iPhone 3G Recovery mode restore failure 1015

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iPhone 3G Recovery mode restore failure 1015

I have an iPhone 3G, purchased when it was first released in Australia. It was sold as Network unlocked, which I discovered a year or so later when it underwent an iOS upgrade, meant it was Jailbroken. With the network lock back in place, and the prospect of my partner not having a functional phone the next working day, the process of Jailbreaking it again to get it running back on the network. The process was successful, and the phone was kept away from further iOS upgrades for fear of rendering the phone inoperable again.

But eventually software outgrew the phone and it entered retirement.

Now it is needed again, but for someone else, and the iOS phone architecture would them well, and they have no need for the cutting edge.

According to the great resources of the internet, the phone can be restored from recovery mode, which is the state I found it in when trying to get it back into service, by plugging it into iTunes and performing a restore. The restore process does not succeed however.

The following steps happen, as listed on iTunes;

Restore iPhone Software: iTunes progress bar completes; iPhone progress bar, about 1/3

Verifying iPhone Software: iTunes progress bar completes; iPhone progress bar, about 3/5

Restore iPhone Firmware: iTunes progress bar completes; iPhone progress bar, about 2/3

Verifying iPhone Firmware: error 1015; iPhone goes back to recovery mode.

I suspect that it is having trouble with the firmware restore.

So the relevant questions are;

1. Can the iPhone 3G be recovered in a usable state?

2. Even if it is recovered, can the network lock be removed?

iPhone 3G

Posted on Jan 10, 2016 9:51 PM

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Answer 1

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Ingo2711

Level 9

70,503 points

Jan 11, 2016 5:15 AM in response to DRGreen63

Error 1015 is a result of jailbreaking the device in the past. If connecting in Recovery mode and installing the firmware does not work, the jailbreak made the phone useless, sorry.

Errors: 1015. You might also see the message "The required resource can't be found."

These errors might appear if any of the situations below are true:

Your version of iTunes is out of date. Get the latest version of iTunes, then try to update or restore again.

Your device has a beta version of iOS.

You're trying to install an earlier version of iOS (downgrading).

Your device has unauthorized modifications to iOS, also called "jailbreaking."

Use recovery mode to restore your device to the latest version of iOS.

copied from Get help with iOS update and restore errors - Apple Support

Only the provider to which the phone had been locked to can unlock the device, if this is an option, not every carrier did offer unlocking the device back in the times of the 3G.

iPhone: About unlocking

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Answer 2

DRGreen63 Author

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Jan 11, 2016 5:14 AM in response to Ingo2711

Thanks anyway Ingo2711.

I did see that page, which is why I thought a firmware rewrite may fix the problem, but the internals of the iPhone are obviously not as robust as I would have hoped, especially for an over $1,000 at the time of purchase.

Okay then, it's a brick, albeit, an expensive one now. 😟

Of course if Apple hadn't refused to supply our mobile network provider, or to the public direct, at the time, we wouldn't have been in this mess. Oh well…

It's ironic that my phone, the similar age and price, from HTC, has had its firmware rewritten more times than I can count, and it still works fine.

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Answer 3

KiltedTim

Level 10

195,885 points

Jan 11, 2016 5:18 AM in response to DRGreen63

The internals are plenty robust. The problem is a result of you jailbreaking the phone. If you hadn't done that, you wouldn't be in this mess.

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Answer 4

DRGreen63 Author

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Jan 11, 2016 5:38 AM in response to KiltedTim

Actually KiltedTim,

The phone was supplied Jailbroken, although it was advertised as Network unlocked, and not knowing anything about iOS at the time, we got the phone because the iPhone was not available through our current Telco.

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Answer 5

KiltedTim

Level 10

195,885 points

Jan 11, 2016 9:11 AM in response to DRGreen63

The fact is it was jailbroken. It's borked. All rights to support for that phone were forfeited when it was hacked. Next time, buy a phone from a legitimate source.

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