Loop Rebooting iPhone: how to fix it

  • reset • restore • apple • personal • fix • jailbreak • it • sync • itunes • iphone • curiosity • english • utility
  • 262 words

I was playing with my Jailbroken iPhone when I decided to install OpenSSH and login. 1 minute after I discovered there is a password I should use to login:

  • for user root is alpine
  • for user mobile is dottie

After I connected to my loved iPhone trough SSH (don’t be impatient: it takes a minute or two for it’s ARM cpu to generate the Keys), I changed straightaway the password for both the above named users (using just passwd).

That practically screwed my Apple jewel: as soon as rebooted it entered in a “Loop Rebooting” status, that made it impossible to use. Why? Because, of course, it’s a Unix system, and the Graphical Interface itself (and I’m sure also other applications) need to “log-in” in the system. Changing the password in the “normal way” made an un-fixable mess.

So, how to fix this? Simple! Just reset the Phone. The steps to follow are:

  1. Connect your phone to the Mac/WinPC you last synched it
  2. Hold down the top right button [SCREEN-LOCK button] and the round bottom middle button [HOME button] for about 10 seconds waiting for the screen to turn off
  3. When the screen turn off, release ONLY the top right button and continue to hold until iTunes recognize it and put it in Recovery Mode
  4. Follow the iTunes instruction to Recover it
  5. Note that iTunes will also ask if you want to restore iPhone in the status it was at the last Sync or just clean it completelly (thanks Apple to be so Great!)

Now my iPhone can be Jailbroken, again! ;)