A friend’s Blackberry Curve took a shower with him, then a swim into the pool. OEM repair costs the ridiculous sum of $1,200,000 COP (the brand new unit costs $1,300,00). After some research, I fixed it for a a much more appropriate (decent) price. Here is the how to
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
.
Tools
.
- Torx Screwdrivers - Mostly Torx T6, but you must buy the whole set: 1. not all the screws are T6 2. They are cheap as dirt
- Flat plastic or wooden spatula (to use it as a lever)
- Needle pliers
- Flat screwdriver
Check below for more required ingredients
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
.
Step by Step
.
1. Remove battery, SIM Card and Memory
2. Remove the two Torx screws as shown
3. Using the plastic or wooden piece, make a lever and lift the front plate. Be careful and patient, to avoid scratching / breaking anything
4. Do the same with this cap
5. Remove this two Torx screws
6. Remove the front cover, using the spatula first on the upper side
7. Look the two tabs highlighted in red. That’s why you should start on the upper side: to avoid breaking them
8. Remove the two Torx screws that fasten the screen
9. Remove the keyboard buttons
10. Remove this two Torx screws as shown
11. Now we want to remove the trackball. Do it as follows:
12. On the back of the trackball, remove the Torx screw on the metal cover
13. On the other side, clamp the metal cover (as shown) and displace it a little bit to the left.
That will release it from the black plastic tab that locks it
14. The metal cover will be free
15. With extreme caution, lift and disconnect the trackball ribbon cable
16. With extreme care, disconnect the screen ribbon
17. Now release the whole board from the chassis. Its kept in place by series of plastic tabs. Do not break them.
18. Pull the screen out, is already free
19. Make a small pool of Isopropyl Alcohol and submerge the board and the chassis.
I’m against submerging the screen, it will not remove the moisture from the plastic polarizers. Just leave it dry on a warm dry place (never use hot air or the sun). (Lesson learnt from a half-submerged laptop computer)
ISOPROPYL IS NOT THE SAME AS METHANOL OR ETHANOL. DO NOT USE ANY OTHER TYPE OF ALCOHOL. NEVER, UNDER NO CIRCUNSTANCE!!!!!!
20. Take the pieces out and leave them dry for 12 hours
21. La Rotta’s personal tip: Use a hairdryer over the speaker, to deeply remove moisture and avoid muffled sound
22. A quick test: Everything is fine
Mission Accomplished
1011 EDIT: See the comments section to get more information
How long after the blackberry was submerged in water did you do this procedure? My black berry fell in the toilet 5 days ago and everything works but the backlight is extremely extremely dim. I wanted to try this procedure but I didn’t know if too many days has passed for it to work.
thanks
Hello!
I’ve returned home two days after the immersion. I recommend you to apply the procedure, because minerals and impurities (contained on tap water) are now into your blackberry printed circuit board making short circuits. That may explain the light abnormality. Remember to use the hair dryer as described, to get better results.
Hi Felipe,
Saturday,I was thrown in the local river…with my blackberry in the pocket!!
The morning after …I could only remove the back cover…(now I read your instructions I understand why so thks a bunch) So I used a hairdryer and now almost everything works back to normal except the trackball!! Should I go through all your process entirely??
anyways thks for your help
best of all
Hello Xavier!
Well, some people says “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” and that’s true if you don’t feel confident about dismantling your Blackberry. But as I said to Justine, some water may be lying on the board, trapped inside two plastic parts, or soaking the small foam blocks. Is better to get rid of it.
Isopropyl Alcohol is my preferred method, but if hot hair alone worked for you that’s great: In that case, try removing the keypad and taking away the trackball (steps 1 to 11). You can skip the display and circuit board removal if you want, but cleaning the board too would be even better.
Good Luck!!!
Hi Felipe,
A million thks for your prompt reply!! The trackball malfunction is a real bother so I will try to get my phone replaced asap, but I’ll keep your method in store in case it doesn’t work^^
Best of all
Hi Felipe,
This is a great thread. A little off topic. I am thinking of removing the camera as my workplace do not allow camera equipped mobile phone to be brought in. Do u have any idea is the camera fitted to the circuit board by clips or soldered on? If it is clipped on I guess it’s just a simple task to lift it off with a fine blade screwdriver.
Thanks
Hello Raymond
I don’t remember how the camera was connected, so I did some search on Google: I can not find anything about 8520 camera replacements or spare parts, so I guess it’s soldered (maybe using a reflow oven). In that case, removing it without destroying the unit would require some equipment and training.
However, the guys from a site mentioned an easier solution: Making a cover for the lens hole. They don’t say how to do it, but I’ve imagined a method:
1) Take the cover off and put it on a flat surface (the inner side upwards)
2) Put some epoxy putty over the lens hole and let it dry
3) Sand to make it as flat as possible
The outer side should be already flat because of the surface where the cover is resting on
I hope they approve that method!
Hi Felipe,
Many thanks for your prompt reply. I have been looking all over and also couldn’t find any information on the 8520 camera too. But your suggestion seem like a good one. I’ve actually ordered a spare backplate cover to play around with. It’s on the way. I’ll try your suggestion.
Once again many thanks
You’re welcome!!!! Good luck
HI Felipe,
I read you repair instructions they sound great, but was wondering if it would work the same as wine was spilt on phone, It turns on fine and charge battery no problems just the track pad and maybe key pad wont work. I’m willing to try anything before having to throw it out.
Thanks
Hello Heather!
I think It will work, just stir the Isopropyl alcohol and rub(very, very gently!)the circuit board to make sure all wine is removed.
As I said on the guide, remember: do not submerge the LCD display into the alcohol
How long do you keep it submerged in ISOPROPYL?
thanks
Hello, thanks for the tutorial. Just have one question, after reassembling the phone few days passed then I noticed the display cover is starting to peel off from the corners of the left side, although it is just a little, I’m afraid it will eventually get worst as time pass. What do you recommend in this case? some kind of glue?
Thanks once again and have a great day.
Hello Heather,
Thanks for the tutorial.My phone is fully damaged.my phones key pad is not working,it works if i press on its side,but after sometime it will get switched off.Can u please tell me a way to repair this?
Hi. Thanks for the very informative site! Our blackberry was accidentally put in the wash machine. Got it out after it had gotten a bit wet. It had a silicone BlackBerry cover on it. Battery and sim were not wet. Moisture had gotten into the screen from the front of the phone. Only the little light was on. Removed battery and followed your instructions. Used silica gel instead of rice.
Now have phone back together. Tested and it finds the network, connects and then says can only make emergency calls. I tried re-installing the OS. Same problem. Only connects GSM and not GPRS. Any suggestions? I notice on the back of the mainboard there is a small battery on the right lower side. Is this important to the connection to the network? It was corroded when I opened the phone. Thanks.
Hi Felipe,
My phone does not have the cap shown on step 4 in your tutorial, is there a workaround or it will come off once I remove the scews at the back?
Mine got into handbasin but was not submerged in water just came in contact with some water, the water mark at the back is still white, I removed battery then dried it with tissue paper, I restarted it after like 15 minutes and i managed to put in the PIN code then on security code it was not responding on keys, then went out with white screen, tried restart after 30 min it did not complete returning to white, its 12 hours in rice right now so if all fail I might want to dismantle the unit.
Hello,
I dripped some water from my finger onto the keypad of my Blackberry Bold. It has shorted. Ive dried it out with a hairdryer and left in Airing Cupboard also. Note that it wasnt submerged in water so it barely seemed wet. However it comes on and I can now scroll with the trackball which I couldnt at first. When I do though and try to press it to select emails, text or anything it doesnt select what its supposed to but instead shorts to the phone book and all the names under the letter ‘L’.
How can I fix this?
Marina
Hi, is the screen cover held down with any adhesive?
hi where can i get this alcohol. My Phone stopped working two weeks ago and i was told that it was liquid dammaged. But i want to know if it can be fixed now
my track pad hasnt been working for months, it started off freezing then it would work but then it completely went.
from what i remember it didnt get any water damage, it may have a little but im not sure.
i really can’t afford to fork out for a new phone so i was wondering if i should follow this and take it apart and submerge it? and where do i get the liquid it needs to go in?
My blackberry 8520 when booting is stuck when the gauge is about 3/4 full.Tried removing the battery with no success
How long do you keep it submerged in ISOPROPYL? thanks.
isaac