Q: Mysterious random total shut downs following 3.1 update

Harold, do you think you could compare a hash of the firmware you got from apple, and the firmware you got from that site to determine if they are the same?

If you are running Windows, you can run each file through WinMD5Sum (http://www.nullriver.com/downloads/Install-winMd5Sum.exe) to get an MD5 hash of the file.

I'm going to guess that MacOS, like Linux, has an md5sum command available from the terminal which you use simply by running "md5sum nameofupdatefilegoeshere.ipsw" from whatever directory (folder) the update resides in.

If the hashes are identical, then it shows me that maybe there's issues in the update process itself, and not so much with the update and that repeatedly updating could be a cure. If the hashes are not identical, that's even more interesting, and gives the rest of us something to verify against.

If a few people who have a 3G running 3.1 without issue from the day it was released could hash their .ipsw and post it, that would be all sorts of good to know. This information is not very useful unless it was from release day, as anyone who has updated after the release day will have had less time with the update running and thus less odds of experience a problem.

My install went just fine and I'm still having this same issue

I don't have my initial install file but the md5sum of the file I just used on my iPhone is:

52af8da5471daf48532031e751501f03

Hope this helps

Good to know. The update file that I am using direct from iTunes has an identical md5sum. So, it could be something gone awry in the update process itself. I've peeked through my update log, but it's the kind of thing where it's difficult to tell whether there is a problem or not because I do not know what to look for and nothing glaringly obvious like "CRITICAL: Digital gerbils are eating the iPhone! Oh well, continuing with update..." show up in there, at least at first inspection.

Same issue here. I can pinpoint it to the 3.1 update. Keep checking the boards for any word from Apple. Very disappointed in this! Seems that the changes under the hood for 3.1 were not tested very well.

same here. this pretty much just points to this being a firmware issue.. i called apple and my "phone support" ran out and i asked her if she heard of this issue and she ofcourse said "nope"

It's good(?) to know that I am not the only one with the problem..
I did have problem installing 3.1 to begin with; had to restore entire phone and all....

Workarounds for random shutdwns and freeze in this thread:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2156744

Hope this helps

At the moment I'm trying to download the 3,1 software update but as I could see maybe I shouldn't. I hope that it will work.
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Guys, I think that the Apple do this with reason. I mean, if you have a slow iPhone then maybe you will buy the new 3GS which is "faster, more reliable and much better". I think Apple wants to reach that everybody buy its new iPhone 3GS. Even if you just bought your iPhone 3G...
Since I updated to 3,0 my iPhone 3G is slower... And I think they could make this update without making the phone slower... So, I'm a little bit disappointed on it because I bought my phone half year ago and I spent a fortune on it... So I would like to use it for years... Not for just some months...
Against it I love my iPhone because it is so great, and that's why I still trust in Apple and I hope that they will solve it somehow.
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I'll tell you what happened to my iPhone after the update.

chrismendillo, might not hurt to note the CSR's name (and preferably some sort if ID if available, lest we have first name collisions) on here next time. That way if we're still without an official acknowledgment of the problem a week down the road and support continues to have "not heard of this" we will be able to refer to all the CSR agents who have.

Greetings,

Just to let folks out there know that this isn't a huge issue, as only a few have responded, I have updated both our iPhones, and about two dozen client phones with out a hitch of any kind. Every thing is working as it is supposed to.

I sync with MobileMe, along with 3 other Macs, and a PeeCee - it, too, works perfectly. You need to make sure that all your apps are compatible with the update, and that you either turn the iPhone completely of, and/or a reset, before you update. That's only common sense - you need to make sure you are updating a phone that is free of memory holding apps, etc.

Cheers,
M.
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dalyeebs, as much as I love a good conspiracy theory, I honestly think that most of their problem is developing for hardware differences between the 3GS and 3G. The vast majority of issues (by vast, I guesstimate 96% or higher) with the 3.1 update have been with the 3G. I'm guessing the QA was spotty for the 3G, whereas they made sure to do everything they could to nail things on the 3GS.

That said, if I recall, plenty of people have complained of slowness and battery troubles and whatnot on the 3GS. Also, slowdowns are sort of expected on older hardware. As feature sets grow, hardware with lesser horsepower than what the updates are being primarily developed for will suffer somewhat. I think allowing people to downgrade, even though it may enable people to jailbreak (ohnoes! consumers treating their product like a product, not a service!) would be a lovely thing. I could live with 2.2.1 on my iPhone 3G forever. I would like new features, but I bought my phone to do the things the 2.x OS promised, and 2.2.1 delivered. Apple doesn't owe it to me to give me the latest and greatest, as evidenced by lack of video recording, battery percent remaining display, voice control, on 3G - all of which have been proven doable on the 3G platform through unsupported measures.

Disclaimer: I don't jailbreak, never have, and hope to never need to.

Monty, were all of those iPhone 3G? How long ago did you do the update, and could you let us know if you or your clients have any troubles of the sort discussed in this thread?

Thanks!

I'd mistakenly posted about this issue on the 3GS thread in my angst:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=10192375#10192375

Glad I took a look around over here

iPhone 3G here.

Random shutdowns since update. Only about 5 in a few days, but you never know when its off until you go to use it.

Thanks for the fine testing Apple!

Rayz