iOS 5 Upgrade Problems?

Ok, so I was updating my iPhone 4 to iOS 5 yesterday and it got partially through and then alternated between several different errors and just getting hung up. Here’s the #1 fix that I always forget on my annual/semi-annual iOS software upgrades, followed by some other possible help:

• USB Connection: PLUG THE PHONE’S USB CORD DIRECTLY INTO THE COMPUTER. If it’s plugged into a USB hub or the USB port on your keyboard, it can possibly cause the process to get stuck.
• Software Conflict: If you have the Cydia app “WiFi Sync” installed on your Mac, I’ve heard it can cause iOS updates to stall, so try uninstalling it (uninstall WiFi Sync utility HERE)
• Won’t Finish Download in iTunes: Try the direct-download links below (they’re hosted on Apple’s servers), then open iTunes, select your phone under “DEVICES”, and alt-click “UPDATE” or “RESTORE” to open the “secret” navigation menu. Then, go to where you manually downloaded the IPSW (iOS software package) file and select it for installation on your phone.

• iPhone 3GS
• iPhone 4 GSM
• iPhone 4 CDMA
• iPhone 4,1 (4S?)
• iPad
• iPad 2 WiFi
• iPad 2,2 – GSM
• iPad 2,3 – CDMA
• iPod touch 3G
• iPod touch 4G
• Apple TV2

This first iOS 5′s build number is 9A334, and these files are hosted on Apple’s servers. Right-click or alt-click to download, and remember where you’re saving them.

Before you start

Consider putting new strings on your harp (search Google shopping) and cleaning it while you have it all taken apart, after you remove the 15 chord setup and before you add the new 21 Chord setup.

You’ll probably need a drill (borrow one) with a range of small drill bits (99¢ Store often has sets), some paper tape, small Phillips head screwdriver.

The whole process took me almost exactly one hour of focused work.

Need an Autoharp conversion Kit?

(I’m not affiliated with any companies below)

Click here to search Google Shopping for conversion kits & compare prices

Text instructions (PDF from the Oscar Schmidt site HERE):

These instructions assume that you know the basic principles of an autoharp, and that you are reasonably skilled with a screwdriver, drill, square etc. This installation is not difficult but does require a minimum of mechanical skills.

1. Remove the old bar set. Clean up your ‘harp and change the strings if needed. 2. Lay out the conversion kit parts. Springs and screws may be placed in a can with a magnet to keep from loosing them. You should have 42 springs, 4 small screws

for the cover, 4 longer screws for the combs, (some combs require smaller screws as well, each kit seems to vary). You should also have 4 metal angle brackets to hold down the cover, and 21 bars, 21 buttons. Call if you are missing any parts.

3. Lay one comb at the treble end of the ‘harp, screw holes to the inside. Line this comb up to measure 5/8” from pin center to the #36 string, measuring from both ends of comb. Also position it as near the anchor end of ‘harp as the placement of the cover will allow, to give maximum playing room between the cover and the tuning pins. This should place the comb at about 1⁄4” from the metal anchor cover on “B” model ‘harps. Tape comb in place temporarily.

4. Lay the bass comb on the opposite side in like manner but don’t bother to tape it down just yet.

5. Find the “F” and “F7” bars. Put in place, one at each end of combs. The hole in the bar belongs at the treble end, the slot at the bass end. Remove the tape on the treble comb, and move it in or out so that the felts on the bars line up as perfectly as possible with the strings they must dampen, and the gaps line up with the strings that must ring. Do this while keeping the comb as parallel as possible to the #36 string. The #1 and #36 strings should be open. Once the best position is found, tape the comb to the ‘harp.

6. With an awl or ice pick, mark the holes on the treble comb. Remove the comb now and pre-drill the larger screw holes with a 5/64” bit, at the depth needed for the screw.

7. Anchor this comb by placing the metal angle brackets in the corresponding slots under the comb, and attach the comb with the provided screws.

8. Put the two “F” bars back on the combs and line up the bass comb. The comb pins should be about half way into the slots. With a small square, square the #1 string to the chord bar. Now fasten this comb in place as you did the other.

9. Now you may install the springs and the chord bars in your desired positions. Line up the buttons in three rows to correspond with the holes in the cover.

10. When placing the cover, use a pencil eraser to help shift the buttons to line up with the holes in the cover. Now you may fasten the cover with the provided screws, and begin the process of checking that everything works as planned.

That’s it! Enjoy!

And finally, one of my big inspirations:

Calpernia's Blobs. This data was pulled right off my computer, stored there from my iPhone by iTunes.

Sigh. Apple, I love so many things about you, but an evil heart beats within that pretty shiny body. Your iPhone is storing a file containing geolocation data of everywhere you’ve been, whether you want it to or not.

I love my iPhone. I’ve jailbroken it, made it over in my own image and pushed it to do things that other smartphones can’t. But I don’t love things like this.

Wanna see an animated(!) map of everywhere you’ve been, as secretly stored by your iPhone? If you’re on a Mac, download this free program and take a peek:

http://petewarden.github.com/iPhoneTracker/

Problem: Native Instruments Kontakt 3 opens with a white or blank splash screen, options screen or preferences screen. It was running fine before on your Mac.

Solution: Go to System Preferences >> Displays >> Color  and select “sRGB IEC61966-2.1″ as your color profile (for both monitors if you have two). If you don’t see this as an option, you may need to uncheck “Show profiles for this display only”.

If that fixes it, you can probably switch the profile back to the default.

iPhoto blank when you plug in your iPhone 4 ?

Has this happened to anyone else? My old iPhone 3G and 3GS always connected fine with iPhoto 9 (v 8.1.2 424). You plug in the phone, it shows as a device in the left side of iPhoto and the images/video are there to be imported. With my new iPhone 4, i plug it in, open iPhoto, it shows as a device BUT there is no media to be imported, even though the camera roll has items in it.

By following the steps below, I am able to get iPhoto to see my iPhone 4 and its contents for ONE TIME ONLY. Then the process below must be repeated and the computer restarted before iPhone 4 media can be accessed in iPhoto again. It appears that you do not always need to restart the computer.

• Quit iPhoto
• Open Activity Monitor (Applications > Utilities > Activity Monitor.app)
• In the search window at the top right, search for PTPCamera
• Click on PTPCamera in the list of results to highlight it
• Click on Quit Process (the red stopsign icon in the upper left of Activity Monitor)
• Choose “Quit”
• If you don’t already see “Image Capture Extension” in the list, search for it in the search box. Click on “Image Capture Extension” in the list of results to highlight it
• Click on Quit Process (the red stopsign icon in the upper left of Activity Monitor)
• Choose “Quit”
• Go to Macintosh HD > System > Library > Image Capture > Devices and double click PTPCamera.app to open it back up.
• Unplug and re-plug the iPhone 4. iPhoto should open, if you’ve set it to do so when a camera is plugged in. Otherwise, open it. You should see your media available for import from the iPhone 4 when you click on the iPhone 4 in the devices list.

Ok kids, after a long day of searching every nook, cranny, blog and rumor mill following the iPhone software 3.1 upgrade released by Apple, here is the definitive finding:

If you upgraded your 3G or 3GS iPhone to 3.1, you cannot at present downgrade it to 3.0, jailbreak it or unlock it. There are some blogs out there saying you can, but that’s ONLY if you somehow upgraded the phone software to 3.0 but your baseband modem software remained not upgraded (which didn’t happen unless you were a developer who forced an upgrade of the phone software with a preview copy outside of the normal iTunes upgrade process).

To put it with ultimate clarity, if (as of Sept. 13, 2009) you upgraded your 3G or 3GS iPhone to 3.1 using iTunes, you cannot Jailbreak it, Unlock it or revert, restore or downgrade it to 3.0… yet. Use the Google search I put below to keep updated, I’m sure Saurik or someone will have this sorted out soon.

Oh, and [celebrities] [fancy costumes] [pop music] [sexy guys] for all my regular non-nerd readers. Mwah!

Search Google for recent postings on this topic: Click HERE