Chosen Solution
Hi My wife dropped some water in her iPhone 5c, at first it worked ok. But now, after unlocking it the screen looks ok, but after a few second, vertical lines show up until the display goes dark completely. The strange thing is that I turn it off and on again and the screen is perfect, but after a few second it goes dark again. When I move around the brightness slider, the darkening effect takes longer to set… at minimum brightness, the screen does not god dark and just a few vertical lines how up.. any ideas?
It is board damage. It can be repaired by finding the damaged component and replacing it. This is tough because most of the board is covered by EMI shields, but it can be done. It usually isn’t a DIY project just because the components are so small that they require microsoldering. The backlight that powers the display is one of the circuits on the board that is particularly sensitive to liquid damage. The first step to any water damage problem IS very DIYable. You need to follow the iFixit guide for your phone to remove the logic board from the phone, and submerge it in 90+% isopropanol (rubbing) alcohol and get busy cleaning the board with a toothbrush. Sometimes this will clear enough of the corrosion to get the phone going again. Other times you have to go further and send it to a specialist for microsurgery on the board. jessa
