iPhone update server could not be contacted, but why ?

As I indicated on both of my posts, in this instance I was using a PC, not a Mac.

Thanks for the DNS change fix. This allowed me to update the iphone OS to 5.1.

The google DNS change doesn't fix my issue. I got this when I try to ping the server:

C:\>ping gs.apple.com

Pinging gs.apple.com.akadns.net [17.171.36.30] with 32 bytes of data:

Request timed out.

....

I have tried to reinstall itune 10.6, same can't connect to server error exist.

BTW, for iOS 5.0 to 5.1 update, you could do it from the phone itself.

Yeah, not so much for me. I got the same issue with it being unable to connect to the server as I got with my MacBook Pro. I didn't use the google method; I set up a proxy instead. First I searched for a proxy server address (google is your friend!), and then I went into Settings, then Network, then Advanced, then Proxies. Click on the box for Web Proxy (HTTP), enter the ip and port of the proxy server you plan to use, and then try connecting? It worked for me, might work for you.

I feel a conspiracy theory coming on...

Hmm, lets see.

Problem: Nobody can connect to big corporate Apple servers because their DNS "can't find" the servers, even though it is a direct request from iTunes to an Apple server.

Solution: All the sheeple change their DNS server settings to Google. So now all is ok. Corporations save the day.

Angle: Now Goggle will have all of your future internet traffic routed through their servers. (Be Evil laugh time).

Updating today is not an end of the world thing, rerouting all of your traffic through Google servers giving them an unfair competitive advantage, full internet history of everything you do, through all of your programs and not just your browser, well that could be.

that only works for google if I keep my dns server set on them after I get it fixed now. :-)

The Google DNS is the solution. I think some ISP's DNSs are blocking the server because of the 726 MB download size.

Yep, Google DNS thingy worked for me. I don't understand why, but there it is.

In case anyone has problems still...

Change DNS settings in System Preferences... Network... Advanced... Wi-Fi.... DNS tab. Make a note of existing DNS entries. If the DNS entry is greyed out, this is because it is picking up DNS settings from your primary router. This might say something like 192.168.0.1

Add (use + at bottom of dialog box) 2 DNS entries : 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4

Try update again.

If you happen to be using an Airport Express Base Station as your router, changing DNS settings on the base station does not seem to have any effect, even if it is set to use router DNS settings. Not sure why this is yet

If you are concerned about using Google DNS, remove the DNS entries in System Preferences when you are done and restore the original settings. Removing all entries will cause it to use the router's DNS settings.

Wow! After two calls with Apple, weeks worth of frustration, and no hope in sight the DNS settings worked for me. Big shout out to lesliefromtn and onionterror. Thanks so much.

You are no less than a genius

Worked for me

Thank you so much! I followed your advice edited the host files n Waam! Restore started! I can't thank you enough! 😁
Btw for OS X Lion, to access the hosts, just follow this -

1. Open Finder.
2. Press Command + Shift + G to open the "Go To" Menu.
3. Type "/etc" without the quotes.
4. Find the hosts file there and open with any text editor like TextWrangler.
5. Edit them. And the Save the hosts file.
6. Done! 🙂

I found out the root cause for this issue on my network was a filter for cookies on my router firewall.

I have a TL-WR1043ND router running DD-WRT v24-sp2 (build 14896).

On the security tab -> additional filters -> filter cookies (uncheck this option)

Save the settings and reboot the router.

No more issues.

i cant get the second step can u make a video and give me the link plz.

Another solution that worked for me was to make sure the time on the computer is correct. Once this was corrected it worked with flying colours.