Hi there iLounge. I have, literally, not posted here since I got my first iPod back in 2005, 8 years ago when I registered to mod the boot screen on my classic 4g iPod. My how the time flies. :eek:
Since then this has really been the first iPod/iPhone related problem that I have not been able to figure out by a quick Google search or a search of these forums and youTube.
The problem seems to be very particular and unique where-in I could find many similar cases and similar results but with minor differences, so no answer, thus no positive outcome has resolved. So now I turn to the mighty iLounge and it's experts over the table.
Here is the facts/story:
I ventured to buy an iPhone 3g on eBay last year. The phone worked great and I had been able to jail break it and load it up with all the good apps and everything. The problem began since it was a used phone it had an original battery so eventually would not hold a charge for more than a couple hours.
No problem, thought I, I have replaced many iPod batteries successfully so how hard or different could my first iPhone be?
Off I went to buy a new OEM battery for replacement.
The battery came in the mail a few days later and I was stocked I would have an older iPhone that would be like brand new with a new battery.
I hadn't planned on ruining the thing. Which I did, since I began pulling it apart and thought the screen had to come out with the silver frame rather than by itself. I ended up using a little bit too much force and ripped the connectors from the MoBo to the screen. I did not backup my data either. It was just a battery replacement afterall.
So down goes my first iPhone.
No problem, I had learned a valuable lesson and realized that I should still use the tutorials for new projects no matter how ambitious I am. I had gotten the phone super cheap so it was a worthwhile lesson just to now know what the innards of the iPhone look like. (so I tell myself)
I really enjoyed my time with that phone so I went ahead and bought a 3gs on eBay for a deal since it had a broken screen and I could just use the screen from my first phone, throw the new battery in and be back on top of the game.
That is when I found out that Apple decided to make very minor changes in the LCD connectors from 3g to 3gs.
So the screen would not connect.
Oh well, says I, I will just buy the right screen, throw it in and there we will be, champions of the iPhone 3gs.
I put the 3g (the first phone) away in its box, broken and destined to not be used for anything, since my new iPhone, 3gs, was not compatible with any of it's parts.
If I had known they were not compatible then my second phone would have been just another 3g so as to recycle the MoBo and even be able to recoup my data and pics I had collected that were in it.
At this point I am running low on cash invested into the iPhone and I am neck deep in apps and music and ringtones from my Apple ventures.
Then here we are with a 3gs, a new battery and a new screen and a separately new LCD that I had to buy because that too is not compatible and I had damaged the one that was in it while taking off the broken class.
I have nearly bought and refurbished this entire phone now.
tl;drI got all the right parts and put the phone together and it powered on!
...
but just for a second is there a backlight on the start-up. Then it would go to the OS with no backlight. It worked just like it should at this point,
New screen, New LCD, New Battery as a pretty much totally overhauled 3gs.
The only problem was that I had no Backlight!
So close yet so very far away.
Okay more research, more video watching, more tutorials....
At this point it appeared that it is a common issue for battery replacements to not recognize the voltage of the new LCD and the New Battery into the MoBo since it records a certain voltage that was coming in from the old battery at last system boot. Also, a common fix for this that seemed to work for various people was to just do a system restore.
No Problem, boot into DFU, plug her in and hit restore in iTunes, It should reset the OS to recognize the new voltage that the new battery is inputing and let the backlight work again.
Alrighty, I did above recommended steps and iTunes decide to come back at me with the pop-up:
The steps i did to get there:
1.Boot into DFU.
2.Plug in iPhone (alright iTunes recognizes!)
3.Press restore button.
What the phone does:
1.Reboots to Apple logo
2.Progress Bar on the bottom of logo (still no backlight)
3. iTunes goes through restore process then error appears
4.goes into a rebooting cycle that very, very briefly upon each boot, quickly light up the logo with backlight and reboots cycle continuously to no end.
Now when I unplug the iPhone is stuck on the "connect to iTunes logo accept with no backlight. Before I tried restore at least I had an OS, albeit, a very dimmed out one, but a functioning phone.
(notice that in the image there is no slider at the bottom as is with my case but with other solved cases the slider is available.
Now the phone is just stuck. I have tried power cycles, I have tried DFU sequences including ones with plugging and unplugging.
After all the hardware replacement I had ended up with a good phone accept no Backlight. I tried to fix the backlight issue and seemed to have totally ruined the phone.
It has two states now: The plugin state and the boot cycling state where the backlight will briefly appear but it will not boot.
Is there hope for this phone or am I set to spend another 150 bucks on another used one?
Could anybody suggest any fixes?
I am willing to pay if I get results.
I have gone through so much with this phone trying to fix it, it will be really hard to let this go defeated, plus I actually had a working OS on it after all the hardware! Just no Backlight! :confused:
Has anyone encountered anything like this when replacing the battery or LCD?
via iLounge Forums http://forums.ilounge.com/iphone/278202-iphone-3g-3gs-here-one-yah-halp.html
