Q: ANY ONE KNOW WHAT IS ERROR 3 IN ITUNES WHEN I TRY TO RESTORE IPHONE 5 TO IOS 7 IT STUCKS IN THE END AND AFTER 30 MIN THIS COME OUT "UNKNOWN ERROR 3" CAN SOME ONE HELP ME PLZ

If Restoring quickly after pulling the iDevice out of the freezer doesnt solve the error 3 issue, ssue, leaving it in the freezer or pttung a bag of ice on top of the device may lower the device temp enough to enable a successful Restore. Be sure the device is turned fully off when in the freezer, not just asleep.

Glad the freezer worked for you! Thank you for the kind words.

Dear kennethyoung

It was only you who are helping us to overcome this issue even after 9 months since the start of this support forum ...no news from apple.. THANK YOU very much for the support. I gave up and sold 5S for $200 for parts after spending nearly $1000 to purchase a ****. 

keep up your works .. seems like it really helpful for guys who are still in this hole.

kennethyoung, what do you mean by iDevice must be powered off? how to do it?

thank you kennethyong

Hold the Sleep/Power button pressed for 5 seconds. A "Slide to Power Off" button will appear.

You can't do that if you're stuck in DFU/Restore mode. All you can do is hold the power button for a few seconds till it powers off. Touch the home button a few times to make sure it's not on (if it's on it'll pop up with the iTunes/USB Cord icon).

there's no a "slide to power off" kennethyoung, it just apple logo before cable narrow and itunes logo

i assumed its totally off when i hold the sleep button and all dark screen even tho i press the home button a few times, pilot1226

but it didnt work after i freezed it for 3 hours

thank you anyway

I am experiencing same issue.  I had itunes restore error 3, then now error 12.  I tried to restore/update from multiple computers both mac and pc.  Even gone into the Apple Genius Bar knowing they can't do much about the issue.  I've read much of this forum and tried almost everything including freezing method.  Nothing is working at this moment.  I know that there is a talk of class action lawsuit for this issue, does anyone know if its actually happening?  I am so exhausted and frustrated by this experience that I'll be the first to sign up for any action.  If I call Apple support directly, would they swap my iphone 5?  Its already off contract and I had bought an android phone to get me going...but would love to get my iphone 5 back.

just followed kennethyoung's instructions after weeks of trying leads different pc's, different itunes and loads of ios files

finally..... i owe you massively kevin many thanks.

You are very welcome! 

Had the issue when upgrading to 8.1 on the iPad. Freezing it worked for me. Nice job KennethYoung! You sure do know your 1s and 0s. I had tried everything and was just about to toss it, thanks for saving it.

You are very welcome! Glad to be of help.  

Hello, this error first appeared to me yesterday. I have an iPhone 5 (warranty finished last 25-oct), and the battery of this phone was replaced by a new one one month ago by a certified apple  shop (not Apple Store and genius). Since then I had some problems with volume buttons, vibration and gsm signal. But yesterday I got any signal, and the only buttons working where the sleep-wake and the home button. I thought it was a software issue, and I decided to reset the phone (just erasing data and content). It worked but then I couldn't activate the phone, so I decided to restore by iTunes. And I took the wrong decision, because it seemed to work well but at the end of the process, iTunes messaged me "Can't restore iPhone, an unknown error occurred (Error 3)". As I have had problems since the battery change and I have the original battery, I tried to change it. When I had the phone opened, I realized why I was having singal problems and sometimes the buttons were not working: the cables that connect the antenna with the logic board weren't in a good condition. The one who changed my battery broke some connectors and the cable of volume and vibrations was nearly cut. Then, after being angry with the one that changed the battery (i paid the shop to do it because I don't have a lot of time), I searched on the net and I found this thread. I have tried the freezer trick several times with no success, I'll try to let the phone 10 or 20 min more inside and see if it works. Could be possible that in my case error 3 is caused due to the bad condition of some internal cables? I'll go to the premium reseller that changed the battery and hopefully they will explain to me what happened. As I'm not very sure that could fix that, I bought the replacements on eBay, they are not expensive. And what says Apple of this error? Anything new? I'll let you know if I can rescue my phone.

Hi Kenneth,

thanks for the brilliant suggestion, I was stuck also, with my iPhone transformed into a useless and expensive brick. 30 minutes in the fridge, and voila ! Still have a problem with the 3 G since ios8, but at least the restore worked.

Do you know what's Apple's position with regards to this problem, does this warrant a replacement/fix even for out of warranty iPhones ?

thanks

Alexis

i freeze my iphone for 3 hours and the same error 3 appears,there is no solution for me?i change the cable,the pc,i bought a new pc and nothing,and now?i forget it?