Any iPhone gurus around??

jlmarta

Are any of the BOTL's or SOTL's knowledgeable and well-versed in the machinations of the iPhone? I've got a real problem and I've found in the past that iTunes is probably the least user-friendly situation around.

I woke up this morning and attempted to use my iPhone to do the usual things - check my e-mail, read the news, etc. It had been plugged into the charger all night as it always is so it was fully charged. Instead of opening in the usual way, I get a message that I need to download IOS Ver. 6, and then a graphic of the iTunes icon plus a representation of the end of a USB cable with arrows pointing to the iTunes icon - - in other words, I'm supposed to plug into iTunes to do this download.

Okay, so I go to my PC and open iTunes, plug in my iPhone, and start the download. Then it tells me that this download is a 6 hour download! So, I say to my self, "Self, it's 6am. Go do something else until noon".

So, a few minutes before noon I go back to the PC where the download is in the final minutes WHEN THE FRICKIN' BATTERY IN MY IPHONE DIES and stops everything in its tracks. Dead. Six hours of continuous use and not hooked up to a charger killed the battery. Then I get a message that I have to restore my iPhone in order to continue so I click on "restore" and get another message telling me that the system doesn't recognize my iPhone and can't continue.

It doesn't recognize my iPhone because it's calling it by the wrong name but I can find no way to change that. So, now I have no phone, there's no telling how many missed calls have gone to voicemail, I'm probably going to lose phone numbers it's taken me years to accumulate, and the same with e-mail addresses, not to mention photos, etc.

Does anyone have enough savvy with iPhones to offer a little help? I'd sure appreciate it.... Thanks in advance....

catfishbluezz

No clue Marty...that's a tough one. Apple has great support though, I'd give them a call. My update only took an hour or so today

jlmarta

catfishbluezz:

No clue Marty...that's a tough one. Apple has great support though, I'd give them a call. My update only took an hour or so today

You updated to IOS Ver. 6?? In only an hour or so?? Maybe it's the iPhone you have - mine is a 3G S, what's yours?

Toombes

+1 on the support team. My 4S took a touch over an hour to update to 5.1.1, haven't received the 6.0 update yet...
I'd give 'em a call.

catfishbluezz

jlmarta:

catfishbluezz:

No clue Marty...that's a tough one. Apple has great support though, I'd give them a call. My update only took an hour or so today

You updated to IOS Ver. 6?? In only an hour or so?? Maybe it's the iPhone you have - mine is a 3G S, what's yours?

Mine is an iPhone 4, but it didn't take long at all hoenstly.

y2pascoe

jlmarta:

catfishbluezz:

No clue Marty...that's a tough one. Apple has great support though, I'd give them a call. My update only took an hour or so today

You updated to IOS Ver. 6?? In only an hour or so?? Maybe it's the iPhone you have - mine is a 3G S, what's yours?

Not suprised it took so long if you were upgrading the 3GS. It says it's compatible, but that OS is probably pushing the hardware's limits. May be time to upgrade. I know you can get the 4 for $99 now.

skweekz

y2pascoe:

jlmarta:

catfishbluezz:

No clue Marty...that's a tough one. Apple has great support though, I'd give them a call. My update only took an hour or so today

You updated to IOS Ver. 6?? In only an hour or so?? Maybe it's the iPhone you have - mine is a 3G S, what's yours?

Not suprised it took so long if you were upgrading the 3GS. It says it's compatible, but that OS is probably pushing the hardware's limits. May be time to upgrade. I know you can get the 4 for $99 now.

I agree. I have a 4S and the update took less than a half hour on mine. My wife's iPhone 4 took about an hour.

jgibv

jlmarta:

catfishbluezz:

No clue Marty...that's a tough one. Apple has great support though, I'd give them a call. My update only took an hour or so today

You updated to IOS Ver. 6?? In only an hour or so?? Maybe it's the iPhone you have - mine is a 3G S, what's yours?

No expert, but I'd bet a dollar that the problem is due to your iPhone 3GS model.
I too have a 3GS, never been able to update past iOS 4.2 - kept crashing/stalling/having problems. I finally just gave up on it and said "fo-gidduh-bout-it" since I was out of warranty and apple wanted to charge me lots of $$ to fix it/for tech support.

If you're still under warranty I'd give them a call or take it to an apple store if possible.

jlmarta

Thanks for all the input, guys. You're probably right - I'm long out of warranty and probably should move up to a 4. I'm hoping right now that I'll be able to save all my contacts, etc. After charging all night again, the phone is still stuck mid-download and I can't get it out of that spot to even use my phone to call someone or check my voicemails. This is the one downside (that I can think of) to no longer having a landline....

jgibv

jlmarta:

Thanks for all the input, guys. You're probably right - I'm long out of warranty and probably should move up to a 4. I'm hoping right now that I'll be able to save all my contacts, etc. After charging all night again, the phone is still stuck mid-download and I can't get it out of that spot to even use my phone to call someone or check my voicemails. This is the one downside (that I can think of) to no longer having a landline....

So is the screen frozen ??
If so, have you tried a hard reset. Hold the "lock" and "home" buttons simultaneously for (I think it's about) 15ish seconds - the phone should power off and power back on and reset itself. At least that *should* hopefully get you to a point where you can at least dial out and check VM

jlmarta

jgibv:

jlmarta:

Thanks for all the input, guys. You're probably right - I'm long out of warranty and probably should move up to a 4. I'm hoping right now that I'll be able to save all my contacts, etc. After charging all night again, the phone is still stuck mid-download and I can't get it out of that spot to even use my phone to call someone or check my voicemails. This is the one downside (that I can think of) to no longer having a landline....

So is the screen frozen ??
If so, have you tried a hard reset. Hold the "lock" and "home" buttons simultaneously for (I think it's about) 15ish seconds - the phone should power off and power back on and reset itself. At least that *should* hopefully get you to a point where you can at least dial out and check VM

Yep, the screen is frozen. The "lock" button you refer to - do you mean the "on-off" button? I don't know of any "lock" button...

jgibv

jlmarta:

jgibv:

jlmarta:

Thanks for all the input, guys. You're probably right - I'm long out of warranty and probably should move up to a 4. I'm hoping right now that I'll be able to save all my contacts, etc. After charging all night again, the phone is still stuck mid-download and I can't get it out of that spot to even use my phone to call someone or check my voicemails. This is the one downside (that I can think of) to no longer having a landline....

So is the screen frozen ??
If so, have you tried a hard reset. Hold the "lock" and "home" buttons simultaneously for (I think it's about) 15ish seconds - the phone should power off and power back on and reset itself. At least that *should* hopefully get you to a point where you can at least dial out and check VM

Yep, the screen is frozen. The "lock" button you refer to - do you mean the "on-off" button? I don't know of any "lock" button...

Yes, sorry
I meant the on/off (silver) button on the top of the phone.

EDIT - more info here if you care to take a look.
Hope this helps.

jlmarta

jgibv:

jlmarta:

jgibv:

jlmarta:

Thanks for all the input, guys. You're probably right - I'm long out of warranty and probably should move up to a 4. I'm hoping right now that I'll be able to save all my contacts, etc. After charging all night again, the phone is still stuck mid-download and I can't get it out of that spot to even use my phone to call someone or check my voicemails. This is the one downside (that I can think of) to no longer having a landline....

So is the screen frozen ??
If so, have you tried a hard reset. Hold the "lock" and "home" buttons simultaneously for (I think it's about) 15ish seconds - the phone should power off and power back on and reset itself. At least that *should* hopefully get you to a point where you can at least dial out and check VM

Yep, the screen is frozen. The "lock" button you refer to - do you mean the "on-off" button? I don't know of any "lock" button...

Yes, sorry
I meant the on/off (silver) button on the top of the phone.

EDIT - more info here if you care to take a look.
Hope this helps.

It helped a great deal, John, and I thank you. Unfortunately, it didn't solve my problem and I just walked in the door from going over to the AT&T store where I upgraded to an iPhone 4 for really cheap. (Dont'cha just love my grammar?) Now, all I have to do is sync the new phone to recover all my contacts, etc. Keep your fingers crossed that THAT works.... And thanks again, John, and all the others who provided input. It's much appreciated...

jsnake

What an ordeal! I did my download in an hour. I like the changes but still thinking of going back to Android. Trying to find someone with a mint like new HTC EVO LTE or Samsung Galaxy SIII to trade. I have the 4 and it is ok. The changes in iOS6 kind of have me on the fence now. Glad you got the upgrade. Iphone 5 release probably did you a huge favor as far as price.

jlmarta

jsnake:

What an ordeal! I did my download in an hour. I like the changes but still thinking of going back to Android. Trying to find someone with a mint like new HTC EVO LTE or Samsung Galaxy SIII to trade. I have the 4 and it is ok. The changes in iOS6 kind of have me on the fence now. Glad you got the upgrade. Iphone 5 release probably did you a huge favor as far as price.

I agree. Looking back on the whole thing, it sorta forced me to do the upgrade. But if you think about it, it was like the epitome of capitalism.... Not only was I forced to move forward progress-wise, but they made me an offer I couldn't refuse and gave me more for my trade-in than I originally paid for it. That tells me they have some sort of market for my old one and it's a win-win situation.

jgibv

jlmarta:

jsnake:

What an ordeal! I did my download in an hour. I like the changes but still thinking of going back to Android. Trying to find someone with a mint like new HTC EVO LTE or Samsung Galaxy SIII to trade. I have the 4 and it is ok. The changes in iOS6 kind of have me on the fence now. Glad you got the upgrade. Iphone 5 release probably did you a huge favor as far as price.

I agree. Looking back on the whole thing, it sorta forced me to do the upgrade. But if you think about it, it was like the epitome of capitalism.... Not only was I forced to move forward progress-wise, but they made me an offer I couldn't refuse and gave me more for my trade-in than I originally paid for it. That tells me they have some sort of market for my old one and it's a win-win situation.

What a mess! But I'm glad to see you got it worked out and were able to get a new phone at minimal cost.

It's situations like this that sometimes make me miss the "old days" of "dumb" flip-phones were all you could do was call someone....no need to update software, transfer lots of info when you got a new phone, etc. And if you got a new phone, it was an easy, 10 min process at the phone store to transfer your contacts.