iOS 5.0.1 Crashing iPhone 3GS

Just to let everyone know that I managed to restore from backup (via iTunes), and everything seems stable so far, running IOS 5.0.1.

It did take several attempts to restore from backup (numerous errors veryfying the backup against Apple's servers, which seem very flakey at the moment - even the page describing the error condition was unavailable due to 'scheduled upgrades'), and eventually the phone booted with what looked like a raw OS (I needed to set up from scratch re: location services, preferred wireless networks etc). But now the restore is progressing well (no crashes so far), and my previously downloaded apps all seem to be installed and working.

I hope this helps others to get out of this irritating predicament. If I was Apple I would be quite concerned about the unreliability of this whole process, why flys in the face of their 'it just works' motto. To recap, my very sub-standard customer experience went roughly like this:

1. IOS 5.0.0 asks me "would you like to upgrade to 5.0.1?". I respond "yes". It doesn't seem that it did any kind of backup immediately before the upgrade.

2. After that completes successfully, the phone crashes every 2 minutes or so, effectively preventing me from being able to do a backup or restore.

3. Eventually, I manage to initiate a restore, but after unpacking the file, it fails verifying against the Apple servers.

4. I click on "More info..." and get redirected to a "resource not availble" error page.

5. After several more similar failed attempts, my phone eventually reboots into a virgin OS, and I manage to restore from backup.

Total elapsed time, about 3 hours. Sad, but true.

Some encouraging news: someone on this forum mentioned that they did an "on-phone" reset, not using iTunes. The one under settings>general.reset. It seemed to help them, so I gave it a shot.

I did this, and had it reset as if it were a new phone. I've lost everything, of course, but I've been trying to "crash" the phone for a full hour now, and it's still going! And that's progress!!

I'll keep at it and see if it keeps working. Small, faint, tiny glimmer of hope ....

The saga continues. Finally broke down and took the 3gs to the Mac Store. Had a "genius" do what I had already done, but he did say his diagnostic software would go "a little deeper." Told me that if that didn't do the trick, then there was a "hardware" problem, and that the phone was out of warranty, so I was on my own.

He offered to sell me a "new" 3gs for $150. I then went to AT&T, and they offered to sell me a new 4 for $150, or a 4s for $200.

While the genius wouldn't say it, I'm sure the "hardware problem" is the battery. My suspicion is that whatever iOS5 is doing is really sapping the 3gs battery hard. The phone is about 1 1/2 years old: the battery performance was surely diminished already, but tolerable. I could still go all day long on a single charge. iOS5 pushed it over the edge.

So .... I guess it's the end of the line for the 3gs. The phone works just fine as long as it is plugged in! Maybe I'll make it the house phone. Been thinking about getting rid of the land line any way!

Good luck everyone!

OK. Final chapter on my little 3gs Saga, and yes, there's a happy end! Turns out all of my crazy problems were related to a dying battery. Problems were so weird, they all sure seemed to be software related, but -- I switched batteries and she works like a charm. The battery was 1 1/2 years old, afterall. Apparently iOS5 increased the demand on an already weak battery, and all **** broke loose. Amazing. Crazy it took so long to diagnose it. I'm a little irritated the Mac Genius I saw told me there was "a hardware problem," and offered to sell me a $150 phone replacement rather than a $20 battery. And I'm a little irritated that no one on these iPhone forums suggested replacing the battery. BUT, maybe this post will help the next guy.

And here's a quick apology to Apple: I assumed it was the software, when it was a failing battery all along. Sorry I jumped to conclusions.

So to end all my updates, for all of you out there experiencing crazy problems with the iOS5 upgrade REPLACE YOUR AGING BATTERY. If you've every replaced a hard drive on a laptop, or added ram to a laptop, you can replace your battery. 20 bucks.

I have no problems but you may need to do a restore.

Mine is doing the same thing. It doesn't stay on long enough to do a restore.

Yes, I have same problem with u. Does apple know how to fix this yet?? My iPhone now is really suck, Can't do anything with this. Restore doesn't fix the problem. Maybe if Apple still doesn't have the solution yet, please just find the way how to downgrade to iOS 4.X. Because now my iPhone is really useless!

Exactly the same problem here. 3GS, IOS 5.0.1 upgraded over the air. Crashes after 2 minutes now.

Same issues here.

3GS, did the update to 5.0.1, after that it keeps rebooting every 2 minutes.

Unable to even backup the phone.

Any solutions to this?

See above. Restore to a previous backup, if you have one.

I have a similar problem on my 3GS (16GB) it randomly shuts down after upgrading to iOS 5.0.1 but this is infrequent - 3 times yesterday. It hasn't happened today (it's now 12:30 GMT) so I'll wait till tomorrow to see if it re-occurs. If it does I intend to do a restore from a backup unless some other solution is posted in the meantime.

It's an annoying issue as it occurs during calls.

Same problem on 16g 3GS after over air update.

I did a reset via the phone itself (without deleting all data) and this corrected the problem.

However the bug is still in there as after switching the phone off and on again the same problem happened - every 2 minutes over and over again( Groundhog Day anyone?). A reset on the phone solved problem again but phone will need to be kept on UNTIL Apple SORT THIS OUT.

Hope this may help some poor souls

Follow up to my post yesterday at 04:42 (Phone - 3GS 16GB):

Again yesterday the phone powered down during a phone conversation and just before it powered off I noticed that the battery indicator was gone red and that it appeared to be shutting off due to lack of a battery charge. I immediatly turned the phone on again and the battery indicator showed 75% charge.

The battery "fix" in iOS 5.0.1 appears to have created the following issue with the 3GS: During a phone call the battery sensor is mis-interpreting the change level and powering off the phone thinking that the battery change is depleted. On my phone this only happens during phone calls - at other times it senses the charge level accurately.

I wonder if this misinterpretation relates to an older battery type in the 3GS! Over to you Apple.

Same problem here - 3GS constantly rebooting at random (and not getting texts) but it was doing it both Before and After 5.0.1 - so it's not a .1 problem for me...

Have done everything, restore, hard reset etc, close apps all the time but it makes no difference - it even restarts randomly when on charge, but it was fine before iOS 5

However we have another, older 3GS which is fine!

Help!!

I am stuck with the same problem. iPhone 3GS reboots after every 2 minutes. This is a piece of junk now. It seems Apple is falling apart after Steve Jobs. They can't get a simple update right.

Dear Tim Cook,

We are Apple loyalists because of what you offer and how you offer. Please get this problem fixed asap. And before you launch a new upgrade, TEST IT, VALIDATE IT for all criticial and non-critical conditions.

You are being judged.