Dropped a 3GS, now it won't wake up anymore

[Cod3rror]

Hey,

Yesterday I dropped my 3GS, the phone rebooted and when it turned on, I had no audio, the volume buttons would not work. I turned on the Assistive touch and the audio buttons started working.

Everything seemed to be OK again, all buttons working fine, but the problem is that when the phone goes into deep sleep (sleep for several minutes), it will not wake up anymore, unless I connect it to a power source which turns the screen on and then I can use it fine. All notifications and calls wake up the phone fine.

If I quickly tap the home button, it'll sleep and wake up, but if I wait, it won't.

It won't boot up from a shut down, unless I connect it to the power source.

So basically once the phone is not used, it falls into coma.

Anybody know what it could be? All buttons work, I checked all ribbons from the screen to the phone and they're fine too.

 

[eyoungren]

Hey,

Yesterday I dropped my 3GS, the phone rebooted and when it turned on, I had no audio, the volume buttons would not work. I turned on the Assistive touch and the audio buttons started working.

Everything seemed to be OK again, all buttons working fine, but the problem is that when the phone goes into deep sleep (sleep for several minutes), it will not wake up anymore, unless I connect it to a power source which turns the screen on and then I can use it fine. All notifications and calls wake up the phone fine.

If I quickly tap the home button, it'll sleep and wake up, but if I wait, it won't.

It won't boot up from a shut down, unless I connect it to the power source.

So basically once the phone is not used, it falls into coma.

Anybody know what it could be? All buttons work, I checked all ribbons from the screen to the phone and they're fine too.

Damaged component on the logicboard maybe?

 

[Cod3rror]

Damaged component on the logicboard maybe?

Yea, I think so, because I took the phone apart and checked all the connections and ribbons to make sure nothing was loose, and it's still doing the same thing.

 

[aidenh37]

Dropped a 3GS, now it won't wake up anymore

Try reinstalling iOS. If that doesn't work, take to Apple.

P.S I have a good feeling that it isn't the OS, because if you drop it, the OS is stored in memory! Chances are it is what this guy said /\

 

[Cod3rror]

I can't even reinstall the OS now, because it just keeps on rebooting, sometimes it has a problem booting up now, and it "resets" multiple times.

It's probably done.

 

[jabingla2810]

It may just be losing it's marbles with old age?

 

[Cod3rror]

It was working beautifully till I dropped it :/

 

[aidenh37]

Done.

 

[Cod3rror]

Not yet

I could not find a pattern of why it kept rebooting at random times. Came close to just smashing it and throwing it away, then decided to use the process of elimination and disconnect all the ribbons one by one.

Turns out it was ribbon 3, coming from the screen, responsible for light sensor, proximity sensor and the earpiece.

Once I disconnected it, the phone started working well again. IMO, it's the light sensor that got damaged, which would explain why it kept rebooting so strangely.

I'm going leave it disconnected for now and I may get a replacement screen or the part (if it's possible to replace the part only) later.

 

[mojito]

It might be time to lay it to rest. Mine started behaving similarly after close to 3 years of use. Toward the end I (admittedly) beat the hell out of it, mostly because it was slowing down and it was frustrating to deal with. First it started to shut off at random times, then I started losing the ability to hear phone conversations, then tones no longer played, then it died altogether.

 

[Cod3rror]

Yea, my phone is pretty beat up too, the plastic casing cracked in multiple place near the connector... was not a good choice by Apple.