How can I fix my (3rd party refurbished) iPhone 5s that became bricked?

Question

How can I fix my (3rd party refurbished) iPhone 5s that became bricked?

I bought an unlocked iPhone 5s from a 3rd Party Vendor while in the U.S. I set it up with a T-Mobile PAYGO SIM and used it for two weeks in the U.S. and two weeks in Mexico. On or around the day the T-Mobile month expired, the iPhone ceased functioning. It won't start up(screen goes on, but is blank/dark), and attempts to do a factory reset with iTunes have failed.

I haven't yet bought a SIM from a local vendor in Mexico. Is the SIM the problem or is it the phone? What additional steps can I take to reset it? Are there diagnostic tools that will run on Mac OS X or Windows?

iOS 9.3.2

Posted on Aug 15, 2016 8:16 AM

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Answer 1

Aug 15, 2016 8:19 AM in response to markfromlos angeles

The phone would still start up even without a SIM. I'd contact the vendor you bought it from and see if they warranty it at all.

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Answer 2

Aug 15, 2016 8:19 AM in response to markfromlos angeles

Whomever refurbished it should have offered some kind of warranty, so I would contact them. A failure to boot up will have nothing to do with the SIM (one need not even be present to just boot an iPhone). Apple will not service that phone if it's been opened and worked on by non-authorized service Techs. There are no user accessible diagnostic tools for iPhones.

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Answer 3

Aug 15, 2016 9:10 AM in response to Michael Black

Thanks. Unfortunately your answer wasn't helpful. The 30 day warranty expired and as I mentioned, I'm not in the U.S. at the moment (and won't be back until November, I should add). I tried doing a restore with iTunes using a Windows 7 computer in an Internet cafe, and got an error 4005 message.

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Answer 4

Aug 15, 2016 9:14 AM in response to markfromlos angeles

markfromlos angeles wrote:

The 30 day warranty expired .

It would have been helpful had you included that information in your initial post. The more information you give, the better the responses you're likely to get.

Probably the best you can do at this point is see if you can find an independent phone repair store that seems trustworthy.

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Answer 5

Aug 15, 2016 9:15 AM in response to IdrisSeabright

Thanks for your reply, but that won't work for me. The 30 day warranty expired before the phone stopped working and I'm currently outside of the U.S., as I mentioned. I won't be back until November. I've tried restoring using iTunes on a Windows 7 computer in an Internet cafe, but I got an error 4005.

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Answer 6

Aug 15, 2016 9:21 AM in response to IdrisSeabright

sorry my question was unhelpful to you. I probably also should have explicitly mentioned the Mexican customs regulations regarding shipping cellurlar phones back and forth between Mexico and the U.S. (20% tariff) or even mentioning that international shipping would be inconvenient might have made the question more helpful to you.

FInding an independent repair shop might be the next step. Do you know anything about DFU mode?

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