Q: 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 ToDDoLo,

Thanks for the log file. It looks like what I refer to as the incomplete Flash erase issue. I'm forwarding your log with some others to my Apple contact today. No promises on when/if Apple will roll the fix into a future firmware update yet. The engineers know about the issue and how to fix it, so I am 'hopeful' they will roll the fix into a future firmware update, but they have made no commitments and they may not let us know even when they do. We may simply have to let those on the forum for which our various workarounds have not worked, try out each iOS update and share back with us their results.

Hi, i will try also to upload my log file for both phones.

ALso i dont find ur email, would u kindly email me on young_88a AT ya hoo dot com ?

thanks

Hi kennethyoung, et.al.,

Please let me know if you received my log file and if you need any more information.

Thank you Kenneth for your work. Could you please past the log string about the FLASH erase issue? In effect, being this the problem (hardware problem?), i could try the freezer fix one more time: is it?

The error in iTunes (3) is related to other errors involving security software. If you have software on your Windows PC, you can't just turn it off. In most cases, you have to uninstall it to overcome this error. The Apple Update server uses specific ports that may be blocked by security software. When you only suspend or turn off the software, these ports are stil blocked. By removing the software, you will completely unblock them. Common errors: 2, 4, 6, 9, 1000, 1611, 9006, 9807, 9844. Sometimes as a result of this issue, a device might stop responding during the restore process. TS3694 goes through most of the errors. Error 3 is relatively new, but falls in with 2, 4, 6, 9.

ldcrone,

I understand what you are saying, but error 3 in this case is not caused by security software blocking specific ports. During my troubleshooting I attempted a restore on a freshly installed copy of Windows XP with no security software installed what so ever and still couldn't get the restore to complete.

Hi debaire,

Got it. Thanks! It appears to be the same issue common to most on this thread. Keep following us for updates.

FYI, after getting no help from the Apple Store, I wrote a scathing review in the comment section of the survey I was sent, as suggested. I hope they really do read those things. I'm not looking for a new phone, just a resolution to the problem at hand.

Hi ToDDoLo

Not sure I fully understand your question. If you filter on my handle (kennethyoung) in this thread, you will find a post where I went into detail about why this is a firmware issue and not a hardware issue. In short, a change in the firmware between 6.1.3 and 7.0.x related to the erase verify coding method and devices that are beginning to show flash cells that are "slow" to "erase", is causing the Error (3) issue. "Some" Apple engineers that I have talked with are both aware of the issue and have identified the cause and potential fixes, but no committment has been made to roll a fix out at this time. That doesn't mean that any random engineer you may speak to at Apple Care will know about it, much less a Apple Guru or store manager, but if you can get them to look up this thread number, they "might" find some comments within their internal system and take action to help you. Best you can do is try your nearest store repeatedly and call Apple Care more than once to ask for help. The squeakly wheel, when very polite (and lucky) gets the grease (or the free refurbed replacement) sometimes.

Note on uploaded log files:

PLEASE use Dropbox when uploading log files for us to download and review. A free account is easy and quick to set up. Due to time constraints and spam concerns I can no longer support reviewing log files that require me to use a Microsoft Windows instance, download an *.exe formatted file, install a piece of crapware, just to download and review a log file.

Thank you in advance for understanding.

I understand what to do, thanks a lot! Starting to call Apple Care and talk about this discussion.

Gioacchino

Tiago, estou exatamente na mesma situação.

Conseguiu alguma sulução?

Hi everyone... I have exactly the same situation with the iPhone 5 of my nephew, He tried to update the iPhone to ios 7 and get stuck at the end of the process bar reach to be filledm at least 99.9%... Then iTunes Show a window telling that a Error 3  was finded... and thats it!! and every time tried at differnt locations, computers, systems, cables, etc... all at the final show the same window...

We find this disscussion and after read all the situations and tricks, we tried every one described here, but no one works... the iphone its stuck on that error...

We are from Mexico City, and we still have hope that we can recover the iphone in a working one...

Greeting and good lock to all

Sincerely

MacUserG5

Here is my log attached. I have tried multiple times every solution posted on this forum and no luck to resolve error 3. I would appreciate is someone can confirm that my log points to the same problem like most of ppl have.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/u0monomx1ds7xxe/iPadUpdater%206.log

https://www.dropbox.com/s/u0monomx1ds7xxe/iPadUpdater%206.log