iPhone 6s not powering on after water rescue

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iPhone 6s

Repair information and guides for the iPhone 6S released by Apple on September 25, 2015. Models: A1688, A1633

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Ryan Wall @arden13

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Posted: Apr 24, 2017

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iPhone 6s not powering on after water rescue

Hey All,

So I goofed a few weeks ago and laundered my iPhone 6s. I took it apart, rinsed everything with 18M-ohm water and dried everything with acetone (I work in a chemistry lab, it has it's perks). Right afterwards I was able to reconnect everything and it turned on! The screen had some water under it, so I placed it in a dessicator over the weekend to pull it out.

Now it won't turn on. It doesn't seem like any of the display or internal contacts have been damaged or corroded. I can't really see if the charging contacts have been affected, but since it worked previously I'd have a hard time believing they've corroded since then. Does anyone else have any ideas? I've tried multiple chargers, cables, and disconnecting/reconnecting the cables.

Hoping to revive my phone with some help!

Answered! View the answer I have this problem too

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You cleaned it in acetone!?!

Apr 24, 2017 by Gigabit87898

A small spray bottle of it, yea. I rinsed again with water afterwards. Any rubber bit got a little funky, but no real damage it seems. It did turn on afterwards

Apr 25, 2017 by Ryan Wall

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iMedic @theimedic

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Oh, man. He's not kidding I really can't believe you used acetone. I mean, I guess you didn't know any better. Oh, well. Sorry, we're not trying to shame you. Ok, so it got in some liquid. Then, I don't know what type of water that is, off the bat, sounds like distilled. It is. Distilled water is a good thing. I use bransonic electronics cleaner, distilled water and an ultrasonic bath. Then I push those things out of the logic board with 99%, you could get away with 90% isopropyl alcohol. Then I have been letting it dry but I recently started using an infrared RC oven to dry the board at 190 F. If you've got access to a lab, you could likely replicate this process. Hard to say, if there's no signs of damage. I bet you got a real nice microscope over there. I would look at that board under it. Check it out. If you replicate my process, make sure it's good and dry, before adding electricity, then if it doesn't take, come back, and we'll go from there. Also I didn't know about dessicator stuff. Gonna google that. Sounds sexy

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I would also add that the problem is not what you see, it's what you don't see. The OP has not mentioned anything about the shields, which cover the majority of the pcb. So chances are, the water damage is occurring under the shields, under the IC's and no amount of acetone, IPA or anything is going to change that.

As @theimedic says, a water damaged pcb must be properly cleaned (without shields) in an ultrasonic bath and then properly probed for shorts before applying power. Once you connect the battery, all bets are off.

At this point, the only hope for the OP is to have a professional repair shop that does water damage and micro-soldering try to fix it or recover the data.

Apr 25, 2017 by Minho

The acetone really didn't seem to do much. The phone did turn on afterwards, even though the foam rubber/rubber bits got a little mushy.

As for the water, it's very very pure deionized. I removed as many of the visibly unscrew-able covers as possible and wiped them down with a KimWipe and water. Some bits had something that looked more like salt/soapscum than corrosion.

For the drying, I could use one of our lab ovens, but they don't have very good temp control below 100C, so I'm hesitant to do that. The one that does have decent control is a vacuum oven, but I don't know how that would affect the screen components.

Do you think an ultrasonicator in pure water is a good test? I find it odd that it turned on before dessication but now it doesn't.

Apr 25, 2017 by Ryan Wall

Rewind. You removed and cleaned just the board in acetone? If yes, acetone is a good agent to displace liquids from under the chips. But you should end the cleaning with acetone or 99% isopropyl alcohol, then dry. Putting water back on the board is not good in my opinion. It is soon to be contaminated by minerals and start conducting again unless you can ascertain 100% drying immediatey after - which is unrealistic as water penetrates deep under the chips.

Second, cleaning with shields still on is like brushing your teeth from outside and hoping the inner side is cleaned somehow.

Finally, many things may have gone wrong. May be complex and may be as simple as battery gone bad. If you can use a mtitmeter you can start troubleshooting.

Apr 25, 2017 by Rany

Oh, @rany good to know. Yeah, @refectio is right. Removing the shields. You're of course right. Just figured in this case, this guy has a bunch of equipment, so instead of bringing it to a shop. Then again, I'm paying a company to put the vinyl stickers on my Windows. Cause it will look better than if I do it

Apr 25, 2017 by iMedic

I use acetone to topically clean flux off after soldering. But it has to be a lab grade %. Try it, you'll be amazed at how much better it cleans.

Because acetone is expensive and more toxic than IPA, I use IPA do displace water after USC.

Another con for acetone is that it may affect some plastics and screens if it touches them - more than IPA. Use knowingly near other electronics that are lying around.

Apr 25, 2017 by Rany

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A small spray bottle of it, yea. I rinsed again with water afterwards. Any rubber bit got a little funky, but no real damage it seems. It did turn on afterwards — Ryan Wall
I would also add that the problem is not what you see, it's what you don't see. The OP has not mentioned anything about the shields, which cover the majority of the pcb. So chances are, the water damage is occurring under the shields, under the IC's and no amount of acetone, IPA or anything is going to change that.

As @theimedic says, a water damaged pcb must be properly cleaned (without shields) in an ultrasonic bath and then properly probed for shorts before applying power. Once you connect the battery, all bets are off.

At this point, the only hope for the OP is to have a professional repair shop that does water damage and micro-soldering try to fix it or recover the data. — Minho
The acetone really didn't seem to do much. The phone did turn on afterwards, even though the foam rubber/rubber bits got a little mushy.

As for the water, it's very very pure deionized. I removed as many of the visibly unscrew-able covers as possible and wiped them down with a KimWipe and water. Some bits had something that looked more like salt/soapscum than corrosion.

For the drying, I could use one of our lab ovens, but they don't have very good temp control below 100C, so I'm hesitant to do that. The one that does have decent control is a vacuum oven, but I don't know how that would affect the screen components.

Do you think an ultrasonicator in pure water is a good test? I find it odd that it turned on before dessication but now it doesn't. — Ryan Wall
Rewind. You removed and cleaned just the board in acetone? If yes, acetone is a good agent to displace liquids from under the chips. But you should end the cleaning with acetone or 99% isopropyl alcohol, then dry. Putting water back on the board is not good in my opinion. It is soon to be contaminated by minerals and start conducting again unless you can ascertain 100% drying immediatey after - which is unrealistic as water penetrates deep under the chips.

Second, cleaning with shields still on is like brushing your teeth from outside and hoping the inner side is cleaned somehow.

Finally, many things may have gone wrong. May be complex and may be as simple as battery gone bad. If you can use a mtitmeter you can start troubleshooting. — Rany
Oh, @rany good to know. Yeah, @refectio is right. Removing the shields. You're of course right. Just figured in this case, this guy has a bunch of equipment, so instead of bringing it to a shop. Then again, I'm paying a company to put the vinyl stickers on my Windows. Cause it will look better than if I do it — iMedic
I use acetone to topically clean flux off after soldering. But it has to be a lab grade %. Try it, you'll be amazed at how much better it cleans.

Because acetone is expensive and more toxic than IPA, I use IPA do displace water after USC.

Another con for acetone is that it may affect some plastics and screens if it touches them - more than IPA. Use knowingly near other electronics that are lying around. — Rany

iPhone 6s

iPhone 6s not powering on after water rescue

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