iPhone 4 periodically won't wake up

Apple store replaced my iphone 4 yesterday without any problem, and so far so good, no problems whatsoever. I did not restore from any backups, chose instead to set it up as new phone just to be on the safe side. One other person posted on here that his phone died on the morning of the third day -- that's the same thing that happened to me, it was always dead on the morning of the third day.
I would definitely tell anyone with a phone that experiences "comas" to get to an Apple store for a replacement.

That is funny because mine died on the third day too. I traveled to Northern Cal for four days, where it is hotter than here in San Diego, and the phone had no problems. Now that I have been in San Diego for the past two days, the phone has died over night both times. It just goes to sleep when I am sleeping and I have to do a hard reset to get it back. It may be temperature related, but I don't know, and my girlfriends phone does not have the same issue, although it has been in the same environments as mine. I am doing a clean install, like Apple Care suggests, and I will let you all know if that works for me...

After I fully restored my phone, it was the third day that the coma issue started again. If anything it is now worse than before I restored! Still awaiting stock so I can get a replacement.

If anyone that got a replacement is still reading this, can you confirm that the issue didn't start up again after a few days, even with the phone set up in the same way as before (ie same settings, apps etc)? That would seem to prove it's a hardware rather than software issue.

I got my replacement tuesday last week and so far no issues yet. Installed it as new phone as far as I remember correctly but same apps and more plus same settings as with the first one. hth

Sibylle

Mine iP4 was delivered on the 23rd a day early and as I previously posted, I have also had the problem.

For me the "coma" coincidentally occurs at a location that has very low 3g and wifi service. (In fact it occurs in exactly the same location each time I go.) Given the issue with false signal strength meter the service may be considerably lower or non-existant.

In each coma incident when I could finally get the thing to restart I still had plenty (over 90%) battery even after a 6+ hour elapsed time so the coma must be occurring fairly soon after I leave it.

I have been able to duplicate the coma at the same location each time (a locker at a club). I have done several experiments and have determined that if I turn the phone off and leave it in the locker when I return I can turn it right on, no coma, no problems. I then tested it with airplane mode ON in the same locker for the same period and no coma. When I return it wakes right up and I simply turn airplane mode off and everything works fine.

For my coma issues I believe they occur when he phone is left alone in a location with low signal and/or low wifi. I checked with applecare and they know of no shutdown safety if the phone is left searching for signal for an extended period.

I have done a complete restore and plan to run another test this weekend without turning the phone off.

fwiw, my issues seem related to the phone going to sleep in an area with little or no signal.

Any of you think your issues could be similarly related to the ambient signal strength at the location where you're having issues?

m in nashville

nope although it occured mostly over night when it was sitting on my nightstand it also occurs in the livingroom and in the car and I might remember another place. So no pattern here. Just iPhone in sleepmode and no awaking from that.

Thanks for the info Sibylle. That is encouraging that the issue hasn't reappeared on the new phone after you have had it for over a week.

As for the location theory, I thought at first that this might be an influence as it only occurred at work. Since I did a restore though it also does it overnight when I am at home. One pattern is that the comas do seem to occur almost always during the morning. Obviously I don't know what time it does it overnight as I am asleep, but once lunchtime arrives the phone generally behaves itself for the rest of the day. Only once has a coma hit during the afternoon. This is a good thing as I do use it more in the evenings so comas then would be even more annoying, but obviously I want a phone that works all the time!

I thought signal strength could be a factor but it doesn't exaplain how someone with a replacement phone has no more problems. Presumably it is being used in the same places at the original, so I can only assume there are some dodgy batches with some kind of hardware fault. Hopefully all of those have now worked their way through the supply chain so that all replacements will be OK.

although mine froze the first two nights, and all nights afterwards it also froze from the second day on in the middle of the day too, after only about 15 min not using it. it must be kind of a diva inside which is acting up when not getting attention 🙂

So 9 pages into this thread, and the conclusion seems to be:

1) It's a problem without any particular pattern, especially when comparing different users

2) Get a replacement.

I'll do that then! 🙂

Add me to the list of users who are experiencing the iPhone 4 coma. It has happened three times, and yes the home+power buttons held for 20 seconds or so will revive it by rebooting it. Otherwise there is no way to wake it up or interact that I can tell.

It does not recognize in iTunes or when plugged into USB on the computer.

Calls to it go to voicemail as if it's still talking to AT&T (4 rings, unanswered style)

No correlation to apps running or use of wifi or not.

I've tried restoring, setup as a new phone, did not fix.

Scheduled for a genius bar this evening to swap.

P.S. I'm also experiencing the proximity sensor issue, though unrelated as my wife's phone does the proximity sensor but is not going into a coma.

I am also having this problem with my replacement phone that I received Friday. Was working fine on the weekend and then on Monday this same issue started happening. I have had to reset the phone 3 times already today which is a pain.

Has anyone found a solution?

After having problems with the battery on my 1st iPhone 4 this phone is turning out to be a complete nightmare. Not impressed!

Just a quick update - it has been one week since I replaced my phone and I have had absolutely no problems in that time. I echo what others have said on here - get yourself down to Apple and get a replacement.

I succumbed and had the genius bar replace mine today. Will see how it goes.

"Heard about a few of these now" the chap said.

Chris.

I'm having this same problem...The wifi theory didnt dawn on me until now...both places it has happened, my phone automatically connects to the wifi. But that doesnt seem natural...I like the fact that I dont have to do anything to connect to wifi...to have to manually do it each time is a bit of a nuisance...

two weeks since replacement phone (heavy use) and never experienced the issue again. my guess is that a batch of phones may have been defective (battery maybe?).