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Would you put your iPhone in the oven if it meant fixing your wifi?

  • Anything to get my wifi back

    Votes: 13 9.0%
  • I'd need a bit more info

    Votes: 37 25.5%
  • You are insane

    Votes: 91 62.8%
  • As if you would have an iphone to begin with

    Votes: 4 2.8%

  • Total voters
    145
I would have thought you were crazy until i did it to mine. After i got my 4 i took apart the 3g and "cooked it", let it completely cool in the oven and the wifi worked again. ( and still does)
 
I would have thought you were crazy until i did it to mine. After i got my 4 i took apart the 3g and "cooked it", let it completely cool in the oven and the wifi worked again. ( and still does)
So what temp & cooking time did you use? And what recipe would most closely resemble this?
 
I have nothing to add except to say that this thread is awesome and I wish the OP the best of luck!
 
UPDATE:

Well....

I decided to do it. But went with a heatgun instead.

Did it 5 times. Each time pulling apart & putting back together the iphone.

Broke the camera, so left that out.

Worked 2 of the times for about 5 minutes, then dead again.

Didn't work, then after 3 days I thought I'd try turning wifi on and it connected and has worked ever since........ CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!!!

:eek: INSANITY = WIFI :eek:
 
Very interesting. I do not have any wifi problems but if I did I would think it insane. Nevertheless it is interesting. My question would be what kind of side dish should you make with it?

Too bad you busted your camera though.
 
UPDATE:

Well....

I decided to do it. But went with a heatgun instead.

Did it 5 times. Each time pulling apart & putting back together the iphone.

Broke the camera, so left that out.

Worked 2 of the times for about 5 minutes, then dead again.

Didn't work, then after 3 days I thought I'd try turning wifi on and it connected and has worked ever since........ CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!!!

:eek: INSANITY = WIFI :eek:
Doesn't mean you aren't insane, of course. But well done. The 3G camera is crap anyway. :)
 
Can't find the video of the actual reflow... I'll have to try to find where it went.
 

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Here's to the crazy ones…

'Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The trouble-makers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status-quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify, or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can fix their iPhone's wi-fi by oven/heat-gun… are the ones who do.' ;)
 
So what's with the lemming mentality?

'Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The trouble-makers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status-quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify, or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can fix their iPhone's wi-fi by oven/heat-gun… are the ones who do.' ;)

Hear hear. I don't get all the sarcastic replies. Why would the guy who made the video try to trick people into blowing up their iPhones? I mean, the lost wifi on 3G phones is a big problem, which often crops up out of warranty, so I applaud the guy's initiative and his kindness in putting up the video. So what's with people's knee-jerk reactions? To something they haven't even tried! Weird idea, sure. But please note that the guy put up the video and instructions only AFTER he successfully fixed his wifi! Bravo to the generous wifi fixer! Boos and hisses to the knee-jerkers who wax sarcastic without offering anything of substance instead.
 
xbox 360s melt through the solder on their board in normal use (which is why the "towel trick" works...you purposely let your xbox overheat)...I don't think it needs to go in the oven to melt the solder back
 
No way would I do this.

Under no circumstances? Even if dozens of people have successfully done it to repair their dead wifi? The instructions are pretty clear and simple and easy to follow. Dozens of people have followed them and fixed their dead wifi problem. Obviously some people feel the benefits of having wifi outweigh the risks of damaging your phone. One of the costs to analyze here is the cost of not being able to connect to the web using wifi, i.e., of having to use 3G. In my case, I have almost constant access to wifi networks at work, at home, around town, etc., and I can connect to the web whenever I want FOR FREE. Without wifi, I would be using my 3G connection to surf the web, and it costs me about 10 euro a month. With wifi, I could literally do without my 3G data plan, saving me 10 euro a month, 120 euro a year. The risk of damaging my phone was probably better value than 120 euro a year, money that I could use to buy a new phone next year.
So I did the oven reflow process, after carefully following the instructions and all the advice people have left after successfully repairing wifi, and it worked. I have wifi again! At no money cost, just a little of my time.
I wouldn't put my iphone into the oven just for the fun of it. But come on, do people just reject ideas straight away, without really trying to make sense of them? Wow. That's sad.
 
This is a bit different, but I had an iPhone with a defective baseband chip, and had to put it in the fridge to get it activated... :p
 
I don't think the warranty covers "roasting at 350 until well done."

----------

Hear hear. I don't get all the sarcastic replies. Why would the guy who made the video try to trick people into blowing up their iPhones? I mean, the lost wifi on 3G phones is a big problem, which often crops up out of warranty, so I applaud the guy's initiative and his kindness in putting up the video. So what's with people's knee-jerk reactions? To something they haven't even tried! Weird idea, sure. But please note that the guy put up the video and instructions only AFTER he successfully fixed his wifi! Bravo to the generous wifi fixer! Boos and hisses to the knee-jerkers who wax sarcastic without offering anything of substance instead.

Uh huh. Well, I tend not to believe everything I see on YouTube.

But, if it works for you all, more power to you.
 
And I'm a believer....

I don't think the warranty covers "roasting at 350 until well done."

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Uh huh. Well, I tend not to believe everything I see on YouTube.

But, if it works for you all, more power to you.

My point exactly. My question being, WHY do you believe, or don't believe? You don't believe everything you see on YouTube. But why don't you believe some things, and why do you believe others? How do you base your decision? On what "feels" true to you? Or do you take the time to think things through, to weigh the different sides to the question, to TEST the different hypotheses FOR YOURSELF, and only then decide to believe?
I admit I don't know a lot about the iPhone manufacturing process and the more technical aspects of circuit board product and so on, and if somebody sitting next to me on the subway leaned over and said that I should bake my iPhone in the oven, well, I might not take it for gospel.
But if, like in all good science, in trying to solve a real problem, you analyze the problem, you make hypotheses, you reason out possible solutions, you test and re-test, then publish your results.... Where's the scary part? What is there there that would make you recoil away from the published results and rail against them and mock them and maybe even hold a crucifix out towards them to ward off the evil spirits?
The odd thing in a lot of people's replies (well, not so much replies as gut reactions), is that we're reading the forum and posting to it on technological marvels that people might have reacted similarly to just a few decades ago.

The last poster says, "But if it works for you all, more power to you". Okay. But on what else should I have based my points? Other than facts, that is. Other than the fact that, yes, it did work for me. What else is there, besides maybe superstition and prejudice, to base your points on?
 
This is a bit different, but I had an iPhone with a defective baseband chip, and had to put it in the fridge to get it activated... :p

That only get's it working for about 4 minutes, and is actually doing something quite similar. If you had an iPhone that worked for 3 or 4 minutes after putting it in the freezer, then that pretty much guarantees that reflowing will correct the problem if done right.

I came across this a few months back about reflowing a logic board with an 8600GT.

End of the day though, clearly it worked for me. Those who put the mental blocks in place obviously won't have had as much fun as the few that took a chance & won!

:D
 
Boos and hisses to the knee-jerkers who wax sarcastic without offering anything of substance instead.
The idea is crazy, because electronics contain toxic heavy elements, and heating the electronics can release them (you're fine at room temperatures, but not necessarily at solder reflow temperatures). You definitely do not want to do this in an oven used for food preparation, unless you want to increase your chances of cancer and other diseases.
 
...You definitely do not want to do this in an oven used for food preparation...

I agree with you there. You should use a heatgun so it's targeted, rather than the whole board. And I guess in a well ventilated area. But I can't see the risk of toxins from say a twice a year reflow being any more harmful than a packet of ciggarettes is.
 
I agree with you there. You should use a heatgun so it's targeted, rather than the whole board. And I guess in a well ventilated area. But I can't see the risk of toxins from say a twice a year reflow being any more harmful than a packet of ciggarettes is.

Heavy metals is an entirely different ball game, although my opinion on that might be biased since I'm a pack-a-day smoker.
 
Well, I tried this... Now my iPhone 3G won't even turn on or charge. iTunes doesn't detect it either...

Any ideas are welcome, please...
 
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