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More major, minor iPhone upgrade problems and how to fix them

Over the last week, iPhone Atlas readers and users on Apple's discussion forums reported additional problems with iPhone OS 3.0 and iPhone 3GS upgrades.

David Martin
David Martin has more than 20 years of experience in the industry as a programmer, systems and business analyst, author, and consultant.
David Martin
2 min read
Apple Inc.

Some iPhone Atlas readers, and posts on Apple's Discussion boards, have reported additional problems--some large, some small--after upgrading to iPhone OS 3.0 or the iPhone 3GS. The following procedures will solve a number of the reported problems.

  • Reset your iPhone by holding down the Sleep and Home buttons until the Apple logo appears.
  • Restore your iPhone: In iTunes, click the Restore button under the Summary tab. Restoring the phone will erase contacts, calendars, photos, and other data on the phone, but will restore automatically backed-up information including text messages, notes, call history, contact favorites, sound settings, widget settings, etc.

Yet, even after performing these steps additional issues have persisted. For more detail, read on.

Sound issues
Though listed on discussion boards here and here, I've also heard sound distortion when making a call, listening to the other phone ringing, and receiving an incoming SMS text message at the same time. The second sound, Glass (my SMS tone), has a buzzing noise as it plays.

An theAppleBlog report has mentioned an audible whine on recorded iPhone 3GS videos. There does not appear to be a fix for this at this time, so I'm hoping that Apple addresses it via a software update.

Here's the video from theappleblog.com Web site and a direct link to the isolated sound here.

A suggested short-term workaround is easy enough to implement; some people might even learn to live with the problem. Prior to recording a video, either plug in your headphones or manually place the iPhone into "silent" mode by moving the ring selector to vibrate. The entire post is worth reading as it includes more examples and the steps to recreate the problem on the iPhone 3GS.

Wrong or "changing" icons
Apple's discussion boards here, here, and here are reporting a problem that I've encountered as well. In my case the problem occurs when I remove apps from the iPhone using the delete feature in Springboard and then install new apps.

The newly installed apps can inherit the icons from the apps that were deleted from the same location. This is a known bug documented under Apple Bugfix 6906853. The only fix that I've been able to find is to reinstall the apps affected by the bug and hope it does not happen again. Hopefully, Apple will get this really annoying bug fixed soon.

Last week we covered a number of other issues with iPhone OS 3.0 and the iPhone 3GS. Check it out for additional troubleshooting advice.

Tell us about your iPhone OS 3.0 or iPhone 3GS upgrade problems in the comments.