Infinite boot loop bricked my phone?

[SirithX]

I realize there have already been several topics about the infinite boot loop but I've searched the forum and never seen it this bad. I can't even restore the phone. It now defaults to recovery mode when turned on, trying to use a program like RecBoot or TinyUmbrella to exit recovery mode does absolutely nothing, it restarts the phone right back to recovery mode (iOS 7's recovery screen). Connecting to iTunes and restoring ALWAYS gives an "unknown error (9)" and never completes, this no matter if I try restoring to iOS 7 beta 3, beta 1, or go back to iOS 6. Simply doesn't work anymore. I've also tried restarting my computer, redownloading the .ipsws, and trying to restore the iPhone on another computer – it's all the same, never completes due to mostly error 9 or other error messages, all of which (seem) due to the iPhone freezing and restarting during the restore process. Has anyone been able to recover from this?

 

[apollo1444]

try a different computer

 

[SirithX]

try a different computer

Same thing. Tried on two different Macs, I can try a Windows computer next although I'm skeptical.

 

[apollo1444]

Same thing. Tried on two different Macs, I can try a Windows computer next although I'm skeptical.

give it a try, this did the trick to me with an issue i had with an iPhone 4

 

[SirithX]

give it a try, this did the trick to me with an issue i had with an iPhone 4

No dice. I did interestingly get -1 errors the 6 attempts of trying to restore iOS 6 and iOS 7 in both recovery and DFU modes, which on Apple's support pages say that the device may need service. Anyone else have this problem before?

 

[expertmac2]

Have you tried using a different USB cable?

 

[SirithX]

I tried two different lightning cables, same thing happened to me with both. Always an error 9, and it looks like the phone freezes up and restarts once the error message pops up on screen.

 

[spencecb]

I tried two different lightning cables, same thing happened to me with both. Always an error 9, and it looks like the phone freezes up and restarts once the error message pops up on screen.

Have you tried actually doing a DFU restore? Have the iPhone plugged into your computer and force restart it by holding down the home button and sleep/wake button until you see it restart then release the sleep/wake button while still holding down the home button.

iTunes will tell you it detected an iPhone in recovery mode. I'd give that a shot. Also, you can always try to restore to iOS 6. Despite what Apple says, every device I have attempted to revert back to iOS 6 has been successful.

 

[apollo1444]

Wait you haven't tried a DFU restore? do that!

like the forum upster above me said

 

[SirithX]

I did do DFU mode, my process has been:
-Recovery mode restore to iOS6
-Recovery mode restore to iOS6 again
-DFU restore to iOS 6
-DFU restore to iOS 6 again
-Recovery mode restore to iOS 7
-DFU restore to iOS 7

Always error 9 messages in Mac, error -1 in Windows, or various random other messages occasionally. Interestingly the restore progress bar always goes to different lengths each new time I try to do something. I do the process above with each of the 3 computers my roommates and I have, and two different lightning cables in each USB port. If anything else, I'm certainly thorough. I'm about to give up though, and drive 2 and a half hours to the nearest Apple Store to see what they say.

 

[mavis]

Visually inspect the contacts in your lightning connector port on the iPhone; there may be debris or something causing a poor connection.

 

[SirithX]

I took a look but nothing. I think this phone is beyond my own repair. I've contacted Apple and they're sending me a replacement, so that's the good news.

For a summary of what happened, basically:
-iPhone 5 with iOS 7 beta 3 freezes and reboots, goes into an infinite boot loop
-iPhone gets out of it by me forcing it to shutdown and stay off for some time, and starting it back up it's fine although all my messages are lost
-Eventually freezes up, infinite boot loop again
-Never comes back, ends up putting itself into Recovery Mode. 3rd party apps can't take it out of recovery mode
-Both recovery and DFU mode fail for restoring the phone, both to iOS 7 and iOS 6. Errors 9 and -1 most prevalent.

So for those of you who stumble on this topic and have the above happening, just go ahead and contact Apple for a replacement. If it doesn't work after the first 10 attempts it isn't worth the hassle.

 

[apollo1444]

I don't think iOS 7 beta 3 was responsable for this,

I think it is a case of hardware failure

 

[Am3r1ca16]

So have you

 

[SirithX]

I don't think iOS 7 beta 3 was responsable for this,

I think it is a case of hardware failure

Very likely. I didn't get infinite boot loops until iOS 7 beta 1, but I'm not putting it past a flash memory/battery issue, since looking online it seems the infinite boot + error 9 issue has been around in previous iOS iterations.

So have you

Yes, the phone restarting over and over again is the problem, lol.