HT201401 I just restored my iPhone and it worked, but it will not let me go any further (iTunes telling me "The iPhone you have connected may be damaged and cannot be activated") so I'm trying to find out how to get past this... Why is it "damaged"?

Question

It all started when one day all of a sudden the heat was bad here, and I sat in the car with the AC on and my phone on the dash board, charging. Next thing that happened was that when I got home I let my son play with it (which he always takes good care of it, watching youtube videos) and then later on that evening when I payed attention to the back of it, it looked super swollen. You could see where tears in the white backing of my iPhone were from whatever had caused this. I thought it was from the heat, just expanding the case. Well, it had obviously got too hot in the sun on the dashboard and over a few hours had almost got to the point of exploding. I did not know that just a little bit of heat from the sun could do that, so anyways.
I ordered a new battery online and replaced that, in the process loosing two screws, the two at the bottom which hold the LED touch screen in place. Although it doesn't move without the screws, I do need to replace those also. Everything works fine. Buttons, touch screen, I just think there might be a small problem with the mother board, from the battery swelling and causing it to bend, or even heating the metal on it. That would suck, total bummer.. Anyways, anyone with a solution or even a bit of advice, or just a suggestion please feel free to help. I have taken it apart one last time after I restored it, and cleaned it very little with alcohol, thinking that might be a problem, but still nothing yet...
I hope I get this phone working again, not use for a phone, but for games, music, and videos. Thank anyone for your help! It's greatly appreciated!
HOLLY

Answer 1

If things seem to be going haywire with your phone, it seems that it MAY be a software issue.
Now, that being said, that does not necessarily mean that it is a virus. Software issues do happen sometimes. It is probably just coincidence.
What you need to do is restore the device using iTunes. This will fix any software issues. After you have done this, you can restore from an iCloud backup.
iCloud does not back up the actual software, so no, the "virus" would not have gotten into the backups.
The link below provides steps on restoring your device using iTunes as well as how to restore from an iCloud backup.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1766
Don't worry! Everything should be back to normal if you follow these steps.