Non Restoring iPhone4 & 3GS iPod not working

[lordra]

My dear fellow modders,

I have been using a 32gb iPhone 3GS for a few months now, jail broken, OS 4.0.1, no trouble at all and thought I should get myself the iPhone 4. Which I did, a week ago. It was on OS 4.0, locked to T-Mobile, so my first thoughts were to jailbreak it and save the SHSH blobs on Cydia’s servers. The JB was done using jailbreakme.com. Cydia asked me to save my files and I said yes.

Now, after that happened, I proceeded to install all my apps and copy my music from my 3GS backup file. Now there was about 3 gig of music on my iPhone 4 but when I went to the iPod, it showed that there was no content and none of the buttons at the bottom were working either. I synced the 3GS and took a backup soon after and the 3GS too developed the same problem.

After reading stuff up online for a few days and trying everything I saw, short of deleting everything and doing a restore, I decided to follow up with the ‘Erase all content & data’ option, not knowing that it would delete the OS as well, on the iPhone 4.

So here’s the deal. I have a phone that just shows the apple logo is willing to go into both recovery and DFU mode; tiny umbrella says the following about it:
iPhone4 4.1(8B117)-1566433351
iPhone4 4.1(8B117)-83788964192
iPhone4 4.2.1 (8C148)-1566433351
iPhone4 4.2.1 (8C148)-837889641932
iPhone4 4.2b3 (8C5115c)-1566433351
iPhone4 4.2b3 (8C5115c)-837889641932
i.e., it has all these .shsh files saved.

Now, the last OS was 4.0 & I want to get back to that or to 4.0.1, or, worst case, last choice, 4.1. I know that the basebands were the old ones cos I bought it with OS 4.0.

I don’t want to restore to 4.2.1 as there is no unlock or un-tethered JB for it. And it may be buggy as well. Not to mention all the other baseband checks & what not. I’ve tried restoring to 4.0, 4.0.1 & 4.1. I have all the files. I have tried restoring with custom firmware made with sn0wbreeze (4.0.1 & 4.1), changed the hosts file using notepad and tried all 6 firmware files with 74.208.105.171 gs.apple.com, 74.208.10.249 gs.apple.com & 127.0.0.1 gs.apple.com (from Tiny Umbrella), one round with TinyU TSS server running and another round without TinyU TSS server.

None of this has worked and I am now left with a phone that boots into recovery mode straight away. Writing here was my last choice as I tried reading through the forums to find decent, reliable and sturdy fixes for my problems.

To sum up, iPhone 4 in recovery mode and iPhone 3GS with iPod not working (it was fine for so many months until this Monday). All my restores have ended with errors like 16, 21, 1161, etc.
I hope you guys can help.

[Simon]

Open tiny umbrella and run the TSS server. Make sure tiny umbrella doesnt give you any errors about port 80 when you open it. Then shift-click restore to 4.1. You should get a 1004 error near the end of the restore. At this point use tiny umbrella to kick it out of recovery. You should then be able to jailbreak with limera1n or greenpoison and install ultrasn0w to unlock.

[Orby]

May I suggest starting the iPhone 4's restore to a stock 4.1 file (using the TinyUmbrella method as described above to preserve baseband) from DFU mode and seeing if the errors continue? I have to warn you, error 28 usually refers to faulty hardware (dock connector, USB host, or flex cable inside the phone) and 1611 (device generally refused the restore ramdisk and pushed back into recovery mode) doesn't bode well either. (I've never seen a #16 error TBH).

For the 3GS, have you tried connecting the phone to iTunes, and playing a song on the device's song list (in iTunes)? Try that, and see if that causes the music to appear in the iPod app.

[lordra]

@X98CAR:
I forgot to mention, I use iReb to put the phone in DFU mode, is that ok? I do it all the time. I did exactly as you said. No errors on start up, started the server, did a shift+restore to stock 4.1. It starts restoring, the apple logo appears on the screen with the bar beneath it, but at about half way thru, it stops, goes off, error shows up, and the phone reboots into restore mode. The error I got this time was 6.
Please not that I have left iReb and TinyU running during this whole process. No other application was running as well.

When I stop the TSS server, I can see a Recovery Device in TinyU but when I use it to kick it out of recovery, the iPhone boots back into normal recovery mode.

Do I have my blob files saved for 4.1 then? What about 4.0? Or 4.0.1?

May I suggest starting the iPhone 4's restore to a stock 4.1 file (using the TinyUmbrella method as described above to preserve baseband) from DFU mode and seeing if the errors continue? I have to warn you, error 28 usually refers to faulty hardware (dock connector, USB host, or flex cable inside the phone) and 1611 (device generally refused the restore ramdisk and pushed back into recovery mode) doesn't bode well either. (I've never seen a #16 error TBH).

For the 3GS, have you tried connecting the phone to iTunes, and playing a song on the device's song list (in iTunes)? Try that, and see if that causes the music to appear in the iPod app.

I have done the method that x98car suggested, both in DFU mode and in Restore mode as well. At both installations, the install bar stops half way and then the error message 'iPhone could not be restored, #6 ' comes up, phone goes back into recovery.

With regards to the 3GS, I connect the phone in, play music from it, the music does show in iTunes, but not on the phone. I tried rebooting after I did this but it still does not work.

Further advice?
thanks for everything, x98car & orbyorb.

[Simon]

You shouldnt be using ireb at all for this process. ireb is for restoring to custom firmwares. Try the process again (reboot computer first) and just do what I said using tiny umbrella only.

[lordra]

1.Rebooted system
2.Put phone in DFU mode
3.Opened TinyU
4.Started TSS server
5.Opened iTunes.
6.Clicked 'check' for the first box
7.Clicked 'ok' for the second
8.Shift+restore to iPhone3,1_4.1_8B117_Restore
9.Process starts, phone screen flashes white & apple logo and progress bar shows up.
10.At 3/4 way through, it stops, disappears, phone reboots into Recovery Mode, iTunes shows error 1004.
11.Use TinyU to kick device out of recovery while the TSS server is still running.
12.Apple logo shows up, then a download bar, then the apple logo again.
13.The phones asks to be connected to iTunes, this is not in Recovery Mode as there is network signal at the top left and a lock icon on the centre top, with the battery meter on the top right.
14.In the meantime, iTunes has stopped responding so I have had to use Task Manager to shut it down and start it again.
15.iPhone gets activated and starts to sync as a New Phone.

@X98CAR: Thank you SO much. That was my problem then. I kept going to DFU using iReb when I shouldn't have. Thanks for all the help! This is SUCH a relief! THANK YOU!

Now, the only thing that remains is the iPod not working issue on my 3GS. Let this sync first and I will tell you if the same problem comes up on my 4.

@orbyorb: Thank you for your time! I hope you can help me sort the iPod issue out for my 3GS.

16.Version 4.1(8117), baseband is 01.59.00

Update:
The newly restored iPhone 4 has the same problem as the 3GS. The music in the iPod app does not work. When I connect it to iTunes I can play it through the computer. But I can't play anything through the phone.

HELP!

[Simon]

Are you restoring a backup every time you restore? If so that may be bringing back your issue every time. You need to restore and setup as new. Make sure you have synced any contacts or photos you have to your computer first though so that you can sync them back after.

[lordra]

Are you restoring a backup every time you restore? If so that may be bringing back your issue every time. You need to restore and setup as new. Make sure you have synced any contacts or photos you have to your computer first though so that you can sync them back after.

Yes, I have set this up as a new phone and have synced only contacts & apps. I did not restore from a backup, but keeping what you said in mind, I created a NEW iPhone, when iTunes asked.
What else can I do?

[Simon]

Maybe try syncing it to another computer.

[lordra]

@x98Car:
I installed iTunes 10.1 on a new desktop, logged into my itunes account, authorized the computer and then synced the files (apps & music). The music that was on the phone was erased completely and the library from the new PC was put onto the iPhone 4.

This solved the problem. I've done the same on the 3GS as well. It works. However, this is a short term fix. I've uninstalled and reinstalled iTunes on my PC but the same problem remains.

I also realized that when I play the songs on my phone thru iTunes, the song starts off from the middle and there are silent spaces towards the end. Error msgs like 'Cannot copy to the device, the driver could not be found' or something along those lines keep cropping up.

What can I do to fix my iTunes now that I know that its not either of the Phones?

[Simon]

Not too sure how to fix your itunes. Try googling how you can completely uninstall then install it again.

[lordra]

@x98car:
I wanted to do a full restore to OS 4.1 and I followed the exact same steps that I wrote down but I have error 6 instead. What can I do?

[Simon]

Check here for error 6:iTunes Errors - The iPhone Wiki

[lordra]

I've done all the errors solutions that was on that webpage. I tried taking it to another computer but I still get error 6. The phone then goes into restore mode again.

Also, when I try putting it in DFU mode, tiny umbrella doesn't show a device connected. Only when its in recovery mode does TU recognize it.

So I now have the same iPhone 4 in normal restore mode with repeated error 6 msgs.
The msg from the site, to quote, is "Not enter the downgrading mode, change USB port (the back one of chassis is better) and restart computer."
I'm on a laptop and have tried all my ports. I tried DFU as well as recovery mode too. Did many restarts.
Help?

[Simon]

Have you tried the other computer?

[lordra]

UPDATE!
You are SO NOT going to believe this. I just had a brainwave & thought that I should change to another Apple USB cable. And that actually bloody worked!
WHOOOO!
I had the 1004 error and I used TU & the phone is back to normal. Sheeeesh. Who would've thought!!!
Thanks so much for all the help x98car. That was what error 6 was about!
I'm going to change it in Wiki.
Cheers!

[Simon]

I wouldnt change it because it still may be what is there. But you can certainly add to it that the cable can cause error 6 too.

[lordra]

That's what I meant. But it would seem that the moderator has closed comments for the thread so I don't seem to be able to make the change or add anything else.
Thanks though!

[Simon]

That sux. Seems like it would be a useful addition. Glad you are up and running.