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

iOS update from 12.4.1 to 14.7.1 via iTunes FAILED!

D

Dreamliner330

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 1, 2011
641
152
I currently have an iPhone 8 & iPad Pro 10.5 both on iOS 12.4.1. I am VERY hesitant to upgrade after iOS 7 debilitated my iPhone 5. I've decided to upgrade because I have apps that won't work now.

I'm nervous about losing photos/videos and Authy function.

I decided to update my iPad first as there are fewer photos/videos on there and Authy isn't a concern on that device. I also decided to do this update via iTunes since it is a big jump.

I connected it to my Windows 10 PC, copied the photos in Explorer, went into iTunes, did a backup then clicked Update in the Device screen. After it downloaded the update it said "Extracting software" then "Backing up" then "Preparing Update" then it pops up an error window that says "The iPad could not be updated. An unknown Error occurred (4000)". Following that screen it asks to send Apple information and lets me click "Show Details" but it just opens a blank Notepad with a dialog box that says "The system cannot find the path specified".

Now I have a feeling the answer here is to do a full wipe and update but I am not exactly certain. Also, if I do the full wipe and update, exactly what order and how should I do this? How do I update if even iTunes won't let me and how do I know a wipe will fix it? Should I try the OTA update instead? etc.
 
Dreamliner330 said:
I currently have an iPhone 8 & iPad Pro 10.5 both on iOS 12.4.1. I am VERY hesitant to upgrade after iOS 7 debilitated my iPhone 5. I've decided to upgrade because I have apps that won't work now.

I'm nervous about losing photos/videos and Authy function.

I decided to update my iPad first as there are fewer photos/videos on there and Authy isn't a concern on that device. I also decided to do this update via iTunes since it is a big jump.

I connected it to my Windows 10 PC, copied the photos in Explorer, went into iTunes, did a backup then clicked Update in the Device screen. After it downloaded the update it said "Extracting software" then "Backing up" then "Preparing Update" then it pops up an error window that says "The iPad could not be updated. An unknown Error occurred (4000)". Following that screen it asks to send Apple information and lets me click "Show Details" but it just opens a blank Notepad with a dialog box that says "The system cannot find the path specified".

Now I have a feeling the answer here is to do a full wipe and update but I am not exactly certain. Also, if I do the full wipe and update, exactly what order and how should I do this? How do I update if even iTunes won't let me and how do I know a wipe will fix it? Should I try the OTA update instead? etc.
Click to expand...

Question.. what version of iTunes are you on? I've noticed something similar after updating a couple of iPhone 6 phones to 14.x with using iTunes 12.6.5.3 (the last version with the App Store). You may need a more recent version of iTunes to upgrade, regardless of if you let iTunes handle it or if you download the full ipsw to point iTunes to it for the upgrade.

Regardless, you did the backup, so that actually is even more important than doing the upgrade, so you can get back to that point in time should you have to do a full wipe. With that, I'd say to go OTA, then back up the phone again, then if you want to, you can do a full wipe of the phone and restore with the IPSW and that backup you took after the OTA update. But as you already know, back up before you even start.

BL.
 
iTunes says 12.11.4.15.

You lost me a bit with IPSW...what is that?

It has been a VERY long time since I've messed around with any of this.
 
Dreamliner330 said:
iTunes says 12.11.4.15.
Click to expand...

Okay.. so much more recent version of iTunes. That would rule out the versioning of iTunes being the problem and having to upgrade that prior to trying to update IOS again.

Dreamliner330 said:
You lost me a bit with IPSW...what is that?

It has been a VERY long time since I've messed around with any of this.
Click to expand...

the IPSW is the IOS Software bundle. Instead of having iTunes go out and download it for your version of whatever iDevice you have, you can actually download it yourself, save it to somewhere local on your machine, and when you want to upgrade, you can hold down the ALT button while you click on update, in which you can then point iTunes to the local path to where you downloaded the new version of IOS, so iTunes won't have to download it for you. Doing it that way would just save you the time it would take to download it. It isn't really needed if you do the OTA update, so you could skip doing that for now unless you want a fresh clean laydown of iOS on your phone and iPad.

For now, I'd say just back up your devices, do the OTA update, back up again, and call it good.

BL.
 
I just powered off and restarted the iPad. It seems to be working now (OTA). It first wanted to download iOS which was about 4GB (it didn't do that the first time), now it restarted and I'm at the black screen with a white apple with a loading bar.
 
Dreamliner330 said:
Oh man, iOS 14.7.1 is very different from iOS 12.4.1...
Click to expand...
Yup.. incredibly different. Lots of changes. For that reason (as well as still using a few 32bit games that haven’t nor will be updated), my iPad mini 4 is not moving up past iOS 10.3.3.

BL.
 
I tend not to want to move past the iOS version a device ships with. Last time I did (iPhone 5 to iOS 7) it was so laggy I bought a new phone. Now with TWO devices, if I bought a new phone I'd likely want a new iPad (either both have a home button or neither do) so holding off was saving me money. Fact is though, there are certain websites I need for work that have recently lost certain functions on iOS 12. I was surprised to see regular websites via Safari affected by an older iOS but they were. They didn't work right in Chrome either. Then more and more apps were refusing to work...they updated but then wouldn't let me log in. So those things kind of forced my hand.

I'm debating picking up an iPhone SE while I can and keep it on iOS 14.7.1. I've had and don't like the new style iPhone (the notch and cost bother me), but I don't think the iPhone SE a big step from the iPhone 8, quite small actually, perhaps imperceptibly? Although spending $100 to replace a degrading battery may make the cost difference small enough to just do anyway...I'm not sure.

Those anti-privacy measures in iOS 15 concern me. iMessage & Privacy are the only things holding me to Apple.
 
HDFan said:
then make sure you have a 3-2-1 backup strategy in place. With multiple backups you don't need to worry.
Click to expand...
I do have a very good backup plan for all my content EXCEPT the iPhone/iPad. I was successfully able to update both to iOS 14.7.1 but am needing to know how backup the content in a way that makes sense. I don't have iCloud, I was using Google Photos but am bumping into space issues so now I'm looking at alternatives like Google Photos. I wish there was a simple way to transfer the photos/videos to a PC.

Right now I have all those folders in the DCIM folder that I copied over in Explorer from the iPhone/iPad and I noticed some of the video files don't work. The audio plays but the video gets stuck. Seems random and I've tried copying the files twice (as Keep Originals) and both times the videos have issues. I also tried Automatic but the copy process it kept failing.

I'd be nice to know of a easy way to sync full quality photo/videos with the PC. I'm just trying to avoid the monthly service fees.
 
Quick update. This update bogged down my iPhone 8 something awful. I bought an iPhone SE (2020) and I will not update this until Apple has a notchless iPhone available. iPad Pro 10.5" seems to be fine though...

I should have known better and should have stayed on iOS 12.4.1 and just worked around the apps that quit working (highly annoyed the app updated at all if it wasn't compatible with iOS12).

New iOS's always destroy phone performance. My iPhone 5 got wrecked by iOS 7 and it happened to me again with the iPhone 8 and iOS 14.
 
I did experienced heat and slow issues when I update from 10.x to 12.x. At that time, I resolved with install iOS from scratch and reinstall everything manually.
 
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