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iPhone died, how to bring it back. + AT&T caught in the act of lowballing montly svc chrg
Posted by Xeno on January 7, 2010
I had at least 20% battery life left and my phone just died. Normally you can hold the power button or hold the home and power buttons at the same time to reboot it, but this didn’t work. Even after charging, it was just completely unresponsive. As I was surfing the web while composing my annoyance speech for the unfortunate Apple Care Technicians I came across this gem which, surprisingly, worked!
If your iPhone is completely dead, “toggle the switch above the volume back and forth two times, the hold the main button along with the top power button for about six seconds or until you see the apple icon displayed on your screen the main menu will appear shortly thereafter.” I counted to eight and nothing happened, but when I released the buttons, the Apple Icon appeared. Bonus: “if you did any charging during this blackout period it is accounted for when your iPhone comes back to life.”
So, why did this happen? Is there some random shut off timer to get people in to the Apple store for service so Apple has a chance to try to sell them an extended warranty or something?
The only thing I changed is that I changed my pass code to something very long and complicated after I got my iPhone working with ActiveSynch and Exchange Server 2003 today. How to get that to work is another post for another time.
Next hurdle is getting AT&T to give me the rate the sales people promised. I’m being charged $137.49 Monthly Service Charges before taxes when I was told several times by two different reps “Jamie” and “Vincent” and that my Monthly Service Charges would be $124.99 for both phones on my family plan.
I learned from my experiences with Sprint and this time have screenshots of both Jamie and Vincent telling me in chat sessions that my Monthly Service Charges will be $124.99. I even said, you know, with Sprint the sales people told me one thing and then billing billed me more…”
And here is the first bill with the Month Service Charge of …. hmm… not $124.99. $12.50 more than I expected which adds up to an additional $150 per year. Probably just a simple mistake and I’m sure they will be happy to correct it when I call them in the morning. 
Wfoster said
Thank you – this worked. You saved the day!
jlo said
It works@yet we not know why……
Baby said
IT WORKED FOR ME, THANK YOU!!
Su said
This worked. You’re genius. Thanks!
What actually caused it?
ChickfromCT said
U saved me from an almost melt down — Thanks!!!!!!!
Thomas Tom said
Thanx a lot Dude… u saved my life….
My iPhone … ITSS ALLIIVEE…..
mindy said
Thank you so, so, so much!!!!!
Trudy said
thank you so much it worked
Keith said
You’re the man!!
Felicia Hollenbeck said
Oh my gosh. Thank you so much, this worked. My husband was about to make the ATT store wished they never lived.
Moose said
Thanks so much!!!! This totally worked for me!!!!!!!!
James said
This just work for me too… thank you so much!
csh said
THANK YOU!! Worked for me as well
emir said
your amazing i swear to god..
susana said
Awesome, thank you so much for your advice!
laynepanda@gmail.com said
omg amazing thank you so much! but why did thishappen??
Jacob Mentzel said
Whew… I was about to explode. Thanks!
elizabeth moore said
Thanks ever so much – it worked!!
Shawn said
Thank you very much!! Was just about to call Verizon!!
Jake said
Thank you so much! You’re a lifesaver!
G6 said
Thanks! Worked for me too. Boy was I in a panic.
Still not sure why it happened or if I’m in danger of it happening again, though…..
Jill Cooper Pease said
YES! Worked for me too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks!
Jorge said
wow i can’t believe it actually works!!!
Ofer Bar said
Thanks man, saved me hours of wasted service time!
lynn said
Thank you I almost lost it. this saved me so much time
Candice said
YAY it worked!!!! You are SO awesome! I didnt change anything on mine and it was FULLY charged! WTF? Why did this happen?
mauro said
Yay work for me too.
I was so skeptical but worked, Thanks from Brazil.
Dina said
thank you:)) you saved me a trip and hours of wait time
Steve O'Donnell said
Genius, I have my brain back
Abdullah said
Do you toggle from mute to unmute?
Keith said
WOW! It worked. I was getting ready to head to the ATT store where I am sure I would have been ripped off because they are always charging for something that they shouldn’t. Not sure why my phone just quit because it had 45% power when I set it down 1 hour ago. Then when I went to make a call, NOTHING.
Thank You!
alex said
Same issue happened to me just a few moments ago. I called Apple and they told me to bring my phone in for repair. They advised it would cost upward of $200. I just on the internet and founded this blog. Did exactly what Xeno recommended and the issue was resolved. Thanks Xeno. You saved me a couple hundered dollars.
Keith said
Thank you just did this and my iPhone is working again. WOW!
iSpark said
Thank you SO MUCH!!! You saved my little baby iPhone
iSpark said
You Are a Genius!
Anne said
Thank you for posting this. It worked for me. My phone had about 48% battery when it just died. I find it interesting that Keith also had a battery in the 45-50% range. I wonder if there is some sort of software glitch? Now, whether the glitch is accidental or on purpose is an even more interesting question. Hmmm . . .
Timothy Noonan said
OK, here it is Jan 2012, and last night my iPhone died unexpectedly. Nothing worked, I found this page. I had to do it three times, but suddenly, the “Charge” icon appeared and it worked! Holy crap, I am amazed!
Jess said
Yay! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Really thought my phone was terminal for a while. I can’t believe something so simple worked! Hurrah!
Anybody have any idea what caused it?
Kamryn Adams said
Whoa! Thank you. This worked!!!!
Sabrina Gary said
It worked! thank you so much. I had a phone interview scheduled for this afternoon and then phone died! Your technique got me back up and running!
svod4 said
Thank You, it worked… one more month till I can upgrade. I wasnt going to spend any money on this or a phone till then!!!
Mike Nash said
Thank you!
SomeDude said
Thanks! Great tip. Saved me a phone call and/or trip to the mall.
Vane said
This didnt work for me. Is it because I have iphone4 and I got my phone wet?
Xeno said
Yes, water will totally kill your phone. You can try putting it in a bag of dry rice for a few days… That did not work for me, however. A new iPhone is absurdly expensive. Good luck.
Gali said
Thank you so much! This really works! My phone died with about 70% battery life. since I happened to be near Apple store I took it there. After about 30 min, they told me the battery is dead and they cannot revive it and I need to buy a new battery for $80. They couldn’t tell me what went wrong because the phone isn’t charging so they can’t run diagnostics. You would think Apple folks should know how to do this…..
Good thing I came home and googled this. Thanks soooooooooooooooo much!!!!!!
Xeno said
The battery can be replaced? What model of iphone do you have?
William said
Figured I’d jump on this congratulatory bandwagon. Worked like a charm! I need the phone for non-stop business so thank you thank you thank you.
Xeno said
You’re welcome! I hope this blog entry saved you time and money. Research donations always appreciated (button on left) or just email me a strange news story for this blog some time to
Xeno735@yahoo.com
karl said
thanks for info man.it worked my girlfriend over the moon big thanks
Durand said
Your tips saved my phone. Thanks
brian L said
i am in an airport and found this….you saved my life <3
kyutiflui said
gosh, it’s now july 2012 and still happening. thanks for calming me down. your tips work
donjazzi said
Thanks man…..u just saved a brother…it worked!!!
Marjorie said
Crisis averted!! Thank you!!