Galaxy S4 got wet... now display is blank

[tom66]

Unfortunately, my S4 had an accident in the shower this morning. It got wet; not submerged, but it did get very wet. It worked immediately afterwards and I dried it and thought everything was fine. However whilst on the train to work, the display flickered and then went blank. I turned it off after that and left it to dry, but it still does not work. Since then, I can hear the phone work, but there's no image at all on the OLED display.

I took the phone apart and cleaned it all, there was hardly any water on the motherboard, but some has got in between the OLED and the front glass, leaving some marks of water damage. I also reseated the display connector. Despite this, the phone still does not work properly. I also think the touchscreen may be giving issues as I cannot seem to unlock the phone blindly...

Does anyone know if this is easily repairable or if it will require a new display?

Thanks

[mockingbird]

Re: Galaxy S4 got wet... now display is blank

Did you try compressed air underneath all the BGAs and in tight areas? Compressed air works wonders for getting rid of moisture. Whenever I clean PCBs with soap and water I use it and there's a lot of watter trapped under the chips. The canned stuff is a waste of money. A big shop vac (with the tube attached to the exhaust) with a gasoline funnel held tight at the end works just as well (Just make sure you hold on tight to the PCB).

I've also seen specialty pouches being sold that are made to wick away moisture (Rice in a bag method does absolutely nothing though).

[tom66]

Re: Galaxy S4 got wet... now display is blank

All the BGAs have epoxy around them so I don't think there's any water trapped there. Tahe motherboard is free of water now I've cleaned it. Thanks for the suggestions though.

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: Galaxy S4 got wet... now display is blank

If water got under the glass, the AMOLED screen is toast, sorry. They are very sensitive, way more so than LCD. Oh, and that epoxy under the BGAs only makes them an absolute pain to rework. It does nothing about keeping moisture out - în fact, it makes it harder to dry when it gets in. But i am quite sure that it is the screen în your case.

[goontron]

Re: Galaxy S4 got wet... now display is blank

if water got under the glass, the amoled screen is toast, sorry. They are very sensitive, way more so than lcd. Oh, and that epoxy under the bgas only makes them an absolute pain to rework. It does nothing about keeping moisture out - în fact, it makes it harder to dry when it gets in. But i am quite sure that it is the screen în your case.

+1

[ktmmotocross]

Re: Galaxy S4 got wet... now display is blank

if u work with wet phone now its toasted. mostly lcd connectors and flexes is now corroded and damaged.

[tom66]

Re: Galaxy S4 got wet... now display is blank

No corrision visible inside. However, after drying out for a night, still dead. I have chalked it up as loss and bought a new one. I will sell my old one on as faulty. I really liked the S4 so I bought an S4, again. Unfortunately, had to break the piggy-bank to get another one... but this time I'll insure it...

The display assy is £78, a phone is £160 and I can sell my faulty one for about £60 to a local shop, so it's not as bad as I thought.

[tom66]

Re: Galaxy S4 got wet... now display is blank

Well, I left the phone next to a radiator, and powered it up when I got home from work. To my shock, the display worked! And it looks as good as it was new...... the problem is, the digitiser doesn't. I'm going to let it dry for a little longer. I think I should get the digitiser replaced by an expert, as it looks pretty difficult to do.

[goontron]

Re: Galaxy S4 got wet... now display is blank

Well, I left the phone next to a radiator, and powered it up when I got home from work. To my shock, the display worked! And it looks as good as it was new...... the problem is, the digitiser doesn't. I'm going to let it dry for a little longer. I think I should get the digitiser replaced by an expert, as it looks pretty difficult to do.

difficult? no. time consuming? yes.

[tom66]

Re: Galaxy S4 got wet... now display is blank

Here's a picture of the moisture.
http://i.imgur.com/DEQbzKh.jpg

I wonder if the moisture is causing additional touches to be detected, preventing the screen from working.

There's a vacuum temperature chamber at work; I'm tempted to stick it in there at 40 degrees C to see if I can suck the moisture out (we use it on BGAs that have been stored outside of packaging for >48hr)

[goontron]

Re: Galaxy S4 got wet... now display is blank

Here's a picture of the moisture.
http://i.imgur.com/DEQbzKh.jpg

I wonder if the moisture is causing additional touches to be detected, preventing the screen from working.

There's a vacuum temperature chamber at work; I'm tempted to stick it in there at 40 degrees C to see if I can suck the moisture out (we use it on BGAs that have been stored outside of packaging for >48hr)

ive put a phone in a vacuum chamber before, try it.

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: Galaxy S4 got wet... now display is blank

The digitizer can't be replaced on AMOLED screens afaik. Only the glass can (still a huge PITA), or the whole assembly.

That's not moisture. The glue holding the glass to the digitizer has been damaged. Nothing to lose by reseating all connectors and drying out the phone better, though.

[diif]

Re: Galaxy S4 got wet... now display is blank

Could possibly try removing the glass and regluing to the digitizer with LOCA. As Unique says a PITA, it's very easy to crack the AMOLED. Maybe a job for a local phone shop at about £30.

[freakaftr8]

Re: Galaxy S4 got wet... now display is blank

I just had this happen to me a few weeks ago to my S4.... everything works except for the screen just like toms phone. I've tried leaving the phone on top of the oven after drying it out completely and completely disassembling it but still to no avail my model is the SGH-I337. I know its not the motherboard cuz I tried swapping it out with another phone it is definitely the OLED display but oddly I don't see any damage to the screen or the flex cable. I have a smashed screen here and I tried testing components on the back of the flex cable that's attached to the screen in between both screens the components seem to Ohm out the same

[tom66]

Re: Galaxy S4 got wet... now display is blank

@freak, does your screen light up like mine does now? (only the touchscreen is dead on mine, as far as I can tell.)

[freakaftr8]

Re: Galaxy S4 got wet... now display is blank

no unfortunately the screen is completely dead like not lighting up at all however the digitizer works flawlessly I can tell flipping it open I know where my apps were so I can define by moving the screen to a certain app and start music all that works just the screen is dead I did probe the motherboard and I'm getting the what seems to be 1.2 volts to the screen itself so its sending voltage off both the AT&T and t-mobile main boards that I have. Just the screen is dead. I wonder how water affects amoled. the only thing I can think is something may have happened where the ribbon enters into the panel itself kind of like bad bonds on a LCD screen

however I must say that working on a few of these Samsung Galaxy series phones now I replace screens for friends digitizers and other various components. If the digitizer has any kind of debris or a lack of sticky tape on the back side in a certain spot the backside of the digitizer will touch the frame of the phone and this will cause a spot to constantly be basically touched even though you're not doing it by yourself cause the digitizer to be rendered useless. Since you say you left the phone next to a heater and it wrinkled the film between the screen and the digitizer I would say that most likely would be the cause of your problem with the digitizer. There's really no easy way to separate the digitizer from the LED panel unfortunately the AMOLED is like shale it will crack so easily so if you can't use a hot air gun and very carefully separate that digitizer from the screen I would say at least try to lift up the screen and digitizer assembly from the frame of the phone in clean the rail around the edges of the digitizer where it connects to the phone with a very good Isopropyl alcohol solution. Sometimes this helps. Also if the digitizet is warped on the frame you could just try heating up the screen and frame and see if you did it 2 digitizer start responding.