iPhone 3GS completely dead. Won't turn on won't charge. Reset buttons don't work

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iPhone 3GS completely dead. Won't turn on won't charge. Reset buttons don't work

My iPhone 3GS is a paperweight. What happened is when I went to plug it in to a third party car charger (that always worked fine before) it made the charging sound then the screen suddenly went dead and now won't turn on. Holding down the home button and lock button to reset doesn't work. I took it down to the apple store where one of the staff plugged it into various charging sources such as a computer or wall charger with no success. He took it into the back and opened it up (not sure exactly what he did) and brought it back still dead. He said in the connector there was some corrosion and water damage even though I've never dropped it in the water or got any water in there that I'm aware of that would be enough to actually damage it. He basically said I have to replace the whole phone which will cost me since its not under warranty (I bought it 2 years ago from Rogers). Is there anything at all that can be done to restore it?

Posted on Sep 3, 2011 2:56 PM

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Answer 1

gdgmacguy

Level 7

21,891 points

Sep 3, 2011 3:00 PM in response to Adamr5ts

I'm not sure what do you expect us users here to do for you.....

You went to Apple, an expert inspected your phone and told you it would need to be replaced. Well, then, it needs to be replaced! None of us here can look at your phone. You'll have to accept what the experts say, whether or not it's what you want to hear.

Purchase an out of warranty replacement or buy a new phone.

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Answer 2

Adamr5ts Author

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Sep 3, 2011 3:04 PM in response to gdgmacguy

Doesn't hurt to ask. Just looking for suggestions to see if there is anything. The person at the apple store still could've missed something. I'm surprised they don't do repairs but just tell you to spend money and buy a new phone.

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Answer 3

gdgmacguy

Level 7

21,891 points

Sep 3, 2011 4:14 PM in response to Adamr5ts

It's not cost- or time-effective for a genius to do repairs in the Apple Store. Broken phones are simply swapped out and then sent later for refurbishment.

If you're out of warranty, you can always search the internet for a 3rd party iPhone repair shop near you.

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Answer 4

Adamr5ts Author

Level 1

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Sep 4, 2011 7:59 AM in response to gdgmacguy

No that’s probably what I’ll do. I'm thinking the guys at the apple store can only do basic technical support since most of them are sales people that don't know how to physically repair phones. It seems kinda silly that, as fine as a product the iPhone is, when something like this happens they just tell you to replace the entire device without doing any proper diagnostic. If it was any other phone you could simply take it to a cell phone repair shop and they'll usually fix it. It’s almost as though Apple assumes their products will never fail so that when they do, the only solution is to replace the entire device at a cost higher then it would be if it was just a simple fix. So hopefully the local cell repair shop can do something instead of having to replace the entire phone. I'll accept the fact if I have to replace it after taking it to a few places and having some real technicians look at it, instead of a 5 minute trial and error diagnostic done by a sales associate at the apple store being quick to tell me that the phone is useless and has to be replace for several hundreds of dollars.

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