Casio Survives Toilet!
By Adrian Try , Copyright 2000
 Version 1.00  Revised 6/15/2000

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Well, it finally happened.

When you were going to the toilet, have you ever suddenly realized how easy it would be to drop your PDA doovey in? Well, it happened.

Yesterday my wife had just finished the tedious job of getting our car registration sorted out when she realized that she wouldn't make it home without a quick dash to the loo. So in she raced. But before her pants had hit the floor, the unthinkable happened . . . (plop!)

Sonya had been carrying her Casio E-11 in the Palm belt-clip case, but since she wasn't wearing a belt at the time, I guess that the clip wasn't firmly attached enough to her jeans. I suppose that it could have happened just as easily if it was attached to a belt, or even in a pocket.

Instantly realizing what had happened, she grabbed her precious device out of the bowl in one horrified motion. Please note: fortunately this was before she had gone! (Although in a public toilet you never really know who had gone before . . .) But upset as she was, Sonya really was busting, and couldn't do anything about her wet device before she did go.

Meanwhile, I was out in the carpark with our youngest two kids, waiting in the van. I didn't know what to think when Sonya appeared in a tearful panic. Then I saw it - a soggy PPC. I grabbed it before I heard the story . . .

There was a heap of water under the screen - looked shocking. I accidentally hit the power button, and heard I little sound from the device - a bit of hope. I pulled out the two AAA NiMH rechargeable batteries and the little round backup battery. All pretty wet. I shook the excess water off them. I pulled out the 16 MB compact flash card. It too was pretty wet. I shook the excess water off. I opened up every little hole that might let some of the water out of the case - the little rubber stopper that covers the hole for the cradle, removed the stylus, left the battery and card covers off, and had Sonya shake as much water as possible out of it as we drove home.

Arriving home, I put the device in a nice sunny spot - good thing it was a sunny day - and hoped that the water behind the screen would find somewhere to escape as it evaporated. The screen had a milky white appearance. Alas, after several hours in the sun, under the screen was very steamy, although there seemed to be some improvement.

I decided to pull the device apart and try to wipe the water off. Not too hard - four screws on the back to undo, then fiddle around to find the right parts of the case to press in, then two more screws to have the screen come away from the case. However, there seemed to be no easy way to be able to get under the screen and wipe the water off.

Out came the hair dryer. Sonya diligently blasted around the edges of the screen with air - almost instant improvement. But after about 5 minutes, she noticed the screen turning a very dark color around the edges. Oh no! I knew I should have said something about not using the hot setting. ;-( But after a couple of hours the color seemed to return to normal, and the small amount of moisture remaining vanished.

I wasn't up to putting the little machine back together last night. We've had a virus going through our family lately, and I think I was coming down with it - funny throat, funny tummy and big headache. My eldest son kept me up last night making long distance calls on the great white telephone.

This morning I felt a bit better. I jumped up, screwed in two screws, pressed the case together (not forgetting to put the IR cover and backup battery door back in place), screwed in another four screws, retrieved 2 AAA batteries and the backup batteries and put them in place, and pressed ON . . .

YES! A little wave file played, and the familiar "setting up Windows CE" screen appeared. Everything seemed fine. I put in the CF card, which was recognized, and I could read the files on it.

I passed it across the bed to a very relieved wife!

Is there a moral to this story? Well, even though your PDA may survive a swim in the toilet, it's probably better to pull your pants down carefully.

Hope you've appreciated my silly post. Every word is true.

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