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Dropped iPhone 4 - won't stay on unless plugged in

R

roccobladr

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 25, 2011
333
91
Hey guys,

My girl dropped her iphone 4 at the supermarket the other day. It worked great before she dropped it and she even just put a brand new case on it. I guess the phone must have dropped at a weird angle because it won't power on unless it is plugged into the wall.

I tried doing a full restore on it and it didn't help. One thing I did notice though is that the wifi does not work. The wifi on/off toggle is grayed out and wouldn't respond.

Called apple and they had no advice for me. It is a refurb unit.

My only thoughts is that the battery must have came loose on impact and probably loosened the wifi chip/whatever it is as well?

I have fixed computer hardware a bunch of times in the past so I might try to give this a shot since it seems pretty simple to get to the battery.

This ever happen to anyone else before?

Cliffs:
-iphone dropped with case on
-won't stay turned on unless plugged in
-wifi doesn't work either
-not a software issue
 
R

roccobladr

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 25, 2011
333
91
Not getting any replies but I'll update this anyway in case anyone out there has the same problem.

I tried simply taking the battery out and putting it back in, thinking that perhaps it was knocked out of place. Unfortunately this did not solve any problems. I was still only able to power it back up on the wall charger only and still "searching..." for a wifi signal, so the wifi still seems busted.

Not sure why this might work, but just ordered another battery and I will try swapping it out and see what happens. Just wouldn't make much sense for a battery to go bad after being dropped on the ground.
 
0dev

0dev

macrumors 68040
Dec 22, 2009
3,947
24
127.0.0.1
If you took the battery out you've just voided your warranty, you might have been able to get away with obtaining a free replacement if you didn't mention it was dropped but good luck getting Apple to fix it now...

Best bet is to take it to a shop you trust that does repairs and see how much they quote you.
 
XboxMySocks

XboxMySocks

macrumors 68020
Oct 25, 2009
2,230
198
99% sure that your battery and antenna have come unfastened. They are almost the same spot on the motherboard.
 
R

roccobladr

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 25, 2011
333
91
0dev said:
If you took the battery out you've just voided your warranty, you might have been able to get away with obtaining a free replacement if you didn't mention it was dropped but good luck getting Apple to fix it now...

Best bet is to take it to a shop you trust that does repairs and see how much they quote you.
Click to expand...

The refurb warranty is already expired or else that would have been my first choice.
EDIT: Just out of curiosity...how would they even know? when I unscrewed it there was no type of sticker or anything on the battery that would have to be broken or anything. The battery was also pretty loose anyway (I assume because of the fact that it is a refurb and the battery was probably replaced before anyway.)
----------
XboxMySocks said:
99% sure that your battery and antenna have come unfastened. They are almost the same spot on the motherboard.
Click to expand...

so are you thinking that it isnt the spot where the battery is connected but the spot where that whole contraption is secured to the mobo?
 
0dev

0dev

macrumors 68040
Dec 22, 2009
3,947
24
127.0.0.1
roccobladr said:
The refurb warranty is already expired or else that would have been my first choice.
EDIT: Just out of curiosity...how would they even know? when I unscrewed it there was no type of sticker or anything on the battery that would have to be broken or anything. The battery was also pretty loose anyway (I assume because of the fact that it is a refurb and the battery was probably replaced before anyway.)
Click to expand...


Fair enough. And they have hidden sensors which change colour under UV light I believe, I remember reading that somewhere. Also I think there is meant to be a warranty sticker over the battery.
 
R

roccobladr

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 25, 2011
333
91
so a little update...

Decided to try my luck at the Apple store. Told them what was wrong and he said that it sounded like the battery was loose. Went to the back for 10 mins and came back out and works brand new. Pretty sure I was out of warranty and everything but he didn't seem to care.

Now I got a tool and extra battery in case anything happens again!
 
M

mruxsaksriskul

macrumors newbie
Jul 1, 2014
2
0
Try this

My phone had starting exhibiting the same behavior after dropping it I eventually found that applying pressure to the bottom right of the phone resolved the problem. I tried applying a binder clip over the area and the phone started working as expected. It seems like there is some kind of contact not being made with the battery and the pressure is perhaps closing that gap. In the end this provided me a working phone until I can get a replacement.


Thanks,

Mike
 
D

DeeDee21

macrumors newbie
Jul 22, 2014
1
0
Thanks soooo much.I'm not too big on fixing phones & all the other post kept stating I need to replace the battery,but I did as you said I put pressure at the bottom of my phone for about 5 seconds and it instantly went from 13 to 14 percent you saved the day & saved me money :)
 
C

Cicatrix46

macrumors newbie
Aug 15, 2014
1
0
roccobladr said:
Hey guys,

My girl dropped her iphone 4 at the supermarket the other day. It worked great before she dropped it and she even just put a brand new case on it. I guess the phone must have dropped at a weird angle because it won't power on unless it is plugged into the wall.

I tried doing a full restore on it and it didn't help. One thing I did notice though is that the wifi does not work. The wifi on/off toggle is grayed out and wouldn't respond.

Called apple and they had no advice for me. It is a refurb unit.

My only thoughts is that the battery must have came loose on impact and probably loosened the wifi chip/whatever it is as well?

I have fixed computer hardware a bunch of times in the past so I might try to give this a shot since it seems pretty simple to get to the battery.

This ever happen to anyone else before?

Cliffs:
-iphone dropped with case on
-won't stay turned on unless plugged in
-wifi doesn't work either
-not a software issue
Click to expand...



Just wanted to say that WHOA--two years later and I have this EXACT same problem!!! Thanks for the heads up, there's no way of fixing this yourself is there? :/ Anyway, hope everyone is well!
 
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