iPhone 3GS 32GB touch screen randomly stops/starts working

I was able to replicate the fault in the Apple Store by shaking the phone a couple of times - give it a try, worked for me.

Took mine into the Genius Bar today. The tech hadn't heard of this problem yet so I told him that a number of people were reporting it here in the forums. After a minute or two, he had it freeze on him. He showed the other tech's, checked to make sure it hadn't gotten wet, and asked to restore it. After the restore, it only took about two minutes to freeze again. So he pulled out a shiny new iPhone, activated it for me, and handed it over. I played with it for a few minutes and have yet to have it freeze. Hopefully this will be the end to my frustration.

I've had my new iphone 3GS for a week now, and this has happened to me probably 30 times, if not more. I've missed most of my incoming calls because I can't move the slider to answer the call. I've rebooted the phone and done a complete restore, and even cleaned the screen several times, thinking that maybe a dirty screen was causing the problem.

I'm going to the apple store tonight to see if I can get a new one.

I had the exact same problem from day one. But I wasn't sure what's causing it. I didn't find anybody complaining about it until I found this thread today. So I took it to GeniusBar in this evening. I was told that it's probably due to bad connection. So this guy took my phone back to see inside. He came back saying he found a possible cause (bad connection) and fixed it. He told me to come back to replace the phone if it occurs again. But since then I have not had that problem. I am so glad.

I had the same problem with mine. I have a 16gb black 3gs. Mine was doing the random freezes in q restored state as a new iPhone without me syncing any apps or data. Took it to the apple store in the restored state and they swapped it for a new one. The genius there thought it might be RAM related.

I bought the new 3GS the first day and have had the same problems. It seams to happen no matter what application I am running. Sometimes while playing Sudoku or while sending SMS or in an email. The home button responds and the application appears to be running normally. The only way to recover is to hit the sleep button on top and then the touch screen responds. Has Apple acknowledged this problem? Does AT&T replace the unit?

I have a 16gb 3GS Black and have had the same problems, done a clean wipe and no real change. It's totally random and I either wait 30 seconds or hit the power button twice and it's fine. I live in Canada and the closest apple store is 2 hours away, should I take it back to where I bought it?

Edit: I'd also like to add that I can see 3 bubbles near the speaker (the one you put to your ear), they're pretty flat but this would lead me to believe there are more and I just can't see them.

Message was edited by: JMCD23

I had the same problem described here, the worst of which was the inability to answer a phone call when the touch screen decided to freeze right at that moment. As others have stated pushing the sleep button twice would break it out of any freeze. Shaking it would break it out sometimes.

I set up a genius bar visit, explained it in detail and they replaced the unit.

I took mine in and they told me they have seen it before and went in the back to re-seat a connector. I couldn't repeat the problem in store but a few hours later it started doing it again. I only didn't demand a new one because they didnt have any in stock. So be warned the reseating of a connector may not work demand a new one. I have a new appointment on Tuesday.

I had this problem on my 2nd iphone 3GS (first one had rubbish battery) I kept a log of when it happened, what app/what i was doing that caused it, and every time a sleep->wake resolved the issue. I tried resetting the phone twice, and re-syncing as a new phone twice (all noted down in my log) I booked a genius appointment and the diagnostics didn't show anything - the phone doesn't recognise it as a "crashed app" - so no log. Anyway, apple were great and replaced it with a brand new unit (number 3 in 10 days!!) which has great battery and doesn't seem to crash (yet!)

The genius basically said all he could do was re-set, or re-sync and send me away, but as I'd already done both twice they would replace - (worth knowing!)
He thought it could be the apps I had installed on it, but I pointed out that my first one didn't crash once!

Despite all the problems I've been so impressed with Apple / genius bar.

Try a re-set / re-sync, keep a log of every time it "crashes" (or the screen becomes unresponsive) and book a genius appointment. I had 10 freezes the 2nd day of owning my 2nd unit, with 5 on the 3rd day after the re-sync.

Had my 3rd unit since Friday night and it hasn't faultered once!

bump

I just wanted to throw my name in the hat as one of the people experiencing this precise issue from day one. I have done a full reset and restore to no avail. I've been holding my breath that perhaps the 3.1 software might fix, but it's really annoying having to lock/unlock my phone several times per day and makes it impossible to play games for any long length of time.

I would suggest taking it back to the Apple store. When I took mine back and got the replacement the guy thought it was hardware (RAM). Do a restore as a ne iPhone and don't sync anything. If it still does the freezing definately take it back in the restored state and get a new one. If it's a hardware issue, 3.1 won't help.