iTunes won't recognize my iPhone 4, wants me to restore to factory settings?

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iTunes won't recognize my iPhone 4, wants me to restore to factory settings?

I'm running iTunes 10.4 with an iPhone 4 OS 4.2.1. I tried to sync my iPhone but got this message:

"iTunes cannot read the contents of the iPhone. Go to the Summary tab and click Restore to restore to factory settings."

This is not a jailbroken phone, or anything like that, so I have no idea what's happened or how I can fix it. Or even how I can back up my phone at all.

I've also tried on three different computers, with the newest and an older version of iTunes (10.3), but I keep getting this same message.

What can I do?

iPhone 4, iOS 4.2

Posted on Aug 11, 2011 3:09 AM

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Answer 1

gdgmacguy

Level 7

21,885 points

Aug 11, 2011 10:35 AM in response to gryndor

You can start by doing what iTunes says, and that is to restore your phone to factory settings. What's the problem?

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Answer 2

gryndor Author

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Aug 11, 2011 11:07 PM in response to gdgmacguy

Would that not wipe my phone, all the texts, apps and contacts? I would really love to avoid losing all my data...

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Answer 3

KiltedTim

Level 10

195,207 points

Aug 12, 2011 6:12 AM in response to gryndor

It's pretty much too late to avoid that. You will lose anything since the last time you backed it up. If you're syncing on a regular basis as designed, this shouldn't be too painful.

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Answer 4

gryndor Author

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Aug 12, 2011 4:14 PM in response to KiltedTim

Ok well that isn't what I've been doing, so is there a way to emergency backup my phone? Then I can reset to factory settings?

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Answer 5

gdgmacguy

Level 7

21,885 points

Aug 12, 2011 4:19 PM in response to gryndor

Nope. You obviously didn't read (or didn't remember) the User Guide. I will include a link for you. If you use the iPhone as Apple recommends (so that you do NOT experience data loss), frequent backups are advised, as are synching contacts/calendars with an appropriate cloud service or computer-based contact manager like Outlook.

http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/iphone_user_guide.pdf

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Answer 6

gryndor Author

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Aug 16, 2011 3:36 AM in response to gdgmacguy

Actually, I figured it out. I didn't have to restore or suffer any loss of data. Thanks for being a complete a$$hole about it though.

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Answer 7

Feb 17, 2012 2:09 PM in response to gryndor

For those now running iOS 5, see this thread for a fix to this problem that worked for several of us:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3515600?start=0&tstart=0

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