iPhone 12 pro max no WiFi, Bluetooth, or cellular data
Hi there, I'm trying to save my phone that's been giving me serious trouble. Initially, these restart episodes only happened occasionally - maybe once every few weeks - and when the phone was working properly, everything functioned perfectly.
I tried updating to iOS 26 and also updated my Apple Watch, but the phone became even more unstable with constant restarts. I had to keep power cycling it, so I rolled back to iOS 18.5, which stabilized things. Even then, I had to restart the phone dozens of times just to get WiFi options to appear when signing into iCloud. However, now my Apple Watch won't pair anymore (and I've completely lost NFC functionality - the phone just doesn't detect it at all, though I can live without this since I can always use my Apple Watch for payments).
After two weeks, I attempted installing iOS 26 beta 6 from iOS 18.5 (I had previously tried iOS 26 beta 2), hoping the issues might be resolved, but the same problems returned - shutdowns followed by complete connectivity loss. I've since downgraded to iOS 18.6 since 18.5 is no longer supported.
My theory is that overheating triggers the shutdowns, which somehow disables the network radios. Sometimes while listening to music through Bluetooth, after a few minutes the phone would shut down, but after 2-5 attempts of turning the phone back on, the connections would return - as if the phone needed to be hot for the connections to work properly. I suspect the WiFi antenna might be causing the resets, so I've ordered a replacement and want to attempt the repair myself. However, I'm struggling with the disassembly.
From YouTube tutorials, the component I need to access should come off with the screen assembly, but mine doesn't seem to work that way. There's also this additional metal frame surrounding the phone that's blocking access to screws (like a metal cover over the camera module). Is this standard on all iPhones, or some kind of water damage protection?
I'd really appreciate guidance on which screws to remove or a link to a proper tutorial. The last time the phone restarted on iOS 26 beta 6, it was just sitting on my desk, and when I saw the Apple logo appear and realized it had restarted itself, I knew I was in for a rough few days ahead. I simply can't afford to have random restarts where I lose access to cellular data and WiFi, forcing me to restart the phone ten or even hundreds of times. I'm trying to repair it myself because I think the repair costs would gradually exceed the phone's actual value. If I can't manage to fix it, unfortunately I'll have to buy a new one.
Thanks in advance for any tips and advice that will help me repair the phone! Have a great weekend! (Sorry for the photo quality - taken with an iPhone 6s Plus while trying to repair his older brother.)
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