Four days old and my iPhone has crashed and won’t come back to life. It does not turn on when unplugged from USB cable or power adapter. When plugged into either of those, it starts up with the Apple logo for a few seconds, then goes black for a few seconds, then comes back to the Apple logo again, repeating the same thing all over and caught in an endless reboot/restart loop.
I tried restarting the iPhone by holding both the Home and Sleep/Wake buttons, as described in Apple’s iPhone help – but that’s simply meant to restart a stuck iPhone. Because the iPhone is caught in an endless loop iTunes does not recognize it, which means it cannot be restored.
I assumed there has to be some way to force the iPhone into recovery mode, so on a whim I held the Home and Sleep/Wake buttons through two of the restart cycles (about fifteen seconds) and got a yellow alert icon that instructed:
Please Connect to iTunes.iTunes found the iPhone and stated: iTunes has detected an iPhone in recovery mode. You must restore this iPhone before it can be used with iTunes.
iTunes then downloaded a software update. I clicked the Restore button and iTunes presented a warning message: Are you sure you want to restore the iPhone “iPhone” to its factory settings? All of your songs and other data will be erased, and the newest version of the iPhone software will be installed.
I clicked the Restore and Update button and iTunes popped up the message: Preparing iPhone for restore…
The iPhone then got caught in the endless restart loop again, trying over and over, until finally iTunes gave up after about two minutes and gave me the message: The iPhone “iPhone” could not be restored. An unknown error occurred (1603).
I’ll be going to the AT&T store where I purchased the iPhone with the hope that they’ll simply replace it with a new one, though whether they even have a replacement in stock remains to be seen.Stay tuned for updates.
Update (3:36 pm): I called the AT&T store where I bought the iPhone and the very helpful manager, Jason, said customers with bum iPhones must contact Apple for support. I contacted Apple by way of a public relations contact and was told someone would call me to take care of the unwell iPhone. While awaiting the call from Apple I decided to drive over to the Apple Store in Atlantic City to see if they could help more immediately.
As it turned out the Apple support person who called was going to have me do exactly that, go to the Apple Store, to meet with Sean, the very friendly and pro manager on staff.
Nate patched Sean in on our call and he was on the phone with us as I walked into the Apple store. We hung up on Nate and took care of the phone.Sean grabbed a new, unopened iPhone from the back, same as my defective 8 GB model, and then turned me over to two guys named Chris who were working the Genius Bar.
Transferring my phone account from one device to another took a couple of minutes. Out of curiosity I asked if we could see if we could get the defective iPhone to show up on a Mac (since I was using it on a Vista PC when all of this started) so we could restore it. Not because I wanted the phone back, but rather because I wanted to know for sure that my personal data would be erased and not viewable by others, whether at the Apple store or by the service persons at wherever the iPhone would wind up.
We tried to restore it, but no luck. As earlier, the device kept cycling through the Apple logo in an attempt to restart, over and over. One of the Chris guys said he couldn’t get it into recovery mode, and so I showed him that you have to hold the Wake/Sleep and Home buttons for more than a few seconds until it cycles at least once, and I think twice, before it then puts up that alert triangle icon and tells you to connect to iTunes (see above).
As such, we chose the recovery option from iTunes running on a MacBook, it appeared to be doing something, then the iPhone shut off and iTunes reported the same error as earlier on the Vista PC: The iPhone “iPhone” could not be restored. An unknown error occurred (1603). Chris was about to open the new iPhone box to move my SIM from the defective phone to the new one, but I said I’d already done that. (Before leaving I popped it into my the excellent Nokia 6682 that the iPhone was replacing, and yes, your iPhone-activated AT&T SIM does pop out and work on another AT&T/Cingular phone or, in my case, an unlocked phone.) So I left the store feeling reassured that a brand new iPhone was replacing the defective one – but not very reassured that my data on the iPhone I was leaving behind (contacts, calendar, notes, Safari bookmarks and email) was gone. Had the iPhone died totally and wiped whatever was in memory? Or would Apple’s service team wipe it out, as part of a company policy? I don’t know the answer to that latter question, but I will find out soon after Apple’s PR department gets back to me.
I also asked what do customers who are not in range of an Apple Store do. I guess with any data device there’s a risk of personal information being at risk when said device needs to be sent in for repair. And like other SIM-based phones, the owner must part with the device if it needs repairs, but can generally use the SIM on a replacement phone.
Will Apple offer a replacement phone in the repair process? The AT&T store manager Jason said it isn’t AT&T’s policy to offer customers a temporary replacement phone when a phone is being repaired.Meanwhile, I popped my SIM card out of the Nokia and into the iPhone. It said to connect to iTunes to activate. I plugged the iPhone into the dock, let iTunes find it, and about a minute later it was activated without any additional input from me. iTunes synced all of my data from the automatic backup iTunes made this morning, before the first iPhone failed.Stay tuned for additional updates.
Update (4:43 pm): Just got off the phone with an Apple PR contact. She sent me a link to Apple’s iPhone Service: Frequently Asked Questions - which pretty much answered all of my questions. So, if you’re in the first 30 days you can walk into an Apple store and get a replacement if your iPhone is considered “DOA” like mine was. After 30 days you go through the service-by-mail option, by which you’ll ship your iPhone to Apple (minus your SIM) for service, and they’ll ship it back to you when it’s fixed. You have the option of renting a replacement iPhone for $29 while yours is being repaired.
As for AT&T, a spokeswoman for the company said an iPhone you’re unhappy with can be returned for a refund (minus a 10% restocking fee) within 14 days of purchase, but replacing or repairing a defective phone must be taken up with Apple.
In sum: I was lucky the Apple Store had a replacement 8 GB iPhone in stock to swap for my defective one. I was unlucky, however, on my way out of Caesars Casino on my way back to the parking garage. I slipped a $10 bill into one of the nickel slots, pressed the first button I saw (labeled 8X), watched the digital reels spin and come to a stop, and wound up with “Game Over” with nothing more to go on with or about – which is an apt conclusion for this story, as well. (Or so I hope.)
Thanks to all who took my calls and to those who dealt with me in person, and have a great July 4th holiday.
And wait a minute….I’m not finished yet! I CANNOT believe that they don’t have support yet on this issue! Admit it – They DON’T! They can’t figure out what’s wrong when you take it to the store. I suppose they expect iPhone owners to think that they are idiots and that they do not understand iPhone “technology”. Is that it? I’ve waited more than a week for resolution on this one. Personally when something like this happens I would expect the store to be able to take care of the issue so the customer doesn’t get unhappy. And if they couldn’t hush it up quick, I’d have to assume that they really don’t know how to fix the issue.
thank you sooooo much i jailbroked my phone it got stuck in the loop, the only difference that worked for me is hold the buttons when it is in the cradle connected to the computer.
thanks again!!
ive tried anything and everythong on the web and cant fix it still :(
hey yall i had the same problem but i didnt have to do all that though all i did was put it in recovery mode from the computer and all it took was about three to five minutes i got it fixed
I have the continuous 1603 error after trying to restore, tried all the remove SIM / use diff. USB port / use diff. PC etc – to no avail. This happened when updating iPhone to the v3.0. Off to shout at the people in the o2 shop now…
CTRL+Restore did the job for me!!! (and I had tried EVERYTHING else by that point)
I struggled with 3.1 last night, when you do CTRL+Restore you can manually navigate to the update file rather than letting Itunes do that bit for you.
(the updates download to somewhere like C:\documents&settings\user\application data\itunes\itunes updates or something like that)
as may of you I got the same problem, but since I`m in a country with no Apple Store to take my iPhone to (and not even whanted) I just whanted to share my problem and solution jsut in case can help some one desperated like I was…
My phone was rebooting, not even was able to sinc with iTunes, it shuted down before it, i tried to download the update from the iTunes after holding down PWR and HOME button, them only HOME, but the iTunes took more than 3 h to download the file, by then my phone was way goneeee.
My solution was, download the OS 3.0 file before, than plug iPhone on USB (by the way I use PC) then hold down PWR and HOME button, after 6sec only HOME, then it asked me to plug in on iTunes, I SHIFT+Clic on RESTORE and selected the file, after that was just follow the same steps of cracking again. Thanks again for all the posts here, I read them all, but unfortunatly none of them worked for mine situation, If I´m able to solve one more ploblem like this by my self I~m send my resume to Steve Jobs…cheers
same happened to my iphone, just stayed on the apple logo on start up.i held the home and sleep buttons down together and nothing,plugged into itunes no response.then after reading this i thought i would plug into itunes and then hold down sleep and home buttons, held for about 30 seconds.it went through a couple of cycles of the logo coming on and of then suddenly connected to itunes and i pressed restore the rest is history. hope this could be of any use to anyone. good luck
i seem to be having a problem with my iphone3g. as i was on cydia and trying to download an app from there and successfully doing so. It than asked to reboot phone so i went on and pressed reboot phone….the only thing that appears on my screen is the apple logo…if there is anyone with intelligence to helping me with this issue, please let me know…i’ll check back on this page in a little bit.
I have the same problem just like Mr Rage. I downloaded an aplication that enabled the mms on my 2G iphone, it installed the application, ask to reboot the device, and now only appears the apple logo. No strange noise, no itunes no computer detect, NO NOTHING… if i press the power and home button simultanious it shuts it down. But if we turn in on only apple logo.
I had firmware 3.1 and unlocked and unjail. It was working well after this happens. Can someone try to help me. I cant restore it at all. Is there any software that can detect the phone even if he is turned off, so we can re-flash it with its own firmware. i really downt care about the firmware version, i only want the phone be working again…
Hey , i have exactly the same problem Mr.Rage described ….. any soloutin
Mr.Rage maybe you can tell me what u did u do ….. :(
Hey,
I got a iphone 3gs unlocked and when I downloaded cydia it wanted to reboot and goes to recovery loope all the time and i have to reset the iphone…getting tierd of doing this 20+ times.
Any help to get rid of the recovery loope ???
thanks, it helped!
Hi,
I was having similar problem like Joe just that my iPhone was working fine for the last 20 months. It crashed yesterday and went into an endless cycle of rebooting.
Anyways, here is what I did that fixed my problem:
I took this sim out.
Put the phone in recovery mode (by holding the power and home button for 20 seconds) and let iTunes restore it.
Within 20 minutes of downloading the new software/firmware, iTunes put my phone back to the factory setting and then I was able to restore it back to my original setting.
Hope this could be of any use to anyone.
Good Luck
Exactly what I have just done after trying to restore through the phone alone (I am selling it as have a new one).
Plugged into itunes, held down sleep and home and it is now restored through itunes!
Having the same problem today after resetting network settings (on advice from Vodafone Australia when I couldn’t get 3G access). The poor thing kept booting all day with no result. Got home, put into the Mac- no response. Then:
1. Take out the SIM
2. While plugged in, hold the HOME and POWER button
3. Once phone blanks out and goes to black, take you finger off the POWER button, but continue pressing hold
4. iTunes should start jumping after a few minutes, asking you to restore iPhone
I’ll probably still try and get a replacement under warranty…I just didn’t need an Apple repairperson finding my mobile porn ;)
ahhh.. Adam – u are my hero.. Thank you.. my phone has finally gone into reboot mode!
thanks so much adam!!! you are a lifesaver! if only i could still have my pics. but oh well, at least my phone is back :)
Joe, u rock…..im glad u mentioned about the cycles, cuz when u lift the sleep button after 10 seconds, the thing does nothin. ur comment about holding it down thru a couple cycles is right on the mark.
I have a 32gb iphone 3gs new and i cant restore it PLEEZ HELP
thanks a ton man that helped for me……
I have a 2g iphone and its stock in the recovery mode and when i tried to restore it in itunes it always get an error 14 “unknown error has occured your iphone cant be restore” i tried every thing in the web, still got the same problem… please help…
SOLUTION
Boot Loop on Jailbroken iPhone
Problem:
- iPhone is stuck in boot loop. Apple logo, black screen, apple logo, black screen, and so on.
- Your iPhone was jailbroken, and you do not want to lose your jailbreak by restoring and updating via iTunes.
Solution:
- Put your iPhone in recovery mode (*NOT* DFU): Hold home and power. Your iPhone ‘resets’, but keep holding those buttons. When the apple logo appears, release the power button. After a while, the recovery logo (“plug into iTunes”) appears. Release the home button.
- Connect the iPhone to your PC. Do NOT run iTunes.
- Run the software you originally used to jailbreak your iPhone. Redsn0w 0.8 worked for me. Choose the EXACT same firmware file you originally used to jailbreak your iPhone. Let redsn0w do its work.
- If the phone doesn’t reboot itself, hold home and power until it resets. You’re good to go!
This saved ALL my data. :)
Apparently, something had gone wrong in the iPhone’s boot section. The jailbreaking process seems to change something in the boot section, and in doing so it restores the boot process. Result: boot process fixed, all data retained.
i got an error messages (14) just like ronald…what should i do?any suggestion?
So basically your phone broke and you brought it in for repair…the point of threads like this is to find a resolution without going to such lengths…obviously this is an option…so theres no way to fix an iphone thats doing this??
Same issue, it looped rebooting once and again. All started because I equired to restore my 3G phone as my 3GS died from a battery charger issue. The old 3G is 16MB and the new 3GS is 32 and I had more stuff than 16 MB. When restoring it started to do the weird looping. Fortunately I had the iphone backed up in a second computer where no 3GS was used and it restored OK and Now its workinf fine. Thank you all for your ideas anyway, this worked for me (OS 4.0)
same case with me …….keeps rebooting….any solution except restoring !!
Response for Prince the solution that Pete gave back in May actually works if you have redsn0w, after you have it in recovery mode follow the instructions in redsn0w and that worked for mine
same case here also but my question is can i download the update then after i connect the phone or does have to done simultaneously? ? cause the update is taking too long and the phone goes back to rebooting mode
Hello,
I found a very interesting way to downgrade the software of an iphone !!!
So all the people stuck with the restarting problem you can go back by using this method !
You just have to drain your battery and leave your Iphone off without charging for 5-7 days !!!!
And then everything will be reinitialized the date, the hour and the IOS !!!!
The unlock seems to be working from ios 4 the only thing missing is Cydia !!!
Kind regards,
Mohamed
thnx buddy
god bless you with iphones
i was downloading the new software when my beloved laptop, god bless, it decided to overheat and shut down. the iphone was stuck on the loading screen with nothing effecting it in the least bit. after having my heart attack i decided to look it up on the internet before i throw my laptop in the fireplace. i came across this and forunately for me, holding the two buttons worked and it restored everything, lost some of the data because it wasnt backed up but oh well. i just want to say thank you because i was panicing like a dog thats about to be neutered.
apple logo keeps on popping on and off. ipod not recogonised by itunes. what can i do?
my iphone have multiple issues! the home button stopped working days before it started the booting loop, my mac crashed 2 weeks before all this! everything data i have is in the iphone i really need help with this phone guys, i dont want to lose my whole data, but if its the last option i will do that, but pleas is there anyway i can drain the battery out
Hey it works… there is another way to reinitialize the dates, hours and iOS
by open it up and disconnect all the connector no. 4,5 & 6 in the logic board then leave it for 5-10mins
then proceed to restore… and it works
hi guys
i have iphone 3gs,i updated it to a new v4.3.5 it worked but after some minutes it started rebooting,i tried everything but nothing i even tried to downgrade to v4.1 but it gives me error 29 and sometime 1015,please any one who have an idea,help me …i have not jailbreak it and its v before is 3.1.2….help
I have done everything people having been saying and it still isn’t working. I hate iPhone so much. Help me.
A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and gets to bed at night, and in between he does what he wants to do.