My connector dock got a bit of water in it and now some of the pins are corroded. It thinks that there is something connected (e.g.external speakers) and won't play music through the speaker, only through headphones. System sounds and phone work okay, though. Is there a way to clean the corrosion off?
iPhone 4S, iOS 6.1.3
Other than trying to very carefully wipe with a Q-tip, there isn't much you can do, do not put any liquid in there as that will only make things worse.
Take it to an Apple store genius bar to be checked by the technicians...they may determine that enough water was in there to say you need an out-of-warranty replacement. For the iPhone 4s that is $199 in the US.
Been there, done that-- and was hoping to save the $199!
You can try using electronic contact cleaner on a foam swab. That might clean it off. But there's a good chance that more damage has been done, so just cleaning the contacts may do nothing useful. It's worth a try, though; you won't be any worse off then if you don't since the warranty is already voided.
Regards.
Ok.. Fixed my corroded port.. tedius for sure.. Volume buttons wouldn't work, sometimes no sound worked at all.. think the phone thought it was plugged into a docking station.. To fix: i first got the slender part of a toothpick and shaved it down a bit so it was still wide but more slender.. Wrapped a very small amount of toilet paper around the end.. very small amount or you can't move it around in there.. need this to hold some Iso alcohol.. stick it in the slot and try to wipe from inside out to pull out the corrosion bits.. Tried phone after this.. didn't work.. next.. get a med. size pin. Bend the tip over without damaging the point.. this is the tricky part.. it should feel like a barb when you run your finger down the pin.. use the barb part to get in between the pins to clear the debris.. one grove at a time.. start inside the unit and pull debris out. After a few pins groves are cleaned hold up phone and blow a dry breath in to clear dirt.. hold it up so gravity will hopefully make dirt fall out of phone instead of in.. finish groves .. do tooth pick thing again.. done.. one piece of corrosion dirt across any of these pins can create issues from sound not working to battery quickly discharging.. hope this helps.. worked for me... when apple told me.. "no way to fix for average joe" and wanted $160... i had to try something...
how to remove corrosion from iphone 4s connector dock?
