It's 3.14 AM and my iPhone 4S is stuck at spinning wheel..?

[RocketRed]

The last time I used my iPhone 4S when I was awake was 3 hours ago. It's currently 3.14 AM as I'm typing this and I need my iphone 4S to wake me up around 6.40 am for class.

I wake up randomly to find my iPhone stuck on a black screen with a spinning wheel. I hold onto the power button sand NOTHING happens. I do tried holding onto the power button for 5 minites. NOTHING HAPPENS. The last thing I remember doing, was leaving my phone on to go to "sleep" while on default alarm clock app.

Can't believe it.. but i guess the iPhone is capable of errors after all! First thing i've ever had a defective iPhone.

Any tips on what to do while I google a solution? Or do I have to wait for the battery to die and stay up for 3 hours?

This iPhone is less than a month old.. is it defective? Should I return it for new model?

 

[pmau]

The last time I used my iPhone 4S when I was awake was 3 hours ago. It's currently 3.14 AM as I'm typing this and I need my iphone 4S to wake me up around 6.40 am for class.

I wake up randomly to find my iPhone stuck on a black screen with a spinning wheel. I hold onto the power button sand NOTHING happens. I do tried holding onto the power button for 5 minites. NOTHING HAPPENS. The last thing I remember doing, was leaving my phone on to go to "sleep" while on default alarm clock app.

Can't believe it.. but i guess the iPhone is capable of errors after all! First thing i've ever had a defective iPhone.

Any tips on what to do while I google a solution? Or do I have to wait for the battery to die and stay up for 3 hours?

This iPhone is less than a month old.. is it defective? Should I return it for new model?

Press and Hold Power and Home for at least 20 seconds.
You can hold it until you see the Apple logo.

 

[RocketRed]

Jesus. I just connected it to my computer, and now I can't even load itunes. It says "Application not responding".

When I "Force quit" iTunes and re-open it, I get the color wheel and it still doesn't respond.

This is a nightmare.

 

[pmau]

Jesus. I just connected it to my computer, and now I can't even load itunes. It says "Application not responding".

When I "Force quit" iTunes and re-open it, I get the color wheel and it still doesn't respond.

This is a nightmare.

Pressing and holding down power and home button did not work?
This will hard reset the phone.

 

[RocketRed]

Pressing and holding down power and home button did not work?
This will hard reset the phone.

Yes I've tried it. Nothing happens.

Even connecting it to iTunes causes my ITunes to freeze up.

I'm going to try and call apple via skype but I doubt their customer hotline is 24/7

*edit* their last hour of service is 8 PM... guess I'm out of luck.

What the hell do i do?!

 

[pmau]

Yes I've tried it. Nothing happens.

Even connecting it to iTunes causes my ITunes to freeze up.

I'm going to try and call apple via skype but I doubt their customer hotline is 24/7

If it's showing the spinning wheel it is trying to reboot.
Unfortunately you might have to wait until the battery has drained.

Strange things happen with iOS 5 these days.
I also had weird stuff happening with my phone.

 

[RocketRed]

If it's showing the spinning wheel it is trying to reboot.
Unfortunately you might have to wait until the battery has drained.

Strange things happen with iOS 5 these days.
I also had weird stuff happening with my phone.

That really, really sucks. Never had any problems on my iPhone 4. This is a factory unlocked iPhone 4S 64 GB.

I'm going to exchange for a new one tomorrow at the apple store.

 

[pmau]

That really, really sucks. Never had any problems on my iPhone 4. This is a factory unlocked iPhone 4S 64 GB.

I'm going to exchange for a new one tomorrow at the apple store.

In all honesty, I would not let them give you a replacement.
Most of the times, replacement phones are refurbished.

If your phone is working fine otherwise, i.e. no hardware problems with display, speakers or reception, try to keep it.

When the battery has drained, set it up as a new phone clicking "Restore" in iTunes. Do not install your last backup.

Normally this works.

The problem with backups are that they will restore App Data even if you don't sync the App. When you later install it again, it might find its old data and start acting up again.

Hope I could help a little.

 

[RocketRed]

In all honesty, I would not let them give you a replacement.
Most of the times, replacement phones are refurbished.

If your phone is working fine otherwise, i.e. no hardware problems with display, speakers or reception, try to keep it.

When the battery has drained, set it up as a new phone clicking "Restore" in iTunes. Do not install your last backup.

Normally this works.

The problem with backups are that they will restore App Data even if you don't sync the App. When you later install it again, it might find its old data and start acting up again.

Hope I could help a little.

Thank you for being very responsive and talking with me.

I just held the power button AND the home button together at the same time as one site i found on google had suggested.

It successfully restarted and my phone which was around 70% 3 hours ago is at 25%

Guess I'll be sleeping with my laptop tonight.

Thanks again for your asssistance pmau.