The woes of iPhone and iPod Touch 2.2.1 firmware upgrade

Posted on February 20, 2009
Filed Under Apple, Software, gadget | 11 Comments

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There are times when I act in haste in a situation and then regret my action hours or days later. Upgrading my iPod Touch firmware 2.2.1 was one of those moments. In great enthusiasm, I trusted my instinct to upgrade to 2.2.1 without first checking online to find any reports of problem with 2.2.1 upgrade. I clicked Upgrade in iTunes as it started to sync my files with my iPod Touch. Now I wish I know how to roll back.

After the upgrade everything was fine for a while. Then my iPod Touch started to crash. Once it crashed I couldn’t restart the gadget. The Apple logo would appear then the screen would just go blank. Once after several attempts to revive my iPod Touch, it gave up and I had to restore my iPod Touch from a backup. After the restoration my iPod Touch was still crashing.

After some investigation I discovered the problem is caused by the wifi. If I have it on by default, it would consume the battery within minutes if I go online. I didn’t have that problem before the upgrade to 2.2.1. Since the upgrade my battery would drain in a few minutes if I go online using my iPod Touch.

I checked on Apple’s website and they denied that 2.2.1 had anything to do with wifi. Seriously what else could it be. I Googled, found a few others with wifi problem after 2.2.1 upgrade but no clear solution or fix is available.

I also discovered another problem with the 2.2.1 upgrade. It didn’t happen to my iPod Touch, thank God! but others would have their iTunes crash on them and they couldn’t sync their iPod Touch/iPhone after the upgrade to 2.2.1. For this problem, Apple provided a resolution. You are suppose to De-authorize and then Authorize again in iTunes before you connect your iPod Touch/iPhone to your computer.

Reason for de-authorizing and authorizing

Deauthorizing a computer allows you to manage which computers can play music, videos, audiobooks, or other content purchased from the iTunes Store.

Authorization helps protect the copyrights on the content you buy. You can use your digital rights management (DRM)-protected music purchases1 from the iTunes Store on up to five different computers (these can be any mix of Macintosh or Windows-compatible computers). When you play an item you’ve purchased, your computer is “authorized” to play content purchased using your Apple Account.

Learn how to Deauthorize and authorize iTunes here.

As for my wifi problem, it is not resolved. I’ve decided to book an appointment at the Genius Bar. If those guys can resolve my problem I will update the solution here. Till then, wish me luck.

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Comments

11 Responses to “The woes of iPhone and iPod Touch 2.2.1 firmware upgrade”

jhawk on March 6th, 2009 1:32 am

My wifi is not working at all anymore after the 2.2.1 upgrade and every once and awhile it shows up but If i type the password wrong it disapears and I sometimes have to wait days. any ideas on what to do?
ash on March 7th, 2009 11:17 am

I suggest you bring your iPod to an Apple Genius Bar to have them take a look at it. I brought mine in and they replaced my iPod Touch with a new one.
jhawk on March 9th, 2009 3:11 am

well I would but there arent any apple stores around fort wayne IN except in the mall and I don’t like going there much.
Kashgari @ China Travel on March 13th, 2009 3:13 am

Hey!
Do not worry, you should bring it to the Genius Bar,they give you credit to change other new one.
Josef on June 2nd, 2009 6:51 am

yes mine stopped working after the upgrade to 2.2.1
I got a new ipod touch. Which 1.5 on it. When I upgraded, guess what? The wifi stopped working a second time.

It’s now been back with apple for 2 weeks and they are still trying to figure out what to do about it.
ash on June 3rd, 2009 4:56 am

Since Apple replaced my iPod Touch, I have been cautious and have not upgraded to 2.2.1. From my observation, I don’t think Apple Genius know what is the cause of the problem. When I brought my faulty iPod Touch to the Genius Bar, the guy did not even troubleshoot, he just gave me a new one.

@Josef it might be better to ask Apple to replace the iPod Touch with a new one and wait till 3.0 before attempting any upgrade.
Josef on June 3rd, 2009 5:13 am

Ash,
there is no gaurantee that 3.0 or any new version won’t fry the hardware. From my readings once the damage is done even if you restore it somehow to an earlier o/s the wifi is permanently broken.

By now Apply knows there is any issue, hundreds of post even on their own support site. But has done nothing about withdrawing this adminitng there is an issue with the version, removing it from being downloadable or redeeming owners for causing the destruction.

As a company how bad is that?
ash on June 5th, 2009 9:45 am

@Josef you are right. There’s no guarantee with 3.0 but as it stands now I don’t think Apple has any idea how to fix the problem and is asking users to replace their faulty iPhone/iPod Touch as a quick fix (for Apple that is)

I read that some think the issue could be caused by overheating because Apple rigged the Wi-Fi chip to increase performance. If overheating is the problem which some have seen resolved after placing their faulty gadget in the fridge for a while to cool it down. Whether you want to attempt doing that is a personal choice…
Josef on June 5th, 2009 12:09 pm

Not sure if this helps. Apple maintenance called me up and said they had my ipod touch working. That’s after almost two weeks. So i was suprised. They were right. I tested it a number of times in the store with their wifi. It consistently tested at 4500kb/second. Got it home and i barely had 50kb/second 2 feet from the wireless router. Here is what I think. Version 2.2.1 has trouble connecting to certain wireless routers. Maybe the protocols are wrong. I’m going to give it to a friend to test at their home on a different brand router. I read somewhere that the ipod touch can have issues if the protocol is not 802.11b
ash on June 6th, 2009 4:40 am

@Josef I would be interested to find out your test results, if the problem is with certain wireless routers.
Josef on June 18th, 2009 4:31 am

Ok my mate finally took my ipod touch to his place and connected to his wifi. His is a completely different provider and isn’t cable but ADSL +2. Now I have the fastest cable you can get in Australia and my ipod touch crawled in at 50 kbps. On his system it reached 4500 kbps. So this means that something in the 2.2.1 upgrade stuffs up the way that the ipod communicates with wifi. So the software mustened be fully compatible. Ive read where some users have set their wifi protocol to 802.11b and resolved the issue. not sure if this is true. Can some one try and see and give us a heads up.