Q: Mysterious random total shut downs following 3.1 update

Apple, this new software upgrade obviously needs fixing asap. My phone also does a total shutdown and it is extremely annoying. I have to keep checking my phone to make sure it on. I am recommending to other friends who have an iPhone not to do the software upgrade till apple fixes it.

OK, I'm now on my THIRD iPhone and I still have the problem!

1. First iPhone had the 'coma' problem. 6-10 times a day. After coming back from the coma it would take repeated screen shots (10 or so). I tried restoring the phone to factory settings and still had the problem. I brought this to the Genius Bar in Tokyo (after waiting a WEEK for an appointment), and I was given a refurb.

2. The refurb only had one 'coma', but the kicker was that when it came back wifi was dead. I can't be sure if wifi was working before the 'coma' though to be honest as I only had it a day before the problem developed. After many talks with apple care, I tried everything. I redownloaded the 3.1 OS (deleted old copy from library folder). I set up the phone as a new phone. Nothing. Wifi was dead and not coming back. All my other computers and wife's iPhone all had no problem recognizing wifi. I spoke with a real A-hole of a technician in Australia and he basically told me to wait for a genius bar appointment to open up (wait another week?!), and return the phone. I then spoke with a Japanese Apple Care support staff member, and was told of a softbank store that would exchange the phone if the problem was confirmed.

3. Went to Softbank, and had to wait 1 and 1/2 hours because Softbank had input my apple care info into the system incorrectly and couldn't sort out the problem because it was a national holiday. Anyway, they confirmed that wifi was dead and tried a restore, but they couldn't get wifi to work either. They gave me a new 3G (fresh out of the box, no refurb).

4. Went home and set up the new phone with the fresh version of 3.1 I downloaded the day before and set up the phone as a new phone. I only put on 30 apps that I use on a regular basis, and thought this would be the end of the problem. Two days later and I'm back to 'comas' again. It has now locked up on me twice. Where do you go from here?

FYI: I'm using a MBP, Snow Leopard and the latest version of iTunes. I think the problem must be from one of my apps or the MBP. My wife has a 16GB white iPhone using 3.1 and doesn't have the issue. She uses a regular MB.

This issue has cost me HOURS and HOURS of my time. I'm so annoyed.

Message was edited by: Murahachibu

It's called the "iPhone Flu"

Can Apple make a virus before it becomes a pandemic?
...It may be too late...

Count me in! The phone has freezed a lot since the update. Why Apple haven't you done anything about it?

Add me to the list, although it isn't as big a problem as it has been for some users. It's 'only' happened twice for me - once after a phone call and once after an sms had been received. The two events happened about 10 days apart so no pattern to these 'comas'. Everything was turned off (wifi, bluetooth, push etc.) Phone just required a re-set to get it back up and running.

Been having this problem and getting worse since the 3.1 update on my 3G 16GB. Got feed up today and called tech support. Listed the exact complaints made in this post and was told that they had no knowledge of this issue. The tech guy said it's a hardware issue I need to have the phone replaced at the apple store and made an appointment. I got home from work found this post and called back and was told the same thing they show no problems with the 3G and OS 3.1 in the system and a replacement phone will solve the problem. Makes me wonder if they even look at this stuff if the tech people are still clueless about this.

add my name to the list.

I need to add my phone (3G 16GB) to this list too.

Happens at least 2-5 times a day. Appears to be completely random. I totally rely on my iPhone for business and this is more than just an annoyance for me, I'm so paranoid about it happening that I find myself constantly checking my iPhone to make sure it's still working! I thought I left that behaviour behind when I moved away from WinMo...

I'm a bit confused as to why Apple are replacing hardware when it's an issue that has only arisen because of a software update. Is it because it's easier to replace some phones than it is to track the bug? Considering the number of replies to this post you would think it might be premature of them to assume this, replacement could end up as a very expensive exercise.

I'll keep an eye on the forum, hopefully VERY soon Apple will come up with a solution. I'm loathe to have to return to another phone because I can't trust my iPhone to work anymore but I can't rely on hardware I can't trust...

add me to the list...

Turned push back on after a week of 15-min fetch, and its hanging more.

(well it seems to be - can't be bothered to check it every minute to see)

Heard rumour there will be a patch today (thurs).

Hope its better than the itunes 9.1 - now my phone doesn't sync at all.

Still, could be worse - I could be the poor guy Jobs has been screaming at since 3.1! The 'genius-******* rollercoaster' must be a pretty uncomfortable ride at the moment.

Same here. Now its got to the stage, after 4 restore sessions, where if it isn't plugged in it loses all signal (Cell, 3G, and WiFi)it then turns itself off. this has been going on for a week now, since I "Upgraded" the OS software!

Its a rare case of apple dropping the ball.

Wonder how many of us are affected? Heard it was about 1 in 10 phones...

But I have faith in cupertino to sort this out - we can be sure someone, somewhere in the infinite loop is being made very uncomfortable indeed!

A "Bricked" IPhone 3G

I was a strong Windows Mobile user and even mandated that users on my corporate network only use Windows Mobile devices to synchronize with our Microsoft Exchange server. I was pleasantly surprised last year when my wife gave me an IPhone 3G for my birthday. I quickly became a fan and have made the IPhone the preferred way of connecting to Exchange. However, like so many on this board, I reluctantly installed the 3.1 patch and now experience the slowness, random freezes/shutdowns and poor battery life. I reset/restored the device with no luck -- thinking that the issue was within the back-up file, I factory reset the phone and rebuilt it. While the device appeared to work after rebuilding the IPhone, the intermittent freezes/shutdowns have returned -- last night five times in a row! The thing that made me fall in love with the IPhone was its stability -- unlike Windows Mobile devices, the darn thing never needed to be restarted or reset --- until now! While I am cautiously optimistic that the rumors of a 3.1 fix will be released today are true, the 3.1 patch in its current form has made me realize that the IPhone is not much better than Windows Mobile -- and because I can't get the darn thing to work, I am going back to Windows. Shame on you Apple for not testing patches before you release them!

Is the baseband crashing????

~/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/MobileDevice/<devicename>/Baseband/

The files are name in the following format: log-bb-YYYY-MM-DD-stats.txt.submitted

If you open those files using a text editor (TextEdit on a Mac will do), you should notice that some lines mentioning crashes, my crashes correspond to when my phone was in its coma state. Here's what I'm seeing:

Version=3
IncidentIdentifier=385CAA0A-F13C-4BEA-A5FC-DF5EFDAF128F
Date=2009-09-22;AP=7C144;BB=05.11.07;Model=N82AP;Machine=iPhone1,2
8:32:41 +0100 DST [clm] disconnect: duration=4;cause=kNoError;ceer=0;rat=0;cgi=234:10:33081:22702
12:36:26 +0100 DST [clm] disconnect: duration=106;cause=kNoError;ceer=0;rat=0;cgi=234:10:33081:22916
12:41:59 +0100 DST [rm] crash: state=Resetting
12:54:23 +0100 DST [clm] disconnect: duration=36;cause=kNoError;ceer=0;rat=0;cgi=234:10:3381:8878
13:01:53 +0100 DST [rm] crash: state=Resetting
19:09:19 +0100 DST [clm] disconnect: duration=4;cause=kNoError;ceer=0;txPower=-50;maxTxPower=24;txPowerLimitType=1;r at=2;cgi=234:10:33081:11042
19:10:24 +0100 DST [clm] disconnect: duration=43;cause=kNoError;ceer=0;txPower=-50;maxTxPower=24;txPowerLimitType=1; rat=2;cgi=234:10:33081:11042
23:32:29 +0100 DST [rm] crash: state=Resetting

This suggests that the baseband on my phone crashed twice on the 22nd, once at 12:41 and once at 23:32.

Looking back at logs when I was running 3.0 or 2.x show no crashes. I've submitted this info to my open bug report.

Just got back from ANOTHER round with the Genius bar. They want me to switch my phone AGAIN. I will be on my FOURTH iPhone!!! I refused to swap for a refurb though since I got a new phone on Monday from Softbank here. Apple says they can only do refurbs so they are checking to see if they can get Softbank to swap out this phone for a new one.

The reason they want to do this swap is not because of the hardware, it's because they told me they want me to use 3.01, and they can't reinstall an old OS on one that has been updated to 3.1.

They had the nerve to tell me to delete all my applications and use the phone without any applications! I said screw that I paid money to Apple for these apps; and that's how Apple is marketing the phone. I told them to tell me which ones I can't use and reimburse me for those. They of course told me they can't give refunds for apps, AND told me it was MY job to sort out which one is causing the problem and delete it, NOT APPLE's responsibility! They told me that there were too many apps in the app store for Apple to check each one! They also told me that they believe the problem is a developer's fault, and therefore it is the developer's responsibility to fix the app, not Apple's responsibility to update the OS and they said don't wait for an update any time soon - basically denying an reponsibility.

FYI, I checked all of the iPhones on display at the Shibuya store in Tokyo. ALL on 3.01. I brought this up and of course they said they just hadn't gotten around to updating the phones. Uh huh. Hard to sell broken phones isn't it!