You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

đź’ˇ Did you know?

⏺ If you can't accept iCloud Terms and Conditions... Learn more >

⏺ If you don't see your iCloud notes in the Notes app... Learn more >

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Can't Update/ Restore iPhone 5S

After briefly using my iPhone 5S earlier today, I decided to put it on charge when it was around 25% battery. Later after letting it charge I noticed that it was on the boot screen, as if it had restarted. I left it for a little bit to see if it would actually boot up, but it was clear that the phone was frozen. I decided to manually restart it by using the power button + home button, but after that the phone would just constantly restart over and over without any input from me. Upon further inspection the screen was slightly flickering and had a feint oval ring pattern around the apple logo.


I had a similar experience not too long along, so I thought I could fix it in a similar. I got the phone on the iTunes recovery page and proceeded to plug it into my PC. After downloading the most recent iOS version through iTunes (which is also up-to-date) I attempted to update the phone. However, the phone failed to update and gave me Error 21. After trying a couple more times, and also attempting the restore option which also gave back Error 21, I tried out some common fixes to Error 21.


After trying a few things with no result, I ended up replacing my hosts files since I'm on a PC. And it actually worked!... For a whole 15 seconds before a got a completely new error, that being Error 9 which relates to USB connectivity issues. So this time I tried to get passed this new error by taking out other USBs and switching up which port I used, I also switched my SIM card from my main device to this one just in case. And after trying to update it again multiple times, I kept getting Error 21 again, and no matter what I do I can't bypass it, not matter what USB port I using, what I do to my host files, with or without the SIM card, etc.


Which brings me here. After doing this for a very long frustrating hour, I decided to seek community help. If anyone can help me fix this issue as well as prevent me from throwing the Phone in the microwave as a last resort, I would be grateful.


Thanks in advance.

iPhone 5s

Posted on Sep 14, 2018 12:13 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Sep 14, 2018 1:56 AM

You might have a hardware issue.

Make a genius bar appointment with Apple for an evaluation.

They can tell you what options you have.

Similar questions

1 reply

Can't Update/ Restore iPhone 5S

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.