error code 50 on iPhone 5c

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Resolve iOS update and restore errors in iTunes - Apple Suppor

Get help with iOS update and restore errors - Apple Support

Thoma

This is probably too late for you but may help others. My daughters 5c showed exactly the same symptoms i.e. first wouldn't connect to network and I was told by network operator that i needed to update the iOS however when I tried to do this it froze when I got to firmware update and showed error code 50. Followed all the recommended procedures, phoned up Apple Support who simply ran me through the same procedures, took it to an Apple authorised dealer who simply plugged it into their computer with the same result!

About to give up on the phone when I thought would trawl the internet just in case. On one uninformative YouTube link someone suggested a hairdryer only to be derided by other posters. But other people suggested that it was a problem with the Baseband IC chip whatever that was. Into very technical videos taking your phone apart, some soldering on a new component others just heating the component, which brought me back to the hairdryer guy. So this is what I did:

Connect iPhone to computer and hold down Sleep and Home button for a full 8 seconds and then release the sleep button.

This will bring up the restore button on your computer. Now comes the bizarre bit, get a hairdryer lay your phone on its screen and heat the area around the sim card (opposite side to the volume buttons) and hit restore. Keep heating the phone whilst restore takes place. Once the phone has got past the firmware update you can turn off the hairdryer and let it complete the restore on its own. This clean restore then sets up the phone for new and I had network connectivity.

Sounds crazy but it does work. Once restore is complete the phone will tell you it needs to cool down before being able to use it. The bad news is I then restored my daughters apps from iCloud for the phone only to lose network connection again. So clearly one of the apps she has is causing an issue with the connections and we will have to go through one by one to find out which one. But this will at least get your phone functional again.

Hope this helps others

Just to confirm I had to do another restore with hairdryer treatment (took two goes) but this time without restoring my daughters back up so treated it as a new phone. Once everything gone through and phone cooled down sufficiently (took about 30 minutes) everything worked including being able to connect and make calls. Phone is now operating 10.3.3 but clearly there is a rogue app that is causing it to have connectivity issues. Not sure if you can restore an app at a time but will get on to App Support and see what they have to say. But this solution does work for Error Code 50 bizarre that it seems. Clearly a failing component so not sure why heating it allows the firmware update to process but hey who cares!

Postscript....

Whilst the hairdryer treatment allowed the phone to take the software update, it very quickly lost connection with the network again and so became a non-mobile device. Speaking to a friend who is an expert in semi-conductors the issue is with the baseband ic that relies on pads for connectivity rather than wires to save space. Water ingress or being dropped can over time cause the connection to fail - using the hairdryer is a crude solution that might spread the solder around and allow reconnection but is likely only ever be a temporary solution and is in danger of spreading solder where you don't want it.

It would appear that those recommending taking the phone apart and concentrating the heat on the offending component might be right after all...

make sure you are running latest version iTunes that is 12.6.1 and restore iOS 10.3.2

tried some of the other solutions ?

restore iphone error 50