How to repair iPhone 4s with scorched charging dock

jollyfred

We think this was a victim of a power surge as there's charring inside the dock and also on the charger itself. It means the phone won't charge or connect to a Mac. Apple won't touch it because it's so old, ditto 'Apple experts' we've called. However, is it as straighforward as buying a new battery and charger and getting someone to replace it? All advice and help gratefully recieved. Thanks!

Abbafan1972

An iPhone 4s? This has to be a joke surely?! 

flaneurs_lobster

Others may disagree but my simple rule when dealing with electricals that start to smoulder or smell of burning is to unplug and bin.

400ixl

iPhone 4s has not had any updates since around 2019 I believe. It should not be used for anything other than calls these days as if it was a dumb phone. Even SMS texts should not be trusted as there are known unpatched vulnerabilities. It should certainly not be used for applications and certainly not for anything financial.

Good chance the board has also been fried and just replacing a battery will not make any difference.

In reality, time to retire it and replace it with a phone which is at a very minimum still getting security updates.

PHK

The charging port and associated circuitry is on its own circuit board (approx £5)so you could replace that but there's no guarantee there isn't more extensive damage. 

jollyfred

Abbafan1972 said:

An iPhone 4s? This has to be a joke surely?! 

No, it's not a joke! Cheek.

jollyfred

flaneurs_lobster said:

Others may disagree but my simple rule when dealing with electricals that start to smoulder or smell of burning is to unplug and bin.

Agree, but there was no smouldering or smell of burning at the time.

jollyfred

400ixl said:

iPhone 4s has not had any updates since around 2019 I believe. It should not be used for anything other than calls these days as if it was a dumb phone. Even SMS texts should not be trusted as there are known unpatched vulnerabilities. It should certainly not be used for applications and certainly not for anything financial.

Good chance the board has also been fried and just replacing a battery will not make any difference.

In reality, time to retire it and replace it with a phone which is at a very minimum still getting security updates.

Yes, only used as a phone, no apps, no nothing. The phone does work, it's just not charging. Upgrade already ordered but want to get old phone active to access some info.

jollyfred

PHK said:

The charging port and associated circuitry is on its own circuit board (approx £5)so you could replace that but there's no guarantee there isn't more extensive damage. 

Thanks for that. How easy is it for a Luddite to replace the circuit board? We've seen packs with tools on-line with YouTube instructions and wonder if these would work. It's only to get the phone charged enough to lift data from it. 

matelodave

watch a few youtube videos to see how its done , heres one - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIbXvDZC8_I

flaneurs_lobster

jollyfred said:

PHK said:

The charging port and associated circuitry is on its own circuit board (approx £5)so you could replace that but there's no guarantee there isn't more extensive damage. 

Thanks for that. How easy is it for a Luddite to replace the circuit board? We've seen packs with tools on-line with YouTube instructions and wonder if these would work. It's only to get the phone charged enough to lift data from it. 

I've replaced a couple of batteries in mobiles (yes, YouTube is your friend) and the hardest part was trying to get the back into place. You don't plan to do that so should be easy.