WiFi greyed out after iOS upgrade

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Level 1

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WiFi greyed out after iOS upgrade

Hi!

I believe it's obvious that upgrading the iOS messes with your WiFi.
Let's focus on the iPhone 3Gs and iOS 4.1 upgrade. It's a fact that if you search the Internet - iPhone 3GS WiFi grayed out after 4.1 upgrade - you will find thousands of results.

Besides the thousands of iPhone owners reporting issues with WiFi after upgrading the iOS, I recently witness 2 (two) iPhones 3GS on 4.0.1 upgraded to 4.1 and ending with the WiFi GRAYED OUT. Mind you, EVERYTHING was working fine BEFORE the upgrade.
More information: the WiFi is grayed out, no address in Settings>General>About ; Bluetooth doesn't turn on, but it has an address in Settings>General>About; battery drains out 2 times faster.

I was stunned by this weird behavior. So I got another iPhone 3GS on 4.0.1 - no way I'm going to update this one! I removed the motherboards from the 3 iPhones and tested the all WiFi hardware with all motherboards.
The results: the iPhone 3GS 4.0.1 works 100% with all WiFi hardware; the other two iPhones 3GS, recently upgraded to 4.1, always had the WiFi option GRAYED OUT no matter which WiFi I used.

Obviously, we must consider that not all non-working WiFi scenarios are related to an iOS upgrade. But we CANNOT IGNORE that there is considerably high chance you will loose your WiFi and battery power after you upgrade the iOS - I've witnessed exactly that!

Meanwhile, I've tried all the following solutions to fix the WiFi, without any success:
- reset networks settings (several times)
- erase all content and settings (several times)
- continuous reset the iPhone (power+home buttons)
- restore the firmware in restore mode (several times)
- restore the firmware in DFU mode (several times)
- upgrade the firmware to 4.2 and downgrade to 4.1 (to check if modem upgrade could fix it)

Never tried the crazy "cook the motherboard" option, but I doubt it will work because I believe the problem is with the iOS upgrade, not hardware. Also, never tried the iRecovery solution because it doesn't work with my 64-bit OS.

Apple should definitely release some kind of software for Mac and Windows to fix this terrible flaw. The WiFi issue after iOS upgrade is just too obvious to be ignored! And considering the price of the equipment, iPhone users deserve a competent technical support - and solutions!

Any support would be greatly appreciated.

Best regards.

iPhone 3GS, iOS 4

Posted on Oct 8, 2010 8:36 AM

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Answer 1

Oct 8, 2010 5:49 PM in response to SolonPT

I am experiencing the same problem. My iPhone 3g was given to me and is only two years old. Someone at Apple must know how to fix it. I went to an Apple Store and they had me restore as a new phone to no avail. It was so awesome to have recieved this phone but now it *****. Apple should be interested and concerned with satisfying their customers instead of screwing them.

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Answer 2

SolonPT Author

Level 1

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Oct 9, 2010 5:23 AM in response to Curlygirl1

I'm new here. After I started this topic I did an exhaustive search to this forum only to find that - besides the thousands of iPhone users all over the Internet - there are also lots of iPhone owners with WiFi issues after an iOS update IN THIS FORUM.
Now what I really don't understand is why Apple ignores such an obvious issue with iOS updates. I never had any issues with my iPhones; now that I have ONE problem I feel that Apple doesn't do anything about it. It's embarrassing!

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Answer 3

mlink77

Level 1

0 points

Oct 25, 2010 3:52 AM in response to SolonPT

Same issue here. iPhone 3G, 22 months old and after updrade to iOS 4.1 I got a greyed out Wi-Fi all of a sudden.

It's been working for a few weeks after the upgrade, but after the last restart of that phone yesterday, I cannot make Wi-Fi work again.

I tried soft-reset, reset network settings, restore factory default and nothing worked.

Apple: Please fix this as soon as possible. An iPhone without Wi-Fi is only half an iPhone!

Best regards,
Matt.

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Answer 4

Nico008

Level 1

0 points

Oct 26, 2010 3:00 PM in response to SolonPT

Hi!

I have exactly same problem.
Any working solution would be very welcome!!!

Thanks in advance

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Answer 5

Oct 28, 2010 8:08 AM in response to Nico008

Hi there

I have the same issue. This is NO hardware failure, but an software flaw of the highest kind!
Now I'm looking for a way to downgrade my iPhone to iOS 3.x
Don't know where to look. Support from Apple is generic and Apple baffles the enormous userbase completely! Very uncool.

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Answer 6

paulcb

Level 6

19,239 points

Oct 28, 2010 9:10 AM in response to peteremil

Now I'm looking for a way to downgrade my iPhone to iOS 3.x
Don't know where to look.

You might try Google... I hear it has lots of stuff. 😉

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Answer 7

Nico008

Level 1

0 points

Oct 30, 2010 2:55 AM in response to paulcb

Can someone tell me if downgrading to iOS 3.x does resolve the wifi greyed problem? Or any other solution!

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Answer 8

Nov 8, 2010 3:04 PM in response to SolonPT

Hi SolonPT,

Have you found any solution for this issue?

Regards,
Cristiano.

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Answer 9

Nico008

Level 1

0 points

Nov 8, 2010 3:40 PM in response to sao.pedro

Personally, I haven't found a solution yet 😟

Note that putting the iphone in the fridge make the wifi works for like 10 seconds.
Pretty strange...

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Answer 10

Nov 24, 2010 1:06 PM in response to Nico008

Well folks, looks like there is no-one with an answer to our wifi-greyedout-problem. Browsing the docs at Apple Support is pretty useless on this topic. There are only furious people with this **ing problem. **** wish I knew that the first thing you should to when buying an iPhone is make a SHSH so you can safely downgrade in the future - because this is the problem: iOS 4.x is NOT compatible on iPhone 3G! Why doesn't Apple acknowledge that?!
So I have to face the fact that I'll have to buy an iPhone 3GS or 4 to have wifi back in my life...

Crap.

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Answer 11

Nov 24, 2010 1:08 PM in response to Nico008

Previous history suggest that a reversion does not always solve it, and that the cause may be a simple hardware failure (as was discussed extensively during the 3.1 to 3.2 upgrade ranting)

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Answer 12

Nov 25, 2010 12:31 AM in response to SolonPT

Same problem here. But my wifi grayed out when i updated from 4.0.1 to 4.2.1. I've read a couple of articles about this problem and it talks about frying the wifi micro-chip during the upgrade to the latest iOS 4 versions. I think that Apple did this on purpose, so we would all go an buy a new iphone 4.

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Answer 13

Nov 25, 2010 1:06 AM in response to peteremil

QQ more?

These forums are designed to receive feedback from fellow users about the issues you are having. Using profanities won't help your case. And wifi being gray is 100% a hardware failure. When you update your software, the baseband updates with it. If that baseband an firmware are defective (as is the case with this issue) prior to updating, it is only exacerbated by the iOS update you are performing. Simple solutions or those experiencing this issue are as follows:

1. Reset network settings and/or hard reset.
2. Restore AS A NEW DEVICE.
2a. Make sure you SYNC (a backup is not the same and you will lose your contacts, calendars, etc)

If the aforementioned steps do not resolve it, you need to replace the device. See? Very simple.

If you are still under the 1 year warranty or have the AppleCare Protection plan, you will be covered (unless damage is found on the device). If you are not, you can replace the device for $199.

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Answer 14

Nov 25, 2010 1:54 AM in response to shadowbeast

shadowbeast, i totally agree with you that using profanities wont help our problem and agree with you that grayed out wifi is a hardware problem, but you have to understand that people payed their money for the this expensive device and they have the right to be quite unhappy when something goes wrong with device, without getting the right support from Apple!

I would believe that it could be a coincidence due to improper use of the phone, but when hundreds or thousands of people are experiencing the same problem after upgrading to the newest iOS version, this is definitely a mistake made by Apple. The most interesting thing in this case with the the grayed wifi after updating is that Apple will never admit their mistake and always will blame the user for improperly using the device.

I contacted apple support and followed all of the instructions and still did not fix the issue. In my case, since i don't live in the US, i can not replace my iphone for $199, AppleCare Protection plan does not cover me in Russia and my warranty of 1 year passed (1 week ago). The phone was working perfectly until i upgraded to the newest iOS 4.2.1 version! And now 30% of it's functionality is lost due to hardware damage that was caused using services provided by Apple!

Now I'm off to buy a new iphone for $900, because i cant live without wifi:((((

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Answer 15

Nov 26, 2010 8:17 AM in response to Daniel Zhukov

BUMP!

Common Apple comment on this problem. I know there are Apple employees registered on this forum...

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