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Second generation of iPhone. Model A1241 / 8 or 16 GB capacity / black or white plastic back. Repair is more straightforward than the first iPhone. requires screwdrivers, prying, and suction tools.

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iPhone 3G keeps turning off randomly, even with full charge...

I installed a new battery in my iPhone 3G a week ago, per ifixit's beautiful instructions. Everything went smoothly and when the phone turned on just fine after installing it.

However, starting the next day, my iPhone would randomly turn off - even right after having charged it overnight. It might stay on working fine for 2 mins or maybe even an hour, but then, out of nowhere, boom it turns off. Sometimes I can turn it back on without plugging in the charger, sometimes I have to plug it into the charger. It's been doing this all the time.

Now it has started happening even when it's plugged in! And each time it happens, when I turn it back on, the time/date has been reset to 7:00PM December 31, 1999. I change it to the correct time, but after it shuts down again and I restart it, there it is again 7:00PM December 31, 1999.

Does anybody have any ideas on what specifically might be the cause of this problem? I would appreciate any thoughts greatly.

Answered! View the answer I have this problem too

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You'd think it wouldn't be able to go back that far...

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this happened to me as well, it turned off whenever i tried to do anything! text, facebook, camera, calculator, internet.. everything! it got so bad that i am using my old phone at the moment and waiting until my contract runs out and i can get a new phone, which because of this it probably wont be an iphone!

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This happened to me as well. I purchased the new battery and replaced it. It's worse now than it was before. It won't stay on. Keeps shutting off while I have it plugged in. HELP!

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nothing is working i have had this problem for 2 months now and i wouldnt be able to call 911 if my life depended on it someone helppp.

by

Same here my iPhone 5c needs fixing so I decided to use my iPhone 3GS which is fine but the same thing keeps happening, it turns of every time I take off the charger even when it's a 100% plz help.

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It almost sounds like there is a short somewhere or a loose connection. Maybe a loose screw internally? My recommendation: re-open the iPhone, remove the battery, and reinstall it. Make sure there are no loose screws and that the logic board sits nicely back on top of the battery. Put the iPhone back together and make sure everything snaps into place as it should. If you are still having issues, iFixit would be happy to send a replacement battery, just to eliminate that as an issue. Shoot me an email at that point: brady@ifixit.com

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You are loosing contact between the battery and the phone board that’s why it’s shutting off and giving you the wrong date and time. Open and pry up on the battery connectors so ther up more and make shire to tighten the screws on the board around the board where the battery connector is.

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Make sure you use two sided tape to keep battery from moving as well. This could also be your problem.

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i am unsure of your problem but my iphone used to shut off all the time on me until i did this fix which btw i am running IOS5.0.1 firmware on my iphone so the fix may or may not be for all the firmwares but give it a go any way :) here was my solution:

hello i believe I have finally found a solution to our problem guys and girls so here i will tell you exactly what to do step by step

Step 1. Shut off IPhone Or if your phone Just randomly shut off it may even work both ways i am unsure but try it both ways so if when you see this message your phone has not randomly shut off on its own try shutting it off manually first then if it still has the problem then when it does randomly shut off do as i say.

Step 2. make sure your vibrate switch is set as ring first before you do anything else. once that is done with you are going to do this sequence: switch the vibrate switch in this patter: start off at ring->Vibrate->ring->vibrate... pause for millisecond->Ring-> vibrate then hold the power button and the round button (homebutton) as if you were going to hard reboot the iphone for about 6-8 seconds now my device when i did this part it started up with out me having to let go but for others it should start up as soon as you let go but it seemed to work the way it happened for me although my iphone rebooted after holding those buttons for 3-4 seconds and then imediatly turned off again then i tried it AGAIn and it worked that time and ever since i did this "fix" it has been working fine minus the actual battery drainage software bug for IOS 5.0.1 but it hasnt shutoff on me randomly yet and i have gotten my iphone to finally go down further then 50% so it went to about 45% before i said i needed to charge it so i could use it the next day Hope i helped

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by the sounds of it it's simply the on/off actual button that is corrupted/shorting [this could have been caused by damp/sweat in none use]..

chances are if you got enough time and power into the phone to update the software or firmware it will still do the same.

dafta.duck [not an expert.. just an thought]

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you got out of date software you have to update your phone

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My 3gs started having the same problem about 8 months ago ...

Well i finally figured out the problem .

Here it is :

The reason why your iphone is shutting down is because the battery is loosely fixed .. its not able to give continuos power to the motherboard.

Its just like you have suddenly removed your battery ..isn't it.

Just open the phone ... if you have not done that ...LEARN IT ( i take that ur phone is out of warranty) .

Its better than paying hundreds of bucks to some repair guy who will do the same thing.

Open the phone ...take out the battery , put a double sided surgical tape to fix the battery firmly to the phone .

Put the hardware back and tighten up the screws.

In my case i used quickfix.. use a powerful adhesive if you can ... it wont do any harm to the battery...

Worked for me :)

hope this can help you too.

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hi, i had the same problem.I was told to connect to itunes and do a complete restore, you will lose all your data.so best save that first if needed, but it done the trick and now have no problems with it at all

rgds

dave

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I got a variety of different problems after replacing my 3GS battery (iPhone 3GS, iOS 6.0.1). I was pretty close to trash it. But I found a way to get back to life and want to share the story. My conclusion is that is seems that the software (apps & iOS) is dependent on correct power management. With a battery replacement is that radically changed. First of all get a good replacement battery, no fake ones. You get what you pay.

After replacing the battery the indicator wasn’t correct but I could live with that. Resets (home button + sleep/off button for 10 sec) and restores via iTunes didn’t help. Then started the problems. After 2 days the phone began to shutdown using the camera/GPS or simply getting a call. Annoying, especially with a new battery.

I tried everything you can read on the net. Nothing worked, it just got worse. Cleaned every connector. Put the old battery back, didn’t work either. It was dead.

My final call was this: put in the new replacement battery and tighten all screws properly. Restore the phone from iTunes, but DO NOT, I repeat do not, restore the data from the backup from iTunes. Restore the iOS but when the iPhone reboots and iTunes will continue with coping of data (apps, calendars, music etc) ABORT that process. The data from your backup will corrupt your iPhone. Abort the process, unplug your phone and let it start up alone like a new phone. You need a clean start with a new battery.

This means that you need to download your apps again. I did that very carefully (perhaps too carefully, but I did want to know if any app corrupted my phone). I have now synchronized my calendar and contacts via iTunes but I have not restored any apps. It works flawlessly. The battery indicator is even back and correct!

I’ve got it all back: a working iPhone w/o shutdowns, a battery indicator and a new, fresh battery. Good luck with your battery replacement. ;-)

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replace the on off and button flex. its shorting same thing happened to my sons phone. i changed the flex and was good to go. its not firmware related. its a short.

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I have just bought an iPhone 3GS off ebay and it keeps turning off as well! Usually I find that it mainly switches off when I am on very recent games as it is an old model! So don't play newer games and so when it comes back on leave it don't do anything otherwise it will switch off again!

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This also keeps happening to me. Every time i play a game or take a picture or do anything. My phone comes up with a loading screen for about 5 seconds then just turns off. And when i go to turn it back on, the screen shows that i need to put the phone on charge and that the battery is empty. Even though it was fully charged when i was using it. Someone please help. I'm getting fed up!

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Take it to the store for a check of the screaws and cables. Maybe loose screw will lead to this. If it still comes out, try iPhone ReiBoot to fix it... It is free, but no personal experience. Search it for Tenorshare ReiBoot.

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