I have had to "factory reset" my iPhone4 3 times since December-always when running an update. I'm frustrated with this and am about ready to go back to a Droid. Has anyone had this issue? How can I fix this problem?
iPhone 4, iOS 6.1.3
Thanks for responding, A!!
The first time, I was simply trying to run the software update. It froze in the middle of the update, and even when I plugged it into my laptop, it wouldn't let me reset. So I went to the Genius Bar. The second time, my son was trying to backup my phone to my MacBook (since I hadn't done it before the last update and LOST EVERYTHING). It ran the update all on its own. I had been avoiding the newest update because I didn't want to have to reset it again. The third time, I was synching my photos from my phone to my laptop (iPhoto). I've been in to the Genius Bar twice, and all they do is help me reset it. Am I doing something wrong?
~J
A couple of thing I would do first.
1. Suspect that your USB cable is suspect and try using a different one. If it is suspect, it may be loosing connection during the sync process, causing the issues.
2. Turn off automatic connections on the MacBook, so only one thing happens at a time, as this may be causing issues.
So without the iphone connected, launch iTunes and select
iTunes>Preferences>Devices.
Check the box for "Prevent iPods, iPhones and iPad from syncing automatically
Close iTunes.
Next Launch iPhoto and select
iPhoto>Prefernces>General
Change Connecting camera opens: to "No application"
Close iPhoto.
These two setting changes wil allow you to manually control all syncing.
Now with those setting changed, connect you phone, using a different cable and launch iPhoto
Import any photos that are avaliable for import.
Close iPhoto.
Launch iTunes
Select your phone on the left list and then on the right click Back Up Now selection.
This should now make a full backup of your phone.
Once the backup is cmplete, you can now select "Check for Update"
Once it has found the update, You can Download and install it.
When asked at the end of the process, if you want to restore your phone "new" (factory reset) of from /backup, select Backup and it should restore the phone from the backup you performed at the start of the process.
Sync any changes you want to make to the phone, backup it up again once the new sync is complete and disconnect the phone from itunes.
If these processors fail, you may have a hardware issue with the phone or the macbook.
A
So, if I'm understanding this correctly, everytime I run a software update, I basically have to reset the phone and then upload my backup? This deletes all of my free apps...which I then have to search for and download again. That's just dumb!
Hi J,
Not quite right.
The steps I posted to you were more troubleshooting steps for you to determine if there are issues at your end.
If you want to update thru iTunes, when you 'check for updates', iTunes will download the latest goldern master (GM) release of the OS. This is the full OS, not a point update of it.
This has good and bad points. The good, is that if you have any OS issues, you have the full latest version of the OS on your computer if you need it at another time, eg factory reset. The bad, is that it is resonably large download, so if you have a slow internet connection, it can take sometime to download it.
The 'check for update' process on the latest version of iTunes, does the downlaod, update and restore of previous backup all in the one process, so at the end of the process, your phone should be the same state as before, only with the new version of the OS.
If you use the 'restore' button in iTunes, then you will get the option the restore to new (factory reset) or backup.
You can also update directly on the iPhone, without connecting to iTunes,
Settings>General>Software Update
This is a point update process and will only download the changes in the OS, so its much quicker than the iTunes process.
Either way, you should not be loosing anything off the phone, all Apps that are installed should be remaining in places.
That said, as with any computer equipment, I would always suggest that you back it up before any update process, incase anything happens during the process, that may cause the update to fail. eg bad cable, loss of power, loss of internet, etc.
A
Hi,
I have not seen any issues personally.
What steps are you taking to update that is causing you to need to factory reset?
A
Factory Reset after update
