iPhone 3GS stuck on apple logo and spinning wheel

I'm looking for any help at all, I've been trying to figure out if my phone can be fixed without any success!

I put my phone in the wash and let it dry out for a few days. Now all that I see when the phone is on is the apple logo, with the spinning wheel on top. I have put the phone in recovery mode and DFU mode to restore it. The problem arrises when I reach the 'Set up your iPhone' page. No matter if the phone is restored in recovery or DFU mode, an error message comes up when I try to continue. Is there anything else I can attempt before giving up??

Thanks in advance for your help!

Follow-up

Forgot to add:

After the restore I can set it up as a new phone. After I disconnect it when the synch is complete, I still get the apple logo for about 10 minutes, and then the spinning wheel is displayed on top of the apple.

Also, I can only turn the phone on and off by holding the home and power/sleep button at the same time.

Thanks again,