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Phone Won’t Turn On: What To Try First

A phone that shows nothing is usually not as bad as it looks. A forced restart and a proper charge test sort out most of them, and the ones they do not sort out are worth bringing in rather than guessing at.

What to do

  1. Force a restart — it is not the same as holding the power button

    On an iPhone 8 or newer: press volume up, then volume down, then hold the side button until the Apple logo appears, which can take fifteen seconds of holding after you think nothing is happening. On most Android phones, hold power and volume down together for about twenty seconds.

  2. Charge it for a full half hour before deciding

    A deeply flat battery shows nothing at all for several minutes on a charger, no logo and no light. People give up at two minutes. Leave it plugged into a wall charger, not a laptop, and come back.

  3. Look and listen for signs of life

    A faint backlight in a dark room, a vibration, a sound when it connects to a computer — any of those means the board is running and the fault is likely the screen, which is a much better outcome.

  4. Stop if it got wet or was dropped hard

    Do not keep trying to power it on. If liquid reached the board, every attempt to power up while it is wet does more damage than the water alone. Bring it in.

Still stuck? Bring it in.

We are at Unit 6/61 Market St, Wollongong, open 7 days. Walk in without an appointment, or check an estimate first.

Unit 6/61 Market St, Wollongong Open 7 days

Questions

It vibrates but the screen stays black.
Good news, relatively: the board is alive and it is usually the screen or its connector. That is a repair rather than a recovery.
How long should I charge a completely flat phone?
At least thirty minutes on a wall charger before you conclude anything. A deeply discharged battery needs time before it will even show a charging symbol.
It got hot and then died.
Stop charging it and bring it in. Heat plus a sudden death often means the battery or a board fault, and neither gets better with more attempts.
Can you get my photos off a phone that will not turn on?
Often, if the board can be brought back far enough to read the storage. It is assessed first — never promised in advance.

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