iPhone 3G stuck on Snowflake on main screen

[buttsneeze]

Hi all,

My oldest son has an iPhone 3G. He has just gotten a new phone and asked if I could wipe his old phone. I should preface this by saying the iPhone 3G suffered water damage and the sleep button no longer works. When I did the security wipe, the phone came back with the Snowflake on the main screen and there is no way to get out of it.

Now, I am no fool. Clearly his phone was, at some point, jailbroken (and I don't condone that) but since the sleep button does not work and I have no access to the device via the main screen, I am not able to put it into recovery mode.

Does anyone have any suggestions or is the unit now a brick?

Thanks for reading!!!!

 

[iDonev]

Let the battery die and the phone turn off. Then connect it via cable to iTunes while holding the home button. Continue holding it until it boots up. At this point you should enter Recovery Mode.

 

[buttsneeze]

Hey!!

Thanks for the response. I tried this...couple of times... No joy. Still stuck on the stupid snowflake.

 

[iDonev]

Does your computer detect the phone at all? If not, you may be looking at a button repair in order to fix the current problem. The wipe you did basically rendered the phone useless until plugged in iTunes and restored.

 

[buttsneeze]

Actually, the phone is not detected at all. I fear you are right. Wishing I had updated it before I wiped it. Of course, I also wish my idiot son had told me he had jailbroken it too.

Thanks for your help.

 

[natasftw]

I'm not sure calling your son an idiot, and suggesting those that are helping you are idiots doing something you don't "condone" is useful to your situation.

Jailbreak, or no jailbreak, it's better for you to use itunes for the maint on your phone. The options you have on your phone are meant for users that only use the tools Apple offers and also lack a computer.

 

[buttsneeze]

I was not implying that anyone assisting me with this or jailbraking their phone is an idiot. I merely wish my son had told me so I could have avoided this situation.

I apologize if I have offended you in some way. It was not my intention.

 

[natasftw]

Is the snowflake still showing or did it end up going dark on you?

When you stated it wasn't being detected by the computer, was the snowflake on at that point?

I'm asking to see if it's possible the lack of detection is related to the current software situation or if the phone managed to power down. After a full battery drain, it takes a few minutes before the phone responds. If the power drain isn't the culprit, the cheapest thing you can test is to try using different cables, usb ports, or computers to see if any others detect the phone. Sometimes, that's the issue.

Ultimately, if you decide parts need to be changed to work on it: Service Parts for iPhone 3GS 16GB has a list of 3GS parts.

Something else to consider is going over to the dev team blog. They have downloads for a program called redsn0w which helps create firmware files for people with failing buttons so that you can still enter DFU mode. That might help out.

Ultimately, if you CAN use a computer for anything iRelated, you should do so. I lost track of how many "I'm upgrading to 6.0, but I have to delete most of my pictures to make space!!" status updates I saw from people not using the iTunes method. The on phone methods have some pros, don't get me wrong.

 

[buttsneeze]

Thanks for the reply...

The Snowflake was indeed on when the phone was not detected. As for the other questions, I have tried 3 different computers including Windows XP, Windows 7 and my MacBook. No joy in any of them. Each computer was with a different cable (not by design... just worked out that way). Typically, I will use a computer to mange my iDevices as I find it more reliable than the on phone methods.

I will take a look over in the parts forum you cited. FWIW, this is an older phone that has since been replaced. Was hoping to get a couple of bucks on eBay for it.

 

[natasftw]

Dev-Team Blog

That's the link to the dev-team blog with redsn0w.