An error occurred while restoring this iPhone (-1).

I have the same error (-1) when trying to restore and it cannot be fixed with the solution above because awhen the error message comes up, the option buttons are 'OK' and 'More information'. Then the phone is kicked off iTunes and starts the process again. There is no option to access a restore from back up / set up as a new phone / do any syncing.

What I wanted to point out is - I had the (-1) error a few months ago and managed to restore it somehow after using a different computer and trying over and over (it just somehow worked one time). Then it happened again a couple of weeks ago and I managed a restore again. The phone was working fine and then started saying 'No service' and losing signal. Now I am stuck at this stage again and can't get past the error. The fact that I managed to do a restore and get the phone working twice in the past would suggest that it is not a hardware issue as Apple have said.

I am using Windows XP and iphone 3GS.

iTunes, iPhone and Windows seems to be a bad combination. I have had endless hours of frustration with my PC crashing, iTunes sticking and now the phone is useless. Nearing the point of giving up.

I had same error. Apple store replaced the phone instantly. Said there is some coding issues that if you escalate enough on phone tech support can fix it, but in store they are told to just give you a new one. It is very isolated. They also give you a 90 warranty in case you are running low.

Thanks chach99. Was your original phone still within its warranty period?

Yo guys i think i have found a solution to this error (1). Ive got a 3gs and have been going through this problem and my phone has never been jail broken alot like you guys/girls. for the last week and have been reading all the apple community forums for a update to see if anyone made any progress. i phoned apple myself and they just told me to do the dfu mode start up to restore it and that didnt work as i had done that a 100 times before. Eventually i went into the applestore and they brought me to machine which they plugged my phone into and it said apparently my phone has water damage around the usb plug in bit. I told them ive never dropped my phone in any water. The bloke then asked if i ever had any battery problems with the phone which i did, but i only thought that was the new update draining my battery. He then told me that has probably caused this water damage! Then i got told if i trade my phone in and give them £120 they give me a new brand new phone. Anyway keeping my phone and keeping my money i got home and googled how to drain water out of your phone.

The RESULTS-

1) Placing your phone into a sealed container with rice and leave it in there for 3 days, which i didnt think was a gd idea cos my phone would get all dusty and possible grains going into the ear phone holes etc.

OR

2) Which i used and it worked for me! Again using a sealed container (tupperware for example) but instead of rice use the little packs of salt that come with trainer boxes (the ones where it says DO NOT EAT on it) and again leave it in the conatiner for 3 days and it worked first time in dfu mode! Hope this helps.

This was my experience.. updated mac, updated itunes, took off photos and music, error during first sync attempt, sync prompted again, back up completed to mac fine.. BUT gave me (-1) when restoring to phone after ios5 complete. Phone might as well have been straight out of the box. Mac had no record of a back up. Took it to apple, nice guy spent AGES messing around with the mac trying to dig up the back up or anything close to. He managed to scrape up A-T of my phone list which I had from a year ago, the last time I synced the phone!!

Other than that we have presumed the back up to be corrupted. So we deleted the manky back up and I'm gonna have to start again but with A-T at least. I'm not happy about it - I lost my mum's messages and voicemails from just before she died 2 years ago. I have nothing against the guy at the genius bar - he did everything he could think of and totally racked his brains over it. But I really wish apple could do something with their sync procedure, it's way too risky and gives us all.. 'the fear' ... whenever we want an update!

The guy at the genius bar says whoever thought it to be a hardware issue hasn't seen this problem before. It's a software issue entirely and everytime he has seen it it has been due to an interrupted or failed sync attempt (the part where your info is backed to mac).

Congratulations to all those who got theirs to work more simply. But there's not enough rice in this world that could have de-humidified my wet behind the ears phone! Good luck guys!