ios5 upgrade 'could not activate iphone'

It would appear that the phone you purchased was unlocked by hacking it ("jailbreaking"). As you said it came with a warranty return it. You have gotten advice to jailbreak it to fix the problem. This is a very bad idea, as it will void any warranty you have.

You did not say where you bought it. If it was directly from Apple then Apple will exchange it. If it was directly from a carrier then the carrier should unlock it for you. If it was from anyone else it was unlocked using unauthorized methods, and it will give you nothing but trouble now and forever; return it.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3743

Lawrence Finch

I received many replies to my post, grateful for all of them. Can I just clarify some points:

1. The phone was sold to me through ebay with an Apple Warranty not a seller warranty. I have reported the seller on ebay but think my chances of return are nil, I paid directly into his bank account and therfore have also lost all buyer protection through paypal

2. I have tried to carrier unlock but I cant as described in my thread.

3. If the update has caused the phone to default to the original carrier due to unauthorized modifications would the phone not work with the o2 sim I purchased? I have read on other forums that 3gs phones that were never locked, unlocked and sold originally sim free have developed the same issue updating and Apple were exchanging them for consumers.

I do not want to go down any unauthorized route, so what now? I suppose I have learned a lesson and an expensive one at that.

Thanks

Thanks very much for your replies to my post which I have received. I have reported the seller on ebay see reply posted above for details of situation.. buyer beware I think covers it, no recourse but I have learned a lot! Is there other unauthorised stuff I need to beware of as we are a family of apple devotees imac (the one you can convert to a goldfish bowl which I have managed to keep going), macbooks, ipods and ipads... have we downloaded anything rendering our warranties invalid?

It would only work with an O2 SIM if the original carrier was O2. If it wasn't you can ask Apple who the original carrier was; if it isn't AT&T the carrier might be willing to unlock it for you, possibly for a small fee. Apple will also know if it is supposed to be unlocked; if it is they will unlock it for you.

Most of the phones that are officially unlocked that show this problem have an unusual history, that goes something like this:

1. Someone jailbreaks their phone to unlock it, by replacing the baseband (cellular modem) firmware with iPad firmware (all iPads are unlocked).
2. Later on they have a problem and Apple exchanges the phone.
3. The problem phone is reconditioned and added to the exchange inventory. BUT no one at Apple notices that the baseband is from an iPad.
4. Someone with a problem comes in and is given the phone in exchange for a broken phone.
5. It works UNTIL it is updated to iOS 5, because iOS 5 is not compatible with the iPad baseband.

If this is the case Apple will replace it. They may even replace it under other circumstances, but you need to ask them on a good day.

You can check the warranty status of the phone by entering the serial number here: https://selfsolve.apple.com/agreementWarrantyDynamic.do

It was the apple that told me the original carrier was o2 and o2 cant unlock it as Ive already explained, I have already confirmed on the apple website by the serial number of my phone that that my apple warranty is still valid but the apple rep told me they would not touch it. Is there a possiblity I have inherited a reconditioned/exchange inventory phone?

Ah, I see that now that I looked back a page at your original post. OK, the key is that it worked on Vodaphone even though it was locked to O2 on iOS 4. This almost certainly means that the previous owner had unlocked the phone by replacing the iPhone's baseband with version 6.15, which is the iPad baseband. Unfortunately I don't think this is reversible without jailbreaking the phone, which you said you do not want to do. It's also possible that it is a reconditioned phone, but that would be in the phone's history, which Apple has.

There is one possible option that MIGHT work - a DFU restore, which means restoring the phone using just the boot firmware. To do that:

1. Reboot your computer
2. Disable any antivirus and firewall
3. Launch iTunes
4. Connect the dock cable to a USB port on your computer (not a hub); do not connect the other end to the phone yet
5. On the phone hold the HOME and SLEEP buttons for exactly 10 seconds until the screen goes black, then release the SLEEP button but continue holding the HOME button. If an Apple logo appears you have held too long; do it again.
6. Connect the cable to the phone and continue holding until iTunes recognizes a phone in Recovery mode, and let the update complete.

If it completes without error this may solve the problem. If not you need to see if there is recourse through eBay or consider other options that cannot be discussed in an Apple forum, but Google is your friend.

I'm with you. You'll get no joy here. George Orwell was right.

The thing I don't understand is why apple haven't provided a fix to this problem. Surely if you get an iphone legitimately unlocked by a service provider and do a full restore the phone should be back to original condition. Even if it had been hacked before!

Apple should be looking at ways to restore the phone to original. Isn't this just good business, ie keeping customers happy.

Many posters that have given advice, that will at least allow people to use their phone, have had their posts removed or edited. Why, what are you afraid of. You haven't provided a fix so what else are people to do.

Apple don't forget you do not own every iphone. People can do what they like with them after their contract has expired. If apple just want to wash their hands of these people then more fool them. Have you looked at how big the android market is getting, well it's only going to get bigger especially if you treat people in this way.

I got my first iphone 3 months ago and just love it, but now I have my doubts. 1984

hey guys,

i found this youtube video of ian559fresno "How to: Fix iPhone 3gs Searching... and "No Service" iOS 5.0.1! 6.15.00! w/c was posted on January 9 and followed it for my 3gs with 4.1 and 6.15.00 BB and it worked for me.

As he explains it, even if there is no sim inside the iphone and it still says "searching" is because of some corruption with the BB file or something similar to that, i could not tell exactly what he said.

apparently it is not apple's activation servers that's causing the issue.

i'm not sure if the guide works for other idevices other than the 3gs but i'm hoping it does, so good luck with yours.

i also having same problem.

make me angry 1 whole day!

this discussions page are useless!

i don't see any reply from apple support!

what for to have this page???

apple suck!!!

will not to use any apple product from now and furture!!!

Hey sebes your spot on!

Apple are all about control, so don't be surprised if your post gets deleted.

I have posted solutions so give that a go.

Google phone is the only way to go.