Think I let all the magic smoke out of my Galaxy S3

Post #395,266 by drook 10/4/14 12:23:41 PM Reply	Think I let all the magic smoke out of my Galaxy S3 I plugged in the car charger last night. Smelled something burning, looked down and saw smoke. Yanked the cord. Phone was still working. Inside the end of the cord looked scorched, couldn't see any visible damage on the phone. Kept using it (GPS) until it went dead. This morning I disassembled the phone enough to get a good look at the connector and where it's attached to the board. Still didn't see any visible damage. Tried a different charger and there's no smell. The screen isn't indicating that it's charging, but I felt a small vibration when I plugged it in - the haptic feedback vibration - so I think it may be charging but doesn't have enough yet to light up the screen. The cord looks like it may have had some gunk in the end, which shorted when I plugged it in. Any suggestions for things to try? Does it sound like this is the kind of thing that might be fixable or am I in the market for a new phone? -- Drew
Post #395,267 by Another Scott 10/4/14 12:38:30 PM Reply	The battery may be very dead. Keep charging it. If you let it charge all day and you still have no display, then something bad might have happened to the phone or the battery. It might be that the battery is still quite low and the phone is keeping the display off until it's sufficiently charged. Does it work as normal hooked up to a PC? That might be another useful diagnostic once it is (nominally) fully charged. Most things like this are designed to protect themselves from normal sorts of abuse (like being plugged in backwards). My guess is it's probably Ok, but you might need a new battery for it. (I've got an old Dell laptop at work that has 2 batteries. It would refuse to even come on until the batteries had some charge in them even when hooked up to the wall power.) HTH. Good luck! Cheers, Scott.
Post #395,268 by drook 10/4/14 12:40:47 PM Reply	Plug in to PC, good idea! Thanks. -- Drew
Post #395,286 by drook 10/6/14 8:42:39 AM Reply	It's dead, Jim Now to see if I can find a local place that does repairs and check if it's even worth having it looked at. I've been starting to think about a new phone, but really didn't want to have to pick one on no notice. -- Drew
Post #395,293 by Another Scott 10/6/14 11:46:05 AM Reply	:-( I vote for getting another GS3 or new one. UBreakIFix wants $100 for a broken glass replacement, $200 for glass + LCD replacement. Free diagnosis, but I wouldn't be surprised that if you don't pay for repairs that they won't put it back together again. (Dunno for sure, of course.) It looks like you can get a GS3 on e-bay for
Post #395,295 by drook 10/6/14 12:23:42 PM 10/6/14 11:42:38 PM Reply	Wait ... it's a zombie It's back to life. After leaving it alone overnight, I brought it with me to work in case I could find someone to look at it. Plugged it in in the car just for the hell of it and it started charging. Got to work and it starts and charges normally. Only problem now is it's not recognizing the SIM. But that I think I can fix. When I took it apart to look for visible damage I think I didn't re-seat the tray properly. Soon as I get home I'll try again. I'm glad I didn't see any deals last night that were so amazing I pulled the trigger. The newer devices are better, but not so much better at what I usually do to be worth it. [edit] Yup, re-seated the SIM card holder and it works again. It was raining that night, maybe I just got it wet. -- Drew Edited by drook Oct. 6, 2014, 11:42:38 PM EDT Expand All History
Post #395,420 by Another Scott 10/10/14 11:57:31 PM Reply	Woot!

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