Q: Iphone 4 Home button not working after upgrade to OS 4.3.1

There are TWO differring issues to the unresponsive home button - and while they are unrelated, one can make the other issue more evident.

Problem #1 -Software/OS - For SOME users, apparently there is some kind of bug or other issue that is keeping the processor busy or unresponsive to input from the home button (would be interesting to see if there is a corresponding fater drain of battery).

Problem #2 (And what I believe is the most common issue by far) - a hardware issue related to the motherboard, power button, and the frame.   Whether from dirt, excessive pressure, or just use over time, the button itself gets somewhat out of allignment within the frame.  Dirt can be somewhat cleaned out by the method posted way back, but may void warranty due to liquids and the phone.  The somewhat out of allignment/over-pressed button, then the method previously posted that involves loostening the two tiny phillips-head screws near the cradle plug, using a spudge tool or other piece of plastic to put pressure towards the face of the phone in that slot, while tightening the screws back (this is what cured my problem after trying every other lame idea posted on this thread).

And for some, the button may simply be defective.

But in no case is there some magic key combination, pattern, or "callibration" to fix anything.  At best, you might be resetting the phone/rebooting/or otherwise temprarily airbrushing the more rare software problem.  But it is not a fix.

Unless we talking about hardware damage, please try the vacuum cleaner method.

It's true, it really works on iPhone. Put it on the iPhone cable tray and use it.

Before that i has intermittence and i did a restore with and witout a backup and it didn't work.

This method is very simple and it works for me.

hi

dear all,

The solution i found is to Kill/Terminate the MAIL process by using a third party tool (sysinfo) , mail will respawn again but it will solve the issue of button unresponsiveness.

The issue is that once you have used MAIL , the process is making button unresponsive till you kill it.

ill keep you posted since i just made the fix and symptoms have gone and button is working fine.

Ahsan

Had the same issue (home button not working) but using os5.0.1 it started after unplugging charging lead

was going to send of for repair untill i tried plugging in and out the power lead a few times using a bit of force.

that was 3 days ago and all has been well since

try this and let us know how you all get on

kars ardee

yes exactly.

something goes wrong after plugging it out while charging . it is IOS issue but then in the IOS 5 this is also happening as you wrote.

I hope there is any perfect fix than trial and error.

Well to me it is software issue , hardware issue and dirt issue can come in old used sets only after sometime not the new ones.. so let us concentrate on Software Bug and try to find a solution.

Two months ago I had the button replaced it worked ok for about 1 month and i had problems again.

My solution was buying an iphone screwdriver on ebay and tightening the two scews at the bottom of the phone.

can we upgrade IOS 4.3.3 to IOS 5  to solve this  home button issue?  or IOS 5 also has home button issues?

Upgrade to 5.0.1 will not solve home button issue!

I'm on it and I still have the same problem.

The only certain I have is that issue is intermittence and it's not a HW problem!

I didn't find any rule that makes the issue hapen, but i think that is SW bug.

After the vacuum cleaner method my iPhone returns to the not respond home button issue!

Whenever my home button stops working I just hit the phone on a hard surface (I have a case on it) and this solves the button problem instantly 100% of the time, and it's usually months before I have another problem.

There is no software issue... I have no idea why anyone thinks there is a software issue. The only way software could cause this is if some third party app (or jailbreak) is completely consuming the CPU or the RAM. Even then, the button press would still register, but just after a delay. If you truly believe there's a software issue, then restore your phone to 5.0.1 and set it up as a new phone. If you still have the issue before loading any other apps or information, then you now know there isn't a software issue. You can't run the identical OS on the exact same hardware and have a "software" issue on only a small subset of those devices. I know many people with the same GSM iPhone 4 hardware running the same 5.0.1 iOS that I have who do not have this issue. In fact, I'm the only one out of 10+ people I directly know who is having this issue. It is most definitely hardware related. It would appear that the home button ribbon cable comes lose over time or the actual button contact is very susceptable to corosion or dust collection causing button pushes not to complete the circuit and register the button push to the OS. Try these solutions in order...

1) Clean out the dock port connector with canned air or a vacuum and a plastic toothpick (or something similar).

2) Open the back of the phone, clean the inside out carefully with canned air, press firmly on the back of the speaker/microphone assembly which sits directly behind the home button.

3) Carefully apply a quality electrical contact clear to both the dock port connector and the home button (while pressed down).

4) If none of the above solutions work, replace the home button. If your phone is under warranty or covered by AppleCare, Apple will replace it for free. If you have an Apple authorized repair center or cell phone repair shop near you, you can have this service done for anywhere between ~$30-$75. If you want to try to replace it on your own, purchase the home button ribbon cable or the full home button assembly from somewhere (e.g. eBay or iFixIt) and use this manual to carefully disassemble your phone and replace the cable: http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Installing-iPhone-4-Home-Button/3144/

It stinks that Apple is not recognizing this issue and doing right by it's out of warranty customers by replacing the handsets or repairing them for free. I have never dropped my phone, gotten it wet, or gotten it any dirtier than pocket lint would cause, but yet here I am having to open up my case once a month to get the button working consistently again. However, based on personal experience, I would venture a guess that this affects less than 10% of iPhone 4 owners, so I think we're on our own at this point.

This is not a hardware issue , it is a software IOS issue .

1. The technique to plug the iphone in PC with USB and then pull out the USB makes the un responding Home button immediately functional , i have tried this many times when button is not responding and this solution is working fine.

After this the home button works without any issue showing there is no dirt or hardware fault in it.

This is software bug which apple needs to address immediately.

Ahsan

That's not software causing that "fix." Try that next time it stops working but don't plug the USB end into your computer. If there is no current passing through the cable, then the iPhone doesn't know anything is plugged into it. What's happening when you do that, is that it's forcing the dock port connector up slightly. The connector is directly connected to the logic board and it is forcing the logic board back up into contact with the ribbon cable connection. That is also why this "fix" doesn't last. Eventually the logic board settles back down and the cable loses solid connection again. You'll find someone earlier in this thread recommended plugging in the cable and lightly bending the connector upwards. Yes, it works temporarily. No, there is in no way any sort of software reset is taking place when the software doesn't even know anything was plugged into the phone. I'm not trying to argue with you. I'm trying to help you and everyone else. The more people preach that there is a software issue, the more confused the issue becomes, and the less likely this issue is to get noticed by Apple or some 3rd party interested in creating a repair kit.

Surely your assertion does make sense and ill try this .

But as far as what i did was that i plugged out the usb cable from laptop first not from the iphone and home button started working ok .

Ill see what goes next and will share .

And one more point , when the home button was working ok and i was charging my iphone through AC power adapter, as soon as i plugged the

power out of the socket plug the home button went unresponding. 

More over opening an iphone in those 33 steps cant be done by a normal user , it is scary !!

Hello Caesar113, i agree with you  after all checks, you are right it is  the cable connection issue beneath the HOME button !!!

Ahsan