Victor Agreda over at TUAW has reported a problem that everyone should be careful about before updating their iPhone with the latest firmware update using iTunes.
His warning message:
It looks like Victor is not the only one who puts his iPhone in Airplane mode before upgrading, one of readers, Mario had also reported an issue few days back while trying to update his iPhone with iPhone firmware 2.2.1 which was released by Apple last Tuesday. He also has the habit of turning on Airplane mode before upgrading but he hit a problem this time.
Mario, one of our readers had commented:
Is really funny to see something like that, it seems like Apple will need to release a patch to make it work like it should."
Based on Mario's comments, he always turns on Airplane mode before upgrading but he seems to have hit the issue only this time which is strange.
Victor Agreda over at TUAW wrote about his experience:
I finally updated my iPhone to 2.2.1 today, and after a reboot I got the screen that says it needs to verify or authenticate the SIM card. Unfortunately, that failed because, while I do have a SIM card in there, I do not have AT&T service -- and I had the cell radio turned off. My iPhone is never used as a phone (I don't have T-Mobile in my area, so even unlocking it would be useless). I wound up restoring the iPhone, which took a couple of hours.
However, Victor points out that there is a better solution to fix the problem which was posted in Apple's Discussion board:
"To turn off Airplane Mode on your seemingly "bricked" iPhone, disconnect the USB cable (or undock), then slide the Emergency Call switch to reach the emergency call phone. You'll be prompted to disable Airplane Mode. Tap "Disable". Then press the Home button, reconnect the phone, and watch iTunes recognize/reactivate your iPhone."
I have never put my iPhone in Airplane mode before upgrading so have never faced a problem, but I would agree with Victor, the best thing to do, to avoid running into a problem is to always turn off Airplane Mode before applying the latest firmware update.
The intriguing thing is that the phone wants to access the cell radio during the upgrade process and disabling the cell radio makes this impossible. I am not sure why? I will update the post if I get more details. In case you are aware, then please let us know the reason in the comments.
Do you turn on Airplane mode before upgrading? Have you faced a problem reported by Mario or Victor? If so let us know if this helps or if you used some other method to resolve the issue.
Thanks Mario for reporting the problem, hopefully this information helps!
[Source and Image via TUAW]
yes, I have turned on airplane mode. because upgrading to 2.0 was a horror, when I received calls all night while trying to upgrade.. with the radios off, i could finish
So that's the reason why it fails, hmmmm, interesting. We'll I really think Apple should allow us to put the iPhone in airplane mode and during installation, when its required, the update should turn it off automatically. The risk of receiving a call in the middle of the update is huge as backing up iPhone and updating its firmware takes at least 2.5 hours on my device due to the amount of apps and files I have.
That's clearly a bug they need to solve for future releases of their iPhone firmware.
Thanx for the tip and thanx for noticing my comments
Hey Mario,
Thanks Mario for reporting the problem
"My iPhone is never used as a phone" And why do you own an iphone and not ipod touch?
GPS
Just a thought…..do u think this is a way for apple to make sure that the phone is only being used with at&t
I have upgraded iphone2g from 1.14 to 2.2.1 and had the same issue of Carrier (null) (null)
How to resolve the issue…
Now i understood that i should not use aieroplane mode….
How to solve this issue please respond immediately…