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Resolved Brand New iPhone 4S - Loss of WiFi after iOS 7 Upgrade

thelatinist

thelatinist

macrumors 603
Original poster
Aug 15, 2009
5,937
52
Connecticut, USA
Please note: this was a hardware issue, as I suspected from the beginning. I posted here to find out if others had similar experiences, as it appears they did. Please don't continue to offer suggestions for resolving the issue. I assure you, they will not help.

My home button died over the weekend, so last night on the very last day of my AppleCare+ coverage, I walked into the Apple Store for a Genius Bar appointment and walked out with a brand new (manufactured Week 37 2013) iPhone 4S free of charge two years to the day after I purchased my phone. Thanks Apple!

HOWEVER, about two hours after I got the phone home, after performing an OTA upgrade to 7.0.2 and in the middle of restoring from my iCloud backup, my WiFi suddenly died. No networks detected, settings button on "off" and grayed out so it can't be turned on. Reset the phone, the network settings, did Erase All Contents and Settings (the Setup Assistant didn't even offer to connect me to a WiFi network), restored the phone three times. Set up as a new phone. No luck. Always grayed out. Even did online chat with a service rep, who had me restore yet again. No dice. It seems to be a hardware issue (maybe a baseband firmware issue?). I have another appointment at the Genius Bar tonight.

Has anyone else experienced sudden, irreversible loss of WiFi on the iPhone 4S or after upgrading a phone to iOS 7?
 
Last edited:
Hmm

That's really weird to be honest. Did your wifi go down as you were updating to iOS7? Because if that is the case, it could of effected the phone itself during the update process.
 
F0urq said:
That's really weird to be honest. Did your wifi go down as you were updating to iOS7? Because if that is the case, it could of effected the phone itself during the update process.
Click to expand...

I don't believe it did. I got no error message during the update. And the WiFi appeared to be working for a couple of minutes after the update (I connected to my home network and started the iCloud backup). The one thing I thought about is that perhaps WiFi connection was dropped while upgrading the baseband firmware (I think that happens *after* the OTA upgrade...but I am not sure). If it installed a corrupted baseband firmware, there would be no way to fix that.
 
Have heard another similar story.

The fellow I work beside, his partner upgraded her 4S to iOS7 a week or so ago, and I believe it suffered exactly the same fate. After the update, she simply couldn't use wifi, and the settings option for it were greyed out.

After spending some time on the phone to Apple support, she was informed that it was a known issue in a very small amount of 4S handsets, and was asked to take it into her local Apple store for replacement. This was what she did, and a replacement was then issued with no further questions asked, and the replacement has been fine since.

Doesn't help you much I'm afraid, but at least you know it's not just an entirely isolated incident.
 
Thanks everyone. I wonder if they've changed manufacturer on the Wifi chipset; I never had any problem with my previous 4S. I also wonder if they're now putting the attention into the build of the 4S that they are into the 5/5S...the overall feel of this handset seems less polished than my old 4S.

I already have an appointment at the Genius Bar for this afternoon. One thing is sure: I'll be taking every opportunity to stress the WiFi chip in my new handset as much as possible in the first 90 days.
 
thelatinist said:
My home button died over the weekend, so last night on the very last day of my AppleCare+ coverage, I walked into the Apple Store for a Genius Bar appointment and walked out with a brand new (manufactured Week 37 2013) iPhone 4S free of charge two years to the day after I purchased my phone. Thanks Apple!

HOWEVER, about two hours after I got the phone home, after performing an OTA upgrade to 7.0.2 and in the middle of restoring from my iCloud backup, my WiFi suddenly died. No networks detected, settings button on "off" and grayed out so it can't be turned on. Reset the phone, the network settings, did Erase All Contents and Settings (the Setup Assistant didn't even offer to connect me to a WiFi network), restored the phone three times. Set up as a new phone. No luck. Always grayed out. Even did online chat with a service rep, who had me restore yet again. No dice. It seems to be a hardware issue (maybe a baseband firmware issue?). I have another appointment at the Genius Bar tonight.

Has anyone else experienced sudden, irreversible loss of WiFi on the iPhone 4S or after upgrading a phone to iOS 7?
Click to expand...


Just for kicks, do this... http://www.iphonehacks.com/2013/10/fix-activation-error-ios-7.html

It fixed some weird errors I was having... It reloads the full version of 7.0.2 on your phone... Just make sure to download the correct, rather large, file.
 
You get 90 days of limited warranty on replacements or the remainder of your AppleCare, whichever lasts longer. So you should be able to replace that broken 4S.
 
Update 10/11/13

Got my phone replaced at the Genius Bar this afternoon. They didn't even look at it other than to check the moisture sensors. This time the genius updated the phone to 7.0.2 before I left, and I waited in the store until my iCloud backup had been restored. I wasn't taking any chances. So far so good, but I still have some rather large downloads to test on it (Wikipedia Offline, Navigon mapping data).

As always, Apple's got second-to-none service. I just hope this new handset is as reliable as my beloved release-day 4S. I loved that phone.

TSX said:
Have you tried resetting network settings?
Click to expand...

Yes. I said this in my original post.

scotrinaf said:
Just for kicks, do this... http://www.iphonehacks.com/2013/10/fix-activation-error-ios-7.html ... It reloads the full version of 7.0.2 on your phone...
Click to expand...

I think you missed the part where I said I already restored my phone three times?

viperGTS said:
You get 90 days of limited warranty on replacements or the remainder of your AppleCare, whichever lasts longer. So you should be able to replace that broken 4S.
Click to expand...

Well, yes. That's why I was going to the Genius Bar. I didn't doubt that they would replace a one day old defective phone. I just wondered if this was an issue others have encountered. Seems it is...
 
scotrinaf said:
I meant a software restore, not a "backup/restore".
Click to expand...

Dude, I said that I restored the phone three times and set it up as new. Obviously I'm not talking about restoring from a backup. You posted (bad) instructions for restoring an iPhone as if they were some sort of revelation. I've owned an iPhone since 2009; I know how to restore it.
 
I experienced issues with WiFi when buying a new iPod touch 5G. For about 24 hours, it was just impossible to browse the Web of download anything. Then suddenly it worked. Not sure if when using a new iDevice, it needs some time to configure WiFi.
 
my wifi goes out for a few seconds at a time sometimes. i have 39 wifi routers around me at last count.

if you have a lot of wifi networks around you then its probably interference from a neighboring router. in my case things got so bad, i put my apple TV and other devices on cat 5 because using wifi to stream meant it would always disconnect
 
thelatinist said:
Dude, I said that I restored the phone three times and set it up as new. Obviously I'm not talking about restoring from a backup. You posted (bad) instructions for restoring an iPhone as if they were some sort of revelation. I've owned an iPhone since 2009; I know how to restore it.
Click to expand...

Kudos to you, do you want a willkie button? Guess I'm supposed to know your life history...And the instructions aren't "bad", they fixed my iPhone 5 when no one else could...
 
scotrinaf said:
Kudos to you, do you want a willkie button? Guess I'm supposed to know your life history...And the instructions aren't "bad", they fixed my iPhone 5 when no one else could...
Click to expand...

Listen, thanks for trying I help. But please understand that you recommended that I do something I had already clearly stated that I had done three times. That you didn't understand that (and apparently still don't) suggests that perhaps you're not ready to advise people on fixing their phones.

I'm marking this resolved and asking for it to be closed so people don't keep posting pointless suggestions when I've already clearly stated that it was a hardware problem.
 
thelatinist said:
Listen, thanks for trying I help. But please understand that you recommended that I do something I had already clearly stated that I had done three times. That you didn't understand that (and apparently still don't) suggests that perhaps you're not ready to advise people on fixing their phones.

I'm marking this resolved and asking for it to be closed so people don't keep posting pointless suggestions when I've already clearly stated that it was a hardware problem.
Click to expand...

I understand just fine, it's your attitude about my effort to help that I'm pointing out...
 
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