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iPhone 4S died…

itsmemuffins

itsmemuffins

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jun 23, 2010
3,181
1,318
And I brought it back to life.

I was using the phone put it down and a second later picked it up to check the time.

Pressed the home button, nothing, screen didn't come on. I thought maybe the home button died or something. Pressed the sleep/awake button and still nothing.

Before this happened I was down to 16% battery so thought maybe the battery indicator was off and the battery simply died. Popped the phone on to charge and waited a few minutes for it to come on. Nothing, no charging indicator.

I thought I'd let it charge overnight and see if it turns on in the morning. Morning came, checked the phone, nothing, dead as a Dodo. I decided to try a reboot by pressing both buttons before I rang Apple.

The Apple logo came on and the phone restarted and is working fine atm.

What do you guys think? Hardware fault? Software faut? Gremlins?

Has this happened to anyone else?
 
iVeBeenDrinkin'

iVeBeenDrinkin'

macrumors 65816
Oct 17, 2008
1,291
4
itsmemuffins said:
And I brought it back to life.

I was using the phone put it down and a second later picked it up to check the time.

Pressed the home button, nothing, screen didn't come on. I thought maybe the home button died or something. Pressed the sleep/awake button and still nothing.

Before this happened I was down to 16% battery so thought maybe the battery indicator was off and the battery simply died. Popped the phone on to charge and waited a few minutes for it to come on. Nothing, no charging indicator.

I thought I'd let it charge overnight and see if it turns on in the morning. Morning came, checked the phone, nothing, dead as a Dodo. I decided to try a reboot by pressing both buttons before I rang Apple.

The Apple logo came on and the phone restarted and is working fine atm.

What do you guys think? Hardware fault? Software faut? Gremlins?

Has this happened to anyone else?
Click to expand...

I think you're a genius.
 
Thetonyk123

Thetonyk123

macrumors 68000
Aug 14, 2011
1,627
1
Earth
itsmemuffins said:
And I brought it back to life.

I was using the phone put it down and a second later picked it up to check the time.

Pressed the home button, nothing, screen didn't come on. I thought maybe the home button died or something. Pressed the sleep/awake button and still nothing.

Before this happened I was down to 16% battery so thought maybe the battery indicator was off and the battery simply died. Popped the phone on to charge and waited a few minutes for it to come on. Nothing, no charging indicator.

I thought I'd let it charge overnight and see if it turns on in the morning. Morning came, checked the phone, nothing, dead as a Dodo. I decided to try a reboot by pressing both buttons before I rang Apple.

The Apple logo came on and the phone restarted and is working fine atm.

What do you guys think? Hardware fault? Software faut? Gremlins?

Has this happened to anyone else?
Click to expand...

Probably just needed time to rest.
 
FearGhost

FearGhost

macrumors regular
Apr 4, 2011
106
10
Cambridge, UK
I had the exact same problem with my 'release day' iPhone 4s. I took it to the Apple Store and they replaced with a brand new one.
 
linsam

linsam

macrumors 6502
Jul 3, 2007
263
7
Irvine, CA
This has happened to my 4 as well. It happened twice about 6 months ago, but has not happened since after doing a hard restart both times. All is working smoothly.
 
C

cababah

macrumors 68000
Jun 11, 2009
1,891
504
SF Bay Area, CA
Check the diagnosic and usage for a "panic" crash file. My first 4s was doing the same thing every now and then (could only revive with a hard reset) and it had those kernel panic logs in the diagnostic folder. Got it replaced instantly at apple store. Supposedly, this is definitely a hardware issue related to the logic board.
 
T

The General

macrumors 601
Jul 7, 2006
4,825
1
Happened to me once. I rebooted the phone and everything was fine. I didn't assume dead battery and try to charge it all night because I don't have time for that. Gotta be able to use my phone.
 
itsmemuffins

itsmemuffins

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jun 23, 2010
3,181
1,318
FearGhost said:
I had the exact same problem with my 'release day' iPhone 4s. I took it to the Apple Store and they replaced with a brand new one.
Click to expand...

Did they try a hard reset first?

linsam said:
This has happened to my 4 as well. It happened twice about 6 months ago, but has not happened since after doing a hard restart both times. All is working smoothly.
Click to expand...

Thanks.

cababah said:
Check the diagnosic and usage for a "panic" crash file. My first 4s was doing the same thing every now and then (could only revive with a hard reset) and it had those kernel panic logs in the diagnostic folder. Got it replaced instantly at apple store. Supposedly, this is definitely a hardware issue related to the logic board.
Click to expand...

First place I looked but there was nothing. :confused:
 
R

rsxmachine

macrumors 6502a
Dec 19, 2007
598
91
This happened to my second 4S replacement. Since then I am on my 3rd 4S, but not for that reason.
 
S

salacious

macrumors 6502a
May 15, 2011
750
5
this actually happend to me after i downloaded a social networking app.... i tried to figure out how could my iphone possibly crash out of the blue for no reason.. a shiny new 4s that i had for a week, then after 7 hours of downloading this app like you my phone wouldnt turn on even after a full nights charge, found out about reboot and hey presto it was on, not realising it was the app causing this, then again while at work it wouldnt turn on again, so as an IT technician i decided to investigate all changes made, so remembering that app i downloaded i deleted it and what do you know.... my phone hasnt crashed since, not saying this will help you but it could be a problem that has been unnoticed, none the less iv been enjoying my phone crash free and worry free..
 
P

PaulNY

macrumors member
Jul 21, 2010
97
14
I had a similar problem today where the phone essentially locked up. It was still 'awake' and would still try and launch apps, but nothing would open, had no wifi, and no cell signal. Holding the power down to reboot didnt work, had to do a hard reset with power and home key. First time it happened to my 4S. I'll chalk it up to a random SW bug, my friends 4S he got last week had a kernal panic after updating to 5.01, so I'm going with SW issue.
 
agentphish

agentphish

macrumors 65816
Sep 7, 2004
1,140
0
This shows the importance of quitting your apps in multitasking.

Most of the time if the phone just becomes unresponsive like that, its either because an App crashed or you've run too low on available RAM and the device becomes unresponsive. It has nothing to do with your hardware.

Plugging it in will do nothing but feed it power to stay unresponsive.

Plugging it in and doing a hard reset will force the device to restart and kill whatever bad app-related process created the memory leak that caused the phone to crash, your phone will restart and you're good to go.

If a store is replacing your phone for a software issue like that they're doing you a disservice.
 
itsmemuffins

itsmemuffins

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jun 23, 2010
3,181
1,318
agentphish said:
This shows the importance of quitting your apps in multitasking.

Most of the time if the phone just becomes unresponsive like that, its either because an App crashed or you've run too low on available RAM and the device becomes unresponsive. It has nothing to do with your hardware.

Plugging it in will do nothing but feed it power to stay unresponsive.

Plugging it in and doing a hard reset will force the device to restart and kill whatever bad app-related process created the memory leak that caused the phone to crash, your phone will restart and you're good to go.

If a store is replacing your phone for a software issue like that they're doing you a disservice.
Click to expand...

During the 16 months I've owned the 4 this never happened and I never quit apps.
 
BoxerGT2.5

BoxerGT2.5

macrumors 68020
Jun 4, 2008
2,104
14,136
itsmemuffins said:
During the 16 months I've owned the 4 this never happened and I never quit apps.
Click to expand...

+1

I don't think I ever had any hang ups or apps crash on my 4. I can't say that on my 4s. I've had every iPhone since they came out, the 4s is by far the most buggy of them yet.
 
W

wacky4alanis

macrumors 6502a
Mar 18, 2009
555
79
My iPhone 4s was unresponsive this morning when I took it off my charger. It was fine when I attached it last night. I had to do a hard reset by holding the 2 buttons down for a long time. It seems fine now, but I'm worried I may have a problem. I see mixed thoughts in this thread. Some people say it's an App causing the issue, others say to get a new phone. Any other opinions?
 
Pink∆Floyd

Pink∆Floyd

macrumors 68020
Nov 21, 2009
2,039
0
Up There
I love the dramatic thread title and your simplistic first sentence :)

citizen_cane.gif
 
K

Kerrbear161

macrumors newbie
Nov 10, 2012
3
0
I have had my 4s for ~6 months, and at least 4x a month it will either shut down randomly, or restart. If I do not put it on the charger begore bed, it will die even though no apps are running.

I live in an area where it is hard to just exchange a phone. Any ideas on causes? Solutions?

Thanks!
 
C

cynics

macrumors G4
Jan 8, 2012
11,959
2,154
agentphish said:
This shows the importance of quitting your apps in multitasking.

Most of the time if the phone just becomes unresponsive like that, its either because an App crashed or you've run too low on available RAM and the device becomes unresponsive. It has nothing to do with your hardware.

Plugging it in will do nothing but feed it power to stay unresponsive.

Plugging it in and doing a hard reset will force the device to restart and kill whatever bad app-related process created the memory leak that caused the phone to crash, your phone will restart and you're good to go.

If a store is replacing your phone for a software issue like that they're doing you a disservice.
Click to expand...

The phone should be actively managing RAM by killing apps its multitasking if you need more RAM.

The App Store is policed way to heavily for a software problem not to be Apples fault. However I agree I'd wait until after a restore to before I returned the phone.

However how often should a phone need to be reset?

esymehe8.jpg
 
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