iPhone 3.0 Upgrade Fail: “Unknown Error”

by Danny Sullivan on June 17, 2009

Finally, OS3 for the iPhone is out — and against my better judgment, I decided I wanted copy-and-paste now. So I did the iPhone 3.0 upgrade, and now my phone is dead. Like many others, I’m getting the dreaded “unknown error” message. And looking to Apple for guidance, I come away feeling frustrated.

After my upgrade was done, my phone was left with an icon message to plug it into iTunes and only able to make emergency calls. As for iTunes, it gave the message screenshotted above, which says:

We could not complete your iTunes Store Request. An unknown error occurred (-4).

There was an error in the iTunes Store. Please try again later.

Shortly after getting this, I saw Matt Cutts tweet that I wasn’t alone. Hundreds on Twitter — more like thousands at this point — were tweeting about similar problems. Try searches for itunes store request or unknown error, and you’ll see them.

You also see a lot of sad, frustrated and sometimes angry people getting no help. People are tweeting uncertain if they’ve “bricked” their phone and made it unusable. People are looking for help.

And Apple? It’s not helping. I tried a search on the iPhone support site for “unknown error occurred (-4)” and got nothing useful.

I checked the iPhone support page and found nothing alerting people that Apple’s aware of the problem.

I checked the iPhone discussion group and got an amazing “We’ll be back soon” message.

I’ve just gone back, and at least now there’s a thread on the topic. Supposedly it’s here, but if you try to read it, you get — yep — an error message and taken to this holding page.

Way to fail, Apple.

If you have news on how to solve the problem, please post below. I’ll also update as I learn more. For related discussion on the new software and the iPhone 3Gs launch, see Techmeme. Also see an upgrade cluster on Techmeme here.

Postscript: Flash Gordy suggested I try plugging directly into my computer rather than a hub. Did that, and problem solved. Or maybe whatever network issues with the iTunes store were happening got sorted out.

{ 119 comments… read them below or add one }

Next Comments →

1 Jeff Diamond June 20, 2009 at 5:14 pm: Thanks Stephem McMaster you saved me allot of frustration.
I did not have to pick the file manually. I just had to hit ctrl alt del when my phone was stuck on the blank black screen and then restart iTunes and select restore the rest went smoothly. But you got me headed in the right direction.
For that I owe you big time. Thanks for taking the time to post your experience.

~Jeff Diamond
2 Issa June 20, 2009 at 7:15 pm: This gentleman, Mr. Stephen McMaster is a life saver. After nearly 8 hours of trying to restart my iPhone, his instruction to press ctrl alt del when the phone is on the blank screen and then restarting iTunes and restoring again worked like a charm. Needless to say I tried everything the Apple site said should be tried and nothing worked.

From the bottom of my heart thank you and Mr. Jeff Diamond who posted your instruction on the web.

Perhaps this gentleman knows how to work flash media player videos on the iphone as well. That would be a treat. After all if he can work this out then the said problem must be a doddle.

Once more thanks and God bless.

Issa
3 Ormond Stock June 20, 2009 at 11:05 pm: I happy that some people have got this solved (really!) but for me it is off to the Blackberry shop tomorrow. I’ve tried on a PC (XP) and on an iMac. I’ve tried all the suggestions here plus support.apple.com/kb/TS1275 plus everything else I can find in two and a half days. Nothing works. Now the best I get is an error saying that the iPod software update server could not be contacted.
Apple suck.
4 Jason June 21, 2009 at 4:57 am: hey does any one know what the unknown error (14) means?
5 webhost18 June 22, 2009 at 2:46 am: Thanks Stephem McMaster

I’ve tried all the suggestions, you saved our time..

Thanks again
6 Mike June 22, 2009 at 3:39 am: I paid £5.99 for the 3.0 upgrade and it failed with an unknown error (14). I tried everything that Apple suggested (different cable, USB port, uninstalling iTunes, different user account, different computer) but all to no effect. I read about “DFU mode” and tried that – all no no avail.
7 David June 22, 2009 at 5:40 am: Thanks very much to Stephem McMaster and Jeff Diamond.
I was desperate with the problem (error 1604, Windows XP) I used the Ctrl+Alt+Spr to kill Itunes when my Iphone screen went black without waiting for the error message to come, I didn’t disconnet anything, just run Itunes again and everything was fine. In a secong step you have to recover the information from the last backup you have. I have recovered all but the programs.

Thanks again from Spain and goog luck to everybody.
8 Bob June 22, 2009 at 1:20 pm: Thank you, Google…
Thank you, Stephen M. Saved a a lot of time.
9 davcho June 22, 2009 at 1:27 pm: Thanks Stephen Marshal!!! It works!!!! ..& after 3 days of surfing around to find a solution . Thanks again:)
10 Piotr Sadorski June 22, 2009 at 5:52 pm: Dear people I really thank you so much for posting this. It really helps a lot. I was strugeling with this around 6 h;/ silly me;]
Thanks a lot;]
11 Chaco June 23, 2009 at 9:03 am: Thanks a lot to Jeff Diamond… I solve also the problem.. The trick is actually to restore the Iphone in the blank black screen before the error appears and it goes back to the recovery screen. I must say that I tried many ways, like uninstall and re-install the Itunes and all its components, delete the XML files ItunesPref and IpodDevices, delete the restore file. It can be that all together actually helped but i saw the results with the task manager trick.

Thanks a lot again !!!

Chaco
12 Prerna June 23, 2009 at 11:45 am: Hi Stephen McMaster,
It seems your suggestions work for everyone but I cant seem to find the file you are referring to on my PC. I get till the iTunes folder alright while browsing but there is nothing known as iTunes Software Updates in there..!!!! Dont know what to do!!

HELPPPPPPP
13 krudos June 23, 2009 at 12:22 pm: just update itunes to 8.2
14 Skip June 23, 2009 at 3:00 pm: Stephen McMaster, please let me add my voice to the growing chorus who is saluting you for your brilliant suggestions. I am hereby nominating your post for post of the year. Thank you a thousand times.
15 Alexmr June 23, 2009 at 6:13 pm: oh thank you!
apple made a very bad programming again for the 3.0 update.
so I had 5 hours chaos with the “Error 1604″ until I found this information.
thank you, thank you, thank you!
cu alexmr
———————-
oh vielen dank!
Apple machte wieder eine ganz schlechte programmierung für das update 3.0.
so hatt ich 5 stunden chaos mit dem “Error 1604″ bis ich diese information fand.
danke, danke, danke!
cu alexmr
16 santo June 23, 2009 at 9:57 pm: amazing I think this is working! No thanks to apple and hours of wasted time!
17 Steven June 25, 2009 at 8:05 am: Ctrl-Alt-Delete worked first time. I spent several hours on the Web trying to find solution until i hit this website. I love my iPhone but Apple really let us down here…
18 Stephen McMaster June 25, 2009 at 8:18 am: Prerna

The file you need is not in c:\Program Files\

It should be in c:\Documents and Settings\

On my PC it is in: “C:\Documents and Settings\STEPHEN\Application Data\Apple Computer\iTunes\iPhone Software Updates”
19 Rashdin June 25, 2009 at 2:38 pm: I started to get a bit worried because my iphone seemed bricked. Hitting Ctrl Alt Del did the trick. Stephem Mac Master, thanks very much for your solution.
20 MaShi June 26, 2009 at 6:08 pm: THX heaps mate works like a charm
saved me from shitting my pants lol
21 Savannah June 26, 2009 at 6:19 pm: Stephen McMaster for Apple President!
22 Steve June 26, 2009 at 6:46 pm: I can’t get anything to work . . . on Windows Vista . . . have a screen showing that I need to connect to iTunes . . . can’t get anything else. Have tried to ctrl-alt-del before it comes up and can get to the screen where I have to kill iTunes but phone gets to the screen of lock-up death too fast.
I just don’t know what to do. Could you just tell me step by step what to do . . . don’t leave anything out and assume I don’t know anything about iTunes or an Iphone?
23 Bryan June 26, 2009 at 8:12 pm: OMG, Apple… thanks for this thread! I’ve been in agony since I tried to upgrade my iPhone’s OS to 3.0. Has been like 2 and 1/2 days my phone turns to a black brick, kept giving me the Error 1604… Till I found this thread, now it’s up again >.<, So it’s probably Set phone to iTunes connection, wait till it gives you the error code, close iTunes and restart iTunes, it’ll be a successful upgrade.
24 Doug Whitson June 27, 2009 at 5:01 pm: This happened to me during the last big June upgrade. I was out of town and staying in a hotel. At 4:00 am when I stumbled in and plugged my phone into the macbook for a charge, it asked if I wanted to upgrade. I started the upgrade and when it got to the final stage, I went to sleep. Of course, when I woke up the phone was a brick. It was a different error then, but due to the same congestion. I had to sit through a sales meeting without an iphone to keep me awake. At 5:00pm, plugged it in and finished the install.
25 Greengoblin June 27, 2009 at 6:45 pm: I tried to update my Iphone and received an error code 14. I repeated this and kept getting the same message. To my surprise I unplugged after trying numerous times and plugged it into my other laptop which was a PC. Strangley it restored and updated no problems or issues. Then plugged it back into my macbook to restore job done..

I hope that helps, worked a treat for me!!!
26 jason kinsey June 28, 2009 at 6:52 am: if your having trouble finding the application data file like i was go to
My Computer >> Tools menu >> Folder Options >> View tab >> then select show hidden and system files then deselect hide protected operating system files, after this you can follow stephens instructions without problem, but thank you stephen for putting me on the right track
27 Ri&Flo June 28, 2009 at 4:19 pm: Mr. Stephen McMaster, you might just have saved my mariage!
Cheers,
Florian from France
28 clee June 29, 2009 at 2:01 pm: Pretty frustrating experience for all of you. Now that you’ve finally gotten it to work, what do you think about the 3.0 upgrade? Do you think the upgrade was adequate compared to swapping in for the new 3G S iPhone? What were your reasons for not going in for the new model? Do you think Apple risks diluting its brand by releasing the new iPhone that doesn’t offer such a substantial upgrade over its predecessor?

We”re trying to get a debate going on our blog about the future for Apple, especially after its newest launch. Please check us out: http://uimagicinc.com/blog/?p=165 You and your commenters would have a lot to add to our discussion!
29 THAUSER July 1, 2009 at 6:40 am: Hi there,

the tip from DAVID helps:

Thanks very much to Stephem McMaster and Jeff Diamond.
I was desperate with the problem (error 1604, Windows XP) I used the Ctrl+Alt+Spr to kill Itunes when my Iphone screen went black without waiting for the error message to come, I didn’t disconnet anything, just run Itunes again and everything was fine. In a secong step you have to recover the information from the last backup you have. I have recovered all but the programs.

Simply start iTunes, start reset, then kill iTunes (itunes.exe in task manager) after screen of iPhone goes black (no disconnect!) and then restart iTunes and continue reseting your iPhone.

God bless you David!
30 CLZ July 3, 2009 at 8:33 am: HEY ! can u help me ? How do we solve an error 3? i am in serious trouble if i dont fix this problem. My father will kill me! please help me! Thanks.
31 aNf July 3, 2009 at 9:50 pm: Stephem McMaster and Jeff Diamond…..ITS WORKINGGGG….thank you
32 Laara July 5, 2009 at 12:50 am: Hey people… I’m having a big poblem here.
One week ago i tried o update the software to 3.0…everything was workin’ fine until i got a damn error [1612 i think but i'm not so sure] and of course, the soft wasn’t updated or anything… soon after iTunes wouldn’t detect my iPhone and nor even my computer.
Since than I’m using another phone because I had to leave town and I had to take a phone with me. Anyway, the problem didn’t solve by itself ) My iPhone screen isn’t black…but shows a cable and the iTunes image saying that i have to connect my iphone to itunes. When i do, iPhone doesn’t recognize my iPhone and the computer says that it has recognized a new usb device [i try to install it and at the end it says it couldn't because the wizard cannot find the necessary software]
I sooo wanna get my iphone back to how it was and i wish i had never tried to install the new software. I can’t even go to an Apple store since I’m from Romania and we don’t have one [not in my city at least] and I tried many solution but none seem to work.
If anyone thinks can help me, please comment here, i beg you…

PS: sorry if my English isn’t very good.
33 Alisha July 5, 2009 at 4:33 pm: Can someone take me thru the steps please? im confused
34 Slideshow Mechanic July 7, 2009 at 12:46 pm: Still happening. I am plugged in drectly. Turned my wifi off, just to avoid a conflift.

and still getting (-) and another 2 itunes errors. restarted several times, deleted, redownloaded. you name it!
35 Paul July 8, 2009 at 8:24 pm: thanks you ,really! It worked. Thank you very much!
36 Paul July 8, 2009 at 8:27 pm: Thank you Jeff Diamond !!!!
37 Sean July 10, 2009 at 7:31 pm: I would just like to say a very big thankyou to Stephen McMaster and Jeff Diamond. I had spent many hours trying other suggestions from other sites but with no joy still getting error 1604. Then I tried your method, now my iphone works and is updated to latest software. I have only had my iphone for less than 12 hours before it bricked, so once again many thanks you saved me a 80 mile round trip to replace it. I am now going to bed as its 3.30 am and I’m F****d. Apple are aload of bollocks keep up the good work!!
38 jhackyboy July 11, 2009 at 9:24 am: hey guys can u help me with my problem, my phone was newly instaled with 3.0 then i use to instal via cyndia after instaling those free app i restart my iphone then sudenly it hung up ang now its dead already and if you try to start again it came out with the apple logo only. guys can u help me im so frustrated now thank u
39 weeve July 13, 2009 at 12:21 am: control+alt+delete worked for me to (after many hours of installing, reininstalling, etc)…thanks so much!
40 Nyki July 13, 2009 at 4:01 am: You Steve, are a god amongst men. Thank you soooo much!
41 Slideshow Mechanic July 13, 2009 at 4:21 am: Hi there,

still not working for me.

im getting a sync error now. It says that syncing is not enabled on my machine and therefore cant syc email, calander and contacts…. any ideas ?
42 Frank July 13, 2009 at 7:20 am: Anybody have a clue on how to fix an errror 2? Ive tried the ctrl alt del, reinstalling itunes surfed the net for clues but no results.
43 Dave July 15, 2009 at 1:45 am: I’ve never posted on a blog before but felt the need to say thanks. You saved me a terrible few hours!
44 Mark July 17, 2009 at 6:22 pm: Usually I’m hesitant on upgrading to the newest version of firmware or O/S software because of the inherent & missed bugs that come with it. This time I took a gamble and allowed iTunes to update my iPhone to v3.0 – FAIL, repeatedly. Up to 4:30am last night restoring, downloading, reinstalling iTunes – all per the recommendations. Where I succeeded was to reload v2.2 of the firmware on the iPhone. Reloaded contacts etc. just fine. All is working again but no v3.0 firmware. Frankly, I just don’t have time to fix bugs that Apple’s Programmer’s and/or QA testing techs should catch and fix before it hits the customers.
45 Kelly July 18, 2009 at 4:22 pm: Dear god… If I wrote this kind of crap software, heads would roll. Literally. trains would crash and people would die. Apple needs to get their shit together. This phone is not cheap and to have it break like this because they could not be arsed to do proper QA on their software is inexcusable!

Apple suck
46 John July 22, 2009 at 4:53 am: I got the white screen, but when I restart iTunes, it’s as if it doesn’t realize I have the iPod plugged in, nothing happens, and my iPhone just stays white.
47 Michael July 24, 2009 at 8:03 am: frank I have an error (2) also.. any ideas guys?
48 James Garvey July 24, 2009 at 9:16 pm: Nothing worked until i finally went to 8.1.10 FIRST. I had this same problem today, updating a customer’s 3G to 3.0 from 2.2.1, on a MAC (using iTunes 8.2.1)! I tried on 2 different macs, a bootcamp Vista SP1 on my MBpro and then XP pro SP3. All registered a 1602, 14 or 16 error everytime, about halfway through the update on the iPhone. I also tried what Stephen suggested, removing the old 3.0 update and prefs file from the user data > app > apple directories with no luck. Also tried reinstalling itunes on the Mac.

What finally worked was:
- uninstall itunes (if you have anything above 8.1.10).
- move your itunes library file (for windows, it’s located under the iTunes directory, usually called iTunes Library.itl). You want iTunes to create a blank file since your 8.2.1 upgraded itl file won’t work with 8.1.10.
- put your ipod into DFU mode
- restore your iPhone to 2.2.1 using iTunes 8.1.10 (go here to download older versions of iTunes)
- use the same site above to download 8.2.0 (not 8.2.1).
- install 8.2.0 and connect your iPhone. It will notify you about the update. Download & install the 3.0 update (if you uninstalled, the 3.0 update should be deleted).
- upgrade back to 8.2.1
- move your library (itl) file back. To be safe, I would hold the shift key down to select your 8.2.1 file (even if it’s named the same as the one you created from iTunes 8.1.10).

1 hour later, I have everything updated All I can say is that there’s a bug in 8.2.1 that wasn’t there in 8.2.0. I updated my iPod Touch first gen no problem with 8.1. Hope it works for others.
49 J July 27, 2009 at 1:17 pm: Omg thankyou so much James Garvey!!!!! It worked!
50 James Garvey July 27, 2009 at 4:02 pm: Glad it helped. What a pain!