ios5 update failed & now my phone is bricked!

J.J. · Oct 12, 2011

Yeah...just tried to update a few hours ago via itunes. I ended up getting a message saying the update failed, so I tried to restore the phone. The restore failed & then the phone would no longer appear in itunes when plugged in the USB port. I unplugged it & tried turning it on several times to no avail. Looks like I'll be headed out to my local AT&T store for a new phone.

I sure hope no one else has experienced this kind of trouble.

Skull One · Oct 12, 2011

You can't brick an iPhone. So your phone is just fine. It simply doesn't have a proper boot loader and firmware loaded.

All you need to do is put the phone in DFU mode and restore it. Please you Google to find out how to do this.

f4780y · Oct 12, 2011

Or, even better, use our sticky - http://www.iphoneforums.net/forum/iphone-jailbreaking-17/dfu-mode-dummies-16020/

Skull One · Oct 12, 2011

Thank you f4780y. I'll try to remember that link from now on

justin.j · Oct 12, 2011

Take it to apple store they will give u a new one for free

Skull One · Oct 12, 2011

justin.j said:
Take it to apple store they will give u a new one for free

No, they will give you a refurbished one unless they are out of them. And in the particular case, they would simply do a DFU restore since there is nothing physically wrong with the phone.

Dave12308 · Oct 12, 2011

justin.j said:
Take it to apple store they will give u a new one for free

And why would you do that? A link to the proper way to fix this issue has been posted in this thread (and multiple times, I may add).

Why would you go through all that trouble when it only takes 30 seconds to get into DFU mode and fix it without leaving the house?

justin.j · Oct 12, 2011

Dave12308 said:
And why would you do that? A link to the proper way to fix this issue has been posted in this thread (and multiple times, I may add).

Why would you go through all that trouble when it only takes 30 seconds to get into DFU mode and fix it without leaving the house?

Well im only sayin because they give me a new one. Not a refurbished one.

Skull One · Oct 12, 2011

justin.j said:
Well im only sayin because they give me a new one. Not a refurbished one.

Which means they were out of refurbs. That does happen since the iPhone is very popular.

Dreadnought · Oct 12, 2011

Well you are not the only one. I am facing the same issue. All I get is "1611 iPhone cannot be restored". I am going to try the DFU trick later in the evening. Will let you guys know what happens. I just hope it works

kobelup · Oct 13, 2011

I started the update at 2 pm and took 2 tries to get it downloaded. Then my phone wouldn't restore, then it got stuck in recovery. I was able to update my wife's phone in less then 45 min. Around 6pm I was able to start the restore and an hour later it was done. I had to update my pc ( buying a MacBook after Christmas) turn off my security and try several times to recover.

Dreadnought · Oct 13, 2011

kobelup said:
I started the update at 2 pm and took 2 tries to get it downloaded. Then my phone wouldn't restore, then it got stuck in recovery. I was able to update my wife's phone in less then 45 min. Around 6pm I was able to start the restore and an hour later it was done. I had to update my pc ( buying a MacBook after Christmas) turn off my security and try several times to recover.

Did it work after PC update and turning off security settings?

Col.bris · Oct 13, 2011

We offer solutions that work trust us ok. We are proud of the fact that our team plus hundreds of experisnce uses can resolve most issues without a problem. Taking a dead iphone to Apple is not the answer when it is software related. This is no different with a laptop or tower with soft ware issues my point is simple ask us first........

Also wait a day or so before upgrading it may resolve your issues.

Dreadnought · Oct 13, 2011

Ok, I tried the DFU method. Here is what happens:

As soon as I get into the DFU mode (I don't see the plug + iTunes logo), iTunes says something like "iPhone is in recovery mode, Need tor restore it". When I click restore and update, it starts the restore. It says "verifying restore with Apple" for some time. It then says "preparing iPhone for restore" and my phone shows a progress bar. This continues for abt 2-3 minutes (with no progress). Then the phone sort of restarts, and iTunes shows the dreaded 1611 error and the phone is back in recovery mode (plug + iTunes logo).

Can anyone shed some light as to what's going on?