My iPhone 5 isn't powering on. What's wrong with this?

Question

My iPhone 5 isn't powering on. What's wrong with this?

My iPhone 5 was just recently updated to iOS 7 and I spent a lot of hours playing and doing stuff on it but it has just recently run into trouble. Here's what happened:

Last night, at the dead of night at about 2 AM, I woke up to find my iPhone 5 discharged from it's battery (showing a black screen with an empty battery logo with a couple of red stripes), I decided to ignore it and charge it in the morning when I woke up. To my surprise, the iPhone wouldn't charge anymore. For the purpose of readability, these are the things I have tried doing to bring my iPhone back to life:

1. Tried charging with 3 different lightning cables (two original, one 3rd party), used two different wall AC adapters, three different computers (USB) and even tried a power bank.

2. I tried hard-resetting it (hold both the power-button and the home-button for more than 20+ seconds)

3. I tried putting it into both Restore mode and DFU mode in the hopes of maybe restoring it to stock iOS again.

4. I tried leaving it charging through the AC and USB port for more than 30 minutes.

None of these have worked as my iPhone is still "dead" as nothing shows up on screen, it is NOT recognizable on iTunes (nothing shows up as connected) or my PC for that matter.

I need help. I tried sending my iPhone over to the Apple Store here in the Philippines but they refuse to receive it or do anything about it because this was purchased in Singapore as a gift for me. I also cannot send this to Singapore as we just do not have the budget for it and my warranty ends in exactly 58 days from now. I couldn't contact the Apple hotline as they asked me to get a "single incident of something" and I can't afford 19 dollars. What could be wrong with my iPhone 5? Any solutions? Any help would be very much appreciated as I am desperate.

I'm hoping for some solutions or advice, thank you so much. 😢

iPhone 5, iOS 7

Posted on Sep 19, 2013 2:45 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Dogcow-Moof

Level 8

36,191 points

Sep 19, 2013 2:48 AM in response to Community User

Depending on how low it discharged, it could be well over an hour before your phone charges enough to even get back to the dead battery screen.

Try leaving it plugged into a USB port on your computer overnight, as the USB ports usually provide a little more power than the wall chargers do, unless you've a wall charger for an iPad you can use instead.

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Answer 2

Sep 19, 2013 2:54 AM in response to Dogcow-Moof

Alright, I have a 5.1V 2.1A wall charger that I believe is designed for an iPad. I'll try leaving it charging for a few hours. I hope this works. Thanks for the quick reply~

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Answer 3

Sep 19, 2013 3:59 PM in response to Community User

Update: I have tried charging my iPhone overnight with an iPad charger rated at 5.1V and it still isn't powering on. Any ideas or suggestions? I really need my iPhone soon. Thanks in advance for any help!

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Answer 4

Dogcow-Moof

Level 8

36,191 points

Sep 25, 2013 4:43 AM in response to Community User

These are Apple's tips on this:

Will not turn on, will not turn on unless connected to power, or unexpected power off

Verify that the Sleep/Wake button functions. If it does not function, inspect it for signs of damage. If the button is damaged or is not functioning when pressed, seek service.
Check if a Liquid Contact Indicator (LCI) is activated or there are signs of corrosion. Learn about LCIsand corrosion.
Connect the iPhone to the iPhone's USB power adapter and let it charge for at least ten minutes.
After at least 15 minutes, if:
- The home screen appears: The iPhone should be working. Update to the latest version of iOS if necessary. Continue charging it until it is completely charged and you see the battery icon in the upper-right corner of the screen. Then unplug the phone from power. If it immediately turns off, seek service.
- The low-battery image appears, even after the phone has charged for at least 20 minutes: See "iPhone displays the low-battery image and is unresponsive" symptom in this article.
- Something other than the Home screen or Low Battery image appears, continue with this article for further troubleshooting steps.
If the iPhone did not turn on, reset it while connected to the iPhone USB power adapter.
- If the display turns on, go to step 4.
- If the display remains black, go to next step.
Connect the iPhone to a computer and open iTunes. If iTunes recognizes the iPhone and indicates that it is in recovery mode, attempt to restore the iPhone. If the iPhone doesn't appear in iTunes or if you have difficulties in restoring the iPhone, see this article for further assistance.
If restoring the iPhone resolved the issue, go to step 4. If restoring the iPhone did not solve the issue, seek service.

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Answer 5

Jan 23, 2014 8:40 AM in response to Community User

It seems the problem lies upon the charging pins on my iPhone 5. I have a hunch the pins have grounded after getting wet from cleaning, which led to the battery draining rapidly.

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