iOS 4: Updating woes with iPhone 3G
There are two ways that the software on an iPod, iPhone or iPad can be updated. The first -- and simplest -- method is to just do a direct update. You can do this by clicking on the update button on the device's information page in iTunes, or just simply by letting iTunes continue with an upgrade when it automatically detects that new software is available. The second option is referred to as a restore.
Many users can easily be intimidated by this method, as at first glance, it infers that one might lose their settings or media if they restore their iPod, rather than updating it. The truth is that as long as you back up your device first, a restore isn't very much different from an update, other than the fact that it will take considerably longer to complete.
This is because rather than just attempting to update only the changed parts of the iOS software (as an update would do), iTunes completely erases the device, installing a 'clean' operating system, and then it restores your various settings and syncs your apps and music back to your iPod or iPhone. Once finished, your device will be in nearly the same state as it was prior to the restore.
If you are wanting to update to the new software, then why am I talking about restoring? Because apparently, the iPhone 3G needs to be restored, rather than updated, for things to work properly. We aren't sure why, but what we do know is that in order to get iOS 4 onto your iPhone 3G, you must do a restore (not an upgrade). While this may sound intimidating, rest assured that as long as you back up your device before doing the restore, things should go much more smoothly than they did when trying an update.
Did doing a restore help you get iOS installed on your device? Let us know in the comments below!
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Source: http://www.tuaw.com/tag/iOS4/
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It is for you, the faithful Apple consumers whose upgrades have gone awry, that we post this little tidbit and attempt to help you...
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I can't get complete the 4.0.2 upgrade with both Exchange and Safari intact. It seems I can do one or the other but not both. On a 3G doing a full restore. Anybody seen this?
August 26 2010 at 4:36 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI've just updated/restored and finding my iphone is sooooooo incredibly slow. To the point where i just want to throw it down the toilet. Can anyone help ??
August 18 2010 at 11:21 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Replyfirst i did hard-reset
and now i always use XSysInfo app from appstore that clears memory
so my 3g now works like when there was iOS 3.1.3
I updated my iphone 3g and it also took forever. This to me is the sign to switch. I want to go back to the way it was, fast, but now the genius tells me I can't. Now I am stuck with a slow phone. Here I come droid!
July 20 2010 at 6:10 PM Report abuse Permalink +1 rate up rate down Replywe have a 3G, not first generation, the iTunes update seems to have automatically taken the 'restore' route, even though we clicked on the 'check for updates' button on the iTunes page for the iPhone. It took roughly an hour after all was done. The only 'casualty' seems to be that all the previous email is 'lost'. Contacts (many reported this being deleted) seems to be there, and we haven't had any of the other common 'issues' with the iOS4 update. Luckily, it didn't matter a lot about the old emails.
Andy
I had no problem with the software update and everything seems to be working well...all except that I have updates for my apps in the apps store. I connect to itunes where it tells me I have 7 updates for apps so I click on it for it to tell me that I don't have any. I also went to check for new downloads where it says there are no new ones. I sync my iphone 3G to get the updates and after it is synced, the apps aren't updated. Any ideas???
July 14 2010 at 12:18 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI updated my 3gs to ios 4 and after a week of it performing beautifully the phone died. No incoming calls no luck with the soft reset and no recognition on any computer I hooked it up to. It took four apple geniuses to tell me that it was dead and they replaced it for free thankfully but they had no clue as to why it did this. Now I'm not sure if it is even worth it to upgrade my new 3gs, even though I do like some of the new features in ios 4. Does anyone think its worth it for me to try again?
July 13 2010 at 2:22 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI'm afraid of updating my iPhone 3G, should I just leave it and not download anything until all these bugs have been smoothed out? Or is my lowly iPhone 3G already being fazed out of the market?
July 10 2010 at 10:55 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI am wondering if my problem is related? I have a 3G and was able to successfully upgrade to iOS4. I then purchased a couple movies and started having problems. I have had apps crash and recently discovered that all my music is gone.
I'm wondering, can I try the restore option with the "pre-upgrade" back-up and get my music back? Will I lose the movies that I purchased?
This is ridiculous; hours to upgrade software? Apple's got to improve this; this is ridiculous; it shouldn't be this dramatic and hard.
July 07 2010 at 1:24 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
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