Since last week’s release of new 1.1.3 software for the iPhone and iPod touch, a number of users, including iLounge editors, have experienced serious problems when trying to update the devices. In some cases, the update appears to have been completed successfully, but renders the devices inoperable, leaving them stuck in recovery mode. When an attempt is made to restore the devices, one of several dialog boxes (pictured below) pops up and says the device can not be restored due to an unknown error.
In addition to user-submitted complaints and questions, many reports of similar problems and errors have appeared on Apple Support’s discussion boards. Some users have been able to recover the iPods or iPhones after deleting and re-installing iTunes or past software update files, but other users have tried these methods without success, finding no alternative but to return the non-functioning units to Apple. Many of the messages are more frantic than this one, left by SinclairZX81: “My iPhone is now permanently stuck in ‘recovery mode.’ Restore fails with unknown error (9).
Help.”
It is worth noting that our editors have experienced problems updating both iPod touch and iPhone hardware that has never been jailbroken or otherwise altered; one iPhone that failed to update on its first attempt succeeded on a subsequent attempt, but an iPod touch has remained incapable of being restored despite multiple attempts on different computers. Apple has yet to respond to iLounge’s request for comment on the issue.
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