Nice one, followed your instructions and when it was all back together and switched on it worked first time! Three things you need which you didn't mention - eyes like a hawk, fingers as thin as reeds and the patience of a saint! :)
I just replaced the battery in a 3GS and it went well. For me, the hardest part was re-attaching #3 the ribbon from the top, and then #1. Hard to hold the top close to the base to connect attachments while trying to see what I was doing at the same time. Thanks for the detailed video!!
Thanks for the note. It's a bit difficult to troubleshoot remotely. But here are some things to test. First, you did the right thing in doing all of the resets. That eliminates that as a possibility. What I would do is go into a dark room and see if when you turn it on, if there is any lighting of the screen at all. If it does show some sort of a glow, then I'm not quite sure what the issue is.
I saw your video here in RU-vid. And kind of inspired as if you telling me" Hey I am not a rocket scientist, If I can do it anyone can do it." I salute you for inspiring video.
Good points. If I just left the camera running, it would have been like 30 minutes or more. I tried to keep it close to the iFixIt instructions as per my blog post. I've done some other replacements as well (iPhone 4 is a lot easier). Hardest I have done (and didn't document) was replacing the power button of an iPhone 4. Scary!
Thanks for the video! I bought my kit on Amazon for only like $7 and it came with battery, small screwdriver, small flathead, a guitar pick, another thick looking guitat pick, 2 things to pry things out. Your video got me thru it in 20 minutes. Ribbon 3 was the only difficult part. but thanks again!!
@AlamonZ Very true that you need to watch out for not only magnets but also static electricity. However, many tools that you get are magnetized for those tiny little screws. I didn't have any issues but that is a good thing to remember.
Thanks to this very VERY well made video I've successfully replaced my Iphone 3GS. If I may give an extra suggestion: it is not necessary to peel the yellow stripes along the battery to remove it; just gently pry it out forcing around the edges; this does spare a lot of time! Cheers
Great video! Thank you very much for making it look easy. It gave me the extra bit of confidence I needed to try repairing my iPhone 3GS by myself. I saved a lot of cash. I can tell you've taken a lot of time and effort to get the photography perfect. Those pieces are hard to see in person, let alone on a youtube video. Please keep posting videos for us. It's really appreciated. (I shake much worse than that.)
great tutorial - clear and complete - you've mentioned the little metal part that is aplied to a camera ( essential) that other tutorials are missing - thanks alot!
@xadam123 The suction cup really does help to get the glass off. You need to grip it. However, you can go to your local hardware store and get a suction cup.
Thank you for posting this video you are a life saver, or even phone saver, my iphone's battery expanded pushing the screen out so I've had to just get it out before anything gets damaged further. I'll use your guide again for putting a new battery in.
(cont) If it doesn't show a glow at all, then I'm thinking that you either didn't fully snap in a cable or connect something, or that a cable got damaged in the process. They are very small and quite delicate. You could have bent something which broke a cable. I would open it up once again and carefully inspect all of the connections, cables and connectors for any damage.
Video was great. I just used my girls old iPhone battery because she upgraded to 4s so I took out her old 3GS batt and put It in mine. also I used a eyeglass repair kit. Worked great. If u don't have a magnetic screw driver just put a small magnet on the stem and it magnetizes the driver. Just a tip. Thanx!!! ( excuse my short text and typos ). In a hurry. Peace.
I changed battery on 3GS no problem, Thanks! But now earpiece speaker will not work for phone calls, sound is only from speaker on phone and iPod. Please help, did I forget to plug something in correctly? Great video by the way!
@HighT3chDad. Thanks for posting this, the Directfix instructional was a bit short on detail. I messed up something with the camera, the little ribbon connecting the camera to the motherboard fell off and i just could not figure out why my sim card would not go back in, pulled it apart and jiggered it in, seems ok, though im charging it now and it keeps going to the apple symbol...hmm now im worried...lol nice video though many thanks
@Wendyschunck Most likely, one of the tiny little connectors was not fully snapped in, or perhaps something was broken in the process. You may have to take it apart again and go through the connector steps.
@HighT3chDad I thought that too and tried all the restore loop recovery methods but no luck I'm been told its probably the replacement battery at fault here.
Before putting the motherboard back in, make sure the camera is still properly connected. I had to go back in and reattach it after it came loose during the battery replacement. The symptom was that the virtual shutter would never open.
@redzanza Yeah, it sounds like you ran into the same issue that I did, by not having a compatible battery. Try to buy batteries from a reputable source. I like iFixit.com for that. And they have good manuals and how-tos there.
@xadam123 Yes it is needed to safely pry the screen up as its the screen that comes out first and there is nothing to grip it and its not the back cover that comes out first like whats normal on other phones.
Really was hoping for more insightful tutorial.. I get the impression that you were more focused on keeping the tutorial neat than showing how you actually performed replacing the battery.. Still thanks for your time and effort.. But I guess I'll have to look for another tutorial to see how it really was done..
I took a pic of the inside of my phone, blew it up and printed it out. I put the screws on the output as I removed them to be sure they went back in the right place.
Replacing the LCD is complicated and would most likely be more expensive than buying a new iPhone. You can get previous generation iPhones fairly cheap now.
Alas, I knew I never should have tried this. The infamous ribbon 3 was my undoing. The little flip-up gate was stuck, and as I tried a little more force, the plastic broke. Then I noticed the ribbon itself broke. I expected some setbacks, but nothing so drastic so early in the process.
I cant get one of the screws out! The screw just above the camera (step 12 on the guide) just wont budge for me and I think its slightly spoiled. The gaps too small to get any pliers or anything in Any Ideas?
Hi, my iphone 3gs is more than three years old and the battery life drains too fast that i have to charge it 2 - 3 times a day. Do you think the battery needs to be replaced? There's no other technical problem aside from its battery life. What do you think? please response
Alas, I knew I never should have tried this. The infamous ribbon 3 was my undoing. The little flip-up gate was stuck, and as I tried a little more force, the plastic broke. Then I noticed the ribbon itself broke. I expected some setbacks, but nothing so drastic so early in the process. I'm off to buy a new phone.
Thanks for the excellent vid. Step by step, and THOROUGH - the highest ranked response by DirectFIX (113,000 views) forgets to mention taking the camera from its housing - oops, there goes a few hundred bucks. Thanks again
Hey HighT3chDad. I followed these instructions, got everything back together, phone booted up fine, but the black light on the screen is not turning on! The touch screen functions perfectly, I can receive calls, but no visual! I checked all my connections, went through the entire process again, restored my phone back to factory settings, did a hard reset, and there is still no visual on the touch screen. PLEASE HELP!
hey l watch you video in RU-vid how to change my Iphone 3Gs Battery and l change it myself Done according to your steps but once i turn On my 3Gs is keep Looping restart repeat and repeat in about few mins , so what should l do now ? Pls can you TEACH me how to solve this PROBLEMS of mine !!! URGENT
is the suction cup really needed? cause i just ordered one off a site that came with the battery, screw driver and the pick thing but not suction cup. apparently its not needed? im not sure can somebody respond.
@retroretch my phone is blacking out and not holding charge trying to determing if in fact is a battery isuue, does this sound similar to how your phone was responding , i appreciate the info
Hello my iphone 3gs got wet and now it will turn on and off and says i need to install on itunes but when i plug it in the computer the apple logo goes on and off. Would i need a new battery. Please respond to me Thanks for the help
I did this but the phone is acting up because the battery is 1600mah and not 1220 as it was originally. It won't start and are looping at the apple logo. what to do?
i cracked the motherboard. there was a screw under a sticker saying "do not remove" so i did not touched, then cracked area where was that sticker, because was screw under the sticker!!!
HighTechDad, I have to disagree, replacing the LCD would cost around 20 dollars, and isn't has hard as you make it to be, you simply pop off the screen of the phone and instead of unscrewing the logic board, etc. You unscrew the screws that connect the digitizer to the lcd, slide out the old lcd, slide in the new one, screw back into place, and then replug the cables.
everything works fine. but suddenly the screen becomes unresponsive so I took out the cover again and found that no 1 & 2 just came off . I stick em' back again but hopefully they wont came off nxt time hah
Well I got my battery from another 3GS that got ran over from a car and now done it and charging the iPhone but it just goes to the Apple logo and then resets constantly doing that :L
