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Looks like Jailbreaking finally bricked my iPhone

L

LucasVon

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 25, 2011
11
0
Hello all.
I have an iPhone 4 with a tethered Jailbreak on 5.0.1. Yesterday my phone's battery died while I was away from my computer. No worries, I thought, when I get home I'll turn it on again.

Or so I thought.

I connected the phone to my computer (Mac OSX Lion), fired up redsn0w 0.9.9b9 and tried getting it in DFU mode. No luck. Redsn0w did not recognize my phone.
Then I tried getting it into recovery mode to see if iTunes would recognize it. Also no luck. I managed to get my phone on the "connect to iTunes" screen, but iTunes simply won't recognize it.

So I tried the same thing on my Windows 7 computer. When I connected my phone there and tried going into DFU mode, Windows said it was an unrecognized USB device. I thought it may be because my cable is broken or something like that, so I tried another one. Actually, I tried 3 different official Apple USB cables. No cookie.

Trying to put it into recovery mode also gives out the Unrecognized Device error. When trying to open iTunes with the iPhone like this, it simply stops responding and crashes.

On the device manager, it shows it as "Unknown Device" with a little yellow exclamation mark. Trying to install the drivers manually wasn't possible.
So I tried reinstalling iTunes. I reinstalled it on my Windows AND on my Mac and restarted both of them. Still no luck.

So here my phone sits now, an US$ 1000.00 brick (gotta love Brazil).

Any ideas?

Thanks!
 
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Did you charge the phone before trying all this?

Merry Christmas!
 
Merry christmas!
I left it plugged into the wall charger the whole night, but no luck.
 
Well if you are convinced then I will take it. I'm sure it isn't bricked too
 
The only way you can fix your phone, either with redsn0w or iTunes, is to get it into DFU mode.
 
TC25 said:
The only way you can fix your phone, either with redsn0w or iTunes, is to get it into DFU mode.
Click to expand...

I would amend that with a Pwned DFU mode. That got me unstuck a couple times back when I was jailbreaking.

Getting into DFU mode is a bit of an art form and takes some skills. Additionally the timing seems to be slightly different depending on the computer you are using depending on how quick it picks up USB devices. Suggest OP watch those youtube videos, they help quite a bit. Just trust that DFU mode exists and works.
 
I promise you that jb did not brick it. It either didn't charge or maybe it's a hardware issue. However in has nothing to do with it. I recommend charging someplace else or try a new cord. Try tinyumbrella see if it's recognized by it.
 
Just hold power + home for 10 seconds and then just keep holding the home button. Don't worry about following the red snow steps. Couple pointless steps
 
Thank you for all the replies.

@TC25 @MaxBurn
I am able to get into DFU mode, but iTunes just won't recognize it.

@labman
I tried 3 different cords and tried charging it in 4 different outlets. Still no go :/
TinyUmbrella does not recognize it.

@war eagle
Still nothing, iTunes and Redsn0w won't recognize the iPhone.
 
I just installed the iPhone Configuration Utility. When I connect my iPad, it recognizes it right away. When I connect my iPhone, nothing.

Is there any chance of this not being a hardware problem? =/
 
LucasVon said:
I just installed the iPhone Configuration Utility. When I connect my iPad, it recognizes it right away. When I connect my iPhone, nothing.

Is there any chance of this not being a hardware problem? =/
Click to expand...

yes as I said jbing does not harm your device. However a hardware issue Is a posibility. Just that you have the issue while jbing. You might make a appt with Apple just don't mention the jb part. ;)
 
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Or if u can get it to take any charge hold the home button while while urging into iTunes. That seems so is
Ole but has saved me many a times. Good luck, merry Christmas.

My Xmas could be the ********* one ever but hopefully yours is better. good luck and keep searching, bricking an iPhone is as hard as bricking a house phone.
 
Ksizzle9 said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

Or if u can get it to take any charge hold the home button while while urging into iTunes. That seems so is
Ole but has saved me many a times. Good luck, merry Christmas.

My Xmas could be the ********* one ever but hopefully yours is better. good luck and keep searching, bricking an iPhone is as hard as bricking a house phone.
Click to expand...

Nothing, iTunes is still ignoring my iPhone =/
Thanks, merry christmas to you too!
 
labman is correct. Jailbreaking does not brick iDevices. Furthermore it is impossible to brick an iDevice unless you are a very skilled iDevice hacker wanting to brick it.
 
Well, if it wasn't for the tethered jailbreak, I would at least be able to turn my phone on. Now it has absolutely no means to turn on since the battery died and iTunes won't detect it so that Redsn0w can see it in DFU mode and boot tethered. Although installing a tethered jailbreak could be considered my fault after all :p In the end, my greed was my bane.

Here's something I just found out:

The iPhone won't show up on the System Information under USB. I connect it, refresh the list and... nothing... it appears no single data is passing between my Mac and the iPhone, although it is able to draw power.

I disconnected the iPhone and connected my iPad using the exact same cable on the exact same USB port. It showed up right away.

Would this rule out any software issues and confirm a hardware problem?
 
The error you are getting in iTunes, even when in DFU mode, in consistent to a hardware issue. As others have stated, jailbreaking cannot brick a phone, so it's the only logical solution. This would have happened with or without the jailbreak.
 
This happened with my original iPad shortly before the iPad 2 was released. I think the jailbreak at the time was tethered as well and it cut off and I was never able to get it back on. I took it to the Apple store and they couldn't get it on either and replaced it.

Some kind of way those tethered jailbreaks can break something, idk what it is, but it happened with my iPad 1 and my iPhone 4 but after just timing things perfectly my iPhone cut on. I mean I tried over 100 times to get it to cut on.

Leave your phone plugged in to the computer over night and see if you begin to get the boot loop. That's how I got my iPhone 4 to turn on and get into the loop was leaving it plugged into the computer while I slept.
 
war eagle said:
This happened with my original iPad shortly before the iPad 2 was released. I think the jailbreak at the time was tethered as well and it cut off and I was never able to get it back on. I took it to the Apple store and they couldn't get it on either and replaced it.

Some kind of way those tethered jailbreaks can break something, idk what it is, but it happened with my iPad 1 and my iPhone 4 but after just timing things perfectly my iPhone cut on. I mean I tried over 100 times to get it to cut on.

Leave your phone plugged in to the computer over night and see if you begin to get the boot loop. That's how I got my iPhone 4 to turn on and get into the loop was leaving it plugged into the computer while I slept.
Click to expand...

those that think jbing bricks your phone stay away far away.
 
labman said:
those that think jbing bricks your phone stay away far away.
Click to expand...

OK, let me explain myself:

What I meant by "Jailbreaking bricked my phone" was: If I didn't have a tethered jailbreak, then I could at least turn my phone back on and use it like always. Of course, if I wanted to sync, update, restore or anything like that, I'm gonna have to fix that hardware problem, but at least I would have a usable phone (especially since I was going to Semi-Tether it right after I turned it on again).

I'm not saying my iPhone won't connect to iTunes or anything because of jailbreaking. I have jailbroken all my iDevices so far and many others for friends and family, and I always assure them that Jailbreaking is safe, I know it is so.

Jailbreaking bricked my phone because of the circumstances, not because of anything technical.

Hope I cleared everything up.
 
Exactly. Tethered jailbreaks are not the most reliable jailbreaks at all. When a jailbreak has been untethered and my phone died, I could still charge it.

With tethered jailbreaks when my phone dies, it either takes a long time time to charge the smallest amount and an even longer time to get the thing in DFU.

It's not a brick in the conventional way, but I've seen numerous people have to go to Apple because of this problem.
 
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Plug your iPhone into the PC via USB. Keep it there for 5 minutes. After that, press and hold the home + power button for 30 seconds. After you release the buttons, the Apple logo should appear, and you should boot tethered. If the battery is completely empty, be sure you keep the chord connected, even if it's stuck at the Apple logo. After another 5 minutes, just boot tethered. That should work. And no, a jailbreak can't brick an iPhone.
 
make a appt. With Apple. Hopefully they will get you back up or get you taken care off. After that I would just stay away from jbing. Again it did not brick your phone. I have run the battery down myself while tethered with no issues. Other then having to get it in dfu and boot with redsn0w. Running the phone down while tethered is not recommended but it does not brick it. Jailbreaking shouldn't be done by everybody and anybody in my opinion. I wish you the best of luck though. I would never recommend running any Idevice Down on any tethered jailbreak but it doesn't brick it end of story.
 
Last edited:
@Kaydin
Yes I did that, but iTunes won't see the iPhone in DFU mode, or in any mode for that matter.
And yes, I know, jailbreaking can't brick a phone (directly), it was a manner of speech (see my previous post).

@labman
Yes, I know it didn't brick my phone (directly).
You and war eagle are right, now I know better than to trust a tethered jailbreak.

Unfortunately here in Brazil we have no official Apple Stores, I gotta talk with the carrier I bough the phone from (and they're pretty incompetent). Fortunately I'm still covered under the warranty.

Thank you all for the help!
 
i found this somewhere on the internet sometime ago.

"1: PLUG YOUR IPOD INTO YOUR COMPUTER!!!


2: HOLD THE "HOLD" AND THE "MENU" BUTTON UNTIL THE TOUCH'S SCREEN GOES BLACK AND SHOWS THE APPLE LOGO AGAIN THEN RELEASE THE BUTTONS!!!


3: WAIT ABOUT 5-15 MINUTES!!!


4: YOUR COMPUTER WILL MAKE A "CHIME" SOUND AND THEN THE IPOD WILL SHOW THE LOCKED SCREEN WITH THE BATTERY LOGO..."
 
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