Chosen Solution

Recently my iPhone 5 started acting up and the problems got worse with each passing day. Here’s the chain of events -

  • iPhone battery indicator gets stuck at a certain percentage, and starts crashing and rebooting sporadically. Thinking it was a battery issue, I brought it a service centre and Apple ran a test which concluded no issues with the battery.
  • iPhone starts to reboot even more sporadically, and I observe it’s mostly when I’m connected to Wifi and using it intensively like restoring from iCloud. Apple engineers opened up my phone and vaguely told me that a connector was damaged and therefore not eligible for replacement.
  • iPhone crashes again. It will not turn on when I hold the power button. I have to plug it in and it will start up, but never gets past the Apple logo. It will be stuck in a continuous reboot loop until I plug it out.
  • Putting it to both recovery/DFU mode is possible. I get a ‘Connect to iTunes’ graphic on my phone, and tried a restore with iTunes. However, I get an error 2001 every single time. No other USB devices are plugged in. What exactly is wrong with my phone and which replacement part must I order to fix it?

I detect more than one issue with your phone. First, the power button is not working properly, which is why you have to plug your iPhone into a charger or computer to get it to start. To fix this, you’ll have to replace the PMV cable using this guide or ask Apple to do it for you because for this particular issue there is a repair program that extends beyond the 1-year standard warranty. Contact Apple to see if you are eligible. 2nd, you probably have an issue with your U2 IC as you guessed. But to rule all other possibilities, you can try to charge with a known good cable and charger, then try replacing the battery and finally the charging dock. A good way to tell it’s that pesky IC is by replacing the battery. If the phone works until the new battery has discharged and the issues returns, it is a board problem (probably that IC) and you’d better have Apple replace the phone by paying a difference, or have a trained technician repair it for you (try asking jessabethany here on iFixit, her email is on her profile). Note that if you try to work on the phone yourself, Apple May refuse to replace your phone even if it is for a difference, and may refuse to replace your PowerMuteVolune cable in case you are eligible for the free replacement of that part.

I would replace the battery first, regardless of what Apple tested, and then if that doesn’t resolve the issues I would replace the docking port.