Non-existent profile removal

Question

Level 1

7 points

Non-existent profile removal

Good evening everyone,

I am having a quite annoying issue with my iPhone. I hope you will be able to help me solve the problem. Here's the story :

I've had an iPhone 3G before, on which I installed a profile with empty APN settings so that my iPhone wouldn't connect to Internet (because I had no data plan), using the tool provided by Apple. I then changed to an iPhone 3GS, and I restored all my settings and data from the backup using iTunes. Then I subscribed to a data plan from my carrier and removed the profile from my iPhone to enjoy it.

The problem is that the iPhone did not actually remove the profile. I still can't connect to the Internet, and I can't install another profile because the iPhone says there is already one installed (while my old profile is supposed to have been removed: the profile list is empty). When I checked what setting was really in the iPhone (using "iPhone Backup Extractor"), I found out that - as I supposed - the old settings were still here.

When I tried a restore using iTunes, I then was able to connect to the Internet. Restoring "Network Settings" from the iPhone had no effect.

I don't know what I can do since:

- Restoring would make me loose all my data.

- I can't install a new profile with the correct APN settings.

- I can no longer install the original IPCC file through iTunes (iTunes 10).

So I either loose my data, or loose Internet connection.

Has anyone an idea ?

Thank you for reading,

Please excuse my poor English.

iPhone 3GS, iOS 4.3.2

Posted on Apr 26, 2011 11:46 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

guimers8 Author

Level 1

7 points

Apr 27, 2011 1:15 PM in response to guimers8

Hi again, I just solved my problem.

Today, I found out that I was not alone with this and that many people had the same problem after upgrading to iOS 4. I read the fix proposed by LOVETURTLE (https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2470873?answerId=11737052022#11737052022&messageID=11737052). It did not work for me, but it gave me the idea that led to my own fix. I publish it here for those still looking for a fix.

1. Sync your iPhone.

2. Delete all backups from iTunes, and make a complete backup of your iPhone.

3. Restore your iPhone from iTunes, as a new device. Don't load the old backup. Don't sync any data or app. The iPhone is now like "out of the box".

4. Backup the new system under an intelligent name ("New"). Check that Internet and other services work as expected.

5. In the Finder, go to the Backup directory. There are two folders : one for the backup containing your data, one for the new system. Locate the file named "8218978e4ab0a48035bb92653145a6be872ea858" in the new backup, and move it the old backup directory (it will replace the old file). The old file contains the corrupted carrier data. Doing this, you replace the corrupted file with the original and clean file.

6. In iTunes, restore your iPhone from the old (but fixed) backup. All your data is now back to your phone, with correct carrier settings.

It worked for me, and I hope it will help some of you guys.

Enjoy, and thanks for reading ! ;-)

Reply

Answer 2

markbl

Level 1

0 points

Apr 28, 2011 10:49 PM in response to guimers8

Thanks for this. It kinda worked, at least better than any other of the "solutions" I have found over the net. I copied that file from the new to the old backup but when I restored the old backup itunes complained via popup that the restore failed even though the restore seemed to put everything back. I found that data access to the restored phone now worked also. However, I see that the "hidden" APN profile is still installed because when I try to use the unlockit site again it fails with the same "only 1 profile can be installed error" even though there are no profiles listed on my phone. So data works, but I still have that gremlin profile, albeit embedded with the correct apn for my current service provider. I would prefer to have a method that deleted the gremlin profile completely. That would also mean I won't have to go through this cumbersome procedure the next time I change providers.

I am tempted to just bite the bullet and do a factory restore on the phone then reconfigure my phone and apps again from scratch. I lose sms history etc which would be a pain though 😟

And I wonder how the **** have Apple not fixed this shocking bug in one of the ios4 upgrades?

Reply

Answer 3

guimers8 Author

Level 1

7 points

Apr 29, 2011 2:18 AM in response to markbl

Hi. I'm happy this kind of helped you. I know it's not perfect, and there is still this problem with the profile thing. But I don't know what has happened with this at Apple : is iOS 4 supposed to support profiles or not ?

Maybe there is another file we could delete/replace in the backup to completely remove the profile, but I don't know how to find it. Some backup files can be opened as *.plist files, some others are databases, but there are more than 4.000 files ! Hard to find what you're looking for.

I wonder too what Apple is doing for this. It seems that many people are concerned…

Edit : I opened my new backup with iPhone Backup Extractor, and the carrier.plist file still contains corrupted carrier data. Still my iPhone works finely at the moment. Just weird.

Message was edited by: guimers8

Reply

Answer 4

guimers8 Author

Level 1

7 points

Apr 29, 2011 2:47 AM in response to guimers8

I send a bug report to Apple using the form: http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html. I think all people concerned with this bug should contact them to make them understand the extent of the issue. Here's what I sent :

guimers8 sent to Apple :

Hi Apple,

Many people bought an iPhone 3G/3GS without a data plan, and used "iPhone Configuration Utility" to change their APN settings so that the iPhone wouldn't access the internet. Which I did, because iPhone OS 3 did not provide a "Shut down Internet" setting.

When they upgraded to iOS 4, they encountered a very annoying bug. When you remove the profile to access the internet, the iPhone removes the profile from the "profiles list", but doesn't remove (some of?) it's settings. So all these people are stuck with an Internet-less iPhone.

You can't install another profile because the iPhone says a profile is already installed. And restoring factory settings would make us loose all our app data, text messages, etc.

Some people are providing a solution on Apple Discussions Forums, to get Internet back, but the profile thing remains. One thing is sure : many people are concerned.

Please do something. This is a real bug, not iPhone hacking stuff.

Thanks in advance,

Thanks for fixing

Reply