Problems installing iOS 5 on iPad

Oh man, I'm glad to see others freaking out like I am over this. I mean *** Apple, seriously?!?

Mine was running iOS5Beta1 or 2 for a long time then I went on a trip. When I came back it said it had expired. I tried to update it but by then the Beta had ended. It got me stuck in an endless restore loop. I can't even us the phone, it says it needs activation but won't activate, over WiFi or via iTunes. I mean ***!?!?

Restore fails immediately saying it can't download the resource. I saw it download the IPSW a long time ago, maybe 2-3 weeks ago when this first began fail-looping..

So I gave up on restore and I have tried DFU mode. DFU mode restore lets it get all the way through restore (like 8 mins), THEN it fails, like the others posted on page 7... I have gone through the KB it pointed me to, anyways I think I do all of that already on my own just from experience of hacking iPhones over the years. Also note this particular device was NEVER jailbroken (my other 3G running 4.3.5 is though and it works flawlessly!)

It is totally bricked basically right now and @Apple on Twitter is also ignoring our pleas! 😟

HELP US APPLE!!!!!!!!!

Maybe we need to OCCUPY APPLE!! 😀 😀 😀

OMG I don't believe it, no sooner than I post this (above) on here, then I try restore in DFU mode one more time and it worked!! It would NOT work w/out going into DFU mode this morning. I tried it like 20 times switching USB ports, switching iTunes/computers, etc.. DFU mode > Restore > Didn't restore anything from Backup and didn't enable iCloud > It is working now and activated, YAY!!! 😀 Happy Friday!!

Mine suddenly restored too, I'm not sure why. It does seem to be some sort of server issue, whereby either the download isnt occurring correctly and / or the authentication on the server is screwed. anyways for all those still suffering its just a matter of time till it works.

For those who are experiencing the issue when trying to update to iOS 5 and the restore process fails during the firmware stage, try the winsock reset method as described by longrower. I can confirm that it works... after reboot I put the ipad in DFU mode clicked Restore in iTunes and am now on iOS 5 currently restoring my apps.

I decided to update my iPad 1 to iOS 5, but it's cruital not to lose any information from my apps. Of course I will need to make a backup of all my data (a thing that iTunes does automatically), but the thing is that the backup it should make is 25 GB, meaning that it won't be able to backup this data to the default destination ( "C" drive) where I gave 4 gb free from 30 GB Total. I really need to make that backup elsewhere, have you got anything in mind that might help, because I made some google searches but did not find anything that is helpful regarding this...

The sucky thing is that I have made that "trick" that makes iTunes to make on the drive I have more space, but obviously it still thinks it is contained in that partition (in the C: drive there still is a folder that forward the data to the folder of my choice) so the only way I can see now is to "deceive" iTunes about the free space I have on my C: drive, but I don't know if that's possible...

Thank you!

I've got the same problem. I tried Junction, which points the default Itunes backup directory to an external drive, but Itunes errors out during the backup phase. Itunes for Windows is just a terrible, terrible hunk of poor software. Any high school student studying programming could fix this problem. Why not just release Itunes to the public domain so we could fix it? I know that won't happen. So I guess the only choice for a decent smartphone management system will have to use Android. 😟

holdrege wrote:

So I guess the only choice for a decent smartphone management system will have to use Android. 😟

I know that iTunes isn't perfect, but it's certainly not bad enough to make me abandon my iPhone. I haven't used an Android phone that I find as intuitive, but I know some people love them. The latest Windows 7.5 phone software is getting very positive reviews, so if you're going to switch and you're already using Windows anyway, you may want to check that out. Good luck!

I won't abandon my iphone 4, but I probably won't buy a new one once it reaches its end of life. Not unless Itunes dramatically improves. I run windows for business reasons, but I am more of a unix guy, so given a choice I will use Android and customize the phone so that it is intuitive to me. Maybe I will even cusotmize it to be like an Iphone. 🙂

I had problems updating my iPad (1st gen) to iOS 5. The error had something to do with not being elibigle for the requested build. I checked Apple's website and found this:

The hosts file may also be blocking the iTunes Store.

1. Open the Terminal utility located in Applications > Utilities.
2. When Terminal opens, open the hosts file by typing entering the following command and pressing Enter:
   sudo nano /private/etc/hosts
3. Type your user password when prompted.
   Note: This requires a non-blank admin password.
4. Edit the hosts file:
   The hosts file contains some comments (lines starting with the # symbol), as well as some default hostname mappings (e.g. 127.0.0.1 – localhost).
   You can navigate the file using the arrow keys.
5. If an entry is found containing apple.com, add # and a space to the beginning of that line.
   Note: If this is a work system, the hosts file may be used to redirect to local resources, such as software updates. Consult your support resources.
   
6. Save the hosts file.
   • When done editing the hosts file, press Control-o to save the file.
   • Press Enter on the filename prompt, and Control-x to exit the editor.

I followed the directions and IT WORKED!

Go to an Apple Store. I did. When Genius had same problem and could not explain nor fix, Manager authorized a new, replacement iPad.

See this discussion, https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3403887?start=0&tstart=0

(Funny how these discussions threads get unraveled!)

I found an answer:

I was having the same issue and I used a suggestion from another board that suggested changing the DNS servers. I used the google one and it worked for me within seconds of changing them. Here is the link with directions if you want to try!

http://code.google.com/speed/public-dns/

I use Google DNS, and I loaded iOS 5.1 it worked great 24 minutes on a slow DSL.

This solved my issue:

I was having the same issue and I used a suggestion from another board that suggested changing the DNS servers. I used the google one and it worked for me within seconds of changing them. Here is the link with directions if you want to try!

http://code.google.com/speed/public-dns/

I use Google DNS, and I loaded iOS 5.1 it worked great 24 minutes on a slow DSL.

Did you do the update direct from your iPad over wi-fi, or while connected to your computer?

Thanks EZWI. That fixed it in an instant.

I am trying to update to IO5 one ipad but it always happens the same the backup finishs and all the process stops

What i am doing bad?