iPhone 1st-Generation Troubleshooting

Oh no! Your iPhone's glass did not survive your unintentional drop test!

Take a deep breath and see if your iPhone will turn on and operate normally. In most cases, the iPhone is still functional but now a cosmetic disaster. The front panel/digitizer and LCD are attached with a strong adhesive, and are usually sold together. You can use our free repair guide to replace your display assembly.

No matter what you do, you can't get your iPhone 3G to turn on.

If your iPhone won't turn on, especially if it has not been used recently, you may simply have a drained battery. Plug your iPhone into your computer or AC adapter and see if anything happens. Ideally your iPhone will recognize it has been connected to a power source and charge its battery. If it will no longer charge, the battery must be swapped (the guide can be found here) with a replacement battery.

It is possible that it appears nothing is happening because the display is bad. If the iPhone sounds like it is working properly but nothing is visible, it is possible the display assembly is bad and must be replaced (the guide can be found here).

If none of the above solutions fix the iPhone, and both the power button and the hold button do not turn it on, you must replace the logic board (the guide can be found here).

Your iPhone 3G turns on and appears to work, but when you plug in headphones or speakers, the audio doesn't play properly.

It's unlikely your headphones or speakers are bad, but it's worthwhile to eliminate these as the source of your problem at the beginning. Try your iPhone 3G with another set of headphones or speakers just to make sure that the problem is with the iPhone 3G.

The most likely cause of audio output problems on iPhone 3G's is a bad audio-out jack. This jack is a part of the display assembly, so the entire display assembly must be replaced.

The guide to replace the audio out jack can be found here.

Your iPod is behaving erratically or displays the text "Use iTunes to restore" on startup

It isn't often that Apple gives specific directions about how to fix your problem! Restoring the iPhone will erase everything on it, so make sure everything on the iPhone is stored elsewhere prior to restoring. To restore, connect your iPhone to a computer with iTunes installed. Click "Restore" on the iPhone summary page (click on your iPhone icon on the left menu to find this page). Follow the directions to restore. If your iPhone displays the text "Please wait. Very Low Battery," leave it plugged in. This charges the iPhone enough to be able to restore. If the iPhone hangs on this screen for long periods of time, you may need a new battery.

If your iPhone is hanging with an Apple logo, or exhibiting some other software problem that prevents iTunes from recognizing it, you can force it into recovery/restore mode and then use iTunes to restore the software.

If the device is powered off, plug one end of your USB cable into the iPhone and leave the other end disconnected. Press down on the Home button, and keep holding it down while you plug the USB cable into your computer. After 5-10 seconds, you should see a "Please Connect to iTunes" image on the iPhone, and iTunes should prompt you to restore the software; follow the prompts and the instructions given above.

If the device is powered on, hold down both the power and home buttons until the device reboots and displays the "Connect to iTunes" image (generally, 5-15 seconds).