iPhone 3G, 3GS & 4 Display Problems – Screen Blank – Faulty?
I had my first iphone 3g “fault” today – at least I thought it was a fault. The display screen wouldn’t activate and stayed blank even when I pressed the sleep/wake button on the front of the phone. With a blank / black screen your iphone is completely useless. You can still hear text messages and calls coming in, but there’s no way you can do anything.
Don’t panic! The blank screen on your iPhone 3G, 3GS and iPhone 4 can be fixed, easily!
Fortunately, I worked out that you can fix this problem by resetting your phone. Here’s how:
Press and hold down the Sleep/Wake button and Home button simultaneously for a least 10 seconds. The screen will clear out and then the Apple Logo will appear on the black background. When the logo appears it means that the reset is done.
Afterwards you’ll see your screen light up and you’ll be able to breath a sigh of relief! 
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1,902 Responses to “iPhone 3G, 3GS & 4 Display Problems – Screen Blank – Faulty?”
Leave a commentHi, glad to see this working for lots of people. I have tried a few times now and the phone restarts but still no light. A window appears saying ‘This accessory is not optimised for this iphone’!
It is as if i had something plugged into it, any clues? Is this why my light is not working??
Hope someone can help.
Iain
Had a similar problem with my Iphone .Have you got it wet ?.Even slightly wet ?.Take a good look at the cable socket on bottom of your phone .If you can see any fluff or other stuff on the fine silver wires in the socket try to remove it .Use a bit of paper folded to a corner and wipe out the socket .If it is damp mop it out with kitchen towl .Tap the phone socket down LIGHTLY only TAP do not bang the phone on the kitchan towel and look for water and dirt .The Iphone thinks that something is conected to it via the plug hence the on screen message.Give it a go .
Hope it helps you.
Thank you so so much. Make sure you hold for over 10 seconds, it didn’t work for me until then. Thank you.
i have a iphone 8 gigabyte the screen is craked a little but at first i tried the 10 second thing but still no working and im getting mad can some please tell me how to fix it
I had to hold it down for 20 seconds before it turned on. Thank you so much for this post!
Worked perfect! Thanks for the advice!
Thanks! This worked perfect!
thnx a lot bro..its work..
I had this happen yesterday, and it wouldn’t work until the second time I tried it which was a couple of hours later. Just happened again today. Once it happens, is it destined to keep happening??
THANK YOU!! you just saved me an embarrassing trip to apple…
THANK YOU!!
My iPhone 4 has this problem – the screen has actually locked itself, swipe at the bottom of the screen and its back…
Sounds like a hardware bug on some models – my old 3GS didn’t have this problem…
I was wondering what do do when my I phone went blank. There is nothing much you can go exept for pressing buttons since there are no removeble parts.Your advice came very handy and all I has to do was press the buttons as described and wow.Thanks a lot.
the APPS on My i phone 3gs 16gb suddenly got bigger . Now i canot slide to unlock the phone hence cannot answer or make phone calls. I pwered it down and powered up twice but it did not work?.
You Could try to Double tap the screen with three fingers this should reduce the screen size and then go to general settings and switch off accessibility to off setting, Good Luck
Adz
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OMG! thank U richardbaxterseo!!!
This is my second day of having iPhone, and such thing happened to me
I was in ful panic! Now in deed, just like you said “i am able to breath a sigh of relief” !!!
Thax, one more!!!!
Worked perfect! Thanks!
my light has stopped working the screen still displays and works fine but it does not light up has anybody any ans or solutions? please help
i forgot to mention its an iphone 3gs^^^^^^^^^
My iphone screen went black will not go back on i hold the sleep button and the center button for ten seconds comes on then it tells me to plug in to itunes . it is in restore mode .. HELP … me please what do i do
I forgot to mention i have an iphone 3G
Great stuff. Thank you.
What about battery draining so quickly. If I charge 100%, it drains to zero without even touching the phone.
Thank you so so much, nearly died when my iphone’s sceen went blank, but you saved me
WOW! Thank you, it worked! Whew, you saved me this time. Thanks again!
Have had the 3gs for 5 months and this is the first time I encountered this problem. You HAVE to press and hold for more than 10 seconds mine re-booted in 20 secs. Breathed a HUGH sight of relief! Good posting!
Cheers Mate it worked a treat. Needed more than 10s
its not working any other suggestions???
Thanks a ton!!!!!
I had barely used it for an hour when this happened!!!!!Almost died!!
Thanks for this tip!!!!!
thank you so much! you literally saved my life! My iphone 3GS went white then black but nothing happened until i tried your idea. but after the apple logo appeared it took a few minutes for it to boot up so don’t panic straight away! thx
Thank you….Do you know what is causing the phone screen to go blank?
It worked for me .. thanks..
Thank you so much i did .. i was almost crying my phone was dead , till i saw you advice and it worked ,. but took like 20 seconds
thx again for the tip
thank you soo much i was gutterd till i found ut site
I need your help! I held the button for more than 10 secs, but the voice control turned on and tried to call my friends from the address book.
Thankyou Thankyou. It worked!!!
Thankyou! Thankyou! It worked!!