iOS 6 WiFi option is GREYED OUT (unrelated to iOS 6 WiFi connectivity issues)

Hi TRF

I completely agree about this being a temperature issue. I have posted in this and other threads that on a freshly restored iphone 4S with a wifi greyed out issue, the diagnostic logs show a temperature anamoly after letting it sit for a few hours. The wifi chip thinks temp is too high and it shuts down. Freezer and hair dryer resets the calibration on the temperature sensor and works for a while and at a next calibration point it shuts down again.

You have your own opinion, I have mine. I do not believe people who rants.

@Gunmaan.

Any way to provide you diagnostic logs here? So we can see temperature anomaly?

I saw something like this

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4478539?answerId=20850450022#20850450022

hope that helps...

Gumnaam

Thank you, Gumnaam, will take me time to research, but excellent resource. If you don't mind my asking what is "loosing the shackles"?

Jailbreak...they will delete this post.

Thanks for that - Just wanted to say that I had the same problem and have now fixed it using the described flashligh-heating-phone method. Hopefully the wifi wont get greyed out again

same problem with my iphone 4S, hopw apple would make an easier way to fix this bug, without spending money..

how did u do it?

Ok,

I normally just use forums for research and I ahve NEVER posted. This problem is so FUNKY and I spent considerably time researching to fix it I thought I owed to everyone to post my thoughts.

I have a higher level knowledge base on the iPhone since I work in IPhone data recovery ..

1. The phone worked FLAWLESS for a year, then I updated to 6.0.1 and the wifi still worked for a short period of time.

2. I bought a Life Proof case at the same time as I did the update. For those dont know this is a fully encased case capable of going underwater 6ft. (may have caused heat issue)

I am almost certain that it is a combination of the the lifeproof case with crappy code on the heat sensor for the wifi.

In a perfect world the wifi would shut off when it gets hot and once it cools would shut back on. In the case of this issue that is not happeneing.

I read everywhere and at first like most I am sure felt this is a SOFTWARE issue. I still believe this, but sometimes software can cause hardware to appeared failed when in actuality it is fine.

If we think back to the old xbox red ring of death this problem was also a wonky heat sensor and could also be fixed by applying heat. Once I thought of it from that angle I figured what could it hurt to try the dryer fix. Maybe it would heat it to the point of resetting the sensor? My phone is 31 days out of warranty and I was not forking over 199 to get a new phone.

So I removed the phone from the lifeproof case, Applied heat from a hair dryer to the back of the phone near the earphone jack for about 3 minutes and then waite for the phone to cool enough to handle and turned it back on. WIFI up and running now. It has been about an hour.

I have no intention of putting the lifeproof case back on, or and kind of enclosure like that until the new os release just to try and keep the phone cool as I live in FL.

Hope this helps

Jacqui

Hi,

I want to share my experience with all of you.

I live in Mexico city and I have the same greyed out wifi problem on my iPhone 4S after upgrading to 6.x.x form 5.x.x. My GF has also an iPhone 4S and hers was within 2 months of losing guarantee. Mine is OUT of guarantee.

I have tried everything, the freezer trick fixes it temporarily (a day at most) and then it breaks again.

As I'm out of warranty I took it to a local repair shop in downtown Mexico and they switched the wifi antenna, for a brand new one and guess what? It STILL didn't work. So they offered to change the wifi chip but its soldered using a BGA (ball grid array) and they charge $200 USD for doing this as replacing the wifi chip is not done using basic soldering skills and home materials!

The thing is, they told me the problem WILL happen again when some time goes by, unless I am able to somehow downgrade to 5.x.x. or I should defnitely buy a new phone (apple -non 4S- or non apple).

Well I decided to keep it as it is and just loose the protective casing (mophie juice pack) and dont use the Iphone to play doodlejump multiplayer via wifi as this is how the problem arised for me =P

Well my GF had her iPhone 4S exchanged for a refurbished one in Telcel Mexico, and after a week BANG its broken again.

So the option really is to downgrade when and if this is possible or buy a different phone. Having a new, refurbished or reballed phone will eventually ALSO fail because the wifi chips are the same and the software problem persists.

I hope to help someone with this.

Best regards from Mexico city.

HI you all who have a wifi greyed out button.

AFter trying to fix this problem for over a week I have manage to solve this with a very simple solution which work 100%.

1. Download any kind of a flash light App and launch it.

2. Let it dry out the battery completly.

3. Leave your device uncharged for at list 24 hours.

4. Fully charge your device (dont mess with it while its charging) and let it be for about 8 hours.

Thats it, problem solved at list for me.

If it dosent works for you for the first time, try all the 4 steps again.

This solution recovered my WIFI greyed out button and its back to life for over a week now.

Good luck to you all.

1. In my opinion, this is hardware failure in response to extra heat as splyntr explained in an excellent manner. I started having wifi issues in ios 5.1 , so I upgraded to ios 6.1.This completely killed the wifi and turned the toggle grey. The Wifi address was still showing up in the General-Settings-About menu though.

2. I dont think iOS 6.1 will solve the dimmed out Wifi issue. I was a bit apprehensive about trying the freezer method (because of a possibilty of moisture exposure to the phone and voiding my warranty). and didnt want to try the heat method without trying ios 6.1 first. So today I installed iOS 6.1 beta 4 first. It didnt solve the wifi issue, and it remained greyed out. 😮

3. So finally I Turned off the phone, applied heat near the headphone jack on the back with a hairdryer for about six minutes. Let the iphone cool down completely (around ten twelve minutes). Then turned it on. wifi is working again! Six hours and counting. I restarted a couple of times and turned wifi off and on to confirm its not a fluke. So far it has been working well like before. Thank you to all who recommended these methods.

4. Another thing, iOS 6.0.1 was draining my battery like anything.It was lasting ten hours maximum. I am pleased to tell you that iOS 6.1 beta 4 has resolved that. its working cooler and battery stamina has increased easily by 45% or so. So just wait for the update to get better battery life, but I am not sure it will solve the wifi issue without application of heat.

These are just my opinions, please be careful when trying these methods, and do them on your own risk. The first try should always be taking it in to the nearest iStore, which was not an option for me, as there are no iStores in Pakistan dealing with iPhones and iPads.

I wish all of you good luck, and a good day. Hope your Wifi issues get resolved too gang.

@Ibrahim:

First, I like your write-up. Your thoughts are well organised and so is your presentation of it. I respect such combination anyday!

Meanwhile, I think I somehow disagree with the seemingly general notion that this is a hardware problem. I'll admit I'm not so tech-savvy, but the logic i see at play in all of this fails to convince me to allign with this school of thought.

In my own case, I had no problem with wi-fi until I ran that unfortunate upgrade to IOS 6.0. From what I've read, majority seem to share same experience. Would someone please explain to me the "extreme heat" that would have been generated during that upgrade process that would have damaged the wi-fi components in all the phones!

Besides, the problem is that the "switch" or "toggle" got "greyed out". To my mind, since it's not a "physical" switch, it is designed and contolled by software. It would be a different kettle of fish if the "switch" came on but the wireless system didn't work.

My take remains that Apple somehow created this problem in the architecture (or whatever) of IOS 6 and they owe it to us all to find it and fix it. So far, they don't seem to have done a good job on that.

If you cooked yours and it worked, lucky you !!!

"To my mind, since it's not a "physical" switch, it is designed and contolled by software."

that argument apple lawyers thought off already.

"Software distributed by Apple under the Apple brand name (including, but not limited to system software) is not covered under this Limited Warranty"

here is reference:

http://store.apple.com/Catalog/US/Images/wty-post1997.html

That warranty is only for North and South Americas, quite possible that EU has different policies.

Thanks so much for the advice. I had the same problem and was starting to worry as my bill was becoming huge with no wifi!! 🙂 Don't know much about computers or technology so your advice was much appreciated. Understand vaguely anyway there's some issue with the heat sensor. Anyway used the hair dryer for 3 mins, let the phone cool down and now the wifi switch is working again! Thanks a million 🙂