New iPhone 4S unresponsive, requiring a hard reset on several occasions

I don't believe it's a cellular operator problem as I am with O2 in the UK.

Interesting brumeye. I did install the backup to my 4s using one from my 3Gs. The 3Gs did not have iOS 5 installed.So the backup was from a 4.3.5 3Gs. I would think that the backup should be independent of the operating system but stranger things have happened. It seems like the only common factor right now between us all. It will be interesting to know what happens with the factory restored phone.

Also my backup was done from iTunes. Not sure of that might have something to do with it. Could always try wiping and updating from an iCloud backup although I don't know whay that woudl make a difference. Just thinking outloud right now.

Its definitely an iOS software issue because I have a 4S 16GB and did not restore from any backup. Yesterday while I was at work, I watched my phone recycle itself a few times. I can see in Settings > General > About > Diagnostics and Usage > Diagnostic & Usage Data that my phone has crashed on its own and by my hard reset.

Just done it again, grrrrr :(

I've had the exact same problem on my 4S 16GB. The first time the screen started getting really pixelated and gray. Then the entire screen turned white. I turned the phone off then was unable to turn it back on so I had to do a hard reset to turn it back on. The second time it happened i just found the screen black and unresponsive. I called Apple Support and they had me do a hard reset. I really hope this is a software issue that can be fixed but I'm very tempted to return it for a new phone.

Add another 4s 32GB to this list. I restored my phone, as new twice, and it is still rebooting itself and/or becoming unresponsive. I currently have one panic log and two low memory logs from when it shut off. I think it is ios5 problem but i may try to go by the store tomorrow and see if I need to swap hardware.

Same problem here with a 4S 32GB and I also restored from a 3GS backup. One minute I'm using the phone, then a minute later it's a brick. Screen is completely black and unresponsive to everything. Even plugging it into the charger produces nothing. Completely dead. This has happened 3 times already.

I really hope Apple comes up with a permanent solution to this problem cause the other frustrating thing with this is that you never know you're phone is dead until you pick it up to use it. So all the while you think things are just quiet, you're missing important phone calls, texts, emails, etc. because you didn't know you're phone died.

I also have a new for 4s 16GB with the same problem. I'm on verizon. Have noticed that the phone stops working at about 9 or 10 PM every night.

I have a 32GB. It happened twice to me today. Once sitting on my desk at work and once in my pocket. I did notice my battery seemed much lower than it should have. I will check for heat if it happens again. I did not know what to think the first time it happened. The second time I was upset as I power cycled my 4 maybe a half dozen times in 15 months. I am used to my phone being rock solid.

I restored it from a 3GS backup, and while I haven't had any freeze up issues (knock on wood,) I have noticed that it will randomly stop being able to access the internet until I reboot it. Also, it will occasionally get stuck on speakerphone mode. Not sure if these are related issues, but the guys on tested.com were saying that some of their friends at Apple or something told them they should in no way restore from a backup of an older model iPhone, and should instead start from scratch.

I also had a lockup while using SIRI with maps on Monday afternoon. I tried all the buttons and nothing worked. Had an appointment at the Apple store for Tuesday AM. Monday evening when the battery had run down, I plugged it back in, it charged and was working normally.

Still took it into the store, they ran hardware diagnostics and it tested fine. The technician taught me hard to do the cold restart mentioned in some of the other posts. (i.e. hold the home button and the on/off button together until the apple logo appears). APPLE SHOULD PUT THIS ON THEIR TROUBLESHOOTING GUIDE FAQ, IT WOULD HAVE SAVED ME THE TRIP AND THEIR TECHNICIAN TIME.

I suspect it is a software/firmware problem or if it is hardware there will be a software/firmware work around. Funny that all computers/phones/tablets need a way to cold start for the occasional lockup. PCs get alot of bad press for the same problem and having to re-boot occasionally. What is amazing is that I will give apple credit in that my 3GS never locked-up like this in 2+ years or I would have already known how to work around it.

Seems we're all in agreeance that its a software issue. My phone crashed again this morning. I simply clicked the home button and nothing, then I tried again and the Apple logo appeared (ie i didnt have to hard reset it).

Here's my crash dump data:

Hardware Model: iPhone4,1

Date/Time: 2011-10-19 07:27:47.939 -0700

OS Version: iPhone OS 5.0 (9A334)

panic(cpu 1 caller 0x8007e8d4): sleh_abort: prefetch abort in kernel

mode: fault_addr=0x204902ae

r0: 0x802a5fc8 r1: 0x204902af r2: 0x802f4c58 r3: 0x0000001c

r4: 0x91592214 r5: 0x0000ffff r6: 0x00000001 r7: 0xcfd63f38

r8: 0x00000000 r9: 0xffffffff r10: 0x00000001 r11: 0x00000000

12: 0x0000001c sp: 0xcfd63f1c lr: 0x801e6675 pc: 0x204902ae

cpsr: 0x00000033 fsr: 0x00000005 far: 0x204902ae

Debugger message: panic

OS version: 9A334

Kernel version: Darwin Kernel Version 11.0.0: Thu Sep 15 23:34:43 PDT

2011; root:xnu-1878.4.43~2/RELEASE_

ARM_S5L8940X
iBoot version: iBoot-1219.43.32
secure boot?: YES
Paniclog version: 1
Epoch Time: sec usec
Boot : 0x4e9e3f8d 0x00000000
Sleep : 0x4e9edd40 0x000a482d
Wake : 0x00000000 0x00000000
Calendar: 0x4e9edd41 0x0003443a

Task 0xc085ed20: 12897 pages, 111 threads: pid 0: kernel_task
thread 0xc0868230
kernel backtrace: cfd63c78
lr: 0x8007bccb fp: 0xcfd63ca4
lr: 0x8007c2cf fp: 0xcfd63cd4
lr: 0x800165f7 fp: 0xcfd63cf4
lr: 0x8007e8d4 fp: 0xcfd63db4
lr: 0x80079488 fp: 0xcfd63f38
lr: 0x80210f23 fp: 0xcfd63f48
lr: 0x802185e5 fp: 0xcfd63f68
lr: 0x8021bfef fp: 0xcfd63f88
lr: 0x8021c07f fp: 0xcfd63fa8
lr: 0x8007a3bc fp: 0x00000000

Task 0xc085eac0: 212 pages, 3 threads: pid 1: launchd
Task 0xc085e600: 646 pages, 7 threads: pid 12: UserEventAgent
Task 0xc085e140: 229 pages, 4 threads: pid 13: notifyd
Task 0xc085e3a0: 527 pages, 9 threads: pid 14: configd
Task 0xc085dee0: 10175 pages, 21 threads: pid 15: SpringBoard
Task 0xc085dc80: 148 pages, 4 threads: pid 16: syslogd
Task 0xc085da20: 1877 pages, 14 threads: pid 17: CommCenter
Task 0xc085ce40: 585 pages, 3 threads: pid 22: lockdownd
Task 0xc085c980: 270 pages, 2 threads: pid 24: powerd
Task 0xc085c000: 1730 pages, 13 threads: pid 28: locationd
Task 0xc0ef9d20: 559 pages, 4 threads: pid 29: wifid
Task 0xc0ef9860: 693 pages, 8 threads: pid 31: ubd
Task 0xc0ef7720: 2245 pages, 18 threads: pid 45: mediaserverd
Task 0xc0ef74c0: 401 pages, 3 threads: pid 46: mediaremoted
Task 0xc0ef7260: 382 pages, 3 threads: pid 47: mDNSResponder
Task 0xc0f50d20: 624 pages, 8 threads: pid 49: imagent
Task 0xc0f50ac0: 752 pages, 5 threads: pid 50: iapd
Task 0xc0f50600: 212 pages, 4 threads: pid 52: fseventsd
Task 0xc0f503a0: 890 pages, 1 threads: pid 53: fair

For clarity, I get both issues. The screen being unresponsive (see my original post - 2nd to the author) and I get random crashes. The crash dumps from both scenarios (via hard reset or iOS crashing) show a very similar stack trace so it is the same issue.