Basic Apple iPhone Repairs & Troubleshooting
Drop you iPhone onto concrete? Accidentally put it through the wash? You may be careful but accidents do happen, and so here's a quick guide to how to avoid, what to expect and what to do about the unthinkable happening to your precious Apple iPhone.
Electronics companies receive a lot of bad press for equipment failures, but considering what a lot of people subject their poor mobile phones to, it's hardly surprising. We're going to list six of the most common types of malfunction reported by users according to repairmen and what can be done (if you're lucky).
"My iPhone went through the washing machine!"
Liquids are electronics' worst enemy. If you've dropped your poor phone into water or its been through the laundry, it's likely you will have to replace it. It may survive a quick dunking and be fixable, but if your repairman spots any signs of moisture damage, you are out of luck warranty-wise.
"I plugged it into a car charger and it started smoking!"
Cheap car chargers can be unreliable when it comes to providing stable voltage and fry phones as the car's load changes. If you're lucky, the damage to the phone is repairable, and the only thing that's fried is the charging port. This is a fairly cheap repair. If the voltage jump was very large, however, it may have jumped the port and fried the mainboard, and then it's curtains for your iPhone.
Moral: Do not buy dodgy car chargers. Buy a genuine Apple charger.
"I dropped my iPhone and cracked the screen!"
iPhones survive drops onto lawns and carpets easily enough, but drop yours on concrete or stone and you could break the glass. Your phone is almost certainly still salvageable. If you've dropped a 2G iPhone and cracked the screen, you're looking at having to replace the LCD screen's digital to analogue convertor as well as the screen itself. With the 3G and 3GS, you'll only have to replace the screen itself.
"My iPhone won't charge!"
You might be looking at buying a new battery, but this could also be one of a few other, much cheaper problems. The least serious problem is that the charging cable is damaged, and all you'll need to do is replace it. It might also be that your iPhone's charging port is slightly fouled or has a foreign object embedded, so be sure to have a look.
In a similar vein, your iPhone may appear to be fully charged all the time. This may be a synchronisation fault with the chip that monitors how much charge is left in the battery. Simply let the battery run completely flat, then fully recharge it, and repeat. This should reset the chip.
"I tried to fix my iPhone myself and it stopped working!"
If you're not a trained iPhone repairman, you can't fix one. Unfortunately, it's more likely you've done extra damage, you've voided your warranty and you're looking at a repair bill here.
"My kid said my iPhone stopped working for no reason!"
Yeah, okay.
Before you send it off to be repaired, try and eke out of your child what really happened. It really could be anything from a cable forced into the wrong port to the phone being accidentally dropped into water. It's even possible that your son or daughter has tried a hack such as an unofficial system update to the iPhone (such as"jailbreaking" or "unlocking") and Apple's software has shut the phone down in response (called "bricking" the phone). Generally, we'd advise you to not loan your iPhone to kids.
What you should and should never do.
If the phone is malfunctioning and it wasn't your fault, don't try any repairs yourself if it's still under warranty. An iPhone is an incredibly complex device that's beyond any shadetree bodges. If you haven't voided your warranty with clumsiness, you'll void it with a quick fix, You'll not only more than likely further damage your phone, you'll stand to pay more than the replacement cost of the phone itself unless you're willing to lose everything stored on it. Always take it straight back to the shop.