IPhone Dead Following 3.1.2 Upgrade

Question

Ran an automatic update on my iPhone 3G, probably running whatever OS was last automatically downloaded. Now it's dead, the only thing showing is the USB to iTunes picture, Windows Vista does not recognize it when I plug it in and it says I need a recovery driver - which it can't find.
Any ideas?

Answer 1

Similar issues to what others stated here. I also upgraded a new 2 week old 3GS, locked up, tried restore, spent 3 hrs on phone with support. Reinstalled iTunes twice (which is huge), set up new user/admin accounts, installed again. Tried on two separate computers. Re-downloaded the upgrade over 7 times!!
I was able to get the phone to be recognized by computer etc, and it would attempt the restore process, but then give error codes (never did work), and would lock up. Support gave up on helping. Error messages were 1603, and 14. Restore did not ever work. Download was fine, but iPhone would start to load (apple symbol, and status line, then fail less than 10% through). They walked me through the online troubleshooting for the codes (which I had previously done), but they had nothing other than that to assist with.
Final result was a return to ATT, and paid for a new phone (yes they charged my $20 to exchange it even though it was 2 weeks old). Support never did fix my problem. I now have a new phone, with 3.1 installed and I am afraid to try the upgrade again. Tried to get ATT to upgrade to 3.1.2, but they said they couldn't do it at the store.
I work in SW business, know the variables of systems etc; but this should be a simple process to upgrade the iPhone OS.
In the end I was very disappointed in the upgrade, and am awaiting any insights anyone might find and post here. I have a two week window, upgrade will be attempted once more and if it fails before my 30 day grace period I return over $600 worth of iphone and other items purchased.
Please post a simple fix, or even a complicated one....
ref: Apple case 139451039 (which was conveniently closed)...