iPhone 3G: "Please Connect To iTunes" Screen

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Level 1

5 points

iPhone 3G: "Please Connect To iTunes" Screen

Sometimes when I power on my iPhone 3G, I get this "Please Connect To iTunes" screen (black screen shows the iTunes logo and the connector cable). Then if I power it off and then turn it back on, it'll boot into the home screen with the message "iPhone Activated" and everything work normal. I've had this incident twice and only had this iPhone 3G for about a week.

I spoke with tech support, they said it's likely to be a software issue and told to to restore it and set it up as a new iPhone.

Anybody experienced this? Thanks!

MacBook Pro - 15.4" Glossy , Intel Core 2 Duo 2.33GHz, 2GB RAM, 120GB HD, Mac OS X (10.5.6)

Posted on Jan 6, 2009 7:17 AM

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Answer 1

Envision99

Level 4

1,165 points

Jan 6, 2009 7:28 AM in response to jlin615

Sounds like a software issue, backup your iPhone in iTunes, do a firmware restore, then restore your backup to your iPhone. If it continues to give you the same problem bring the iPhone into Apple.

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Answer 2

Jan 9, 2009 6:16 AM in response to Envision99

I have the same problem. The phone goes into emergecy call mode and I cannot get pass the "Please Connect To iTunes" screen. When I try to plug into iTunes, it requests me to enter password but I cannot enter since the screen does not go pass the "Please Connect to iTunes" screen.

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Answer 3

Envision99

Level 4

1,165 points

Jan 12, 2009 7:20 AM in response to aconsengco

Have you tried reinstalling the firmware? Is that the computer you've always connected your iPhone to? If so, it shouldn't ask for the password. If that is the computer you've always synced your iPhone to, then something is definitely wrong with either the iPhone or iTunes.

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Answer 4

jlin615 Author

Level 1

5 points

Jan 12, 2009 7:34 AM in response to jlin615

I did a hard reset, follow by a full restore. Didn't restore from any backup, just set it up as a new iPhone. It's been almost a week, issue haven't occur since.

Message was edited by: jlin615

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Answer 5

Envision99

Level 4

1,165 points

Jan 12, 2009 1:58 PM in response to jlin615

I definitely wouldn't restore your backup then, you'll just have to do without the text messages, settings, and bookmarks in safari unless you saved those separately from the backup in iTunes.

Glad your phone is working again though!

Message was edited by: Envision99

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Answer 6

icebike

Level 3

740 points

Jan 12, 2009 3:20 PM in response to jlin615

This is a fairly widely reported bug. I know of four other users that have had this same problem (as have I), and none of them have ever posted in (or even heard of) these forums. This leads me to believe its much wider problem than we know.

Many people in prior threads have just reset (hold both buttons till apple logo appears) and then power up again and successfully gotten around the need to hook up to iTunes.

Your experience bears this out, and unless this becomes very common I would not restore. Its unlikely to fix the problem if you ask me, and it was probably the reboot that happens as part of the restore that actually fixed it for people who do restore.

Apple is selling this as a phone. I think they should have a completely separate chipset that runs the phone, and talks to the computer if the computer is running, but will take over the screen and run stand-alone when the computer craps out. Having your phone depend on the computer is proving dangerously unreliable.

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