iPhone 7 refuses to activate

Gheo74

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So, this is my mom's phone, and never quite had good signal coverage, but it was bearable. However, yesterday the phone started to refuse to connect at all. She only wants to be able to call and use messages, so this might be enough to render the phone useless.
I tried everything, until I completely reset it. At this stage, it says that it can't activate because an update is required, despite I just updated to ios 12.1.3.
But it doesn't stop here, now it just randomly restarts, isn't recognized by itunes, and doesn't read any sim card I could get my hands on.
Any idea ?
Thanks.
 

Just_Me_D

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Connect the device to a Wi-Fi network and allow it to activate. Make sure the device is not in Airplane mode as well as make sure it is still registered with your wireless carrier.
 

Annie_M

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And if that doesn’t work, make a visit to the Genius Bar at your local Apple Store, or contact Apple Support. Good luck and keep us posted!
 

Gheo74

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Hey guys, since a couple of you answered, I figured it'd be only natural to keep on updating.
I don't really now how to turn airplane on or off while in the activation screen, however I don't think that's the issue, since it's searching for a network twice, before giving me a no service icon, among with an exclamation mark.
Afterwards, I tried going into recovery mode, and I got excited, however that didn't work either. While in recovery mode, itunes finally recognized it, and gave me to option yo restore it, or update it, despite it was just updated to 12.1.3.
This went nowhere, as even after repeating this step several times, I still get a message that says that the phone has to be updated.
So yeah, I'll try my best with what I can find, but since there's no Apple Store, I don't think I'll go far, but I'll try.
Thanks guys.
 

Just_Me_D

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Fill in some blanks for us please?

1. Is the iPhone locked to a specific carrier?
2. Is the account with that carrier still active?
3. Were the SIM cards you inserted associated with the wireless carrier that the iPhone may be registered to?
4. How strong is the wireless signal in your area?
5. Have you done a clean install of the latest iOS version? In other words, have you put the device in DFU mode to have iTunes download and install a fresh copy of the latest iOS version?
6. Have you tried contacting Apple Support for assistance?
 

Gheo74

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First of all, please excuse the late reply, and now let's see how far can we get:
1 the phone is carrier free
2 I've no idea, just bought it as used, and while I had it it worked in every network I threw at it, so my best guess is that it's not locked in any celular network
3 Well if the phone was bought in this region, then yeah, since these are the most popular
4 On all other phones I've used so far, strong and fairly good, however with this iPhone, even when I was in the city center, I'd still get about 2 bars of signal
5 Yes, several times. Even went as far as to download older versions of ios, like 12.1.1 and 12.1.2 to see if anything changes - sometimes they work, other times iTunes gives me error code 9 or 14, or says it lost connection with the device
6 Unfortunatelly, they cannot help, as after I've tried to call them, they just directionated me to the carrier on which I've bought this phone. Some apple distributers managed to give me some info, but that's about it.

So after a whole day spent trying to figure this out, it might be the antena which doesn't work, not alowing the phone to activate, or simply the motherboard is gone, since I can't even see the IMEI. I'm still trying to hope it might still be saved, but I guess I'm doing more harm than good.

Thanks for the support dude, really appreciate it.
 

kataran

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Sorry to hear about your activation issue.

Best bet is to have an Apple certified dealer run a diagnostic on the device before you give up on it
 

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