Endless Apple/Pineapple Logo? And no way to get into your familiar Springboard (iPhone Desktop) view?
Your iPhone will reboot and show the “Apple Logo” (jailbroken devices will show a pineapple) and will not start the Springboard? And – showing only the logo – the iPhone will restart sometimes by itself?
- If your device is jailbroken and you have SSH installed and enabled you could have a solution right here!
While using Firmware 2.0, 2.0.1 and 2.0.2 I had this problem quite often. Now with firmware 2.1 it happenend only once while cancelling an AppStore application install.
Solution is quite simple: If your Springboard preferences are corrupted or for some other reason not valid the Apple iPhone OS will try to re-create them. Well, the more applications you have installed (I counted 110 on my main iPhone) the more time Springboard will need to recreate them. But the iPhone OS will only allow roughly 2 minutes for this process. If its not finished within this time it will kill the process and re-start it. Endlessly!
Solution is quite simple, as long as you manage to login into your device via SSH (read my other posts how to do this):
1) Reboot your device
2) Try to connect as root into your device using WiFi and SSH as fast as possible (read my other posts how to connect via SSH)
[If you do not have WiFi enabled by default you could still try to login via iTunnel. You will need a Windows PC or Windows on VMware. ]
3) Type in
mv /System/Library/SystemConfiguration/mobilewatchdog.bundle/ /
Make sure you do not forget the last “space” & “/“!
4) Type in
reboot
The device will reboot. Actually you removed the process that will kill Springboard every 2 minutes. But now you will have another problem: After 10 minutes or so a hardware monitoring process will have a check on the running system. Since it will not find the process you just prevented from booting the hardware monitoring process will re-boot the iPhone.
Still, this 10 minutes will be considerably longer than the 2 minutes before. Just let your iPhone reboot and wait about 10 minutes. Normally SpringBoard should load after 4-5 minutes. Your preferences are valid again.
-> If your iPhone reboots after 10 minutes you got some more severe problems that cannot be fixed by this tutorial. But in my case it rebooted into SpringBoard 95% of all times.
5) As soon as you see your beloved SpringBoard again you should make sure you copy the removed process starter back to its original position. Or you iPhone will continue to reboot every 10 minutes! So login using root and type:
mv /mobilewatchdog.bundle /System/Library/SystemConfiguration/
Do not wait with this too long as the iPhone should not reboot while this command is running! To be on the safe side you could wait for another reboot, login then as fast as possible (normally roughly a minute after rebooting started) and run the command.
So, how to avoid it? Upgrade to firmware 2.1. I had no problems at all using Firmware 2.1. As long as you are careful not to install/upgrade applications from the AppStore while runnig out of battery etc.
And make sure you got your SSH login enabled all times. Otherwise you will not be able to connect to your device as long as it is in booting mode!
If you have any question, feel free to post it here.
2 Pings to “How to avoid or repair “Apple Logo screen of death” (endless iPhone boot)”
21 Responses to “How to avoid or repair “Apple Logo screen of death” (endless iPhone boot)”
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1. Rob Says:
November 4th, 2008 at 10:40 pmHello,
My iphone crashed on a pirate app install. I rebooted then it go stuck in the apple logo loop.
I’m trying iphone tunnel suite 2.7 to try and restore my iphone. I get a connection refused. Password for root is correct.
I run 2.2 with cydia and ssh is enabled. No wifi access and the iphone just gets stuck in the apple logo loop. Gets to a point where it sharts vibrating every few seconds. itunes sees it when its vibrating but there is not enough time to as it reboots before the itunes restore finishes.
What can I do?
Rob
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2. Dranged Says:
November 21st, 2008 at 3:43 amHey Rob, To use Ssh with the iphone wifi must be enabled , and you must be connected to the same wireless router , as the pc you are trying to login from.
You can find the correct ip address from the routers config page, usually found by typing the ip of the router or “home” without the quotes or http:// or www. ect.use this ip address as the host name on the PC based SSh client. and use “alpine” as the password. If still unable to connect try disabling the firewall\
on both the router (if available) and the PC/Mac.D R
Atomik~Noize Networkz -
3. TwiPhone Says:
December 1st, 2008 at 10:41 amEven easier to find your phone on the local WiFi network: Bonjour Browser (http://www.tildesoft.com/Programs.html)
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4. Pay Says:
January 23rd, 2009 at 2:36 amThanks! This totally helped! (Although my problem was different)…
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5. Tushar Says:
February 7th, 2009 at 5:44 amHi
I have a 2G iPhone and it had gone into recovery mode, so I installed the 2.2.1 using quickpwn 2.2.5-2 and then downloaded Open SSL using Cydia to be able to SSH into the Iphone , post that I put in the patched mobileframework file ans changed the octal values to 0775 then I installed SBSettings using Cydia, which then asked me to reboot my iPhone. On doing so it gets stuck in an endless loop. pls help! -
6. Rosie Says:
March 29th, 2009 at 4:48 amWell, I’m going to have a go at this tonight – been putting it off for too long now! It’s the first time I’ve had this problem, though I have nursed it back from a few bricky situations – usually following 5am decisions lol! Thanks for the info
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7. Inspektax Says:
April 14th, 2009 at 11:56 pmi restored 2.2.1 and jailbroke it, but it just sits on the apple logo for a bit then then reboots in a loop, i managed to get diskaid to detetct it and i moved the mobilewatchdog folder out but i dont get anything, any other steps i can take or move anything else to get it working again?
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April 15th, 2009 at 12:28 amSorry, no. Its kind of the last option you should try. Make sure you copy the mobilewatchdog.bundle back in place. But I am not sure if it will make a difference since you cannot set the permissions right.
Again: Wait for at least 15 minutes!! The phone will restart after quite a long time.If that happenes, you are out of luck. Sure you do not have ssh access anymore?
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April 15th, 2009 at 4:17 amwell i can access the phone via diskaid so maybe i can ssh in but i did a fresh restore and then jailbrok it so it prob wont have ssh installed on the phone so im guessing its not on there, im just trying it again now, i removed the mobilewatchdog folder and am rebooting it and letting it sit there for 15min or so, see what happens…. any programs i can try to see if i can ssh into it? i have winscp but thats only for wifi hey?
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10. boo Says:
April 29th, 2009 at 1:20 pmIf you messed with com.apple.CommCenter.plist recently – that is the *reason* your phone is stuck rebooting in an endless loop every 2 or 3 minutes.
Restore the original file, or re-enable that daemon by deleting the following 2 lines from the top of the plist file:-
Disabled
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11. ydgluver Says:
April 30th, 2009 at 4:26 pmI did get my springboard after following your instructions and I did rename the mobilewatchdog back to the original after the reboot, but my iphone keeps on rebooting itself every 10 minutes. What can I try to fix this prb?
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April 30th, 2009 at 6:21 pmydgluver: Make sure the permissions are set correctly. Did you use the “chmod” commands after rebooting to set the permissions right?
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April 30th, 2009 at 6:34 pmas I said: Its not only copyig the file back. You got to set permissions right. Use the “chmod” commands please.
Regards
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April 30th, 2009 at 7:08 pmI did enter all 3 chmod commands and got no error messages. However, my iphone keeps on rebooting every 10 minutes. Is it possible for you to give me the original mobilewatchdog.bundle file in case mine is corrupt or something or is the file unshareable? Is there anything else I could try?
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April 30th, 2009 at 7:10 pmEverything else is perfect other than my iphone rebooting every 10 minutes… Gosh…
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April 30th, 2009 at 7:22 pmnot today, tuesday i am back and can send you the files.
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April 30th, 2009 at 7:25 pmAnything will be appreciated. Thank you.
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18. Alex Says:
September 16th, 2009 at 2:33 pm@Boo. What was meant regarding the com.apple.commcenter.plist file being corrupt. I don’t even have one in my Library. I’m stuck on the Steve Jobs logo and loops every ten minutes. I do not think I enabled ssh during jailbreak.
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19. Lexy Says:
December 22nd, 2009 at 10:00 amHi there, I was downloading an app from Cydia and it gave me only one option to reboot my iPhone. I did so, and my device does not go past the pineapple logo. I have held the home button and the sleep button numerous times but no different action occurs. Can someone please help me? I’d appreciate it. Thank you. (:
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20. YOGGUI Says:
January 26th, 2010 at 11:53 ami have the same problem as the people are describing. my iphone 3gs it’s stuck with the apple loggo. I did once to syncro with Itunes ( should be done a syncro before jailbreak with all your info) ant then jailbreaking your iphone you have to download a PGBackup program ( in cydia).
Backup your “jalbroken” apps and then ..you can restore again.
for info just reply to this blog.
see u…
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21. Isaac Mccleer Says:
February 14th, 2010 at 3:16 pmI was searching for tips on how to repair my broken iphone when I found your site. Great post. Thank You.
December 1st, 2008 at 10:17 am
[...] How to avoid or repair “Apple Logo screen of death” (endless iPhone boot) [...]
December 18th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
[...] have a pretty decent chance of fixing it without having to do a restore. If so, follow this guide: How to avoid or repair “Apple Logo screen of death” (endless iPhone boot) | TwiPhone.com Otherwise, you might have to do a restore. Search the forums for that guide. Good [...]