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Repair information and guides for the Apple iPhone 5s that was announced on September 10, 2013. Model: A1533, A1453, A1457, A1528, A1530, A1518

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iPhone sim card no service after slight water damage

Yesterday, my iPhone was slightly submerged on a big puddle on the kitchen counter that I didn't notice. Some water seems to have gone through the speaker ports and SIM card tray. I turned it off for a few minutes before turning it back on again. Everything worked normally except my SIM card and speakers. the speakers were slightly muffled and after I played music for a minute did the speakers return to normal. However, there was a notice that said SIM card failure. I tried pulling out the SIM card and shake around the phone to remove liquid. Then I put the SIM card back in again. It seemed to have recognized the card and things went to normal. A few minutes later, it said no SIM card installed so pulled it out, drained tiny drops of water and put it back in. Everything went smooth for the rest of the night. Today, the SIM card started acting erratically. It would show SIM card not installed or no service. Every time I pull out the SIM card and put it in again, things work. But after a few minutes it goes back to no service. I opened up the device and saw no sign of water or corrosion or any type of damage in the SIM card tray or the phone. Can someone help me here?

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Hi Justin,

The inevitable will happen, and that is corrosion setting in, I would highly recommend taking it to a repair shop that uses ultrasonic cleaning to displace the liquid and any corrosion on the board that may have started to set.

If that's not an option and you think you can open it yourself, then you can try using a toothbrush with 99.9% isopropyl alcohol.

You can then clean up the board yourself, of course being careful, although this isn't as effective as an ultrasonic cleaner, it will help a lot.

Just don't leave it or it will get worse. :-)

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Okay, so I did a factory restore and the issue seems to have gone away. Although during setup it reported no sim, I reinserted the sim card twice and now everything is fine and dandy. But I'm still worried there's going to be problems so I'll report if there are.

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Justin Fan will be eternally grateful.
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