iPhone 4S wont boot and gives an error during updating


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Hey,

I bought an iPhone 4S on Kijiji. It was listed as not being able to receive a signal, and they were selling it as an iPod.

The wife has an old iPod 4th Gen, and wanted something newer. Saw the 4S, and it was cheap, so I figured, why not. She just wanted to use it as an iPod, and to play games on it. And it has a better camera than the iPod 5th Gen. So I grabbed it.

 

The owners had wiped it, which is fine. I don't need their personal info. But I can't get it to activate. I didn't know that you had to have a simcard to activate and boot an iPhone..

So, I bought a simcard and I put it in. Still wont work. Used iTunes, and wifi.

So, I took the thing apart, checking the connectors. The screen had been replaced, and after that, it couldn't get a signal, which is why they were selling it. Everything seemed to fine. Put it back together, still wont activate.

 

So, I connected it to iTunes, and tried to do an update and restore. Well, it gets part way, but when it tried to update the firmware, I get an error.

I tried several times, and it just wont load.

But, now when you turn on the iPhone, it wants to be connected to iTunes. Wont do anything else. Before, it at least did that hello thing, with the setup.

 

Any suggestions on what to try?

 

And yes, I know an iPhone isn't an iPod. I just wanted the camera, and it was cheap.

 

post-44850-0-17159100-1427404503.png

 

Thanks for any help..

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How would I tell if the original problem was a problem with the signal antenna, or a problem with the simcard reader? I had originally assumed the antenna, but what if the simcard reader is broken? Can I tell which one would be the cause?

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I tried to load a different version of iOS on the phone. 8.0.2, 8.1, 8.1.3, and none work.

 

'The iPhone 'iPhone' could not be restored. An unknown error occurred (3194).'

 

I tried changing my host files using this guide

http://osxdaily.com/2010/12/06/error-3194-fix-for-itunes/

 

and nothing..Still the same thing. I've flushed the DNS, didn't help..

 

Anyone have any ideas..? I need to get this working quickly..I'm really hoping I didn't waste money..

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Tried a few more things, like disconnecting the battery, but that just gave a battery error..So far, nothing is working..Might have to sell it for parts, and bite the loss..I can't seem to fix it..Most likely something really easy too..

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The iPhone activates itself using the SIM card, but that is part of the setup new iPhone process. In other words, you should at the very least be at the "Welcome to iPhone" screen that get when you first turn on the device, connect to WiFi, setup as New or restore from backup, and part of that process is activating the iPhone. I don't think that is the issue -- but I do think it is dumb that you have to activate an iPhone with a cell SIM or it doesn't work. If I don't want to do that, why the hell can't I use it essentially as an iPod Touch?!?! Seems asinine considering that all it takes is to be activated, and then you can pull the SIM card out and use it that way.

 

It sounds to me like your iPhone may just be bricked. The only other thing I can think of is trying to do a firmware restore from another computer.

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Error 3194 is because you can only load the latest firmware to it, apple doesn't allow you to load older firmwares (it checks with their servers).

 

If I'm honest, it sounds like either a hardware problem (you most likely wouldn't be able to fix it) or it's been reported as stolen and the IMEI has been blacklisted.

 

EDIT: The more I think about it the more it sounds like it's been blacklisted, particularly the 'no signal' part. Check with http://swappa.com/esn

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The iPhone activates itself using the SIM card, but that is part of the setup new iPhone process. In other words, you should at the very least be at the "Welcome to iPhone" screen that get when you first turn on the device, connect to WiFi, setup as New or restore from backup, and part of that process is activating the iPhone. I don't think that is the issue -- but I do think it is dumb that you have to activate an iPhone with a cell SIM or it doesn't work. If I don't want to do that, why the hell can't I use it essentially as an iPod Touch?!?! Seems asinine considering that all it takes is to be activated, and then you can pull the SIM card out and use it that way.

 

It sounds to me like your iPhone may just be bricked. The only other thing I can think of is trying to do a firmware restore from another computer.

It woudn't go past that, even with a sim card in it, so I'm not sure. But I do think it's dumb too..My BlackBerry was used just fine without a simcard (I upgraded my phone, but my old simcard was too big, so had to wait for a new one). And I think it might be bricked too..Tried a restore on two computers, same problems.

 

Error 3194 is because you can only load the latest firmware to it, apple doesn't allow you to load older firmwares (it checks with their servers).

 

If I'm honest, it sounds like either a hardware problem (you most likely wouldn't be able to fix it) or it's been reported as stolen and the IMEI has been blacklisted.

 

EDIT: The more I think about it the more it sounds like it's been blacklisted, particularly the 'no signal' part. Check with http://swappa.com/esn

It seems to be fine, not blacklisted. Might be hardware, not sure. But I think it's bricked..

 

I'll be selling it on eBay, see if I can at least get a couple of dollars for it..Need to back back a couple of dollars before I buy something else. Not sure what to get at this point. She just wants something to play games on and a camera with a flash that's cheap..lol Oh well, maybe I'll find something on eBay to buy.

 

Thanks for the help!

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There are some nice low end Windows Phones. I'm an iPhone fan -- but if mine were to bite the dust and I didn't want to buy a new one (these things are expensive!) then I'd probably go with one of the low end Windows Phones until I could afford a new iPhone.

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There are some nice low end Windows Phones. I'm an iPhone fan -- but if mine were to bite the dust and I didn't want to buy a new one (these things are expensive!) then I'd probably go with one of the low end Windows Phones until I could afford a new iPhone.

I'll have to see if the games she likes to play are even in the Windows Store..There are some not bad low budget Windows phones from what I've seen, but depends on the games she plays are on it..If not, I'll most likely get her a BlackBerry Z10. The games she plays are on Android, so can get them easy enough from the Amazon Store. But you're right about the iPhones..Even used iPhone 5's are expensive, and those are years old lol

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