iphone 3G hangs on low battery screen

My wife inherited my old iPhone 3G, which has worked fine for almost two years. Recently, the phone developed a bad habit of crashing and hanging on a blinking red low battery screen. My wife states that in some cases the battery reports that it has full juice even when it is near empty.

I suspect the battery is bad and have ordered a new one from dealextreme, which should arrive in a few weeks.

In the meantime, I discovered a simple way to get out of the hung screen.

When the phone is stuck on the screen with the low battery indicator, it will shut itself off after three blinks. Start this process with the phone in the off mode (very easy)

1. Allow the phone to shut off.
2. Plug the phone into a usb powered port on the computer (I don’t believe iTunes needs to be runing(?), but this does NOT work in an AC outlet!)
3. Press and hold both the home and power button until the power cycles. In just a few moments you should see the boot logo!

This method is simple, but may require some tweaking.. please let me know what worked for you.

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1. MakeItMine
2. MobileTerminal
3. OpenSSH
4. network-cmds
5. Clear All SMS
6. BossPrefs
7. Winterboard
8. xGPS
9. dTunes

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There are two primary symptoms of a faulty dock connector:
1. The external speakers do not click or play music from iPod, but they do make noise when the phone rings.
2. At random times a notice comes up that says, “This accessory is not made to work with iPhone Charging is not supported with this accessory. Would you like to turn on Airplane Mode to reduce audio interference? You will not be able to make or receive calls.”

This accessory is not made to work with iPhone

The bad news is, there is definitely a problem with your dock connector. The good news is that there are 3 fixes to help you on your way.

The first fix is a simple hardware cleaning. The solution entails cleaning the docking area of your phone. I suggest using a dry soft bristled tooth brush. Some people have suggested using compressed air and vacuum tools. The key with this cleaning is to not make the problem worse by being too aggressive, and don’t use water! There may be other solvents that work, but I can’t recommend any (offer suggestions if you like). The idea here is that some kind of debris is in your dock making the iPhone think a device is trying to connect. Remove the debris and fix the device! (maybe)

THIS IS THE INTERNET. PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK.

The first fix works if debris caused the error, but not if the dock is actually faulty. My dock was faulty, but I was able to make the error go away with a trick – the trick basically disables the airplane warning inside the firmware. This fix does have risk, but I will make it as easy as possible. This fix works for firmware 2.2.1 and 3.0. If you can confirm that it works for other firmwares please let me know. At the time of this article, The 3GS phone is not jailbroken, so I can’t tell if it works there.

1. The phone must be jailbroken. This is a deal-breaker for some, but I highly recommend it. To get details on jailbreaking, check out http://blog.iphone-dev.org. This isn’t a jailbreak tutorial, so do that and come back.
2. After the phone is jailbroken, you will need to open up Cydia. There, you will be asked which kind of user you are. Choose “Developer” (it’s okay if you’re not a developer) then run the upgrades in Cydia.
3. You’ll need install a package called OpenSSH. The open ssh program allows you to get to the inner workings of your iphone from a regular computer. To find it, go to Search (in Cydia) and search for OpenSSH.
4. You’ll also need a program called wget, it’s a program that allows you to download files from the internet on the command line. Search Cydia for wget and install it.
5. A choice: If you want to do this directly on the iphone, install MobileTerminal from Cydia, otherwise you’ll need to check your wireless router to find out the ip for your iphone so you can log in with ssh (usually something like 192.168.1.##)

• If you’re going to use SSH:  If you’re using ssh you’ll need a computer with a terminal client. Mac has one built in, but for windows you’ll need to download a program called putty.
  On mac: open a terminal and type: ssh root@<iphone ip> wait awhile, accept the key, and then enter “alpine” as the password. (<iphone ip> is the ip number for your iphone, it is an ip number like 192.168.1.100)
  On a pc: open putty. In the “Host Name” line, type the ip for your iPhone and then hit “Open”. It will take several seconds. Accept the key, then use “root” as the login and “alpine” as the password.
  In Linux: same as mac. (I actually do this fix from Linux because it’s easiest, but i wanted to tailor these instructions for the masses)
• For MobileTerminal: Simply open the terminal icon on the iPhone and type: su root <enter>, then the password alpine <enter>.

6. You are in! (Aren’t you?)
7. Now all we need to do is replace the file that causes the warning screen and disables the dock when you are plugged in. Type these commands just like you see them – they will work the same for pretty much everyone (hit enter after each line):

cd /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/IAP.framework/Support/

mv iapd iapd.broken

wget http://www.huanix.com/iapd

chmod 755 iapd

chown root:wheel iapd

exit

exit

WAIT: Before you leave this site, will you consider using the paypal button at the top of this page to send a contribution? I’m not asking for much; but using paypal to contribute to web authors REALLY encourages us to keep up the work of helping to solve problems. Thank you!

There you go! You just disabled the dock warning nag. When you reboot you shouldn’t see the notice anymore. The external speakers generally work, but depending on how bad the dock is damaged it may or may not exit iPod randomly. So this isn’t a PERFECT fix, but it’s free.

IF something went wrong (?) and you have trouble using your phone, you will want to delete the “replacement” iapd and change the name of the backup to the original. I won’t give instructions here because people tend to copy random snippets of any instruction and i don’t want to confuse anyone.

A few useful notes from yyota@hotmail.com:

This iapd under OS 3.0 is not fully compatible, the process crashreporter keeps writting crash logs coming from iapd, it slows down the iphone a lot!!! It takes 50% cpu every few seconds.

To check this, synchronize your iphone with your Mac then check this folder on your computer:
/Users/xxx/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/MobileDevice/xxx’s iPhone/
It will be full of iapd crash logs!

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http://www.huanix.com/sync-in-linux

I am actually working on getting iTunes to work in wine: http://www.huanix.com/sync-in-linux/index.php/ITunes_8_through_modified_Wine

For the record: I am not currently working on this project. You are free to use the resources or ask questions, but I am moving on! I will be glad to share access on the wiki with anyone that wants to work on this. -hb

Restoring an iPhone inside VirtualBox

It was a little nerve racking for a minute, but I can confirm that it is possible to upgrade and restore iPhone firmware in a virtualbox environment. It is actually simple, the only thing I had to do was re-connect the iPhone to the VM twice during the Restore.

The screenshot shows Ubuntu 8.10 Interpid Ibex as a host, with Windows XP running in a Virtual Machine (VirtualBox) in the foreground. You can see iTunes 8 running, having just completed the firmware upgrade.

I used a custom ipsw that I got from the internet so I didn’t upgrade my baseband. I suggest you do this or something similar to maintain the OPTION to unlock your phone in the future. (I don’t expect to unlock my phone, but I want to keep the option!)

I got the modified 2.2 firmware image from tpb, you can search for it as “iPhone1,2_2.2_5G77_Custom_Restore.ipsw” – it is listed under mac applications (!?)

So, when you’re ready to try to upgrade your firmware, hover your mouse over the usb icon in the VirtualBox tray and make sure it stays connected. Check the connection by right clicking on the USB icon. When the Restore/Upgrade goes through stages it will disconnect the phone and you will need to re-connect it by re-activating the checkbox.

For the Record: I tested VirtualBox 2.0.6 myself and iPhone sync DOES work when you enter a correct /etc/fstab entry.

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11/22/2008- STOP! DO NOT use this fix. The problem addressed by this script has been corrected in VirtualBox 2.0.6. You are welcome to try it if nothing else works for you- it won’t damage your installation and could possibly help.

This is a script that will modify the Ubuntu 8.10 (or other Debian) environment to allow you to sync your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPod in a Windows XP VirtualBox VM.  Earlier versions of the script have high success rates. This fix solves two problems:

1. USB doesn’t work at all because there’s no mount point; edit /etc/fstab to fix it.
2. For the iPhone to sync, MAX_USBFS_BUFFER_SIZE needs to be modified in drivers/usb/core/devio.c

This version of the script will actually complete several steps:

1. Check for the correct version of VirtualBox-2.0 and install it if the need arises.
2. Correctly modify the /etc/fstab file to assign the usb mount point to the virtualbox group (thanks tauchris@gmail.com)
3. Download the correct kernel source, patch it, and update the kernel.
4. Re-initialize VirtualBox to recognize the new USB configuration.

I really believe this will simplify things for many folks. I think the greatest add on is the detection and installation of the correct Virtualbox version – it will add Virtualbox to your sources.list and add the key for you!

If the script works for you, please comment with your OS and details. If the script fails for you, PLEASE be very specific about what OS you are running and what did or didn’t happen. Comments without details don’t help anyone. If you see an exit code with a line number please include it.

You will need to re-run this script each time the Kernel is updated. The script now knows what to update and what to leave alone.

These instructions are based on my test environment. You do not have to follow them to the letter! Go ahead and try the script if you know what you’re doing!!!

1. You do not have to have VirtualBox pre-installed. The script will do that for you if it needs to.

2. Download the script to your Desktop and open a terminal window.

3. Set the script to executable, and run it as root.

• chmod +x virtualbox-iphone-r8.sh
• sudo [path to]/virtualbox-iphone-r8.sh

4. Run the script:virtualbox-iphone-r8.sh

5. Reboot.

• The script downloads the kernel source, and will take approximately 400 mb and several minutes of processing to run properly.

6. In the settings tab for the virtual machine, check to be sure that USB and USB 2.0 are enabled.

7. When you run windows as a virtual machine, you will have to connect the device, then go to the “Devices” tab in VirtualBox and enable the device in “USB Devices”

These steps should set the stage for everything to work correctly on Ubuntu 8.10. If you have difficulties, please be VERY specific!

Note: At this time I am no longer working toward making this script available in Fedora and Suse. However, the kernel fix contained inside the script will work if you extract and implement it. -hb

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iTunes 8 running in wine recognizing an iPod

UPDATE: 6/18/2009: I am not actively working on this project but you are welcome to check out the resources.

UPDATE: 12/7/2008: I have documented the method and am actively soliciting help to get this working at http://www.huanix.com/sync-in-linux/index.php/ITunes_8_through_modified_Wine

I am not sure if anyone else has accomplished this yet – i know some people have run iTunes 8 in wine, but tonight I was able to get iTunes 8 running in Wine to recognize an iPod. I saw that this was kind of possible with iTunes 7.6, but it was infeasible because of incredibly slow and erroneous transfer speeds.

Anyway, I have been hammering away at this constantly for more 40 hours now and I believe I am getting closer. To tell the truth, since this screenshot I have not been able to replicate the connection (okay, i just figured out how to replicate it). And there happens to be this tiny little secret… I’ve never really used Wine before last week and I really don’t know what I’m doing.

My ultimate goal, however unlikely it may seem, is to sync my iPhone in iTunes through wine without complication. This will allow many of us to finally get rid of the windows install that has been slowing us down!

Update 11/13/2008: I was asked how I would distribute this if it works; It will be distributed as a free shell script under GPL to give complete transparency to the process. The fix will likely require kernel driver modifications as well as Wine source modifications. Any potential fix will free; but let’s be realistic about the chances (slim).

Update 11/14/2008: If you were reading the comments you’ll note that I was stuck on the iPhone hash algorithm, and I referred to http://bluwiki.com/go/Ipodhash. Unfortunately, that site has received a takedown notice from Apple while attempting to decrypt the algorithm. While I don’t agree with laws that reduce the flow of information, I do honor them.  I think I’m moving on, but i’m also realizing that the search was probably a red herring. I’m not trying to decrypt the iTunes algorithm, I need to get the usb interface to communicate properly…

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wine-116-itunes-no-devices.sh
(right-click the link to download this script)

to run it:
save the script to your desktop or home folder
open a terminal (Applications > Accessories > Terminal), navigate to the same directory as the script.
type: chmod 777 wine-116-itunes-no-devices.sh (hit enter)
then type: ./wine-116-itunes-no-devices.sh (hit enter)

This script will build a custom version of wine 1.1.6 that will run iTunes 8.0.1 on Ubuntu 8.10. The resulting installation of wine will *NOT* (?) recognize iPhones or iPods. This installation will NOT conflict with your existing wine installation – it is separate!!!

Expect to download 500+ mb of stuff and compile for 2+ hours. I may find a way to simplify it later, but my goal now is to get it working reliably and predictably for everyone running Ubuntu 8.10.

Please leave detailed feedback including your operating system and version of iTunes as well as other information (i expect people to try lots of different things). “it worked” or “it didn’t work” are not useful comments!!
As far as getting devices to work, my best shot was Marteen  Lankhorst’s rejected patches (http://www.winehq.org/pipermail/wine-patches/2008-May/054483.html), but i haven’t gotten them to work with iTunes 8 (not sure why). Just in case you weren’t clear: This version WILL run iTunes 8, but it will NOT recognize your iPod/iPhone.  My current solution for that is with VirtualBox: http://www.huanix.com/2008/11/03/fixing-usb-on-virtualbox-to-allow-iphone-sync-with-an-ubuntu-host-running-windows-xp/

For the latest developments on this, go to the wiki at : http://www.huanix.com/sync-in-linux/index.php/ITunes_8_through_modified_Wine

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Updated to virtualbox-iphone-r7.sh on 11/11/2008, 3:25 CST.

• Removed check for ubuntu, since this will work on far more systems.
• Improved the check for /etc/fstab with a grep instead of a question.
• Started package cleanup; it’s not the best yet.
  
• Still no exit points
• Still only accepts simple responses (y).
• Planning to add support for Suse & Fedora soon.

This is a script that will modify the Ubuntu (or other Debian) environment to allow you to sync your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPod in a Windows XP Virtual machine. This fix solves two problems:

1. USB doesn’t work at all because there’s no mount point; edit /etc/fstab to fix it.
2. For the iPhone to sync, MAX_USBFS_BUFFER_SIZE needs to be modified in drivers/usb/core/devio.c

If the script works for you, please comment with your OS and details. If the script fails for you, PLEASE be very specific about what OS you are running and what did or didn’t happen. Comments without details don’t help anyone.

UPDATE: I’m not sure if i pointed out that you will need to re-run this script each time the Kernel is updated. The script now knows what to update and what to leave alone.

These instructions are based on my test environment. You do not have to follow them to the letter! Go ahead and try the script if you know what you’re doing!!!

This fix works on Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex running VirtualBox-2.0 installed through apt-get. It also works on older versions of Ubuntu, and possibly many other distros. Be creative, but be careful.

Install virtualbox-2.0 through through apt-get:

1. edit your /etc/apt/sources.list file and add the following source:
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian intrepid non-free
(intrepid is not listed on the wiki, but the source is working!)

2. Run “wget -q http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian/sun_vbox.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add -”

3. Run “sudo apt-get update”

4. Run “sudo apt-get install virtualbox-2.0″

Restart your computer to make sure the vboxusers group initializes properly.

Run the script:
(be sure to chmod +x and run as root!)

Change the permissions to allow execution (chmod +x virtualbox-iphone.sh) and run it as root.
The script downloads the kernel source, and will take approximately 400 mb and several minutes of processing to run properly.

Restart again to initialize the modified kernel. (not sure if these restarts are necessary, but i’m trying to be safe!)

In the settings tab for the virtual machine, check to be sure that USB is enabled.

When you run windows as a virtual machine, you will have to connect the device, then go to the “Devices” tab in VirtualBox and enable the device in “USB Devices>”

These steps should set the stage for everything to work correctly on Ubuntu 8.10. If you have difficulties, please be VERY specific!

—-

Some people are having trouble with the USB settings.. make yours look like this. Your iphone may already be here, and it may not – i deleted mine to keep people from panicking if they didn’t see theirs.

—-

11/16/2008: I am aware of an issue where version 2.6.27-7 of the kernel goes through “make” while version 2.6.27-8 goes through update-initramfs. I am working on the script to address this. The result is that running the script works fine, but USB doesn’t connect. I think this only happens to people that have updated to 2.6.27-8, which appears to have been pulled back. A possible solution is to run “sudo grub-update” and boot into the 2.6.27-8 kernel, OR (i would do try this) “sudo apt-get remove linux-image-2.6.27-8-generic && sudo apt-get remove linux-headers-2.6.27-8-generic “. I have only confirmed this once (thanks Brandon) and cannot reproduce it because 2.6.27-8 is not available. Please confirm a solution if you have one. This is the relevant output from the virtuabox script…

(i need a good code highligher!)
Building modules, stage 2.
MODPOST 1 modules
CC /home/user/linux-source-2.6.27/drivers/usb/core/usbcore.mod.o
LD [M] /home/user/linux-source-2.6.27/drivers/usb/core/usbcore.ko
make: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.27-7-generic'
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-8-generic
Do you want to get rid of the source and installed files?
—-

I’m working on virtualbox-iphone-v8.sh ; this release is intended to run on both Ubuntu and Fedora 10. I’d like to release it on November 25, 2008 – the same day Fedora 10 (Final) is released.

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For those who care, I have used most of these applications on an old iPhone running 2.0.2, and my new iPhone running 2.1.

1. PdaNet (Cydia) – PdaNet is now available on Cydia and it allowed me to establish a wireless connection on my laptop through my iPhone in about 4 minutes. PdaNet is THE killer app for the iPhone.

2. Mobile Fotos (AppStore) – Mobile Fotos is a flickr uploader that geotags my photos and puts them on flickr instantly. It keeps me in touch with the people that might care.

3. Cycorder (Cydia) – Cycorder by Saurik is absolutely AWESOME – it turns the iphone into a video recorder with higher quality audio and video than you would believe to be possible with the iPhone.

4. Trailguru (AppStore) – My wife and I thoroughly enjoy hiking and trailguru is our hiking buddy. It collects gps waypoints as we hike and uploads them to http://www.trailguru.com for sharing and analysis. You can view information about your hike through the trailguru (which is awesome in and of itself), or export the kml file to Google Earth.

5. BossPrefs (Cydia) – BossPrefs allows you to control and monitor your connections – 3g, Edge, Wifi, Bluetooth, SSH, and email. It’s great to lock down your iPhone, or to use selective services to save battery life.

6. Pandora Radio (AppStore) – Pandora is just great any way you look at it. I have lots of music, but I get tired of it; Pandora keeps it new by suggesting (and playing) music based on what I already like.

7. MIM (Make It Mine) (Cydia) – MIM was one of the first jailbreak apps on the scene, created by the uber cool Erica Sadun. It allows you to change the carrier name to say whatever you want – it’s just cool.

8. GPS Tracker (AppStore) – Great for using the iPhone to track your own movement. I give the web address to people I’m travelling to visit and let them see how close we are.

9. Qik (Cydia) – Qik is a video uploader – i use it as a cross between cycorder and mobile foto; when I want to get video on the net quickly.

10. Facebook (Appstore) – Lot’s of folks are too cool for facebook. I’m not. The facebook app from the appstore is excellent – my favorite thing is the live status feed; it lets me see what my friends are doing without having to log in on the laptop.

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