IPhone 3Gs will not boot - No DFU or Recov - Please help!

MeisterDon · 12-27-2009, 03:04 PM

Hey guys, I have a pretty serious problem here. I've been hunting for a few hours now on how to fix this but now I'm turning to you guys for some help, I'll go ahead and explain what's up.

I have a refurbished IPhone 3Gs on 3.1.2, Jailbroken using blackra1n. It wasn't a teathered jailbreak if that helps any. Earlier today I left my phone on my table and it was low on battery so I'm assuming it just died. I tried plugging it into the wall socket and my computer but nothing would show up. When I held down the power button all I got was the battery with a bit of red on the far left blinking and under it the plug > lightning bolt.

My wall charger works for certain, it charges my brother's IPhone 3G just fine, and the wall charger + sync cable was the one I got when I bought my 3Gs. It's strange because I know for certain my 3Gs is charging, it just won't recognize it. I kept pressing the power button until the battery was completely drained so that even when I pressed the power button the plug > lightning bolt thing wouldn't show. When I plugged it back in, it showed up again, so I know for certain that it is charging.

::SOLUTIONS I'VE ATTEMPTED::

Holding down the power and home button for quite a length of time didn't work. Plugged into the wall, and even on my computer with iTunes open.

Attempting to go into DFU mode (plugged into the computer with iTunes open), that didn't do a darn thing.

Left it in the wall for about half an hour and attempted to do all of that again, to no avail.

Recovery mode, meh.

-------------

I'm pretty much out of ideas unless I've missed something really crucial. I hope it isn't something too obvious, my panicking might have made me miss something and it would be great if you guys could help me out. All suggestion will be tried and I will be thankful for your suggestions even if they do not work.

Please help, thanks.

imperiallight · 12-27-2009, 04:05 PM

I had the same problem. 3.12 Unresponsive blackscreen - no dfu and no charging. I was going to wait until it was out of power before trying other steps.

What I did in the meantime was download the latest itunes 9.2 I think on a different computer (may not be neccesary but I hear the problem is caused by different devices linked to one computer) and I held the home button down and kept it held down and plugged it into the usb and I immediately opened up the recently installed itunes.

It detected it was in recovery (despite unresponsive black screen) and restored it.

This worked for me it might not for you. The thing is to give it a few days of trying. I think the latest itunes def. solved it for me and holding the home button down did nothing in the previous itunes.

There were websites I found detailing how you could add drivers etc to the root of windows settings to try and fix it.

MeisterDon · 12-27-2009, 04:17 PM

Thank you so much for your suggestion, I will try it immediately. I'll keep you updated. I'll try it on my main computer first, then my other.

Update 1:

-sigh- No good on my main computer, trying with my second now.

tonyice88 · 12-27-2009, 04:49 PM

Hey I had a similar problem and had posted it here before. Here is the link to the thread. You'll find some more suggestions so try them all and see it it helps!

HELP Please! iPhone won't turn on at all. Even holding Power and Home Buttons - SiNfuL iPhone

MeisterDon · 12-27-2009, 05:23 PM

While nothing has worked so far, I'll give it some time, I won't touch it until tomorrow morning. I thank you all for you suggestions and your thread has helped a lot. I'll post how things go tomorrow, thank you guys again.

triela · 12-27-2009, 09:50 PM

It has been verified from other sources that literally, waiting, is the best solution. As tonyice88 did, it appears that a minimum of 8 hours does the trick.

imperiallight · 12-27-2009, 10:02 PM

Any other phone and we could just take out the battery and put it in again but this phone acts likes its dead.

MeisterDon · 12-28-2009, 11:39 AM

Well, I just went ahead and did DFU and recovery mode and once again it didn't do anything on either computer. Although, when I entered DFU mode, the battery with the plug > lightning bolt didn't show up anymore. I think that might be a sign that it IS responding, it's just how the hell do I get my computers to recognize it?!

I am getting quite desperate, it's already been a full day since it hasn't worked... >_<;;

~~WIDOW~~ · 12-28-2009, 11:59 AM

A lot of people say hold sleep and home button for 10 secs had same problem would not work did for 19secs hey presto worked?

MeisterDon · 12-28-2009, 04:51 PM

I've done it for well over a minute, multiple times...I'm losing hope T_T

triela · 12-28-2009, 07:16 PM

Another thing to try:

1. Attach the iPhone to a computer with the USB cable.
2. Reboot the computer with the iPhone still attached.
3. After the computer fully reboots, and while the USB cable is still connected, hold the power button to see if the phone turns on.

Note: Your iPhone may boot itself up automatically after reboot is finished, before you try to turn it on yourself.

DarkLoki · 12-28-2009, 07:21 PM

friend had this problem, and he called att, and the apple store, saying there is a flaw in hardware and that he should return it back to an apple store.

MeisterDon · 12-28-2009, 09:57 PM

I think I'll just go to the Apple store now, this is ridiculous. My phone won't even respond when I hold down the power button anymore. No battery, not even the plug > lightning bolt. Meh, thanks for all your help though.

CheeseyChung · 12-28-2009, 10:15 PM

My friend had to replace their battery after seeing that red battery and lightning bolt. Probably just dead battery, these things are so fickle. Good luck at the apple store, hopefully they dont just replace the battery and see that its jb

All I can suggest is leaving it plugged in all night and seeing if it wakes up.

MeisterDon · 12-28-2009, 11:27 PM

I'll leave it for one more night, otherwise, well, they'll just have to see that I JB my phone =.=;;;

MeisterDon · 12-29-2009, 02:18 PM

So here's how it went down at the Apple store. I went in and told them what was going on and they scheduled my appointment with them. I waited about 10 minutes and one of their workers came out to help me. Apparently my screws were missing (wtf?!), and a wire that was connected to the port was disconnected. Damn refurbished phones. In any case, I feared them discovering that it was JB, he told me to charge it at one of the docks they had. I waited until the Apple logo showed up on my screen and I scrambled out of the store.

Now my lovely phone works again and all is well! Thank you all once again for your help. I very much appreciate it.

imperiallight · 12-29-2009, 02:50 PM

Glad to hear it went ok! With iphone/ipod touch products there is usually a way. I have had two phones replaced by the Apple store, no questions asked.

DarkLoki · 12-29-2009, 03:01 PM

its not just refurbished phones, my friends was brand new and its bad.

soundblasting · 01-13-2010, 07:48 AM

hey,have u try rebootin ur iphone with a PC or laptop using Blackrain...??...it might help since u had JB it...turning it on using power socket after ur phone shut-off might not help...

Try tis out ya!!!

---------- EDIT ----------

hey,have u try rebootin ur iphone with a PC or laptop using Blackrain...??...it might help since u had JB it...turning it on using power socket after ur phone shut-off might not help...

Try tis out ya!!!