Q: Mysterious random total shut downs following 3.1 update

Just adding myself to the list. Took the 3.1 update on rollout day. Random shut downs started last night (Sunday, 9/13).

Shut down around 5 times last evening.

Noticed two shut downs today.

Very annoying. I searched TUAW, Boy Genius and the iPhone Blog. I didn't see any coverage of this on those sites. I wrote to each of them and included a link to this discussion. Maybe we can get some additional coverage on this to help push it up the list some.

Message was edited by: corky1961 removed an extra TO

To add to that, send your messages highlighting the severity of this issue to:

Engadget
Gizmodo
Appleinsider
Arstechnica
TUAW
The Consumerist

All web addresses available on Google. If we all rally together and drum up some publicity for this, we might get Apple's attention. Nothing gets bugs fixed like bad publicity.

Well... happened to me again. Tried the screen snapshot (home button + power button) as mentioned here, and that didn't bring it back to life. Only hard-reset worked. Just turned of wifi and notifications to see if that'll help (I don't remember turning it on either btw). I am using Exchange sync.
Somebody mentioned Facebook. I noticed after it happened today (6th time) that on reboot my Facebook app was hosed. Blue bar at the top and a black screen - no buttons, nothing. Tried rebooting, still corrupt. I uninstalled, rebooted, and redownloaded and reinstalled, and had Facebook back (once I logged in). I'm wondering if it could somehow be related? Any other Facebook corruption correlating with this problem?

Add my name to the list. Just did my 3.1 update today, and my iTunes 9 update, I think today. Can't believe I can't remember exactly when I installed iTunes 9. Anyway, within a few hours of 3.1 update, phone suddenly died completely while listening to music. Thought it was fried! Did a hard reset, and it's back.

As an aside, I thought that even if the phone was off and you plugged it in, the battery symbol still showed to tell you it was charging. I plugged my dark phone into the computer and outlet, no response till the hard reset.

I read somewhere that turning on the wake from sleep Passcode feature would help and so far it has. Two days without coma on my 16GB 3G. I'm not stopping reading this forum, however. It could be a fluke.

same here. noticed this problem after 3.1 upgrade and itunes 9. phone goes black after putting it to sleep after receiving a call or sending a text. on next wake-up, nothing. it's also somewhat slow to respond to a wake-up even when it does function.

anyone else also having trouble (in general) with the phone not charging or being recognized on itunes? sometimes it fixes it to reboot the computer, other times not. i end up having to reinstall itunes and once that's installed, phone charges immediately.

Same here. I actually have additional symptoms. in My case the phone battery shows 75% charged, when I try making a phone call nothing happens, no ring tone, nothing. When I then reboot, the battery suddenly shows less than 5 % remaining.

Here we go again. SSDD in Brasil as well.

First it was with the OS 10.5.7
Now it is with the 3.1

What is going on with Apple?

I am starting to think twice about thinking differently

Just another update from me... I've done a total of 3 restores now and each time it seems to behave better but gets progressively worse. Today alone it has locked up and shut down a total of 3 times. The last time it shut down I had JUST missed a call, so I opened my call list to call the person back, and the phone immediately turned off. My brother's 3G has started locking up too today. If Apple can't give us an estimated date for a fix or SOME KIND OF ANSWER by Friday, then I guess I'll be going to the Apple store this weekend so they can replace the phone with a 3G with the 3.01 software...

Apple,
HOW LONG WILL YOU HOLD OUT? This software is a POS!! Now, let us downgrade our phones NOW!!!! I mean REALLY! How much money have we all tossed out every month for extras yet not get MMS? I know that is a separate issue, but it is related! I've been a faithful Apple user for years because your systems have functioned well and you've treated your customers well. This issue is is 5 days old and NO RESPONSE???????????

Signed,
One (of MANY) really ticked-off customer

< Edited by Host >

I've had this problem as well. It does it completely randomly for me as well. It's super annoying to take your phone out of your pocket after not using it for an hour and have it refuse to wake up.

I understand your anger - seeing as I have the same blackout problem - but the MMS problem is a whole other issue, one that is out of Apple's control. That is purely AT&Ts fault, and believe me, they are probably loosing money because of it. I live in Portugal, my network is Vodafone, and I've had MMS since day one of the 3G...Before OS3.0, Vodafone had an app for that , and immediatly after the 3.0 update, I had fully operable MMS.
They will eventually release a fix for this. For the time being, the only thing we can actually do is wait and restore our Iphones. Keep 'em clean, it will happen less often if they have less apps. Insulting Apple and protesting for things that aren't even their fault will not do us any good (besides the occasional discharging of anger...but then again, that's why they invented psychotherapy :p).

Granted, it is not Apple's fault (re: mms)... What I find inexcusable is that Apple intentionally will not allow anyone to downgrade to a previous (useable) OS (without considerable skill). Mistakes happen (clearly!) but ignoring the problem is maddening! If I were in their shoes, I'd have a BIG notice published on the iPhone support site stating that a problem has been identified and a solution is in the works. I'd also give my customer some assistance in rectifying the problem, not thwart their efforts. So, yes, there will be a fix for this, but in the meantime, my sole phone connection at home is unreliable... That is quite frustrating...

My hope is that someone at Apple is reading these posts and might actually communicate with the public about this issue.

Having the same problem. Phone goes dead and have to do hard reboot. Apple needs to address this quickly. It could be disasterous for users and Apple. I hope they will fix this asap!

My 3G is not resetting randomly. It is resetting after the 1 hour email notification when I receive emails. However it does not always reset. It has reset about 5 times since the update to 3.1 on September 10. Apple may take a hard hit on this FUBAR.