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3GS: Frozen Touchscreen and Incorrect icons associated with APPS???

C

Cyclone Chris

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 14, 2008
175
0
So I decided to add another line and pick up a 3GS this weekend from Apple. Made an appointment at the Mall of Georgia and was out of the store with a new iPhone within 20 mins.

Great... so I'm playing around with it, get home, load up a bunch of apps off iTunes, same ones I had in my 3G.

1.. Within a 2 hour period the touchscreen would not respond on 3 different occasions, however the home button did. In order to get the screen to respond I would need to hit the sleep button, then the home button to turn it on. This also happened after a reset.

So is this something other are encountering on the 3GS? Or should I go to apple and get a new one?

2.. The other problem I have noticed is that my icons are all screwed up. My ebay icon changed over to Pandora, however when I click on it, the EBAY app loads up. I deleted the ebay app, and re-installed. The problem was termporary fixed, however after a power cycle, it changed back over to pandora. This is also common with another 15 out of 80 apps I have.

Again, is this normal for you 3GS users?

Thanks,
Chris
 
Wow. We must live very close to each other. :p
I hate the Mall of Georgia Apple store. The employees are so smug. Do you get the same feeling about them?

Anyways on topic, if your screen is not responding, if you've done the reset, and the problem persists, you may need a replacement. My phone doesn't respond right away all the time, however neither does my computer, or my xbox, or any piece of tech. But if yours is doing it often, there may be a problem.

I dont have the app icon mix up. Not once. But ive heard its happening a lot.
 
This just happend to me last night as well. I had to reboot the phone to get it to function as a touch screen. After i did so, it screwed up all my icons. Gray, double, wrong icons for different apps...it was stupid. :mad:
 
Over the past week I've had the screen freeze twice - once when writting a text and another time just while looking at a webpage... had to force a restart of the phone. Also have issues with icons not looking right.
 
Same issues here, a complete restored seemed to fix the icons temporarily. But I was having intermittent lockups (or long delays in response), I was resetting several times a week. Following the restore the camera app locked up and would not open the shutter, I had to reset again to get back to the home screen.

So anyway, I've made a genius bar appt, but now I can't seem to reproduce any of this... figures. :rolleyes:
 
serialtoon said:
This just happend to me last night as well. I had to reboot the phone to get it to function as a touch screen. After i did so, it screwed up all my icons. Gray, double, wrong icons for different apps...it was stupid. :mad:
Click to expand...

Yup, had that happen today to me for the first time. All the icons on the main menu were blacked out, other screens fine. Managed to get it back somehow, then tried to send a text and it all locked up.
 
First time Mac Forums post, first time Apple product owner! :cool:

My girlfriend and I purchased 32GB Black 3G S iPhones last weekend. Hers works perfectly fine, but my screen freezes as well... often! I am also getting the icon issue, but it's a known issue as stated above.

I will be taking the iPhone back to the Apple Store and hopefully get a replacement. My concern with that is that I will need to reproduce it for them, so I'll need to be hanging around the store waiting for it to happen. Plus, it has a little (from the factory) superficial imperfection on the metal bezel that is bothering the hell out of me.

But yeah, first time owner of anything Apple (I am a long time PC/Windows user) and I will never go back to anything else.

Cheers,
Sergio.
 
I've had my iPhone for about 10 days without a problem...well, until last night. My phone went dead...so I did a reset...came back on, but some of my apps icons are off.
 
I did a google search and someone posted that he was able to reproduce the touchscreen freeze problem by shaking the phone, then the screen would freeze. I tried the same thing and got the same results 50% of the time.

Basically shake your iPhone real hard, then try and move around on the screen... nothing happens. The Home Button works and brings you back to the home screen, however in order to get the screen to respond, you need to press the sleep button, and home button again, and everything is back to normal.

I was getting sick and tired of this problem, so I called apple, and they mentioned that after a restore, if the problem persisted to make a Genius appt, to get the phone replaced.

Since the closest apple store is 110 miles away, I decided to just buy the Apple Protection Plan, and get a advance iPhone fulfillment. Basically, the applecare program waives the $29 fee for an advance fulfillment. I didn't want to wait for a replacement as it would be around 7 business days. With an advance fullfillment I can hold on to my half ass broken phone and send it away, once the other one arrives. I was told I should have a replacement by tomorrow evening... not bad considering I just did this 35 mins ago.
 
Cyclone Chris said:
I did a google search and someone posted that he was able to reproduce the touchscreen freeze problem by shaking the phone, then the screen would freeze. I tried the same thing and got the same results 50% of the time.

Basically shake your iPhone real hard, then try and move around on the screen... nothing happens. The Home Button works and brings you back to the home screen, however in order to get the screen to respond, you need to press the sleep button, and home button again, and everything is back to normal.

I was getting sick and tired of this problem, so I called apple, and they mentioned that after a restore, if the problem persisted to make a Genius appt, to get the phone replaced.

Since the closest apple store is 110 miles away, I decided to just buy the Apple Protection Plan, and get a advance iPhone fulfillment. Basically, the applecare program waives the $29 fee for an advance fulfillment. I didn't want to wait for a replacement as it would be around 7 business days. With an advance fullfillment I can hold on to my half ass broken phone and send it away, once the other one arrives. I was told I should have a replacement by tomorrow evening... not bad considering I just did this 35 mins ago.
Click to expand...
I've had the dead screen issue a few times but the icons have been messed up for awhile now. Not only do the apps have the wrong icons but some have the top of one icon and the bottom of another.:eek:
 
My missus has just had the freezing screen / wrong icons problem.

I'm rapidly losing confidence in her 3GS. Rubbish signal, poor battery life and now freezing / crashing.

:(
 
3.1 will fix the icon issue. I had the same problem and the dev release corrected it.
 
Unspoken Demise said:
Wow. We must live very close to each other. :p
I hate the Mall of Georgia Apple store. The employees are so smug. Do you get the same feeling about them?

Anyways on topic, if your screen is not responding, if you've done the reset, and the problem persists, you may need a replacement. My phone doesn't respond right away all the time, however neither does my computer, or my xbox, or any piece of tech. But if yours is doing it often, there may be a problem.

I dont have the app icon mix up. Not once. But ive heard its happening a lot.
Click to expand...

I'm actually from Warner Robins, GA, however I was in Alpharetta visiting my dad, so I decided to pick up a 3GS while in ATL.
 
Received my replacement iPhone 3GS today. Currently restoring it from my backup.

How do I know if I received a brand new one or a refurbished one?

The one box I received contained 2 boxes inside.
- 1 slim White empty box that said "APPLE CARE" in red.
- 1 slim Black Box with a picture of an iPhone on it.
- 1 SIM Card removal tool
- 1 instruction booklet on procedures to restore and send in phone.
- 1 pack of Tape Strips
 
Cyclone Chris said:
Received my replacement iPhone 3GS today. Currently restoring it from my backup.

How do I know if I received a brand new one or a refurbished one?

The one box I received contained 2 boxes inside.
- 1 slim White empty box that said "APPLE CARE" in red.
- 1 slim Black Box with a picture of an iPhone on it.
- 1 SIM Card removal tool
- 1 instruction booklet on procedures to restore and send in phone.
- 1 pack of Tape Strips
Click to expand...

IIRC, if the serial number begins with a 5 it is a refurb...however from what i have read it is too soon for refurbs and what you received is a new phone made specifically by Apple for replacements (serial number beginning with 8)...
 
Cyclone Chris said:
I did a google search and someone posted that he was able to reproduce the touchscreen freeze problem by shaking the phone, then the screen would freeze. I tried the same thing and got the same results 50% of the time.

Basically shake your iPhone real hard, then try and move around on the screen... nothing happens. The Home Button works and brings you back to the home screen, however in order to get the screen to respond, you need to press the sleep button, and home button again, and everything is back to normal.

I was getting sick and tired of this problem, so I called apple, and they mentioned that after a restore, if the problem persisted to make a Genius appt, to get the phone replaced.

Since the closest apple store is 110 miles away, I decided to just buy the Apple Protection Plan, and get a advance iPhone fulfillment. Basically, the applecare program waives the $29 fee for an advance fulfillment. I didn't want to wait for a replacement as it would be around 7 business days. With an advance fullfillment I can hold on to my half ass broken phone and send it away, once the other one arrives. I was told I should have a replacement by tomorrow evening... not bad considering I just did this 35 mins ago.
Click to expand...

So, is the advance iPhone fulfillment available for $29 without purchasing Apple Care? Sounds like your process worked like a charm...
I'm still crashing in multiple apps and have the synced logs to prove it.

Advance fulfillment sounds like a better option than an Apple store as I've heard supply of 'refurbs' are short there and will need to be ordered anyway.
 
One tip to note regarding crashes/lockups - don't reset the iphone manually. Allow the iphone to crash organically and reboot itself, this way everything is properly logged and you have the evidence after a sync.

~/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/MobileDevice/[device_name]/
 
jaycarroll said:
So, is the advance iPhone fulfillment available for $29 without purchasing Apple Care? Sounds like your process worked like a charm...
I'm still crashing in multiple apps and have the synced logs to prove it.

Advance fulfillment sounds like a better option than an Apple store as I've heard supply of 'refurbs' are short there and will need to be ordered anyway.
Click to expand...

yes, $29 without the apple care. If you purchase the apple care, then it's a free advance fulfillment. So I basically have paid $69 - $29 = $40 for an additional year of warranty. If I went to an apple store I would have spent over $29 in gas since the closest one is 110 miles from me. And to add, I received the iPhone 16 hours after I placed a call with their tech support. 16 hrs from California to Georgia... not bad.. and shipping was on them. Props to Apple.

The replacement has been working flawlessly so far. The screen looks a lot better (doesn't have that washed out white look, has deeper blacks), the touchscreen hasn't locked up on me yet, icons have not been screwy, however on the flip side, I've noticed that I sometimes get ones less EDGE bar. The 2 3GS's differentiated by about -2dbm in the field test view. However they kept flip/flopping around with signal strength.
 
One of the Apps icons that keeps changing to another icon is the AIM app (paid version)...it most recently had the Zombieville icon...:confused:
Today AOL pushed an update and the normal AIM icon showed up again...
I wondering if they noticed the bug and fixed it within the app in the update today...:confused:
 
Good info - I have an apple store within 10 mins in every direction, but I'd still rather to hammer it out on the phone than deal with a Genius Bar appt. I was just wondering why buy AppleCare if you an just pay $29 for the fulfillment, but I see you wanted the extra year of coverage. I'm planning on going with Squaretrade - I'll need the accident insurance given the amount of times I dropped my old BB Curve.

Thanks.

Cyclone Chris said:
yes, $29 without the apple care. If you purchase the apple care, then it's a free advance fulfillment. So I basically have paid $69 - $29 = $40 for an additional year of warranty. If I went to an apple store I would have spent over $29 in gas since the closest one is 110 miles from me. And to add, I received the iPhone 16 hours after I placed a call with their tech support. 16 hrs from California to Georgia... not bad.. and shipping was on them. Props to Apple.

The replacement has been working flawlessly so far. The screen looks a lot better (doesn't have that washed out white look, has deeper blacks), the touchscreen hasn't locked up on me yet, icons have not been screwy, however on the flip side, I've noticed that I sometimes get ones less EDGE bar. The 2 3GS's differentiated by about -2dbm in the field test view. However they kept flip/flopping around with signal strength.
Click to expand...
 
my 3GS also keeps freezing exactly like you say in bullet 1.

Great to hear someone describe the exact problem I have with my 2 week old 3gs. I have tried everything so far, including reboot, restore, hard reset, and today a full restore as a new phone with the Os 3.1.2. Was happy for 30 mins until the screen locked up again when setting the timer for some cooking. Hit the sleep button and then unlocked it again with home button and slider as usual, so I could continue setting the timer.
Are you still happy with your replacement? I unfortunately live in Sweden so I have to go through a normal telephone service company that the operator uses. Am somewhat afraid that they are not as generous as apple and may just return it to me without fixing it and charging me the equivalent of 60 dollars too.
I got the iPhone after being so impressed with the iPod touch 2nd gen but the iPhone has completely disappointed me so far. I have lost trust in it and have spent countless hours trying to solve the above problem. I bought the iPhone because I don't have that kind of time anymore!!
Wish we had a genius bar to solve these issues....
Let us know if you are still happy with your replacement.
 
Damc said:
Great to hear someone describe the exact problem I have with my 2 week old 3gs. I have tried everything so far, including reboot, restore, hard reset, and today a full restore as a new phone with the Os 3.1.2. Was happy for 30 mins until the screen locked up again when setting the timer for some cooking. Hit the sleep button and then unlocked it again with home button and slider as usual, so I could continue setting the timer.
Are you still happy with your replacement? I unfortunately live in Sweden so I have to go through a normal telephone service company that the operator uses. Am somewhat afraid that they are not as generous as apple and may just return it to me without fixing it and charging me the equivalent of 60 dollars too.
I got the iPhone after being so impressed with the iPod touch 2nd gen but the iPhone has completely disappointed me so far. I have lost trust in it and have spent countless hours trying to solve the above problem. I bought the iPhone because I don't have that kind of time anymore!!
Wish we had a genius bar to solve these issues....
Let us know if you are still happy with your replacement.
Click to expand...

Have you tried not restoring from backup just have a fresh copy of everything... If you jailbroken restore and dont jailbreak! All the problems you are describing were crushed along time ago!
 
Damc said:
Great to hear someone describe the exact problem I have with my 2 week old 3gs. I have tried everything so far, including reboot, restore, hard reset, and today a full restore as a new phone with the Os 3.1.2. Was happy for 30 mins until the screen locked up again when setting the timer for some cooking. Hit the sleep button and then unlocked it again with home button and slider as usual, so I could continue setting the timer.
Are you still happy with your replacement? I unfortunately live in Sweden so I have to go through a normal telephone service company that the operator uses. Am somewhat afraid that they are not as generous as apple and may just return it to me without fixing it and charging me the equivalent of 60 dollars too.
I got the iPhone after being so impressed with the iPod touch 2nd gen but the iPhone has completely disappointed me so far. I have lost trust in it and have spent countless hours trying to solve the above problem. I bought the iPhone because I don't have that kind of time anymore!!
Wish we had a genius bar to solve these issues....
Let us know if you are still happy with your replacement.
Click to expand...

Yes, I'm still happy with my replacement, and ever since I received the replacement I haven't had the frozen screen issue.
 
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