iPhone Could Not Be Restored (Error 14)

[Applejuiced]

He hadn't added it yet. He needed me to meet him and unlock it (which I could obviously do since I had the info). He said Verizon was able to restore it, but that they didn't do anything special to his knowledge. How I was unable to restore it on two different machines after even disassembling it once remains a mystery.

I feel like he had more info and just wasn't saying; he was obviously happy to drop $250 on the phone. Why he didn't want to tell me is beyond me.

Yep, maybe he knew how to repair iphones and it was something small or simple to fix.
I don't buy his story that he just restored it and it just started working fine.
Either way though, you got your money so its a done deal.

 

[mojolicious]

Yep, maybe he knew how to repair iphones and it was something small or simple to fix.

He wouldn't have paid $250 for it unless he was pretty certain the phone was easily fixable, whether by utilising some magic button combination on startup or, more likely, using a mystery utility to force mount it and delete/replace/edit a few files before re-restoring.

The secret is out there, but it's a well kept one!

 

[Applejuiced]

He wouldn't have paid $250 for it unless he was pretty certain the phone was easily fixable, whether by utilising some magic button combination on startup or, more likely, using a mystery utility to force mount it and delete/replace/edit a few files before re-restoring.

The secret is out there, but it's a well kept one!

Lol
There is no magic button combination, mystery utility or anything like that.
lordofthereef has been around for a long time and knows how to restore and dfu restore an iphone and troubleshoot an iphone in general.
All he could do software wise he did. People that usually buy broken iphones obviously know how to repair their hardware and have access to tools and replacement components.
So maybe he didn't want to say it was a simple non costly repair or a part that cost very little and decided to play dumb and say verizon restored it for him and all of a sudden it worked.

 

[everythingtech]

Lol
There is no magic button combination, mystery utility or anything like that.
lordofthereef has been around for a long time and knows how to restore and dfu restore an iphone and troubleshoot an iphone in general.
All he could do software wise he did. People that usually buy broken iphones obviously know how to repair their hardware and have access to tools and replacement components.
So maybe he didn't want to say it was a simple non costly repair or a part that cost very little and decided to play dumb and say verizon restored it for him and all of a sudden it worked.

There are many possible scenarios here and I'm sure like you said, he may not have cared to reveal a "trade secret". Whatever. I do this everyday for a living and I have no problem telling you that updating iTunes is usually the fix when you can't figure out anything else. Being sure you have the correct drivers so your computer reads the device is also important. Some other issues were pointed out here earlier, but I will list them as well to make it easier for anyone who may not feel up to reading up.
1) Make sure the battery is charged if you can
2) Use OEM data cable
3) Update iTunes
4) check to see if the servers are down (https://www.apple.com/support/systemstatus/)
^^^This is more often the problem than you'd think
5) Download the update from Apple servers manually and then do the restore with the shift+click methdod (Google it)
6) There could be a hardware issue and your guy may have had the spare bad component (long shot, but possible)
7) Change computer/OS, Check with more than one data cable even if it is new.
8) Genius bar (Oxymoronic when you meet some of the employees but what've you got to lose at this point?)