Bricked iPhone 3G

[memnoch_thedevil]

A friend brought his iPhone 3G over because his text messaging wasn't working. He could receive but not send text messages.

It was on firmware 3.0.1 and has never been jailbroken before. So we put the phone in recovery mode, used tiny umbrella's tss server and upgraded through itunes to 3.1.2. It went through the process fine and then rebooted, and then the screen to activate came up, but the usb port on the iphone is no longer working. The computer won't recognize the phone and neither will itunes.

Any ideas? We've tried putting into DFU mode again, but it will not go into dfu mode, it just either powers off.

[Orby]

Sounds like a hardware issue.

If it was on iOS 3.0.1 out-of-the-box (so it's at least 18 months old--July of '09), then you're also probably out of warranty...

Sorry.

[i.Annie]

Try this: shut off your computer and let it rest for about 15-30 minutes. Or try another computer. Then plug it back into a different USB port. If it is a laptop, disconnect the power supply (run it on battery) before you let it sit for 15-30 minutes.

When you boot your comp back up, plug your phone into iTunes. Be sure it is in recovery mode (not DFU, you want the screen with iTunes+USB cable).

To set into recovery, when the phone is on, hold home and power until it goes black then release power and hold home till the screen appears.

iTunes should pick it up then. You should probably not run the TSS server this time. iPhone 3G can restore to 3.1.2 just fine without it.

If that doesn't work, then chances are it's hardware.

Edit: for the above instructions, do the entire process with the power supply disconnected. I did it that way and it worked.