Unlocking Disaster - please help

Lumi

Hopefully someone can help or advise me
This morning I attenpted to unlock my iPhone after I received the go ahead txt from O2. I put in a 3 sim, connected to iTunes & synced but no joy. I repeated the process about 5 times and then , after reading the O2 forum went ahead and did a restore.
It seemed to be going ok but then I got a backup failed message. I think that I had left the 3 Sim in the phone if that's relevant.
I then repeated the restore attempt & this time the O2 sim was definitely in my phone.
I now have an iPhone that basically will not work. It does not recognise my O2 sim and will not connect to any network.
Also, it will not even allow me to set it up as a new phone even as a last resort.
It looks like I've lost all of my business contacts & photos and have been left with a useless brick and all because I decided to unlock.
Can anyone help - please
I'd really appreciate any

kjl

just to clear up, does the computer recognise the phone?

It shouldn't matter about the 3 sim card, it wont check it until its been restored anyway.

Lumi

kjl wrote: »

just to clear up, does the computer recognise the phone?

It shouldn't matter about the 3 sim card, it wont check it until its been restored anyway.

No, it doesn't - I'm attempting to restore it yet again as I type but each time I get backup failed. It won't even allow me to set it up asa new phone.
I have apps downloaded from iTunes Uk ie Spotify & the US ie Photobucket
Could that be the problem ??

kjl

right, so if its not being recognised by the computer, how are you putting it into restore mode?

Lumi

kjl wrote: »

right, so if its not being recognised by the computer, how are you putting it into restore mode?

Sorry, I've been at this since 10AM so I'm a bit knackered & incoherent. When I connect via usb the phone is recognised in iTunes. However, under phone details has a serial no & a UUID - not my phone number. Also, the iPhone is not recognied in my computer under devices
The phone itself just displays the instruction to connect to iTunes via usb & says no service - when I can get it to turn on that is
I can get half way through a restore but it then says backup failed.

Redshift

Have you tried restoring from DFU mode?

http://www.iclarified.com/entry/index.php?enid=1034

DFU means Device Firmware Update. If a restore using Recovery Mode doesn't work you will want to use DFU Mode as a last resort. When placing your iPhone into DFU Mode it does not load the OS before attempting the restore

Lumi

Redshift wrote: »

Have you tried restoring from DFU mode?

http://www.iclarified.com/entry/index.php?enid=1034

Thanks for the suggestion. To be honest, I haven't a clue how to do that and I'm afraid to touch it now. Could you talk me through it please?

I know I followed the correct procedure - I can't figure out what went wrong. Have I lost everything that was on the phone if I can't get the backup to work?

Sorry - Just noticed the link now - will give it a go

smokiebeverage

This a bug with the restore process, its not all lost. The restore of you last backup is recoverable once you get the phone back working. The simplest way to do this is to restore the phone on a different machine (a mac would be best if you have access). Once thats done you can restore all your data on your own pc. The unlock should have happened when you tried to sync your iphone, other than that you should have had nothing to do

Redshift

It's step by step on the link I gave you, it's a little tricky to get into DFU mode as the timing has to be precise.

1 Open I-tunes and connect your phone

2 Hold the Sleep button and the Home button for exactly 10 seconds, count it on your PC clock

3 After 10 Seconds release the sleep button only, continue to hold the home button untill I-tunes detects your phone in recovery mode.

The Phone will appear dead I.E. black screen this is normal.

smokiebeverage

I dont know if DFU mode will help. The issue is more likely a corruption of the dismantled ipsw file (the apple restore file) on the local machine. You could clean the mess up on the machine, you'll find the instructions on the web, its long but not too much of a killer

Lumi

Redshift wrote: »

It's step by step on the link I gave you, it's a little tricky to get into DFU mode as the timing has to be precise.

1 Open I-tunes and connect your phone

2 Hold the Sleep button and the Home button for exactly 10 seconds, count it on your PC clock

3 After 10 Seconds release the sleep button only, continue to hold the home button untill I-tunes detects your phone in recovery mode.

The Phone will appear dead I.E. black screen this is normal.

OK - I got it into the DFU mode & Its just finished. I'm now attempting to restore the phone from backup again - is that right?

Just got the same backup failed message.

Lumi

smokiebeverage wrote: »

I dont know if DFU mode will help. The issue is more likely a corruption of the dismantled ipsw file (the apple restore file) on the local machine. You could clean the mess up on the machine, you'll find the instructions on the web, its long but not too much of a killer

I havent access to a mac unfortunately. I managed to get it into DFU mode and ran restore again. Everything went ok until it tried to restore my backup files. Got the same error message and the phone is showing no network & connect to iTunes icon
Is the problem with my backup files?

There's some serious sobbing going on here. I reall appreciate your taking the time to help.

smokiebeverage

Yeah that sounds like a corrupt backup. All may not be lost..... you should have a list of possible restores from different dates, maybe the second last one may work. You can extract the data from backups with third party apps, photos etc. you can get the contacts in a sqlite file so it is possible even if all the backups are corrupt

Lumi

smokiebeverage wrote: »

Yeah that sounds like a corrupt backup. All may not be lost..... you should have a list of possible restores from different dates, maybe the second last one may work. You can extract the data from backups with third party apps, photos etc. you can get the contacts in a sqlite file so it is possible even if all the backups are corrupt

The only backups are all from today - tried them all - no joy
It won't even allow me to set it up as a new phone & to be honest at this stage I'll settle for that though I'd love to recover the photos if possible

it just shows the same connect usb screen & doesn't recognise my sim ....

phill106

Perhaps this will help?
http://www.ihackintosh.com/2009/09/recover-iphone-3gs-from-apple-logo-or-recovery-mode-loop/

smokiebeverage

Phil I dont think its the recovery from the ipsw it seems to be the restore from back up. Its strange that only todays backups are available. i'll have to think about it but what error do you get when you try to set it up as a new phone

phill106

I know a new version of itunes came out in last day. Perhaps it is related?
When you dfu'd it, and set it up as new phone, what was error? the itunes connect logo?

Lumi

smokiebeverage wrote: »

Phil I dont think its the recovery from the ipsw it seems to be the restore from back up. Its strange that only todays backups are available. i'll have to think about it but what error do you get when you try to set it up as a new phone

phill106 wrote: »

I know a new version of itunes came out in last day. Perhaps it is related?
When you dfu'd it, and set it up as new phone, what was error? the itunes connect logo?

All of the backups from today might be related to the number of times I tried to sync to unlock.
it's odd in that when I try to set it up as a new phone, it goes through all of the motions but does nothing - phone stays the same, no network, connect to usb icon & nothing from my library syncs

I did install the new version of itunes yesterday

smokiebeverage

I'm not sure but it sounds like your itunes has an issue. When you restore back to factory does that at least seem to work? you might need to make copies of your backups and try this software with them http://www.iphonebackupextractor.com/free-download/ I've not tried it but use something similar on the Mac and it works well. At that stage I would uninstall itunes and make sure you delete all of the backups and firmware files from their original locations. Then a registry clean would be in order and reinstall itunes and see if at least you can set it up as a new phone. You can then push the data back with the app above. I think the free version is enough, I wouldn't be paying for it anyway.

Lumi

Downloaded iTunes on my netbook - connected the phone & it activated & unlocked straight away. Have lost everything but at least my phone works.
Thanks so much guys

smokiebeverage

Just extract the broken backups with the above software and you should be able to get the info back. Best of luck

Lumi

smokiebeverage wrote: »

Just extract the broken backups with the above software and you should be able to get the info back. Best of luck

will give it a go in the morning & hopefully I'll be able to retrieve them - thanks again

Lumi

Have managed to retrieve almost everyhing
Thanks so much

whiterebel

smokiebeverage wrote: »

I'm not sure but it sounds like your itunes has an issue. When you restore back to factory does that at least seem to work? you might need to make copies of your backups and try this software with them http://www.iphonebackupextractor.com/free-download/ I've not tried it but use something similar on the Mac and it works well. At that stage I would uninstall itunes and make sure you delete all of the backups and firmware files from their original locations. Then a registry clean would be in order and reinstall itunes and see if at least you can set it up as a new phone. You can then push the data back with the app above. I think the free version is enough, I wouldn't be paying for it anyway.

What do you use on the mac Smokie?

smokiebeverage

iPhone Backup Extractor at http://supercrazyawesome.com/. It's even written by an Irish Guy!

whiterebel

smokiebeverage wrote: »

iPhone Backup Extractor at http://supercrazyawesome.com/. It's even written by an Irish Guy!

I'll have a look at that, Thanks.