i dropped my creative zen micro in water and have left it a few days to dry out. it still won't work, but will let me go to the recovery mode. what should i do?

Danielle, February 2006

The right thing to do is open it up and wash it completely with good clean DI water or distilled water.
Take the battery out and completely submerge it and agitate it well. Get an air can and blow out as much excess water as possible. Let it set for several days to dry completely.
When you drop an electronic device in "dirty" water; the minerals in the water are conductive and will create shorts between the traces on the circuit board. Washing with DI water will dissolve those minerals and wash them away. If you are lucky, the circuits did not short out permanently and it should work again.
good luck...
PS, the water does NOT change the minerals in the PCB; it deposits them there and the circuit doesn't like them...
Aqueous cleaning has been used to clean PCBA's for a long time in the electronics business. Most new boards these days are assembled using a "no clean" flux that does not require cleaning. But, it's okay to wash those board anyway...

bobermister, April 2006

dont drop it in again, you cant really repair that sort of thing, water washes and changes the minerals in the circuit boards

me, February 2006