Iphone 4 Activation Failed

[neocarbunkle]

I have a real nightmare of a problem here.

The other night my wife's iphone 4 would not fully boot. It would just stay on the apple logo for a while and then shut off after a long time. If I removed it from the USB cable it would shut off instantly. I (in hindsight) foolishly, tried to restore it. But the power issue caused the restore to fail over and over.

I read somewhere that someone tried to remove the battery, let it discharge and then reconnect it. I tried that and it instantly fixed the battery situation. I was then able to install iOS 7.12, but when I try to use the phone, I of course have to activate. When I try to activate I get "Activation Failed: This iphone is not able to complete the activation process." when I try to activate through itunes I get "There is a problem with your iPhone :This iPhone is unable to complete the activation process." Both of them suggest that I go to an apple store to get someone to fix it for me.

I have done a LOT of research on this and have tried a lot of different things.
I have tried using multiple different sim cards, including the sim card that the phone was just using a few days ago.
I have tried to do the activation at least 30 times.
I have checked to see if this phone is activation locked on icloud, it isn't.

As much as I hate to do so, I would be willing to try and go to the apple store, but I am worried about a few things. For one, I am in China! I would have to work through my wife who speaks decent Chinese but doesn't understand ANYTHING technical. Also being in China, I don't really know a lot about how the phone service works here. And I am worried that because I have opened the phone, they won't even talk to me.

I feel like the phone is in full working condition, it is just apple isn't giving me permission to use my own property.

Do you have any advice at all for me? Is it worth my time to try and go to a Chinese Apple store?

 

[bear7962]

Perhaps you should try a reputable cell phone service location. By opening the phone and removing the battery you have voided the Apple warranty and they may refuse to work n the phone at all.

 

[neocarbunkle]

This is what kind of worries me and really frustrates me. If you open the iphone there is no "warranty void" sticker anywhere. So there is no way of them proving that I opened it. I also don't need or want them to do anything with the phone, because I am positive it is a problem with their activation process and not my device.

But I'll spare you my rant about how removing two screws means I should be out a smart phone.

 

[scifan57]

You can't activate your iPhone on iOS 7.1.2. You can download it but the activation will fail every time because it will not pass Apple's online verification process. The only iOS version possible for you is iOS 8.3. Try it and your activation problems should be over, unless there's a hardware problem.

 

[bear7962]

Nice catch Scifan. I missed that old IOS #!

 

[neocarbunkle]

You can't activate your iPhone on iOS 7.1.2. You can download it but the activation will fail every time because it will not pass Apple's online verification process. The only iOS version possible for you is iOS 8.3. Try it and your activation problems should be over, unless there's a hardware problem.

Thanks a lot for your reply, but I have an iphone 4 not a 4s. The 4 didn't get ios 8 support
Farewell iPhone 4 No iOS 8 upgrade for you ZDNet

 

[scifan57]

It's possible that the Internet connection wasn't good enough during the online verification process. Have you tried again?