ANY ONE KNOW WHAT IS ERROR 3 IN ITUNES WHEN I TRY TO RESTORE IPHONE 5 TO IOS 7 IT STUCKS IN THE END AND AFTER 30 MIN THIS COME OUT "UNKNOWN ERROR 3" CAN SOME ONE HELP ME PLZ

Welll... I don't know how cold, but you know, it just too cold. Because it was placed in freezer for 30 minutes...I tried to restore and got ( error 3 ) several times this morning until I tried the trick.

Hi Pelling,

Most consumer freezers are set to between 25-30F. Cold won't hurt the phone but ice formation could which is why I urge a paper towel wrapped around a 1/2 cup of dry rice to absorb any moisture inside the freezer bag you place the phone in. In manufacturing of Flash chips for Industrial, Military and Space applications we normally test for full functionality as low as -55C (-67F). Commercial grade chips as in the iPhone may stop functioning if you get much below -5F but they may operate much colder aallowing you to try a colder temperature. The physics of cold temperature making Flash erase easier starts to flatten out around -20F so going colder than this is unlikely to yield a successful erase attempt.

Hi Pelling,

Also, refer the engineer you speak to to this discussion thread number. We know how frustrating this can be and having your $600+ iPhone or iPad "brick" due to no fault of your own while doing a iOS update can raise your emotions, but remember to be nice when dealing with Apple staff. Sugar goes much farther than garlic. Apple may be collecting hardware test cases to work on this issue so you might raise this question. If you have owned multiple Apple devices for many years I would mention this at the appropriate time if needed. Good luck!

Hi,

I will report the thread number when they ring me. I am always overly nice but firm in what actions I wish them to take if the issue is not resolved. I could understand if the fault was off my own i.e dropped phone, water damage etc.. But its not, phone was as good as ever on ios 6 prior to update.

Just tried again put in at 6.20pm UK time left for 30 mins tried restore.. error 3 .. 50 mins .. error 3 ...70 mins...error 3...

Having the same issue, iPhone 5 phone continually saying searching...

Took the phone to Verizon and called them got Tier 2 support. Reset network settings, remove/reinsert sim card etc finally they asked me to backup to icloud and do a complete reset to factory settings. Phone was still saying searching.

I tried system restore and dfu mode when I did that and connected itunes to do the restore I keep getting error 3 after failing 45min to 1 hour into it. Can't get back to Hello screen.

Out of warantee so I'm going to try calling apple and mentioning this thread. Phone was in my pocket all day at work, didn't drop or bang into anything.

Hi guys,

Just got off the phone to an apple supervisor ( quite high up eventually ). I have provided her with msinfo.exe file and itunes update logs. The lady is going to forward them to apple engineers. I am going to provide people with error 3 AND ONLY error 3 her personal contact number to report all your cases of error 3.

She was very nice and says she will get back to me latest thursday. As I previously said, the more reported issues the more Apple are seriously going consider your case and not say "its a hardware fault on our behalf" if there is a hardware fault it is caused by the IOS7 update which by my rekoning is an error on their part therefore should most certainly apple should be providing replacment devices irrespective wheather our warrenty is up or not.

Her name is as follows and will try everything to help us out :

Just checked my logs and its definatly a baseband error.

(BBUpdater error 3 - Modem returned to download mode)

How can an update break a device !!! Ludicrous.

Just read a forum saying maybe disassmbling the phone isolating the logic board then put it in the over at 180 ^ C for roughly 20 mins then put phone back together and try again.. Does someone want to try this ?? I have a pentalobe screw set coming tomorrow but am not great with finddly things so not sure how hard it will be to isolate logic board?

Ask her to send you a piece of software called "Capture Data"

What you will do is recreate the error 3 while this program is running, then send the files to apple with the link they will provide you. Ask her about this when she gets back to you and please give us an update.

I have been working with the ios developers, engineers for quite sometime now, since November to be exact. I had the same problem as most people on here. It all started out with a "searching" for signal in the status bar. This was an iphone 4 with ios 6xx. I tried everything I know, airplane mode back and forth, reset network settings, and so on. After a restore in DFU mode, I had no "searching" for service and the phone was working again. I then put ios 7 on and it was all good. Had no problems with 7.0.1 either. When 7.0.2 came out I upgraded....now the phone was stuck with 2% left of the process and returned a error code 3. I tried and tried everything to get it working, but was getting stuck on the same last 2% of the update. I then started to look at the logs. Baseband issue. ok, so I went to my cell carrier for a fix. Was told to go to Apple. So I went to apple hoping for an answer....which I did not get. The genius actually told me "you developers are smarter then we are" and I have never seen this error before. GREAT I said...they wanted 200$ for a replacement since it was out of warranty. I left the store. I called Applecare. I explained to the representive that I had a huge problem and so does a few thousand other people. I told her everything, then next was speaking to an ios software analyst. From there the rest is history, Apple sent me a "Capture Data" program and I was able to recreate the error 3 while the capture data program running. This intern was sent to Apple over a secured link and they had the info they needed. My idevice was out of warranty, but they did send me a BRAND NEW idevice and not a refurb. I still continue to talk with my "guys" there and send them any info I can for this matter. It way be fixed in 7.1 update but one really does not know. Just keep trying and be nice. And if you have registered any Apple products they will see that, and let them know you have spent a lot money on Apple products..as they saw all mine and said "Wow you own like everything we have made!"

Good luck and please report back.....have you tried kennethyoungs freezer trick yet? It wont hurt one bit if your idevice is out of warranty.

Tried freezer trick several times each at different time time intervals within the freezer. No luck. Ive give apple my FULL log errors with coinside with the baseband error.

So while talking the software people are we 100% ruling out a hardware issue if as you say the fix will be solved in ios 7.1 ??

Because I genuinely cant believe its hardware one minute it worked next it didnt.

Thanks for respones.

No..

You need follow all the steps in this forum as there are potential fixes people provide that may fix some error (3)'s .. Then do the usual itunes trouble shoots,... Different cables laptops desktop windows 7 XP etc ... Final resort would be to ring apple or ring the women I posted earlier. Be polite and kind as she is trying to help me. If you are running windows try restore again the iphone & type %APPDATA% into your windows search bar .... then roaming .. then apple computer ... itunes.... itune updater logs... Zip that file and post it here http://www.speedyshare.com/ and post the link then i'll have a quick look if your error corresponds with mine..

If you ring her mention Nathan Pelling & also mention this thred.

I tryed calling them/chatting with them. They were unable to help me. I have tried everything that you guys and Apple chat asked me to do. I mentioned this thread (They didnt want a link) and I have the notes that they emailed me from the call along with my still open case number.

I'm at work on one of our macs trying to get the crash reporter logs. When I have my log I will paste in this forum where hopefully one of you guys will kindly send on to your contact so this issue will get fixed...FYI they thought Error Code (3) is antivirus/firewall problem.

Apple told me 5hr drive to the nearest store for $269 replacement phone.

Haha - If error 3 is a firewall issue / anti virus then im the pope.... Id go to the apple site, start a chat off with and advisor explain the issue, explain what you would like as the outcome, mine is a new device, then ask to speak to technical support, tell them everything again then when they cant do nothing ask for the issue to be elevated to a senior supervisor, which is the stage im at. Im UK based and to be honest they've been ever so helpful upto now. Demand you send them the link to this thread, your the customer their the business, just be firm but ever so pleasant at the same time.. Dont get me wrong it takes a bit to get to the stage im at but.. The more cases the better idea for apple to fix this issue. I can send your reporter logs but you will have to log your own case with apple, that way they will have yet another error 3 after update on file..

Again request your chat log... Take names numbers.. Ask for estimated times for them to get back to you, show you mean business.

Hi, looks like I have the same issue with iPhone 5s.

First phone stuck on "searching" without any reason, then I was not able to restore (unknown error 3)

Logs: http://speedy.sh/8HAAJ/iPhoneUpdater.log

br

Jakub171

Hi,

These are my logs. iPad3 + Cell (GSM).

I've tried a thing with a freezer as a second attempt. There was no "Error 3" after freezer. Restoration process has completed without any error, but iPad asked for charging. Now it's charging so I'll try to turn it on later.