How to fix a wet (water damaged) Galaxy J3 with flickering screen issue
Dealing with a wet smartphone usually does not end well, especially for units without water damage protection. In this post, we show you the steps that you can do when a Galaxy J3 is wet and suffers a screen problem afterwards.
Problem: Galaxy J3 screen keeps flickering after it got wet
My phone got wet and I did the rice trick. After a few days it turned back on, but shortly thereafter it started jumping, flickering, has lines, ghost screens that super-impose over each other. Is this damaged permanently? Side note: Already did the factory reset. Seems worse now.
Solution: Unlike its high-end cousins such as the S7 models and up, your Galaxy J3 can easily succumb to water. Once moisture or liquid has penetrated the external case, it can potentially cause permanent damage right away. As you may have known already, electronics and water don’t mix. If water happens to touch a powered motherboard, there’s high likelihood that it can short components by allowing energy to flow in places or parts not designed to take on power. This is an instant death sentence for a phone. This is the main reason why it’s critical to disconnect the battery right away once a phone has become wet. This critical action might rescue the device from sure doom.
Knowing how to react once your phone is exposed to water can make or break it. Below are the things that you must do when in this situation.
Step 1: Wipe the phone
While this will not save a device that’s soaking wet, it may work in cases wherein the phone has only suffered external exposure. If you accidentally pour water onto the device, wiping it dry using a clean, soft cloth may be enough, provided no water managed penetrate the case.
Step 2: Disconnect the battery
Because you have a Galaxy J3, you can readily do this. Make sure to turn the phone off right after wiping it dry, then remove the battery right away. Remember, the longer the battery stays connected with the motherboard, the higher the chance of damage to occur. If you’re lucky and water did not come in contact with components inside, you can still save the phone intact.
Step 3: Disassemble the phone
By this we mean prying the board and accessories inside in order to prepare the phone for drying. You need to have special repair kits for this so this is the point that end users usually stop. If you think you can remember how to reassemble things again later on, then go ahead and separate everything. Disconnect everything that can be disconnected so the parts can be separated during drying.
By the way, this procedure will void the warranty on the phone so if you don’t want to do that, this is the part where you want to send the phone in. If you don’t want to pay Samsung for repari later on, then go ahead.
Step 4: Dry the components
Using another set of clean, soft cloth, make sure to tap dry everything. Remove as much water or liquid from the disconnected components.
Step 5: Dry everything
Place all the components inside a container and pour rice inside. Make sure that rice covers all of them. Rice will absorb the remaining liquid or water in a few days. If you don’t have rice available, you can use bags of silica gel desiccant like the ones found in shoe boxes. Silica gel will absorb moisture around its vicinity, just like rice. Make sure to leave the components in a container for a few days. The purpose of using rice or silica gel is to remove lingering moisture from the components and NOT to fix anything.
Step 6: Wait and check
After a few days of leaving the wet phone inside the container, reassemble it and see if it works. If the phone has trouble turning back on, charge it for at least 30 minutes before starting it back up. If it still doesn’t work, or if the screen keeps flickering just like in the description above, you can bet there’s bad hardware behind it.
Get professional support
If you want to know if there’s a chance that your Galaxy J3 can be rescued, have it checked by a professional. Remember, drying your phone with rice or silica gel was not meant to fix any hardware malfunction right after the phone got wet. If it still is problematic after drying, repair may be needed to fix it. If the damage is isolated to the screen assembly only, you may be able to still use the phone after a screen replacement.