In a panic, my son informed me that his iPhone 4S was dead after many failed attempts to start it. This was followed by a reference to replacing it w/ the latest model. Before making that journey to the Apple store for a new phone, we decided to run some additional diagnostics. From this experience, I quickly discovered that there is always hope as we were able to restore it.
So, I decided to turn this incident into a blog post for future reference and for those who are struggling to find that infamous silver Apple logo on their iPhone, here are some steps to bring your iPhone back to life.
1) Pray: Why not? it’s a great way to clear your mind of bad energy.
2) Time for a Recharge: I would strongly recommend charging it for at least an hour before doing anything else. Bear in mind, that the iPhone is designed to conserve power for preservation of data and settings, so if the splash screen does not come up, it could still be charging. Also, make sure your cable and charger are working properly. I would also make sure the dock connector is free of any dirt or lint, as that could affect charging your phone. While it’s charging, grab a coffee and take a deep breathe – you’ll appreciate it and feel recharged. 🙂
3) Turn it on, but hold it: This might seem like a logical step, but many overlook it. Simply press and hold the Hold button, located in the upper right hand corner of the phone for a few seconds. If it does not respond within the first 10 seconds, proceed to next step.
4) Press the Hold button and the Home button (button located in the center) at the same time for at least 15 seconds. In most instances, this is like CPR for your phone and it usually brings your phone back to life. You should see the silver Apple logo at startup. If not, you may want to go to the final step.
5) Restore it: With a fully charged phone, you might have an issue with your operating system or a conflict with an application. If you have a backup in place, I would move towards the final step of restoring the phone to factory condition. While this will erase everything on your phone, it might work.
To erase your phone, follow these steps:
– Simply plug the provided USB cable for your phone into the dock connector, but do NOT plug into your system.
– Press and hold the phone’s Home button
– Plug the USB cable into your computer and at this point, it should launch iTunes and put the iPhone into recovery mode. From here, you will be prompted to restore your iPhone by to factory default.
For additional steps and diagnostics, follow this link to Apple’s support thread on restoring your phone: http://www.apple.com/support/iphone/assistant/restore/
If none of these above steps bring your iPhone back to life, you might want to bring it in for additional diagnostics.
Finally, make sure that you backup your iPhone to the cloud and system, as that is your safety net, should your iPhone fail to start.
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