Q: wifi greyed out iphone 4s

Well, my daughter came back to me the other day and said her wifi connection was greyed out again.  Did the heat gun trick and presto!  It worked!  It only lasted a month.

For specifics on what I did, look back to my March 17, 2013 post for details.

This is crazy.

I have also got the greyed out wifi problem. I'm in Ireland is there an apple store I can go to. I think it is just out of warranty.

If its a contract phone (say 2 years) then technically its still under warranty because it should work for the duration of the contract, it is "not fit for purpose" if it fails in that time and they should replace it like they did with mine which was 2 months out of warranty.

Hi, i having same issue with my iphone 4 after upgrade to 6.1.3, i try reset network setting multiple times, and sometime it works for few hours. I hope someone will figure out how to solve this or Apple should come with any patch for this...

Dont hold your breath waiting for Apple, sales have slumped and shares are dropping, this is their way of getting more money, nearly everyone who has posted on this forum has said their warranty has just expired when the   Wi-Fi and Bluetooth problems started. As I have said in a previous post, mine was replaced by the contract provider for another used iphone 4s but is still on IOS 6.1.2 and is still working nearly 2 weeks on. Another strange thing happened just before the old phone was swapped, I got a text from Vodaphone saying Apple have now fixed the 3g conectivity bug and download and install the latest update....... What 3g conectivity bug?..... Is this Apples way of "fixing" your phone for good........

i have also the same problem wifi greyed. actully i was in 6.2.1 from 1 month and suddenly the wifi button turned into grey and i wasnot able to turn on. i tried fresh restoring my iphone for the 3 time on 6.1.3 but still no luck.
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actully my iphone 4s was gifted by my brother from india and i am in doha right now. my iphone 4s is still in warrenty period but i think doha dont have a apple store and the biggest problem is my brother lost the bill of iphone purchase i dont know what should i do

Just heated up my iphone 4s with hair dryer and wifi is back.Dont know how long it will last.Heated iphone about 4 -5 minutes under the camera and behind head phone jack with covering the battery area with a card board paper and waited for 5 minutes to cool down.Yes it works!!!I will update how long it will stay.Thanks to the guys in this forum who guided me to try this.

i will open my phone then use hair dryer?

I opened the iphone, builded a "heatshield" from aluminium kitchen paper, formed it so that only the top right corner (looking on device from aft side) is exposed. I didn´t use a hair dryer. I used a heat gun with a small apperture. Set it to about 250 degrees Celsius and pointed it for about 30 seconds onto the described area. WIFI was back on right after boot. It is working without any errors since then.

I am SHURE that it is NOT a software issue. There is maybe a poor solder point in the area were the WIFI antenna is.( behind the headphone jack). The WIFI chip and power amplifier is ok, only the connection between the PA and the antenna is faulty. You will see this as the iphone still connects to the access point wenn it is close enough. And when I say close, I mean close,... about 2 centimeters away from the access point antenna, it still gets a connection.

Using this heatgun method will work so far. I think the problem will be back someday because the poor solder point will break again as temperature varies, the material expands and contracts. For example when you are using your iphone in your car as navigation device, it gets very warm, then you are changing into an air conditioned room, the material contracts. This is the only reason, no software bug*.

* iOS 6 seems to make a self test on the WIFI during boot. If it notices that the SWR (standing wave ratio) is not as desired, the WIFI button is greyed out. This is, why some people may think it is a hardware bug, but everything starts with a poor solder point.

You can see my construction here

http://s4.postimg.org/ez0udcwil/Foto_1.jpg

http://s4.postimg.org/faiaq4cyl/Foto_2.jpg

only the top right corner is interesting. Do NOT heat up your entire device!!!!!

Hi Giptelstuermer,

If i do not have a heat gun, hair dryer is another option to heat it up? i try hair dryer but now my wifi is on and off and need to restart or reset the network settings...

It would appear to be a hardware issue.

I bought two iPhone 4s on the same day, last April.  I unpacked only one.

That one stopped working properly at the weekend: wifi greyed out.  

I backed it up.   Unpacked the other phone.   Updated the OS.   Restored from the image of the other phone. 

It is working perfectly.  

So it is either a hardware issue or a issue with that part of the software that is not affected by OS update or backup/restore.  

I´m not shure if a normal hairdryer is able to produce enough heat. I think it is not good to "grill" the iPhone for a couple of minutes on that realtively low temperature.

A Heatgun is more precise than a hairdryer and you can heat up the described area to a high temperature for only a few seconds. This should be better for the device.

I think the solder should start to meld at about 180 °C or 250°C. Somewhere on youtube is a person that removed the mainboard from his 3GS to resolder it with a heatgun. He gave some tips about the procedure that were quite good.

If the hairdryer trick is working, everything is fine. The big question is: For how long?? I´m still worrying if my heatgun solution will be a permanent fix. If I have any new news I will post them here.

One month after my warranty expired, the grayed out wi-fi issue hit me as well. According to the Apple store genius who performed diagnostics on my iPhone this past Friday morning, the software checked out, meaning it could only be a hardware issue. She specified "the antenna." For a company with Apple's reputation, resources, and manufacturing experience, this kind of widespread defect should not happen. Their claim to fame is supposed to be their hardware, so if a defect like this does happen, affecting large numbers of customers through no fault of their own, Apple should have enough scruples to own up to it and make good. In spite of this apparently rampant problem, I guess no class action lawsuit will be forthcoming, but one should. In any case, this is my first and last iPhone. When it worked, I really liked my iPhone, but now I regret ever drinking the Apple kool aid. Back to android for me as soon as my upgrade date rolls around. Until then, I'm stuck with a severely crippled device from a profit-hungry, customer-indifferent behemoth that can't see or even imagine its slow, self-constructed demise.

I went finally to Apple store, the guy didn't even check it and he just checked my warranty and said it was expired 112 days ago and offered me a new IPhone 4s for EUR 200, of course I argued a little and apperently he got ****** off when I said this would be my last device from Apple, and dare me to prove it's a hardware issue from Apple.

all I have right now is the hair drayer option to try....let's see

last time I did it it lated only for 15 min....