Won't restore & iTunes stuck on waiting for phone

Well I have a iPhone 3GS to fix that I think is completely dead. When turned on it shows the screen informing you to connect it to iTunes. When you connect it to iTunes it tells you that the phone is in recovery mode and needs to be restored. I have tried restoring it with normal and custom IPSWs and with it in pwnd DFU mode. Every time I have tried this it gets stuck on "Waiting for Phone" and doesn't progress any further. It also displays Error 9 when the phone is finally disconnected. What leads me to believe that it's permanently dead is that when I opened it up there was a loose screw rolling around under the mainboard. From what I can tell it looks like the screw might have shorted out the mainboard and killed it. Would I be right in assuming this and is there anything more I can try to get it working?