The painful and premature death of my iPhone 5s

Mijn probleem

Water Damage iPhone 5s. My phone slipped from a top shirt pocket into a tub of water about 18" deep. I made the effort to fix it because I had no insurance protection for accidental damage.

Mijn oplossing

I ordered the tools from ifixit which arrived within six days! I carefully tried to follow all the step by step directions. I got the phone apart and took out the battery to try to dry out the phone. I didn't see a lot of moisture or water damage. In the re-assembly process I didn't do things quite right and also lost a screw (despite using my own magnetic mat) I closed the phone anyway and low and behold, to my shock and amazement, the phone booted up and everything appeared to be in working order! The touch screen, the touch ID, home button and wifi were all working great. However, the phone seemed to be stuck in searching mode. The phone just could not connect to my Verizon service so no calls or texts coming or going. I searched for more advice. It was suggested to replace the sim card and/or the battery. I went to Verizon and got a new sim card that didn't fix the problem. I ordered a new battery (since I was going in again anyway) I ordered the screw pack. On the second tedious repair I also soaked the logic board in alcohol just to be sure to clean and dry any remaining damage that may not have been visible to me. Unfortunately no success. Now it's been two weeks I've had no phone service or internet connection outside of wifi and my withdraw from the lack of ALL convenient connections I've gotten use to....... is weighing on me. Anything more to do was beyond my abilities and rising in costs to where I may as well buy a new phone. It was suggested setting the phone back to factory default and using my itunes to do it. With tech guidance over the phone it wasn't working and it was suggested my Mac software was too old to do it. She told me to go to Apple so I made an appointment. I kept feeling like I should just not worry about it, cancel the appt and buy a new phone at retail (cheapest I could afford) meaning switching to Android :( Anyway I ignored my gut, drove 25mins to Apple and waited my turn. The girl had me wipe my phone from the settings (why I couldn't do this from home I'm not sure) Then we tried the reset..... well, it didn't work and would not take in any data what-so-ever. My mostly working iPhone 5s was now essentially DEAD. It was never even a remote thought that this could happen. I was warned that the restore may not fix the problem but not that the phone maybe damaged to the point of not even accepting the restore! I could feel my blood beginning to boil and knew I'd better get out of there before I went off on this tech for not warning me of this possibility (she probably didn't even know it was a possibility). I went to Verizon across the street and got a Droid Mini. I'm beginning the transition and it's getting better each day. I may never go back to Apple.....

Mijn advies

I'm so grateful to have found ifixit and absolutely love that they are available with amazing videos and step by step instruction on so many repairs! They are also a great source for ordering parts with reasonable prices and fast delivery!!! I only wish they had more info on the re-assembly than just follow these tear down steps in reverse. We all know that nothing goes back together the way it came apart, lol. Best advice I received and pass on is to make sure you back up your phone before attempting to do any repairs. If your phone is still functioning enough to do a backup, DO IT ASAP. You never know with water damage when it will act up. I believe my phone was damaged somewhere in the connection where the phone sees and reads the sim card. I believe it was damaged beyond my ability to repair or the costs I'd be willing to spend on repair. I'd just like people to know that if this is where they are with their phone and water damage do NOT do a wipe all with your phone. You will be left with nothing. At least my phone was partially usable before doing that. I'm still quite angry for not getting that warning. What bothers me most, I think, is the $70 I spent and the time and effort I spent trying to repair my phone. For someone who's never taking apart a phone I was very careful and took my time to do everything right. To go through all of that and then have some stranger kill what was left of my phone really bothers me. I miss my iPhone 5s may she RIP.