What to Do with a Water-Damaged iPod

It happened in a second. It was disgusting, awful, and I won't clean it up for you.

I was going to the bathroom, I wasn't paying attention, and I knocked my iPod into the toilet. Stop laughing. It happens. And yes, it was...gross. It wasn't a clean toilet. But I don't care how germophobic you are, when your iPod falls into a toilet, you see $300 flashing before your eyes, and you will grab it and pull it out very, very quickly.

I hit the net immediately, and in my frantic search for a way to fix my iPod, I learned a few things from other iPod users who had committed similar atrocities to their beloved iPods. If you've got a water (or, uh, other liquid) damaged iPod, here's what you need to do to maximize your chances of coming out of the experience with a working device.

1. Get it out of water. The longer your iPod's in water, obviously the longer it's susceptible to damage. Get the iPod out of whatever liquid it's in and place it on a dry towel.

2. Don't try to turn the iPod on. Remember that water and electricity don't mix; your initial impulse will be to try to turn the iPod on to see if it's working, but that increases your chances of frying the iPod's board, which is the most expensive and important component in an i Pod. Also, the iPod might try to boot up the hard drive, which is very bad news.


3. Don't try anything crazy to dry it off. Using an oven or a blow dryer isn't a great idea (I've read that people have tried both of those things). Either let the iPod dry out for about a week on its own or carefully open the iPod up by working a box cutter or piece of plastic between the metal and the white plastic across from the fast forward key and gradually unlock each of the clips that hold the iPod together and dab the inside with a nonstatic cloth. Don't try to use any cleaning fluids, and again, don't try to turn the iPod off, even if it looks completely dry.


4. In about a week, try to boot up the iPod. You might get lucky; it may boot up. If not, you're going to have to call an iPod repair center like iPodMods or iPodResQ (links to each at the bottom of this article) and be prepared to pay the price for your carelessness.