iTouch stuck in respring loop

[eggyolk]

I was using my iTouch just now and it got stuck in a respring loop (device keeps respring-ing), and right now I can't do anything to reboot it or get it out of the respring loop, since my home button is spoilt!

I'm on 4.3.3, and I was adding a keyboard (chinese simplified - handwriting) and when I tried to use the keyboard the dictionary app I was using crashed. I thought it was normal so I restarted the app and I tried using the keyboard again but the app crashed again. So I wanted to try typing into the spotlight search, just to test if anything was wrong or something, then my iTouch got stuck in a respring loop!

I've tried running the .dfu file but nothing happens, please help!

[ipodtouchman77]

Do you have SBSettings? If so, try going into safe mode. You hit "power" and select "safe mode". Then you can go into cydia and delete the keyboard. If this does not work, you may just want to restore. You can enter DFU manually by hold the sleep/wake button and home button for 10 seconds, and then releasing the power button and hold the home button for 30 seconds. Then you an restore in iTunes. You can also use iReb to Enter DFU. You can download it from ih8snow.com. Also, back to the problem above, you can try using iPhone Browser on your computer to SSH into your iPod and delete the Keyboard. You can get iPhone browser from a quick google search.good luck!

[eggyolk]

I couldn't go into DFU mode before because as I said my home button was spoilt, and the device kept respring-ing at intervals of 2 seconds or so, there was no way to access SBSettings.

Anyway I left it overnight to drain the battery, and it seems okay now! Thanks anyway!

[ipodtouchman77]

O ok, sorry I missed where it said your home button didnt work. Glad it works!

[pheriannath]

Hi guys,

I know this thread is many months old, but I'll still post here in the hopes that anybody else with the same problem will google this very page like I did.
After a few hours of digging around in my iPhone's innards, I've managed to discover the solution which I couldn't find online. As far as I know, this solution hasn't been published yet (most of the other posters with this problem end up restoring - ouch).
Maybe I haven't googled enough. But at least now this solution will better see the light of day and can help many more people.

(By the way, I'm in the exact same boat as the Original Poster - tried Chinese handwriting on spotlight search screen, home button spoilt, etc.)

As has been deduced by the OP (good job testing), the problem lies with the Chinese simplified - handwriting keyboard. But the problem isn't with the keyboard itself - rather, Springboard doesn't like Chinese very much, so it crashes and reboots itself. The main issue is that the moment you change your keyboard, a parameter representing the 'last keyboard used' will also change to reflect your choice.

So Springboard crashes, restarts, takes a look at that parameter, goes 'hey, this guy used a Chinese keyboard the last time so he'll probably want to start with it again' and helpfully starts you off with the Chinese keyboard. Then it discovers a second later that it can't stand Chinese and crashes all over again.

Repeat ad nauseam for the famous Respring Loop.

To fix this without restoring, you'll want a method to access your iPhone's file structure - ifunbox or SSH or whatever, it's your choice. You can do this while your iPhone is in the middle of its Respring Loop - no need to get it in recovery mode or anything.
Now take a look at /var/mobile/library/preferences/com.apple.preferences.plist.
I've put mine into this pastebin link: [XML] com.apple.preferences - Pastebin.com

Observe the strings below the following keys:
<key>KeyboardLastChosen</key>
<key>KeyboardLastUsed</key>

These parameters are what have been causing all this fuss. Change the strings to Apple's favourite US english:
<string>en_US@hw=US;sw=QWERTY</string>
and end your misery once and for all.

That's it. It took me hours of digging to diagnose & fix this, hopefully I can spare others the pain of having to do the same (or even DFU-ing and restoring).

Cheers.