I had posted a fix to an issue that I was having with my iPhone 3GS (it was randomly shutting off) that I thought I had taken care of, however, just this morning, when the battery had about 70% power, it just died, and I couldn’t revive it.. The last app that I was using before it died was the Photo app. The reason I mention that is that when I was doing my research on this, I read on a forum that the last thing that another person was doing before it just shut off was emailing a photo from the Photo app. It could be a coincidence, but I just figured I would mention it.
So, I did some more research and found a fix!
It’s a pretty bizarre fix. I hope it fixed it for good, but I don’t see how it would. All you have to do is toggle (move back and forth) the switch that puts the iPhone in vibrate mode so it doesn’t ring (the switch above the volume switch). Toggle it twice. Then hold the home button (the round and only button on the face of the phone) and the power button for 6 – 8 seconds, and then let go. Once you let go, the apple logo will appear, and eventually it will bring up the main screen.
Once I got back on, the Internet was no longer working. I called my provider and they walked me through entering the settings again (they had been wiped out for whatever reason). The phone function was still working, though. I just had to go into SETTINGS>GENERAL>NETWORK>Turn on data roaming>click on CELLULAR NETWORK and enter the APN for my provider. That’s all I had to do and I was good to go! I’ll keep you updated if anything else happens.
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June 25, 2010 at 6:37 pm
Is the iphone 4 jailbreak and unlock solution out yet? iphone dev only has upto unlock iphone 3.1.3 3gs or os 4 beta on 3gs
August 15, 2011 at 2:36 pm
This looks very promising, but I have 3 questions:
1. When you say toggle it twice, do you mean starting with the switch on “ring”, then going to “vibrate” and back to “ring” or do you mean, go to “vibrate”, “ring”, “vibrate”, then stopping at “ring”? (sorry it’s the “back and forth” comment that’s throwing me off here).
2. It sounds like the phone is shut down when you try this, correct?
3. Lastly, did you ever use the phone with a 3rd party accessory such as an FM Transmitter that also charges the battery via the cigarette port? My wife and my phone’s both started shutting down at about 71% battery but we noticed it was after we had purchased two Jam Cast charging FM transmitters. I’m just wondering if there is any correlation.
Thanks!
Eric
August 16, 2011 at 10:00 am
Hey Eric,
1. I don’t think it matters, but try starting the toggle in the “ring” position. So it would be RING>VIBRATE>RING>PAUSE for a milisecond>VIBRATE>RING.
2. It works for a dead iPhone as well (well, some of them anyway). So yes, the phone would be off. At least it was in my case.
3. No, I have never used that, although I have heard of certain chargers causing issues. So I would definitely use your home charger for a while after you try this fix, and see if that fixes the issue and keeps it fixed. Then, if you need a car charger, I would try just using a straight iPhone charger with no extra functions. If you have a cassette player in your car, and you want to play the music on your iPhone via your car stereo, then consider getting a cassette adapter. Try this one: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0007R4LI8/961011s-20/ Or, if your car is 2006 or later, it may have an auxiliary jack where you can plug in an audio cable that’s connected to your iPhone like this one that will allow you to do the same thing: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0031U1ATG/961011s-20/
You bet!
September 18, 2011 at 9:44 am
Dude it works!
but i was in the middle of watching a tv show on when i just shut off and nothing would turn it back on so i did what you said and i only was holding down the home and powere button for less than three seconds before it turned on. i still had everything including internet
September 19, 2011 at 6:36 pm
Very cool. Glad to hear it! Mine was fixed after I did that as well. Very bizarre fix, but whatever works!
September 21, 2011 at 2:05 pm
THANK YOU!!!! This worked!
September 21, 2011 at 3:09 pm
You bet! Glad to hear it.
September 25, 2011 at 5:41 pm
This happened to me also, after playing a game on my phone. I did the toggle thing with the mute button and pressed both power and round button at the same time as sure enough it turned on. Took a while to load, but yes it works. I do wonder however, why it does this? I think I’ll be selling my phone now. Too much of this sort of thing happens too often. Thanks for the insight and fix. I appreciate it.
September 26, 2011 at 5:09 pm
Sorry to hear that, gadgetgrl. Just know that Android phones, if that’s what you’re considering, are worse, because they are open source. So ANYONE can write an app for that platform, which means the quality control is going to be pretty much non-existent. Also, you are more prone to spyware. I have an Android phone as well, and I don’t like it. I just use it for its hotspot capabilities.
When I first got it, I downloaded some popular apps and it stopped working correctly. I called tech support, but we ended up having to wipe the phone because the “damage had already been done.” You have too many third parties trying to work together with that platform.
At least with Apple, you know the apps have to meet Apple’s standards and be approved. If it makes you feel better, I never had problems with my phone after doing this.
One more thing…the iPhone 5 is coming out in less than 3 weeks. Maybe wait to check that out before you make your decision.
My pleasure. Glad this helped you.
November 3, 2011 at 1:44 pm
hello guys i have also problem sometime my Iphone 3GS 16 GB turn off by his self when i talk or i use youtube or website and sometime restart by his self when i make call.. i also have the last update IOS 5 i hope somebody can help me and wish it
thank you alot
November 4, 2011 at 1:37 pm
Hi ismail,
Did you try what I suggested above? If so and that didn’t work for you, what else have you tried?
Is the phone jailbroken or unlocked? If not, you can take it to an Apple store and they will look at it for free. Just make sure you back it up with your computer first in case they have to wipe it. And you’ll need to make an appointment with the Genius Bar online before you go. Even if the phone is no longer under warranty, they will still look at it and diagnose it for free.
Have you tried restoring the phone? What version of iOS are you running?
Try updating to iOS 5. Just know that iOS 5 is causing battery issues, but Apple will be releasing 5.0.1 to fix that soon.
If you try all that I suggested and it still is not fixed, then try posting your question on the following forums:
If your phone is jailbroken and/or unlocked, post your question here:
http://www.howardforums.com/forumdisplay.php/368-iOS-Hacking-and-Unlocking
http://blog.iphone-dev.org/ (post your question as a comment on the lastest blog post)
And if your phone has not been modified, then post your issue here:
http://www.howardforums.com/forumdisplay.php/115-Apple
When you get it fixed, please come back and post the solution that worked for you.
Thanks!
November 8, 2011 at 3:41 pm
Hi It worked for me………thanks for posting this. I was wondering what should I do and this just worked. Thanks a lot again for posting this. If anything happens again I will post here.
You rock!!!
November 9, 2011 at 11:28 am
Thanks, Jignasa! You bet! Glad to hear it!
November 14, 2011 at 4:27 pm
This worked!!!!! Thanks!!!!
November 16, 2011 at 11:25 pm
So i tried this
my iphone 3gs went blank so i did ring vibrate ring vibrate ring and it went to apple logo then main screen. internet was still on it. went on Fb and it turned off
-______________-
Im so upset my iphone sucks
November 21, 2011 at 10:51 pm
Perfect, Chelsea! Glad to hear it!
Sorry to hear that Chris. How many apps do you have running at once? If you double-click on your home button, it will make the screen “slide up” and you’ll see apps listed at the bottom of your screen (you’ll see their icons).
Then hold your finger on one of the app icons so they start shaking and a red circle with a white line appears in the upper left corner of each app icon.
Next hit the red circle with a white line to close each of the apps. After you close all of the apps, turn your phone all the way off (hold the power button on the top of the phone until the slider appears on your screen, and then slide the slider across the screen to fully shut it down), and then turn it on again. Then try opening Facebook.
If that doesn’t work, you can also try resetting it. All of your data will still be there. You’re just resetting it. All you have to do is hold down the power/sleep/wake button and the home button at the same time while the iPhone is on. Keep holding them for at least 10 seconds until the Apple logo appears. Then let go. If your iPhone does not turn on or displays a red battery icon, you’ll need to charge your iPhone.
Good luck, and when you get it to work, please post back with the fix. Thanks!
December 5, 2011 at 12:41 pm
hello, i have had numerous times when i would be on the phone with someone via my iphone and ever since i had jailbroken it with the jailbreak software as well as semi untethering proccess for the iphone firmware IOS5 my iphone has been completly shutting off on me at random times even when the battery is at 100%. one day i was out with a friend and my iphone was in the charger for about the whole half of the day and it had displayed a full battery and showed 100% and when i was listening to music and had it running in the background and was texting constantly even while being on the phone it randomly shut off and so i rebooted it and as soon as it rebooted it immediatly shut off again and so i go to try and turn it on and it showed that it was dead but i waited a couple seconds before trying to turn it on again and so it finally turned on after a good minute or so and it had displayed 71% and the battery percentage goes down from 100% to 70% with in like 2-3 hours of use wheather its gaming or texting and i do not have bluetooth on nor wifi and my backlight is near the beggining of the bar so it saves battery and also i wanted to know if its just my battery or if its the software i also wanted to know if you could do your solution with out having the iphone randomly shut off on me or if i can just shut it off myself and do the fix? please get back to me as soon as possible thank you so much.
December 5, 2011 at 12:49 pm
hello its me again i just tried the fix that you said and the first time i tried it which was two secodns ago and so i tried it and i got upto the holding the power and home button together and it rebooted my phone in less then 4 seconds which i found strange then it shut off so i tried it again and again i was at the power and home stage when my iphone rebooted in about 5 seconds this time but did not shut off and i was shocked because it actually rebooteed faster then it normally would.. does that mean that it worked? or does that mean that something went wrong? please do respond back and again i thank you alot for helping us all troublesom iphone users. this will teach me a lesson to never jailbreak an IPHONE lol
December 12, 2011 at 1:02 pm
xPIphoneNooobxP, sorry for the late response. I’ve visiting my family for the Holidays, so I’ve been quite busy. Sounds like you got it to work. How is it now since it’s a week later? Did it fix it?
December 13, 2011 at 4:16 pm
it did not fixx it at all
i am so annoyed with this issue that i just recently yesterday bought a new battery and i HOPE! that it was just a bad battery issue and nothing further 
i will keep you updated..
December 13, 2011 at 4:34 pm
OK. Sorry to hear that. Post your issue on both the blog and forum below and see what they say. Those guys are hardcore jailbreakers and should be able to give you a better understanding as to what is going on with your iPhone and how to fix it.
http://blog.iphone-dev.org/post/11430068008/pre-qualifier
(scroll down and post your issue in the comments section of this blog post)
http://www.howardforums.com/forumdisplay.php/368-iOS-Hacking-and-Unlocking
(register on this forum for free, and then post your question on this page)
Be sure and post back here with updates. Thanks!
January 4, 2012 at 10:46 am
Ian Brown…can you explain it more because my iphone still turn of by itself…please..can you answer quickly
Thank You
January 4, 2012 at 11:29 am
Hey waseem,
Did you read the comments that I made above to other readers? If not, check them out.
Here is one of them that may benefit you:
January 4, 2012 at 3:19 pm
I have 3gs running Ios 5.0.1 jailbroken
I restored a few days ago but…
So please give me a solution dude..i saw above me “that its worked”!!
Please help me my friend :S
January 17, 2012 at 12:44 pm
HEllo guys,
I have a problem with my iphone 3Gs. 1 week ago it started to turn on/off every 2 minutes even if i had full battery… It immediately turned off when i attempted to call or send a message or even when i was doing nothing…. what the fuck is going wrong? Problems with new software or what?? Thx for response..
January 18, 2012 at 5:03 am
My problem is slightly different but may be relevant to some people who maybe haven’t yet noticed what I have.
I travel 50 miles to work and during the journey my phone constantly switches between cell towers. I know this because I can hear it interfering with my radio. Sometimes though it loses connection with one tower and doesn’t connect to the next. The screen shows searching for a few minutes and then switches off and restarts. Restarting takes about 2-3 minutes and then everything is fine until the next time it happens.
This only started happening 2 days ago but it consistently happens at the same places in my journey and in exactly the same way that I’ve just described.
Has anyone else experienced the same? If so have you found a solution?
January 18, 2012 at 8:38 am
hey guys i am back with a solution that i did with my failing iphone that rebooted on me tons of times which i found that the problem was simply the battery and i had to take it apart and replace the battery that i had purchased off of ebay now its been a couple months since i replaced the battery and the phone is working the way it should be i also have it jailbroken on ios 5.0.1 untethered and there is no lag no problems what so ever so if any one else is still having the problem with your phone shutting off by itself it may be your battery. just to warn you guys it was annoying to take apart the iphone inorder to replace the battery i think i also messed up my right speaker i might have to go back and re open it to make sure everything is connected the way it should be but REPLACE THE BATTERY AT YOUR OWN RISK it is VERY FRUSTRATING AND HARD TAKE YOUR TIME!! it took me an hour to finish it all with the help of youtube videos
January 19, 2012 at 2:04 am
My problem suddenly got worse today. For the first 10 minutes of my journey the phone was fine. I then got to the point where I knew the problem was going to happen and lo and behold it did. So I waited for the restart thinking everything would then be ok for a time but, to my horror, it continued to restart every two minutes.
I assumed it would be ok once I reached my destination but, no, it continued to restart every two minutes.
I did some searching for the new symptoms and found what I hope is the solution (https://discussions.apple.com/message/16786572#16786572). I have tried this and so far it appears to have cured the problem. Well the immediate restarting problem anyway. I will have to wait a few hours before I do my usual journey to see if it has cured the original symptoms.
If it does not fix things I will repost again but if this is my last post and anyone finds this with the same problem then you can safely assume that the solution at the link above fixes it.
January 22, 2012 at 8:55 am
i recently bought an iphone 3gs 16gb and i downloaded some apps later that night everytime i got a text while wifi was on it turned off and then the problem got worse to where it was doing it when wifi was off when i got a text or when i was on a game please help?
January 22, 2012 at 8:59 am
i am runnig IOS 5.0.1 and my iphone was jailbroken i restored it when this problem started but it still carrys on when all settings are untamperd and when nothing is downloaded or installed , i can text occasionaly but when i get a text or 2 at the same time or am doing 2 things it just turns off and to turn it back on i have to put the charger because if i have another text it just shuts off get back soon please anyone! :/
January 23, 2012 at 8:47 am
@aidenL, it seems to me that you have had sord of the same problem as I have. my problem was that when I would make a call and be on teh phone for a good 10 minutes sometimes less the phone would shut off by itself and then I would turn it off and as soon as it goes searching for a network it shut off again. it did that for a couple of times but I did a little research and asked around a couple of sites and the conculusion I had come to was that my battery was actually the problem. I went on Ebay and I bought a battery specifically searched in Iphone 3gs 16gb battery and I bought a New Battery (lithium) for 8-10 dollars and it comes with tools to open up the phone itself. What I would recommend due to the complicity of opening the phone and replacing the battery correctly you should use Youtube for a video on how to open and replace iphone 3gs battery. Also i had to plug in my phone to the charger in order to complete a phone call or do anything else with my phone in order to bypass it shutting off. I hope i helped if not i will continue trying to help you in order to get your phone back to the way it should be working. Also take into consideration that the Iphone 3GS & 3G’s battery life only lasts about 8 to 15 months on purpous so that way we buy the new iphones that come out rather then opening up the phone and replacing the bad battery. that is why the iphone doesnt have a battery that can be easily replaceable.
February 3, 2012 at 8:22 am
Thanks so much! I mine vibrated for like 5mins and blackedout. It really works:D