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! Your screen 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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my iphone screen went completely black! when it usually does this i reset it n it works fine agaiin but this time it still rings n does everything normally except screen is blackk..it won’t let me restore…what can i do?
Thanks for the tip.
reading mail, my screen turned black.
Following your suggestions, it was solved in a minute.
thanks for your help, but my problem not solved after restart because i activate the voise over and i have a password , so when the Apple Logo appear then for one second it show the the key then it become black again
, so please help me how i can enter the password and remove the voise over???
I also had same problem and also had voice over command activated. i just had to remember where my settings button tab was and listen to on screen prompts. if u can unlock you want to go to: settings, general, accessibility, voice over (top right) keep double tapping this area. soon as i switched it off my screen came back, voila! good luck!
THIS WORKS BABY WAS ABOUT TO GO BOLLOCK o2
omg thanks! i have this problem a lot and this is the first time i searched it and you’re absolutely right..why does it even do that!?
I am usually able to fix my phone too by holding both buttons, but this time it’s not working and the screen is still black. My phone rings but there is no way to answer it! Any suggestions?
I had a blank screen only when I opened up “mail”, reset seems to work! even if it is isolated to one app. YAH!
Great advice thanks
the main homepage button on my iphone doesnt work!!! rite pain in arse! ANY1 ELSE GOT THIS PROBLEM??
עובד, יששששש כל הכבוד.
תודה רבה על הטיפ. עשיתם לי את היום.
hi guys. i had the same problem.
even after the reboot it still was a black screen with voice over still working.
i found using itunes to disable it works the easiest.
you can check this out http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3577
thanks
enrico, your advice was great. stupid voice over!!!!
thank you advise was fab
Thanks man! I was just about to throw away my iphone when I found your helpful tip. Now I have a question, my camera does not work but when the screen was blank i could hear it taking pictures. What can I do to fix my camera?
Sorted, thanks so much!
Well, I purchased a used unlocked/jailbroken phone…(you get what you pay for I guess)
all I have on the screen is a pineapple with a bite out of the right side. I did try to reset and I got the pineapple back. Now what?
hi,
good advise….but my i-phone gives me the same (display going off) problem atleast once a day, (I havent set up i-tunes yet as i donot have a pc at the moment). Will it be alrite once I fix it with i-Tunes or do i need to get to the apple store??? Its been jus 3 days since i bought my phone
it happenend to me just now. i panicked a while. then i tried removed my sim card to put in my old phone. iphone detected no sim card & voila!!! it active again to show no sim card message.
thanks for the solution to blank screen. what is the cause?
not sure though. suddenly went blank
great stuff, fixed using instructions mentioned, excellent,,,,
thought phone was no more, and now just a paper weight.
thanks ever so much for the advice…
i dont know whats going on with my phone i tried to restore it on itunes and that didnt work i tried just about everything. i can turn it on it shows the sliver apple for like 10 seconds after that i am back to sqaure one. still i blank screen,,
if anyone can help out please that would be great!
thank you
Hi Richard Baxter,
Since I visited the site a couple of months ago, my iphone has worked a treat.
I don’t know if it’s just me, or whether it is happening to some or all of the individuals who have left a message, but I am now copied-in on everyone’s message.
Perhaps your server/responder settings are a bit wonky.
Kind regards,
Chas
PS: In response to Suresh’s enquiry ‘what causes it?’ The apple geeks say they recently rejected a batch of unstable flux capacitors; but it appears a few got through the net. One bad apple and all.
Worked like a charm. I was in a Panic when my iPhone 3GS screen turned black. But this solution is a marvel. I am saved…
Cheers
Mukunth
This was excellent and sorted out my problem straight away! Many thanks.
phewww yer only had my iphone for 6weeks and the screen went blank…….kind of panic set in and read this and I’m breathing again
@Karen – I tend to agree. I’ve actually had to delete a few spam comments on ths page but for the most part everyone here has been releieved they’ve found a solution to their problem. Currently this page is generating around 1000 visits per day! That’s a big problem for Apple!
What a life saver you are! My screen went blank this morning after a phone call. I was very angry. I seached the internet for “iPhone Black Screen” and yours was the first link I visited. I followed your instructions and everything came out just as you wrote. THANKS AGAIN
HELP ! I TRIED EVERYTHING, NOTHING WORKS, HOOKED IT UP TO ITUNES AND RESTORED IT BUT NOTHING YET.
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