IPad – Restoring from IPSW. Unable to connect to gs.apple.com (error 3014)

ipaditunesjailbreaksoftware-update

I had been running jailbroken ios7 on my iPad for a long time. Last month I decided to update to 8.4
Downloading the update from itunes failed a few times so I grabbed the file from apple servers myself

When I tried to restore using the ipsw file, itunes gave me 3014 error. I tried again next day, same error.
I'm running windows 10 x64 and I have:

  • Made sure my HOSTS file is not causing it. There is
    definitely nothing apple related in there.
  • Checked my firewall rules, disabled the firewall. That did not help either
  • performed restore process multiple times with no luck
  • Tried pinging gs.apple.com from another computer with windows 7.. it times out just the same

Its been more than a month now and my iPad is just sitting there…

Itunes network dianosis shows me this –

Firewall Information

Windows Firewall is off.

Connection attempt to Apple web site was successful.
Connection attempt to browsing iTunes Store was successful.
Connection attempt to purchasing from iTunes Store was successful.
Connection attempt to iPhone activation server was successful.
Connection attempt to firmware update server was unsuccessful.
The network connection timed out.
Connection attempt to Gracenote server was successful.
Last successful iTunes Store access was 2015-08-16 13:05:38.

—————

The server I cannot connect to is gs.apple.com. I believe that's what causing itunes to throw the error (3014)

Tried pinging it, failed –
enter image description here

Suprisingly, however, I can access it from the browser (why/how?)
enter image description here

My iPhone can recieve updates just fine over the same network. I'm stumped, can someone help me out, am i missing something?

If there's a way to update without the itunes server-check I'd love to hear it. Methods involving jailbreak are welcome

Best Answer

Enter DFU Mode, and then try a restore. Method:

First, plug the iPad into your computer, and then power it off. Make sure iTunes is running on your PC.

Now press and hold both the Power button and Home button simultaneously, until you see the Apple logo. Now let go of the Power button while still holding down the Home button. iTunes can now associate with the device and is told that the iPad is in Recovery Mode.

Finally, simply Restore your iPad to the ipsw file that you downloaded (or just restore, whatever your choice is).

Just in case you didn't know, in order to restore an iOS device to a certain backup/ipsw file located on your Windows computer, shift-click the Restore iPad ( / iPhone / iPod) button in iTunes and find & pick the file manually.

(Note: There is a tool I know of called Cydia Impactor. There's actually a desktop version of it as well. Unfortunately, however, it apparently only works with iOS 8.3 and 8.4 in the jailbreak version of the tool.)

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