Trouble Restoring - Waiting for iPhone

This seems to be happening to alot of people where the phone gets stuck on the waiting for iPhone stage during restore. I have put it in DFU mode about 50 times trying to get a different response and itunes just sits there for hours on the waiting for iPhone section. This happens after the software extraction step. I have tried my Mac & PC with an older iTunes and even the updated newest iTunes. It is out of warranty because it is over a year old but in perfect shape other than age. I have done some research since yesterday, and in the past month there have been A TON of people with the same exact problem within this month and no solutions that have worked. I am curious if this seems to be a software issue because the phone screen works with the apple logo and progress bar (which does nothing) or a widespread hardware issue that has happened possibly... Anyone that has had or seen this issue recently and have made progress or may be able to help me out it would be greatly appreciated! Thanks everyone! P.S - I have read general restoring procedures and also there is no error code that I get.