Q: Mysterious random total shut downs following 3.1 update

I have also been having problems with my iPhone 3G since the 3.1 update.

iPhone locks up at least once a day, often more than once, and requires a hard reset before it will function again.

Often the first indication that something is wrong is a sense that the iPhone is abnormally hot - after dishing it out of my pocket I confirm that the phone is indeed physically hot, as if it has been operating full out processing something, but when I try to unlock it it is totally unresponsive. After a hard reset it will come back, with the battery nearly drained, as if the processor has been maxing out until it crashes.

Very unusual, very prohibitive, as if the iPhone is set on running itself down when it should be locked and asleep. This has happened every single day since the 3.1 update. Is it some app incompatibility, trying to post push updates in a recursive loop until the battery drains? I have a fair amount of apps installed (59), but I have never manually enabled push notifications for any of them. Has anyone else noticed a correlation between apps installed and 3Gs locking themselves down after the 3.1 update?

Add another 16GB 3G owner to the list. I was browsing a webpage, looked up for a second, and when I looked back down, the phone was totally unresponsive.
The first time I installed the new 3.1 software, my battery drained quickly to 35% after only 2.5 hours of use. I restored. battery was a little better, but my WiFi signal was suddenly much weaker. Restored again- this time as new. Battery is still draining kinda faster than before 3.1, but now I have had the lock-up coma.

I will say this: I have noticed since the 3.0 software that there are 3 specific native apps that will not shut down when you exit them. iPod, Safari, and mobile Mail.
I have "Free Memory" installed and that will kill safari, and sometimes iPod, but Mail I have to actually open and force quit. And for the record, I have had this problem with NO accounts setup on the phone. Just looking at the screen to select an account setup type will cause the mail app to run in the background permanently. And no I don't use push for anything, and I don't have a mobileme account.

Personally, I think that there is something very very faulty with the 3.0 software, and it didn't get corrected with the next 2 versions that were released, it's got worse.

experienced a different problem after updating to 3.1

I have no Message and Call Alert now, eventhough the sound settings are all in "ON" position.

I can play songs, movies with sound though.

Same problem here with the shut-downs/crashes. Ran 3.1 update from itunes 8.2.1 in leopard yesterday, without even realizing what I was doing (just clicked OK unthinkingly, without looking into it first). Things are running quite sluggish when they work and battery is draining fast, but more annoyingly, every time I come back to the phone when it's been sleeping for a while, it's black and unresponsive. Have had to hard reset repeatedly, at which point it has decent battery still (i.e., didn't go dead from lack of battery) and works, until it sleeps again. Guess it's not very useful for receiving calls now, unless I keep checking in on it to see if it needs resuscitation. Maybe Apple is taking some of the burden from AT&T for the widespread irritation about the iphone's dysfunctionality as a communication device? Grrrrrrrr....

it did it to me. and it did it when i slept all day! and when people sent me text i didnt get them and people thought i was ignoring them! really apple u caused alot of arguments cause people thought i was ignoring them wow maybe u should try to fix our probs apple and not cause them

Unfortunately crash reporters aren't covering this. You are usually asked by the OS if it's okay to send the info to Apple. Also, this isn't a full system crash; it appears to be disabling the user interface while the underlying OS completes a task or function or allows it to time out.

In one of the earlier posts either a Genius or someone from Apple support asked if anyone could repeat the lock-up while tethered to a machine to capture the Console log. In this instance, I'm not sure they have a ton of data as it's an intermittent problem on a % of 3g/3gs handsets. I don't think the Console log syncs to iTunes. I got at it through iPhone configuration utility.

Hi i updated my I Phone this Friday and guess what...... i have had a total of 20 random shutdowns with no warning. It doesn't seem to come back on unless i do a hard reset and even that takes some time because i cant see anything on my screen. I also been experiencing some issues with the phone volume and not being able to hear the other person on the phone. Whit the amount of money i paid for the phone and the money i am paying out each month to At&t for bad service the least i can do is hope that my phone can do all the other things that i would like it to do. I c this weekend has been just as bad for may I phone users. i am so lookign forward to the path to fix this problem.

i updated my iphone last night to 3.1 it worked for me for like 10 mins then the screen froze...left it overnight but i didnt experience any shut down because my screen was freakin frozen which is much worsed than random shut downs...mine is more like a shut up....i cant answer calls nor read text messages...i hope apple fixes this worldwide problem immediately and stop making our phones a guinee pig to test some unbearable update....most of apples/iphone clients use their iphones as their business tool in which apple has been costing financial loses on the us the end user. FIX IT NOW!

I have been having the same problem, over and over.

I have the same problem on a 16 gig black iPhone 3G running 3.1.

I really regret having installed this "update."

Already sent an email to Apple Executive Relations hoping for fast action on Apple's behalf.

After 3.1 my battery life was such that it would not last overnight. Thanks to a suggestion by ShadyMac I seem to have now solved the problem by connecting to iTunes and performing a complete restore. I backed up first of all and then restored using the option to restore all files and settings afterwards. I thought it worth trying this before going back to new iPhone state and then adding apps etc back in. It took more than 1.1/2 hours to get through, mainly due to replacing all my music etc but the iPhone is now back to how it was before the update but running 3.1. Battery life is now back to normal and I have not experienced any random shutdowns. Left it on overnight, not fully charged to start with, and this morning the battery charge indicator has hardly moved. Thanks to Shady Mac for the suggestion.

having the same problem as everyone else - hard reset required to 'wake' phone after update on 3GS - really hope Apple are working on a fix

Same Problem here - along with an Audio Problem: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2103176&tstart=0

My iPhone 3G is rather unusable since 3.1 - no Audio, no Phone - huh... can only surf the Web & SMS at the moment...

Same problem here. After 3.1 random freezing after sleep. Phone calls when this happens dont show up. This is horrible

Also 3G data does not work. Only GPRS and Edge work.

I have to use this phone for work and other important stuff. I dont know if I have to start to use my old Nokia phone because my iPhone 3G is now totally unusable.

Same problem here.

My iPhone shuts itself down about 10 times a day!!!!!

I've tryed to restore it. I have no other app, just OS 3.1 native ones.

I noticed this issue doesn't wappen when my iPhone is plugged in.

Dear Apple, please fix this. My iPhone is completely unusable!