Apple Watch White Screen of Death?

[JerTheGeek]

So my alarm went off this morning and I looked at my watch and found a white screen kinda like what’s on the new flashlight feature in Watch OS 4. I was able to turn off my alarm with a button press, but the white screen remained. When I tried to dismiss this white screen, I found that it is not going away. I tried a reboot, and nothing. So, randomly, while I was sleeping, my new Series 3 Apple Watch is stuck on a white screen only. When I went to bed last night it was perfectly normal. I can renter my passcode and here the clicks, and even Siri will respond, but I can’t see anything but white and a thin line on the screen. What the heck is this and has anyone seen this before? Is AppleCare my best bet as I’m assuming or can I do something myself about it?

EDIT: I attached an image, the diagonal black lines in the screen are just showing up for some reason in the picture but I don’t see them in real life.

 

[friednoodles]

Have you tried force restarting it? Hold both the side button and Digital Crown for at least 10 seconds, then release both buttons when you see the Apple logo (assuming you ever do see the Apple logo...).

That'd be the first step just to see if it's a weird software bug and if you can even get it to restart. Otherwise, if it won't restart, you may like to try leaving it off the charger for long enough that it drains the battery completely and shuts down, then you can put it back not the charger and wait to see if it restarts (may take several minutes after putting it on the charger before it has enough power to start up again by itself).

And if that fails or it still has the white screen, I guess calling Apple will be your best bet. I've had to replace my Apple Watch once and I did it by using the online support chat system (as I don't have an Apple store nearby). They sent me out a box to send the watch back and in a couple of weeks I received a new watch.

 

[44267547]

So my alarm went off this morning and I looked at my watch and found a white screen kinda like what’s on the new flashlight feature in Watch OS 4. I was able to turn off my alarm with a button press, but the white screen remained. When I tried to dismiss this white screen, I found that it is not going away. I tried a reboot, and nothing. So, randomly, while I was sleeping, my new Series 3 Apple Watch is stuck on a white screen only. When I went to bed last night it was perfectly normal. I can renter my passcode and here the clicks, and even Siri will respond, but I can’t see anything but white and a thin line on the screen. What the heck is this and has anyone seen this before? Is AppleCare my best bet as I’m assuming or can I do something myself about it?

EDIT: I attached an image, the diagonal black lines in the screen are just showing up for some reason in the picture but I don’t see them in real life.

Not acceptable by any means. I would try a hard reset by holding the Digital Crown and power button. That should power cycle it regardless. Otherwise, I'm assuming you are within your 14 day return period for an exchange.

 

[JerTheGeek]

Not acceptable by any means. I would try a hard reset by holding the Digital Crown and power button. That should power cycle it regardless. Otherwise, I'm assuming you are within your 14 day return period for an exchange.

I tried that. Same white screen. And yes, I have only had it a week so I am in return policy. I bought it from VZW so I guess I have to check with them on exchanges.

 

[Mabus51]

Return it, looks like the ribbon cable isn’t connected to the PCB board thus keeping the screen always on.

 

[44267547]

I tried that. Same white screen. And yes, I have only had it a week so I am in return policy. I bought it from VZW so I guess I have to check with them on exchanges.

They will accept the return with no issue. The only problem you might have is lack of available stock.

 

[JerTheGeek]

Update: talked to VZ and Apple. Apple had me unpair the watch which as expected didn’t solve the issue, so they said I could do the replacement with them or with VZ. VZ said it would be about two weeks, so I got a timing estimate from Apple and they said it would be probably about the same. I’m gonna go with VZ cause their process seems a bit simpler. Only thing that’s annoying is the stock issue, looks like I’ll be waiting for a bit. At least it’s just the Watch.