Backlight issue with 3gs.

[Diseal3]

Hey all,

I bought a 3gs recently in order to replace my 7th iphone 3g that i was sick of driving to the apple store and replacing. Well anywho, the phone is great but for those who have the 3gs I want you to test something. So far it only happened twice, but when i wake the phone up sometimes the backlight dosent go on but the screen is very much active and touch is working. Anyone else experience this?

[slimcharles]

ive had that happen too, just restart or go into "Settings" and then "Backlight", ill let you know if it keeps happening

[Diseal3]

ive had that happen too, just restart or go into "Settings" and then "Backlight", ill let you know if it keeps happening

Yea usually it comes back if I lock the phone and unlock again. Hopefully just a 3.0 bug.

[duelingdragons]

It's happened to me a few times too. Kinda annoying but w/e.

[Diseal3]

It's happened to me a few times too. Kinda annoying but w/e.

Annoying yes. Hopefully its just a firmware issue in which can be fixed.

[cheapa55]

Did that to me today. I could see the screen but it was very faint. then tried again and it went on.

[ubestbsteppin]

Yup, just happened today. I looked at it for a few seconds and it eventually lit up.

[eyephone]

I noticed something like this, I will hit the home button to wake and the screen is visible, but no real back lighting. Hitting home again fixes this, but I hope it is not too common.....

Epic 3GS complaint thread in 3.....2......1.....
:rolleyes:

[Diseal3]

I noticed something like this, I will hit the home button to wake and the screen is visible, but no real back lighting. Hitting home again fixes this, but I hope it is not too common.....

Epic 3GS complaint thread in 3.....2......1.....
:rolleyes:

lol I guess so considering now Im not the only one. But im not ranting. Im a optimistic person.

[jeffro2k]

I have been talking to a rep at Apple support. I thought i was the only one having this problem until I found this post. I sent the link to her to show her that it is happening to other people. She is not sure if it's a hardware or software problem. She is supposed to call me back on Friday. I will let you guys know what she tells me.

[Diseal3]

I have been talking to a rep at Apple support. I thought i was the only having this problem until I found this post. I sent the link to her to show her that it is happening to other people. She is not sure if it's a hardware or software problem. She is supposed to call me back on Friday. I will let you guys know what she tells me.

Im hoping its software. If not apple has mucho replacing to do =P.

[jeffro2k]

Considering they sold a 1,000,000 and she had not heard about this yet, and i have seen very little about it on the net, i would assume it is affecting a small % of phones. Maybe a certain lot or something. I don't know, it is annoying and I am sure they will do whatever it takes to get it fixed.

[duelingdragons]

Fairly confident its not hardware since turning the display off/on solves it.
Sounds like a bug in the firmware. First time it happened on my 3GS I got scared ****less, I thought my screen died. lol

[WilliamG]

Yep happened to me too.

[jamac427]

yeah has happened to me several times but not recently since ive let the battery fully cycle

[drydeniv]

The backlight bug just got my 3G S this morning. I woke it up via the home button, and the LCD and touch functions were working, but no backlight.

Last night I had another issue where i was receiving a call and it hung while vibrating (never got to ringing) and was unresponsive to any button input - had to force reboot it.

These few bugs are very unfortunate... (I've submitted reports to apple for both.)

[Diseal3]

ok guys so lets try to narrow this down, is this only happening when you guys wake the phone up via home button or the power button as well?

[melan4u]

My new iphone 3GS has on four occasions, had the screen backlighting remain OFF after waking phone by pressing the home button. When i shut the phone off and on again, the black light came on. Has happened with two iphone 3GS's i have. Waiting for apple fix.......

[figman4]

OK, happening to me too. Yep...wake from sleep using home button and no backlight.

Just to check, I had Omnifocus on my phone and it happened. I removed it and it didn't seem to happen again until I reloaded Omni and blamo...got hit again.

Maybe a rabbit trail...but anyone else have OF?

[Diseal3]

its more along the lines of waking the phone up with the hope button it seems. Just opened up a bug report.

[clborden]

Yeah, count me in too... I just touched on the brightness scrub bar and it went back on.

[impulse462]

Just happened to me too. Happened when I clicked the sleep button though not home.

This phone is really giving me a headache with all of it's bugs...

[Diseal3]

Just happened to me too. Happened when I clicked the sleep button though not home.

This phone is really giving me a headache with all of it's bugs...

Well 3.0 is new, I guess we will see 3.0.1 sooner then expected. But hey at least it will be fixed.

[impulse462]

Well 3.0 is new, I guess we will see 3.0.1 sooner then expected. But hey at least it will be fixed.

That's true, but they are kinda annoying. My main complaint is batterylife however if this can all be fixed with a firmware update, hey I'm all for it.

[Chunk72]

Mine is doing this too and I use the sleep button to turn the phone on and off.

Happened 3 times so far at random.

[stlsot]

yup,,,me as well, annoying :eek:

[Diseal3]

Yea I sent in a bugreport to apple on this issue, so that way it is know. Also gave them a link to this thread as it is occuring to other people. I sure 3.0.1 will deliever the needed tweaks to 3.0. At least its better then 2.0 launch!

[jeffro2k]

Well I spoke with the Apple rep again yesterday. She is going to replace it. I am off to the apple store tomorrow to get a new one. I will let you guys know if it happens with that one too. Also i haven't noticed if this is happening to only 32GB models or are 16GB experiencing it too?

[jeffro2k]

Got the new phone today. Pretty painless, just walked in showed them my case number from the apple rep and walked out with a new 3GS. So far no backlight issue.

[tracy1971]

This happened to me. I just got it replaced yesterday and now today my new one is doing this as well? The nearest Apple store is 2 hrs away. What a pain.
3g s 16g

[kcplace2be]

Hey all,

I bought a 3gs recently in order to replace my 7th iphone 3g that i was sick of driving to the apple store and replacing. Well anywho, the phone is great but for those who have the 3gs I want you to test something. So far it only happened twice, but when i wake the phone up sometimes the backlight dosent go on but the screen is very much active and touch is working. Anyone else experience this?

I could still hear caller, but no screen functionality - had to do hard reset multiple times in past 2 days; screen locks up when call finishes too

[Narzist]

Hey all,

I bought a 3gs recently in order to replace my 7th iphone 3g that i was sick of driving to the apple store and replacing.


Here I stopped reading.

I suppose you spend more time on looking for a every little mistake than actually using your iPhones.

People who just look for aestetics shouldn't get an iPhone. Also my iPhone is not 100% perfect (as will be no one at all), but i can use it and it offers me all the functions I need.

[agtprvctr]

I've seen this problem on my 3GS as well. I'm pretty sure this is a software problem, i.e. there's no point in getting your phone replaced - you're risking trading in your new phone for a refurb when all you had to do is wait for the software fix.

[kimcheeboi65]

had similar issue also. it tends to happen at random. at first i thought it was the light sensor that was having issues with Auto-Brightness on. Since then, I have used the phone with a set brightness level and have ran into the backlight issue.

[jeffro2k]

Here I stopped reading.

I suppose you spend more time on looking for a every little mistake than actually using your iPhones.

People who just look for aestetics shouldn't get an iPhone. Also my iPhone is not 100% perfect (as will be no one at all), but i can use it and it offers me all the functions I need.

It wasn't a matter of a "mistake" with the phone. The fact was it was not working the way it was supposed to. Had the apple rep told me it was just a software bug, i would be happy to wait for a patch. She did not know what was wrong, and suggested i take it and replace it. The fact that this new one has not done it once may suggest a hardware problem with the other one. When you spend 500.00 for a phone, you expect it to work as advertised. If you bought a new car and your headlights came on once out of every 5 times you turned them on, wouldn't you take it and get it fixed? I don't think you would sit around and say "oh it's just a mistake, no biggy".

later

[tracy1971]

I called and they are not saying it is a software issue to me. They are sending me a new phone. I hate to give this one up but I prefer one that works the way it is supposed to.

[agtprvctr]

all i know is i've read two posts on this thread now from people who got replacements that are presenting the same problem, and zero posts from people who got good replacements. let's just hope it is a software issue, because the alternative would be bad sensors in general, as there are too many cases for this to be limited to a few defective units.

[kimcheeboi65]

I called and they are not saying it is a software issue to me. They are sending me a new phone. I hate to give this one up but I prefer one that works the way it is supposed to.

what did you specifically say to the apple genius or applecare rep to get a new replacement?

Currently, I am also intermittently experiencing the backlight issue and also have been extremely unsatisfied with the battery life. Stand-by 20 hrs and Usage (mostly EV-DO, short span of 3g/wifi) 2 1/2 hrs and my battery is already down to 54%.

[tracy1971]

Ok, I just got my 3rd, yes I just said 3rd iPhone 3gs today due to backlight issues. Guess what, it just did it again. It HAS to be software...right? Man, my plain ol 3g was a sloid phone or otherwise I would say iPhone is crap. I am keeping this one and will hope for a fix...

[tracy1971]

what did you specifically say to the apple genius or applecare rep to get a new replacement?

Currently, I am also intermittently experiencing the backlight issue and also have been extremely unsatisfied with the battery life. Stand-by 20 hrs and Usage (mostly EV-DO, short span of 3g/wifi) 2 1/2 hrs and my battery is already down to 54%.

I just told them that the backlight doesn't come on sometimes when turning on from sleep. This was yesterday aroung 11:30am and I had the replacement at 10:15am today. That was really sweet I must say.

[kimcheeboi65]

Ok, I just got my 3rd, yes I just said 3rd iPhone 3gs today due to backlight issues. Guess what, it just did it again. It HAS to be software...right? Man, my plain ol 3g was a sloid phone or otherwise I would say iPhone is crap. I am keeping this one and will hope for a fix...

definitely seems like software if you went through three of em. How's your battery life? I'm not too happy about it.

[cewagner]

Mine has done the same thing a few times now too.

[FSUSem1noles]

My phone just started doing this the day before yesterday, it has done it 3 other times since then, the latest being this morning...

It happens when I press the home button to wake the phone from sleep.. debating whether to take it down to the local Apple store to see if they'll replace it since it's not doing it on a regular basis, it's not like I can walk in there and say, "See, this is what it's doing"..

[jingles8302]

I just bought my 16 Gb 3GS on the 30th. the next day i woke it up from sleep and the backlight didnt come on. this has only happened once to me so far. But seems like once you go to brightness settings and slide the slider it works.

[WilliamG]

What are people even going to replace these phones? It's OBVIOUSLY a software glitch. *sigh*

[CarlyLyon]

common problem with this phone alot of peopel are having this problem... typical apple bug that needs to be worked out within the next few weeks

[ChefJayPeek]

Maybe it is just me, but I have had NO problems with my 3GS. Good battery, no backlight problems, no issues whatsoever. Heck, my GF can't wait for her Tmobile contract to expire so she can get one. Well, I guess that is one problem, I have to pry it out of her hands whenever she is around. Blows the crap out of my ATT 8525 it replaced. Oh, and I don't really have any complaints about ATT either :)

[Stunod7]

I've had this happen a few time but it usually clears it self up after a few seconds.

Or my panicking and smashing buttons fixes it.

One of the two.

[psywzrd]

This has happened to me several times as well. I go into my Brightness settings, turn auto on and then off again, and the backlight comes back on. Annoying for sure but not enough of a problem for me to go out of my way and drive to an Apple store to get it replaced. Sounds like a software issue anyway so hopefully it will be fixed in the next update.

[colinfraser]

K, get ready to freak out. I had this problem very intermittantly - it didn't bother me as it would only last for a few seconds - until this morning. Now the backlight will not turn on for more than one second at a time. Updated to 3.0.1, restored, reset all settings, etc. and all that happens is the back light stays on for about 1-2 seconds after waking from standby and then turns off.
Halp!

[miggitymac]

K, get ready to freak out. I had this problem very intermittantly - it didn't bother me as it would only last for a few seconds - until this morning. Now the backlight will not turn on for more than one second at a time. Updated to 3.0.1, restored, reset all settings, etc. and all that happens is the back light stays on for about 1-2 seconds after waking from standby and then turns off.
Halp!

Just take it to an Apple store...why freak out?

I know MR is a great place to find troubleshooting advice, but if you have a 3GS, you're still under warranty and you still can get technical service over the phone for free....

You'd think more people would take advantage of this...:confused:

[MacGiver]

It happened to me 2 or 3 times per month...Pressing one more time the sleep button off and on solves the issue...i guess and hope it is a SW issue...but if it is why would this only happen on the 3GS and not 3G

[mattshawman]

This has also happened to me about 3 or 4 times since ive had the phone. It happened once when i first got it, then about a week later and then it happened yesterday twice both times within about 5 mins of each other. Seems to fix itself when i press the lock button though so its not too big of a deal. My friend got iphone 3gs same time as me but he never updated to 3.01 and he never gets its so maybe its that

[skycamefalling]

this has happened with my 3gs 32gig a few times, it happens when I wake the phone with the home button, I simpley use the sleep/wake button to correct it and then it's fine... I believe in quality products and getting the best out of yr device but this is not at all worth seeking a replacement...

[dearfall]

I'm on my way to work, so please excuse an errors in grammar/spelling and if these seems dry ;p

I have an 8g iPhone 3G that was working fine until a few hours ago, then all of a sudden the backlight stopped working. The sounds and notifications work fine, I can touch the screen and go into apps without issue. However, I can't see anything on my screen unless I tilt it so that the speakers are pointed up with the sensor and power button tilted downward. Hope that makes sense..

If I tilt the phone in the manner described, then I am able to faintly see the objects on my iphone. I have tried to hold the home+power for 15 or so seconds and it restarts but there is not backlight. I tried adjusting the brightness settings, still no backlight. I've restarted it, plugged it up, unplugged it, completely charged it...and nothing is working.

Any ideas? I see that for most people it has been simple as restarting or messing with the brightness setting, but I've not been so lucky!

Any help would be greatly appreciated! (also, please let me know if I'm supposed to just create a whole new thread!)

[AdrianWoodward]

There is some good info on Youtube on the nature of this problem, type in 'iphone backlight fix for Damaged or Dim screen' in the Youtube Search and you should find the solution showing a blue logic board and how to fix it.