N80 Power button doesn't work

Question

Hi all,
I have a bit of puzzler here. I've had my n80 since November '06 and was working fine until earlier this year. The power button just wouldn't respond. I figured that i'll just keep the phone on and fully charged as I won't be able to turn it back on should it turn off. Sod's law, later that day it crashed, I took the battery out to turn it off and as predicted, it wouldn't turn on.
Phone was sent back to operator for repair. It came back a few days later and rather read the bumpf, I put it back together and it powered on. Woohoo it works! It crashed again later that night. Checked the letter that came back with the phone "Could not be repaired. Damage caused by liquid or condensation". Phone hasn't been any where near moisture. Got into a big argument as they won't replace the handset like for like.
Anyhoo, I went on holiday for a week, came back and thought i'd try the phone. Didn't turn on. Battery must be flat. Plugged in and started to charge. Pressed power button and it turned on! Has been working great since the end of Feb but now it's doing the same thing. I can't change profiles using the power button and i'm scared that it won't turn on again if it turns off.
So, is there a way of turning the phone on without the power button? Has anyone else had this problem? And am I entitled to a like for like replacement from my operator?
Many thanks
Stu

Answer 1

Sounds like the moisture has cause some corrosion in the power button connection.
Given your warranty is shot (I guess the moisture indicators have been triggered - this can be due to condensation or rain, not just dropping in the drink), you could try opening up the phone and seeing if you can locate and clean off any corrosion from the contact - a very fiddly job, I imagine and not guaranteed to work.
Failing that, you'd have to go back to the service centre to see if they could do a non-warranty repair. My guess is they'll probably try to sell you a new phone instead