Original iPhone stuck in recovery mode

Question

Hello Everyone!
I recently decided to clean out my fully functional original iPhone by pressing Erase All Content and Settings in the Settings App.  When the process finished, the phone was in Recovery Mode (which apparently is normal), but iTunes didn't give me an option to restore the phone.  I can see the phone under Devices, but there aren't any options:
I tried using a Hard Reset (no change) and then put the phone in DFU mode and then iTunes went through the process of downloaded and installing the firmware (progress bar on the phone, and everything), but once it finished, the phone rebooted into Recovery Mode. 
I loaded RecBoot, but pushing buttons doesn't seem to do anything.  I've also tried TinyUmbrella, but my only option is Enter Recovery (Exit Recovery is grayed out).  When I press Enter Recovery in TinyUmbrella, the log says "Sending enter recovery request to iPhone", but nothing seems to happen.
One last detail -- whenever I connect the phone, it shows up in iTunes, and the message "Accessing iTunes Store..." shows up in the iTunes status window for about five seconds, but then there are no other messages. 
Some possible clues from system.log (I've redacted some ID's):
Oct 31 06:53:44 Andrew-ODells-MacBook-Pro com.apple.usbmuxd[27]: HandleUSBMuxConnect Client 0x10441fcf0-AppleMobileDeviceHelper/com.apple.SyncServices.AppleMobileDeviceHel per requesting attach to 0x219:62078 failed, no such device
Oct 31 06:53:44 Andrew-ODells-MacBook-Pro AppleMobileDeviceHelper[17323]: AMDeviceConnect (thread 0xa0136540): Could not connect to lockdown port (62078) on device 537 - REDACTED: 0xe800006b.
Oct 31 06:53:44 Andrew-ODells-MacBook-Pro /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/MobileDevice.framework/Versions/Current/Apple MobileDeviceHelper.app/Contents/MacOS/AppleMobileDeviceHelper[17323]: 17323:2685625664|DeviceLinkListener.c:_copyMobileDeviceValue| ERROR: Could not connect to attached device: This device is no longer connected. Try disconnecting and reconnecting your device. (107)
Oct 31 06:53:44 Andrew-ODells-MacBook-Pro AppleMobileDeviceHelper[17323]: _AMDDeviceDetached (thread 0xa0136540): Device 'AMDevice 0x3f93b0 {UDID = REDACTED, device ID = 537, FullServiceName = REDACTED@REDACTED:4225._apple-mobdev._tcp.local.}' detached.
Oct 31 06:53:44 Andrew-ODells-MacBook-Pro AppleMobileDeviceHelper[17323]: _AMDDeviceDetached (thread 0xa0136540): Device 'AMDevice 0x3a7ea0 {UDID = REDACTED, device ID = 536, location ID = 0x24100000, product ID = 0x1290}' detached.
Oct 31 06:53:44 Andrew-ODells-MacBook-Pro AppleMobileDeviceHelper[17323]: _AMDDeviceAttachedCallbackv3 (thread 0xa0136540): Device 'AMDevice 0x3caa00 {UDID = REDACTED, device ID = 538, location ID = 0x24100000, product ID = 0x1290}' attached.
Oct 31 06:53:44 Andrew-ODells-MacBook-Pro iTunes[17320]: AMDeviceLookupApplications (thread 0xb09ab000): Was unable to start the install service on the device: 0xe800005d
Any ideas??

Answer 1

I also have the same problem. I am running 10.6.8 with iTunes 10.5. I am getting similar error:
11/13/11 11:06:55 PM          iTunes[3291]          AMDeviceLookupApplications (thread 0xb0491000): Was unable to start the install service on the device: 0xe800005d
I think something has broken between AT&T and Apple iTunes Store, because I got it to (almost) re-activate, but it never was able to sync anything and I still had the recovery mode "connect to itunes" on the phone. I was stupid to do a "full wipe" on the phone before shifting it from one kid to another kid, and now I have a brick!
I don't want to get into jailbreaking the phone just to get it to work. I keep looking for some "hidden" control-key sequences, but to no avail. I'll probably end up visiting the Apple genius bar, unless anyone has suggestions here that don't involve jailbreak.