So without a case, it was inevitable. I was bending over to help my two year old get onto the toilet this morning, when "plop" I look down and there is the Pearl, which I got just two days ago, at the bottom of the bowl (Clean thankfully). It had fallen out of my shirt pocket.

Being a member of this forum, having read the horror stories and suggestions about bathing Blackberry's, I knew EXACTLY what to do in just such a dire emergency:

I left my two year old standing there half undressed, got the 8100 out of the toilet, got it apart, and got the battery out. All of this transpired in 10 seconds or less.

I shook the device out as best as possible and left the pieces in my pocket for the next 90min. while we sat through the rest of our church service. I REALLY wanted to leave the kids and wife there, go home and get it apart and vaccuume it out but, my wife would have yet another "Your blackberry is more important than me" statement.

So when I got it home, I was able to carefully take the device apart. It comes apart fairly easily. I used 40psi of air to blow out any remaining water, and yes after 90min there was still water in it. I used a shop-vac to get any water from under the covered/shielded chips. I set it in the basement next to a fan, in parts, for about 30min.

I was able to put it back together, taking special precautions not to loose the Mic, which is kind of loose in the frame, and at the same time, keep dust off of the screen and inside cover for the screen.

Now came the true test... I put the battery in and turned it on.

And?

...It seems to perform all functions as it did when I got it. Keep your fingers crossed folks.

I have included a variety of pictures for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!

3 more pics.

Bet you prayed a lot while attending church. )
Glad to hear that everything is ok now.

Since there is no real case for the Pearl out there, I use a Bun-J larnyard to keep the Pearl secure while at work...the phone is light enough to carry around my neck.

Glad things seem to be working for you. That is exactly why I got the insurance for it.

ha i see you must have an utter disgust for tmobile, you went to work on that tmo emblem

sorry this happened but I'm glad you took the opportunity to share "guts" photos with us ;)

So, is the trackball easy to get out then (it would be nice if it were for when we would have to clean it).

Yes please tell us about the track ball since I know thats sitting one everyones mind! How easy is it to come out? How did you get it out? Dos it work just like the old school track balls in the mouse we had at one point> I am dieing to know these simples questions but not brave enough to try and pop it out and see what happens.

Actually, the trackball never came out, although it would. If you look at the first photo (003.jpg) you can see the metal piece which holds the trackball in, in a spring-like fashion. The metal piece would have to be bent out of the way to get the ball out. NOT recomending that!

I didn't. Never had to touch it.

Yes, it has rollers which sense the motion of the pearl, just like the old mice did, just no gears that I could see. I honestly was more intersted in not loosing any pieces and getting it dried out than inspecting the pearl assembly, sorry.

I really don't dislike them that much. I tried the "penny trick" people posted in another thread. I WISH I had left the emblem alone.

I read on Engadget some time ago that by taking salt or sugar or something along those lines you could get the logo to come off quite easily without scarring the case.

you put tape on the logo and rub sugar cube where the logo is and it takes it off

indeed... my recomendation is: LEAVE IT ALONE!

I've had the 8100 for 3 days and already it fell in th toilet, has a scratch instead of a logo, and has been completely disasembled. Sheesh!

...Tomorrow I run it over. NOT!

Thanks for the info on the trackball I so stumped on how if ever we an clean this thing. Like I said you a brave man for taking yours apart I know you had no choice in the matter and its amazing you got it to work again!! Good for you!!
I started with the penny thing the other day made on light pass over the logo and was like Hell no knowing me i'll scratch this thing and be so mad at myself for it!

all i have to say is.... WHY?!?!? WHYYYYYY!?!???!?!

3 days? Take it back to the store and get a new one. Just tell em something on it doesn't work...

A few things which make that impossible:

1. I bought it on Ebay Unlocked. I use it on the Cingular network
2. The moisture sensitive tags turned from white to red when it got dunked. They wouldn't take it back if they saw those.
3. The logo is scratched off to hell.

If I had bought it at a store and I dropped it in the toilet, that's not covered. I wouldn't try to return a device that I damaged by water, claiming something else was wrong with it just to get a new one. Call me crazy, but it's MY fault not theirs that it got wet. I wouldn't make the company eat the cost of my stupidity.

Dude... why what? I do a lot of stupid things, my wife is more than willing to ask me that question when I do, I don't need another person asking. But thanks.

Having been where no blackberry 8100 owner has yet... IF your trackball becomes unusable, I would first try canned air from outside.

IF that doesn't clear it up, and these track-balls get gunked like the old mice with balls (I love saying that) did, then PERSONALLY having done it once, I would attempt to take the unit apart and clean it from the back side with air and alcohol, without actually removing the ball.

Thanks for the pics they were great.

I guess now that we know the bottom piece comes off and that's the only hardware branded piece I wounder if some company will step up and start selling those replacement pieces.

Anybody know what company would be best for this so maybe we can contact them and find out if they are thinking about the part.

BTW, that thin piece of circuitry on the bottom is the antenna.

Well, that's good to know. It doesn't appear that my reception was effected by my minor mangling of the circuitry when I took it apart.

Good thing

These gut wrenching stories for the posters have to be some of the best posts on this forum. Thanks to others who have had this happen in the past that go ahead post this kind of information many of us have saved big $$$ on replacement BB's. Thank you to all those, including BES Admin, for posting this stuff--especially with pictures! I revived a 7100t from a hot tub not long ago thanks directly to this forum. Thanks again to all!

I have to agree. I'm certainly not the first poster who had this issue, but thanks to the the most part to this forum, this particular story had a good ending.


Other horror stories:

I have a Mother-in-law who's Motorolla phone fell in the toilet and who did NOT remove her battery, simply dried it off and tried to use it. Her phone did NOT ever recover and as such, had to replace it. In her case the phone was also relatively new (A few days as well).

A Co-worker I spoke to last week had his Sprint phone fall in the toilet and he did NOT remove the battery either. His screen is whacked out and the device is completely unusable. Good thing for him, his contract is up next month and he is due for a phone upgrade.

I had a motorolla pager, YEARS ago that I forgot I had on my belt when I jumped into a swimming pool. In that case, I did remove the battery, but after about 5 minutes. Apparently this was too long to wait, because the pager had spiradic issues after that. I eventually had to replace it.

Having had this issue, I swear by the fact that you MUST remove the battery from your device as soon as humanly possible after you get your device wet. I think it is the biggest contributing factor to the success and ultimate revival of this device.

My thanks also go out to posters who have passed on the knowledge and experience with this issue and many others.

one time my old nokia brick phone (like 5 years ago) fell in the toilet and i didnt take the battery out because i didnt know. and it was a nightmare.

How did you go about removing the bottom cover that covers the screws on the front? I'd like to clean the inside of mine but am a little wary of breaking something. Already happened when I took apart my DS Lite.

Thanks for taking the time to photograph all the bits.

Best way I can, I'll describe it...

From the backside, with a flat headed jewlers screwdriver I pryed either end of the bottom piece up (this is where you may notice the bottom pice clips onto the device on the backside.)

At the same time as I pried, I pushed hard enough in the center, downwards, to prevent the clips from settling back down into the device.

The tricky part is flipping the device over to perform the same prying technique on the front side.

This was the most difficult piece to remove. I felt as though it might break on me when I was removing it, but obviously it didn't. The piece was designed to flex upon installation, so i assume it will withstand the stress of prying it back fairly well.

I for one will not be testing this again, unless absolutely necessary.

Excellent pics! Just to share, once at happy hour my 7230 "fell" into a pitcher of beer...as it hit the bottom it let out one glow and it dimmed off...I tried taking it apart when I got home but it's tricky when you've had one too many, anyway. It never recovered. RIP.

Be Careful,

Insurance usually wont cover water damage.

LoL - You pulled it from a public toilet!

I think in that case, I would have left it.. If it was MY toilet, I would go after it.. But then again, my company pays for my devices...

Good post...

They won't?!?! Gee... that sucks! :(

Does Tmo provide insurance for the 8100 or did you get it somwhere else?

I use Cingular and as far as I know, they don't provide insurance for most smart devices.

I didn't pay for it either, work did, but I would have felt obligated to purchase a replacement and for that reason I didn't hesitate to dive in.

I might have hesitated had the toiled been scummy looking or had not had clean water, but honestly I think I might have still gotten it out... unless of course there was a lot of "stuff" in there.

Hope you got rid of the odor...

No no, I put it in the washing machine then in the dryer with an anti-static freshness cloth.

...Wouldn't wan't to expose it to static, I hear that's bad for electronic devices.

G/L with the return.

Thanks for taking the time to take and post pictures (and label them)

Pretty much every phone i've had (10+) have had a dunking. Everything from 5' swells in a 19' ski boat to 250 lb adult male + razor scooter + swimming pool = everybody laughing but me.

I pull the battery and then dunk everything with electronics cleaner or alcohol (EXCEPT FOR THE LCD....learned that the hard way) and then run a blow dryer on low...supposedly its the impurities in (toilet )water that frizz the electronics?? Alcohol washes/sterilizes/evaporates the water. (and ruins lcds....)

Sets off the moisture indicators but the phone is back to working in 10 minutes...

Good job, and thanks for these pics as they will be helpful if my Pearl fell in.......

hopefully toilet smell have gone away

TC

holy thread revival batman!

he didn't try to return it.