Severe iPhone boot problem

[doubledee]

Ok... I have a 3g. It will not turn on while the usb cable is unplugged.... no flash, no activity, nothing.

I plug it into the usb port on the computer, and i get a little flicker of life, but the backlight goes out, the screen is on, but not lit. The screen lacking illumination also has a blank line going across the screen, but every time i try this boot attempt the line is in a different place, and the screen turns off completely when i hit the power button again.

I cannot get it into recovery mode while plugged into the computer, and if i luckily manage to get it into dfu mode, i cannot restore because it tries to reboot the phone into recovery mode and the blank screen starts again..... in other words.. fail

Strangely enough though, when i plug the phone into the wall charger and hit the power button, it is alive. It boots into recovery mode every time without fail. However, once i remove the usb, the recovery logo stays there, with a line through it, and lacking illumination. WTF!!!

[cpjr]

Sounds like its toast. Sounds like it got wet.

[doubledee]

..... nope... never got wet...

[mitchell209]

Sounds like a hardware problem.