Chosen Solution
My daughters iPhone 7 died this week. She said it suddenly started re-booting, got hot at one point then started and worked, only to die and refuse to restart. I took it to ubreakifix. They plugged it in and saw that it was charging, but not starting. They immediately went to “screen replacement”. Strange, but OK. They called me to say they couldn’t get it running and even tried a different battery. One other observation is that they volume up button seemed stuck. They said they wouldn’t repair. I opened phone (have been doing iPhone rebuilds on all our phones for years). No liquid damage. I pulled all connectors (tried with/without screen) in hopes of getting it running to do backup. Wouldn’t make USB connection. Did volume down button, power button hold. Based on the symptoms is there any reasonable hope of getting it running to grab a backup? I could find a donor 7 and just try a MB swap to eliminate everything else in the frame that might be causing it to not start. I have a backup from June, so I will likely just use that on the replacement, but it would be nice to get some stuff back. Rossman Group data recovery starts at 300 bucks. Not worth it in my situation. The rebooting and “HOT” makes me think the MB might have bit the dust. Suggestions? Thanks.
If you wanted to recover your data from the motherboard currently in the phone, you would have to start swapping small smd components and/or BGA chips(which you need an SMD rework station to get off). Have you dealt with swapping small BGA chips before?
Hello polojh, no, all wrong and in the wrong order. Incompetent repair shops always start the repair with screen replacement and battery. I understand that not everyone can dig deeper into the subject. All the symptoms you describe suggest that due to the increased current frequency, one of the holding capacitors in the logic circuits has died shorting to ground (signal -) and is effectively blocking the entire startup process. This is called a ground fault and requires the intervention of an electronician - such as Louis Rossman or similar. Remove the motherboard from the housing and take (be careful, use a box and electrostatic bag) to a good repair shop. For efficient electronic repairman, finding a grounded circuit costs max 5 minutes of work. No testing, no repairing, no smarting … just order short circuit find and elimination. Logic board will boot normally, you will have time to make the backup and / or log out of the phone. Of course, the removed component should be supplemented (it cost of money)if you intend to use this phone. Otherwise, sell for parts, they still hold the price.
