No Wifi after iPhone 3.1 upgrade

Hi All,

Ive had my iPhone 3G 16Gb black for almost a year with no problems. I upgraded to 3.1.2 on Sunday 20/12/09. I noticed on Monday when I came into the office that it did not connect to the wifi, I checked the settings and the wifi option was greyed out and says "no wifi" I checked the mac address under "about" and it says "wifi n/a". I checked the forums and done the following that evening. Soft reset, complete restore (after I carried out a full backup), erase all settings and data and erase network settings. Some people suggested resetting my router but if you cant even get into the wifi settings on your phone I didnt really feel the need to mess with that. After all this there was no change to my iPhone. I booked in online to visit a genius at the London Apple store on Tuesday. The nice lady had a look at my iPhone, did the usual diagnostic checks and to see if it had been misused. She said there was a hardware fault and she would replace the unit for a new one. This was very lucky as I only have 10 days of warranty left! However Im more than happy with the service from Apple. I leave you with this question....was it hardware or software?

Best of Luck 🙂

I was amongst the long list of people, until now. I just figured out a solution for my iphone 3g 8gb running on 3.1.2 - now I have Wifi working (sorta)

What I did was keep the phone really really close to the wifi router. The wifi antenna of the phone I read somewhere was in the little metal ring that covers the camera lens. So I practically touched the metal ring to the antenna of the wifi router and Voila!! I had full signal where previously I had none... in fact I had all the same problems you guys all talked about.

I do hope this helps... and Apple we expect better from you!

i was realy happy for view days, i have learned much about my iphone becouse of the wireless problem and the options i have like navigation and 3D games viewing my geovision video cameras and so on. Tonight i have very bad signal but my router is less than half meter from me and than no connect anymore, no freez, no holding very close to router so i am shure it is hardware, firmware update did something that damaged the wlan chip or make it very sensitive.. i will try to throw it trough my window and let you know if it works, maybe microsoft has a solution..

I know this won't help anyone but, I took my phone to the apple store in Sydney, reported the problem and, even tho two months out of warranty, the replaced it for a new one. No questions asked! All is working well now. Gotta give em SOME due....?

tried the wififofum and it did not work for me...glad it worked for some of you, was worth trying...still looking for a solution besides the freezer...which does cause it to work again for a few minutes...thanks

forgot to mention that I took it to the Apple store yesterday and no luck, they couldn't get it to find wifi and said it was a hardware issue...they had never heard of the "freezer" helping it work so since I am out of warranty it is $199 for a new 3G phone, I passed as I can connect with 3G, just the wifi is not working...

3.1.2 (7D11) No Wi-Fi. Genius says, "Wi-Fi is fried", out of warranty, replace for $200. I took good care of this phone. I don't know why everyone thinks Apple is so great - their non-support of this issue is just as shameful as MS Windows blue screen of death.

i'm having the same issues after the upgrade and have never had them before. guess i better schedule an appointment with an apple genius and hope for the best.

If you read these pages Apple resolve the issue for some by changing out the iPhone so in conclusion some iPhones work with 3.1.2 and some do not.

Many claim that it is a software issue and others hardware involving not only the iPHone but also peripheral devices like Routers. So the question is if it is a iPhone issue why would Apple resolve the problem with a new phone rather than a more cost effect and easily distributed software solution.

Perhaps Apple is dealing with a potential worldwide hardware recall situation if it can be proved that the hardware is not fit for the purpose for which it is intended. Successful remedy of the problem is not necessarily determined whether you are within their warranty or not but by how effective your argument is supported by a full understanding as to your consumer rights under any consumer law that regulates your location.

Armed with a printout of all posting in this discussion thread you might get a result talking to a Consumer Rights Advocate if talking to Apple proves unsuccessful.

3 WEEKS GONE BY STILL HAVENT GOT MY I PHONE BACK!!!!!!!! living in cyprus is a nightmare when i comes to customer support...Took my iphone back to were i bought it from, GERMANOS in THE MALL OF CYPRUS, Nicosia..dont know were they sent the phone to be checked out...im fuming as ive been without a phone all christmas.

I am also having the same issue with the grayed-out NO WIFI. I tried all of the fixes, then scheduled a Genius Bar meeting today for both of my family iPhones (yep, both with the same issue).

Like many of you, my iPhones are out-of-warranty, just a little under two months now. I was told the issue was a hardware issue that Apple was unaware of and that I would have to pay $199.00 per phone to resolve it. I pointed out the threads on Apple's forum, pointedly remarking on the 125K people plus who have viewed and/or posted on this issue. The response: "People can say anything on the forum. That does not mean there is really an issue." I then pointed out the issue: my two WiFi fried iPhone's! "Nothing I can help you with" was the reply.

I left with my defective iPhones in hand. Shame on Apple for failing to take care of their customers with an issue that plainly is their fault and something they can't help but be aware of. Perhaps this is a new marketing method: screw up the phones and the masses will simply purchase new ones.

Like many of you, my iPhones are out-of-warranty,

I could say this is the downside of your decision to not buy AppleCare. OTOH, you believe it's everyone's inalienable right to a lifetime warranty for all products, right? Or do you restrict this to just your purchases when it suits your interests.

Oh, please. This is, of course, why there are required recalls on a variety of products. I do believe that when Apple does something that causes a specific issue, that they are responsible for it.

I assume that with your view of the issue, that when your car manufacturer notifies you of a recall issue, you instead insist on paying full price because your car is no longer under warranty?

FUI, automobile and other product "recalls" are done when there are safety or product liability issues, and are not warranty related at all - the vast majority of owners have no idea that there was anything wrong. Do you see a safety issue with loss of WiFi?

Apple didn't "do something" to cause this. It was caused by a defective component that got fried during the firmware burning process. You didn't pay for the extended warranty and now you expect to be covered regardless.

Ok, let's use your learned analysis for my reply. You said that it was caused by a defective component that was fried by the firmware burning process. Oh, wait, there were two defective components here since I have two iPhones. What a coincidence. Oh, wait...there are actually hundreds, if not thousands, of defective components/iPhones from all of the people who have taken the time to post and/or view in this thread...that all fried at essentially THE SAME TIME. And what was the time that happened? Why, it occurred when Apple made a firmware update that caused the issue.

Apple places strict controls over updates on these phones. All of the updates are specifically controlled by Apple via iTunes, either in the form of firmware updates, software updates, and applications. When Apple puts out an update that causes the same issue with this many phones, they are clearly liable.

It would be no different if I took my car down to the dealership for maintenance and during that work they fried the cars electronics. Do you really think their reasonable response would be, "Yes, sorry we did this, but it is your fault because you did not purchase the extended warranty?"

What do I expect? I expect Apple to stand behind their product.