Q: error 29 iphone locked in recovery mode

I have the same problem although my iphone wont even connect or be recognised on any machine.. and still the connect to itunes image on my iphone.. and allowing emergency calls only..

aussi, I also have a brand-new Toshiba laptop, Windows 7, same problem when attempting to install 3.1.3 on my iphone. I finally got the problem fixed. See my post and follow the steps I outlined, hopefully this recovers your iphone:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2325175&tstart=0&start=15

This is what fixed my problem:
http://www.ihackintosh.com/2009/07/irecovery-iphone-recovery-mode-loop-restart/

I know this isn't quite the way that apple would recommend, but it did it for me.

Somehow with this software you actually tell the Iphone to stop booting in recovery mode. Once booting normal your can recover the Iphone correctly with iTunes.

BTW: use it at your own risk (for me the only risk was getting a broken iPhone to work again).
Hope this helps.

To mranglo.... I read this fix in a previous post, but I came away with the notion that this would void my warranty. Did you choose to void your warranty for any future issues you might have? Was your iPhone already jailbroken? Mine is not, so if I do that, I assume I would not have a warranty replacement coming if nothing fixes this issue, right? Just trying to clarify and understand before I send this iPhone back to Apple under a warranty issue... would love to fix it myself, but being cautious... thx.

My 3gs was not jailbroken, it was and is under warranty. I updated to the new os 3.1.3 and it works normally. I buy all the software in the apple app store.

If you have any doubts, then you should not do this. I just wanted to let you all know so that it might help you (also for apple).

OK, that's good news for me then. I thought the iRecovery might void my warranty and only work on a jailbroken iPhone. If it works, then I'm going to try it, too.

OK, guys... I'm now a believer. I just did the aforementioned iRecovery process and it actually worked! I played with the details of getting it just right for over 5 hours today. I had to walk away from it several times and come back later for a fresh start. The instructions were not that clear to me, but I am persistent and a perfectionist, so I saw it through with a lot of starts and stops.

It would be nice if Apple would figure out how we all got in this mess to begin with... no jailbreak, no bricked, nothing bad that we did except accept the invitation to upgrade our firmware. This was not a fun exercise to go without phone and calendar/apps for 5 days. I was this close to shipping my phone to Apple, but I have pulled it back from the brink. I hope this helps the rest of you in this situation... try the iRecovery, don't give up. It will not harm your phone or computer. I was able to reboot, download the iPhone software and then do a restore/synch from backup. I now have 100% of my data and MY IPHONE IS BACK, BABY! If a girl geek can do it, so can you... thx for everyone's comments and I wish you all good luck to get your iPhones back, too. Peace, out...

Yes, yes, yes....I feel like smashing mine into the wall. Bought it on Wednesday. Just logged into itunes to synch the music and voila - phone has completely seized and in perpetual lock down. Trust the support crew are looking into this ASAP.

stll locked in update/resstore/recovery mode!!!! I am a new iPhone convert from a FruitPhone and cant believe this mess.
Apple are you fixing this mess?
Is there anyone out there with a new or older iPhone 3GS that is not experiencing the pain?

Sounds like a plan! A quick question... has this voided your warrenty?

Exactly the same problem here: iTunes told me a new update was available, I downloaded it as usualy, it attempted to install and then failed 3/4 of the way through with 'unknown error [29]'. Ever subsequent attempt to restore fails at the same point with the same error.
I have an 8 month old 32GB iPhone, not jailbroken and has nothing on it other than that downloaded via the iTunes store. Now my iPhone is useless.
Apple - I hope you're going to pay me for the business I'm losing because of your buggy software!

I have the exact same problem. I called Apple Support. Was on the line for almost an hour. I sent them logs which they couldn't see that there was a problem. I was waiting for a higher level tech and ..... disconnect. I emailed the guy who I was working with as I had his email and nothing. I've had my phone for a month and used it for 2 weeks. I get the same error 29. Seems to have something to do with the firmware update. It tends to lock up at the end of that.

What bothers me is that they don't even know what error 29 is. How do they not know their own codes?!

@pammylu: glad to see that this solution worked for you too!

@mrangelo, you are the one who convinced me to try by telling me that you did not have a jailbroken phone, therefore, I gained the courage to try it.

To everyone else who is extremely frustrated at this point... I can't see that Apple is expressing any support to those of us who have been experiencing this problem. Even if they are working on trying to solve the problem, they are not offering anyone on this thread any comfort or solutions. There has to be a way to get this mysterious error 29 to the forefront of their consciousness. Their loyal and new customers are going to revolt soon with the sheer frustration of being ignored. I hope they read this thread.

The one thing I can do is to call them again using my call ticket # and point them to this thread. If that gets no results, I will post the name and direct phone numbers of the tech who was waiting for me to send my phone back to them (which I really didn't want to do, and in the end, did not have to do.) Apple must know that this error 29 was not caused by us, the majority who did not jailbreak their phones, buy our apps from anyplace other than iTunes, or do any other "warranty voiding" actions of any type. We only were doing what we were supposed to do, accept the updates deployed from Apple. This is when it hurts the most, and Apple should not want a pool of 'wronged' customers out here suffering as we have.

I ended up following the iRecovery process, which did nothing bad to my iPhone. It was simply a few commands issued directly to the hardware of the device to wake it up out of its locked loop. Full recovery, full restore of the backup of all my media (all 7,796 files). I fully believe that this is exactly what Apple would have done to fix my phone if I had sent it to them, losing many more days/weeks of my precious time.

I am going to see if Apple has a response to this, and if not, I will try to post a better (more clarified) listing of the steps I took to finally get iRecovery to work. The thread on the iRecovery post was not the most straightforward and it took a lot of time to untangle some of what was not clear for me because I was running it on Vista, not a Mac.

Hang in there, hopefully Apple is not going to leave you hanging... it doesn't seem like what a highly respectable company would do to those of you who are left hanging here.

I spoke to Apple support (Australia) they still don't have a fix for this error. They have received numerous calls regarding this problem. I don't think the people that should be reading this thread from Apple are reading it because if the irecovery can fix it, why can't they. I am not going to try irecovery because I dont want to void the warranty. Mine is a brand new phone.

I am not impressed with the support i have got so far. They left me on hold for 30minutes and then cut me off. Second call was just as long on hold. The result was that I had to send the phone to them at a cost of $39 for postage. I argued and refused to pay the postage as it was not my freaking fault, it is their software. After more arguing and just to get it fixed I finally agreed but then they also wanted to debit my credit card $860 which would be reimbursed once they received the faulty phone. Obviously that wasnt going to happen.

I think they need to change this section of their website to NO Support.

I have now sent the phone back to the place I purchased it and they are going to personally deliver it to the Apple store in Sydney. I have been told that Apple will replace it. I am not holding my breath considering the help that has been provided so far. I will post with the results.