Iphone 3g 3.1.3 was jailbroken using spirit.
pressed "erase all content and settings" (i now realize that's stupid)
now there is just an apple logo and every 10 minutes it turns off for a second and goes back to the apple logo.

Nothing happens when I hold the sleep button and home button together.
Nothing happens when I hold them separately. (i've held them for a long time)

When i plug it in it charges but my PC (vista) and Itunes do not recognize it.

all hardware worked fine before I pressed "erase all content and settings"

I've tried pressing and holding all buttons in every combination when the phone turns off for the split second; to no avail.

Do I have the only bricked phone!? Please help with any ideas. Thanks

Originally Posted by kadoogen

Iphone 3g 3.1.3 was jailbroken using spirit.
pressed "erase all content and settings" (i now realize that's stupid)
now there is just an apple logo and every 10 minutes it turns off for a second and goes back to the apple logo.

Nothing happens when I hold the sleep button and home button together.
Nothing happens when I hold them separately. (i've held them for a long time)

When i plug it in it charges but my PC (vista) and Itunes do not recognize it.

all hardware worked fine before I pressed "erase all content and settings"

I've tried pressing and holding all buttons in every combination when the phone turns off for the split second; to no avail.

Do I have the only bricked phone!? Please help with any ideas.

What you did was stupid. The problem you have encountered is not uncommon.

1. That the phone restarts when you hold down both buttons is a good thing, suggests that the buttons work.
2. Try an official apple wall charger instead of connecting the device to your computer. See if that helps with getting it into DFU mode
3. Let the device go flat, completely so it turns itself off and then connect it back to power, hold down home button and keep holding it down till it charges enough to turn the phone back on again, it should enter recovery mode.

The phone does not restart when I hold both buttons.
Like I said, Nothing happens when I hold both buttons.
I did search the forums. Everyone ends up being able to put into recovery or DFU. But I cannot.
I tried#3 but that did not work

What happens when you hold just the home button while the phone starts up?

nothing happens when i hold the home button when its starting up. It just goes to the apple logo. This seems to indicate a hardware problem; but everything was working fine right before "erase all content and settings". I opened the phone up and all the ribbons are still connected.

put the phone in DFU mode and restore with firmware 3.1.3.
When you plug in the phone and run itunes, does it detect the device ?
This kind of problem is easily fixed by restoring with firmware 3.1.3 (do not use newer firmware because it will need SHSH)

itunes does not detect the phone. The computer doesn't detect the phone either. but it charges. I can't get it into dfu mode b/c it doesnt turn off. and when i run the battery dead, plug it in and hold the buttons nothing happens. Just apple logo.

Getting the device into DFU mode is a little tricky.
At the apple logo, hold home + power until device reboot. A few seconds later, let go of power and keep holding home. If the screen is completely dark, you're in DFU.
The trick here is to let go the power at the right time, if you see the apple logo then you are too late and must start over.

When the screen is dark, don't think that it is off. It's actually in DFU mode. Run itunes and it should detect device in recovery mode.

Try it.

when i hold the home and sleep button the device doesn't reboot. It reboots on its own every 10 minutes or so. so right before the 10 minutes I start to hold both buttons. as soon as i see the apple logo disappear i let go of the sleep button keeping the home button pressed but the apple logo always pops back up. I'll keep trying. maybe my timings off. thanks for all your input.

Originally Posted by kadoogen

right before the 10 minutes I start to hold both buttons. as soon as i see the apple logo disappear i let go of the sleep button keeping the home button pressed but the apple logo always pops back up. I'll keep trying. maybe my timings off. thanks for all your input.

Hold down both buttons for 5 to 7 seconds after the screen goes black, then let go of the sleep/power button.

Also, before it got stuck in this boot-loop did both buttons work properly?