Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iCloud Backup refuses to work

C

ChocMuffin

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 16, 2009
9
0
I have a iPhone 3GS, and an iPad 1, both on iOS5. I use a PC running Windows 7 and the latest version of iTunes.

I have Cloud backup enabled in iTunes for both the phone and the ipad. If I look at the cloud settings on both devices, Cloud backup is enabled there too.

When I press 'Back Up Now' on either the phone or the ipad, it says 'estimating time remaining' but it has never once actually displayed a time, and it has never completed (or even started, as far as I can see) a backup. Eventually it says "There was a problem completing the backup. Please try again later".

I wondered if it was having a problem because of the amount of data that needs backing up, so I went in to 'Manage Storage' on both devices and un-checked virtually every app, leaving just a few turned on, and a total size to be backed up of about 30mb. The plan is to turn all those apps back on when the backup actually works.

I've tried leaving the phone and ipad plugged in to the mains, unplugged from the mains, locked, unlocked, I've tried leaving them plugged in all night with the PC on and itunes left running. I've basically ran out of ideas, yet still iCloud Backup doesn't work.

In a separate issue (but possibly related), I've never been able to wi-fi synch with iTunes either.

I'd really welcome any advice or suggestions from anyone who has had these problems and managed to overcome them.
 
ChocMuffin said:
I have a iPhone 3GS, and an iPad 1, both on iOS5. I use a PC running Windows 7 and the latest version of iTunes.

I have Cloud backup enabled in iTunes for both the phone and the ipad. If I look at the cloud settings on both devices, Cloud backup is enabled there too.

When I press 'Back Up Now' on either the phone or the ipad, it says 'estimating time remaining' but it has never once actually displayed a time, and it has never completed (or even started, as far as I can see) a backup. Eventually it says "There was a problem completing the backup. Please try again later".

I wondered if it was having a problem because of the amount of data that needs backing up, so I went in to 'Manage Storage' on both devices and un-checked virtually every app, leaving just a few turned on, and a total size to be backed up of about 30mb. The plan is to turn all those apps back on when the backup actually works.

I've tried leaving the phone and ipad plugged in to the mains, unplugged from the mains, locked, unlocked, I've tried leaving them plugged in all night with the PC on and itunes left running. I've basically ran out of ideas, yet still iCloud Backup doesn't work.

In a separate issue (but possibly related), I've never been able to wi-fi synch with iTunes either.

I'd really welcome any advice or suggestions from anyone who has had these problems and managed to overcome them.
Click to expand...

If you can do a manual backup to iTunes, choose one of your devices and back it up, restore it and set it up as a brand new device. Take a picture (so that you have something to back up) and try wifi syncing to iTunes and backing up to iCloud.
 
hafr said:
If you can do a manual backup to iTunes, choose one of your devices and back it up, restore it and set it up as a brand new device. Take a picture (so that you have something to back up) and try wifi syncing to iTunes and backing up to iCloud.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply hafr. I can do a manual iTunes backup, as per before iOS5, but I really don't want to wipe either device and start again, partly because I can't see why that should work, and partly because I'm losing confidence in any of the backups, whether on my PC or on the cloud. It seems odd that both devices should have the same problem. I even tried completely deleting my cloud account and starting again, and that didn't work either. This has been the worst upgrade experience I've ever known from Apple.
 
Last edited:
As a test, I gave my iphone to a friend to try to do the itunes backup for me using his home wifi network instead of my own... and it worked! BUT, it still doesn't work for me on my network.

I think I've proven the iphone (and presumably the ipad) is set up correctly. The only thing it could be now is my network. But considering that both my phone and ipad both work fine over wifi in all other respects, such as browsing, downloading apps, etc, I can't think what else can be wrong.
 
Two things I would try would be to remove the iCloud account, reboot phone and re-add it. Secondly if this hasn't helped reset all settings and restore from iTunes.
 
Thanks. I've already done that. There's nothing wrong with the phone as icloud backup works on other wifi networks - it just doesn't work on my own. It just hangs on 'estimating time remaining' until it eventually fails.
 
ChocMuffin said:
Thanks. I've already done that. There's nothing wrong with the phone as icloud backup works on other wifi networks - it just doesn't work on my own. It just hangs on 'estimating time remaining' until it eventually fails.
Click to expand...

It sounds like you have a firewall somewhere blocking it, or maybe your ISP has blocked the port(s) used for iCloud backups.
 
hafr said:
It sounds like you have a firewall somewhere blocking it, or maybe your ISP has blocked the port(s) used for iCloud backups.
Click to expand...

Thanks hafr. This sounds the most plausible explanation. I can't think of any other explanation anyway. I don't believe any of my local router settings are responsible for blocking any specific ports (though I'm no expert), but I guess it's possible my ISP is blocking. So I guess the next thing to figure out is whether iCloud uses a different port number to say, the appstore, safari, gamecentre, etc. Not sure how one goes about that though!
 
ChocMuffin said:
Thanks hafr. This sounds the most plausible explanation. I can't think of any other explanation anyway. I don't believe any of my local router settings are responsible for blocking any specific ports (though I'm no expert), but I guess it's possible my ISP is blocking. So I guess the next thing to figure out is whether iCloud uses a different port number to say, the appstore, safari, gamecentre, etc. Not sure how one goes about that though!
Click to expand...

This happened to me from time to time "back in the days". What you should do is to deactivate all firewalls, anti virus software and what have you that you find in your router, modem, computer etc. and try backing up. Does this work? Then you activate them again one by one until you find the one that's blocking you. Enter the settings of that one and see if you can solve it [with help from Apple maybe].

If not, call your ISP :)
 
I don't think it has anything to do with firewall or A/V settings. I have 2 iPhones that backup to iCloud but my iPad does not :(

Have tried all the usual stuff but still have no luck.

James
 
jmoo2 said:
I don't think it has anything to do with firewall or A/V settings. I have 2 iPhones that backup to iCloud but my iPad does not :(

Have tried all the usual stuff but still have no luck.

James
Click to expand...

Hmm, I agree that goes against the theory of it being a blocked port. I wish at least one of my two devices would work then I could rule that out too. Even better, I'm hoping that whatever the problem is, Apple may be able to roll out an update to something to get round it. There seems to be a lot of people with this issue, yet no solutions.
 
Today my iPad got past the 'Estimating time' stage but every 30 mins or so the time to sync went up by an hour. I gave up when it got to 6 hours and the progress bar wasn't even 1/4.

So I reckon (hope) that the issue is just the iCloud Servers can't cope at the moment.

James
 
OP - I would focus on your wireless router. The non-technical test would be to take it to your friends' place and see if you can backup using your router (his turned off). The technical way would be to verify what ports are open or placing your iPhone in the router's DMZ (if it supports that).
 
I don't know if this will be of any help to someone else, but it's a list of all the ports used by apple software. http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1629
I'm tempted to leave things alone for fear of making it worse. I'd love to hear of a relatively simple fix for this, but I don't think there is one. In the meantime I think I'll just have to wait for Apple to hopefully issue an update.
 
ChocMuffin said:
It's a good idea, but everyone I know is on a cable connection, whereas I'm using a BT line. I don't think my router would work.
Click to expand...

Drat. I hope I'm wrong but if it works on other networks but not yours I'm not sure Apple will have a fix for that. It sounds like it's not getting through the pipes.

Maybe call your ISP? Any open wireless networks nearby? ;)
 
Interesting anomaly

My iPad appears to back up, but then says "unknown" and if I go to storage and choose iPad, it says backed up never. HOWEVER, if I plug the iPad into my Mac and look at settings in iTunes, it says my ipad was last backed up on icloud a few minutes ago. So apparently the backup is working; it's the iPad that can't see its own data.
 
ChocMuffin said:
It's a good idea, but everyone I know is on a cable connection, whereas I'm using a BT line. I don't think my router would work.
Click to expand...

Did you ever get a fix for this?

I'm having a similar problem and am also on BT Broadband (FTTC).

I have a problem from both my iPhone and iPad failing to backup to iCloud either automatically or manually from my home wifi/broadband.

When on other networks eg open wifi at work or an apple store wifi, the backups run ok.

As far as I know, everything else is fine at home (can download apps, os updates, photo stream is ok, Internet browsing etc. all fine from all devices).

I have BT infinity broadband (an FTTC product in the UK) and get 32Mbps down and 5Mbps upstream and 28ms ping to a stable server when on a wired connection on my mac. I get about half that on my iPhone and nearly that on my iPad so I am confident that the wifi signal is good too. I use airport extreme base stations for access points and the BT router for DHCP etc.

The iPad and iPhone can both get the date time stamp from the last iCloud backup so there is some connectivity to iCloud backups but it doesn't actually backup. What I get is a long period of spinning wheel and "estimating time remaining..." and then it fails silently and an error message on the iCloud settings page below the "backup now" button says "there was a problem completing the backup. Please try again later." if I delete the backup via my mac and try to start a backup, I get a pop up message that the device is in airplane mode or isn't connected to wifi after some time - the device is definitely connected so this seems to be a message when iCloud backup cannot connect I guess.

I've been told that iCloud backups use port 443 and that appleid.apple.com uses the same but I can connect to appleid.apple.com so that port isnt blocked entirely. Although I'm not convinced yet that both the information and the test are correct.

So, anyone know what the iCloud backup might be using that could be blocked by my ISP or router? Any suggestions for tests/pings etc. to narrow down the problem?

I'm thinking of using another AEBS as the router instead of the BT one just in case this helps but I've tried to switch the router firewall with no luck.
 
ipod icloud backup hangs estimating time

I have the same problem with icloud backup for my ipod touch. I live in UK and UAE and have successfully once done an icloud backup, it's sitting there in my account taking up 3GB of space.However since November last year I can't do an icloud backup either in UK (BT) or UAE (Du). I haved tried on various WiFi hotspots and get the same. I even upgraded to 10GB thinking it might be a space issue, 14 quid well spent ! Did anyone ever figure out how to make it work ? Many thanks
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back