I got water damage on my ipod touch 4th gen and after days of rice my backlight wouldnt turn on either. researching online, i found a quick fix video on youtube that was so ridiculous i was sure it was a troll. the guy recommended dipping a q-tip in nail polish remover and shoving it in the headphone jack to vigorously clean it. i had nothing to lose, so i tried it. 30 min later the backlight turned on and i had a working touch again. but then 2 days later the backlight died again. i q-tipped the headphone jack again and the backlight returned randomly the following day... only to die again 2 hours later. for people with backlight issues, try this ridiculous method out, it might surprise you. i was blown away when it worked for me, however briefly.
i was wondering if anyone knows what could possibly be near the headphone jack hole that can effect the backlight just by cleaning it? a part of me believes that if i could just reach in and clean that surrounding area throughly my backlight issues would be fixed. i managed to pop the screen off but i still cant get to whatevers surrounding the headphone jack. any insight or advice on what could have caused this phenomenon would be greatly appreciated.