The iPhone "iPhone" could not be restored. An unknown error occurred (-1).

I have been trying to update my iPhone's software for the past few weeks due to my current provider not being found. (A bar that says "Searching" is always at the top where my 3G should be.) Yet whenever I try directly from my iPhone, it always end with an error message. So, yesterday I tried updating directly from itunes and I let it download the new update and all that. However, after it finished trying to update my iPhone, it put my iPhone in a recovery mode and I've been trying to fix it eversince. I can not access my iPhone, all it has is an icon saying to connect to itunes. I've tried troubleshooting, checking my software, updating my computer etc. yet it still leaves me with this message: "The iPhone "iPhone" could not be restored. An unknown error occurred (-1)." I've looked on the apple site and I've made sure my security is up to date, my computer is up to date, my itunes is up to date and that I have restarted my computer. I am very irritated and I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do because my warranty is over with apple and I still have a few years on my contract. This problem has become relatively frequent with the replacement I've received from apple.

Please post all suggestions or ideas to help with my problem,

Thank you for your time.

-Applefanatic23