iPhone 4 will not turn on

The title says it all. I opened the box. I plugged it into my MacBook. Nothing. I pressed the buttons, held the buttons, tried a different cable, connected it to the charger and waited an hour...

nothing.

Anyone know anything that can make a good iPhone refuse to turn on, or did I get a bad one?

MacBook 2.4 GHz, Mac OS X (10.6.4), iPhone 4 32GB Black

Posted on Jun 23, 2010 10:05 PM

109 replies

Jun 27, 2010 7:48 AM in response to rylack

Similar situation here:
Every once in a while, I go to pick up the phone, and no response to the home button or the power button. Hard reset usually always works, but so does just holding down the power key by itself > then the apple logo pops up, give it a few seconds and bammo, like nothing ever happened. Very frustrating, because last night it also got stuck in Searching... for network mode, while my wife's 3G had full service held in the same hand. Eventually after hard restore and airplane mode on/off cycle, it finally kicked back in. Further more, I kept having this annoying popup on launch day about this accessory is not optimized for the iphone when no accessory was attached. Very frustrating, had better product with the 3G, this iphone 4 32gb is just nothing but frustrations

Message was edited by: bombtech13

Jun 27, 2010 7:48 AM in response to ottonomy

Jun 29, 2010 8:51 PM in response to rylack

Got my iphone 4 this morning. Took most of the day to activate. Successfully synced phone and went to an evening meeting, fully charged.

Checked calendar before the meeting. During the meeting tried to use calculator and phone was dead. Held down power button, home button, both buttons - nothing.

Went home and tried to restart, reset, etc. Nothing worked. Unplugged phone from USB port and held down the power and home buttons at the same time - again. This time phone turned on.

Very happy, yet concerned it may happen again.

ottonomy Author

Level 1

16 points

Jun 30, 2010 7:04 PM in response to ottonomy

Well, as the original poster, I thought I should check in and let everyone know how this was resolved. The night I received my iPhone and discovered the problem, it was too late to speak with Apple support. After posting here and trying all of the tricks I could find on the web, I gave up on my dead iPhone 4 and waited until morning to call Apple. They asked me a few questions and determined that I had already tried all the ideas they had for me, at which point they gave me the option of heading to the local Apple Store for a replacement (which they promised would be available, even though it was release day) or avoiding the crowds and having one over-nighted to me, FedEx. I chose the latter. My replacement phone arrived in the morning (in entirely different packaging from Apple Care, but sealed and pristine). Aside from a little activation hiccup, which was resolved by AT&T over the phone, my new iPhone 4 has been working beautifully, and suffers from NONE of the reception, proximity sensor, or other issues I've seen popping up in this forum. I've got a smile now, but I feel for those of you still fighting problems...

Jul 2, 2010 5:48 AM in response to ottonomy

I was at the park yesterday and when I left my iPhone 4 in the car (in a nice cool shaded area - covered) it had over 60% battery.

When I come back a couple of hours later it was dead. I figured the battery drained maybe because I left some app running. Took it home left it in a wall charger for an hour and it wouldn't turn on. Tried holding the home and power button. Connected to iTunes and again held the home and power button and it detected the phone in recovery mode but couldn't do a restore either.

Finally gave up last night thinking of taking it to a 'Genius' this morning. I get up this morning and I turn it on and it starts up perfectly fine like nothing ever happened!

Frustrating to not know what was wrong with it in the first place.

Jul 2, 2010 7:45 AM in response to ottonomy

Apple replaced my defective iPhone 4 overnight. Do it and everything will be great.

Aug 6, 2010 4:25 AM in response to ottonomy

I had Similar situation and hard reset work this time but what about next time,Did I pay Apple for problem ???????????? WHY THEY DON'T FIX THIS ??????

Message was edited by: Bluearchman

Sep 16, 2010 6:14 PM in response to ottonomy

Today my iPhone4 just turned off while it was just sitting on the table. It was on with at least 75% of the battery remaining. At first I thought it went to sleep. I immediately tried to turn it on and I got nothing. I plugged it into the wall, my computer and even my truck which has a USB port... nothing. I did the hard reset (Thanks to this discussion!) and after about 20 seconds it came back on. For the past week prior to this my phone will just freeze and show the apple while I'm using it (At least once a day,very annoying). I usually press the home button and or the sleep button a couple times and it fires back up. Anyone else have this problem? Any suggestions of what might be wrong? Is it the apps, the battery, the phone?

Sep 23, 2010 1:12 PM in response to SouthBay J

Looks like I am having the same problem, just did a hard restart and am loading the latest s/w but have heard rumours it may be an app issue. If the problem persists I suggest you remove all apps, see how it runs for a week, then add the apps one at a time until you find the culprit! Must say I think this is rubbish. Strangely I have two iphones, 16g and 32 g and the 32 is yet to be a problem? Will keep you posted

Nov 27, 2010 5:25 AM in response to IndiunJim

Same thing just happened to my better-halves iPhone4. Power/home button combo got the unit to power back-up again. Asked her if she'd installed anything recently and she mentioned the LASTFM App. Deleted it and all seems fine again now ..... we'll just have to see. Apple Ops bomb-proof ..... not!

Jan 16, 2011 6:31 AM in response to nickthesurfer

My partner has had the same issue today, I hard booted it and all seems ok. Anyone have any ideas why this may happen??? No new apps and not dropped or anything, really unusual.

Feb 11, 2011 2:06 PM in response to Dj Soda Pop

I maybe the first Verizon customer to have this complete lockout. This is my 5th day having the new Verizon IPhone and this happened to me today. Since I do not have a Otterbox yet, I leave it on my desk until I go home. Don't care to drop it. I had put it to sleep then left the office for about 15 minutes. When I returned, nothing. I could not the "hard reset" to work. I would hold it for at least a minute. Called Verizon, they said they would replace if I would buy another and then return this one for a refund. I opted to go to the local Verizon store to at least get a loaner. I'm glad I did. Don't think there are too many extra ones around right now. Before leaving I tried it once more. I held the top "POWER" button first for about 10 seconds and then the "HOME" button. After about 30 seconds the Apple symbol appeared. I'm sure glad I didn't loose my work. Wonder if this will be on going?

Ash1588

Level 1

4 points

Feb 12, 2011 7:23 AM in response to Vrzniphone4

Nope, you're not alone! Had the same thing happen to me! Preordered the iPhone 4 for pickup on the 10th. Got it after work, activated at the Apple store, played with it all night. Plugged it in to charge and went to bed, used the alarm to wake me up with no problems at all. Drove to work, and as I was getting out of the car, I wanted to check the time and the **** thing was completely black. I'd had the thing for about 12 hours and it was already dead?Tried literally every solution provided online, including the hard reset (multiple tries at varying lengths of time) and plugging it into a power source which would give me the apple symbol but as soon as I unplugged it, it went black. I was EXTREMELY displeased at having to go back to the Apple store, but I'm glad I did, they had to do a POS swapout and activate a brand new phone for me. We are passed the 12 hour marker and I have no complaints with the new phone. Just my luck to get a lemon iPhone.

MauiLP

Level 1

0 points

Feb 21, 2011 7:05 AM in response to firestud5

this one is very helpful.. had same problem.. i was so worried and dont know what to do, i search on the web about my problem and end up in this site.. i did press and hold the power button and the home button together for 10sec and it really works.. thanks a lot dude 🙂

Mar 7, 2011 9:40 AM in response to ottonomy

This is what I did to resolve this very, same problem. I tried all the obvious things- holding both buttons, plugging it into my computer, plugging it into a wall socket.. Nothing made it come to life until I used my daughters phone and called my iPhone 4! It woke it right up. You may want to try this simple fix and see if it works.

I will be taking it to the Apple Store and asking them about it though.

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iPhone 4 will not turn on