Unbelievable solutions to common tech problems

---by Kim Komando

7/30/2011

How could you use rice or your freezer to rescue your digital life? Believe it or not, these are little-known staples in your friendly technical support person's bag of tricks. Now they can be yours.

Dropping a cell phone in the toilet is more common than you'd think. Fortunately, you can rescue a wet cell phone. But you have to act quickly. Corrosion moves fast. So first thing (after fishing the phone out of the toilet, which I won't get into), remove the battery, if possible. Pat it dry and set it aside.

Pat the cell phone dry, too. Also, remove the sim card, if your phone has one. Then, immerse the wet cell phone in a container of uncooked rice overnight. Rotate the phone every hour until bedtime. You want to be sure that any water in the phone has an escape route.

You could also put the wet cell phone in an airtight bag with silica packs. Those are the things that protect goods from moisture. Like rice, silica absorbs moisture. You probably could find silica packs at camera stores.

Fast action is imperative when you’re dealing with a wet cell phone. Get the phone out of the toilet quickly. This is no time to be squeamish. The longer it is there, the more likely water will penetrate it.

Better yet, don't take your cell phone to the bathroom.

Sometimes, when you start your computer, you might get an unpleasant sound akin to a cat squealing. Clicking and grinding are also pretty bad sounds.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news. By all likelihood, your hard drive is staggering toward the grave and taking your data with it. It didn't spin up fast enough to start. And perhaps there is something wrong with the drive's components.

Often, you can rescue the situation temporarily by rebooting the computer. But if the hard drive is failing, don't dillydally. If you don't have a backup regimen, develop one, fast. Send your data to another computer if you're on a network. Save it on a bunch of DVDs. Use an online backup service.

Now, the following may sound like a very strange recommendation and works for all but solid state drives.

If a hard drive is dead, take it out of the computer, seal it in a plastic bag and put it in a freezer overnight. Sometimes the cold causes the metal to shrink enough to allow the drive's head to work. When you reinstall the hard drive, move your data to a new hard drive quickly. Once it warms up, any benefit from the cold will be gone.

I once told a guy to do this who called my national radio show with a bum hard drive. Afterwards, he didn't say a word until I told him that I was not joking. A few days later, he sent me a thank you note. He was able to get the data off the drive before it croaked for good.