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iPhone 4 Black Screen But Phone Works

I have used the iPhone 4 (Factory Unlocked) for more than a year now with only minor issues. Like on a usual day I was playing a word game "Rumble" then quit the game, connected my earphones for music & pressed the "Home" button on the phone to unlock it and the screen was Black. This was a sudden shocker!! 😮. I just put the phone to rest for a while & after about an hour crossed my fingers and tried the Home button again but the Black screen continued. So the backlight of the iPhone works I can say that bcoz I see the phone luminates but the "Slide to Unlock" is cannot be seen. Since I have been using the phone for a while I know the exact position of "Slide to Unlock" so if I slide my finger it unlocks too with the default "unlocking (click) noise" but again the icons of the apps cannot be seen, all I see is a fadely luminated grid. I receive SMS's and Calls although I cant read them nor can I see whos calling. Since the screen is blank I cant operate the phone but the phone seems to be working. I hence tried the reboot, restart, shutdown & start again, restore backup, update iOS everything a desperate user would do but nothing has worked till now. There is not much discussion on this issue anywhere hence No resolution. I am gonna visit an Apple service center today and keep my fingers crossed. I have taken utmost care of the phone. Till date it is scratchless, spotless. I miss my phone 😟.


Mumbai, India

Apple iPhone 4, iOS 4

Posted on May 18, 2012 7:33 PM

Reply
151 replies

Aug 2, 2017 2:22 AM in response to Utkarsh Thakare

I've had an iPhone 4s for two years and this never happened until recently. For me the screen didn't work but my phone would sense me turning it into vibrate and respond with a buzz as usual. My phone would ping when it received a text but the screen would remain black. Nothing would happen if I tried to power the phone off/on but Siri could still talk to me and listen to requests. But again, the screen didn't light up.

What I did was a left it all weekand when I picked it up on Sunday night it had ran out of charge, I plugged it in and taa-daa! It worked. I'm not sure whether this was chance or if letting it run out of charge will help. I suggest you try this if nothing else works.

May 18, 2012 7:52 PM in response to stevejobsfan0123

thanks fpr replying "Stevie fan". In the whole restore process the screen only luminates no Apple icon, no nothing. There is a service center listed on the apple web-site here in mumbai I would be visiting them in a while; they have already told me that if its a hardware issue they wont be able to do much other than arrange for a replacement.... Now I dont know how much of a Bomb will they charge.... will find out.

May 19, 2012 6:25 AM in response to Utkarsh Thakare

Hi


Same thing has happened to me yesterday. At around 11.45 am (WET) after a call, my Iphone 4 went dead. It's turned on, which means with service, but can't see anything in the screen, can't unlock, can't reject a phone call to it, I've tried to charge it to maximum (it was around 75% of battery) and nothing. Now, I'm hoping that after the battery run dead, the phone will work. Is it????


Can you please tell me that if in the apple store, there is a way that they can see that the phone is not "older" than 1 year, and the activation only happened 7 months ag (just because I don't have an invoice... it was a gift!)


Its an original iphone 4 with ios 5.1.1..


Thank you all

May 22, 2012 6:24 PM in response to Utkarsh Thakare

Same thing here: since upgrading to iOS 5.1.1 on iPhone 4


What didn't work:

- hard reset (10 sec. power off) -> no apple logo shown, (also:no charging, no recovery 'iTunes logo')

- normal recovery (not DFU) through iTunes (no logo shown but NOT in DFU mode, phone restores well and is usable for a while until it chrashes during sleep)

- resetting all settings from the phone (after succeeding to bring it back to life)


Symptoms

- normal operation works fine, no signs of a problem

- after 'sleep' mode, no screen comes up

- after 'swithching off' no screen comes up

- after 'charging to 100%, no screen comes up.


most of the time the blank-screen phone is fully responsive on keys, phone call or charge cable but not responsive on the screen. But sometimes it doesn't response to calls or the cable.


Very awkward that the normal apple logo reboots or the charging indicator are not visible 95% of the time.


Last resort sofar: restore in DFU mode cause it looks a bit like something is wrong with:

- either the bootloader

- the battery

- something else??


Anyone an idea? I'll keep you posted on the DFU-restore...

May 24, 2012 12:05 PM in response to Utkarsh Thakare

I have a similar problem with my iPhone 4, and it started about five hours ago. The screen is completely blank (no backlight), and there's no way to interact with the phone. Pressing the power/home/mute/volume -buttons has no effect. The only reason I know for a fact it's still "alive" is that: A) It's still producing heat B) If I dial the number, it "rings" on the other end (the phone itself doesn't react in any way) for a good while before going into voicemail. If the phone wasn't on the network, the call would jump straight to voicemail.


Plugging in the USB-cable has no effect. At the moment all I can do is wait for the battery to run down and hope that it's a software issue. The timing seems a bit curious, given that others are experiencing similar issues.


The phone itself is in mint codition, running iOS 5.1.1 and has never been jailbroken.

May 24, 2012 1:36 PM in response to shareholder

Hi Shareholder,


...my 2 cents, it might be a good idea to try to kick the phone in DFU (Device Firmware Update) mode and then restore it through iTunes.


There are two ways to do that (afaik):

- pressing the home and powerbutton simultaniously for 10 seconds and then releasing the powerbutton (keep on pressing the home button for 15 seconds). You won't see anything in your case but when you connect it to iTunes it will detect a phone in 'Recovery Mode'


-using a jailbrake tool that can do that/help you with it, it's easier 'cause you can actually see if the phone responds. FYI - you won't jailbrake the phone with it or void your warranty it's just a tool to help you get it in DFU mode, or kick it out of it if needed.


hope it helps...


BTW: I finally brought the iPhone to the phonestore it was bought from, the tech-guy there said it had to be repaired

May 27, 2012 3:10 AM in response to AdB1973

Many thanks! My phone is back online and working like a charm.


The exact sequence was:

• The battery ran out

• I connected the phone to my computer via USB (no reaction on either side)

• Held down power/home to enter DFU

• Apple logo appeared on the iPhone

• 2 minutes later the phone was up and running


Apparently all it needed was a hard reboot, since I didn't even have to do a restore. This was a huge relief, especially since it's fresh out of warranty.

iPhone 4 Black Screen But Phone Works

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