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

Been working with everyone from Apple on this. There is no word yet, and I haven't gotten anything back from the engineers yet. Apple has requested files from me which have been sent, so its just a matter of waiting and seeing if they can figure out what is causing this error. Again, I will keep you all updated. Have a Happy Holiday everyone!!

UPDATE ON ERROR 3:

I got a call from "Darren", one of the Stanford CA Apple Store Managers late Tuesdau. He told me that based on my "feedback" that my "case" had been escalated to Tier 2 which apparently brings some of the Apple Care engineers that look for "strange new things" into the mix.

Darren said they would be happy to replace my iPad 3 (16GB w/Verizon LTE) for free (with a factory certified refurb). We chatted a bit and he appeared to indicate that the Apple Care engineers wanted my machine to evaluate it.

For those of you not aware, Apple reportedly has a "bounty" of sorts for Apple Genius's, mostly in play when new devices come out, to grab and return Apple devices that have unique failure modes. This is smart on Apple's part as it give the manufacturing and software engineers a chance to catch manufacturing "corner cases" so they can tweak the manufacturing line or software, minimizing future customer returns. Looks like "Error 3" might be one of those "corner cases" they might be wanting to jump on (hopefully).

I don't know what this means for everyone else having Error 3 issues, but if the problem is a Flash erase/write verify issue as my "Freezer Physics" strongly suggests, there is a possibility that Apple can modify the eraser/write verify alogorithm to solve the issue, or even add in a test for "weak Flash bits" and "map out" bad bits (puts "weak" bits into an unusable address location), to solve the problem. The Apple software guys are smart. I believe they can totally fix this with a software tweak. I suggest waiting a few days and visiting and Apple Genius bar again. I don't know what they might do, but "IF" they issue some sort of a quiet replacement for devices with Error 3, you might luck out. I'm not hopeful they will do this, but they already pleasantly surprised me once.

Keep in mind "BE NICE" when you meet with your Apple Genius (I was both times). "Sundown" (my Genius tonight, no kidding on his name, a cool guy!) was fast and efficient. He grabbed my replacement device from Darren, moved my Verizon sim card over to it, had me finger sign on his iPad the swap, and I was on my way. These guys and gals deal with angry people all day who want a new device for free after dropping it into a toilet, or some such, so being NICE can go a long way.

I'll report if I hear more. For those who don't have luck with their Apple Genius, and my "Freezer Physics" didn't solve your "Error 3", hang in there. I am now hopeful that Apple engineering is going to dig into this and come up with a software fix. Don't expect it to hit with 7.1.0, which is already in beta with us Developers, but maybe the release after that, "IF" they find a software solution. From another report on this thread, they're also looking at log files, so there is action going on.

When you get your Apple Genius post meeting email survey, be sure to mention Error 3. The more they see that, the better. Plus, maybe your Apple store manager will see it and ask you to bring in your device for a free replacement if the Apple Care engineers continut to gather up some different Error 3 samples for evaluation.

Let us all know what happens with your device no matter how long it takes. Persistance sometimes can pay off for all.

Feel as though I have tried almost everything on my iphone 5 ios 7.0.4 ...starting to wonder if there will ever be a fix.

I tried DFU mode.

I tried Tinyumbrella 7.0.2.

I tried Redsn0w 0.9.15b3.

I tried Recboot.

I tried editing host file.

I tried removing host file. (put host file back after)

I even tried the "freezer fix".

Next up is IOS 7.0.1 which is taking forever to download.

Everywhere I've googled people are saying not even Apple can fix it.

Nothing. Why did I ever restore this phone.

These methods are similiar to mine. My collegue I also upgraded to 7.0 and eventually bricked it. He has a backup up phone and I don't. So I eventually downgraded his iphone 4 to 6.1.3 (I know downgrading is bad, but I REALLY NEED A PHONE)  after so many methods including the freezer technique, it was a last resort. If you saved shsh blobs (not sure if you know what that means) then you can downgrade. Just a suggestion. If your phoneless like I was.

My Ipad is having the same Error 3 message for a few days.   I took to the Apple repair place where I live in Jakarta and got a non answer.   They have no idea what to do.    My ipad is exactly 1 year and 4 months old.   Ive tried almost everything to fix it except the freezer repair and I will try that tomorrow.    I will also try to unistall then reinstall my itunes.   If I do this will my last Ipad backup that is stored in my itunes disappear?  I am so frustrated with this whole business.   We pay a fortune for these devices and then for something like this to happen after such a short amount of time to only be told that our device is worthless is unacceptable.    I paid $900.00 for it. I sure hope its not just a brick.  I will be back in the USA in a few weeks and I sure hope they have it sorted by then.

Your last backup to the cloud or your Mac should be fine.

Hi!

Having the same issue (error 3) with my Ipad3+3G after update, tried restoring it on 3 computers (macbook unibody, macbook pro & PC windows 8), also went to apple service center and they could'nt install or help me either. Even tried the freezer trick with no luck, sadly.

Im out of warranty & the apple support says that the only thing that they can do for me is to take the ipad in for repair, and the price will probebly land at around 400USD (I'm from Sweden)

I find it sad that Apple thinks its fine to take that kind of amount of money when the problems came after the update. I take good care of my electronics and I have been a loyal costumer of Apple since i became a student  in 2006 (macbook, macbook unibody, macbook pro, Iphone 4, Ipad 3, Iphone 5s).

Well enough with the sadness here are parts from the installationlog i got from my PC. I hope it helps those who are trying to understand the error 3 problem.

"

[19:01:20.0462] bbupdater: Waiting...bbupdater: OK

[19:01:20.0462] bbupdater: END: Sending 5 Images

[19:01:20.0462] bbupdater: Finalize...bbupdater: OK

[19:01:20.0462] bbupdater: Disconnecting...bbupdater: OK

[19:01:20.0462] bbupdater: BEGIN: Preparing Initial stage

[19:01:20.0462] bbupdater: Requested boot mode:  kBBUBootModeNone

[19:01:20.0462] bbupdater: Adding 60.000000 seconds in timeout for EFS erase

[19:01:20.0462]

[19:01:20.0462] bbupdater: Creating transport, attempts remaining 1...bbupdater:FAILED(kBBUReturnIOError)

[19:01:20.0462] bbupdater: Creating transport, attempts remaining 0...bbupdater:FAILED(kBBUReturnIOError)

[19:01:20.0462] bbupdater: Modem not responding

[19:01:20.0462] bbupdater: Modem must boot - attempts left 1

[19:01:20.0462] bbupdater: Adding 60.000000 seconds in timeout for EFS erase

[19:01:20.0462]

[19:01:20.0462] bbupdater: Creating transport, attempts remaining 1...bbupdater:FAILED(kBBUReturnIOError)

[19:01:20.0462] bbupdater: Creating transport, attempts remaining 0...bbupdater:FAILED(kBBUReturnIOError)

[19:01:20.0462] bbupdater: Modem not responding

[19:01:20.0462] bbupdater: Modem must boot - attempts left 0

[19:01:20.0462] bbupdater: END(kBBUReturnTimedOut): Preparing Initial stage

[19:01:20.0462] bbupdater: END(kBBUReturnTimedOut): Perform stage at second

[19:01:20.0462] send_bbupdate_status: sending baseband update status to host

[19:01:20.0462] update_baseband: bbupdater error: The operation couldn\U2019t be completed. (BBUpdater error 3 - Failed creating a communication transport to baseband.)

[19:01:20.0462] 0: RamrodErrorDomain/3ec: update_baseband: failed to perform next stage

[19:01:20.0462] 1: BBUpdater/3: Failed creating a communication transport to baseband.

[19:01:20.0462] unable to convert ramrod error 1004

[19:01:20.0462] restore failed with CFError:

[19:01:20.0462] 0: AMRestoreErrorDomain/ffffffff: failed to update device firmware

[19:01:20.0462] 1: AMRestoreErrorDomain/ffffffff: ramrod firmware update failed

[19:01:20.0462] 2: RamrodErrorDomain/3ec: update_baseband: failed to perform next stage

[19:01:20.0462] 3: BBUpdater/3: Failed creating a communication transport to baseband.

[19:01:20.0462] waiting for host to acknowledge final status received...

[19:01:20.0462] host received final status

[19:01:20.0462] attempting to dump restore log

"

&

"

[19:30:58.0203 entries =>

[19:30:58.0203] 4 : <CFString 06751160 [745E8078]>{contents = "attemptedToFuse"} = <CFBoolean 745E8A80 [745E8078]>{value = false}

[19:30:58.0203] 10 : <CFString 03156960 [745E8078]>{contents = "fused"} = <CFBoolean 745E8A78 [745E8078]>{value = true}

[19:30:58.0203] 12 : <CFString 03156A80 [745E8078]>{contents = "done"} = <CFBoolean 745E8A78 [745E8078]>{value = true}

[19:30:58.0203] }

[19:30:58.0203]

[19:30:58.0219] device returned CFError with code -1

[19:30:58.0219] dumping CFError returned by restored:

[19:30:58.0219] CFError domain:AMRestoreErrorDomain code:-1 description:failed to update device firmware

[19:30:58.0219] CFError domain:AMRestoreErrorDomain code:-1 description:ramrod firmware update failed

[19:30:58.0219] CFError domain:RamrodErrorDomain code:1004 description:update_baseband: failed to perform next stage

[19:30:58.0219] CFError domain:BBUpdater code:3 description:Failed creating a communication transport to baseband.

[19:30:58.0219] Sending acknowledgement that final status was received

[19:30:58.0469] Restore completed, status:3

[19:30:58.0469] Failure Description:

[19:30:58.0469] Depth:0 Error:AMRestorePerformRestoreModeRestoreWithError failed with error: -1

[19:30:58.0469]    Depth:1 Error:The operation couldn\U2019t be completed. (AMRestoreErrorDomain error -1 - Failed to handle message type StatusMsg)

[19:30:58.0469]       Depth:2 Error:The operation couldn\U2019t be completed. (AMRestoreErrorDomain error -1 - failed to update device firmware)

[19:30:58.0469]          Depth:3 Error:The operation couldn\U2019t be completed. (AMRestoreErrorDomain error -1 - ramrod firmware update failed)

[19:30:58.0469]             Depth:4 Error:The operation couldn\U2019t be completed. (RamrodErrorDomain error 1004 - update_baseband: failed to perform next stage)

[19:30:58.0469]                Depth:5 Error:The operation couldn\U2019t be completed. (BBUpdater error 3 - Failed creating a communication transport to baseband.)

"

The first error I see early on the log is an "erase fail", which is consistent with why my "freezer physics" fixes some, but sadly not all, of devices with Error 3. They next appear to do a 60 second time out, which seems strange, as what they should do is reattempt the erase process, them if that fails, go into flash repair mode to map out the bad flash address locations, then start the restore again. Once the erase step has failed, the rest of the error log is rather irrelevant and the process should have simply halted. If Apple engineers are able to modify the install code similar tou suggestion above, they should be able to recover most devices with this type of Error 3.

Thank you!!  Freezer method got me passed the Error 3 and Restore is now successful.  You kind sir, saved me $850!!

You are very welcome! Glad it worked for you.

Hi Kennyyoung,   Thanks for the freezer tip.   It worked well enough to get me through the restore process but has started crashing again every 1-2 minutes or so and brings me back to the apple logo page every time.    Not sure what is going on.

So after a long month and a half...I was asked to send files to Apple about this issue. I have been giving the ios programmers and the engineers apparently the info that they needed since no one had a clue about this error code. I think kennethyoung and myself are the only two people that have actually gotten through to apple and their people. I can confirm that the answer to the error code 3 is a baseband issue. your phones modem has gone bye bye...if your under warranty still, they will replace your device. if not...well I suggest when you call apple about this you be really nice to them and see what they can do for you. Thanks to kennethyoung for all the help and info in this process as well.

Hi LucyBowen,

I'm not sure what is causing the repeat crashing every 1-2 minutes. If the restore process completed correctly, you should have been presented with the "Hello" screen, followed by screens to pick your country, your language, etcetera. Did you get through all these screens successfully? What screen do you have up when the crash happens?

Hi Ogm1er,

I agree with you and whomever at Apple that shared with you that the "modem" (which is what we semiconductor folks call a "baseband" chip) is being reported as "dead" during the Restore process. However, it appears to be failing solely due to an unsuccessful erase step, which is done prior to being programmed with the proper baseband code for your device. An incomplete erase is actually quite common for Flash technology and ordinarily the algorithm programmers use account for a failure to fully erase and repeat the erase process using a modified algorithm that will usually result in a successful erase on a second attempt. From the log file it does not appear that the code in 7.0.x is written properly to do this second erase attempt, but is instead doing a 60 second timeout, which is not correct for a failure to erase.

Again, the Apple software team has a bunch of smart people in it, and I believe if the Apple software engineers carefully look at this part of their baseband erase algorithm (and compare to 6.1.x), they can make a correction or two that would fix an unsuccessful Flash erase attempt. One person reported being able to successfully install 6.1.3 on their device after getting Error 3, which strongly infers the algorithm used in the baseband erase step has changed in 7.0.x in a way that appears to cause unnecessary Error 3 fails, and the baseband (modem) chip is not permanently "dead". My "Freezer Physics" works for many simply because Flash is easier to erase at cold temperatures, providing a crude workaround for the present software shortcoming in the baseband erase algorithm being used in 7.0.x. Lets give the Apple team a little more time to hopefully dig into this and push out a fix in 7.1.x.

Hi Kennethyoung.   I did get through those screens ok.   I am back to my regular screen.   It will crash no matter what is on the screen.   I actually took a vid of the crashing from my iphone as it looks so weird.  Is there somewhere I can send to you? Or is there a pay to post a vid here?