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edcoche

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 2, 2007
116
0
Here's the story....some of you may find it to be amusing but I'll go ahead and tell it anyway. I have a black 4gb nano, I believe it is 2nd a generation one. Anyway, so I am getting out of my boat and it falls out of my sweatshirt pocket and into the lake. It isn't very deep there and I immediately go in after it fully clothed :p. I have a case for it but it is more of a leather sheath and not a plastic enclosure. I was quite inebriated at the time and I am not sure if it was on or not when it took the plunge. I found it after it had been submerged for about 30 seconds and when I pulled it out the screen was on...it said some weird message that was several sentences long. I cannot recall what it said but shortly thereafter the screen went haywire and it turned off.

The same thing happened to my cell phone once and I took it apart and placed it in a towel and I turned on the oven and placed the folded up towel on the warm stovetop and turned off the oven, thus warming up the towel and its contents. It worked. Unfortunately, I didn't do this. I went inside, placed it on my dresser and passed out. The next day I gave in to temptation and tried to turn it on the following afternoon--nothing. Today I left it in the warm sunlight for about 6 hours.

Could I have ruined my chances of its survival by attempting to turn it on so soon? I am worried that it was wet inside and the turn on attempt shorted it out. I read a story on this forum about a guy who had a nano survive the washing machine.

It happened about 40 hours ago.

My questions:
Could the battery be completely drained?
After another day would it be wise to connect it to my macbook?
Any suggestions?

I was optimistic at first but now I am beginning to feel it may be gone. :mad:
 

iToaster

macrumors 68000
May 3, 2007
1,742
0
In front of my MacBook Pro
Trying to turn it on after a day was a bad idea and probably killed it for good. If you want to try again, put it in a bag of rice for at least a week so the moisture is drawn out, then try. Just so you know, your battery is also probably dead seeing as batteries and water don't mix well.
 

edcoche

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 2, 2007
116
0
Just so you know, your battery is also probably dead seeing as batteries and water don't mix well.

Thanks for the advice, I'll try the rice trick. If the device is dead, but completely dry inside, would plugging it into my mac be considered a "high risk" operation?
 

zephead

macrumors 68000
Apr 27, 2006
1,574
9
in your pants
I jumped in the pool with my Nano not too long ago. I jumped out right after of course (in for maybe 15 sec), and the next day I plugged the connector into the iPod and tied the USB end to a ceiling fan. I left it on there all day and that night I took it off, plugged it in to my Mac, and it worked! :D
 

edcoche

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 2, 2007
116
0
I jumped in the pool with my Nano not too long ago. I jumped out right after of course (in for maybe 15 sec), and the next day I plugged the connector into the iPod and tied the USB end to a ceiling fan. I left it on there all day and that night I took it off, plugged it in to my Mac, and it worked! :D

Good for you! I am still keeping my hopes up. I am going to give it a little more time before I try to plug it in. I think I am going to keep it in the sunlight tomorrow. So what part of the fan did you tie it to?? Did you try to turn it on prior to plugging it into the mac? If so, was the battery all drained? I am hoping it resurrects when I plug it in.
 

zephead

macrumors 68000
Apr 27, 2006
1,574
9
in your pants
So what part of the fan did you tie it to??
I tied it to the part connecting the central fan to the fan blade.

Did you try to turn it on prior to plugging it into the mac?
I tried turning it on right before I plugged it in, but nothing came up.

If so, was the battery all drained? I am hoping it resurrects when I plug it in.
I imagine so, that's probably why it didn't turn on right before I plugged it in. It had to go through the cold-boot process and everything.

Hope this helps. :)
 

Browzilla

macrumors member
Aug 6, 2007
39
0
There's always a chance. My 8GB 2G nano went through both the washer and dryer, and now the only difference is that it has a few more scratches on the screen and back. It did, at one point, have an oddly distorted screen, and the hold switch would actually turn the unit off, but the magic of time (or Steve) seems to have fixed both of those.

Good luck to you.
 

elmateo487

macrumors 6502a
Jun 12, 2008
873
530
I dropped my 60 gig photo into the toilet, and just like you did, without even thinking my hands were in there fishing it out. Hahahaha. The things we do...

But yeah. I made the mistake of trying to turn it on 20 minutes after i got it out. BUT, heres some hope. It didn't turn it on, so since i was in Ukraine, and i REALLY didn't have a means to fixing it, i took it apart myself. I learned all the parts inside, and checked all the connections (it was super sketchy. Hahaha) I ended up finding the connections that had corrosion and scraped the corrosion off, and in some cases i trimmed the end of the connectors so the metal showed again, and then i put it all back together and flabam! It all worked!

The screen about a year from that time finally lost it's backlight. But that was 2 and a half years ago, and i am still using it everyday for hours (because someone stole my new iPod 160gig classic)! This thing is a TANK!

So! Open that sucker up, let it air dry. Dont let the water sit on the board! Then carefully take it 100% apart, check the connections, and put it back.

Good Luck
 

edcoche

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 2, 2007
116
0
So, I got it all hooked up and it somehow works. It's alive. YAY! It now says do not disconnect--typical.....but it will not eject. ANY SUGGESTIONS???
 

yorkshire

macrumors 6502a
May 18, 2008
550
19
UK
So, I got it all hooked up and it somehow works. It's alive. YAY! It now says do not disconnect--typical.....but it will not eject. ANY SUGGESTIONS???

Well, if it came back from the dead, I'm sure it can do anything.:D

Try restoring it to factory settings thorugh iTunes.
 

Scepticalscribe

macrumors Ivy Bridge
Jul 29, 2008
63,834
46,282
In a coffee shop.
Here's the story....some of you may find it to be amusing but I'll go ahead and tell it anyway. I have a black 4gb nano, I believe it is 2nd a generation one. Anyway, so I am getting out of my boat and it falls out of my sweatshirt pocket and into the lake. It isn't very deep there and I immediately go in after it fully clothed :p. I have a case for it but it is more of a leather sheath and not a plastic enclosure. I was quite inebriated at the time and I am not sure if it was on or not when it took the plunge. I found it after it had been submerged for about 30 seconds and when I pulled it out the screen was on...it said some weird message that was several sentences long. I cannot recall what it said but shortly thereafter the screen went haywire and it turned off.

The same thing happened to my cell phone once and I took it apart and placed it in a towel and I turned on the oven and placed the folded up towel on the warm stovetop and turned off the oven, thus warming up the towel and its contents. It worked. Unfortunately, I didn't do this. I went inside, placed it on my dresser and passed out. The next day I gave in to temptation and tried to turn it on the following afternoon--nothing. Today I left it in the warm sunlight for about 6 hours.

Could I have ruined my chances of its survival by attempting to turn it on so soon? I am worried that it was wet inside and the turn on attempt shorted it out. I read a story on this forum about a guy who had a nano survive the washing machine.

It happened about 40 hours ago.

My questions:
Could the battery be completely drained?
After another day would it be wise to connect it to my macbook?
Any suggestions?

I was optimistic at first but now I am beginning to feel it may be gone. :mad:

Any thread that starts with such a post deserves a standing ovation; I laughed hard (and aloud). Anyway, you have my heartfelt sympathy because I had a similar experience (a mobile in a toilet, in Kyrgyzstan, which subsequently died; a hilariously awful tale which is best told some other time); do let us know whether your nano returns to full health. Cheers and good luck.
 

edcoche

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 2, 2007
116
0
Any thread that starts with such a post deserves a standing ovation; I laughed hard (and aloud). Anyway, you have my heartfelt sympathy because I had a similar experience (a mobile in a toilet, in Kyrgyzstan, which subsequently died; a hilariously awful tale which is best told some other time); do let us know whether your nano returns to full health. Cheers and good luck.

Not only has my nano resurrected, but it now is functioning as if it never took a dip in the lake. I got the thing for free, so its not like I was out any money. Although, I became accustomed to using it at the gym and I would have bought a new one in the near future if it did not return to working order so I am very happy about that!! :D
 

EricNau

Moderator emeritus
Apr 27, 2005
10,725
267
San Francisco, CA
Trying to turn it on after a day was a bad idea and probably killed it for good.
Just for future reference, this most likely would not make a difference with an iPod, because even off, the device can still be powered on. It's very much like a computer in sleep mode.
 

edcoche

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 2, 2007
116
0
Just for future reference, this most likely would not make a difference with an iPod, because even off, the device can still be powered on. It's very much like a computer in sleep mode.

So this is why it turns on so much faster when I power-down and slide the hold on and then shortly thereafter sliding the hold "off" a few hours later to have the screen come up to where I was earlier. As opposed to powering it on for the first time in a few days having it take longer and load up the apple logo on the screen.....right?

Any idea how long before the device completely shuts down and exits it's sleep mode?
 

EricNau

Moderator emeritus
Apr 27, 2005
10,725
267
San Francisco, CA
So this is why it turns on so much faster when I power-down and slide the hold on and then shortly thereafter sliding the hold "off" a few hours later to have the screen come up to where I was earlier. As opposed to powering it on for the first time in a few days having it take longer and load up the apple logo on the screen.....right?

Any idea how long before the device completely shuts down and exits it's sleep mode?
Exactly.

This Apple article details the sleep process for the iPod, but it may or may not be out of date by now. Unless things have changed, the iPod will "hibernate" after 14 hours.
 

chrono1081

macrumors G3
Jan 26, 2008
8,446
4,146
Isla Nublar
I see spills on keyboards and laptops and things almost DAILY where I work. Heres some future advice:

-If an electronic gets wet DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE TURN IT ON TO TEST IT!!!! its not the water that ruins the device (for most things) its the current running through the water.

-do not put wet electronics in the oven. If you can take it apart, take it apart, wrap it in a towel and place it on top of a heated oven like another user stated. Leave it apart for a few days. If you cant take it apart, just place it on the towel on top of the oven for seriously about a week.

-Pray

-Then turn on your electronic once you are sure its sufficiently dry. I have had almost 100% success doing this as long as the item is not turned on while wet. (I dont have an oven where I work but desert air does the trick).



If you dropped it in salt water...your are pretty much screwed but sometimes, if you can get the item apart quickly, take it apart, rinse with distilled water if available, and let it dry you can sometimes save an electronic.
 

Scepticalscribe

macrumors Ivy Bridge
Jul 29, 2008
63,834
46,282
In a coffee shop.
Not only has my nano resurrected, but it now is functioning as if it never took a dip in the lake. I got the thing for free, so its not like I was out any money. Although, I became accustomed to using it at the gym and I would have bought a new one in the near future if it did not return to working order so I am very happy about that!! :D

Glad to hear it, and good luck with it in the future. Cheers
 

zephead

macrumors 68000
Apr 27, 2006
1,574
9
in your pants
Not only has my nano resurrected, but it now is functioning as if it never took a dip in the lake. I got the thing for free, so its not like I was out any money. Although, I became accustomed to using it at the gym and I would have bought a new one in the near future if it did not return to working order so I am very happy about that!! :D

Good stuff. Glad to hear it. :)
 

edcoche

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 2, 2007
116
0
iTunes 8.0 and a new issue

So, after installing the new iTunes 8.0 my iPod is suddenly having issues with iTunes. When I plug in my nano iTunes loads up like normal, and it says "The disk can not be read from, or written to" yet I still can see the songs I have on there, just not add to it. Under the previous version of iTunes I could plug in my nano and add and delete music without any issue whatsoever. Could have apple implemented a way for a water damaged nano to be incompatible with their new release, forcing the user to buy a new one?? My nano has been working just fine up until the update after it fully dried out.

I don't want to restore it, because it could not allow me to put anything on it after clearing out the memory.

Is it possible for me to reinstall a previous version of iTunes?
:mad:
 

MowingDevil

macrumors 68000
Jul 30, 2008
1,588
7
Vancouver, BC & Sydney, NSW
Hey congrats man! Thats good to hear.
My wife dropped my cel phone in the dog's water bowl....and made the mistake of turning it on to test it. Done.

So what do you think was the secret, which method turned out to be the best for drying it & saving your Nano?
Did you take it apart?
 

edcoche

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 2, 2007
116
0
Hey congrats man! Thats good to hear.
My wife dropped my cel phone in the dog's water bowl....and made the mistake of turning it on to test it. Done.

So what do you think was the secret, which method turned out to be the best for drying it & saving your Nano?
Did you take it apart?

I left it in the windowsill and get the sun warm it up over several days, and resisted all temptation to plug it in my mac or even turn it on. I did try to turn it on the following day but nothing--the battery was completely dead.

Anyway, I am experiencing a new problem. Good thing it still charges an plays music despite iTunes 8.0's lack of compatibility with a former nano that took a dip in the lake. I mainly use the device for listening to music in the weight room and I really haven't changed much of the music on it since I initially loaded it up with music. I can get by with what is on there until I figure out a way to get it working with iTunes again (or until an update is released for it.)

Know if it would be possible for me to install the previous version of iTunes?
 

MowingDevil

macrumors 68000
Jul 30, 2008
1,588
7
Vancouver, BC & Sydney, NSW
Did you take it all apart to put on your windowsill or just stick it up there?

Not sure about how to get rid of iTunes. I'm sure you could probably find an old one on version tracker. Might have to uninstall it first...you could just chuck version 8 in the trash but there might be a conflict if its installed anything else.
Anyone know?
 

edcoche

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 2, 2007
116
0
Did you take it all apart to put on your windowsill or just stick it up there?

Not sure about how to get rid of iTunes. I'm sure you could probably find an old one on version tracker. Might have to uninstall it first...you could just chuck version 8 in the trash but there might be a conflict if its installed anything else.
Anyone know?

I just stuck it up there. I didn't know how to take it apart and didn't feel like forcing it open.
 
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