iPhone 4S bricked after 6.1 update - iTunes errors 21/1611

I have the same problem

I "fix it" by restoring the same ios version (5.1) with redsnow

But i can,t until now upgrade or downgrade my 4s

I have the same problem with my 4s I get error 3014... However being without a iphone for a few days builds character and gives one time to contemplate Samsung's offerings 😕

I look forward to my genius bar appt 😟

hi i hope this helps you guys out. after searching on the net for 3 days on end my iphone 4s was stuck in recoverymode after the 6.1 update. to solve this problem this is the steps i took.

1 put idevice into recovery mode

2 windows 7 nor a mac would restore my phone so this is where windows 8 comes into play!!!!!!!

3 fresh install of windows 8 on small partition of hard drive with no extra programs installed accept itunes

4 start itunes while phone is still in dfu mode plug in to computer

5 go through restore process and your idevice should be alive

let me know if this was any help.

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3694#error3014

This error can be caused by your antivirus or firewall blocking access to Apple's activation servers, a hacked or jailbroken phone, or the computer you are using to restore on was used at some time in the past to hack or jailbreak an iOS device.

What error where you having on iTunes when restoring? I´m having error 36 with the exact behaviour of the initial post. Did you solve something like this with windows 8?

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3694#error36

Which states that this error usually means that your antivirus or firewall is preventing the update from completing. You need to disable them during the update.

i´ve tried everything on that link, tried on a mac without any AV/FW, on a PC without AV/FW and nothing seems to work.

Well, the other possibility, as the article says, is a hardware issue. Although if the phone has been jailbroken or hacked that could be another possibility.

@Lawrence Finch this is no hardware issue, it is a problem with the upgrade to 6.1 that bricked my iphone (that wasn´t jailbreaked).

As Kwintenc I´ve also tried a lot of stuff because I´m not new to iphones and I´m an advanced windows/osx/ios user.

Saddly the iphone is still in warranty but I also leave in a country that hasn´t got official Apple service provider (Argentina).

I´m gonna try now to install a W8 VM and see if that helps, but I´m almost sure it wont.

Do you know if there is a way to get apple support by mail / phone in a country they haven´t got official service?

hi, I have exactly the same problem. I have not firewall or anti virus installed. changed usb cables, tried on two apples, still getting error 2001 and 2006. This must be a OS6.1 issue. Parcular thing with me is that the phone started the upgrade on it own!!!! when not even connected to itunes and crashed when it requested to connect to itunes. Very frustraing... My iphone4 is out of warrenty and i will be paying $$$$ for a tech to fix..

Hi sorry for late reply about w8. I'm not shore why windows 8 saved my IPhone 4S but it also saved my iPhone 5 too. My 4s was jbroken. iTunes itself gave me error codes like 9006 (-1) and loads of others. I tried tuning of firewall and antivirus but that didn't help hence why I tried the w8 route which worked for me.

I've got exactly the same problem with my 4s and same error codes on attempting recovery.

Created fresh installation of Windows XP without AV software and FW turned off. Still cannot do recovery.

It's really annoying. I've lost my phone and so far there seems to be no remedy.

Tried to recover with windows 2008 server fresh install, and windows 8 fresh install, both with same luck (error 36).

I´ve seen that we are a lot of people with the same problem, how can we tell apple about this? Does anyone know if some apple representative watch this forums?

Thank You wuzi36,

I was getting the 9006 error (after i updated to 6.1 on a jb 4s) and could not rescue my 4s so i had a hunch that your way would save it.

I can CONFIRM this method worked for me too 😉😉😎

Previously i tried to disable the anti-virus/firewall on windows 7 64bit BUT failed... So i did the following....

• I just partitioned the hd and installed Windows 8 64bit (which i kinda like now after seeing it in action where and was reluctant to install it before^^).
• Then i downloaded and installed iTunes 11.
• All this time my 4s was in dfu mode.
• Then i went through the restore process via iTunes (This will put your iphone back to factory settigs so make sure you have made a back up in iTunes BUT if you reading this then your iphone is not accessible then you cannot do backup oops).
• And i saw my 4s come alive.............😉
• Once it was restored i checked the OS and it was 6.1.

I do not know if i can post links from other websites to help here, but i can if i get permission to from mods etc etc.

<Edited by host>