Strange WiFi problem on iPhone 3G after 3.0 update

The reflow technique worked for me

well i know not the first thing bout baking anything electrical my luck id burn it up completely

congrats, jsteelm1 - glad you fixed your wifi. pays to be bold

The reflow technique worked for me too (Y)

I thought that this would not work, but I finally give it a try.

The unique problem was, that i dont have a normal oven, I used instead, a microwave with convention option, I preheated the oven at 375°F (because I have to chose the temp and the next option is 400°F) and put the motherboard in it for 7:30 minutes, wait for 60 minutes to cool it down, I put it all together and WOILA!! works perfect (so far)

Maybe is there someone that wanna try this too, try with a lower temp, and dont brick they motherboard in the process!

Regards

I have been following this thread for 6 months and just living without wifi. Freezer worked for a while and I am not ready for the oven. I cracked the screen of my phone and have some other unrelated problems with the phone so I decided that since the screen was cracked and the wifi does not work that I look for another used phone to get me through until verizon picks up the iPhone at which time I will sign a contract with verizon and get a new iPhone.

I purchased the same phone I currently have, a 3G 16 gig and did a restore from a previous back up (maybe a mistake). The guy I bought it from had 4.0.2 already installed and says the phone worked great this morning, and ya know what, I believe him.

You guessed it, after restoring my data onto the used phone I bought, no wifi. If I set the phone DIRECTLY on the airport extreme, I can get a few seconds of wifi. As soon as I move it, wifi is gone.

Is it possible that there is some combination of hardware and software that causes these phones to fail? Why else would it have worked fine this morning and as soon as I bring it to my network, wifi problems develop.

My wife's 3GS and all of our computers work great on our wifi network. Its just my old 3G and now the used one that I purchased that do not work.

Congratulations, Neodiamond.

Aye, Don, bake, and your iPhones may die. Freeze, and they'll live... at least a while. And dying in your bed, many years from now, would you be willin' to trade ALL the days, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell Apple that they may take your wifi, but they'll never take... YOUR FREEDOM!

By the way, if you lose your mind and choose to bake those puppies in tandem, take photos. That will officially be the most awesome bake to date! Given a successful repair, you will officially become iPhone chef of all iPhone chefs.

As an alternative, you can try a heat gun or a solder gun. And because you know the cause of the problem you could even pay a bench tech to do it for you. Much, much safer. But no chance for glory and honor.

And following on from that one could say 'Apple [pause] you are not ready for the truth [emphasised]' different actor but memorable lines...

I posted another video on reflowing the iPhone wifi. jimbob2010 clued me in on where to concentrate the repair. It works, and it's a safer alternative to the oven. The only drawback is that you'll spend a little money to get the heat gun and some lead-free solder. But at least you don't risk damaging your whole board to do the repair.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7E34y9l49Zc

And here's the blog post

http://www.iphonetiquicia.com/iphone-wifi-repair-heat-gun-reflow/

The reflow technique worked for me too!

7m30s at 200°C for the main board in my oven and the wifi works back!

Thanks so much for the info!

The reflow technique seems to have killed my iPhone. Followed the recipe exactly.

Do not underestimate the challenge of disassembling and reassembling the device (independent of the oven process). Tab "3" is especially difficult to re-insert. (?suggestions?)

Got an iPhone 4....bittersweet.

May try to redo the reflow....and hope something improves.

I agree. Is there anyone we can pay to do this.

Yes, search for an electronics repair tech in your town. Because you know the source of the problem you can give them the info they need to fix it. And they will be much safer than doing it yourself.

Congratulations alainm74, glad you got your wifi back. Keep in mind you can do this with a heat gun if you ever need to do it again. It will be less risky than the oven and only a little more complicated.

FlyingDoc,

Sorry to hear that. You might want to take a look at the heat gun method before you try again. However, I do know people have baked up to 4 times to get it repaired.