# $40 dollar iphone



## andreww (Nov 20, 2002)

Picked up a 3g iphone for $40 over the weekend. This thing is beat to $hit! The front glass is smashed (LCD is fine), home button is broken, mute switch is broken, and the back case has been spray painted with something that is extremely sticky. The iPhone does work however, and I was able to install OS4 on it, but was not able to jailbreak it yet as the broken home button makes it impossible to put it in DFU mode. Anyway, I've been looking for a cheap project, and this one fit the bill perfectly. I've ordered all the parts I need to fix this puppy and bring it to brand new condition. I'll be installing a brand new white caseback, home button, vibrate switch, battery and digitizer. Total for all parts was $50, so for a total of $90 I should have a pretty decent phone. 

If anyone is interested, I'll take pic and document the conversion process.


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## kloan (Feb 22, 2002)

Cool! I like projects like this... I'm interested in seeing pics of the transformation.

Fwiw, Recboot allows you to go in and out of DFU mode with a click of the mouse button. I was stuck in recovery mode a short while ago when I tried to restore a custom 4.0 firmware to my newly replaced 3GS, which is running 3.1.3 with 05.12.01. Unfortunately it didn't work and I was stuck in recovery mode, but Recboot quickly got it back out and up and running again with a simple click.

RecBoot -> Final Release


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## okcomputer (Jul 18, 2005)

andreww said:


> If anyone is interested, I'll take pic and document the conversion process.


I'd love to see a before/after!


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## titans88 (Oct 3, 2007)

Wow sounds like a fun project! Post pictures of your progress if you don't mind sharing!


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## daniels (Jul 27, 2009)

nice! i want to see pictures! I wonder if i can find one around me as well, should be a great project.


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## i-rui (Sep 13, 2006)

+1 from me as well. i enjoy seeing step by step how to fix tutorials.


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## daniels (Jul 27, 2009)

i-rui said:


> +1 from me as well. i enjoy seeing step by step how to fix tutorials.


i thought i was the only one!


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## andreww (Nov 20, 2002)

kloan said:


> Cool! I like projects like this... I'm interested in seeing pics of the transformation.
> 
> Fwiw, Recboot allows you to go in and out of DFU mode with a click of the mouse button. I was stuck in recovery mode a short while ago when I tried to restore a custom 4.0 firmware to my newly replaced 3GS, which is running 3.1.3 with 05.12.01. Unfortunately it didn't work and I was stuck in recovery mode, but Recboot quickly got it back out and up and running again with a simple click.
> 
> RecBoot -> Final Release



Interesting. Is recovery mode the same as DFU mode?


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## g.c.87 (Sep 20, 2007)

Add me to the list of interested parties. I'd definitely like to see pictures of the transformation.




andreww said:


> Interesting. Is recovery mode the same as DFU mode?


The difference between recovery and DFU mode --> What is Difference Between Recovery Mode and DFU Mode | iPhone 3G S

Basically recovery mode uses iBoot (the iPhone OS bootloader) and will allow you to restore your device using iTunes and the same or newer firmware. DFU bypasses iBoot, and allows you do downgrade your firmware.


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## andreww (Nov 20, 2002)

g.c.87 said:


> Add me to the list of interested parties. I'd definitely like to see pictures of the transformation.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yeah, The jailbreak specifically requires DFU, so this won't do the trick. No biggie, without a working home button, its pretty useless anyway.

I'll start taking some before pics soon. Unfortunately I had to get a head start on the bezel (polished off the old paint and scratches) as I needed to know if it was salvageable before I started ordering parts. But its still plenty messed up


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## andreww (Nov 20, 2002)

BTW, the restoration will be in two parts, as I have discovered that the phone is basically two parts sandwiched together.

The Top half. This is LCD portion of the phone. The digitizer will obviously get replaced here, but I'll also be installing a new home button assembly as well. As the LCD needs to be removed completely, I'll have to wait for both parts to begin.

The Bottom half. This looks to be the trickier half, only because of the number of tiny screws. Having dismantled many Apple laptops, and having a little experience in watch repair, I think I'm up to the task. I'll be pretty much be taking the bottom half completely apart and rebuilding it using new parts. These will include a new white housing, mute switch and battery. The battery on the phone appears to be decent, but a new one came with the rear housing. I'm kind of on the fence about putting it in. I know the current one works, and the last thing I want is to have to troubleshoot a power issue due to a faulty Chinese battery. What do you guys think?


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