iPhone 4 keyboard freeze, runs slow and crashes - is there a fix?

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iPhone 4 keyboard freeze, runs slow and crashes - is there a fix?

Not been able to use my iPhone 4 for over a week now originally due to the screen freezing on "enter passcode" page. The probelm has escalated to keyboard and generally unable to use the handset in any reliable way. Please point me in the right direction to fixing this.

Symptoms and log of activities in chronological order;

- the arrow freezes when "slide to unlock". This would persist over a period of time (a day to 7-8 days), first incident around April. After many manual resets, able to access without the arrow freezing. Observed that this kept happening after the iPhone has been switched off.

- the above problem returned last week after the device was switched off then back on. This time, the arrow freezed for 15-30 seconds then "enter passcode" page appeared. The keyboard that appears is unresponsive so nothing happens when you press the buttons. The text entry cursor does not blink. iPhone eventually crashes with a spinning loading sign on freeze.

- cannot switch off phone, unless with hard reset by holding the home + on/off buttons. - the same issue returns immediately.

- restoring iPhone (first time) - required to update to IOS 5.1.1. Still the problem persists

- appointment with Genius bar - explained the problem. Does not take a look at the handset once but offers a replacement at a cost.

- Suspect it might be a glitch rather than a hardware damage (it's only under 8 months old) so attempts another restore. This time, set up/configure screen comes up on the device. Chooses not to set passcode. Screen is responsive, able to choose launguage, country etc... Hope returns, it actually seems to be working. Slide to unlock, takes 15-30 seconds but does unlock. Able to open and delete emails and SMS texts. Apps such as facebook seems to be working although generally everything is slow.

- HOWEVER, keyboard across all apps unresponsive and text entry cursor does not blink. The apps crashes then returns to home screen.

- Deleted emoji international keyboard in the hope that the keyboard problem would go away.

- After a number of crashes, the screen is black. The Backlight of the screen is on but unable to switch off or do hard reset.

From deduction, the problem seems to be with the keyboard across all apps.

Has anyone had similar problems and did you find any fixes?

I really don't want to have to pay for another replacement so please please, do share your knowledge. Thank you 🙂

iPhone 4, iOS 5.1.1

Posted on Aug 17, 2012 8:39 AM

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Answer 1

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arodecap

Level 2

215 points

Aug 17, 2012 8:57 AM in response to yaberina

Did you restore from a backup or did you setup as new? Restoring from a backup will just reproduce the same problem if the original problem is software.

If restoring as new doesn't resolve the issue; then it would most likely be the hardware that needs replaced.

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Answer 2

yaberina Author

Level 1

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Aug 20, 2012 1:37 AM in response to arodecap

Thanks arodecap. It was restored from a backup. Will definitely try restoring as new to see if it is a software issue and post the result here. Fingers crossed!

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Answer 3

yaberina Author

Level 1

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Aug 21, 2012 9:50 AM in response to arodecap

As promised, a quick update. The handset was restored as new last night and was hoping this would resolve the problem but the screen seems to freeze still whenever keyboard pops up. The slide to unlock does take a good 10-15 seconds to get to the home screen too and the device is running genrally slow.

I can use certain apps such as the weather app but others such as facebook returns to the home screen.

Any other alternatives? Don't quite want to have it replaced as I've only had it replaced last November and it has been handled with care!

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Answer 4

ChrisJ4203

Level 10

230,347 points

Aug 21, 2012 10:16 AM in response to yaberina

If you restored the phone as new and it still has a problem, I would tend to believe it is a hardware issue. You report the phone only being 8 months old, then you say Apple will only replace at cost. If the phone is under warranty, they should replace it. Then later you say you don't want it replaced since you had it replaced last November. So this is a warranty replacement phone and the original phone would be out of warranty? Again, if restoring as new does not help, it can only be a hardware issue.

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Answer 5

Aug 23, 2012 3:39 PM in response to yaberina

This started happening to me last week. It started as a problem where playing songs/podcasts would play through external speaker. So I did a slide to power off, and when I powered it back on it started repeatedly power-cycling itself. I plugged it into my macbook for a couple hours and it continually power cycled itself even then. So I booted into DFU and did a restore and set it up as a new phone. Now it freezes for about 60 seconds when I slide to unlock, and hard freezes whenever the keyboard comes up. It is bone-stock ios 5.1.1 with nothing else installed.

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Answer 6

yaberina Author

Level 1

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Aug 24, 2012 3:58 AM in response to linkslice

Hi linkslice,

Funny you say that... the iPhone's audio out was playing up, not recognising the headphone. I switched the iPhone off to shine some light down it to see if something had gone down it and that's how the problem of rebooting itself started.

I took it into Apple store yesterday to the Genius bar and they carried out a few tests. They suspected it to be a software issue but the diagnostic returned clean so uploaded new firmware. The problem still persisted so they had to look inside. He returned 10 mins later with the following results; all looked fine on the inside, once put back together, the screen was not responsive and rebooting continuously. They couldn't figure out what was wrong with it so I've now got a replacement handset which is working fine after a restore from backup.

I suggest you take it into the store to have it looked at. Let us know if there was a solution to yours.

Thanks all for your help.

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