This occurred when trying to update my jailbroken 3.0 (not 3.01) iPhone 3Gs to a jailbroken 3.1 using purplerain. In the middle of the update purplerain had an error and it was interrupted mid-install. Hence it is stuck in recovery mode or DFU mode or whatever it's called when you see the iTunes logo with a USB cable on the iPhone.

iTunes sees my phone and says that it needs to be recovered. It downloads the software and gives me an error when trying to install it. iTunes is updated to the most recent version.

I have read a lot and watched some horrible videos with no luck.

Here's what I have tried:

-Attempted to do various forms of reset, holding down the power then home and power, then just home, then power then stand on your head. I might not be doing the right durations. I had to do this sort of reset once before and it took me about an hour to get it right. I messed with it this time for about an hour but I could be doing it wrong. If you think this is my issue please give me baby steps instructions on this as I am clearly handicapped.

-One post suggested that I uninstall iTunes. Dumb idea, didn't work.

-I downloaded and attempted to recover using a cracked firmware. I tried 3.0 and 3.01. No dice. I suppose that I could try 3.1 but I seriously doubt it will work. I get an error telling me that it is not compatible.


At this point I am more than happy to start all over with a raw iPhone. I can reinstall all of my apps and settings in no time.

I will continue to research this problem and will report back if I find a solution as I know a lot of people have this problem for varying reasons.

Thanks in advance for your help.

If you've got iTunes logo with USB you are stuck in "recovery mode" and presumably when you reboot phone it always returns to this screen now; I don't know whether "iRecovery" would kick it out of this mode.

If you were already jailbroken on 3.0 was there a reason for not restoring to a 3.1 custom restore ipsw?

we had a similar problem, where are you located?
we might meet up and i might be able to fix your iphone....

i had this issue too... download quickpwn... follow the instruction it tells you and your phone will be restarted back to normal.... just don't actually execute the whole quickpwn program, JUST the first step it tells you to do and thats it!

I had similar problem. Any way to fix it?

I have similar issue, but I wasn't trying to update to 3.1 rather just trying to restore to 3.0 sine I was facing some issues. I tried doing purplera1n but got stuck half way thru and now can't get past recovery mode or DFU mode. I tried iRecovery but no gain... I has a jailbroken(redsnow) and unlocked (ultrasnow) 3.0 iphone 3gs...

Any thoughts? Do I have any hopes of recovery?

Originally Posted by cyberrico

This occurred when trying to update my jailbroken 3.0 (not 3.01) iPhone 3Gs to a jailbroken 3.1 using purplerain. In the middle of the update purplerain had an error and it was interrupted mid-install. Hence it is stuck in recovery mode or DFU mode or whatever it's called when you see the iTunes logo with a USB cable on the iPhone.

iTunes sees my phone and says that it needs to be recovered. It downloads the software and gives me an error when trying to install it. iTunes is updated to the most recent version.

I have read a lot and watched some horrible videos with no luck.

Here's what I have tried:

-Attempted to do various forms of reset, holding down the power then home and power, then just home, then power then stand on your head. I might not be doing the right durations. I had to do this sort of reset once before and it took me about an hour to get it right. I messed with it this time for about an hour but I could be doing it wrong. If you think this is my issue please give me baby steps instructions on this as I am clearly handicapped.

-One post suggested that I uninstall iTunes. Dumb idea, didn't work.

-I downloaded and attempted to recover using a cracked firmware. I tried 3.0 and 3.01. No dice. I suppose that I could try 3.1 but I seriously doubt it will work. I get an error telling me that it is not compatible.


At this point I am more than happy to start all over with a raw iPhone. I can reinstall all of my apps and settings in no time.

I will continue to research this problem and will report back if I find a solution as I know a lot of people have this problem for varying reasons.

Thanks in advance for your help.

i dont know how they managed to fix it but i do know that i solved my exact same problem using dev teams pwnage tool 3.1.3 . and created a 3.1 custom firmware for my 3gs (yes it was on 3.0 and i tried to restore using itune to 3.0 and got stuck at apple logo)

1.just download the official 3.1 firmware from anywhere apples page is the safest though

2. connect your phone to your mac like as if notings wrong with it and launch pwnage tool 3.1.3

3. select your phone type, select expert mode and follow the instructions on pwnage installing cydia and icy, updating logos if you like and installing applications that you may need.

4. wait for the custom firmware to be built and when its done close pwnage tool like it says and startup itunes. (i used itunes 9.0)


5. forcing dfu mode on the phone(because battery had drained out due to apple logo loop) just leave the phone connected to your mac and hold the home and power button until the logo,or battery charging icon, or itunes logo disappears then keep holding both buttons for approximately 4 more seconds then let go of the power button and keep holding the home button until the phone invokes itunes telling u 'your device blah blah blah' .

6. option+click on restore button . navigate to ur custom firmware and watch it happen.

Now before i got into trouble i cant remember seeing if the phone had ecid shsh on file in cydia i just know that i tried to install apps using cider (cydias pc emulation) and the phone just got stuck on 'test mode' no matter how many times i rebooted.
but now cydia says the phone has ecid 3.1 on file.
maybe the dude who first unlocked the phone backed it up.

goodluck guys

if you get errors restoring just change usb ports on ur mac and if that dont solve the problem just restart ur pc and try over and over again it works people!

Sorry I didn't reply back sooner, I have been busy as hell.

As the previous poster said, direct download a copy of a more recent firmware and update your iPhone by shift clicking on the update button in iTunes and selecting this updated firmware. Try several different if you need to. This is how it fixed mine.

Keep pressing the home + power buttons for 15 seconds, leave home, and keep pressing power for 2 seconds. This should get you out of the loop. Source: QuickPwn pop-up message