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Update on my iPhone 3GS shutting off unexpectedly issue

May 30, 2010 by Ian Brown 53 Comments

I had posted a fix to an issue that I was having with my iPhone 3GS (it was randomly shutting off) that I thought I had taken care of, however, just this morning, when the battery had about 70% power, it just died, and I couldn’t revive it.. The last app that I was using before it died was the Photo app. The reason I mention that is that when I was doing my research on this, I read on a forum that the last thing that another person was doing before it just shut off was emailing a photo from the Photo app. It could be a coincidence, but I just figured I would mention it.

So, I did some more research and found a fix!

It’s a pretty bizarre fix. I hope it fixed it for good, but I don’t see how it would. All you have to do is toggle (move back and forth) the switch that puts the iPhone in vibrate mode so it doesn’t ring (the switch above the volume switch). Toggle it twice. Then hold the home button (the round and only button on the face of the phone) and the power button for 6 – 8 seconds, and then let go. Once you let go, the apple logo will appear, and eventually it will bring up the main screen.

Once I got back on, the Internet was no longer working. I called my provider and they walked me through entering the settings again (they had been wiped out for whatever reason). The phone function was still working, though. I just had to go into SETTINGS>GENERAL>NETWORK>Turn on data roaming>click on CELLULAR NETWORK and enter the APN for my provider. That’s all I had to do and I was good to go! I’ll keep you updated if anything else happens.

UPDATE

OK. Thanks to @xPIphoneNooobxP & @Fecking Eejit, I have two more fixes to list for you, and I have one more that I’m adding.

Fix #2 has to do with the 5.0.1 update with the 3GS. Apparently it causes a fair amount of 3GSs to restart (glad I didn’t update mine).

Here’s the thread that @Fecking Eejit found on the Apple forums:

https://discussions.apple.com/message/16786572#16786572

Here is the fix that seems to have worked for @Fecking since he has not posted back yet:

  1. Take the SIM card out
  2. Enable the 3G and cellular date in network settings (SETTINGS > GENERAL > NETWORK)
  3. Insert the SIM card back in
  4. The netwok will register your sim via 3G, not GSM
  5. After 3 minutes, turn off 3G and cellular data

And Fix #3 involves replacing that battery. That’s what worked for @xPIphoneNooobxP.

IFixIt.com has a great tutorial on how to replace the battery.

Here it is:

http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Installing-iPhone-3G-Battery/577/1

And here’s their 2.5 min video that walks you thorough the whole process:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuaHt_jRSo8[/youtube]
You can get the battery on Amazon.com.

Here is one for the iPhone 3G
iPhone 3G Replacement Battery

And here is one for the iPhone 3GS
iPhone 3GS Replacement Battery

Fix #4 is a solution that I found out about when my battery was draining like crazy when I upgraded to iOS 4. It has to do with jailbreaking, so if you didn’t jailbreak your phone, then this most likely does not apply to you. However, if you restored your phone from a previous backup and you’re having issues, even if you didn’t jailbreak your phone, you may want to try this.

The fix is this. When you’re about to restore your phone, iTunes will ask you if you want to set it up as a new phone, or if you want to restore from a previous backup. ALWAYS restore it as a new phone. If you restore it from a previous backup, you’re just asking for trouble.

After you set it up as a new phone, then simply sync the phone to get your data back one type at a time (e.g. first apps, then music, then video, etc.).

However, just know that when you do this, you will lose a lot of valuable data like received SMS, Contacts, Call History, Notes, Calendar, etc. To avoid this issue, I highly advise you to manually backup your iPhone data before updating to a new firmware. It’s easy to do. All you need is a jailbroken phone and the iPhone Explorer installed on your Mac or PC. I will eventually do a post on this, but for now, go here to find out how.

Hope one of the fixes above helps you! Please post your results and what worked and didn’t work for you so that others can benefit.

If you try all that’s suggested above, and it still is not fixed, then try posting your question on the following forums:

If your phone is jailbroken and/or unlocked, post your question here:

  1. http://www.howardforums.com/forumdisplay.php/368-iOS-Hacking-and-Unlocking
  2. http://blog.iphone-dev.org/ (post your question as a comment on the lastest blog post)

And if your phone has not been modified, then post your issue here:

http://www.howardforums.com/forumdisplay.php/115-Apple

If you end up fixing your phone with a fix that they give you, I, and everyone else, I’m sure, would appreciate it if you would come back here and post your fix so I can add it to this post and others can benefit.

Thanks!

 

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Written by Ian Brown
Ian has been involved with computers since very young. He took his first computer class when he was just 8 years old. He always had an affinity for computers, but never really took it seriously. It was not until he graduated from college and experienced the real world for a while did he realize that computers may be where his talent and passion lie. He has since branched out into Internet marketing and LOVES it. He currently resides in Los Angeles where he services clients ranging from residential to small business to celebrities.