iPhone SE not waking up

[malcolmst]

I have been hitting a serious problem on my iPhone SE 64GB Space Grey (running 9.3.5, also hit it in 9.3.1) for the past few weeks which sounds identical to this problem last year affecting iPhone 6s/6s+ until it was apparently fixed in iOS 9.1:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/iphone-6s-other-ios-devices-not-waking-up-confirmed.1922995/

I'd like to know if this is a common issue or if it's just isolated to a small number of devices.

Symptoms
While idle, the iPhone randomly shuts off and requires a hard reset to reboot.

At first (a few weeks ago) this happened just once, at night while charging. Then it happened a few days later. Now it has been making the phone almost unusable since it happens up to 20 times per day.

It occurs sometimes while the phone is in my pocket or sitting on my desk with the screen off. It never has happened while I'm using it or it's connected to the computer over USB.

Other Details
The first time this happened was after connecting to some devices via Bluetooth for the first time. Since then I've been keeping Bluetooth off though, and still hitting it. Also the time it started was around the time the iOS 10 update was pushed to my phone (I have not installed it), and around the time my unread email count exceeded 65536 (down to under 20k now).
The only diagnostic logs are logging my hard resets, there is no indication of an app crash or low memory situation first.

Attempts to Resolve
- Restored from a backup via iTunes
- Setup as a new phone, copying over only sms and contacts
- Upgraded from 9.3.1 to 9.3.5 (haven't yet tried 10)
- Uninstalled most non-default apps
- Reset all settings
- Turned off iCloud
- Turned off wifi/bluetooth/cell data, and tried going into airplane mode
- Turned off Touch ID
Etc...

I will probably try upgrading to iOS 10 this weekend, and will go to the Apple Store next week. There are no useful diagnostic logs though, so I'm concerned they will not be able to diagnose the issue, and if they replace the phone it may just happen again (it sounds like the 6s/6s+ problem was a software issue).

 

[Danjrel]

Did you try CPR?

How about return it and get another one?

 

[malcolmst]

Did you try CPR?

How about return it and get another one?

Yes, CPR didn't work either...

I'll ask for a replacement next week, just wanted to try to rule out a software problem. I've read some isolated posts of other SE users hitting the same issue but maybe it's not very common.

 

[RIPstevejobs]

maybe someone slipped it some ghb.

 

[Conan86]

Despite Apple claiming that the bug was fixed from 9.1, some people still randomly suffer from it on and off with their 6s. But happening 20 times a day is definitely something else.

Did you try restoring the firmware from iTunes? (Not the same as restore from backup) System restore will completely reinstall the iOS much like a fresh install of an OS for a computer.

Oh and definitely do try updating to iOS 10 as well as that's one of the first few things Apple Support would want you to do. Try to do the installation with iTunes instead of OTA delta updates. Installing it with iTunes also ensures a fresh installation of the whole iOS.

 

[jav6454]

Yes, CPR didn't work either...

I'll ask for a replacement next week, just wanted to try to rule out a software problem. I've read some isolated posts of other SE users hitting the same issue but maybe it's not very common.

Did you get it to iPhone OS 10? Before Apple looks at it, this would be the next step. Also, I doubt they are still signing 9.3.5

 

[malcolmst]

Despite Apple claiming that the bug was fixed from 9.1, some people still randomly suffer from it on and off with their 6s. But happening 20 times a day is definitely something else.

Did you try restoring the firmware from iTunes? (Not the same as restore from backup) System restore will completely reinstall the iOS much like a fresh install of an OS for a computer.

Oh and definitely do try updating to iOS 10 as well as that's one of the first few things Apple Support would want you to do. Try to do the installation with iTunes instead of OTA delta updates. Installing it with iTunes also ensures a fresh installation of the whole iOS.

Thanks Conan86 and jav6454! I'm glad (in some ways at least) this isn't a common problem. I did do an iTunes restore when I went to 9.3.5, then soon after restored my backup. I just installed 10.0.2 from iTunes in DFU mode today without restoring a backup. So far it's been good, but I'll leave it a while before restoring any backup to try to know for sure. Appreciate the suggestions!

 

[malcolmst]

Just as a quick update, iOS 10 didn't help unfortunately; it continued to turn off even before I restored my backup. The problem got worse this morning, hard-resetting the phone stopped working. Fortunately I had an appointment at the Apple Store this afternoon. They couldn't even get it to turn on past the Apple logo to do a restore. But they replaced the phone under warranty, and sent the old one to the Apple engineers to take a look. Everything seems fine on the new phone so far . Thanks everyone!