iphone 3g - dead battery or fried logic board?(battery doesnt charge/1604 on restore)

My phone is completely unresponsive when not plugged in. When I plug it into a computer or wall socket, the red empty battery comes up with the charging symbol, but it never charges. If I unplug the phone while the red battery is on the screen, it 'dims' to less than 50% illumination, and slowly fades to black. When I try to restore simply by clicking restore from itunes, i get a white screen, then the apple logo (the first time I got so excited), then about 30 seconds in, the mini spinning wheel appears for a brief second, and then the phone dies/disconnects, and I eventually get a 1604 error. I have tried every known solution I could find online, with no luck. I've concluded that at least one of the parts inside is fried, but I'm not sure where to start. Does this sound like a battery that isn't holding charge, or a completely fried logic board?

Another thought. When I see the red/dead battery, holding home/sleep for a while eventually just shuts it off, whereas I'm reading many others who do this get the slide bar confirmation first? This leads me to believe its a logic board issue?

I had the exact same problem with my iphone.

Your post was the only one I saw with the exact problem as mine.

Did you get it working?

Does not sound like a fried board. Could be a bad battery or a bad charging dock. You can replace either easily and both are relatively inexpensive. If you want tips on how to do it PM me I will be happy to help you. If you want me to do it for you go to my site MC2 iPhone Repair Birmingham, AL select diagnostic service and ship it to me.

I have the drained battery thats red with a little icon that looks like electricity, then when i unplug the charger it shows the charger logo...

Once in a while the screen boots up, but the slide to unlock is all white, this happens for about 5 seconds then the screen goes back to the battery.

Can anyone help. Please email me Zadythomas@yahoo.com

Like you, I have had the same experience and there does not seem to be anyone willing or knowing how to get this problem fixed. Unfortunately for me and possibly you, the next phase gets worse as my phone will now not even boot at all. No recognition in Itunes on any machine that I have. I went from 1.0.2 to 1.1.1.If you do manage to get it sorted, I would appreciate knowing what you did