iPhone 3.0 update initial problems.

Many people have successfully updated their iPhones to the newly released 3.0 software. However, as with the previous iPhone updates Apple's servers are getting saturated and quite a few people are getting error messages saying to try again later. CNET editor "Erica Ogg" has posted a small report on iPhone activation server unavailability. These problems are among a few others that some people are reporting in about the new software update.

Error -4 and Server errors.

In addition to server lags, folks have been getting an "Error -4" when trying to apply the update. One poster "jsboger" in the comments section in our announcement of the iPhone update mentioned after getting this error his iPhone will not respond to input. This was followed by others who had the same error but who could get the iPhone to respond. Many were able to clear the problem by reconnecting to the iTunes store after shutting off and resetting the iPhone.

There may be other errors that crop up with the iTunes store servers when you try to either download or activate the new iPhone OS, and our best advice at this point is to give it time. Let the traffic die down and give it another shot in a few hours, or a day or two.

What to do if your update fails?

If for some reason your update does not complete and you are unable to run the latest update, hopefully you have performed a complete backup of your iPhone before updating. This should be done automatically before every synchronization, update, or restoration; however, you can do it manually by right-clicking the iPhone in iTunes and choosing "Back Up".

With a functional backup, use this menu again and choose "Restore from Backup...", which will allow you to load the previous OS and settings, and then subsequently try updating again.

If the iPhone is inoperable, try clearing freezes by pressing the "home" button for about 10 seconds. If this doesnt work, try turning it off and back on by pressing and holding the sleep/wake button until the red slider appears. To fully reset the device, press both of these buttons together for about 10 seconds until the Apple logo appears.

Lastly, try restoring the iphone which will remove all personal data and clear any settings you may have applied which might be conflicting with the new software update. To do this, connect it to your computer and launch iTunes. Then select the phone and in the "Summary" tab select the "Restore" option. If you have not backed up your phone, be sure to select the option to do that, otherwise this option is not needed. After the restore has completed, you will need to activate the phone with iTunes (the phone should instruct you to do this), and then restore the phone's data and settings from your most recent backup.

Misc. Problems

Some people have written in with incorrect languages being used after updating, and others have had errors stating there is not enough space to synchronize playlists. These reports so far seem to be isolated, but a restore might help. For languages, go to the iPhone's settings (mechanical "gears" button) and click the "general" section (also looks like some "gears"). Then hit the "international" button (fourth one from the top) and the very top button should be the one for languages. Select the desired language and press the top-right corner button to save the changes.

Be sure to check out continuing iPhone coverage both here and at http://www.iphoneatlas.com.

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