6S+ - iOS 10.3 OTA bricked my phone (black screen of death)

[Damolee]

Hi there,

Wonder if I could get some advice.

Today I ran the update for iOS 10.3 , previously on 10.2.1 and everything appeared to be fine.

It downloaded ok, timer counted down and it restarted to a black screen and has been stuck there ever since.

Doing the home + power and connecting to iTunes it is asking me to restore the phone, which I did.

This is where it gets unusual. The firmware file downloaded appeared to be for an iPhone SE. Well, I don't have one of those so I have absolutely no idea how that's happened.

Naturally it gets to the end of the download, appears to extract the firmware file and begin the process and eventually errors out with a 4014.

Alternatively I downloaded the ipsw for the 10.3 (and separately 10.3.1) and tried to install those holding Shift and it just bounces back to say it's the wrong firmware. (Which it isn't!)

I have absolutely no idea what Apple's OTA has done to my phone, but I do recall having a similar issue when I first updated to iOS 10 the first time and got stuck with the logo and cable screen.

I'm at a complete loss, not getting much in the way of help from Apple customer support and there isn't a store nearby. The worst part of all this is that all of my 2 step authentications go through this device so i'm currently screwed.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks

-D-

 

[Damolee]

So now Apple want to charge me £326 for servicing after a total of 3 hours on the phone to them.

They can do one. Their update bricked my damn phone. THEY DID THIS and caused this to happen.

It's a sad shame, but I am not paying that much to repair a 14 month old phone. This is where I part ways with this brand after many years of happy use.

 

[eveluvsrainbows]

So now Apple want to charge me £326 for servicing after a total of 3 hours on the phone to them.

They can do one. Their update bricked my damn phone. THEY DID THIS and caused this to happen.

It's a sad shame, but I am not paying that much to repair a 14 month old phone. This is where I part ways with this brand after many years of happy use.

Well, you've had the phone for 14 months. Of course they aren't going to replace it for free. Your limited warranty went bye bye 2 months ago. Just pay the price, or go directly to an Apple Store to see if you can get it replaced for a lower price.

 

[t0mat0]

Does it have a beta software profile?
(As in has it been running developer betas or public betas or has it just run the public updates?)

Just wondering- if you had installed a profile, then it wouldn't be happy with 10.3.1 as there's a 10.3.2 beta 1 out.

 

[eveluvsrainbows]

Does it have a beta software profile?
(As in has it been running developer betas or public betas or has it just run the public updates?)

He/she said the 10.3 OTA update bricked his/her phone, so I'd imagine it was the public release build. Surprising that it actually bricked his/her phone. My iPhone 7 Plus upgraded to the final build just fine.

 

[Damolee]

It is the public build. I had a similar problem with the very first iOS 10 OTA update. Eventually got that working again via iTunes.

This just seems to be in a permanent black screen recovery mode.

I should have insisted on a replacement when iOS 10 came out.

Sale of Goods Act may have to come into practice I feel. Just don't accept a functioning phone worth hundreds can be chalked off by an OTA update. I'm paying for it on contract and have a year to go.

 

[eveluvsrainbows]

It is the public build. I had a similar problem with the very first iOS 10 OTA update. Eventually got that working again via iTunes.

This just seems to be in a permanent black screen recovery mode.

I should have insisted on a replacement when iOS 10 came out.

Sale of Goods Act may have to come into practice I feel. Just don't accept a functioning phone worth hundreds can be chalked off by an OTA update. I'm paying for it on contract and have a year to go.

Then go to your carrier, see what they can do. See if they can give you a replacement instead of paying thru Apple. Your carrier should be willing to give you a new replacement iPhone.

 

[I7guy]

This seems like an unfortunate hardware problem. I doubt the OTA updates can permanently brick a phone unless there is somehow a lurking hardware problem underneath the surface.

 

[Damolee]

Got off a night shift, drove all the way into town and paid for expensive parking to only be told by the carrier store there is nothing they can do to help.

Went home ready to cancel the monthly payment and figured id give Apple another go.

They are collecting the phone tomorrow. Appears the contact centre staff are better during the day and actually "got it" Phew!

Any one know what the usual turnaround is?