FAQ: Help! My Palm just took a bath!

[biglig]

It's surprising how easy it is to drop your Palm into water ... while this is never good, and there are no guarantees, Palms have survived immersion in the past.

This FAQ advise on best practice to get our Palm dried out without damaging it.

The most important thing: do not turn your palm on until it has been completely dried out using the methods below.

If your Palm has removable batteries, remove them straight away (this will of course lead to data loss but we're concerned here with saving your PDA).

If it has an SD card, remove it straight away.

Dry carefully with towels until all the obvious water is gone.

At this point the palm is still wet inside - don't turn it on yet!

Some people recommend as a next step washing the Palm in distilled water. This is because ordinary tap water has minerals dissolved in it that may be deposited on the circuitry of the palm as it dries out and cause a short. If the water you dropped the palm in was dirty this may be even more of a factor.

While this is probably safe for a Palm that has had the batteries removed (wait fifteen minutes after removing the batteries to allow the capacitors to drain) I would feel less sure about doing this to a rechargeable palm. With those, if you suspect mineral deposits, I suggest opening the Palm and cleaning it carefully by hand after disconnecting the rechargeable battery. Opening the case of course voids your warranty, and is not always an easy procedure.

Now you need to dry your Palm. The simplest way is just to air dry it. Somewhere warm with a good flow of air (near a fan is good) is ideal. This will take several days. Patience!

Some people help the drying by very gentle use of a hair-dryer. Keep it on the coolest setting and do not hold it on the palm for any period of time.

Do not be tempted to use anything stronger than a hair dryer.

Do not put it in the oven!

The best way to encourage the drying is to visit your local photographic supply store and ask for silica desiccant. These are small pouches of yellow or white crystals that absorb moisture from the air - photographers use them to keep lenses dry. Seal some in a zip-lock bag with the palm and they will suck all the water out.

Don't panic if you see water under the screen. The hairdryer or silica desiccant methods will get this out given enough time.

Once the palm has had several days of drying time, insert fresh batteries for a AAA-powered Palm, or put it on the cradle for 2 hours for a rechargeable Palm. Then cross your fingers and do a soft reset!

[quanxi]

I have a Palm M505 and it accidentally got spilled by water when my kid tripped the glass half full of water. I turned on the unit and the screen showed checkers and stripes then finally won't show anything anymore after a couple of tries of turning the unit "ON." Now, the light on the power switch turns "ON" all the time when it's not in the cradle but turns "OFF" when it's in the cradle. This is quite odd since it used to do the opposite before the "water-spill" incident. What do I do? HELP!!!

[Jennifer S]

Let it dry as described above and hope nothing shorted out when you turned it on. Good luck!

[Polychrome]

LOL It'd be funny if they put something on the palm website that said "Do not put in oven!" I'm assuming you mentioned this because somebody actually tried it?

To be honest, most hairdryers have a setting that does not heat the air at all. (I've actually used hairdryers to cool off my PC while it was running if there was a broken fan on the power box.) I guess you could also try putting it on top of a plastic milk crate over a household heat vent.

[strider72]

I havbe seen several "don't try this at home kids" repairs for Palms (especially for problems with the graphitti area) that involve putting hte unit in the oven at low temperature.

So yes, people have not only tried it, but been successful in repairing their Palms this way.

That being said, I wouldn't try it if I were you....

[KBlack2595]

ok now if none of this work then what should i we do?

[Jennifer S]

Get it repaired or replaced. Is it still in warranty?

[KBlack2595]

ni it isent in warenty and i realy dont want to send 124 just to get it repaided

[Jennifer S]

Check with Palm Medic or PDA Specialists. Their rates are considerably less expensive than Palm's, and they both have excellent reputations.

[Eeve]

Uh...

electronics + water or violence = bad news.

I think you are SOL. Beating a dead horse so to speak. Time to save up for a new one.