A few days ago, while on vacation, my iPhone 4 got dropped in the ocean. The water was at most 18 inches deep. We rushed it to the grocery store where it took a short bath in distilled water and then was placed into a tupperware of rice with the SIM card removed.
It remained in the rice for 48 hours. Once I got home I opened the iPhone and removed the battery. There were a few drops of water in between the battery and the back, but overall it was dry inside. I placed the opened iphone, battery, and iphone back near a floor vent to continue to dry. They stayed there for 24 hours.
Today I completely disassembled the phone, taking care to clear all connectors with rubbing alcohol. I saw very little corrosion near some screws, but it looked like there wasn't much damage done. I let the alcohol dry for an hour and put everything back together.
I plugged the iPhone into my computer at work (Windows XP). Windows recognized the phone, but the screen remained dark. Windows needed a driver for iPhone in DFU mode, so I installed iTunes. iTunes wanted to restore but I did not want to try that yet as I thought it may be possible to resurrect my phone without losing my photos. I then tried to kick my phone out of DFU using the latest version of TinyUmbrella and Recboot 1.01 and 1.3. Since all of these solutions failed I attempted TinyUmbrella and Recboot again on my home machine (Windows 7 x64).
TinyUmbrella and Recboot both failed to restore my phone so I decided to try iTunes. On my home PC I received error 1601 so I changed rebooted, USB ports, and uninstalled/reinstalled iTunes. At this point I was still receiving error 1601. I then brought my phone back to work to attempt the restore on my work PC and again got error 1601. At no point did the screen ever change from dark.
Unless anyone has any further suggestions, I believe my phone is dead. There is someone local to me selling an iPhone 4 with a cracked screen for $300. Should I buy this and repair his phone with my screen? Or do you think AT&T or Apple will allow me to get an out of warranty repair/replacement for less than $300? I thought I would receive some suggestions on how to proceed before I talked with AT&T or Apple.
FYI, when I check my upgrade eligibilty status at AT&T's website I'm told I won't be eligible until 5/22/2012. I am on a 1400 family plan with 3 other iPhones and 1 non-smartphone. Would AT&T allow me to upgrade the non-smartphone to an iPhone and not add a data plan to the line? Then I could use that iPhone and the family member using the non-smartphone could continue to use their existing phone.
Thanks for reading and I appreciate any help.
It remained in the rice for 48 hours. Once I got home I opened the iPhone and removed the battery. There were a few drops of water in between the battery and the back, but overall it was dry inside. I placed the opened iphone, battery, and iphone back near a floor vent to continue to dry. They stayed there for 24 hours.
Today I completely disassembled the phone, taking care to clear all connectors with rubbing alcohol. I saw very little corrosion near some screws, but it looked like there wasn't much damage done. I let the alcohol dry for an hour and put everything back together.
I plugged the iPhone into my computer at work (Windows XP). Windows recognized the phone, but the screen remained dark. Windows needed a driver for iPhone in DFU mode, so I installed iTunes. iTunes wanted to restore but I did not want to try that yet as I thought it may be possible to resurrect my phone without losing my photos. I then tried to kick my phone out of DFU using the latest version of TinyUmbrella and Recboot 1.01 and 1.3. Since all of these solutions failed I attempted TinyUmbrella and Recboot again on my home machine (Windows 7 x64).
TinyUmbrella and Recboot both failed to restore my phone so I decided to try iTunes. On my home PC I received error 1601 so I changed rebooted, USB ports, and uninstalled/reinstalled iTunes. At this point I was still receiving error 1601. I then brought my phone back to work to attempt the restore on my work PC and again got error 1601. At no point did the screen ever change from dark.
Unless anyone has any further suggestions, I believe my phone is dead. There is someone local to me selling an iPhone 4 with a cracked screen for $300. Should I buy this and repair his phone with my screen? Or do you think AT&T or Apple will allow me to get an out of warranty repair/replacement for less than $300? I thought I would receive some suggestions on how to proceed before I talked with AT&T or Apple.
FYI, when I check my upgrade eligibilty status at AT&T's website I'm told I won't be eligible until 5/22/2012. I am on a 1400 family plan with 3 other iPhones and 1 non-smartphone. Would AT&T allow me to upgrade the non-smartphone to an iPhone and not add a data plan to the line? Then I could use that iPhone and the family member using the non-smartphone could continue to use their existing phone.
Thanks for reading and I appreciate any help.
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