[jgbb01]

Greetings,

I have a 1 1/2 year old T-Mobile 8700g. A few weeks ago the phone would occasionally power cycle itself (the four minute power cycle), particularly when I would take it out of the holster (but not always) to answer a call. This has been a great phone and I didn't want to have to replace it, but was ready to if this pattern continued. This occurred about two or three times every day.

A couple of weeks ago I went to a T-Moible store with the intent of buying a Curve, but thought I'd mention my 8700g's peculiar behavior to the sales clerk. He opened the battery cover and noticed that the water indicator was half white and half red. He asked if I had ever put the phone into a cup holder in my car after having had a drink in the same holder. I said that I had done that many times. He said that the phone's power connections are at the bottom of the phone and are susceptible to water damage. My phone was out of warranty so he suggested that I take it to a repair shop if I wanted to keep using that phone.

I'm a DIY kind of guy, so I took my phone back home and proceeded to take it apart to see if I could see any visible problems with the power circuitry. Indeed I did. There was an accumulation of a green, crusty deposit on the phone's main board where the power wires from the battery connection make contact. I cleaned the contacts with a Q-Tip and rubbing alcohol. I also cleaned up some dirt and dust which I found inside the casing and inside the track wheel. Then I reassembled everything and it's been working like new since then with no problems at all! I'm very glad to have the $200 I would have spent on the Curve to use at Christmas time for other things like family gifts. Happy New Year!

[John Clark]

How wet does a cup holder have to be to get this kind of corrosion inside it?

[ezrunner]

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8800/4.2.1 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

Wet enough to submerse part of the phone JC!

[visortgw]

My guess is that any liquid in the cupholder might "wick" itself into the internals of the device.

[lifebird]

So ... my little H2O indicator shows RED although I've never wet the device as far as I could tell. Your account makes me think the cup holder thing could have done it ... (holy moly what a lame design!)
So I am gonna try your DIY idea ... BUT can't figure out how to remove the 3 tiny tiny hex-ish screws holding the guts together. What was the right tool to get those out without stripping them?
Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated as the WHITE SCREEN OF DEATH is killing me.
-

Originally Posted by jgbb01

Greetings,

I have a 1 1/2 year old T-Mobile 8700g. A few weeks ago the phone would occasionally power cycle itself (the four minute power cycle), particularly when I would take it out of the holster (but not always) to answer a call. This has been a great phone and I didn't want to have to replace it, but was ready to if this pattern continued. This occurred about two or three times every day.

A couple of weeks ago I went to a T-Moible store with the intent of buying a Curve, but thought I'd mention my 8700g's peculiar behavior to the sales clerk. He opened the battery cover and noticed that the water indicator was half white and half red. He asked if I had ever put the phone into a cup holder in my car after having had a drink in the same holder. I said that I had done that many times. He said that the phone's power connections are at the bottom of the phone and are susceptible to water damage. My phone was out of warranty so he suggested that I take it to a repair shop if I wanted to keep using that phone.

I'm a DIY kind of guy, so I took my phone back home and proceeded to take it apart to see if I could see any visible problems with the power circuitry. Indeed I did. There was an accumulation of a green, crusty deposit on the phone's main board where the power wires from the battery connection make contact. I cleaned the contacts with a Q-Tip and rubbing alcohol. I also cleaned up some dirt and dust which I found inside the casing and inside the track wheel. Then I reassembled everything and it's been working like new since then with no problems at all! I'm very glad to have the $200 I would have spent on the Curve to use at Christmas time for other things like family gifts. Happy New Year!

[dschonew]

Torx T6 driver. You can either use a bit with a driver, or you can pick up a T6 driver by itself.
I believe there are disassembly instructions in a stickied article on the primary page of the General 8700 Series Discussion.