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

My thought about the freezer trick rather than the NAND slow read/write as mentioned above is that it also rapidly depletes your battery since it's so cold in the freezer. I'm also wondering about the solder. Maybe I should put it on top of my oven (not inside the oven) the next time I make dinner so it gets warm, maybe to help with a little thermal expansion, and then toss it back into the freezer.

I just tried the 12 hour freezer trick, and that was not successful.

While I did in fact take a family member's upgrade and use it to early upgrade with Sprint to an iPhone 6, I'd like to get the 5S working at least to be an iTouch.

So, I have about a week before I mail it into a 3rd party supplier and get at least some cash from it to offset the iPhone 6 upgrade cost ($199).

My plan is to leave it in the freezer in the ziploc + paper towel + rice for at least 24 hours, maybe 48, to drain the battery as much as possible. After that I'll try one last time to do the restore on my computer.

Again, I might have a tried-and-true hardware failure as a result of some unknown impact/drop/etc damage. Or, I might not. No way to tell.

But I can't justify spending $40 on the tools and potential repair kits just to open it up and see the logic board broken.

My hunch is that there's a physical problem on the board in vicinity of the Cellular chip, hence the baseband errors I was seeing and the Searching... errors I saw prior to system updating.

As I said earlier I'll post back here either way and let you know what happens.

Here's hoping someone is still looking at this forum. I'm experiencing the same issue, have tried freezer trick which hasn't worked. I live in China, and my phone is from Australia so any apple store repairs are a 12 hour flight away. I'lll try anything!

Relevant log files are as follows:

[00:43:23.7537] Restore completed, status:16

[00:43:23.7537] Failure Description:

[00:43:23.7537] Depth:0 Error:AMRestorePerformRestoreModeRestoreWithError failed with error: -1

[00:43:23.7537] Depth:1 Error:The operation couldn’t be completed. (AMRestoreErrorDomain error -1 - Failed to handle message type StatusMsg)

[00:43:23.7537] Depth:2 Error:The operation couldn’t be completed. (AMRestoreErrorDomain error -1 - failed to update device firmware)

[00:43:23.7537] Depth:3 Error:The operation couldn’t be completed. (AMRestoreErrorDomain error -1 - ramrod firmware update failed)

[00:43:23.7537] Depth:4 Error:The operation couldn’t be completed. (RamrodErrorDomain error 1004 - update_baseband: failed querying baseband info)

[00:43:23.7537] Depth:5 Error:Caught exception: Exception at :287:

[00:43:23.7537] - kBBUReturnBadArgument(2): Assertion failure

[00:43:23.7537]

Following up, leaving the 5S in the freezer for 2 days before trying a restore was unsuccessful. Since I'm out of warranty and I've already replaced the phone with a 6, I'm now in the process of leaving it on top of my Toaster Oven (NOT inside it) set to 350 for 10 minutes to get the phone extremely hot. I'm then going to place it back inside the freezer to see what happens.

New iTunes out yesterday. No change.

Again, the phone is going to Gazelle anyway as a "does not work" trade-in for some cash, so I have nothing to lose except my curiosity.

Will post again if it somehow works. If it doesn't work, I probably won't post here again.

Everyone - your iDevice MUST BE POWERED OFF, NOT JUST A DARK SCREEN WHEN IN THE FREEZER! Otherwise the internals will not get cold as possible to maximize the physics effect of why the freezer method usually solves this issue.

If Restoring quickly after pulling the iDevice out of the freezer doesnt solve the error 3 issue, ssue, leaving it in the freezer or pttung a bag of ice on top of the device may lower the device temp enough to enable a successful Restore. Be sure the device is turned fully off when in the freezer, not just asleep.

Dear kennethyoung

It was only you who are helping us to overcome this issue even after 9 months since the start of this support forum ...no news from apple.. THANK YOU very much for the support. I gave up and sold 5S for $200 for parts after spending nearly $1000 to purchase a ****.

keep up your works .. seems like it really helpful for guys who are still in this hole.

You can't do that if you're stuck in DFU/Restore mode. All you can do is hold the power button for a few seconds till it powers off. Touch the home button a few times to make sure it's not on (if it's on it'll pop up with the iTunes/USB Cord icon).

there's no a "slide to power off" kennethyoung, it just apple logo before cable narrow and itunes logo

i assumed its totally off when i hold the sleep button and all dark screen even tho i press the home button a few times, pilot1226

but it didnt work after i freezed it for 3 hours

thank you anyway

I am experiencing same issue. I had itunes restore error 3, then now error 12. I tried to restore/update from multiple computers both mac and pc. Even gone into the Apple Genius Bar knowing they can't do much about the issue. I've read much of this forum and tried almost everything including freezing method. Nothing is working at this moment. I know that there is a talk of class action lawsuit for this issue, does anyone know if its actually happening? I am so exhausted and frustrated by this experience that I'll be the first to sign up for any action. If I call Apple support directly, would they swap my iphone 5? Its already off contract and I had bought an android phone to get me going...but would love to get my iphone 5 back.

Had the issue when upgrading to 8.1 on the iPad. Freezing it worked for me. Nice job KennethYoung! You sure do know your 1s and 0s. I had tried everything and was just about to toss it, thanks for saving it.

Hello, this error first appeared to me yesterday. I have an iPhone 5 (warranty finished last 25-oct), and the battery of this phone was replaced by a new one one month ago by a certified apple shop (not Apple Store and genius). Since then I had some problems with volume buttons, vibration and gsm signal. But yesterday I got any signal, and the only buttons working where the sleep-wake and the home button. I thought it was a software issue, and I decided to reset the phone (just erasing data and content). It worked but then I couldn't activate the phone, so I decided to restore by iTunes. And I took the wrong decision, because it seemed to work well but at the end of the process, iTunes messaged me "Can't restore iPhone, an unknown error occurred (Error 3)". As I have had problems since the battery change and I have the original battery, I tried to change it. When I had the phone opened, I realized why I was having singal problems and sometimes the buttons were not working: the cables that connect the antenna with the logic board weren't in a good condition. The one who changed my battery broke some connectors and the cable of volume and vibrations was nearly cut. Then, after being angry with the one that changed the battery (i paid the shop to do it because I don't have a lot of time), I searched on the net and I found this thread. I have tried the freezer trick several times with no success, I'll try to let the phone 10 or 20 min more inside and see if it works. Could be possible that in my case error 3 is caused due to the bad condition of some internal cables? I'll go to the premium reseller that changed the battery and hopefully they will explain to me what happened. As I'm not very sure that could fix that, I bought the replacements on eBay, they are not expensive. And what says Apple of this error? Anything new? I'll let you know if I can rescue my phone.

Hi Kenneth,

thanks for the brilliant suggestion, I was stuck also, with my iPhone transformed into a useless and expensive brick. 30 minutes in the fridge, and voila ! Still have a problem with the 3 G since ios8, but at least the restore worked.

Do you know what's Apple's position with regards to this problem, does this warrant a replacement/fix even for out of warranty iPhones ?

thanks

Alexis

[23:05:36.0982] [nand_part_core:INF@2289] first 2 pages of boot blocks written with copies of partition table

[23:05:36.0982] [nand_part_core:INF@3169] next 98 pages of boot blocks written with LLB image of size 150080 bytes

[23:05:36.0982] [nand_part_core:INF@3172] final 156 pages of boot blocks written with random data in full page format

[23:05:36.0982] entering update_gas_gauge

[23:05:36.0982] entering update_ir_mcu

[23:05:36.0982] looking for mcu nub...no entry from path!

[23:05:36.0982] TiSerialFlasher not supported on this platform. Exiting.

[23:05:36.0982] entering update_baseband

[23:05:36.0982] update_baseband: registering for progress notifications

[23:05:36.0982] create_baseband_update_options: Got imeisv: 16

[23:05:36.0982] baseband updater options = <CFBasicHash 0x17533030 [0x59b710]>{type = mutable dict, count = 7,

[23:05:36.0982] entries =>

[23:05:36.0982] 0 : <CFString 0xcf1e38 [0x59b710]>{contents = "SystemRoot"} = <CFString 0x1761cb70 [0x59b710]>{contents = "/mnt1"}

[23:05:36.0982] 5 : <CFString 0xcf1dc8 [0x59b710]>{contents = "DisallowFusiing"} = <CFBoolean 0x59b910 [0x59b710]>{value = true}

[23:05:36.0982] 6 : <CFString 0xcf1f48 [0x59b710]>{contents = "autoSetupEnv"} = <CFBoolean 0x59b918 [0x59b710]>{value = false}

[23:05:36.0982] 7 : <CFString 0xcf1e48 [0x59b710]>{contents = "DataRoot"} = <CFString 0x1761e8e0 [0x59b710]>{contents = "/mnt2"}

[23:05:36.0982] 8 : <CFString 0xcf1d98 [0x59b710]>{contents = "forceUpdate"} = <CFBoolean 0x59b910 [0x59b710]>{value = true}

[23:05:36.0982] 9 : <CFString 0xcf1f58 [0x59b710]>{contents = "disablePing"} = <CFBoolean 0x59b910 [0x59b710]>{value = true}

[23:05:36.0982] 10 : <CFString 0xcf1eb8 [0x59b710]>{contents = "IMEISwVersion"} = <CFNumber 0x17533010 [0x59b710]>{value = +16, type = kCFNumberSInt32Type}

[23:05:36.0982] }

[23:05:36.0982] update_baseband: querying baseband info

[23:05:36.0982] bbupdater: BEGIN: Querying info at stage first

[23:05:36.0982] bbupdater: BEGIN: Preparing first stage

[23:05:36.0982] bbupdater: Requested boot mode: kBBUBootModeNone

[23:05:36.0982] bbupdater: Creating transport, attempts remaining 5...bbupdater: FAILED(kBBUReturnIOError)

[23:05:36.0982] bbupdater: powercycling modem

[23:05:36.0982] bbupdater: Creating transport, attempts remaining 4...bbupdater: FAILED(kBBUReturnIOError)

[23:05:36.0982] bbupdater: powercycling modem

[23:05:36.0982] bbupdater: Creating transport, attempts remaining 3...bbupdater: FAILED(kBBUReturnIOError)

[23:05:36.0982] bbupdater: powercycling modem

[23:05:36.0982] bbupdater: Creating transport, attempts remaining 2...bbupdater: FAILED(kBBUReturnIOError)

[23:05:36.0982] bbupdater: powercycling modem

[23:05:36.0982] bbupdater: Creating transport, attempts remaining 1...bbupdater: FAILED(kBBUReturnIOError)

[23:05:36.0982] bbupdater: powercycling modem

[23:05:36.0982] bbupdater: Creating transport, attempts remaining 0...bbupdater: FAILED(kBBUReturnIOError)

[23:05:36.0982] bbupdater: END(kBBUReturnIOError): Preparing first stage

[23:05:36.0982] bbupdater: END(kBBUReturnIOError): Querying info at stage first

[23:05:36.0982] send_bbupdate_status: sending baseband update status to host

[23:05:36.0982] update_baseband: calling CFNotificationCenterRemoveEveryObserver

[23:05:36.0982] update_baseband: bbupdater error: The operation couldn\U2019t be completed. (BBUpdater error 3 - Failed creating a communication transport to baseband.)

[23:05:36.0982] 0: RamrodErrorDomain/3ec: update_baseband: failed querying baseband info

[23:05:36.0982] 1: BBUpdater/3: Failed creating a communication transport to baseband.

[23:05:36.0982] unable to convert ramrod error 1004

[23:05:36.0982] restore failed with CFError:

[23:05:36.0982] 0: AMRestoreErrorDomain/ffffffff: failed to update device firmware

[23:05:36.0982] 1: AMRestoreErrorDomain/ffffffff: ramrod firmware update failed

[23:05:36.0982] 2: RamrodErrorDomain/3ec: update_baseband: failed querying baseband info

[23:05:36.0982] 3: BBUpdater/3: Failed creating a communication transport to baseband.

[23:05:36.0982] waiting for host to acknowledge final status received...

[23:05:36.0982] void AppleUSBDeviceMuxXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX(mbuf_t) received reset, closing 0x97b1e4d0

[23:05:36.0982] recv(12, 4) failed: connection closed

[23:05:36.0982] unable to read message size: -1

[23:05:36.0982] received NULL message from host, expected final status

[23:05:36.0982] attempting to dump restore log

[23:05:36.0982] writing log file: /mnt1/restore.log

freezer will help?

Iphone 4s, error 1, just left restore to ios 8.1 or 8.1.1

HEY! I just got my iPhone 4s working again! Freezer trick got me farther with the process but it didn't fix the error 3 all the way. So what I did was that I ordered a new cable from eBay that was two times longer than the original cable. Then I just plugged it in the computer and put my phone into a DFU mode. Then I just restored it normally this time without freezer and amazingly my phone booted up again and started working.

This is the cable that I used:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/311060863891?_trksid=p2060778.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STR K%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Hi Kenneth and all,

I had this problem with my Ipad on the Christmas day I have just over 2 years old Ipad2 WiFI+3G but have not used SIM with that. It was running IOS 7.xx and suddenly it started the searching for 3G network even thought I do not have the SIM installed. Then it started to reboot in 1-2 minutes, black screen run over from left to right. Then dark screen and Apple logo and home screen a bit later. I could not do naything, I tried hard reboot. Then reset to default settings, then reset to factory default losing everything (my back up was really old, the automacci had not taken in many months.) After that I was not able to reregister the Ipad it just said that cannot contact Apple server or something like that (I only had WIFI). So I decided to do full clean via Itunes. And guess what now installing 8.1.2 I got the infamous error 3. And then I had this 600€ brick with me. Started to look for solutions (google) and found this thread. I red some and tried Itunes update with Win XP. Changed to my work laptop Win7 Pro and another cable etc. Disabling all FSecure things and no help. I stayd up untill 4 AM on boxing day morning. Then when I woke up I tried the freezer for 30 minutes. Did not help either. And today when we came back home from relatives I tried the update while in freezer. And guess what it worked. IPad is now up and running, try to restore my old back up and see if this thing works for longer time now.

Unbeliavable. I am happy. But this makes me think more closely on purchasing more Apple devices. We have several Ipads and IPhones at work. So far they have been better( more reliable) than some Samsung Galaxy things (2/3 have started to lose (eat) the SIM cards when nearing end of warranty periods), but this makes me think that these also have some problems.

Hopefully this was the only piece giving us this problem. At least this makes a good story.