One of the most frustrating issues an #iPhone7 owner can encounter is finding his/her device unable to power on. The problem often comes with other symptoms such as screen remaining black or blank, phone not charging, getting stuck in Apple logo screen, or an endless boot cycle called boot loop. Most often than not, iPhone owners lump together these symptoms although differentiating each one might be key to the solution. In this troubleshooting episode, we cover all the possible things that you can do to address each of the symptoms you might encounter. For instance, we also discuss briefly how to fix a black screen issue, which is a distinct problem from others such as No Boot issue or No Power issue.
As usual, we also try to address directly a letter that was sent to use by one of our readers. As we receive a lot of different iPhone issues everyday, we hope to make the case below an example of the rest of those experiencing similar or exact same problem. Don’t forget, when it comes to iPhone troubleshooting, there’s very little that an average user can do. Most iPhone issues though are easy to fix so hopefully, this troubleshooting article will serve as a good reference for those looking for an answer.
ALSO READ: How to deal with Apple iPhone 7 black screen issue
Before we proceed let us remind you that you can contact us by using the link provided at the bottom of this page. When describing your issue, please be as detailed as possible so we can easily pinpoint a relevant solution. If you can, kindly include the exact error messages you are getting to give us an idea where to start. If you have already tried some troubleshooting steps before emailing us, make sure to mention them so we can skip them in our answers.
Below are specific topics we’re bringing for you today:
How to troubleshoot an unresponsive iPhone 7 (black screen, no power, no boot)
Sample Issue: It is my mother’s iPhone 7 that was acting up. According to her, she watched some dramas last night on her Iphone. As she was using it, she charged her phone using a power bank till the battery level was at around 70%. After that, she wanted to charge her phone using the usual Iphone charger, but she fell asleep not long after that. This morning, she wanted to use her phone, but then it went unresponsive. I happened to come across your article on how to soft reset the phone and tried it, but nothing works out. — Fara Adnan
Solution: Hi Fara. There are 7 ways to fix an unresponsive iPhone 7. Let’s discuss each one of them.
Unresponsive iPhone 7 fix 1: Check charging cable, adapter, and power outlet
The very first thing that you need to do in this situation is to ensure that the charging accessories are working fine. If you have another iPhone, try using a different set of charging cable and adapter and see if that will charge the phone normally. Or, you can do the reverse by using the current cable and adapter in charging another iPhone. If the second iPhone charges fine, then there’s a chance that the problem may lie on the phone.
Another good thing to do as part of this troubleshooting is to ensure that the wall outlet is working. You can check that by plugging in another device or appliance.
Unresponsive iPhone 7 fix 2: Charge your iPhone
Sometimes, an iPhone may appear to not charge simply because you did not give it enough time to do it. Once you’ve made certain that the charging accessories and outlet are working fine, then the next logical troubleshooting step is to ensure that you give the phone enough time to re-energize the battery.
When a Lithium-based battery like the one in your iPhone says it has 0% battery, it’s not really empty. It still has a tiny amount of energy left in its cells to energize the circuit while waiting for the next charge. Such reserve power is necessary to keep the battery’s memory alive. Unless the battery has completely drain itself including the reserve power, the battery should still be able to charge again.
If the battery has been fully drained for some reason causing it not to charge anymore, the next good thing to do is to send the phone in for repair or battery replacement.
Unresponsive iPhone 7 fix 3: Check if you have a black screen issue
Some iPhone owners may mistake a failing screen issue for No Power issue. To know if the problem lies on the screen, look for signs of life. Does the phone still rings when you call your number? Does it vibrate or make sound notifications when there’s incoming messages? If any of these things occur, then your iPhone is not completely dead and the most likely issue can be screen-related.
Some screen-related problems are caused by a corrupted operating system. In this case, you should attempt to either factory reset your iPhone or boot it to DFU mode to fix it.
How to factory reset an unresponsive iPhone 7
You will only be able to factory reset an iPhone if it’s not completely dead. Assuming your phone still powers on, this steps below may just the solution you need.
- Connect the Lightning cable to your iPhone’s Dock Connector port. DO NOT CONNECT the other end of the cable to the computer yet.
- Hold Volume Down button.
- While holding the Volume Down button, plug the other end of the USB cable into your computer to open iTunes (make sure iTunes is NOT running in your computer before doing this step)
- Put the iPhone into Recovery mode, and let you completely restore the iPhone.
Unresponsive iPhone 7 fix 4: Perform a “battery pull”
Unlike most Android phones, your iPhone 7 device’s battery is borderline impossible to remove. Pulling out the battery is a useful troubleshooting step for phones with removable battery as it refreshes the devices memory, unclogging anything that prevents the operating system from working normally. Because you cannot perform a battery pull in your iPhone 7, you should do its virtual equivalent instead by pressing and holding down Power and Volume Down buttons. Keep holding the buttons for 10 seconds. If the usual shut-down slider screen shows up, continue holding the buttons until the Apple logo screen appears. That’s the time that you can let go of the buttons. If nothing shows up after holding down Power and Volume Down buttons after 10 seconds, then the phone is totally unresponsive.
Unresponsive iPhone 7 fix 5: Charge using a computer
Sometimes, charging an iPhone using a computer helps, especially if iTunes is open. Be sure to try this remedy and see if it works. If your computer has an unpowered USB port and powered USB port, make sure to use the latter. In older computer models, the front USB ports are usually unpowered so if you have one, try to use the ones at the back. Many of today’s computers have powered USB ports though so you should be safe.
Unresponsive iPhone 7 fix 6: Restore via DFU Mode
If your phone remains unresponsive even at this point, the next troubleshooting step is to attempt recovery via DFU Mode. in order to perform DFU Mode recovery, you must ensure that the computer runs the latest operating system update. iTunes app must also be updated to prevent encountering errors. If everything is set, follow the steps below:
- In your computer, close all active apps.
- Open iTunes.
- Turn off your iPhone. If you can’t turn it off normally, let the battery drain to 0% so the phone powers down on its own. Charge the phone for at least an hour without attempting to turn it on.
- Connect your iPhone to the computer via USB cable.
- Press and hold the Power button for at least 3 seconds.
- Press and hold the Volume Down button on the left side of the iPhone while continuing to hold the Power button. Be sure to hold both Power and Volume Down keys for 10 seconds. If Apple logo appears at this time, repeat steps 5 and 6. Apple logo should not show at all.
- Continue to hold Volume Down key for another 5 seconds. If the Plug into iTunes screen is displayed, repeat steps 5-7. Plug into iTunes screen should not show up.
- You’ll know that your phone is in DFU mode if the screen remains black. Your computer should then tell you that iTunes has detected an iPhone.
- Follow the on-screen steps in your computer to do a full recovery.
Unresponsive iPhone 7 fix 7: Contact Apple
If your is still not powering on after doing all the troubleshooting above, you can assume bad hardware is to blame. There may be a problem with the battery, its power management integrated circuit (IC), or its hardware in general. Only after a thorough physical check can the issue be determined so there’s no way we can be of any help for you in this one. We suggest that you contact Apple for repair or replacement.
Engage with us
If you happen to have a problem with your own iPhone, let us know about it and we will do our best to post them and their solutions in our upcoming articles. You can use this link to contact us for assistance. We can’t guarantee an answer to every question but rest assured that we will exhaust everything on our end to help you.
Be as detailed as possible when describing your problem to help us diagnose your issue easily. If you can include error messages, popups, attempted troubleshooting steps, and circumstances leading to the problem, that would be very helpful.
My sons iPhone 7 won’t charge @ has a black screen plz help