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Level 1

13 points

Getting Out of Recovery Mode Loop without Restoring. - Possible?

For no apparent reason, my NOT-jailbroken iPhone 3GS running iOS 5.1.1 went into Recovery Mode:

Turning it on shows the Apple logo for 2-3 seconds, then the screen shown below for about 20 seconds, then the iPhone turns itself off - unless plugged.

If I plug it to my MacBook Pro, iTunes demands a restore (see screen shot), which I don't want to do before I recover some files from the iPhone - if that's possible at all.

Is there any way to get my iPhone out of this Recovery Mode loop without restoring?

I've read many threads about Recovery Mode loops, but all seem to involve jailbroken iPhones, or failed restores, updates or downgrades of the iOS version, which is not my case. Although I don't know if that makes any difference with regards to a fix.

Thanks in advance for any help!

iPhone 3GS, iOS 5, 32GB

Posted on Aug 17, 2012 2:58 PM

Best reply

AjaxOfSalamis

Level 2

240 points

Posted on Aug 17, 2012 3:21 PM

It might be possible to backup your data. When the "iPhone in recovery mode" window pops up, go ahead and click "OK". On the second popup window, click "Cancel". You sould then be taken to the main iTunes screen. If your iPhone is listed under Devices, right-click it and attempt a backup. If your phone isn' there, then you're stuck restoring it.

A backup at this moint may or may not be advisable: because your iPhone went into recovery mode suddenly, there's most likely a software glitch causing the problem which would simply be carried over once you've restored your phone.

View in context

18 replies

Nov 23, 2014 9:57 PM in response to masooda786

https://www.apple.com/support/contact/

Mar 18, 2016 5:14 AM in response to ohheyyitsalexx

I Tried this, I turned it off once then turned it back on, and it worked first time! The only problem is, my phone keeps turning off now. I've done 5 hard reboots to my phone within the last 2 weeks.

Oct 27, 2016 2:31 AM in response to albertop9

You will need to put iPhone into dfu mode. Open iTunes and plug your phone into the computer. Hold down the Lock And Home button until it powers off. Continue holding for 8 seconds and then let go of the lock button and continue holding the home button until it appears in iTunes. The display should still be black, if it is not then try again. This may be from restoring a corrupted backup after the first time so I would just set it up as a new phone and reenter everything manually.

Getting Out of Recovery Mode Loop without Restoring. - Possible?