iPhone 4S inoperable after iOS 9 upgrade

By 780KixxFan, 21 September, 2015

Forum
iOS and iPadOS

Hi all. As the subject line, my 4s, along with that of a friend, became completely useless after doing the iOS 9 over the air update. My phone started briefly but when I did the slide to setup, it went through a few steps and then locked up. Nothing happens, even after connecting to iTunes on the PC. iTunes doesn't even seem to recognize it as an iPhone. What to do, other than keep bragging about how awesome the new OS is so far?? LOL Thanks!

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Comments

By DrewWeber on Friday, September 25, 2015 - 10:27

I'm sorry to hear about your iPhone for S. There are a couple things that I would maybe try/wonder. What was the battery percentage when you updated if it was not an AC power? When you plug the phone into power does it vibrate or make a sound? Does the phone do anything at all? As in, when you flip the silent switch does it vibrate? If you tap the power button six times, does the phone come back up at all? If you do another similar reset, hold the home and power button for about 15 seconds does anything happen? I know all of this is elementary, but it at least is a place to start.

By Adrianne on Friday, September 25, 2015 - 10:27

I also got stuck when upgrading my iPhone five. I was upgrading straight from iOS 7, which might have been the problem. My screen was stuck on slide to upgrade or the keypad to enter the passcode. I will tell you what I did that worked, but for more details google upgrade to I OS 9 stuck on slide to upgrade. First, plug your phone up to your computer. Next, hold down the home button and the lock button together, like you're doing a hard reset. After 10 or 15 seconds, let go of the lock button, but keep holding the home button… I did it for probably a whole minute. This will put your phone in recovery mode and you will be able to access it through iTunes. Then say you want to restore your phone from a backup. Hopefully, you did back up before you upgraded! It will go through a whole factory reset, and then you can restore your phone from your back up. Hope this works for you too!

By a12608 (not verified) on Friday, September 25, 2015 - 10:27

I probably have a solution. This didn't happen to me. I upgraded from iOs8.4.1 on my iPhone 5C. My solution is to try to reset the phone by holding down the home/sleep buttons for about 10-20 seconds. If the phone doesn't come on after it resets, plug it into your phone charger. If it doesnat work, put your device in recovery mode. Like I said, this didn't happen to me.

Thanks guys. I will try these. At the moment, I get an odd beep (boundary sound) from VoiceOver and nothing else. The phone does not vibrate when I flick the mute switch or when I connect or disconnect the AC adapter. I will give these a go and hopefully be back in business!

By Luke on Sunday, October 25, 2015 - 10:27

Wow -- still rocking a 4S! First, hope you get it up and running. What you describe is a known bug now resolved with the recent patches to iOS 9. Btw this is why I always wait for a few OS patches before upgrading to new major iOS versions. Secondly, time for a new phone! lol. Good luck