Hello MacRumors forum!
Long time lurching, first time posting! haha Well, I'd like to laugh, but today sucks. Rather than create yet another topic on dead devices, I decided to reply to this thread. Here goes-
What happened: My 2-month old iPhone 5S bricked itself this morning on my way to work.
Background: Verizon CDMA 32GB 5S Spacegray Jailbroken the day I bought it on iOS 7.0.4 with only a handful of Cydia apps installed (SSLPatch, Multitasking Gestures, a few NC tweaks, MyWi, Flex, Springtomize 3, iCleaner, F.lux, and that's about it...), nothing too crazy as I like to keep my phone somewhat minimalistic, streamlined and organized for performance. I always fully close apps when not in use to conserve RAM. I've yet to drop the phone. It lives in an "elago S5" bumper case. I bought the phone outright (~$850) so I can keep my unlimited data plan (last month I used 23 GB so it will pay for itself before the end of summer).
What exactly happened: I was in the drive thu at a Starbucks with my phone plugged into my car radio's line-in headphone jack and charging on my Belkin 1amp USB/cigarette charger with a full 100% charge. I only had two apps open: Waze navigation (active app) and TuneInRadio (running in background). I got bored, hit the home button, launched my Facebook app, and the moment the familar blue Facebook loading screen appeared the phone just turned off. Everything, music died, it just instantly powered off. I heard short static sound on my car speakers as if I had unplugged the headphone cable. All I did was tap on the Facebook app and about 2 secs later it turned off. Temperature in my car was cool, maybe in the mid-60s. Phone was securely mounted in a car mount. None of the wires were in tension, wires are not bent, Belkin adapter never runs excessively hot, I hardly had any voltage draw on the car (headlights were off, windows were down so no blower fan, et cetera).
What have I done: I've spent most of today messing with my phone and reading forums ... nothing is working. I first wondered if the battery had lost 100% of it's charge. So when I got to work I plugged it in for 2 hrs without touching it. Nothing. Nothing appears on the screen, it's black, switching to silent mode does not vibrate the phone, it is as if it is entirely turned off. If I plug the phone into my computer with the newest version of iTunes open, it detects my phone (I hear my Windows 7's Device Connected sound) and a pop-up appears saying my phone is in recovery mode. Holding the Power button + Home button for about 6 seconds triggers the Device Disconnected sound, and when you release the buttons about 4 seconds later I get the Device Connected sound from my computer and iTunes pops-up the same message, "...detected an iPhone in recovery mode. You must restore this iPhone before it can be used with iTunes." I've even held the buttons for 3 solid minutes and a few seconds after releasing the buttons the computer detects the device and iTunes detects a recovery mode iPhone.
Holding the + volume button while doing this makes no difference (I know that only applies if the phone is actually booting). I've tried all four buttons simultaneously, nothing. The screen remains black. Haven't seen the Apple logo since the last time I resprung the phone maybe a week ago. I can't even notice that the display is even powering up, ie. I don't see any contrast change on the crystal display even. The screen is not cracked, at 2 months old its still in near-mint condition apart from dust and pocket lint on the case.
Why am I posting here: I've been a Jailbreaker since I got my first iPhone in 2011 and this is the first time I've ever had this happen. I don't think it's related to my jailbreak. But I'm posting here because if this is a hardware issue, what do I need to be aware of if I go to an Apple store? I've never even been inside an Apple store before (bought my phone from a Verizon store). I assume they will ask me if it's been Jailbroken, and I'd like to say no because I don't believe this is related to Jb, but I also don't want to lie.
My Question: What options do I have? Will they warranty hardware if they know it is jailbroken? Software can't break hardware, right? So how could jailbreak void the hardware warranty? I am a ethical guy and I knew the risks involved in Jb'ing a long time ago. So I don't want to lie about it. It's not like I've installed a million apps & themes (I've never even installed Winterboard in my entire Jb experience). It's just that I've forked over a lot of cash and it's only 2 months old. If their hardware failed, I'd appreciate it if they'd replace the failed hardware. Is a 2-month warranty too much to ask?
Other notes:
In iTunes after I close the prompt saying my phone is in recovery mode, I have the option to Restore the phone, but this will updated me to iOS 7.1 which means NO JAILBREAK and because I tether for work using MyWi (which is why my data usage is so high) I live by my Jb.
I ran Tiny Umbrella that reports "DFU Device connected" in the console log, and 'Enter Recovery' & 'Exit Recovery' are both grayed out, but 'Fix Recovery' is available. So I hit Fix Recovery and the log says "Attempting to fix ... Starting fix sequence ... Recovery finished ... Allow device to reboot!" But it never reboots. It just sits there, dead, for more than half an hour. I've done this about 10 times. Nothing.
I've read about all the dreaded 14xx and 16xx iTunes recovery errors and while I've not yet tried iTunes' Recovery feature -- because I don't want to be forced to upgrade to iOS 7.1 & loose my Jb -- I'm assuming I'll encounter these errors if I did try....
Never been dropped, never been in water, never been taken apart, has had solid battery life and runs like a top, pampered by someone who really cares about his expensive electronic device ... Should I take it in to an Apple store and see what they say? Do they have nice corporate Apple tools similar to iREB or Tiny Umbrella that can kick the device out of the recovery mode?
Many many thanks to anyone's help! I am not going to touch my phone any further until I figure out a game plan on what to do next (ie. don't want to do something drastic I'll regret later when I'm not pressed on time at the moment).
Regards,
Huusoku
