Thursday, July 22, 2010

iPhone resurrected!.....kind of.

Posted by Russell Perkins | Thursday, July 22, 2010 | Category: |




Hello Everyone!

This particular blog post technically isn't what I normally talk about regarding my creative work, but it IS creative nonetheless AND it could help some of you guys in the future if you run into this same problem, so read on:

Last weekend, I went with my girlfriend out for a dip in the pool. She had found these cool circular floating chair mesh thingies for us to use, so we brought a bunch of swim stuff out with us, picked a spot to temporarily claim our own, and jumped in the pool to combat the summer heat. After about 20 minutes of soaking, we decided to switch it up and get in the hot tub. On the way out of the pool and into the hot tub, dread swept over my body as I had realized that I LEFT MY iPHONE IN MY SHORTS POCKET! Needless to say, the phone was not responsive, so we left the pool early and I began looking for help online. I came across some helpful youtube links that talked about placing the phone in uncooked rice inside of a tupperware container for 3 days, which would dry all the water out of the phone. Looking at my screen, there was enough water to make it look like a lava lamp, so naturally I wasn't thinking that this would help. Buuuuuut I was open to it seeing as how not so much was my iPhone in a state of uhhh being alive. I took my sim card out and placed it into a tupperware container that was partially filled with uncooked rice. Then, I unscrewed the 2 screws at the bottom and carefully popped open the casing of my iPhone. Seeing as how I didn't buy insurance for the phone (for those that DO have the insurance, the lovely folks at Apple/AT&T DO NOT cover water damage under their insurance clause) and the period for my warranty had expired, I didn't have any qualms about opening my iPhone to help the water air out. I made sure not to pour the rice into the guts of the phone and then sealed it. I left it for 3 days and then took it back out. To my surprise, the water had indeed evaporated, including the water behind the screen! It did leave a small chlorinated stain on the screen, but that was all that was visibly left behind. After placing the SIM card back into my iPhone and closing / screwing it back together, it would not turn on.....NOOoOoOoOoOoo! It turns out the battery had died during the 3 days it was drying out. Once it was charged for a few hours, it turned on, but it would only show the Apple logo before shutting down after a few seconds, so I went back online to see what else I needed to do. As it turns out, the water had shorted out iPhone's OS and thus, the software and firmware had to be restored. I found this GREAT article that thoroughly explains the various steps for how to get this done:






Miraculously, my iPhone once again WORKS....for the most part. I still have all of my contacts, 95% of all of my apps, all of my text messages from the last time I backed them up on iTunes, and the functionality is all there. The one glaring issue that remains is, I cannot talk to people using it as a regular phone. The iPhone is perpetually in a state when headphones are connected to it, thus making it impossible to use the normal mic to hear/talk to people when they call. I can switch it to "speaker" mode, which allows me to talk to folks and I can plug in my apple ear buds, which allows me to talk to people using the built in mic on the headphones. So, I'm trying to figure out this last remaining bug. Despite that one remaining issue, I am very impressed with how well it has recovered given the fact that it was under water for approx. 20 minutes and it isn't water proof! I've ordered the iPhone 4, which I was planning on purchasing anyway and so this phone should allow me to get by until it gets delivered, but wow what an experience!

Have a good one!

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