Need help activating iPhone 4s after DFU restore from jailbreak 6.1

[XiphusX]

Hello. So I was running a jailbroken 4s with evasion 6.1 I think (the very first one for ios6). I dont think i updated to a higher version. The only updates made after the initial jailbreak were only within Cydia. I never attempted to "unlock" the phone. I mainly used it for cosmetic reasons and a few tweaks here and there. I

So after about a month or so with it being jailbroken, I decide that im not that much of a power user to keep it jailbroken and decide I want to go back to normal. I used this "tutorial" to restore: How to remove Evasi0n Jailbreak from your iPhone or iPad or iPod Touch?

Everything went well. I upgraded to the latest iOS within iTunes (I was using the latest version 11.0.2.26) . BUT...

Once the restore was complete, I am unable to activate the phone. It does not work on wifi or cellular connection.

Ive done a fair share of research for this and have not seen a definite solution. Ive read on the apple forums that since the device was jailbroken, it cannot be activated and is "beyond repair". I know its against the rules to discuss jailbreaking on that forum, but i dont see how the device is beyond repair when it starts up perfectly fine.

To be clear, I want to get passed this step and back to a normal phone. I DO NOT want to unlock or jailbreak.

The only details I can tell you about the phone is that it is a 4s that has only been on Verizon, and is a little bit over a year old. As far as a SIM card goes, its whatever came with the phone. It has never been messed with. It was bought directly from apple.com

As of now, I havent called my carrier (Verizon). I have done a DFU restore twice, and tried activating on a different computer. I have also searched my "hosts" file to see if gs.apple.com was blocked, and there was nothing in there for that.

Thanks for any help.

 

[rdiddy_25]

Does iTunes recognize ur phone when it's connected?

 

[natasftw]

Don't worry about a SIM. Verizon doesn't use them.

Don't worry about locked status, the Verizon phone comes unlocked.

Building on what rdiddy asks, how far does the activation process get in iTunes, assuming iTunes does recognize your phone?

If it continues to give you a hard time, you can take it in to either the Apple Store or a Verizon store. Just tell them you were trying to update to 6.1.3 and it won't activate. They may ask if you're jailbroken, simply say no. If Apple is unable to get it to activate, they're likely to replace it, even if the warranty is expired they often help.

 

[XiphusX]

Don't worry about a SIM. Verizon doesn't use them.

Don't worry about locked status, the Verizon phone comes unlocked.

Building on what rdiddy asks, how far does the activation process get in iTunes, assuming iTunes does recognize your phone?

If it continues to give you a hard time, you can take it in to either the Apple Store or a Verizon store. Just tell them you were trying to update to 6.1.3 and it won't activate. They may ask if you're jailbroken, simply say no. If Apple is unable to get it to activate, they're likely to replace it, even if the warranty is expired they often help.

When I power on my phone, iTunes will start, and it will recognize an iphone device, but then immediately goes to: "Your request couldn't be processed. We're sorry, but there was an error processing your request. Please try again later.

And from there, I can either click "done" at the top right corner, or hit the "eject" icon at the very left corner. Thanks for all the help so far.

 

[natasftw]

What displays on the phone itself? Is it the typical "Welcome to iOS" grey screen or is it the screen asking you to plug into iTunes?

Honestly, if either of those are giving issues, I'd consider going to talk to an Apple Store. Tell them you started experiencing this problem after updating to iOS 6.1.3 and hadn't had issues updating in the past. If they are unable to activate it, they're likely to replace the phone. Worst case, you'll get a bit more information.

 

[XiphusX]

What displays on the phone itself? Is it the typical "Welcome to iOS" grey screen or is it the screen asking you to plug into iTunes?

Honestly, if either of those are giving issues, I'd consider going to talk to an Apple Store. Tell them you started experiencing this problem after updating to iOS 6.1.3 and hadn't had issues updating in the past. If they are unable to activate it, they're likely to replace the phone. Worst case, you'll get a bit more information.

My phone displays the grey welcome screen then I slide to unlock, set up language, region, wifi, then go to activate and thats where it all stops.

Im going to try loading some old firmware on it with redsn0w and see if that works. If not, probly take it to a store then. Thanks for helping me out.

 

[Laelipoo]

My phone displays the grey welcome screen then I slide to unlock, set up language, region, wifi, then go to activate and thats where it all stops.

Im going to try loading some old firmware on it with redsn0w and see if that works. If not, probly take it to a store then. Thanks for helping me out.

You cannot downgrade a 4S with redsn0w or anything else. You may just want to take it in now.

 

[XiphusX]

You cannot downgrade a 4S with redsn0w or anything else. You may just want to take it in now.

Yeah, found that out after doing some research, lol. Thanks guys.

 

[Soleous75]

"Your request couldn't be processed. We're sorry, but there was an error processing your request. Please try again later.
always happens while the phone waits for a correct sim to be inserted.
might need to be telstra, optus or who ever the phone is locked to.
got this every time i restored my phones and then realized that i didnt have sim in.
hope this helps.
nothing to do with the jailbreak as itunes puts it own firmware back on.
cheers
Soleous

 

[natasftw]

"Your request couldn't be processed. We're sorry, but there was an error processing your request. Please try again later.
always happens while the phone waits for a correct sim to be inserted.
might need to be telstra, optus or who ever the phone is locked to.
got this every time i restored my phones and then realized that i didnt have sim in.
hope this helps.
nothing to do with the jailbreak as itunes puts it own firmware back on.
cheers
Soleous

He's on Verizon. He doesn't have a SIM.

 

[kch50428]

He's on Verizon. He doesn't have a SIM.

The Verizon 4S does have a SIM... but it is not used on Verizon's network. It is only used for connecting to networks of GSM providers outside the USA.

 

[XiphusX]

Thanks for all the help guys. Im going to take it to Verizon first, and if they cant do anything, drive 40 minutes to my closest Apple store

This issue is all over the Apple forums, im surprised there isn't a definitive solution or experience. Atleast I havent heard one yet.

 

[natasftw]

The Verizon 4S does have a SIM... but it is not used on Verizon's network. It is only used for connecting to networks of GSM providers outside the USA.

In context, this is useless information. The post I replied to mentioned the need to plug the SIM back in to activate his phone. As Verizon uses CDMA versus GSM, the activation doesn't care about the SIM.

Whether or not he has a slot for a SIM card or not, he does not have a SIM card.

The troubleshooting step isn't productive. Neither is worrying about his phone having a slot for an unused SIM card

 

[kch50428]

The troubleshooting step isn't productive. Neither is worrying about his phone having a slot for an unused SIM card

Here's what the OP said about the SIM:

As far as a SIM card goes, its whatever came with the phone. It has never been messed with. It was bought directly from apple.com

-- You're the one saying "he does not have a SIM card" when there's evidence contrary.

While you may see no value of what I posted... what I posted is factual and correct - and may help someone else reading the thread in the future.

 

[natasftw]

The only details I can tell you about the phone is that it is a 4s that has only been on Verizon, and is a little bit over a year old. As far as a SIM card goes, its whatever came with the phone. It has never been messed with. It was bought directly from apple.com

He's on Verizon. It's never been messed with, meaning he's never opened it up to look. It came with "whatever came with the phone." There's zero evidence contrary to my statement. The Verizon phone doesn't ship with the SIM card. The claim that it's never been messed with and only has what the phone came with is evidence that there is not a SIM card.

What you posted is factual and correct... and out of context. It may help someone working with a non-Verizon phone. It'll add an excess, and confusing, step to someone using Verizon because it's a troubleshooting step that user would be unable to accomplish.

 

[kch50428]

The Verizon phone doesn't ship with the SIM card.

False. It comes with a pre-installed Verizon SIM that can be activated to use on Verizon roaming partner Vodafone outside the US.

https://forums.imore.com/e?link=htt...izon.com/smartphones/iphone-6/&token=z32C8dzf

Customers must activate pre–installed SIM Card and a Global Service plan or feature to enable roaming outside of the U.S. in GSM and UMTS Network.

 

[XiphusX]

Interesting find today...

I downloaded redsn0w, and went into: extras->Identify.

And its saying this for carrier stuff:

CarrierBundleInfo: BuildMachineOSBuild = 11D51
CarrierBundleInfo: CFBundleDevelopmentRegion = English
CarrierBundleInfo: CFBundleExecutable = Sprint_OTA_US
CarrierBundleInfo: CFBundleIdentifier = com.apple.Sprint_OTA_US
CarrierBundleInfo: CFBundleInfoDictionaryVersion = 6.0
CarrierBundleInfo: CFBundleName = Sprint_OTA_US
CarrierBundleInfo: CFBundlePackageType = BNDL

Im definitely not on Sprint. Im thinking when I bought my phone new, it was perhaps a phone sent back from someone on sprint, and when restored, it can't unlock because im on Verizon or something? What do you guys think?

 

[kch50428]

Try downloading an ipsw file and use iTunes to restore - but select the downloaded ipsw rather than let it download... download from Download iOS IPSW Firmware Files

 

[natasftw]

False. It comes with a pre-installed Verizon SIM that can be activated to use on Verizon roaming partner Vodafone outside the US.

Set Your Location

/sigh

Did he open it?

No?

Sweet. It's not the problem.

 

[natasftw]

Interesting find today...

I downloaded redsn0w, and went into: extras->Identify.

And its saying this for carrier stuff:

CarrierBundleInfo: BuildMachineOSBuild = 11D51
CarrierBundleInfo: CFBundleDevelopmentRegion = English
CarrierBundleInfo: CFBundleExecutable = Sprint_OTA_US
CarrierBundleInfo: CFBundleIdentifier = com.apple.Sprint_OTA_US
CarrierBundleInfo: CFBundleInfoDictionaryVersion = 6.0
CarrierBundleInfo: CFBundleName = Sprint_OTA_US
CarrierBundleInfo: CFBundlePackageType = BNDL

Im definitely not on Sprint. Im thinking when I bought my phone new, it was perhaps a phone sent back from someone on sprint, and when restored, it can't unlock because im on Verizon or something? What do you guys think?

That's strange. The IPSW for all 4s phones should be the same. If it was locked, it never should have connected in the first place. Although, "locking" is a bit different with CDMA carriers than it is with the GSM carriers.

Do you know anyone with the 4s currently on Verizon's network? In addition to trying to download the IPSW manually like Keith suggested, you might pull up the carrier data for your friend's 4s on Verizon. If it's reading the same, it shouldn't be an issue. If it's different, there's probably a bug in the update system if you're finding this issue widespread.