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Thread ID: 51163	2004-11-13 10:19:00	OT: Cell phone broke	george12 (7)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
291329	2004-11-13 10:19:00	Hi there - can anybody help with this problem: My 027 phone is practically dead - this is my last resort. It's a Samsung SCH-N105. Here's my story. I bought it off my friend about a month ago, for $30. It was working OK then. Very occasionally it didn't turn on, but this could be fixed by (a) pressing very hard, or (b) plug charger in for 1 sec. Then it started getting worse. Battery life decreased, and it began to randomly turn off. I took it apart and gave a clean, especially contacts. This fixed it good. Then, something bad happened. I accidentally dropped it without noticing, and it was in the rain overnight. Found it in the morning, and turned on - instantly vibrated - strange. Started up though, but then about 10 seconds after starting up, it locked up. Screen stayed on but the software was frozen. Had to unplug battery. Any subsequent attempts to turn it on got the vibrate then nothing. Dried it out with a hair dryer, and it went again. But it wouldn't charge. I plug it in, the charge light comes on for 20 secs - 5 mins, then "Fault" flashing on charger. At this moment the phone turns off I bought my friend's battery for $5, and it went fine (1/3 remaining). But still wouldn't charge. Tried 2 different chargers for it, to no avail - must be the phone. There was some corrosion on the positive terminal, got that off but still no luck. Verified the battery was getting power - it was (until "fault"). With the multimeter I checked, and the battery was full - 3.85V (3.7V battery). But the cellphone obviously thought that it was so empty it wasn't going to try to start off it. If I plugged in the charger it would start but die soon after . What do I do? Throw it out? Or can it be saved. George	george12 (7)
291330	2004-11-13 10:30:00	your buggered, my old lady droped her phone in a bucket of milk, we opened it up and cleaned it as much as we could then left it in the hot water cupboard, and its still stuffed, the battery is charged and it just doesnt turn on, so we brought a new one....... sorry to say, but throw it out, unless u can get it goin again, its proberly shorting out somewhere.... HTH	Prescott (11)
291331	2004-11-13 10:46:00	It goes if the chargers plugged in. And sometimes off the battery, but it usually needs to start off the charger. George	george12 (7)
291332	2004-11-13 11:27:00	George, If you found it outside and it had been wet, why did you turn it on??? 1st port of call should have been to dismantle the phone carefully, in most cases remove the battery and the keyboard cover, then shake out as much of the water as possible. Then place it in a dry spot, car dashboard on a sunny day. hot water cupboard for a couple of days etc to dry out thoroughly then reassemble and power up I have dropped my phone on a few occasions in water, usually only for a couple of seconds and one time under 1m of water for a good 20 mins (all cases clean water not sea water) and have done the above. The phone that had the good dunking still works and is now some 5 years old In most cases you can save yourself a trip to the mobile repairshop, noting of course that IMPACT and LIQUID damage are not covered by warrenty but rather by your household contents insurance if you have same. Not withstanding that your bog standard phone isn't even worth repairing, just buy a new one.	Exwesty (5639)
291333	2004-11-13 11:47:00	Yeah I know, not the smartest thing for me to have done. But I don't think doing so killed it, as it can still operate with the charger. It always turns on with the charger plugged in. I *think* the problem is that it thinks the battery is completely flat, and won't even attempt to start. Maybe I could override the battery meter somehow... The battery has 4 pins: - ? ________ ? + (The ____ is space) Across - and + there is 3.85V without cahrger connected, and 4.02V with, and across the two others there is 1.62V regardless of charger connection. I think that the two '?' ones (labellel such by me, unlabelled on the phone) are sensing ones so the phone knows how much battery power is remaining. I may look into this to see if I can override it. George	george12 (7)
291334	2004-11-13 19:01:00	Hi Prescott. I am glad someone else has dropped a cellphone in a bucket of milk (on the way to feed lambs), a bit more upmarket than dropping it in the toilet. Followed the same drying proceedure, it did work, but the ring was so muffled, it was only useful for ringing out!!!.	Heather J (815)
291335	2004-11-14 00:59:00	Is it a NiMH battery? If so the extra two connections are just for a temperature sensor, to stop overcharging. If it's a lithium, the charging control is much cleverer, and those terminals come from a chip in the pack. If a lithium "battery" has been turned off by the protection circuitry, it stays off, though in that case you probably wouldn't get volts on the outer terminals.	Graham L (2)
291336	2004-11-14 01:11:00	It's Li-ion. I think the terminals might be temperature. As I said they have a steady, unchanging 1.62V on them. George	george12 (7)
291337	2004-11-14 01:15:00	I am considering ripping open the car charger, and modding it to just 'dumb'ly charge the battery, regardless of how confused the phone/battery are as to their status. If I do this I'll let you know how it goes. George	george12 (7)
291338	2004-11-14 01:41:00	Chuck it out and go Vodafone. It's much better for your soul.	ninja (1671)
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