[Rizzodun]

I've noticed this isn't a new problem but I can't find anything to help me.

My 80gb 4th Gen ipod managed to make a trip from my rucksack to the bottom of the toilet thanks to my 2 year old son, I'm not sure just how long it was under water but when it was discovered I took it out, took apart the casing and let everything dry out. The board doesn't look badly damaged, no visible signs of damage to any of the contacts or cables inside. Thing is it wont boot up but isn't exactly dead.

The screen won't come on or the button's don't do anything, however, when i connect it to my pc the pc will not find it, but it causes the hard drive to come alive, and the ipod emits a two-tone beep before letting the HD run, thats as much life as i can get out of it.

Does anyone know what i can do to fix this? I'm not the richest guy in the world so a new ipod is totally out of the question at the mo, and this was the one thing I brought with me more than my wallet or house keys!!

[JohnWill]

Well, first off, you probably should REALLY dry it before you try to power it up again if it's not already too late.

I use canned air to blow any remaining moisture from beneath components first, then I put it into a warm (NOT HOT) oven for a few hours. 125F is about as hot as you want it to get, which will not harm electronics when they're powered off. This will bake any remaining moisture out.

This may or may not revive it, depends on what damage was done powering it on while wet.

[Rizzodun]

I took casing off and left it in the hotpress for two days, I'm sure there is no moisture left in it so it must be something else??

[JohnWill]

Probably something that happened when it was powered up before being totally dried out. Drying it out will give you a much greater chance of success, but after taking a swim, there's no guarantee that it will recover. As you say, you don't know how long it soaked in the water...

[Rizzodun]

Well, for all I know it could have been on when it got dunked, but the fact that the hard drive runs doesn't mean I could get it to work? Nothing that can be tried?

[JohnWill]

Probably a lot of things, but this is clearly a "hands on" project, not one to solve in a forum.

[Rizzodun]

Yeah you're too right, I'll have to see about a proper expert to look at it, oh well...

[JohnWill]

Sorry we can't really help with this one.

[Rizzodun]

Ya win some, ya lose some!