iPhone 3gs stuck on Apple logo with Spinning wheel

[hoodrabbit]

My iPhone is stuck on the apple logo with a spinning wheel underneath it. Not sure what happened, I've tried restoring etc. firmware loads and installs, then just goes back to apple logo. Itunes can recognize it and sync with it as well. Please help!

[i.Annie]

It'd be easier to help you if you could provide information such as the firmware version the device was on before and what firmware version you had used to restore with.

[hoodrabbit]

3gs new bootrom on 4.3.3 and I tried using 4.3.3 to restore it.

[i.Annie]

Youre using stock firmware right?

[hoodrabbit]

Yeah, it was jailbroken and now its on ofw.

[iYeow]

So are you are home screen or emergency ? If you are either activate it with official sim and jailbreak it with Redsn0w RC18.

[hoodrabbit]

I'm on the apple logo, it wont move. My itunes see's and recognizes my iphone but it won't budge from the screen. My sleep and home buttons don't work but If I use RecBoot and put it in restore mode both buttons work.

[i.Annie]

Did you happen to have the iPad baseband installed?

[Orby]

Did you happen to have the iPad baseband installed?

May I also suggest letting the iPhone battery drain fully (or opening the phone and physically disconnecting the battery from the phone for five minutes, strongly discouraged unless you know exactly what you're doing and don't mind voiding your warranty) and then trying a DFU restore to custom firmware (custom firmware is required if you have the iPad baseband or an unlockable old baseband, official is okay as well as custom if you don't).

[jcitme]

um, guys, he is stuck on a respring loop. that spinny circle you see is the iphone respringing.

you should google "iphone respring loop" to get an idea of what happened to your phone. there are quite a few ways of getting into this situation, however, so there are many different ways to fix it.

the most surefire way you have to fix it is to restore it, but then again you wouldn't be asking here
if this happened out of the blue, not say after you installed some file in cydia, one way that worked for me is to hold down the power and home button at the same time (kind of like going into DFU) so the iphone resets (turns off and goes to the apple logo) and then let go, count to 3, and hold down the home button. letting it go means it won't go to DFU mode, but idk why holding the home button works. if all goes well and you have mobilesubstrate installed, your springboard should load in safe mode without crashing. Try removing some programs or something then, hopefully that will fix your problem.

report back if this works!

edit: i wrote this post because i am pretty sure his problems aren't related to the ipad bb, and the fact that taking the battery out would be a pretty dumb idea. not to knock on the previous post, but a knowlege of the iphone boot process means that if he can see something on the screen means he already moved pass iBoot, which means he can go into DFU. so if he plugs the iphone into a computer, holds down home and power (to reset the phone) and then KEEPS home held down (to go to DFU mode, unlike my directions to break out of a respring loop which requires letting go of the home button) he should be able to restore his phone just fine. barring any hardware problems, say water damage, of course, but in that case he'd be screwed anyways without popping the case open...

[i.Annie]

Right, but in order to find out what the best method to a successful restore requires knowing what the status of the device is. If it has the iPad baseband it cannot have a standard restore to stock firmware.

If the iPad baseband is not incorporated, the issue can be related to pointing to the wrong server. It could also relate to a corrupt firmware, it could be an incomplete restore, it could be problems due to restoring from backup, it could be numerous things. That's why it's important to ask these questions.

[jcitme]

Right, but in order to find out what the best method to a successful restore requires knowing what the status of the device is. If it has the iPad baseband it cannot have a standard restore to stock firmware.

If the iPad baseband is not incorporated, the issue can be related to pointing to the wrong server. It could also relate to a corrupt firmware, it could be an incomplete restore due to restoring from backup, it could be numerous things. That's why it's important to ask these questions.

oh, sorry. well i wasn't advocating a restore, since a respring loop can be broken out of as long as mobilesubstrate can enter safe mode

[i.Annie]

It seems to be in a boot loop rather than anything else. The fact that iTunes recognizes it in that state though is weird as when in boot loops it usually won't.

It's even more odd that a standard restore to stock fw doesn't fix the problem, hence why I'm curious if the iPad baseband was installed.

The best recommendation I can give is probably to use a custom firmware or another copy of the stock fw to see where that goes.

[jcitme]

that's probably true, the itunes stock fw is a weird problem.

on that note, i shake my fist at apple, i have a 3GS and need it unlocked as well but i need the gps... sigh.

edit: i still feel like it's a respring loop, since the spinny circle doesn't show up on a boot loop. did he setup the iphone as new after a restore or did he restore from backup?

[i.Annie]

That's what I'm wondering If a restore from backup was done.

The spinning wheel can occur in a boot loop, it loads then attempts to pull up the OS but can't so it keeps spinning. But I'm not sure which it is then.

As for you, I heard Apple is releasing factory unlocked phones in the US consider saving up for one. Starts at $649 I believe.

[jcitme]

That's what I'm wondering If a restore from backup was done.

The spinning wheel can occur in a boot loop, it loads then attempts to pull up the OS but can't so it keeps spinning. But I'm not sure which it is then.

As for you, I heard Apple is releasing factory unlocked phones in the US consider saving up for one. Starts at $649 I believe.

:/ that's about $580 too much, qq.

[i.Annie]

Lol sell your current phone and that'll knock what? $200+ off? Honestly I think at this point a factory unlocked is the best investment for anyone who doesn't want to stick with official carrier bc all this software unlocking and fear of upgrading stuff is just so much of a hassle. It used to be easier back a year ago but not anymore apparently.

[jcitme]

Lol sell your current phone and that'll knock what? $200+ off? Honestly I think at this point a factory unlocked is the best investment for anyone who doesn't want to stick with official carrier bc all this software unlocking and fear of upgrading stuff is just so much of a hassle. It used to be easier back a year ago but not anymore apparently.

actually it sounds easier nowadays to buy an locked iphone 4 and a gevey ultra. how much is that?

[i.Annie]

Well if you're on a budget then absolutely

There are downsides to it though. Personally I'd get a factory unlocked so I never have to worry about it again, bc Gevey just quit producing for iPhone 3G/3GS at 2.2. Who knows if they'll quit for iPhone 4 after this. Or after a certain firmware release in the future.

But right now it is a good solution, just sucks for 3G/3GS users bc there isn't anything for those

[jcitme]

grrrr. i know
are there any gevey alternatives? this is a market you'd least expect a monopoly...