HELP!!! iphone 3gs stuck in recovery mode

I tried doing the latest iphone system software update and the **** thing got stuck in recovery mode! The 291 MB update downloads fine and it made a backup and then i assume it removed the old software and started installing the new software. It goes through the "Preparing iPhone for restore" and gets to the very end of it on iTunes and just stops. On the phone it has the silver apple with the status bar below it, the status bar gets a little bit of the ways done and then just stops as well. Then after a minute the iPhone says that I need to connect it to iTunes. This is where it sits and does nothing. If I disconnect the iphone and reconnect it to itunes itunes will tell me that it has detected a phone in recovery mode and needs to restore it. I say ok and it goes through the above process again and stops at the same point. What can I do to get it out of recovery mode? I dont need to save all my stuff that was on the phone, tho it would be nice.
Thanks
p.s. it is the latest version of iTunes

The "hosts" file may be blocking the iTunes Store. Find your hosts file. The hosts file is normally found in the following location:
Windows XP: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC
1. Select the hosts file. Then click the Edit menu, and choose Copy.
2. Then, click the Edit menu again, and choose Paste. There should now be a duplicate of the hosts file named "Copy of hosts".
3. Drag the original hosts file to your desktop.
4. Right-click the "Copy of hosts" file and choose Open. You may be prompted to choose the program you want to use to open this file. Double-click Notepad.
5. When Notepad opens, click the Edit menu and choose Select All. Then click the Edit menu, and choose Delete.
6. Click the File menu, and choose Save. Close Notepad.
7. Right-click the "Copy of hosts" file, and choose Rename. Type "hosts" (without quotation marks) and press Enter.
8. Restart your computer and try updating again.

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Using iTunes 10.5
On an Acer Aspire One Netbook
Running Windows 7
All security updates installed as of November 7, 2011
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Error 13 and 14 : Are checksum problems with the firmware image that is in the update package.
The update package is a .ipsw (IPod or IPhone SoftWare). This file is actually just a .zip renamed .ipsw.
The error is caused by a failure to download a crc-free version of the file. Not really sure why there are so many crc problems with the iphone updates, but Apple does not check the integrity of the update package before wiping your current version of IPhone software and that is why all IPhones that start an update with a bad update package end up in recovery mode. These errors are NOT related to the iTunes installation, antivirus software, or firewalls.
Recommendation : use a program like "Object Fix" (Freeware) to verify the integrity of the file prior to commencing with any new updates. You will have to keep trying to download it until you get a error free file. Once you have a CRC error free file this problem will go away. (I thought TCP/IP helped get rid of CRC errors.)
I had another problem and that was...
Error 1603 and 1604 : These are USB driver connectivity problems.
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FIRST, edit your hosts file (which was corrupted by the jailbreak process) and remove any references to gs.apple.com; delete the whole lines and save the file. If you don't know how to do this you will have to get help, and it shows that jailbreaking was a bigger mistake than you thought.
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HELP!!! iphone 3gs stuck in recovery mode

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