Found something

[Dark808]

I was riding down a main road, hit a red light, then finally looked out the window. A flat black object caught my eye, instantly my eyes made out the greyish frame. I was like f*kit and jumped out as the light turned green. Lots of cars behind us probably thinking $(**&#$(* HUH?.

I was quick though and was quickly feeling like I hit the lottery! Who knows, it could be a 32gb 4s. We all know they don't come cheap. But that was a week ago and i'm still waiting on parts. Both the front and back glass are demolished. After closer inspection I noticed a possible reason for no connection to show on my laptop is the chipped charger port. That was actually a relief, giving me reason to the persistent black screen.

So I ordered a replacement charger port and lcd. Yesterday they came in the mail and I noticed the replacement part was flawed. The charger port pins that are supposed to be soldered to the motherboard arn't (iphone 4's charger port is on its own motherboard with a few other miniscule parts). I ordered another one immediately.

I can't wait to find that all it needs is a replacement screen and port.

[Dark808]

I took the phone apart. all the parts are in good condition except the rear facing camera but it seems like it will still be operable. The motherboard has a little pink on the water damage indicator. the indicator on the charge port is white though so I'm doubting any submersion or heavy rain fall. and there isn't too many scratches on the frame so maybe I came up on this little treasure in time. I hope. either way its a win win.

1 week earlier I decided to throw my phone away on the high way. I got a good swing on it and the pavement greeted it with a great smash sending the phone flying into the deep forest lol. it was an intensity II SOOOO SLOW drove me nuts. Only seems right that I would find this on the side of the road waiting for its next owner

Sim card was still inserted could that point to an accident? I'm not familiar with the way SIMS work i'm a CDMA guy. Would somebody who's knowingly throwing their phone away remove the SIM?

[randamin]

Considering how every major carrier except t-mobile and even some regional carriers carry the iphone 4s it is important to identify which it came from. If it came from either of the cdma carriers such as sprint and verizon there is the possibility the original owner filing the phone as lost causing the phone to have a "bad" ESN and rendering it unable to be activated. If it was with at&t then there is no issue there since only the sim card would get disabled but can easily be replaced with a usable sim.
If the phone did have a bad esn then not a total loss since it could be flashed to a regional such as CricKet which does not have the ESN in itS database.

iphones come with a sim card installed already so the possibility of the original owner not wanting to bother with finding a small pointed object to remove it or simply not caring.
If an accident the previous owner might have had insurance and would rather pay for a deductible than bothering to step out and try to fix the damage themselves.

[Dark808]

Great I'm stoked since I found an AT&T card installed in the SIM slot. And thanks alot randamin that is some useful information. I'll post some updates when I get all the repairs fixed that I have planed.

[spidershowl11]

Great I'm stoked since I found an AT&T card installed in the SIM slot. And thanks alot randamin that is some useful information. I'll post some updates when I get all the repairs fixed that I have planed.

I am surprised to know that the mobile that you got from the roadside would be able to work after some changes to its internal parts. Are these smartphones really so strong to withstand demolitions like that?

[Dark808]

I've ordered a replacement motherboard. So maybe its not even the same old iphone found on the side of the road.
I had no idea how to fix the old mobo, it's on ebay right now. I figure i'd deduct my profits from the faulty part from the cost of the replacement.

I've concluded that if you drop your phone out of the window at 60 65 mph, its screwed. But don't give up on it. People buy this stuff, even broken.

I'll post pictures of the completed product. Maybe there will be an ebay link in the future. who knows what will happen with this zombie of a phone.

[PhonePimpBill]

Even if not activated as a working phone it'd still be decent as a PDA once restored.

[Dark808]

Only thing wrong with this ipod is that it turns off randomly, idk if it is the motherboard i bought from ebay or some thing else.

[Extraordinary]

So what was the cost on all the repair parts?

[Dark808]

198.91

Which is including the profit from the original motherboard.

Although everything works except it randomly powers off. i'm asuming the prick who sold me the motherboard wasn't telling the truth about it being in perfect condition.

Anybody have any ideas why it would just turn off randomly like that?

if it was fully functional i would have a profit on my hands but i may end up with just another loss. geesh.