Help! iPhone 7 went into boot loop mode and now is stuck in recovery mode and can't update or restore

Hi. I have a 128gb iPhone 7. I got it a little over a year ago, maybe a week or two after it was released. I am currently running the most recent version of iOS as well, and my iTunes software on my Mac is up to date as well.


Last night, as I was getting ready to sleep, my phone randomly went blank and looked like it was resetting (the type of reset you get from holding down the power button and the volume down button simultaneously. It went dark, then I held the buttons and saw the apple logo as expected. Waited a few seconds expecting to see my lock screen, but instead it went dark again, the apple logo showed up once more, and the process kept repeating. As if it was stuck in this reset/restart mode. It kept doing this and would not stop. I was just looking at facebook and then this occurred.


It was 2 AM and I was exhausted, so I didn't want to look into it too much then because I needed sleep. I plugged my phone into my laptop, followed instructions on how to put it in recovery mode, and finally it appeared in my iTunes. The phone's screen was that of a lightning cable pointed at the iTunes logo, with "support.apple.com/iphone/restore" at the top.


Anyways, my mac gave me two options: Update the software which hopefully will fix it, and if that doesn't work, then restore. I don't know what the update would have necessarily done because I am always running the most recent iOS, but I chose that option anyway. It downloaded the iOS, began to extract the file, and gve me an error saying that it can't be updated and I need to try restoring instead. I said okay. This is what as follows:User uploaded fileUser uploaded file

So it begins to extract the software, then it shows all that "waiting for iPhone" "preparing iPhone" dialogue. The phone goes blank as if its ready to begin the update/restore. Then, for a split second, I actually do see the progress screen on my phone. I'm referring to the thin progress bar line that appears whenever you're resetting settings, updating, restoring, etc. This one:User uploaded file


But it's only their momentarily. Then, unfortunately, the phone goes blank again and the screen lights up, sort of like you just restarted the phone again. And then it returns to the connect iPhone to iTunes screen with the link at the top and I get this error on iTunes:User uploaded file. I really don't know what to do. I've made sure my iTunes is up to date, I've restarted my mac, etc. I'm pretty sure my one year limited warranty is expired too and I really need this to be fixed. Does anyone please know a way to do this so that I don't have to bring it in? I am a college student and I am doing research at the moment. I need my phone and do not have any time whatsoever to go to an apple store.


Thank you for the help

iPhone 7, iOS 11.0.3

Posted on Oct 29, 2017 5:17 AM

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Posted on Feb 7, 2018 12:33 AM

I've worked through this exact issue, step by step as you have documented. Your screenshots provide excellent examples of what happened and when.

Upon getting the 4013, I put the device right back into recovery mode while still plugged in. The error went away and the restore finished.

This happened on another device I helped with but I got the 4013 twice after the other steps. Once again, I ignored the error, and straight away, I manually put device in recovery mode each time. Error went away. Restore finished successfully on this one as well.

Phones haven't had issues since or I know I would've gotten a text or call.

*Also, both needed carrier updates. I quickly updated the carrier settings per the prompt, which is not a typical occurrence I find in helping with restoring devices. Interesting in both of these specific situations, that prompt appeared before setting up device after reset/restore process...

Side note: I restored both via latest version of iTunes (12.7 version) at the time and via a MacBook Pro

34 replies

Feb 7, 2018 9:10 PM in response to liv0123

Thank you very much for your lengthy post, one other question that I have is does your loading bar pop up for like a split second? Mine does and when I try to do "recovery mode," which is hold the power and volume down until I see connect to iTunes (iPhone 7), it does not show a progress bar anymore and just continues to show the "recovery mode" image when trying to bypass the 4013 error code.

Feb 21, 2018 6:48 AM in response to cryptwraith

I have the same problem on my iPhone 7. In boot loop and only getting the 4013 error when trying to restore. I managed to back up the phone right before the boot loop began, and interestedly I cannot restore that backup to my older iPhone 5. it's totally corrupt.


Apple offered to replace this iPhone (only a few days off the year warranty) for $320. I've been and apple user since the late 90's. I have had iPods, I iPhones, macs... but I've since gone to windows and think this is the right time to jump ship. I'm sick of iTunes and how files are managed on the iPhone compared with the competitors. I hate the new USB-C only MacBooks, and now this. It's totally unbelievable. Oh and one more thing. OS X is terrible and I can't believe it's still being used today. I mean come on.


******

<Edited by Host>


Feb 22, 2018 12:36 PM in response to ze3ity

I went to the apple store. They could not get it out of a boot loop. They found a 4013 unknown error and because of this they could not send it off for repair. My phone is stuck in boot loop and out of warranty. I also told them about the repair program, which they should already know about, but yeah whatever. They said because it cannot be diagnosed, it's not eligible. So... I'm out of luck. I can't believe they just said, "we can't help" for one of their new phones. It's just over a year and it does this? It's just unbelievable.

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Help! iPhone 7 went into boot loop mode and now is stuck in recovery mode and can't update or restore

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