oregonjoe

Q: iphone won't turn on past apple logo, can't restore. HELP

All of a sudden tonight, my iphone 4s restarted, but it only got to the apple logo screen, then restarted again.  It was doing that repeatedly every 10 seconds or so for the last few hours.  The only thing I could do was turn it off completely but only if it wasn't plugged in.  If I plugged it into a power source it kept restarting and I couldn't even turn it off.  But turning it off didn't do anything anyway because when I turned it on again it just continued doing the same restart cycle.  I tried a reset, which had no effect at all.  I tried to do a complete restore using itunes, several times.  It starts to restore but then I get a message "The iphone (iphone) could not be restored.  An unknown error occurred (9)."  I made sure itunes and OS X were up to date, restarted my computer, and tried again a few times with the same failed result.  And now the phone doesn't continually loop through the apple logo.  Instead, after the apple logo, it shows the connect-to-itunes screen (in order to do a restore, but like I said, that doesn't work) and stays on that screen for a minute until it turns off.  (But again, if I leave it plugged in, it doesn't stay off.  It keeps turning back on and it stays at the connect-to-itunes screen until I turn it off.)

 

So I don't know what options I have left.  As far as I can tell, I have a brick that lights up with an apple logo or itunes logo.

 

One thing that did happen earlier today that could be related: I tried to update my iphone (I believe I have 7.0.4 and it was updating to 7.0.6?) but something weird happened during the update (can't remember exactly) and I ended up having to restart my phone without it finishing the update.  It wouldn't let me update after that, which I didn't really care about, so I just left it with the ios version I had.  Then later in the evening this happened.

 

One other small thing to note (probably insignificant)-- When the phone kept going through the apple logo loop, right before the screen went black and it restarted, the apple logo would grow dim and there was sometimes a horizontal line across the screen, then it went to black.

 

If anybody has any ideas, please help!  It would be much appreciated.  I don't want to have to buy a new phone so soon.  Apple products are supposed to have a long life span!  And I've never jailbroken it or done anything out of the ordinary.

iPhone 4S, iOS 7.0.4

Posted on Feb 22, 2014 11:55 PM

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Q: iphone won't turn on past apple logo, can't restore. HELP

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  • by AB1234,

    AB1234 AB1234 Aug 10, 2014 6:25 PM in response to oregonjoe
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 10, 2014 6:25 PM in response to oregonjoe

    If you dropped it and it wont come on properly, try plugging it into itunes. It will try and connect. If it pops up an error code on itunes than it is your battery. Honestly go online to Amazon and order the $5 battery and repair kit. It will be the simplest thing to do. Also do not loose the screws!

  • by AmishCake,

    AmishCake AmishCake Aug 11, 2014 1:06 PM in response to AB1234
    Level 6 (9,381 points)
    Aug 11, 2014 1:06 PM in response to AB1234

    You have to loose the screws or they won't come out.

  • by wegras,

    wegras wegras Aug 11, 2014 1:11 PM in response to HilaN
    Level 6 (15,184 points)
    Wireless
    Aug 11, 2014 1:11 PM in response to HilaN

    How did you replace the battery ?? The iPhone is not user serviceable and in tampering you have waived any support or help from Apple or this Apple hosted forum

    Hardly surprising it doesn't work

  • by jillikat,

    jillikat jillikat Aug 13, 2014 5:42 PM in response to wegras
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 13, 2014 5:42 PM in response to wegras

    I am having the same problem, its being such an SOB, Anyways i plugged mine into the computer and my itunes is attempting to fix it XD, hopefully this will work, i love my phone <3

  • by Tech Singh,

    Tech Singh Tech Singh Aug 26, 2014 2:37 AM in response to AB1234
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 26, 2014 2:37 AM in response to AB1234
  • by kray61,

    kray61 kray61 Sep 8, 2014 2:50 PM in response to steveofresh
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 8, 2014 2:50 PM in response to steveofresh

    I was able to fix the same problem as described in this thread by replacing the battery also.

    One big difference with what other people are saying: my iPhone 4S got wet. It was in a purse with a water bottle (plain water, no sugar thankfully) that started leaking.

    After drying out the phone for a few days, it started working, but then an attempt to charge it seemed to kill it.

    As soon as I replaced the battery, the phone booted right up, even before I had the case fully re-assembled.

    It seems like the water incident combined with charging somehow killed the battery completely. Perhaps that's how Li ion batteries work, or perhaps there is some kind of safety fuse built in to keep them from burning up if they get short-circuted.

    The main thing I wanted to say is that a dead battery can cause these symptoms (cycling through the Apple logo, then going dark; unable to restore the phone from iTunes), and as mentioned, it is relatively easy to replace the battery on a 4S. I found a vendor on Amazon who shipped a replacement battery complete with all the tools needed for less than 10 euros, shipping included. It might be something to try if all the other helpful comments here don't work for you.

    Good luck to all.

  • by TJBUSMC1973,

    TJBUSMC1973 TJBUSMC1973 Sep 8, 2014 3:02 PM in response to kray61
    Level 5 (7,626 points)
    Sep 8, 2014 3:02 PM in response to kray61

    Apple does not sell user-serviceable parts.  They do not provide parts to anyone other than Apple Authorized Service Providers.  Apple Authorized Service Providers do not sell their parts to end-users.

     

    Therefore, whatever battery you got and self-installed was either:

    A) Stolen

    B) Salvaged from another iPhone

    C) Counterfeit

     

    Therefore, your iPhone has no support from Apple, ever.  Apple will not provide any service or support for that device.  Therefore, if you in the future have a problem that you can't order a stolen/salvage/counterfeit part to fix, you'll be unable to get Apple or any actual Apple Authorized Service Provider to touch it.  You won't even have the normal out-of-warranty option.

     

    Anyone reading your advice should be aware of the consequences.  You may save some money up front, but you're voiding all support from Apple permanently.

     

    Out of curiosity, how much did you pay for the battery & kit?

  • by kray61,

    kray61 kray61 Sep 9, 2014 6:41 AM in response to TJBUSMC1973
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 9, 2014 6:41 AM in response to TJBUSMC1973

    Yes, of course I should have mentioned that this would violate guarantees. Thank you for correcting that point.

    I'm less convinced that it's not possible to buy new batteries on the after-market, but I have no proof one way or the other. Certainly the battery I purchased appears identical and performs much better than the original, which no longer worked at all. Even a used battery is better than my dead one.

    My main point is that replacing the battery solved my problem, where I had exactly the same symptoms. Other posts on this thread suggested that the battery could not be the problem, so I am just saying that it was in my case. I'm not sure whether Apple offers a battery replacement service for an iPhone 4S through any of their authorized outlets, but that could be a first stop for anyone who has exhausted all the other options here.

     

    Peace and Love

  • by kray61,

    kray61 kray61 Sep 9, 2014 7:05 AM in response to modular747
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 9, 2014 7:05 AM in response to modular747

    Just to say that I appreciated Steveofresh's post because it helped me solve a problem where I had very similar symptoms. For anyone else who may be reading this thread, the symptoms of constantly cycling through the apple logo and being unable to restore via iTunes could be caused by a dead battery.

    Once I replaced the battery, I didn't even have to restore the software, and I recovered my iPhone 4S intact, with all apps and photos and music.

     

    Perhaps Steveofresh's comments weren't helpful to the original poster, as you suggest modular747, but they were helpful to me. And I think the point of sharing problems on a forum is that the experiences of many, shared, can help the community beyond the original poster.

     

    As an interesting side note, I shared some other information in a separate post about how I replaced the battery, but that post was removed by the moderators. The reasoning: "because it contained some questionable advice." To be sure, my method violated any remaining guarantee (expired anyway for me), so point taken. But my take away is that there is pretty tight moderation here, and that a complete overview of possible solutions to problems with Apple products should probably include non Apple-moderated sites.

  • by Shaqmed,

    Shaqmed Shaqmed Sep 16, 2014 4:22 PM in response to kray61
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 16, 2014 4:22 PM in response to kray61

    If this ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNZ9Mei-zgw&feature=youtu.be ) is the problem you are having, I am having the same exact problem. Is this what replacing the battery corrects? And does Apple replace batteries for iPhone 4S' still?

  • by mrsc_1970,

    mrsc_1970 mrsc_1970 Sep 23, 2014 5:14 PM in response to steveofresh
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 23, 2014 5:14 PM in response to steveofresh

    Thank you Steve, you're spot on sir.  Same issue on my phone and 15 bucks + 15 minutes later I fixed it by replacing a battery (by the way Apple charges 79 bucks for this so they can get U2 to give its new album to everybody).  It amazes me to see comments from people that went to Apple Stores and were told their phone cannot be fixed.  Very irresponsible from Apple.  All phones should be designed allowing the owner to replace its battery in the first place.  I learned the lesson, my next phone will be a Galaxy.

  • by tauseef7k,

    tauseef7k tauseef7k Mar 12, 2015 9:35 AM in response to oregonjoe
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 12, 2015 9:35 AM in response to oregonjoe

    i have the same problem and i have even replaced the battery but no improvement its still in loop and apple logo blurs out with one or two horizontal lines..

     

    PLEASE HELP SOME ONE

  • by wegras,

    wegras wegras Mar 12, 2015 10:05 AM in response to tauseef7k
    Level 6 (15,184 points)
    Wireless
    Mar 12, 2015 10:05 AM in response to tauseef7k

    If you replaced the battery or had a local mechanic change it ?

    You could have caused any manner of damage, no-one can hazard a guess

    The iPhone is NOT user serviceable

  • by tauseef7k,

    tauseef7k tauseef7k Mar 12, 2015 10:38 AM in response to wegras
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 12, 2015 10:38 AM in response to wegras

    actually i have swap the battery with another working iphone 4s... But it turns out the battery is ok..

     

    and yes i swap the batteries at my home because the closest Authorised Service centre is 185 miles far..   

  • by wegras,

    wegras wegras Mar 12, 2015 10:40 AM in response to tauseef7k
    Level 6 (15,184 points)
    Wireless
    Mar 12, 2015 10:40 AM in response to tauseef7k

    unfortunately once you have opened up an iPhone ALL Apple support is gone

    NOT user serviceable

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