iPhone 3gs won't go past "dead battery" screen

kbknigon · Sep 3, 2009

OK, so I have a jailbroken 3GS. For some odd reason, recently I noticed that it had died. This was weird because last time I checked it had pretty good battery (60 or 70%.) So, I plugged it into the wall, and waited for it to charge up to the point that it'll let you use it. When it did, the normal vibration happened, but what it did was it flashed my main screen, then did a white loading ring against a black screen. Then it went back to the dead battery screen. I plugged it back in and waited, but the same exact thing happened, and it happened a third time too.

So, I plugged my phone into my desktop computer, so I could reset the firmware, but iTunes wouldn't recognize it since it was saying the battery was dead. I lefty it plugged into the USB all night, and when I came back in the morning it was STILL at the dead battery screen.

I would really, really appreciate any help on this issue. I'm kinda worried that it's "bricked" since I've jailbroken it (with purplera1n.) But that would be weird, since I haven't done anything to the firmware. I think I updated some Cydia packages the day before, or earlier in the day, but that didn't show any problems. It could also be that my battery's just faulty, but would Apple even fix it since it's jailbroken?

(Also, just as a note,

Thanks for your help and support!

Meonfire11 · Sep 3, 2009

Exact same thing happens to me! except mine doesnt flash to the main screen and have a white screen.....it just stays at the low battery charging screen. i plug it in and the icon changes to charging....but it stays like that forever!! someone help please!!

Ps. mine is also 3gs jailbroken

tbayrgs · Sep 3, 2009

Did you try doing a hard reset (hold power and home button for approx. 10 seconds--should turn off) while it's plugged into the charger? I had a similar situation (though my phone was not jailbroken) where I went from 80% to dead battery, stayed on that screen for a while so I reset it. Once it came back on, showed charging battery screen with about 10%. Weirder still, after a couple more minutes, showed 80% again.

I ran the battery out and did a full charge overnight to calibrate--haven't had any issues since--this was a couple of months ago.

jmann · Sep 3, 2009

Put the device into DFU or Recovery Mode and do a restore in iTunes, it should detect it then.

-aggie- · Sep 4, 2009

Or try this. First open iTunes and connect your USB cord to your computer, but do not plug it into your iPhone. Then press and hold the home button on your phone while connecting the USB cord into your iPhone, while continuing to hold down the home button. Then click restore in iTunes.

steve-p · Sep 7, 2009

I had something similar with a non-Jailbroken 3G S recently.

Yesterday, it had got itself down to 37% battery, when it just switched itself off while I was using it, and refused to power on again. I plugged it into the wall charger and got a non-backlit screen showing an empty battery. Nothing much seemed to be happening after 5 minutes, so I pulled the charger and plugged it in again. This time, it sprang into life - back at 37%.

I charged it overnight and everything seemed to be normal again. By lunchtime I noticed it said 44%, which is much lower than I would expect. After an overnight charge, it's normally around 85% by that time of day. However, the next time I used it (without charging in the meantime) it had jumped up to 82%.

This has never happened before and maybe it's just that the battery is faulty.

bkswimin · Sep 9, 2009

i have the same problem. two days ago i saw my battery level getting low so i plugged it in, the battery indicator said it was charging but the % indicator kept slowly falling untill it ran out of power and turned off. since then whenever the phone is plugged in it only shows the screen of the empty battery with the small red bar at the bottom and says its charging but never leaves that screen. im havnt tried the boot with itunes yet, but other attempts to reboot have all ended in the screen going blank and then going right back to the charging low battery screen

okmijn · Oct 26, 2009

thnx veryyyyyyyyyyy much man

thnx GOD, thnx very much tbayrgs really that was very helpful and my iphone was back to work agine thnx man you are my hero

tbayrgs said:
Did you try doing a hard reset (hold power and home button for approx. 10 seconds--should turn off) while it's plugged into the charger? I had a similar situation (though my phone was not jailbroken) where I went from 80% to dead battery, stayed on that screen for a while so I reset it. Once it came back on, showed charging battery screen with about 10%. Weirder still, after a couple more minutes, showed 80% again.

I ran the battery out and did a full charge overnight to calibrate--haven't had any issues since--this was a couple of months ago.

Dragonic · Jul 28, 2010

Same

Same problem happening to me, spirit Jailbroken 3gs 32gb. Goes to dead battery screen, won't recharge or turn on. Earlier in the day it was saying No Sim when it was clearly in, and I restarted it and it worked. Then it came up with no Sim again, and I restarted it, and know it is in dead battery and not turning on. I have tried hard resets but it still doesn't work. And just to annoy me while i'm trying to charge it it decides it wants to try to turn on and waste all its battery.

Will I be able to avoid putting it into DFU mode?

topolab · Jul 7, 2011

after 3days dead,
i finally put it in dfu
mode using itunes,usb
10secs holding home+sleep button.

but.. it stucked at 3%battery,
ithink that needs battery replace

mikey7 · Sep 24, 2011

i have this problem as well on my iphone 3gs after attempting jailbreak with jailbreakme.com... when i plug the phone into the computer or a wall charger, it always shows the dead battery icon for a minute or a few minutes. then it goes to the apple logo and stays on that screen forever. no matter how long i leave it plugged in for, if i unplug it and plug it back in it always shows the dead battery icon again. i cant click restore in itunes because itunes doesnt recognize the phone. btw im on an imac. help please?

^^DrAKe^^ · Oct 9, 2011

mikey7 said:
i have this problem as well on my iphone 3gs after attempting jailbreak with jailbreakme.com... when i plug the phone into the computer or a wall charger, it always shows the dead battery icon for a minute or a few minutes. then it goes to the apple logo and stays on that screen forever. no matter how long i leave it plugged in for, if i unplug it and plug it back in it always shows the dead battery icon again. i cant click restore in itunes because itunes doesnt recognize the phone. btw im on an imac. help please?

ive gt the same issue..mine worked fine after jailbreaking but one day the dead battery icon appeared..problem is same as above...found any solution?

^^DrAKe^^ · Oct 9, 2011

1.connect iphone to ur pc.open itunes application.
2.press home and sleep buttons for exactly 10sec..release the sleep button but keep pressing the home button for nther 10secs..itunes suddenly recognized my iphone saying its in recovery mode..worked for me.

thanx jmann!!!

stereoscott · Oct 18, 2011

^^DrAKe^^ said:
1.connect iphone to ur pc.open itunes application.
2.press home and sleep buttons for exactly 10sec..release the sleep button but keep pressing the home button for nther 10secs..itunes suddenly recognized my iphone saying its in recovery mode..worked for me.

thanx jmann!!!

This same process fixed my old 3GS that was stuck on the empty battery screen (it wouldn't take a charge or remain on when unplugged from the charger).

While it was plugged into my Macbook (with iTunes open), I held the home and sleep buttons for 10 seconds... let go of the sleep (top) button and continued to hold home button for 10 seconds, and then finally let go. At that point an alert window popped open in iTunes saying I could completely erase/restore the phone.

Here is a link that explains DFU more (stands for device firmware update):

iPhone: What is DFU mode, and what's the difference from recovery mode?

Thanks for the help.

gordyguy · Dec 19, 2011

Great stuff Scott, (Great Scott!)

stereoscott said:
This same process fixed my old 3GS that was stuck on the empty battery screen (it wouldn't take a charge or remain on when unplugged from the charger).

While it was plugged into my Macbook (with iTunes open), I held the home and sleep buttons for 10 seconds... let go of the sleep (top) button and continued to hold home button for 10 seconds, and then finally let go. At that point an alert window popped open in iTunes saying I could completely erase/restore the phone.

Here is a link that explains DFU more (stands for device firmware update):

iPhone: What is DFU mode, and what's the difference from recovery mode?

Thanks for the help.

All the other suggestions did not work. Itunes could not see the phone, red charging indicator, etc. Its updating and restoring now. Fingers crossed.

Thanks again!

magazhaq · Feb 24, 2012

My problem didn't solve

I have a problem like this. I didn't have charger for 2 weeks and my charge got empty and iPhone goes off. after I found my charger and tried too charge my iPhone, it didn't work! It shows the red battery screen and doesn't charge!
I tried too restore it in DFU mode, but it got error (I think because it doesn't have any charge)
Help me please . . .

JammyPear · Apr 8, 2012

Works everytime

Hi,
I have recently had this problem and panicked when it wouldn't turn on as i had only bought the phone a week prior to the problem and paid £130 for it. Anyway every time my phone completely runs out of juice, I always come across this problem on charging it. These steps should work and my phone is an iPhone 3GS.

Step 1: Connect your phone to the computer via the data sync cable
Step 2: Go to "Start" then restart your computer with the phone still plugged in
Step 3: Once your computer has fully restarted and is ready to go, hold down the home button and unplug the cable (your phone side) and carry on holding for 10 seconds then plug the cable back in and finally let go once your phone is connected.
Step 4: Leave your phone for 2-3 minutes on its own and then iTunes should pop up as normal and you wont have to restore your phone like other methods.

Sometimes just restarting your computer with it plugged in is enough but hasn't worked for me. I have done this method 4 times and every time it has worked. I hope this helps and good luck.

JammyPear

chrisrfollett · Jul 8, 2013

JammyPear said:
Hi,

Step 1: Connect your phone to the computer via the data sync cable
Step 2: Go to "Start" then restart your computer with the phone still plugged in
Step 3: Once your computer has fully restarted and is ready to go, hold down the home button and unplug the cable (your phone side) and carry on holding for 10 seconds then plug the cable back in and finally let go once your phone is connected.
Step 4: Leave your phone for 2-3 minutes on its own and then iTunes should pop up as normal and you wont have to restore your phone like other methods.

JammyPear

My old iPhone 3GS has been sitting on the shelf for almost 2 years after I gave up on fixing this problem. I tried a variation of JammyPear's suggestion just now and it worked

1. Iphone was already plugged in with computer on and itunes running.
2. Held down the home button and unplugged the cable keeping the home button down for 10 more seconds, plugged it back in keeping the home button down until it was plugged in.
3. When I let go and the restore message from iTunes popped up

Very satisfying to raise such an old device from the dead!

GDMNW · Jan 10, 2014

Also works for iPhone 5 16GB

Hi,

After my iPhone 5 became unresponsive and refused to charge past the critical battery charging screen I searched for the symptoms and found this thread.

I can confirm that:

1 - Connecting the phone to a computer with iTunes open
2 - Holding both home and power buttons for ten seconds
3 - Releasing power button but continue holding down home button

Leads to the factory reset tool in iTunes. I note that nothing happens on the iPhone while you are doing this. I just counted out the seconds and then waited for iTunes while holding down the home key for step three. It worked the first time I tried it.

The phone powered on about 35 seconds into the process and then processed a firmware update. Once that was complete it restarted.

Unfortunately the phone then went straight back to showing a critical battery screen. At least I know it's not the software now.

sakalitu · Apr 2, 2014

Hello guys , i m sorry for bringing back to life this topic. i have an issue with an iphone 3gs, its stucked on low battery screen, well i had anothes 3gs and i.ve changed the battery, but same thing happened, it goes to dfu mode, but when i tryy to restore it s shuts down by himself and then pop up same ****** screen with low battery, any ideas what should i do, many thanks.

The Dude1022 · Oct 9, 2020

Sorry to bring this conversation up 6 years later but I found a water damaged 3GS and bought and replaced new logic board but It stayed on battery screen after charging for 2 days, I am currently trying solutions but so far None of the things worked

iPhone 3gs won't go past "dead battery" screen

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