Chosen Solution
I ordered a ifixit kit to replace my son’s iphone 6 battery after he went down a waterslide with the phone in his pocket this summer. That was about 3 1/2 months ago. Since he introduced it to water, his battery takes a long time to charge. After leaving it on charge all night, it might be 70%. We thought a battery replacement would fix it. I went through the process of replacing the battery per ifixit’s instrucitions/battery/tool kit. The phone booted up fine after the battery change and the newly installed battery was at 40%. I told him to play on the phone until it gets below 10% so we can start charging it according to the battery instructions we received. At about 12% battery, he was playing a game and the screen went blank. He tried plugging it up to the charger at this point and all it would do is show the apple logo and go blank and then show it again continiously. I’ve tried the hard boot to get it into the itunes recovery but he hasn’t been using itunes on the computer and it wants to send us a text with an authorization number for his account. Of course his phone is down and this process is not possible so itunes is no help. We’re in the process of working with apple to get his account setup with another phone number. In the meantime, i’m trying to research on why his phone did what it did. The battery installation went fine and for hours after the battery exchange, the phone ran fine. Could something still be wrong with the battery installation even though it was working for hours after the new battery exchange? It seems to be too much of a coinsidence that this happened on the day we did the battery exchange.
Unfortunately, you have a water damage problem first and maybe a battery issue second. With water damage, you have to decontaminate the logic board before doing anything else, otherwise there are latent issues down the road, as you are experiencing. The water is inside the phone, on the logic board and under the shields, even under the IC’s. The real problem is the mineral deposits that can cause short circuits or the corrosion that is taking place as the water evaporates. Leaving the power on the device accelerates the process. The longer you let a phone sit in rice, the more time you are giving corrosion to damage your logic board. The saltier or harder the water is, the more damage will occur. Open your phone and remove the logic board (follow this guide)Inspect the logic board, especially around the connectors and look for corrosion.Inspect both sides of the board. Unfortunately, most of the board is covered in shields. That’s usually where the damage is occurring.Put your board in a container with >90% isopropyl alcohol and let it sit for a while.Use a soft brush, like a toothbrush and lightly brush away any corrosion you see.Rinse in alcohol and repeat.Let it air dry for a day.Re-assemble and hope for the best. You should also replace the battery if it has swollen. Resist the temptation to pop it to let the gas out. A compromised Li-ion battery is a fire hazard. If the device appears to power up but behaves erratically, then use a tool like 3uTools to flash the firmware as it may be corrupted. A professional repair shop that does water damage repair may be able to recover your phone or the data because they have access to pro-level ultrasonic baths and specialized cleaners as well as the skills to troubleshoot your board. Many shops have a no fix/no fee policy so you don’t have to spend money to find out if the phone is fixable or not.
That was definitely a possibility but I got to reading that if a battery is not giving the iphone enough power, it will also give you the affects that I was having. So I unhooked the new battery and hooked the one one back up. Instantly, it booted right up when the power button was pressed. I believe my issue is going to be a bad battery that was delivered to me. The new battery can charge but it charges slowly due to the battery condition. I left the new battery on charge overnight and it appears it doesnt’ want to take a charge at all.
