Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra Dryer Motor Replacement

The owner reasoned that in order to prevent oxidation, it would be wise to leave it wet, rather than expose it to air, figuring no oxygen = no oxidation, therefore it spent another month still wet packaged as in the photo, until he made an annual family vacation to Thailand, in the expectation that repair, if possible, would be cheaper.

The shop he took it to charged the rough equivalent of 10 USD to evaluate the phone and said it was not possible to repair it, But in ensuing discussion stated yes, it could be done, giving a parts list of 15 items requiring replacement and quoting the equivalent of $1,100 USD.

I had told him if the shop told him they couldn't do it or it was too expensive, to bring the phone to me and "MAYBE" I could at least recover some or all of his over 26,000 personal photos and video files... I opened the device using this prerequisite [link|/prerequisite guide: https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Samsung+Galaxy+S23+Ultra+Screen+and+Battery+Assembly+Replacement/161196|GUIDE|new_window=true] on Screen and Battery Assembly Replacement.

I opened, disassembled, and removed everything up to the point of screen removal, which being destructive and not wanting to put a new screen in a device I actually had little hope of even getting the photos off of, I decided not to remove.

I had such low expectations that I didn't even take photos of what I found, in retrospect I wish I had. Corrosion was throughout as you can see in the photo, I spent little effort on the screws on the first pass. There was white and blue oxidation even rust on almost all the metal.

This photo was taken AFTER the device was working and backed-up when I went back in to do more cleaning.

Using contact cleaner spray and a soft-bristle toothbrush I cleaned all the corrosion I could, this involved repeatedly spraying ***(outdoors, with a fan blowing) ***and gentle brushing of all the parts both those removed and all accessible parts of the frame and all connectors.

Then using the softer brush to sweep for debris and 'buff' it a bit. To ***Everything***, all parts and surfaces, especially the connectors and plugs.

I did not anticipate success because the corrosion was pretty heavy in spots and present on almost all metal in the device. I would have followed that with high concentration alcohol, but all I had was rubbing alcohol which contains oils and fragrance that are NOT good to use, if you have or can get 90%+ ETOH or Isopropyl, I'd advise you to.

You can see the corrosion on the screws before I cleaned them. (I used a HDD magnet under the cover to keep the tiny screws from going walkabout.)

Not expecting anything and wondering to myself whether it would be justifiable to buy a new battery but hoping maybe I could just use the charging cable... (***surely*** the battery was dead, Yes?)

After cleaning as well as I could, and letting it dry over night. (reason for the time estimate-Drying time) I reassembled it, and fed it power to see whether I might be able to connect to it via the USB cable or would have to get a battery first...

I plugged it into a fast-charge cable from my own phone since I didn't have the owner's cable and turned to another task... a few minutes later I glanced at the phone and saw (photo) that it claimed to be charging...

I was very happy to see this as I figured, ***HA!*** The screen isn't dead, so ''probably'' I can get the photos. But I did not expect that same battery to charge, or for much to actually work...

In under 2 Hours the phone had a full charge. (and holding it now at 48+ hours post-rescusitation),

I opted, since I was able to side-load an FTP server and install it successfully, to transfer the files that way since that's faster than my USB3.2 ports and since I didn't trust the device to keep working long... I commenced the file transfer and began exploring what did and didn't work...

Front Camera. Rear Camera. Work... Wi-Fi, obviously since it was using it now in moving files. Bluetooth also works. Screen is NOT touch sensitive, but the stylus works and I have hope the software might fix it, I hadn't tried that yet because 1. files were still transferring, and, 2 the language is German which I scarce can speak... very scarce!

I needed to change the language or get walked through things. I hadn't yet tested the loudspeaker or microphone, since transfering the photos was the priority. Later or just wait to post it until I have the final status. BUT!

I was amazed it was working in nearly all respects; all critical ones. After what it went through and how little I actually did... Basically cleaned the corrosion at a gross level, and reassembled it. SO Lesson learned? Sometimes you do get lucky.

***I should have bought a lottery ticket!*** DID NOT expect the phone to work... ***'''HOPED'''*** to recover photos. After the DCIM folder, I did a full backup of the device this I let run overnight

After everything was backed up I took it apart to do more cleaning of the connectors, for example these are After the first cleaning and again after repeating the process in hopes of getting that pesky digitizer to work... No joy on that front.

I took all the screws that I had only cursorily cleaned, brought a couple ounces of vinegar to a boil in the microwave and dropped them in. The photo of them bubbling away as the corrosion was eaten away is somewhat blurred by steam from the hot vinegar, though.

Then I rinsed them (when the bubbles subsided) in plain water; rinsed again with about 1/2 tsp of sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) stirred in to get rid of any residual acetic acid, another rinse in plain water and dried them. They came out corrosion free, bright and shiny.

In the interest of strict accuracy I must mention that I was assisted in this repair in the periodic cleaning of the soft bristle brush. I am unprepared to attribute success or failure to the feline saliva (photo 1)

Nor to the feline pheromones applied to the brush from chin and foot glands... Further scientific study would be needed to ascertain the degree, if any of beneficent/deleterious effects.

I took it apart yet a 3rd time when the microphones were still not working to see if cleaning them better would help.

...And yet a 4th time when it occurred to me to check for any obstructions 'inside' the microphones themselves. (one has very muffled; un-usably so, sound) , I found none, but I back-flushed the tubes with contact cleaner (not obstructed, free passage of the spray)

What remains: replace the charging board with the microphone or get someone with better eyes, steadier hands and better equipment to replace the actual microphones on the board(s).

The owner isn't staying long enough for me to order parts, he plans to take it back to the shop in Germany where their estimate for repair was. "Forget it" ''...I suspect he intends to make a point thereby...'' to fix the remaining issues.

Other things you can try that might help: Updating the OS, running the microphone diagnostics, reset the digitizer, adjust touch sensitivity, wiping the cache.

Last a hard reset, now that the phone is completely backed-up. I don't expect that to work, no software has been changed since it worked fine. I doubt it is a software issue, but that IS the last-ditch not-yet tried step.

Final lesson learned, This is usable now, bluetooth headset, USB mic, stylus, Bluetooth mouse/keyboard...

if you ever used a PPC that required a stylus 'cause the screen was so small, it would be no problem, I think, after you quit automatically trying to use your finger instead of the stylus. (I still use one from time to time as a backup for reading books, though it really needs a new screen too)...

Your mileage may vary... (is ***VERY*** likely to) but maybe you can recover your data, if nothing else. Good Luck!