HELP! I think I killed my Iphone!

fionas046

I don't know if this is the right place to ask but here's my problem.

I turned the brightness down on my IPhone 4, all the way down in error!

Now its in total darkness and I can't see it to turn it up!

What do I do????

hearny

I didnt think that would be possible. Perhaps there is a problem with your phone that it would allow that.

Connect it to your PC and sync it.
Then restore the phone using itunes. That will reset to factory settings and you can sync it again.

Alternative is to use www.icloud.com if you have find my iphone setup that would be a last resort though.

Torqay

How to Reset iPhone:

1. Reset the iPhone by holding the sleep/wake button at the top right of the device and the home button at the bottom center of the face at the same time.
2. Hold them both until you see the screen go black. In some cases, you may need to keep holding them even after the red power off slider appears. If it does, just keep holding it.
3. Wait until the white Apple logo appears.
4. When this happens, you can let go - the iPhone is rebooting.

fionas046

hearny wrote: »

I didnt think that would be possible. Perhaps there is a problem with your phone that it would allow that.

Connect it to your PC and sync it.
Then restore the phone using itunes. That will reset to factory settings and you can sync it again.

Alternative is to use www.icloud.com if you have find my iphone setup that would be a last resort though.

Thanks Hearny, I've tried that alright. I did a full backup and then hit restore. However, i keep getting a message to say the iphones update server cannot be contacted!

Torqay wrote: »

How to Reset iPhone:

1. Reset the iPhone by holding the sleep/wake button at the top right of the device and the home button at the bottom center of the face at the same time.
2. Hold them both until you see the screen go black. In some cases, you may need to keep holding them even after the red power off slider appears. If it does, just keep holding it.
3. Wait until the white Apple logo appears.
4. When this happens, you can let go - the iPhone is rebooting.

I've tried this one too, but to no avail. It does switch off and reboot. I have it plugged in so when I hit the home button after the reboot I can see the battery but when I push the slider, I just go to the black/dark screen again.

naasrd

Can you remember where the Setting app was positioned? If so, press the Home button, touch where you think Settings is. Then touch half an inch up to go into brightness, the brightness bar is just under an inch down, swipe from left to right and you should have your screen back to normal.

You should be able to find out where Settings is in iTunes in your iPhone's app screen

antodeco

This seems very odd. I reckon something is wrong with your phone. It sounds like the screen has died. I just tried putting my brightness all the way down and it's still someway bright.

meemeep

Try this for the "server could not be contacted" issue:

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1814

If that doesn't work, put your phone in DFU mode:

Quit Itunes
disconnect the cable from the PC
Hold HOME + On/Off button until screen goes black,
Then take your finger off On/Off but keep holding HOME - at same time connect
cable to PC (May take a couple of goes as it's fiddley)
ITUNES should start and say it has detected a phone in restore mode - click to restore.

it should be ok after that. It's strange that you can see battery symbol but not app screen when you move the slider.

What IOS level is it?

fionas046

naasrd wrote: »

Can you remember where the Setting app was positioned? If so, press the Home button, touch where you think Settings is. Then touch half an inch up to go into brightness, the brightness bar is just under an inch down, swipe from left to right and you should have your screen back to normal.

You should be able to find out where Settings is in iTunes in your iPhone's app screen

Unfortunatly, not as simply as that. I turned off the Iphone so now it wanted the sim pin first and I couldn't get it quite right!

antodeco wrote: »

This seems very odd. I reckon something is wrong with your phone. It sounds like the screen has died. I just tried putting my brightness all the way down and it's still someway bright.

I don't believe there is anything wrong with the phone just my stupidity!

meemeep wrote: »

Try this for the "server could not be contacted" issue:

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1814

If that doesn't work, put your phone in DFU mode:

Quit Itunes
disconnect the cable from the PC
Hold HOME + On/Off button until screen goes black,
Then take your finger off On/Off but keep holding HOME - at same time connect
cable to PC (May take a couple of goes as it's fiddley)
ITUNES should start and say it has detected a phone in restore mode - click to restore.

it should be ok after that. It's strange that you can see battery symbol but not app screen when you move the slider.

What IOS level is it?

I read up on the error message I was getting in Itunes and it recommended rebooting my laptop so I did.
All of sudden the phone sprang to life and all is good with the world again!
I have absolutely no idea why but I'm just happy that it did!
Thanks for all the advise everyone, it was much appreciated!

biko

Just turned my brightness down all the way. There is still some light so it can't go fully dark.

guil

antodeco wrote: »

This seems very odd. I reckon something is wrong with your phone. It sounds like the screen has died. I just tried putting my brightness all the way down and it's still someway bright.

biko wrote: »

Just turned my brightness down all the way. There is still some light so it can't go fully dark.

fionas046 wrote: »

I don't believe there is anything wrong with the phone just my stupidity!

seems like the phone is bamboozled, get onto apple if you still have a warranty

aidan_walsh

Maybe not. Does the OP have a case on the phone? If the ambient light sensor is being blocked it might have thought that it was darker than it was and tried to adjust the light accordingly.

fionas046

aidan_walsh wrote: »

Maybe not. Does the OP have a case on the phone? If the ambient light sensor is being blocked it might have thought that it was darker than it was and tried to adjust the light accordingly.

I think you hit the nail on the head! Phone is fine now so all is good with the world!