how do i reset a disabled phone?

Question

how do i reset a disabled phone?

can some one please explain to me, in english, how the **** i am supposed to reset my wifes Iphone. she forgot her passcode and after trying to unlock it to many times it locked her out and disabled the phone with a message to go to itunes. I went to itunes and connected her phone to the computer but itunes says it cannot connect to her phone because of the pass code lock. it says i need to enter the passcode for it to connect. the users manual say that when i connect the phone I should go to the summary tab and the click on the restore button. after 2 hours of looking for the summary tab, i gave up and decided to download the new updates to my phone. when I plugged in my phone itunes recognized my phone and brought me to the elusive summary tab that also showed the restore button. So the manual says to connect and go to the summary tab but itunes won't let me go there because the phone is locked. what the **** am i supposed to do now??

Windows Vista

Posted on Feb 16, 2008 7:32 PM

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Answer 1

Justin83

Level 1

80 points

Feb 16, 2008 7:35 PM in response to frustrated and pissed

I have never had to enter a pass code to sync my iphone and I have my pass code set. You need to restore the phone, when you restore it do it as a new iphone. If you do it from your last backup I think it will put the pass code lock back on it. If that don't work call 611 and talk to them or call apple.

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Answer 2

Feb 16, 2008 7:55 PM in response to frustrated and pissed

Have you tried to do a reset? Hold down the sleep/wake and home button until the apple logo appears. Don't let go until you get the logo. The iphone should then restart. Try powering it off after that. Then hold the home button while attaching the iphone to the usb cable on your computer. The phone should power on. It may get you to the point that the computer will recognize the iphone on the summary tab and allow you to attempt a restore. Also if you are using a hub to connect the iphone try it directly to the computer.

I followed the above tips 2 weeks ago that were posted here by someone else and it worked. iPhone wasn't password locked out, but I couldn't get itunes to recognize it to restore.

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Answer 3

Feb 16, 2008 8:44 PM in response to frustrated and pissed

iTunes does ask me to enter my passcode when I sync. This is to prevent anyone from picking up your phone, connecting it to their computer, and magically making it their own. I guess in that way it's working as it should.

I don't know if Apple can override the passcode, but for the reasons above I don't see how you could ever be able to sync/restore/etc without the proper passcode. Otherwise, what would the point of having a passcode be in the first place?

Good luck, hopefully someone can give you better news than me...or your wife will remember the code she set up.

-SB

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Answer 4

Feb 19, 2008 10:03 AM in response to angela008

If you still havent gotten the phone to work with iTunes, there is one other thing that may very well work. Some one outlined how to put the phone in "restore mode" but there is one other option even more powerful, its called DFU mode, and will allow you to restore the even the worst-off iphone or ipod touch.

What you do is plug your iphone into your computer, press+hold the "Sleep/Wake" button (top of phone) and the "Home" button (front of phone) simultaneously, count to 10 seconds (1 mississippi etc) and release the "sleep/wake" button when you get to 10 sec, but keep holding the "home". If you do this correctly, the phone will appear to be off, but itunes will alert you that there is an iphone connected that needs to be restored.

Do the software restore to the latest version, and the phone should work again. However, upon your first sync, it may try to put the passlock back on, im not sure if it will or wont.

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Answer 5

Feb 19, 2008 10:10 AM in response to SisterBlue

I only get that message when I hook up to a computer that isnt my main syncing station. I never see it when I hook up to the computer I sync it to the most.

Maybe if you connect it to the computer you originally activated it from that may work.

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Answer 6

Jennifer_B

Level 4

1,760 points

Feb 19, 2008 10:12 AM in response to Justin83

frustrated,

If your wife does not remember the passcode, then you will need to restore the iPhone with the computer that the iPhone normally syncs with. You will also want to set up the iPhone as a new phone (not restore settings from backup which will put the passcode back on the iPhone). You can find out more about the wrong passcode disabling your iPhone and how to fix it here:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306821

If you are still having trouble restoring the iPhone to reset the passcode, you may want to follow the steps in this article:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305797

Hope this helps,
Jennifer B.

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