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Apple Launches Free Repair Program For 'No Service' IPhone 7 Bug (betanews.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the free-service-for-no-service dept.

Mark Wilson writes: Apple has launched a new repair program aimed at iPhone 7 users who are experiencing a "No Service" problem. Apple says that affected models that were sold since September 2016 will be repaired free of charge. The company explains that the No Service bug only affects a "small number" of handsets, and it is caused by a failed component on the main logic board...

Apple says that the problematic iPhone 7s were sold in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Macao, and the US between September 2016 and February 2018. The specific model numbers are A1660, A1780 and A1779 and anyone whose phone is displaying a "No Service" message even when signal is available is told to contact their nearest Apple Authorized Service Provider, Apple Retail Store or Apple Technical Support.

61 comments

  1. it just works roflmao by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

    n/c

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    1. Re:it just works roflmao by MightyYar · · Score: 1

      Yeah, it really sucks when a company stands behind their product.

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    2. Re:it just works roflmao by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Exactly, and people pay a premium for these pieces of shit phones.

    3. Re:it just works roflmao by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I see, you would rather have a company (like LG or Samsung) put up barriers to getting support or down right tell its customers to screw themselves.

    4. Re:it just works roflmao by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 4, Informative
      FTA:

      Any existing problems -- such as a cracked screen or other damage -- needs to be addressed (and paid for) before the No Service issue can be fixed. Apple points out that the program doesn't extend the standard warranty coverage of the iPhone 7.

      So you HAVE to fix all other problems in a 2 year old phone before you qualify for this fix. That should be mentioned as well. Small crack in the screen that you can live with, but you get the "no service" bug? Too bad - replace the screen or buy a new phone.

      --
      Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
    5. Re:it just works roflmao by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      LG and Samsung phones flat-out don't have these levels of issues. Now I know what you're going to say, "battery fires", except: 1) those impacted an incredibly small number of Samsung Note 7 phones, and 2) they replaced every single one at great expense, regardless of condition.

      Apple on the other hand? Apple secretly releases a software patch to slow down phones to mask their battery issues, and refuses to fix them unless you also repair minor physical blemishes. Oh, and then there's antennagate and bendgate and "you're holding it wrong." Apple has so many issues they get special names.

      I cannot understand why anyone, anywhere, would pay the Apple premium for phones that are as plagued with issues as they are.

    6. Re:it just works roflmao by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They should be sucking dicks behind their product. The iPhone is one of the most overpriced pieces of tech you can buy, and yet it's neither innovative nor built with quality construction. You fucking sneeze on the thing and the screen cracks.

    7. Re:it just works roflmao by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Riiiiiight... Samsung _DIDN'T_ have an outright ban on being brought on airlines because of their repeated tendancy even after having been recalled and replaced to spontaneously combust.

    8. Re: it just works roflmao by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What has this anything to do with repairs? You sound like a desperate ifag.

    9. Re: it just works roflmao by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Tim Cock stands behind your butthole.

    10. Re: it just works roflmao by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I drop my iPhone constantly and it's never broken or shattered. You just need to get a good case + shatter guard.

      I have lots of problems with Apple and I refuse to rush out to buy the newest crap, but it's way more secure and stable than stock Android ever has been.

    11. Re: it just works roflmao by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It was "designed" to be used with no "good case" or screen protector. Do you understand what that means? Suck it, imbecile.

    12. Re: it just works roflmao by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Stable???? LOL ios 11 wants to have a sit down talk with you.

    13. Re: it just works roflmao by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Samsung has had issues, obviously the battery issue being the most well known.

      LG also has had problems, they refused to admit to a problem on the G4 causing a reboot loop. It even lead to a class action suit being filed.

    14. Re: it just works roflmao by MightyYar · · Score: 1

      That's probably still a biting insult in whatever shithole you live in.

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    15. Re:it just works roflmao by MightyYar · · Score: 1

      What does a screen cracking have to do with a faulty chip on the logic board?

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    16. Re:it just works roflmao by MightyYar · · Score: 1

      I mean, I get your point: "Hey, this phone was defective even before I trashed it!"

      But at the same time, you trashed it. I don't have an iPhone, and the last Apple product I bought was in 2009. But when my Motorola died after about a year for exactly the same reason (No Network), it didn't even occur to me to seek compensation from Motorola. I just figured I'd dropped it and sat on it too many times.

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    17. Re:it just works roflmao by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

      I used my Note 2 for 8 months with a single crack in the corner of the screen (outside the visible area) - not trashed at all. Didn't affect operation at all, and I finally changed it out when I was offered a Note 5 for essentially free (company I was contracting for threw it in as a "perk"). To this day, it still functions as a home controller (SmartThings, SONOS, thermostat, etc). With a small crack. Would suck to have to replace the screen - which is 100% functional, the crack is outside the visible area - just to get it to work right because of a defective chip inside!

      --
      Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
    18. Re:it just works roflmao by MightyYar · · Score: 1

      I think we're now arguing over the definition of the word "trashed" and the mistreatment of the phone isn't really in question.

      Needless to say, a drop can crack the screen, and it can also damage other components.

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    19. Re:it just works roflmao by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

      Sure, a drop can damage other components. Per Apple, you MUST fix those other parts too, before they will do this fix. It's like having your transmission fail intermittently, but the factory will not fix it unless you first fix the crack in your windshield and straighten your fender. Because you know, those affect the way the transmission works, or something.

      --
      Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
    20. Re:it just works roflmao by MightyYar · · Score: 1

      Probably because they need to remove the glass to fix the phone, and they aren't going to put back your damaged glass when they are done.

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
  2. I experience this problem on a 6+ by mark-t · · Score: 1

    Thankfully not often, but perhaps 3 or 4 times in the past year or so, and never prior to that, I've had "no service available" where I know I should otherwise have. Doing a complete power cycle seems to make the problem go away each time, but it's damn annoying.

    --
    File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
    1. Re:I experience this problem on a 6+ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And you have taken it in for service?

    2. Re:I experience this problem on a 6+ by rtb61 · · Score: 1

      Taking into account the reality of the 'er' reliability of software within the current warranty no warranty arrangement. The longer they run the more unreliable they become, they should auto complete reboot at least once a week. Android gets worse over time if you don't reboot. You also have to clear the main system cache and never forget individual application caches. Should do this on any OS upgrade (they should do it by default) because they can become really unstable. So auto reboot with auto cache clear, system and applications and it likely should occur at least once a week.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    3. Re:I experience this problem on a 6+ by tlhIngan · · Score: 1

      Thankfully not often, but perhaps 3 or 4 times in the past year or so, and never prior to that, I've had "no service available" where I know I should otherwise have. Doing a complete power cycle seems to make the problem go away each time, but it's damn annoying.

      This is likely a software problem and not a hardware problem. The software running on the modem is highly complex and there can be exception states that lock up the modem processor. Or lock up the DSP on the modem.

      We found a reliable way to crash the modem stack on a lot of devices a few years ago - it turns out the commuter train entering a tunnel causes enough strange signal oddities that the DSP and modem processor weirds out and often crash. Alas, a carrier decided to add in hardware to provide a cell signal inside the tunnel, so that technique doesn't work anymore.

      The modem software is quite complex with quite a few threads, state machines and other things. It doesn't take much to have a memory leak, or interesting signal conditions that cause the software to enter exception states in just the right way to expose bugs.

    4. Re:I experience this problem on a 6+ by inflex · · Score: 1

      Often is the same hardware fault. Traces to the BGA balls suffering fatigue, just like the iP6+ touch, iP7 lag-audio, and plenty of other baseband IC issues ( U1 and V1 pads).

      Here's a video of one being fixed (started at the point where he's looking right at the U1 and V1 pads ) https://youtu.be/tdD7BSIy_u4?t...

  3. apple should be recalling all these defective phon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    But as a company with no ethics they won't.

  4. Re:Why is this on Slashdot? by MightyYar · · Score: 1

    This is a pro-Apple story, so I'm not sure why them hating on Apple would drive their decision to publish it. More likely, they see a bunch of hits on stories about Apple and being good capitalists, they are encouraged to publish more.

    --
    W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
  5. Re:apple should be recalling all these defective p by MightyYar · · Score: 1

    I don't know how you use the word "recall", but a free repair for afflicted models certainly counts in my book.

    --
    W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
  6. Too bad the refuse to honor their $29... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    battery repair. I took more than a dozen devices to each of three Apple Stores in the Seattle area, and they refused to replace the batteries in all of them due to one excuse or another! It's sad they used that fake claim to get out of a class action lawsuit.

    For my own personal 6S Plus, they claimed since there was a small chip out of the glass over the screen that they couldn't repair the battery. Every single day it drops from about 30-40% battery to 1%. I've been careful with keeping it charged since I got the phone in Nov 2015 so I'm annoyed they won't honor their $29 battery replacement. They wanted over $600 to replace the screen, glass, and headphone jack.

    1. Re:Too bad the refuse to honor their $29... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Even with apples lame attempt to hide this design defect with a token price reduction in a battery replacement I dont think it has gotten them out of any class action lawsuits. Last i heard there are still about 30 of them.

    2. Re:Too bad the refuse to honor their $29... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Our local store denied repairs to all of our devices I carried in. It's sad that they're going to get out of the class action lawsuit with a claim that they're going to do $29 battery replacements when they are not.

    3. Re:Too bad the refuse to honor their $29... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They wouldn't repair any of our IDevices that I took into our local Apple Store in Bellevue Square Mall due to one excuse or another like dents on the sides of the device, deep scratches on the back, or chips in the glass on the front. It's just sad that they got out from under the class action lawsuit by claiming to do $29 battery replacements when they don't.

    4. Re:Too bad the refuse to honor their $29... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Last I heard none of the suits has any chance at winning...

      So, so sad for the bottom sucking lawyers that filed the suits. All that effort for no reward...

    5. Re:Too bad the refuse to honor their $29... by phayes · · Score: 2

      Bullshit. Apple replaced the battery on my old battered 6 for $29 without any problems.

      --
      Democracy is a sheep and two wolves deciding what to have for lunch. Freedom is a well armed sheep contesting the issue
    6. Re: Too bad the refuse to honor their $29... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My roommate is a âoegeniusâ and she said they were ordered to not do battery replacements. Apparently Apple only said they would to kill the class action lawsuit.

    7. Re: Too bad the refuse to honor their $29... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I call BS since I went to three different Apple stores in the Seattle area, and they wouldnâ(TM)t replace any of the batteries in out iPhones.

    8. Re: Too bad the refuse to honor their $29... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They don't serve shitty smelly illegal H1B hindu-chimps. Change user and try again.

    9. Re: Too bad the refuse to honor their $29... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Their employees have been ordered to do no $29 battery replacements.

    10. Re: Too bad the refuse to honor their $29... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Apple advertises it but refuses to honor it.

    11. Re:Too bad the refuse to honor their $29... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe you should stop getting your info from pro apple sites

    12. Re: Too bad the refuse to honor their $29... by beckett · · Score: 1

      did you have third party batteries installed? i believe their offer only applies to replace Apple batteries.

    13. Re: Too bad the refuse to honor their $29... by phayes · · Score: 1

      It's telling that only AC's are claiming that Apple isn't respecting their promise to perform one battery replacement per 6/6S/7 for $29...

      --
      Democracy is a sheep and two wolves deciding what to have for lunch. Freedom is a well armed sheep contesting the issue
  7. Re:apple should be recalling all these defective p by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The keyword is all. Like with touch disease and bendgate apple is claiming that a small number of phones are affected by this. Given apples history this is pure bullshit.

  8. Re: apple should be recalling all these defective by Brockmire · · Score: 1

    In previous recalls, it didn't matter the condition of the original, it was replaced with free shipping both ways (iPod nano 3rd Gen died on day fucking one from cracked screen, they refused warranty repair because it was manufactured 6 weeks after they supposedly fixed their defective screens, but clearly was still defective. Got replaced with 5th gen piece of shit).

  9. pple refused service 26 times by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Try carrying in a _different_ iPhone next time. Apple only allows one $29 battery replacement per iPhone so you can't carry in the same one 27 times and claim that Apple refused service 26 times.

    1. Re: pple refused service 26 times by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Battery repair was supposed to be unconditional, you just had to ask. But it is clear now that Crapple wants to be hit with a class action. Tim Cock is a lying piece of shit abomination.

  10. what about the 6s plus? by LostMyBeaver · · Score: 1

    I've been getting messages on the 6s plus for months that there was no service where there was?

    1. Re:what about the 6s plus? by serbanp · · Score: 1

      you are not alone, I started experiencing this annoying issue ever since I upgraded my 6s to iOS11.

      When that happens, cycle through airplane mode, which turns off the RF subsystem. No need for a hard reset.

  11. Re:Why is this on Slashdot? by Godwin+O'Hitler · · Score: 1

    Because this repair is FREE! Imagine that!

    --
    No, your children are not the special ones. Nor are your pets.
  12. Intel modems? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Are these models that have intel modems in them? Are there any details what the specific issues are?

    1. Re:Intel modems? by inflex · · Score: 1

      The fault is with the small traces connecting to some of the BGA chip balls. This is the same failure mode as what caused the iP6+ touch disease and the iP7 lag(audio) IC issue.

      Fundamentally, we're getting circuits at a size now where the daily physical expansions/contractions and vibrations are causing these traces to fail because they're so fine/thin.

      It's not the chip specifically at fault, it's the copper track on the top of the circuit board that's suffering fatigue fractures.

  13. Re: apple should be recalling all these defective by MightyYar · · Score: 1

    You don't think a defective screen, where the defect is that the screen cracks, might warrant different treatment than a failed chip on the board? In that case, the cracked screen is a clear sign of abuse.

    --
    W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
  14. Re:apple should be recalling all these defective p by MightyYar · · Score: 1

    You are free to take your business elsewhere. To another company that fixes 2-year-old phones.

    --
    W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
  15. Re:apple should be recalling all these defective p by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Or a company that doesnt produce defective phones.

  16. Re: apple should be recalling all these defective by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Your shilling awfully hard here. "cracked screen is a clear sign of abuse" WTF? people drop their phones by accident you know. Or are you trying to start some poor battered iphone thing?

  17. Re: apple should be recalling all these defective by MightyYar · · Score: 1

    How is dropping your phone not abuse?

    --
    W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
  18. Re:apple should be recalling all these defective p by MightyYar · · Score: 1

    I hear Samsung makes good phones and won't burn a hole in your pocket.

    --
    W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.