iPhone 3G on the blink - No Service

Soldato
Joined
31 Aug 2007
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4,808
Went out this morning, iphone working as normal, then suddenly I see 'No Service'.

Hmm, weird, as I was in an area of excellent reception.:confused:

So, I restart the phone and it picks up the connection again. Okay I thought, maybe it was a minor blip.

But no, within 5 minutes the 'No Service' was back again and no amount of turning on/off has sorted it.

I tried a full restore, but no. Again I got connection for around 30 secs this time, then back to 'No Service'.

Tried the sim in my old N95 and it works fine, so the sim is ok.

So, I am booked in with the local Apple Store in the morning as the guy from Apple said they would replace it right away if they couldn't fix it, whereas if I take it to O2 they send it off and I will be without the phone for a week or 2.

Hopefully they can sort it tomorrow. It's such a great piece of kit when it's working, although to be fair, this is my first real issue with it. Even though this is my 2nd handset because of dust under the screen of the 1st! :p

If anyone has any suggestions, I am all ears, but I reckon the phone is goosed.
 
This happens to me very occasionally. Usually after it has just dropped a call or data connection. I doubt there is anything wrong with the phone, its just there is still bugs to iron out with the software.
 
Still has not managed to reconnect to O2 though, so the phone as it is, is a brick.

if it was a software bug, surely the reset would have sorted it for now?
 
Oh right, I thought you had got service back! In that case, thats not right at all. I would ring O2 first just to check that there is nothing wrong with your service and then got onto Apple.
 
Still has not managed to reconnect to O2 though, so the phone as it is, is a brick.

if it was a software bug, surely the reset would have sorted it for now?

Na, the bug is in the firmware for certain phones. Even restoring won't iron it out.

Oh right, I thought you had got service back! In that case, thats not right at all. I would ring O2 first just to check that there is nothing wrong with your service and then got onto Apple.

I don't think there are any problems with service. It's the phone. Take it back to 02 or Apple and explain the situation and see what they say. They may replace the phone.
 
I had the problem when I jailbreaked mine. If you select the wrong bootloader it will seemingly install all fine, but failed to talk to O2.
 
Yep, nought wrong with signal, works in my old phone.

Had this one since early August with no problems, don't know why it did this all of a sudden.
 
Well, went to the lovely peeps at the Genius Bar this morning.

Result?...

Service receiving chip (or whatever it's called) is goosed, so given new phone right away, no questions asked.

Top service from Apple, well pleased. :)
 
Hmmm, the plot thickens....

Today, after 2 days with no issues with the new phone, I charge it only to find half way through charging the 'no service' message had returned.

After several sweary words and restarts, nothing was working.

I took the sim out and popped it into my trusty N95, guess what - No service with it either!!

WTF is going on?? Could it have been a dodgy SIM all along, and it has just completely fell over now, or is something else causing this, like a dodgy charger?

I'm going to the O2 store later to pick up a new SIM, so here's hoping that's what the issue is. Although I can't understand how it just failed suddenly, having been in the phone working perfect for a month or 2. Weird.

I will let you guys know how the new SIM works out. Fingers crossed...
 
Hmmm this happened to me today on my 3G. At 11am there was a round dot on the display rather than No Reception displayed. Later at lunch the dot was still there and I couldn't even make calls. So I hopped into settings, and switched on & off Airplane mode and all was fine. It's never done this before.
 
Okay, little bit of an update. I went to get a new SIM, and as I got into the town where reception is better, the service returned.

Not sure why, but I had the SIM changed anyway. It's installed and at home, all is well again. Will see what happens, but hopefully new phone + new SIM will have sorted it. :)
 
Okay, little bit of an update. I went to get a new SIM, and as I got into the town where reception is better, the service returned.

Not sure why, but I had the SIM changed anyway. It's installed and at home, all is well again. Will see what happens, but hopefully new phone + new SIM will have sorted it. :)

If not then you are doomed! :p
 
Hmmm, perhaps I am doomed!

The phone is not working properly today at all. I switched to Airplane Mode as I was entering a hospital. No issue you would think, as I did it loads with the old handset. However....

Instead of just changing to Airplane Mode, up pops a message 'New SIM card detected, please connect to iTunes' or something similar.

Result being that until I got home I was effectively holding nothing more than a glorified brick!!

Got home, connected the phone to iTunes, and all was well. Until I tried Airplane Mode again...

That's right, same message as before!

So, I linked it to iTunes again and it worked fine.

This time I thought i'd try turning it off and on again rather than use Airplane Mode...

The same message appeared on reboot!!

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH WTF???

I've spoken to O2 about the issue, and they have in fairness been very sympathetic. They have assured me of a 'goodwill gesture' once I have the issues resolved. They feel that it is either a software or hardware issue with the phone, and that the SIM is not causing the problems.

I am currently trying a restore on the phone via iTunes. If that doesn't work, then i'll be back to the Apple Store tomorrow, my 2nd trip in 4 days!!

As much as I really love the iphone, this last few days have been a total disaster and is beginning to put me off it.

I have never had major issues like this with any phone I have owned before, and i've had my fair share of Samsungs, Nokias and Motorolas!

Here's hoping the restore does the trick. Will update as soon as it has finished.

EDIT 1 - Tried setting it up as a new phone and Airplane mode is working again. Now restoring again from a previous backup and will see what happens...
 
Okay, just done a second restore, this time allowing it to use a previous backup to save me the hassle of re-installing everything again.

So far, so good. I can use Airplane Mode again, and I can restart without issue.

Phew, here's hoping that's me sorted!! Can't be bothered with unreliable phones :)
 
Okay, just done a second restore, this time allowing it to use a previous backup to save me the hassle of re-installing everything again.

So far, so good. I can use Airplane Mode again, and I can restart without issue.

Phew, here's hoping that's me sorted!! Can't be bothered with unreliable phones :)

Don't blame you. Keep us updated. :)
 
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