My iphone 4 is not charging????

[youngn]

I have an iphone for, had it for over a year now and all of a sudden it stopped charging. I connected it to the mains charger, still no charge, connected it to three different usb chargers still no charge. I then switched the phone off and connected the phone to the mains charger, it switched on and when it came to the home screen theere was no charging icon - the little thunderbolt. Did the same with the usb lead it just switched the phone on but doesnt charge. And i have been using these leads and my mains charger for a year so they are compatible. Please can someone help me asap as i need my phone for work tomorrow. Thank You

[SurferMan]

When you say 3 different USB chargers, do you mean the actual wall unit, or 3 different USB charge cables? If that doesn't work (which would usually point out fault with the wall unit or usb cable itself, and still doesn't after a hard reset.... then it's either a battery issue or the USB port on the phone itself needs to be replaced.... it happens.

[youngn]

Thanks for the reply. I mean three usb charger cables connected to my iphone from my laptop. None work and itunes doesnt load like it used to nor does the laptop recognize that the device is connected. I also tried a mains charger and that didn't work. This whole thing happened after the phone was connected to the laptop, charging, and i took it off charge re connected it within a few seconds and from then on it had not been charging. If by hard re set you mean holding down the home and power button for 15 seconds whilst switched on then i have tried it. Still doesnt want to work. Also is the charger port a diy job or do i need to take it to apple? as apple take days to fix the simplest of problems.

[Munchkinsdad]

The pins may be bent on the device. I had an iPod that quit charging and looked at the charger port and saw that some pins were mangled. That could be the problem and it will have to be repaired if you don't want to do it yourself.

THis is just an opinion, of course, to help you figure out the problem.

[youngn]

if the port is broken then why would the iphone switch on after i connect it to the maisn charger when it is off? Could it be a siftware issue..? i havnt changed the ios or anything so i dont think it could be that.

[Munchkinsdad]

Good question. Mine would work off and on until it finally quit. Take a flashlight and look in there.
Did you try turning off then on the phone and try connecting again? Twice now my iPhone did something screwy and wouldnt get messages texts or charge. I couldn't even shut it off. Had to do a soft reset and all back to normal.

What OS are you running?

[SurferMan]

Originally Posted by youngn

if the port is broken then why would the iphone switch on after i connect it to the maisn charger when it is off? Could it be a siftware issue..? i havnt changed the ios or anything so i dont think it could be that.

This can happen with various devices, even Macbooks, where it may be getting enough current to stay on but not charge. It's happened plenty of times to iPhone/iPod users, and they would have the USB port replaced either by Apple or themselves. It's a cheap and easily fix if you know your way around the phone, there are vids and instructions online as well. ifixit should have the parts.

[Munchkinsdad]

I just bought a replacement port for my iPod for $15. I'll fix it myself and sell it!

[youngn]

Thanks for the help. Just purchased a charging port. Youtube videos lead me to believe it shouldn't be a very hard job to fix it myself. Any of you guys know if the ebay digitizer screens are decent? Thinking about changing the housing of my iphone to white,

[Munchkinsdad]

Hey! That's a great idea! Darnit. Never thought of that
But did you try restarting first to make sure it IS the port?

[youngn]

Yeah i switched the phone on and off a few times, done the reset where you hold the power and home button for 15 seconds. Is there anything else i can do in the meantime?>

[Munchkinsdad]

When you plug in charger try wiggling it up and doin slowly and see if it try's charging. I don't see where there would be an OS issue but I hope that the port is the problem!

[0dev]

Restore the iPhone. You can't do it in iTunes, obviously, but if you reset all content and settings it has the same effect and it just boots to the iTunes icon. If it doesn't work after that, then you know it has to be hardware.

[youngn]

I have photos on the phone i dont want to lose :/ worst comes to worst id sacrifice the iphone just for the hard drive if i had to. I have tried wigglign it etc but still no use. Thanks for the help!

[0dev]

Originally Posted by youngn

I have photos on the phone i dont want to lose :/ worst comes to worst id sacrifice the iphone just for the hard drive if i had to. I have tried wigglign it etc but still no use. Thanks for the help!

E-mail the photos to your own account so you keep copies of them then wipe it.

[SurferMan]

I don't know if you have a mac or pc, but on my mac I use Image Capture to back up all vids/photos. Since the cable will keep the phone on but not charge, you can see if you can transfer files to your computer.

[0dev]

Originally Posted by SurferMan

I don't know if you have a mac or pc, but on my mac I use Image Capture to back up all vids/photos. Since the cable will keep the phone on but not charge, you can see if you can transfer files to your computer.

If iTunes doesn't recognise it, I doubt Image Capture will.

[Munchkinsdad]

If he has wireless sync working it should be a breeze to backup.

[0dev]

Originally Posted by Munchkinsdad

If he has wireless sync working it should be a breeze to backup.

Good point, but doesn't the wireless syncing only happen when the phone's charging?

[Munchkinsdad]

Originally Posted by 0dev

Good point, but doesn't the wireless syncing only happen when the phone's charging?

Not always. I've been syncing all day without charging. Dumb iTunes decided not to recognize 2000 vids.

[youngn]

Emailed as many pictures to my self as i could. Still have a few videos and texts that i dont want to lose but hopefully it wont be a siftware issue as i have been running the same os for around a year without updating.

[Munchkinsdad]

I hope the pics are not being emailed in a compressed format! (if it matters)

[0dev]

Originally Posted by Munchkinsdad

I hope the pics are not being emailed in a compressed format! (if it matters)

Since iOS 4, the phone will let you choose what level of compression you want, if at all.

[youngn]

Originally Posted by SurferMan

This can happen with various devices, even Macbooks, where it may be getting enough current to stay on but not charge. It's happened plenty of times to iPhone/iPod users, and they would have the USB port replaced either by Apple or themselves. It's a cheap and easily fix if you know your way around the phone, there are vids and instructions online as well. ifixit should have the parts.

This was the problem! Just changed my parts and it was the charging port at fault. There are plenty of guides out there and all of them including ifixit state you have to take the motherboard out of the phone and literally strip the back end including wifi/ camera etc... this is not the case. I tried doing it and one of the screws is now rounded so i got annoyed and just pulled the charger port off. It has no connection with the motherboard except the ribbon that attached to it which can easily be pulled off

Thanks for the advice guys!

[Munchkinsdad]

Happy to help!