Intermittent home button issue (with unlock) or swap for a replacement?

[thadoggfather]

I have a 4.1 iPhone 4 that's jailbroken and has the unlockable baseband (from preserving it via TU). It worked great in Europe for 4 months but I now no longer need it because I'll be in the US for a while and am on AT&T. But unlock helps a lot for resell value and there's a lot of pages of people who seem to have the same problem with the home button, and it hasn't been unanimously decided whether it's software or hardware related. 95% of the time, my home button works fine. It should be noted some people said they got replacement phones and haven't had the problem since. But time will tell. Also, one user reported he swapped his phone out and the replacement had the problem, too. But I think in most instances, a replacement solves this mysterious issue.

Sometimes, it's not responsive. But usually, and for the most part, it works.

Should I keep it and put up with it in the interest of reselling later (and I will tell potential buyers of this flaw or maybe just try to get the home button swapped before I resell it if it's as simple as that) or just swap it at the genius bar and get one that has a locked baseband (but can still be jailbroken now with the new greenpois0n)?

 

[GatorNickk]

Same thing is happening to me, but I don't really remember it happening prior to last week. Last week I upgraded to the newest version of BiteSMS and Activator, so I assumed it was one of those. Most of the time, like you, the home button works as it should, but those other times its completely non responsive.

I read online that a lot of people with 4.1, which I have, have had intermittent problems with their home button. My plan is to upgrade to 4.2.1 as soon as Pwnage Tool is updated with the new Greenp0ison and see if that fixes the home button, if not, I'll swap it out at the Apple store.

My work around at the moment is to assign different ways of mimicing the home button through Activator, and that works every time

 

[bella92108]

I had the exact same issue, drove me INSANE. For me, my phone was a UK Factory Unlocked version that I'd flown to London to buy, so was a bit longer of a "trek" to get it replaced. Tried to get it swapped here in the US but they literally can only swap it with an AT&T locked one (even at their repair depot). So I jumped on a flight to Edmonton 3 weeks and had them swap it for a new factory unlocked.... so I spent the last 3 weeks with a tethered jailbreak, but it honestly wasn't a big deal at all. It's well worth having a working home button, after all, it is THE most used button on the phone. Oh wait, it's the only button, hehe.

At the end of the day, it's January, and odds are there won't be another iPhone until AT LEAST June\July... so why are you already so concerned about resale value? Right now an iPhone 4 32GB is worth about $700.... $800 if software-unlocked, and $1000 if factory unlocked. To me, it's not worth $100 to put up with a pesky home button for 6 months, but if you're hard up for $$$ and $100 makes the difference then by all means hang onto it and deal with it. Although, it's highly likely that for those with the new baseband there will be an unlock at some point in the coming 6 months.... but as always, it's the risk you take.

iPhone isn't an investment.... rarely does anyone make money reselling US iPhones (no, buying it on 2 year contract at $299 and selling it for $600 isn't making money - you traded service for the gap)....so you just have to decide if a "potential" 15% reduction in value is worth not having to deal with the annoying (and it gets REAL annoying after a while) home button issue for another half a year at minimum.

 

[thadoggfather]

I had the exact same issue, drove me INSANE. For me, my phone was a UK Factory Unlocked version that I'd flown to London to buy, so was a bit longer of a "trek" to get it replaced. Tried to get it swapped here in the US but they literally can only swap it with an AT&T locked one (even at their repair depot). So I jumped on a flight to Edmonton 3 weeks and had them swap it for a new factory unlocked.... so I spent the last 3 weeks with a tethered jailbreak, but it honestly wasn't a big deal at all. It's well worth having a working home button, after all, it is THE most used button on the phone. Oh wait, it's the only button, hehe.

At the end of the day, it's January, and odds are there won't be another iPhone until AT LEAST June\July... so why are you already so concerned about resale value? Right now an iPhone 4 32GB is worth about $700.... $800 if software-unlocked, and $1000 if factory unlocked. To me, it's not worth $100 to put up with a pesky home button for 6 months, but if you're hard up for $$$ and $100 makes the difference then by all means hang onto it and deal with it. Although, it's highly likely that for those with the new baseband there will be an unlock at some point in the coming 6 months.... but as always, it's the risk you take.

iPhone isn't an investment.... rarely does anyone make money reselling US iPhones (no, buying it on 2 year contract at $299 and selling it for $600 isn't making money - you traded service for the gap)....so you just have to decide if a "potential" 15% reduction in value is worth not having to deal with the annoying (and it gets REAL annoying after a while) home button issue for another half a year at minimum.

you flew out to Edmonton just to swap your i4? Or you had other business being there?

You raise a good point, but how often was it 'not working'?

 

[bella92108]

you flew out to Edmonton just to swap your i4? Or you had other business being there?

You raise a good point, but how often was it 'not working'?

I have airlines in the family, so flying to London to pick up a phone, or grab a dinner is a free ride ... but yeah, went to Edmonton just for the swap, same as when I got my original from London... tho Edmonton was -31F, so I froze my nut# off in the process, but got to ride the roller coasters inside the huge indoor mall's theme park, that was a bonus... haha.

For me it was super annoying, because I multitask a LOT... when I'd push the home button once, sometimes it wouldn't register having been pushed, and do nothing. Sometimes when I pushed it once it'd double click, sometimes when I'd double click it'd register a triple click, and it just got really annoying. I'd say it only did it 25% of the time, but that was way too much for me.

 

[fishmd]

I am in the same boat as you guys. I have been waiting for this latest jailbreak to finally take my phone in and hopefully get it exchanged. It drives me nuts having pushes not register at all, or single clicks registering as a double click, etc. Hanging on to the phone just for the unlock is not worth it to me at all. If you try to sell it later and are honest with people that you have a messed up home button, it is gonna hurt your final sale price anyways.

Also, this problem exists for others who are not jailbroken, so I would not think it is a problem with a jailbreak app. And, people who have upgraded to 4.2.1 still have had the problem as well so I do not think upgrading the iOS will help.

 

[Epiphron]

I agree with the above poster. My ipod touch 4 even has this problem, before it was jailbroken, after getting it exchanged twice. I've heard reports that it is a software issue, and it still hasn't been addressed

 

[thadoggfather]

well either way we'll see.

I restored it to stock 4.2.1 (updated baseband, locked because I messed up TU process -- oh well, dont need unlock anymore) and took it in, the guy said he opened it up and there was dust where the home button was and didnt give me a replacement. to be determined if it's fixed...

If it isn't fixed, or the problem is there but much rarer to come up, should I take it in and demand a replacement?

I'm tired of dealing with the genius bar. i have bad experiences when i deal with them. they're usually quite arrogant and know nothings.

Maybe calling Apple Care will be my next approach.

 

[Gavernty]

my home button is a pain in the ass ever since 4.1 I still don't know if it's hardware or software related, but I'm thinking hardware. A lot of people are having issues with their home button and I'm thinking about getting mine repaired or seeing if the apple store will do something about it

 

[thadoggfather]

problem was still occuring (as i suspected, the genius at the other store was an idiot and when I took it to this apple store the guy said they arent allowed to do more than open up the back plate so he doesn't know how that other genius got the dust out of the home button -- he was likely lying) so i got the phone swapped.

in the process of re-JB and restoring from backup.



I hope the home button issue never comes back.