So I have a friend's completely bricked iPhone 3G

[Occulus]

I'm trying to restore it, but iTunes keeps barfing up an Error 1603 (i.e., "I'm a piece of shit paperweight now!"). I've tried installing iTunes on multiple PCs, putting it into both recovery and DFU mode, downgrading iTunes to a previous version, etc. (iTunes 8.2 won't even recognize that an iPhone is even connected.)

It just sits there, with the Apple logo and the little spinny "Daaah, I'm loading something, George; don't bug me" icon at the bottom, and then burps in my general direction like Homer Simpson.

Is there anything more I can do on my end, or do I need to tell him to make an appointment at the Genius Bar at the Apple Store? I'd really like to hand him a working iPhone in a day or two, but I must confess, I'm totally stumped. None of the internet solutions have worked; my Google searches for this all have three pages of visited links and I am out of ideas.

HEEEEEeeeellllp, Madge, HEEEELLLLP!

[struggle4progress]

1. Is the problem associated with an OS update?

Apple iPhone 3G problems, users waiting for a fix from Apple
Apple iPhone 3G owners have reported numerous problems after installing the latest iPhone 3G update software iOS 4. The iPhone 3G is unbearably slow and is giving the users a tough time.
CJ: Alex White Thu, Jul 01, 2010 01:34:52 IST
http://www.merinews.com/article/apple-iphone-3g-problems-users-waiting-for-a-fix-from-apple/15824909.shtml

Re: iPhone 3G Won't Turn On After OS 4.0 Update
Posted: Jun 25, 2010 6:37 AM in response to: qnguyen
I am having similar problems. i installed iOS 4.0 last night and just before my iPhone 3G was about to sync, i got the error message "we could not complete your iTunes store request. An unknown error occurred. -9812."
I tried rebooting my computer, turning off Windows Firewall, restarting my iPhone, hard restarting my iPhone, unplugging and plugging it back in, restarting iTunes, but nothing has worked.
Can you roll back to an earlier version of iOS?
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=11722602

Jun 30, 2010 2:13 pm
Rolling back your iPhone 3G to OS 3.1.3
by Christopher Breen, Macworld.com
http://www.macworld.com/article/152428/2010/06/roll_back_iphone_3g.html

[Occulus]

2. It seems to be in a recovery mode loop

I Googled "iPhone error 1603" and went through each of the first three pages of links. I've tried every solution I have found:

natch.

There are reports that you can use a different USB port, a different computer that hasn't ever had iTunes installed, unplugging the iPhone before it hangs during the restore process and trying again, etc., and etc.

Is there a way to manually (as in, not through iTunes) format the iPhone's hard drive completely? Or did Apple revoke that capability for its users, too?

[struggle4progress]

3. I'm not really competent here. But if you figure out how to reformat

the drive and reinstall ios, be aware your friend may have to repurchase any applications lost

Here's the last month of apple discussion board postings on error 1603, via google

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&as_q=iphone+error+1603&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&num=10&lr=&as_filetype=&ft=i&as_sitesearch=discussions.apple.com&as_qdr=m&as_rights=&as_occt=any&cr=&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&safe=images