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Peter · Apr 1, 2008 , 05:51 AM

My iPhone broke - the touch screen no longer responds. I'm not really sure what to do ... I have an N95 so i'm not gutted it's broken, I'll happily buy another one. If I restored the firmware could I take it into the Apple Store and they'd replace it? Would they know? It's a US model, and I'm in the UK. I can either take it to my local store or ship it back to the US.
Any ideas?

Mrjinglesusa · Apr 1, 2008 , 09:53 AM

Sorry to hear that, but this is exactly why I would never hack my iPhone.

It was my understanding that once you unlocked the iPhone by installing hacked firmware there was no way to go back to original firmware. I could be wrong on that though. Good luck.

Andhee · Apr 1, 2008 , 10:36 AM

Have you tried troubleshooting? Eg resetting your iphone. Try solve it before you do anything drastic.

analogue SPRINKLES · Apr 1, 2008 , 01:17 PM

What happens when an american travels to the UK and his phone breaks? Surely apple will still fix it.

Tomchu · Apr 1, 2008 , 02:03 PM

Originally Posted by Mrjinglesusa

It was my understanding that once you unlocked the iPhone by installing hacked firmware there was no way to go back to original firmware. I could be wrong on that though. Good luck.

Quite wrong.

Peter ... just do a restore in iTunes, and you'll be fine.

MacosNerd · Apr 1, 2008 , 02:17 PM

Originally Posted by Tomchu

Peter ... just do a restore in iTunes, and you'll be fine.

But if his phone is broken how can he restore it?

Kadarin · Apr 1, 2008 , 02:23 PM

Originally Posted by MacosNerd

But if his phone is broken how can he restore it?

It may still restore if the only thing wrong is that the touchscreen is not responding.

Tomchu · Apr 1, 2008 , 02:46 PM

Originally Posted by MacosNerd

But if his phone is broken how can he restore it?

Because you don't need to do anything on the iPhone to restore it. Besides, all that's broken is his touch screen.

Ozmodiar · Apr 1, 2008 , 07:37 PM

I agree, try restoring in iTunes. You'll have to do that before taking it in for service any way to get it back to a close-to-OTB state. If it's still broken, you'll probably have to beg/bribe someone at the store to fix it if it was never officially activated.

GSixZero · Apr 2, 2008 , 12:37 AM

Try getting a prepaid account for whatever carrier officially caries iphone in the UK. That's my plan if my unlocked iPhone ever craps out here in the US. I can get a prepaid AT&T account and some minutes for about $10. not sure if this foolproof, but I think it will probably take care of enough of the problem for the genius to look the other way.

Peter · Apr 2, 2008 , 05:12 AM

the iPhone works fine - just not the touchscreen. I've restored the iPhone so it's now asking for me to put in a SIM. I'll buy a pre-paid O2 sim and stick that in, then take it to Apple.

MacosNerd · Apr 2, 2008 , 06:34 AM

Not to bash the OP, but this a prime example of the dangers of jail breaking/ unlocking. He now has to hope that the apple folks do not notice the patched boot loader. Odds are they won't but if they do, he'll be SOL.

Simon · Apr 2, 2008 , 06:57 AM

Originally Posted by MacosNerd

He now has to hope that the apple folks do not notice the patched boot loader. Odds are they won't but if they do, he'll be SOL.

I thought we had just established that a restored iPhone is indistinguishable from a new and unhacked iPhone.

CorpITGuy · Apr 2, 2008 , 07:08 AM

Originally Posted by Simon

I thought we had just established that a restored iPhone is indistinguishable from a new and unhacked iPhone.

It is practically indistinguishable. However, the boot loader is downgraded in the process... this means a very experienced Apple Store employee could possibly figure out the phone had been unlocked. This is unlikely for three reasons.

The store employees are busy. They don't have time to check boot loaders.
The phone's display isn't working, making it unlikely that much diagnostic work will be done.
Apple employees probably don't care if the iPhone was unlocked, so long as that isn't the cause of the issue.

Peter · Apr 2, 2008 , 09:21 AM

I'm going to a brand new Apple Store, so hopefully they'll be extra nice.

SSharon · Apr 2, 2008 , 11:08 AM

I had hacked, but not unlocked, my iphone before they announced their plans to not support unlocked phones. When I went to get my phone fixed, they commented that it was hacked and I said I did it before their announcement and didn't unlock it. They still fixed the phone for me but said I may not get so lucky in the future.