My Iphone recently crashed and I'm having trouble with the restore.

If you are connecting to your own iTunes and have backed it up recently then once you have completed the restore, it will update itself to the last backup. If you have not backed it up then unfortunately yes, it will be restored to factory settings.

I’m not really sure exactly what you mean by crashed. Your description sounds as if it may just be forcing you to sync it.

That happens to me about once every month or so whether I want to or not so I just bypass it by doing a reset.

Have you done a hard reset to get out of it?

By crashed I mean it’s stuck in recovery mode with the USB cord and Itunes symbol. I have tried several times to make it restore. It keeps coming up with an “error 29” which I know is a whole other issue. I backed it up a month ago. Does that mean whatever I have on my phone from the last month is gone? At this point I don’t care what happens as long as I can get it to work, but I did have a couple of text with pics I wanted to keep.

Unfortunately yes. Anything you have not backed up could be gone.

If iTunes will not restore it then it is possible your sim card might be corrupted. If so you need to go to ATT and get a replacement.

I pulled the sim card out and I’m using it will my old phone. If the sim card is corrupt would it still allow me to do that?

You tested the sim this way?

Without a sim card I get the error you are describing. (my 3GS is currently displaying the plug image and will not restore.

So if you put the card back in and do a hard reset does it clear?

I will have to check that. I know even with the sim card in it was giving me the same error. The phone was previously jail broke so I had to go back to undo that and it was still giving me the same code. However I forgot to put the sim card back in… this last time I tried to recover it.

I tried to restore it again with the sim card. Still didn’t work I got the same error. I think the phone is toast :(

:( I am so sorry.

When you said that you tried to restore it, I’m curious exactly what you actually did.

Either this last time with the sim back in or before you took it out, did you press down the top right button and the indented one at the bottom simultaneously, depressing both firmly until the white apple logo appears ? After that it needs several minutes to do its thing until the apple goes away.

Every once in a while, you need to also combine thiscprocedure with a shutoff which is slightly different.

For a shutoff, you depress both buttons and also push the slider bar over and wait till the apple logo spears. After it has done it’s thing, just turning it back on again usually does the trick.

I don’t know why doing both procedures, one following the other, does the trick, but it always works for me.

Try doing those two as described (with the sim card in of course) and let us know what happens.

That has never failed me any time I’ve done both methods.

As a last resort, you can also call (FREE) 1–800-MYIPHONE and give them a try at correcting it.

I ran the make it rain program. I pressed both the home and power button till it told me to release the power button. Once it finished I closed the program and opened Itunes. The dialog box stated it saw an iphone that needed to be recovered or restored (sorry I don’t remember the exact wording.) After hitting the ok button it starts to do it’s thing but only gets so far and then the error 29 comes up.
Also the phone only shows the usb cord and Itunes symbol or the Apple symbol. It won’t turn off at all.

What does the make it rain program have to do with anything?

In doing a proper “hard reset” there is nothing that tells you to release the power button.

You release BOTH buttons when the white apple logo appears. You don’t release either of them until that happens or else you don’t get any results.

Then you have to wait until the logo goes away by itself.

But that’s a separate procedure from turning the phone off totally. That involves the slider bar. I’ve really never encountered or heard about an iPhone which absolutely can’t be turned off. That doesn’t make any sense to me.

I’ve gotten the cord and itunes message tons of times. Evidently Apple thinks it knows better than I do how often I should sync my own phone.

But if I don’t want to sync it at that time, I just do the two procedures (separately) which I’ve already described, that’s the only thing which overcomes its insistence that I must sync my phone.

If you follow those steps EXACTLY as I described (without involving make it rain or any other type of program) that should do the trick.

If that doesn’t work then it’s time to call that phone number and follow their advice.

That is the program that was used to “jailbreak” the phone. When an “error 29” comes up it’s because of the jailbreak or so I have been told. Let me try again (with sim card:) ) and see what happens. This is the first time I haven’t been able to turn my phone off it’s weird.

When the logo goes away does the usb cord pic come back?

Ok I tried it without “make it rain” or any other program. I’m not sure if this is progress or not but I have an “error 14” now. Gonna google it and see what it says.

When the logo goes away you should have a blank dark screen. This signals the end of that procedure.

Then when you depress the bottom button to turn the screen back on, it should be back to normal.

HOWEVER every once in a while, the cord and iTunes notice are still there.

In that case, proceed to the second procedure and shut the phone off entirely.

When I say that I don’t mean just clicking down the top right button. That just shuts the ONLY THE SCREEN off but NOT the ENTIRE phone. You want to shut the whole phone off totally b

To do a complete shut off you press both buttons again and then when the slider bar appears on top, you slide it from left to right. Then keep holding down BOTH buttons together until the apple logo comes up. After a few minutes for it to do it’s thing (just like on the reset) the logo should go away and leave you with a blank screen.

When you push the bottom button to turn the screen back on, the cord and iTunes symbol should be gone and everything back to normal.

If you do these two procedures EXACTLY as I’ve described and the cord symbol is still there, then call Apple at the number I listed above.

I have no idea whether the jailbreak screwed things up or not since I chose not to jailbreak mine.

But I have a hunch it may have more to do with Apple trying to force a sync. I get the exact same cord and iTunes thing without a jailbroken phone. I just don’t need to sync it as often as their (apparently) built in software nags want me to.

It’s been over a year since the last sync I did :). I sort of figured out combining these two procedures one after the other kind of accodently. I guess necessity really is the mother of invention.

Lol I didn’t “choose” for it to be jailbroken either. It was done before I could say no thanks. I can say with certainty that it will never happen with another Iphone again.

That being said I did go thru all the steps you told me to do. It is still coming up with an error message. I am chosing to look at this as progress since it’s a different error code. :) When I looked it up online there are several different options I can do. I did the simple ones “example” upgrade with latest software, restart computer. After that it does get a little more complicated and over my head.

Also my phone only does 3 things… blank screen, apple symbol, or USB cord and Itunes. It will not turn off no matter what I do :(

I will try to contact Apple but I don’t think they will touch my phone with a ten foot pole.

I apologize that my post is all over the place. Thank you very much for your help!!! :)

You might as well give them a call since it’s free. Explain to them that you weren’t the one to jailbreak it.

I’m assuming you bought it that way from someone? There is most likely some simple fix which their techs will know about.

It’s not illegal to jailbreak an iPhone nor to buy one that is. Just explain things to them and tell them you’d like to get it back to normal and you won’t jailbreak it.

Either that or call up the idiot who sold it to you and demand that they either restore of or refund your money.

But give Apple a try. You have nothing to lose and may be pleasantly surprised. You could also try making an appt. with one of the techs at the Genius Bar at the nearest Apple store. That’s also free.

Thanks again for the help. :) I called and they walked me thru a few things also tried it on a couple of different laptops… It is stilll doing the same thing. I’ve had it over a year and this is the first time anything like this has happened and to be honest I could have very well done something to it. Lol I don’t have the best luck with electronics. I have a friend that I’m gonna have take a look at it. If he can’t fix it then I’m calling it a day and getting a new one.