«
»

Solution to Error (1604) When restoring iPhone in iTunes

I have found a solution to the following immensely frustrating error

The iPhone could not be restored. An unknown error occurred. Error (1604)

My base configuration (which I ended up with after trying some of the weird potential solutions I ran across) is:

  • MacBook Pro
  • Mac OS X Leopard (10.5.1)
  • iTunes 7.5

The solution that worked for me was:

  1. Move the /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/MobileDevice.framework folder to the Trash
  2. Update iTunes to 7.6 using Apple Software Update

Deleting the mentioned folder and re-installing iTunes may also rectify the problem.

This solution was found in the Independence Callback Error thread at ModMyIFone while trying to find a solution to another problem I was having when launching iNdependence. Hopefully this post will be more obvious to people searching for a solution.

After that change I managed to Restore the iPhone to firmware 1.1.1 without any problems. I’d spent over 4 hours a previous night trying all the silly permutations of ways to get around the problem that I found on the net. iNdependence 1.3.2 beta is also working without the callback reference error.

Previous attempts to resolve included everything I saw on the internet and installing just about every version of iTunes (7.6, 7.5, 7.4.3, 7.4.2, 7.3) onto a Parallels Windows VM to see if it was in fact some silly error with iTunes.

The Apple Support Forum - Error 1604 When restoring iPhone in iTunes mentions a number of hit and miss things to try:

  1. Restart your computer
  2. Remove extra USB devices
  3. Try restoring on a different computer
  4. Create a new user account and restore

These seemed like ridiculous things to try, but apparently some people have had luck using a different USB connection (particularly not from a USB hub attached to the computer) or removing the SIM card. Of course, none of them worked for me (except of course using someone else’s machine - not entirely that useful long term).

This entry was posted on Friday, January 25th, 2008 at 11:31 pm and is filed under iPhone. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

6 Responses to “Solution to Error (1604) When restoring iPhone in iTunes”

  1. Jerald says:
    April 12, 2008 at 1:29 pm

    hey how do I access the /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/MobileDevice.framework folder?

    I don’t know where to locate this.

    Any help pls?

  2. David Teirney says:
    April 12, 2008 at 2:24 pm

    1. Open Finder
    2. Click on the “Go” menu
    3. Select “Go to Folder”
    4. Type in “/System/” and click “Go”
    5. Navigate as usual from there.

    Hope the solution works for you as well. It was driving me crazy trying to resolve…

  3. Jerald says:
    April 12, 2008 at 4:59 pm

    you mean in windows?
    Where do I open Finder?

  4. David Teirney says:
    April 12, 2008 at 7:13 pm

    Finder is the Windows Explorer equivalent in Mac OS.

    This solution is for Mac OS. If you’re using Windows you’ll need to hunt for another solution. I recall some people mentioning that removing the equivalent mobile device DLL worked as well (no idea what the file is called though).

    Good luck!

  5. Paul says:
    July 13, 2008 at 2:39 pm

    Thank you so much, was having the same problem as you. Spent countless hours running through lame hoops to fix this problem Your post fixed it for me.

  6. Peter says:
    September 19, 2008 at 5:35 pm

    FINALLY!!! A Perfect solution! I’ve been trying for 3 hours browsing a LOT of forums, until I found this one, This Fixed the Error 1604 now I’m downgrading from 2.1 to 1.1.4 and using Ziphone 3.0 to unlock, and then I’ll try to fix a problem with EDGE. Hope it works. Thanks for posting!!!