Can't update iPhone 3GS to 4.3.3

Question

Can't update iPhone 3GS to 4.3.3

iTunes prompts me to download and update my iPhone, I choose to do so. When it's completed downloading and stuff, it says that my iPhone isn't eligible for the requested build.

This seems odd, I've had this problem before and I fixed it by updating iTunes, this time iTunes is already up to date.

Also, if it truly isn't eligible then it shouldn't prompt me to update it. The device compatibility list in the update info thingy says that the iPhone 3GS is compatible.

Suggestions?

iPhone 3GS, iOS 4.3.2

Posted on May 9, 2011 5:06 AM

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Answer 1

May 9, 2011 6:28 AM in response to Timothy Westman-Barth

There are several common causes for that error:

The phone has been jailbroken
The phone has been reverted to an earlier version at some time in the past
The phone has had a pre-release version of iOS installed on it in the past (one of the developer releases not intended for end users)
When in Recovery mode a tool other than Apple's approved procedure was used to restore the phone.

What the error means is that the currently installed version has a mismatch between the iOS version and the baseband firmware version.

If none of these apply to your phone take it to an Apple store and ask them to restore it. If one does apply to you the store might be able to help also.

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Answer 2

Lexiepex

Level 6

14,102 points

May 9, 2011 7:21 AM in response to Timothy Westman-Barth

change your hosts file line into:

#74.208.10.249 gs.apple.com

(that is: put the hash before 74....)

There is another thread on it.

good luck

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Answer 3

May 9, 2011 7:33 AM in response to Lexiepex

Note that the problem in the hosts file is the result of hacking the phone in some way. If you have never hacked it your hosts file will be fine.

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Answer 4

May 9, 2011 7:43 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

Lawrence Finch, none of those conditions apply to me, and the nearest Apple store is in Charleston, SC, about 1:30 away from where I live. I'd rather wait until June 6th, when I'll be getting an iPhone 4. (It has actually been jailbroken in the past, but I decided that the cons outweighed the pros of jailbreaking so I unjailbroke it a long time ago.)

LexShellings, two questions. 1) What should doing so accomplish? 2) Where is the hosts file, I know where it is on Windows, but not Mac OS X.

Okay, my internet went down for a few minutes there, so this post was delayed. (Which was odd, because I don't usually have internet issues, just network issues.)

I never changed the hosts file on this computer, only on a different, Windows Vista, one, which I no longer use for syncing my iPhone.

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Answer 5

Lexiepex

Level 6

14,102 points

May 9, 2011 9:04 AM in response to Timothy Westman-Barth

actually this remark about the hosts file was meant for the Mac:

Finder > Go > Go to folder >\private\etc\

there you find 2 hosts file, the one which is not .txt, copy to desktop, edit with textedit, put back over original.

after that the "jailbrake" is corrected and the firmware update of the iPhone should be no problem. Remeber do not change anything but the addition of the hash.

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Answer 6

May 9, 2011 9:14 AM in response to Lexiepex

Ok, I'm still quite certain that the file is already the way it's supposed to be.

However, I am willing to check. The "Go go to Folder" idea didn't work for me. So I searched for the folder, I found the folder, but when I try to open it in the search results window, it gives me a message saying that the alias isn't properly associated with a file. It says this in a windows that pops up for giving an error message, like most things.

However, it does open the folder in the Finder window that I searched in. When I close the error message window, the other window returns to the search results.

I'll try navigating to the folder myself using the path given in the search results window.

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Answer 7

May 9, 2011 9:20 AM in response to Timothy Westman-Barth

Woops, just realized I was clicking on the wrong folder in the search results. There were 11 results and most of the were for the same folder, just with the problem listed above.

I have the file and there is no hash in front of the line you indicated, but before I change this, I'd like to know the technical details of what this is for, as I highly doubt I was the one who changed it in the past, assuming it was changed at all.

It just occurred to me that it's possible that Tiny Umbrella changed it in the past, as I did use that even after my iPhone was no longer jailbroken.

Message was edited by: Timothy Westman-Barth

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Answer 8

May 9, 2011 9:47 AM in response to Timothy Westman-Barth

Tinyumbrella adds that line. You can comment it out by adding the hash mark, but it is better to delete the line completely.

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Answer 9

May 9, 2011 11:10 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

Thanks, that appears to have worked, my iPhone is updating to 4.3.3 now.

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Answer 10

jimfrob

Level 1

5 points

May 9, 2011 8:20 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

I have never hacked my phone in any way, but the hosts file did have the line with gs.apple.com. The fix worked, though, so anyone having this problem should use it.

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