iPhones failing after being restored with iTunes 7.4 then hacked

If you have restored your iPhone using iTunes 7.4 do not attempt to jailbreak the device with anything other than the newly released version of Installer.app (AppTapp) 3.0 or the newly revised, compatible edition of INdependence. A number of readers have reported that their iPhones have become non-functional (entering an endless rebooting cycle) after the following process: restoring the iPhone using iTunes 7.4, then attempting jailbreak with Installer.app 2.4 or earlier or other older jailbreaking utilities.

Apparently iTunes 7.4 uploads changes to the iPhone that can cause serious issues when those units undergo a subsequent jailbreak process. In particular, users are experiencing a problem where the iPhone persistently reboots (see "Possible Fixes" below for means of recovery)

Again, if your iPhone has been restored using iTunes 7.4, you must use one of the newly released, compatible utilities mentioned above, or you may experience dire issues. Simply syncing or restoring with iTunes 7.4 will not cause problems with a phone that is already jailbroken.

A warning on the INdependence page reads:

"Do not use previous versions of iNdependence with iTunes 7.4 as it could cause your phone to endlessly reboot!"

One poster to the Hackintosh forums writes:

"Restored with iTunes 7.4, then tried to jailbreak it with the old independence 1.0. Now the phone keep rebooting. What should I try? [...] When I try to run restore on iTunes 7.4, it gives me an error 9!"

Possible fixes If you find your iPhone in an endless reboot, try the following:

Put your iPhone in recovery mode and restore it By putting your iPhone in this mode, you can almost always force a restore in iTunes, bringing it back into normal working order. Follow these steps:

1. Disconnect your iPhone from your Mac or Windows computer.
2. Press and hold the sleep/wake and home buttons simultaneously for about 20-30 seconds, until you see a yellow triangle with an exclamation point in the middle accompanied by the text "Please Connect to iTunes."
3. Connect your iPhone to your computer and launch iTunes if it does not automatically launch.
4. You should see the below image
5. Now proceed to restore your iPhone. Click the Restore button under the Summary tab. Restoring the phone will erase contacts, calendars, photos and other data on the phone, but will restore automatically backed-up information including text messages, notes, call history, contact favorites, sound settings, widget settings, etc.

Use old iTunes Download the older versions of iTunes (7.3.x) for either Mac or Windows, and attempt a restore, or recovery and restore with the older release.

More on this story as it develops.

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