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

Hi there,

Just a note to say the freezer method also work fo me too.

Tried nearly 30 times before without success.

I've gotten error 4014 in DFU mode and error 3 on itunes recovery mode.

I've packed the phone inside paper tovel and putted inside electrostatic film (got from a motherboard box).

Approx 40 minutes and tried restore all went fine!

Thx Bye

Roberto

Hi there,

Yep in my case the wifi it's broken from 2 months (grey wifi/no bluethoot).

Also my iphone goes on DFU when screen lock is activated, probably when the os make call to interact with the wifi chip.

So yep error 3 mean hardware problems!

bye

Roberto

I updated iphone 5 to iOS 8.2 started with Searching... Tried everything including new SIM from carrier (EE) tried restore this morning low and behold Error 3. Rolling the dice iPhone is now in the freezer... Fingers crossed. Long out of Apple warrantee but been reading about the 6 year consumer law thing we have here in the UK. If freeze doesn't work then off to the Genius Bar we go

Thank you kennethyoung! Add another freezer fix to your list of success stories. 40 minutes in the freezer. Wrapped in a napkin with rice and cling film to keep it airtight. Prepped iTunes before taking out of the freezer and left it on the bed on cold rice whilst restoring. Straight past the firmware update where it hung earlier iphone restored from backup and phone signal restored. I will keep an eye over the next few days and report any issues back here. So far so good! Needless to say I won't be a day one updater again

Over 2 years later, this method still worked for me. I just wrapped the iPad 4 in paper towels and a ziplock bag. I didn't have any rice, so I just hoped it would work. I've had this iPad for at least a week (given to me by a good friend). I gave her a working iPhone 5 32GB with an otterbox case because she doesn't have much money. She's going to be really happy because of your knowledge, Ken. I was able to get this working. I tried the first time for 20 minutes (I thought it was cold enough). It didn't work. Same errors, 48 and -1 on my MBP. I then put it back in the freezer for a complete 30 minutes. To my surprise, this actually worked. I honestly thought you were some random kid on here trying to brick an already bricked iPad lol. I was wrong. Thank you so much for the advice. I'm updated to 8.3 now, and everything is running flawlessly. To anybody else that has had this error: Please try this method at least two times. If you're already bricked anyhow, and apple hasn't addressed this issue and out of warranty, please give this freezer method a shot. It worked for at least 3 of us on the first 2 pages of this thread. Use this as a last resort. Thanks again, Kenneth!

Hi Kenneth,

I don't know if you're still getting props for this, but it works on IOS8 as well. My wife's phone was looping through the update/restore process endlessly. I have to admit i was sceptical about the freezer idea to start with, but having tried everything else, i took a leap of faith and followed your instructions. I tried twice 30 minutes in the freezer, still got the error 3 message. Finally, i went for 40 minutes and did the restore whilst handset still in freezer. After countless disappointing failures, i was overjoyed to get the message that my phone had successfully restored! Now only that, but unbacked up photos and videos were still on the phone. You are our new semi-conductor hero! Thank you for sharing your expertise.

Nick

hi kennethyoung

please accept my apologize because my english very bad

my 4s was in ios 8.2 is working but when i update to ios 8.3 stuck in apple / itunes logo and when i restore or uddate show me fu**ing error (3)

i trying your solution "frezeer" but not working( i can t any trying solution )

1. 30 min=not work

2. 45 min = not work

3. 60 min = no work

4. 180 min= not work

5. 360 min = not work

when my iphone in frezeer connect to my macbook but not working

i can t to DFU mode because when my iphone connet to mac force to shut down ,my phone start on automatics and show me itunes logo

my latest log

[09:58:12.3543] bbupdater: END(kBBUReturnIOError): Perform stage at second

[09:58:12.3543] send_bbupdate_status: sending baseband update status to host

[09:58:12.3543] update_baseband: calling CFNotificationCenterRemoveEveryObserver

[09:58:12.3543] update_baseband: bbupdater error: The operation couldn\U2019t be completed. (BBUpdater error 3 - Failed programming firmware.)

[09:58:12.3543] Update[Baseband] error - The operation couldn\U2019t be completed. (RamrodErrorDomain error 1004 - update_baseband: failed to perform next stage)

[09:58:12.3543] Update[Baseband] failed - 0 retries remaining...

[09:58:12.3543] 0: RamrodErrorDomain/3ec: update_baseband: failed to perform next stage

[09:58:12.3543] 1: BBUpdater/3: Failed programming firmware.

[09:58:12.3543] unable to convert ramrod error 1004

[09:58:12.3543] error 1004

[09:58:12.3543]

[09:58:12.3543] ==== end of device restore output ====

[09:58:13.3921] AMRAuthInstallDeletePersonalizedBundle

[09:58:13.7061] Restore completed, status:3

[09:58:13.7061] Failure Description:

[09:58:13.7061] Depth:0 Error:AMRestorePerformRestoreModeRestoreWithError failed with error: -1

[09:58:13.7061] Depth:1 Error:The operation couldn’t be completed. (AMRestoreErrorDomain error -1 - Failed to handle message type StatusMsg)

[09:58:13.7061] Depth:2 Error:The operation couldn’t be completed. (AMRestoreErrorDomain error -1 - failed to update device firmware)

[09:58:13.7061] Depth:3 Error:The operation couldn’t be completed. (AMRestoreErrorDomain error -1 - ramrod firmware update failed)

[09:58:13.7061] Depth:4 Error:The operation couldn’t be completed. (RamrodErrorDomain error 1004 - update_baseband: failed to perform next stage)

[09:58:13.7061] Depth:5 Error:The operation couldn’t be completed. (BBUpdater error 3 - Failed programming firmware.)

please help me out

I have the same issue, but my error is 52 instead of 3 and sometimes -1, couldn't find anything on apple error codes, here is my iphone logs, can someone know what can cause the problem?

Here are some logs at the end:

[17:22:23.0810] bbupdater:

[17:22:23.0810] bbupdater: END(kBBUReturnTimedOut): Perform stage at second

[17:22:23.0810] send_bbupdate_status: sending baseband update status to host

[17:22:23.0810] update_baseband: calling CFNotificationCenterRemoveEveryObserver

[17:22:23.0810] update_baseband: bbupdater error: The operation couldn\U2019t be completed. (BBUpdater error 52 - Failed creating a communication transport to baseband.)

[17:22:23.0810] Update[Baseband] error - The operation couldn\U2019t be completed. (RamrodErrorDomain error 1004 - update_baseband: failed to perform next stage)

[17:22:23.0810] Update[Baseband] failed - 0 retries remaining...

[17:22:23.0810] 0: RamrodErrorDomain/3ec: update_baseband: failed to perform next stage

[17:22:23.0810] 1: BBUpdater/34: Failed creating a communication transport to baseband.

[17:22:23.0810] unable to convert ramrod error 1004

[17:22:23.0810]

[17:22:23.0810] ==== end of device restore output ====

[17:22:23.0813] AMRAuthInstallDeletePersonalizedBundle

[17:22:23.0953] <Restore Device 051D0818>: Restore failed (result = -1)

[17:22:24.0021] Restore completed, status:52

[17:22:24.0021] Failure Description:

[17:22:24.0021] Depth:0 Error:AMRestorePerformRestoreModeRestoreWithError failed with error: -1

[17:22:24.0021] Depth:1 Error:The operation couldn’t be completed. (AMRestoreErrorDomain error -1 - Failed to handle message type StatusMsg)

[17:22:24.0021] Depth:2 Error:The operation couldn’t be completed. (AMRestoreErrorDomain error -1 - failed to update device firmware)

[17:22:24.0021] Depth:3 Error:The operation couldn’t be completed. (AMRestoreErrorDomain error -1 - ramrod firmware update failed)

[17:22:24.0021] Depth:4 Error:The operation couldn’t be completed. (RamrodErrorDomain error 1004 - update_baseband: failed to perform next stage)

[17:22:24.0021] Depth:5 Error:The operation couldn’t be completed. (BBUpdater error 52 - Failed creating a communication transport to baseband.)

hey all,

I'm running an iPhone 5S 32GB bought on March,this year(2015),having replaced several times,the last one while using it out of the blue lost service and the company name disappeared and got stuck on searching,tried everything,plane mode on of,reset settings..etc,getting to the point that trying to restore from factory via iTunes I got the "unknown error 3" and it stuck to a bit more then the half of loading the software on the device!

just wanna drop my experience too ...

tried the "freeze" method two times,doesn't work!

I will get to Apple as is still have warranty.

Some hope for iPad4 with -1 or another Unknown Error code while restore procedure.

I read all messages in this thread. In my case, is a hardware error (Made in CHINA issue?!).

I tried freezing solution, and nothing.

Then I tried a heating solution.

Using a home heater like this I held my iPad with my hands, to control the temperature. Be carefully, overheating may damage screen and other parts. After a five minutes, I connected iPad to computer and started restoring. Yupiiii, the process concluded successfully.

After that, i turned off the heating and tried another times to restore again, and the process was OK!!! Now my iPad is cold, and I dont have courage to try again. But now, I have my iPad back.

My last lines of log file in Windows ($USER_DIR\appData\Apple...\iTunes\Software update logs\):

Failure Description:

Depth😁 Error:AMRestorePerformRestoreModeRestoreWithError failed with error: -1

Depth:1 Error: (AMRestoreErrorDomain erro -1 - Failed to handle message type StatusMsg)

Depth:2 Error: (AMRestoreErrorDomain erro -1 - failed to update device firmware)

Depth:3 Error: (AMRestoreErrorDomain erro -1 - ramrod firmware update failed)

Depth:4 Error: (RamrodErrorDomain erro 1004 - update_baseband: failed querying baseband info)

Depth:5 Error: (BBUpdater erro 50 - Failed creating a communication transport to baseband.)

I Bought an ipad3 GSM just to test this out and it went through the freezer test couple of times even tried restoring while leaving it in the freezer. Unfortunately all failed.

while going through the board found one reply about heating and I gave it a try. This ends up with error 52. On the second run i left it restoring unheated and voila back to error 3. Seemingly error 52 is communication problem so on the third try I purposely cools the connection on the iPad with cold air while heating it when it starts restoring firmware. This ios 9.3.5 restore went through and the iPad is running happily again. The method seems to suggests hardware connection problem but I find the error 3 totally unfounded as the iPad now runs perfectly even in 3G.

here's to add to the success stories on this adventure with iTunes Error 3.

do this only if you have exhausted all available help you can get And you are out of warranty And got nowhere no one else to turn to.

I am happy to tell your "freezer" procedure works very well to this day. I can't thank you enough for sharing your experience on the subject, including the explanation about it.

I got the exact same error of you during the DFU restore (the logs showed the "update_baseband: failed to perform next stage" error message).

After trying to no avail all the types of resetting and restoring, I finally found your procedure. I put my iPhone 5c on the fridge for about 40 minutes (inside a ziplock bag), then got it out and put it on top of an ice pack, protecting the phone with paper towel, restarted and, this time, finished the DFU restore flawlessly. After that I restored the contents from a backup file via iTunes and 'voila' an iPhone 5c emerged from a paper weight. Again, thank you so much.

Four years since John's original post, I have the same issue - this time installing iOS 11 beta 2 on an iPhone 7 Plus. Also saw the "Searching" issue (whilst running on iOS 11 beta 1) a few days before updating. Strangely, now my device is bricked, when I try to restore the iOS 10.3.3 IPSW iTunes spits out error no. 52, only the iOS 11 IPSW shows error no. 3 - strange! Here are the last lines of my death logs: (clearly also a baseband issue 😟)

Restoring iOS 11 beta (error 3)

[22:32:40.0002] ==== end of device restore output ====

[22:32:40.0403] AMRAuthInstallDeletePersonalizedBundle

[22:32:40.0486] <Restore Device 0x60800034db50>: Restore failed (result = -1)

[22:32:40.0514] AMRestorePerformRestoreModeRestoreWithError failed with error: -1

[22:32:40.0514] Finished RestoreOS Restore Phase: Failed

[22:32:40.0515] State Machine Dump, status:ERROR - [state:Recovery remaining-cycles:0] -> [state:RestoreOS remaining-cycles:0 (current state)]

[22:32:40.0519] Changing state from 'Restoring' to 'Error'

[22:32:40.0519] State is now set to error

[22:32:40.0523] Restore completed, status:3

[22:32:40.0523] Failure Description:

[22:32:40.0523] Depth:0 Code:-1 Error:AMRestorePerformRestoreModeRestoreWithError failed with error: -1

[22:32:40.0523] Depth:1 Code:-1 Error:Failed to handle message type StatusMsg

[22:32:40.0523] Depth:2 Code:-1 Error:failed to update device firmware

[22:32:40.0523] Depth:3 Code:-1 Error:ramrod firmware update failed

[22:32:40.0523] Depth:4 Code:1004 Error:update_baseband: failed to perform next stage

[22:32:40.0523] Depth:5 Code:3 Error:Fail to ping baseband: kBBUReturnIOError

Restoring iOS 10.3.3 (error 52, same device, same setup!)

[17:02:33.3888] ==== end of device restore output ====

[17:02:33.4067] AMRAuthInstallDeletePersonalizedBundle

[17:02:33.5321] <Restore Device 0x6080003461a0>: Restore failed (result = -1)

[17:02:33.5347] AMRestorePerformRestoreModeRestoreWithError failed with error: -1

[17:02:33.5349] Finished RestoreOS Restore Phase: Failed

[17:02:33.5349] State Machine Dump, status:ERROR - [state:Recovery remaining-cycles:0] -> [state:RestoreOS remaining-cycles:0 (current state)]

[17:02:33.5354] Changing state from 'Restoring' to 'Error'

[17:02:33.5354] State is now set to error

[17:02:33.5358] Restore completed, status:52

[17:02:33.5358] Failure Description:

[17:02:33.5358] Depth:0 Code:-1 Error:AMRestorePerformRestoreModeRestoreWithError failed with error: -1

[17:02:33.5358] Depth:1 Code:-1 Error:Failed to handle message type StatusMsg

[17:02:33.5358] Depth:2 Code:-1 Error:failed to update device firmware

[17:02:33.5358] Depth:3 Code:-1 Error:ramrod firmware update failed

[17:02:33.5358] Depth:4 Code:1004 Error:update_baseband: failed to perform next stage

[17:02:33.5358] Depth:5 Code:52 Error:Fail to create transport kBBUReturnFailCreateTransportInitial

Still in warranty, so no way I'm going in the deep freeze 😉 Speaking with an Apple engineer (Simeon) to see what can be done.. I'll update if there is any generally useful info made available, but after four years I'm not holding my breath!

I have been having the same problem and have every option over the span of 3 weeks and NOTHING. I just read up on the freezer trick. The first attempt failed, praying this second attempt is a success.

I just had an iPhone 7 (out of warranty) randomly restart into a bootloop and then give me error 3 when restoring. After an hour of being on the phone, Apple is replacing it for free. Very satisfied with this.