iPhone 5S activation error 0xE8000013

I was having the same problem on iPhone 6s after upgrading to 11.1.

Here is how I make it work:

• Reset and erase all data
• Log into iPhone with no SIM
• Did not setup anything - no passcode, no apple Id - nothing
• Inserted the SIM
• Keep on activating - failure after failure and on the 5th time it succeeded.
• Then finished all the setup like apple ID and stuff.

Give it a try.

Hi guys,

I would like to share maybe some good news,

After days of googling and trying everything I have contacted Apple Support. First I again tried every possible step they know, then I was transferred to a senior advisor who took all my information and escalated matter to the team who is handling the activation process. After few days they wanted to know more and have my itunes and pc logs. After chatting again with a different senior advisor I noticed something. When connecting my iPad Air to itunes with recovery mode, itunes reads my serial number. I used that serial copy/paste and apple website says incorect serial. My serial is DM*******K1O, so I changed the O at the end to a 0 and it worked, website detected my device. There is a little blue “i” at the bottom right on the Hello screen and it shows serial with the O as well, same as itunes. Then I checked the back of my ipad and the tiny little serial written on it shows last character as 0 (zero) so we concluded that the serial is being read wrong 0 (zero) as O. I have sent them pics and logs from my PC and itunes to confirm this and I expect reply on Monday.

This would explain not being able to activate or obtain device info errors I am getting.

<Personal Information Edited by Host>

After I failed with all these claimed fixes with my iPhone 5S that is recently updated to iOS 11.2.5

Setting up with Quick Start (with another iOS 11 device) worked perfectly for me (My phone is now activated with iTunes)

Then I restored my iOS 10.3.1 backup with iTunes. Figured it out myself.

That issue isn't "iPhone 5S specific" i recently bought a iPhone 6 and i have the same activation error.

Called the French support (because i am french ...) And someone told me that Activation servers are having some issues or under heavy load.

I've pretty much done everything that they said (Restoring iPhone, With/Without sim card, using multiple wifi, 4G, iTunes (Shows either 0xE8000013 or 0xE80000C If restored and connected on itunes, probably because it can't reach server to get any specific informations about iPhone)

i would suggest to anyone having this issue to contact apple

Contact - How to Contact Us - Apple

chiaraChiara wrote:

Hi ro66i3,

Unfortunately Iphone 5c does not support IOS 11. The last release is IOS 10.3.3 i guess.

This is a really stressfull situation. A software issue is preventing me to use my phone.

Is there any method for flashing a previous release? Am I stuck with 10.3.3?

Thanks.

A software issue is not preventing you from using your phone. The fact that updating iOS requires that the phone be reactivated, and that reactivation is failing, is preventing you from using your phone.

Here are the reasons you might get the message that the Activation Server is unavailable:

• It really is unavailable. Rare, but it happens. You can check its status here: https://www.apple.com/support/systemstatus/
• Your version of iTunes is out of date. You need 12.6.3 or later.
• The phone does not have a valid SIM installed.
• Your antivirus or firewall is blocking access to gs.apple.com. Try temporarily disabling it.
• Your router's firewall is blocking access to gs.apple.com or to a port that it requires (443).
• Your phone is jailbroken, or it was at some time in the past.
• Your computer was used to hack or jailbreak some iOS device in the past (not necessarily the device with the current problem), and its network database was corrupted. Hacking includes using some questionable apps such as recboot, reiboot, Tinyumbrella, redsn0w, etc. If this is a possibility inspect your computer's hosts file. If there are any lines in the file that reference gs.apple.com that is the explanation. You will need to rebuild the hosts file.
• Your phone has a hardware problem. Take it to an Apple store for diagnosis.

Hi Lawrence. i will try my best to explain here everything they said/asked during the call.

19th Oct 2017, 11.30 pm (MY) - Customer Care

i told them that my Apple Refurbished IP5s was not able to activate in ios 11.0.3. It was doing fine earlier until i had to reset it because i wanted to do clean installation for every apps. Then I was asked to provide them the error text (on device screen) and on itunes (0xE8000013). Then i was asked to do activation using wifi, mobile connection (with different sim) and also via itunes. When all of those method does not work later he directs me to one of their specialist.

19th Oct 2017, 12.15 pm (MY) - Apple Specialist

The specialist ask me for the device MEID, IMEI and SN. Later on, he had me set my device into recovery mode for restoration using Itunes. Restoration process succeed but not for activation process. Then he was on hold for a while to get more information regarding my device i think. Then he asked my permision for remote advisor (ara.apple.com) to view my desktop. He have verified everything including the itunes version and also drivers and also the written error in Itunes activation process. A couple of minutes later he sent an email regarding my device information to Engineering Depart for further investigation on this matter. I was told that he will contact back on 20th Oct 2017 at 4PM(Malaysia) with hope the Engineering Depart have read his email. And also he did left an email in case i need to contact him.

20th Oct 2017, 4.00 pm (MY) - Apple Specialist

Surprisingly he called me sharp at 4 pm. He told me he got feedback from the Engineering Depart and good news which is there is no problem with my device and they said that this error has been reported and they are figuring out the problem. And this problem will be rectified on either an ios update or any method specifically for the affected device.

I am really sorry to say this but the only option to resolve this issues was to downgrade your ios 11 to ios 10, and for your info, apple already stop signing it to ios 10. My friend was having the same issues earlier, after trying all the stuff (changing Pc's/ trying diff Cables/ Almost everything xyz), Finally i did downgraded his iphone 5s to ios10.3.3, guess what his iphone is working fine and smooth. if you even call apple customer care regarding this issue they will finally tell you there is an Hardware issues in device, visit apple store, and when you visit apple store there will be so much of suggestions to upgrade your Iphone5s to iphone6, as normally apple don't go for repairing any hardware of phone, if your device have warranty, they will definitely give you a replacement.

If the serial number shows a different description than what you see on your phone you may have a hardware-hacked phone. There is a way to alter the hardware-encoded serial number of a phone. It's not easy and requires specialized equipment, so it's not something that the average thief could do. Some "professional" thieves use this ability to give a stolen and blacklisted or activation-locked phone a new life by assigning it the serial number of a valid working phone. They can't just make one up; it needs to be a "real" phone's serial number. So they find a real phone's serial number and "steal" it to assign to the stolen phone. Apple used to have a website that would allow serial numbers to be entered; the thieves would use that site to validate a serial number. Apple has since disabled that site. Eventually Apple will recognize the deception and disable the phone. It also makes trouble for the legitimate owner of the phone with the stolen serial number, who can be locked out of their phone.

If your description on your phone does not match what the serial number says when you look it up online you probably have one of these stolen and re-serialized phones.

The usual stuff, i updated my Mac and iTunes and restored my phone via recovery mode.

Finaly I took it to the genius bar and there they restored it, seeing that it was not activated their solution was to pay 360 € since for 2 months was out of warranty and could not do more.

In Apple Care online they passed a note to a superior department stating that all the tests have been done, and his solution is pay the 360 € or I buy a new iphone.

Minimal interest in escalating the case