucks ya no the ball part wont let me get into anything a all i hope this works if not i am f***ed
do you no what i could do if that dont wok after 48 hours
I dropped my Blacberry 8900 in the kitchen sink while washing dishes I took it out immediately and pulled the battery out and my memory card. I let it sit out for a day and a half and put it in rice. I turned it on it took 3 minutes to start but none of the buttons work the track ball moves but its fruitless I can’t select anything. What can I do?
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