iPhone Bricked i4s - I swear it's really bricked

[jineunmyeon]

Hi guys,

I'm new here but I've been popping by frequently the past few months to read.

Here's my problem anyways: I left my iphone to charge one night and woke up the next day, iphone wouldn't pop out of sleep.

This happened quite a few times so I didn't think much of it, did a hard reset by holding both buttons down, tried that over 20-30 times for ~20 seconds each, no response.

It couldn't have been a battery problem either because my phone gets warm while charging, but even then I can't turn it on.

I tried putting it into DFU mode while plugged into my computers, none of them register that I have even plugged in my phone. There's completely no response.

I could bring it down to a genius bar, but I'm afraid that should I get a replacement, if they do fix my phone in their factories they may be able to access the data and find out it's jailbroken.

Any help, perhaps? :/

 

[dhlizard]

If the phone will not even reboot (or at least display the apple and try to reboot), charge it on wall charger for 4-6 hours and try it again.
If you can get it in DFU mode, you can restore it.

Your phone may have suffered a hardware failure which is the only way an iPhone can be "bricked".

If you didn't back up your contents using iTunes or iCloud, then it may not be recoverable.

 

[TriJetHero]

hardly evidence of being bricked.

If it is in fact "bricked" and the phone is still under waranty they'll exchange it , they don't repair phones.

But first of all did you try hooking it up to your computer or different computer and use TinyUmbrella?

does the screen show anything?

 

[jineunmyeon]

If the phone will not even reboot (or at least display the apple and try to reboot), charge it on wall charger for 4-6 hours and try it again.
If you can get it in DFU mode, you can restore it.

Your phone may have suffered a hardware failure which is the only way an iPhone can be "bricked".

If you didn't back up your contents using iTunes or iCloud, then it may not be recoverable.

I'll try that and report back! Charged for 2 hours straight but no use though...

hardly evidence of being bricked.

If it is in fact "bricked" and the phone is still under waranty they'll exchange it , they don't repair phones.

But first of all did you try hooking it up to your computer or different computer and use TinyUmbrella?

does the screen show anything?

Yes, tried hooking to three different computers that recognise other iphones but not the 'bricked' one. Nothing registered as connected so can't get TinyUmbrella to kick the phone out of DFU. Screen is black and dead.

 

[TriJetHero]

While charging hold the home and power button until phone shows apple logi, it may take up to a minute or linger!

 

[jineunmyeon]

Nope, nothing. Charged for 3 hours now, phone's pretty warm.

Screen is black as midnight - assuming it's not in the northern hemisphere with the northern lights

 

[dhlizard]

Sounds like it's toast

 

[jineunmyeon]

What I'm really afraid here is that only perhaps a display chip or something is dead, but my flash memory is still intact - if the service centre were to repair the phone (after an exchange) - they may find out it's jailbroken, right?

Also - thanks for replying so quickly to a newcomer's questions, such kindness to newbies is hard to find on most forums

 

[BumpyFlatline]

What I'm really afraid here is that only perhaps a display chip or something is dead, but my flash memory is still intact - if the service centre were to repair the phone (after an exchange) - they may find out it's jailbroken, right?

Also - thanks for replying so quickly to a newcomer's questions, such kindness to newbies is hard to find on most forums

Best forum on the interet for jailbreakers. Just don't start a thread a week before a major iOS upgrade asking when the new jailbreak will be released!

Have you tried holding down power an home for a couple minutes without releasing? My phone sometimes takes much longer than a few seconds to hard reset. Just a thought. Sorry to hear you're having such a big problem. If there's any place that'll help you with this problem it's macrumors.

 

[ben824]

What I'm really afraid here is that only perhaps a display chip or something is dead, but my flash memory is still intact - if the service centre were to repair the phone (after an exchange) - they may find out it's jailbroken, right?

Also - thanks for replying so quickly to a newcomer's questions, such kindness to newbies is hard to find on most forums

You seem to be worried that they might find out that it is jailbroken. They will not send the Apple police after you if that is the case. Apple IRS will not come after you to pay for the free replacement phone you got under warranty. So no worries there they usually would salvage what they could most likely just replace the whole mother board and send it back out as a refurbished phone. The flash drive on the phone is on the motherboard and would be trashed with the rest of it. They would also to a clean wipe of any data on the flash drive if they tried to save it. In this case since the phone is completely dead you should not worry about it being jailbroken. If it were to still turn on and function to some degree then you would have reason for concern since they would probably try to not honor the warranty based on the jailbreaking factor.

If it was infact a graphics hardware failure you would more than likely still be able to get your computer to recognize that the phone is plugged into it. Seems as though you might have a total system failure to me. Just take it in to an Apple Genius and if they can't get it to respond then they will hand you a new one there on the spot. If you have backed up to iCloud or your computer then you can restore it back to the way it was, or as close as you could considering it was jailbroken, I am not as familiar with jailbreaking and the backup process.

 

[jineunmyeon]

Best forum on the interet for jailbreakers. Just don't start a thread a week before a major iOS upgrade asking when the new jailbreak will be released!

Have you tried holding down power an home for a couple minutes without releasing? My phone sometimes takes much longer than a few seconds to hard reset. Just a thought. Sorry to hear you're having such a big problem. If there's any place that'll help you with this problem it's macrumors.

Nope I've held it for 3 minutes, my hand hurts so I think I'll stop there. Thanks for the warm welcome, should have joined the community long ago! Don't worry, I'm not the kind of person that would ask about the release dates of a new jailbreak - those kind of stuff come when they do.

You seem to be worried that they might find out that it is jailbroken. They will not send the Apple police after you if that is the case. Apple IRS will not come after you to pay for the free replacement phone you got under warranty. So no worries there they usually would salvage what they could most likely just replace the whole mother board and send it back out as a refurbished phone. The flash drive on the phone is on the motherboard and would be trashed with the rest of it. They would also to a clean wipe of any data on the flash drive if they tried to save it. In this case since the phone is completely dead you should not worry about it being jailbroken. If it were to still turn on and function to some degree then you would have reason for concern since they would probably try to not honor the warranty based on the jailbreaking factor.

If it was infact a graphics hardware failure you would more than likely still be able to get your computer to recognize that the phone is plugged into it. Seems as though you might have a total system failure to me. Just take it in to an Apple Genius and if they can't get it to respond then they will hand you a new one there on the spot. If you have backed up to iCloud or your computer then you can restore it back to the way it was, or as close as you could considering it was jailbroken, I am not as familiar with jailbreaking and the backup process.

Well I'm glad that the data would be almost surely gone, stupidly stored some passwords and stuff in there too, never again. I'm glad I had a recent backup of my cydia tweaks too, now I'm just really hoping they don't pass me a 4s with iOS6 preinstalled or I'll have to wait for the next jailbreak

How about a battery failure perhaps? Like if the battery wasn't holding any charge? Would it be recognised by iTunes still? I have no idea about the wiring of the iPhone - a few of my old phones could turn on with a dead battery when plugged in to power, a few newer ones could not.

 

[labman]

If you get to Apple before the 19th it will have 5.1.1 or less for sure. Even after the 19th it will be a while before you see 6.0 on referbs.

 

[Dkorda]

Have AppleCare+?

 

[jineunmyeon]

If you get to Apple before the 19th it will have 5.1.1 or less for sure. Even after the 19th it will be a while before you see 6.0 on referbs.

They'll do a swap for a refurb? Apparently I was told by Apple that my phone (which I bought new) was supposed to be a replacement, not retail set... I wonder what they'll do about that.

Have AppleCare+?

No, wasn't offered the option. What's the difference? I'm still in my 1 year warranty..

 

[SinkOrSwim]

They'll do a swap for a refurb? Apparently I was told by Apple that my phone (which I bought new) was supposed to be a replacement, not retail set... I wonder what they'll do about that.



No, wasn't offered the option. What's the difference? I'm still in my 1 year warranty..

--- The replacement phones are not brand new, meaning not assembled in the actual factory in china. The replacemt phones are technically a Frankenstein phone, meaning the still good pieces are salvaged from the ones that have problems. Your issue is quite complex and simple at the same time. Double check if the USB cable has connection on the iPhone and the computer. Having the latest version of iTunes might be of help. Also, use a Mac computer to do the restore. I had a quite similar experience. One of my uncles old iPhone won't turn off. It just shows the apple logo till the battery dies. DFU mode didn't work as well as hooking it up to other computers which just happens to be pcs. I did it on my Mac, it worked. So if yours won't even turn on and get detected by iTunes, you are good. They will just replace it with a Frankenstein iPhone, which you will not use, but sell, to get the new one. I hope this helps dude. Goodluck.

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Nope I've held it for 3 minutes, my hand hurts so I think I'll stop there. Thanks for the warm welcome, should have joined the community long ago! Don't worry, I'm not the kind of person that would ask about the release dates of a new jailbreak - those kind of stuff come when they do.



Well I'm glad that the data would be almost surely gone, stupidly stored some passwords and stuff in there too, never again. I'm glad I had a recent backup of my cydia tweaks too, now I'm just really hoping they don't pass me a 4s with iOS6 preinstalled or I'll have to wait for the next jailbreak

How about a battery failure perhaps? Like if the battery wasn't holding any charge? Would it be recognised by iTunes still? I have no idea about the wiring of the iPhone - a few of my old phones could turn on with a dead battery when plugged in to power, a few newer ones could not.

--- If they pass you a 4s on iOS 6, just downgrade. If that doesn't work, there's already a tethered jailbreak for it.

 

[Dkorda]

No, wasn't offered the option. What's the difference? I'm still in my 1 year warranty..

You have to add it within the first 30 days. It's worth a shot to see if they can add it in now. 1 yr warranty sould get you a new device, stop by Apple sore, they're easy to work with.

 

[mlts22]

If the device is completely dead, it is completely dead. I've never heard of Apple coming back to tell someone their warranty is void due to a JB when the device is not even able to power/boot up.

The OP is well within the 30 days... I'd give it one more shot via DFU restoring, then see about an exchange.

 

[jineunmyeon]

--- The replacement phones are not brand new, meaning not assembled in the actual factory in china. The replacemt phones are technically a Frankenstein phone, meaning the still good pieces are salvaged from the ones that have problems. Your issue is quite complex and simple at the same time. Double check if the USB cable has connection on the iPhone and the computer. Having the latest version of iTunes might be of help. Also, use a Mac computer to do the restore. I had a quite similar experience. One of my uncles old iPhone won't turn off. It just shows the apple logo till the battery dies. DFU mode didn't work as well as hooking it up to other computers which just happens to be pcs. I did it on my Mac, it worked. So if yours won't even turn on and get detected by iTunes, you are good. They will just replace it with a Frankenstein iPhone, which you will not use, but sell, to get the new one. I hope this helps dude. Goodluck.

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--- If they pass you a 4s on iOS 6, just downgrade. If that doesn't work, there's already a tethered jailbreak for it.

Won't the signing window be closed for 5.1.1? Like how people are unable to downgrade to 5.0.1 or sth? (or am I just misinformed?)

If the device is completely dead, it is completely dead. I've never heard of Apple coming back to tell someone their warranty is void due to a JB when the device is not even able to power/boot up.

The OP is well within the 30 days... I'd give it one more shot via DFU restoring, then see about an exchange.

That's great, then. Any chance they get to access the passwords stored in my phone? They're in an app (stored as a note)... troublesome for me to find a whole list of websites and change all my passwords... I'd really hate to have to change my passwords too, that means >4 different sets of passwords to remember again... :/

 

[SinkOrSwim]

Won't the signing window be closed for 5.1.1? Like how people are unable to downgrade to 5.0.1 or sth? (or am I just misinformed?)

--- You can get 5.1.1 online. I don't know if you noticed, but when you update an app, the old one goes to the trash. Same goes for the iPhone or iPod or iPad upgrades...... The old one gets replaced by a new one and the old one goes to the trash. I don't think they do the whole patching thing where they only remove and add the things that needs to be removed or added.

 

[jineunmyeon]

I know that I can get the IPSW, but just like how one is unable to downgrade to 5.0.1 now, wont downgrades to 5.1.1 be impossible?

Correct me if I'm wrong...

Oh an update: I don't have 5.1.1 SHSHs since I was at 5.0.1, wont have the time to visit a genius bar until next week either, since the nearest Apple store is miles away. Really miffed about the dead iPhone, it's but an expensive paperweight now :/

 

[TriJetHero]

I know that I can get the IPSW, but just like how one is unable to downgrade to 5.0.1 now, wont downgrades to 5.1.1 be impossible?

Correct me if I'm wrong...

Oh an update: I don't have 5.1.1 SHSHs since I was at 5.0.1, wont have the time to visit a genius bar until next week either, since the nearest Apple store is miles away. Really miffed about the dead iPhone, it's but an expensive paperweight now :/

If you have your SHSH/APticket you can downgrade to 5.0.1 and you don't have to be at 5.1.1 to save your SHSH/APticket for 5.1.1

 

[dhlizard]

Nearly 100% chance they will just replace it, so worrying about the shsh for this unit is mostly a waste of time.

 

[Carlanga]

I think you probably had lighting/electricity surge damage.

 

[jineunmyeon]

Ah so I just have to pray the new unit comes with 5.1.1?

I think you probably had lighting/electricity surge damage.

What exactly does that fry? Although I charge my iPhone with USB powershare so if ever my computer would have fried first... At least what I think...

 

[labman]

the faster you exchange it the better your chances. Also FYI this was a hardware issue not related to your jailbreak in any way. Even if you know this I'd like to point it out we have other here that don't understand that as well as paranoia spreaders.