Q: Mysterious random total shut downs following 3.1 update

Same problem though intermittent. My phone locked up the next day after the upgrade. Then has been fine until today, locked it with top button, and it has locked up 3 times in about 20 minutes. Very annoying.

UFlLee wrote:
ggarthe's response on the reset is the right way to go, it completely changed the behavior of my IPhone after a bad install of OS 3.1. EVERYONE should try it. I consider it the "FIX" for this issue.

Well it's nice to know that there is someone that actually READS the posts.

cduff33 wrote:
Yeah so much for Apple's rock solid software is right....this is a joke. I cant even use my iPhone for its main function... A PHONE!!!!!

I will be recommending GOOGLE ANDROID phones for everyone this Christmas.

Bottom line is dont buy an iphone if you need a cell phone for emergencies, you cant rely on it.

Yeah, thats helpful. I've always been able to rely on my iPhone. Just because you haven't is no reason to say no one should get one. Have you contacted Apple? If not, stop complaining.

I contacted Apple three days ago..no response. Can I continue complaining now?

This was given to me by a contact within the company, TRY AT YOUR OWN RISK! I would only recommend speding the time to do this if your phone is crashing very often and hindering your ability to use the device. I did a factory re-set using itunes and set up my phone as a new iphone without reverting to the backed-up data and that did not fix my issue.

The following instructions are very time consuming (up to 2 hours or more in some cases), requires erasing your phone (so save anything important, and DO NOT rely on the iTunes backup for retrieving the data), and only work on Macs (I don't know or have Windoze procedures for this, so don't ask).

1. Plug in your iPhone to an AC outlet (not your computer) and go to Settings>General>Reset>Erase All Content and Settings. This will take some time. It will also take the phone back to factory settings, just as it was when it came out of the box, so if you have a 3G, that will most likely mean OS 2.x. Once you've started this process, set the phone aside.

2. On your Mac, navigate to your Home folder Mac HD>Users>Your Home Folder, from there navigate to Library>iTunes>iPhone Software Updates. In there you will see a file who's name will be SIMILAR to iPhone1,23.1_7C144Restore.ipsw. Move this file to the trash and delete it.

3. Once your phone has completed the erase/reset process, connect it to your Mac. When iTunes opens and your phone shows up, click the "Check for update" button. This will download a NEW copy of the 3.1 update from Apples servers.

4. Once the download is complete and iTunes has updated your phone with the fresh copy of the 3.1 update you've just downloaded, it will be time to set up your phone. DO NOT RESTORE FROM BACKUP!!!! Restoring from backup will most likely restore the problem you're trying to get rid of! Now, when iTunes gives you the option, you want to SET UP AS A NEW PHONE. Once that is complete, re-sync your data. Again, NOT FROM BACKUP.

This has resolved many issues for most of the people that used this restore method, but it's not a guarantee. The reason behind these steps is that performing a basic restore does not remove the 3.1 firmware currently installed on your phone, which may have been corrupted during the installation nor does it remove the copy of the 3.1 firmware package on your Mac which may also have been corrupted during the download. Further reasoning behind this is that these steps take your phone back to a 2.x version of iPhone OS (if you have a 3G), and you'll be upgrading from 2.x directly to 3.1, bypassing all of the incremental updates in between (2.1, 2.2, 2.2.1, 3.0, 3.0.1, etc...). If someone has success with this (I did after problems when moving up from 2.2.1 to 3.0), please report back so that others will feel more comfortable performing such a daunting task.

guys can we all agree to complain thru ( http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html until we get our fix? lets fight this til we win this nightmare. i have already reported this to cnn and fox news....we also need this spread out in the open so that apple could address the problem. "together we stand...divided we fall" apple just broke our hearts....

@cduff33...yeah apple has totally ignored this....i think i better start complaining too. not a single reply did apple make thru my emails.

OK. Just off the phone with Apple. Waited for a "product specialist". The product specialist got on the phone and I felt like I was talking to someone who had been programmed to respond to this issue in a very particular (and annoying) way. The first approach is to pretend to know nothing about this issue and to suggest that it must be some sort of run of the mill software issue unrelated to 3.1. that could easily be solved by a relatively simple restore. When I kicked up a little fuss to this, he said (dutifully and pretending to be helpful) that he was going to "search the database to see if he could see anything about this...how would you spell that "C" "O"..." (I had used the word "coma" to describe this bug). I could stand no more of this nonsense, pretending that they haven't heard of this and that they are so unfamiliar with it that they can't even imagine how to spell the word "coma". That's how unfamiliar they are with the issue. They can't even spell the four letter word. I can think of a couple of other four letter words they might try to spell.

Anyway, we should all shut this thread down because, as my product seemed to suggest, we are all victims of some sort of mass coincidental hallucination - a random cluster of standard simple easy to solve software issues. This has nothing to do with 3.1. I understand now.

Remember the famous Big Brother Apple commercial? Has Apple become its own Big Brother. Truth is what they say it is. Two plus two is five.

So simply reset your phones and stop bellyaching.

ggarthe,

I didn't see your original post with instructions, I will give them a try. 50 pages is a lot to go through and I admit I didn't read every single post. I found your instructions now, I will give it a shot since it is more than just a normal restore.

Thanks

How many times do you have to call Apple to be able to be qualified to complain? Three? Six? How about EIGHT with no response and that's plus the email. This is my first Apple product and likely will be my last.

Ggarthe

your fix didn't work for me. I did as said and still get the comas. Sorry.

well, just tried the Safari recommendation someone made (shutting off the anti-fraud thing). . . will go to Apple Store tomorrow in Stamford Town Center and see if they can help, this is getting MORE than stupid. . .this is my work phone (I am a happy verizon customer otherwise), and this borders on absurd that I can't "work" on my iPhone. . .

The story is hitting the media, although not in the US yet.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/09/17/iphoneupdateproblems/

Also, I'm still doing well with no restore and no wifi and I have published my problems to the feedback site.

WiFi does not seem to be the issue. I have not had WiFi on for several months and am still plagued by the 'comas'.