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iPhone 3G home button not working!

R

rowanmmcdonald

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 4, 2008
28
30
Help!

I installed my BodyGuardz protecter yesterday and left the phone overnight before turning on. Now the home button doesn't work. It only works occasionally and I have to push super hard.

What do I do? I'm freaking out!
 
rowanmmcdonald said:
Help!

I installed my BodyGuardz protecter yesterday and left the phone overnight before turning on. Now the home button doesn't work. It only works occasionally and I have to push super hard.

What do I do? I'm freaking out!
Click to expand...

hm.. . sometimes, home button doesnt work on my iphone either. but i dont think the protector causes this..
 
How To Instantly Fix The Iphone Home Button Problem

Hi Guys.

I have a solution on how to fix the iphone home button.

It is really simple.

The same thing happened to me, the Home button stopped working, I did this and it worked. So I am not just spreading a false hope rumor, this is practical and directly worked for me.

HOLD THE HOME BUTTON AND POWER BUTTON FOR AROUND 10-20 SECONDS UNTIL IT RESETS ITSELF.

WHEN IT TURNS BACK ON LATER YOUR HOME BUTTON SHOULD WORK AGAIN.

Remember the iphone is little computer and needs to be restarted every now and again. Just like most apple and Microsoft computers, it is not just a phone and this may need to be done every few months, a quick restart.

If this does not work, then you have a real problem, take it back to your store and get a replacement. Hopefully you were smart and took out the insurance and this whole process should be very easy.

Please reply to this and let me know if it worked for anyone else.

I hope this helps, because the iphone has been keeping all my **** together since I got it.

Again, I hope this helps.

Jay
 
I am assuming that the spray from the Bodygaurdz application caused this. You can try to take it to an Apple store, but because your iPhone got wet, I would imagine that one of the water sensors got and tripped, causing your warranty to be voided. Technically it is not Apple's fault that you messed up your own iPhone.
 
No

since the home button doesn't work, your solution doesn't either...sorry.

oldskooljay said:
Hi Guys.

I have a solution on how to fix the iphone home button.

It is really simple.

The same thing happened to me, the Home button stopped working, I did this and it worked. So I am not just spreading a false hope rumor, this is practical and directly worked for me.

HOLD THE HOME BUTTON AND POWER BUTTON FOR AROUND 10-20 SECONDS UNTIL IT RESETS ITSELF.

WHEN IT TURNS BACK ON LATER YOUR HOME BUTTON SHOULD WORK AGAIN.

Remember the iphone is little computer and needs to be restarted every now and again. Just like most apple and Microsoft computers, it is not just a phone and this may need to be done every few months, a quick restart.

If this does not work, then you have a real problem, take it back to your store and get a replacement. Hopefully you were smart and took out the insurance and this whole process should be very easy.

Please reply to this and let me know if it worked for anyone else.

I hope this helps, because the iphone has been keeping all my **** together since I got it.

Again, I hope this helps.

Jay
Click to expand...
 
this works. i tried it, and it worked.

oldskooljay said:
Hi Guys.

I have a solution on how to fix the iphone home button.

It is really simple.

The same thing happened to me, the Home button stopped working, I did this and it worked. So I am not just spreading a false hope rumor, this is practical and directly worked for me.

HOLD THE HOME BUTTON AND POWER BUTTON FOR AROUND 10-20 SECONDS UNTIL IT RESETS ITSELF.

WHEN IT TURNS BACK ON LATER YOUR HOME BUTTON SHOULD WORK AGAIN.

Remember the iphone is little computer and needs to be restarted every now and again. Just like most apple and Microsoft computers, it is not just a phone and this may need to be done every few months, a quick restart.

If this does not work, then you have a real problem, take it back to your store and get a replacement. Hopefully you were smart and took out the insurance and this whole process should be very easy.

Please reply to this and let me know if it worked for anyone else.

I hope this helps, because the iphone has been keeping all my **** together since I got it.

Again, I hope this helps.

Jay
Click to expand...
 
Broken home button on the iPhone

Lately, maybe for the past 3 weeks, my iPhone's home button doesn't seem to be working right...It's not stuck or anything but when I press down, it won't always take me back to the home screen. I'll have to press it 10+ times. But then the next time I try it will be working fine. This only happens about 25% of the time I hit the home button but it's very frustrating when it happens...Would this be a software glitch or a hardware malfunction? And is this one of the things that Apple will replace for free if I took it to an Apple store? (I've heard they are good with replacing hardware, and I haven't physically harmed it i.e. dropping/water damage)

Any help/advice is appreciated. Thanks!
 
It sounds like a hardware problem to me, and if the phone is within warranty then Apple will probably replace it for you. I would take it down the the Genius Bar and try my luck.
 
The best way to tell if it's hardware or software is to do a complete restore and set up as a new phone ( not restore from backup ). If the issue resolves, it's software ... if not it's hardware.
 
Oh gosh, so if I've had it for a little over 13 months I'm probably out of luck?...If I restore and set up as new phone, don't I lose whatever I had on my old phone?
 
In the past 4 months my home button has been temperamental and just does not work sometimes. I have to press it about 6 or 8 times for it to respond. I'd say it is a hardware problem because I've done about 5 restores of 3.0 and 3.1 in the past month and the problem still arises.
 
wm6405 said:
Oh gosh, so if I've had it for a little over 13 months I'm probably out of luck?...If I restore and set up as new phone, don't I lose whatever I had on my old phone?
Click to expand...

You can see if the Genius is merciful since you are just out of warranty. And you will lose whatever you had on the phone, although you can always restore it from a backup after you've checked to see if it is hardware or software.
 
With my 2G I sometimes have to hit the home button twice to wake it from sleep.

I thought it was a jailbreak quirk maybe but it was doing it while running the stock OS the other week. Oh well, at least it's not 10 times.
 
yep same here.. I started noticing this problem a bit over a month ago. My phone is out of the 12-month warranty so I looked for a local repair shop.

as soon as I have some free time or my home button dies completely, I'll take it there to have the button replaced. I google'd the problem and apparently the home button has a little ribbon connector that is a bit too prone to get rusty and when this happens the electrical current sometimes doesn't flow as it should, and it's those times when the click on the home button isn't registered.

I hope there's nothing wrong with the mother board itself.. and the repair is just as easy as to open it up and replace the ribbon assembly. If not I'll be real pissed (this is the 4th iphone I have, the 3rd replacement in a row: the first had dead pixels, the second had lots of dust under the screen)
 
I had the same issue and they replaced my phone no questions asked. Of course it was still in warranty and I had bought Applecare so I had extra 2 years on the warranty. I would do as others suggested and take it in to a Genius. You never know they may help you since it is barely out of the warranty period.
 
Alright guys, thanks for the help...I'll try to take it to the apple store next chance I get and see what they can do for me. Hopefully out of the kindness and graciousness of their hearts they will replace it!
 
iPhone home button broken

Apple Geniuses are anything but...

My phone got wet from being in my pocket in the rain. Just the bottom.

Ridiculous that this ruined the home button.

After I realized it was wet I turned it off for two and a half days and put it in rice.

After sitting in rice I turned it back on. EVERYTHING is fine except for the home button does not respond. The only "water sticker" that got activated was the bottom one.

The (un)geniuses tell me that I can buy a new phone but all is lost on this one and I need to just give up.

Well, I'm a poor student and I am trying to figure out if there is some way to fix this. Putting it in the oven seems risky - they told me: "Just a few molecules of water can destroy the whole motherboard and voids the warranty." Wow.

Apple has cool products and suspect business practices.

So, anyone have any suggestions? I read someone saying WD-40 worked... and I don't have much to lose.

I have no electrical engineering experience so don't want to go so far as to take it apart. I'm thinking of just living without rather than trying to save up again (I would save $30 a month, too if I didn't have a data package.)

Anyway, any help would be appreciated.

kj
 
Okay, IDKY they're talking about drops of water on your motherboard voiding your warranty, since your warranty is already void due to water damage. You can get a OOW replacement for $199.

However, if you don't want to go that route, you can try to take the phone apart and either replace the home button or clean the contacts around the home button. This is kind of risky, since you may damage your phone further just by taking it apart. So, do so at your own risk and make sure you watch plenty of videos on how to do it.
 
home button's contacts easily beome corroded. Need to change the home button which I am sorry to say means taking out the digitizer which is stuck into the frame. Can you find a local repairer?
 
Broken home button

koojay said:
Apple Geniuses are anything but...

My phone got wet from being in my pocket in the rain. Just the bottom.

Ridiculous that this ruined the home button.

After I realized it was wet I turned it off for two and a half days and put it in rice.

After sitting in rice I turned it back on. EVERYTHING is fine except for the home button does not respond. The only "water sticker" that got activated was the bottom one.

The (un)geniuses tell me that I can buy a new phone but all is lost on this one and I need to just give up.

Well, I'm a poor student and I am trying to figure out if there is some way to fix this. Putting it in the oven seems risky - they told me: "Just a few molecules of water can destroy the whole motherboard and voids the warranty." Wow.

Apple has cool products and suspect business practices.

So, anyone have any suggestions? I read someone saying WD-40 worked... and I don't have much to lose.

I have no electrical engineering experience so don't want to go so far as to take it apart. I'm thinking of just living without rather than trying to save up again (I would save $30 a month, too if I didn't have a data package.)

Anyway, any help would be appreciated.

kj
Click to expand...

I have replace the button before. You probably have a broken prawn on the button sensor. The part is about $9.00 but it is a little tricky getting the LCD away from the housing so you can get to it.
The link shows you the part you need. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...Category=20336&_trkparms=algo=LVI&its=I&otn=2

If you are not experencied and can get someone to help you it is a cheap fix.
 
Before taking your phone apart, can I suggest what I've just done - I tapped it a couple of times on my desk, and the home button seems to be as responsive as before. Obviously this wouldn't work if a contact has broken, but I'm guessing there was just some fluff in there as I keep it in my pocket most of the time. Hope this helps at least some people.
 
How??

chickenplucker said:
I have replace the button before. You probably have a broken prawn on the button sensor. The part is about $9.00 but it is a little tricky getting the LCD away from the housing so you can get to it.
The link shows you the part you need. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...Category=20336&_trkparms=algo=LVI&its=I&otn=2

If you are not experencied and can get someone to help you it is a cheap fix.
Click to expand...

My home button is broken also. You said you have replaced the home button many times. I have bought a new sensor and was hoping you could send me a link of a video or tell me how to install it.
 
for ur home button problem...

i have an iphone 3g, and twice now, at different times, my home button was not responding at all... i looked up help on google and found one thing that worked.... Take all ur iphone contents and back it up into itunes,under the summary tab. make sure that any music thats not in itunes, but is in ur phone, gets into itunes and backed up as well. Then, restore it. this takes a while but definetly worked for me. Though after the restore was complete, i turned my phone on and off again. If this doesnt work, feel the back of ur phone... is it really warm?? if it is, turn it off and let it cool completely down to room temp, then turn back on. If that didnt help, then im sure u have some physical problem, like water damage or home button is jammed up on somethin
 
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