iCloud Restore Freeze Fix

Nothing installing... just "waiting" in place

Encountered the “Music Not Working” bug in iOS 5 Beta 7 after installing as an update over-the-air (OTA). The iPod app would start skipping songs like they were lost, usually they appear greyed out but not now. They act like lost files without a promo, skipping to the next song. A day late i found this fix.

So I tried to restore from iCloud backup (this is the only way i know) ‘erase all content and settings’ and restore from iCloud on reboot. I started using the iCloud backup with Beta 5. It restored settings, then the apps started downloading, got about half way then froze mid install on the ‘weber grill’ app, after a couple hours and wifi network change it reverted to “waiting”. About half my apps had installed and the rest were just ‘waiting’. iCloud settings said it was still restoring but waiting most of the day nothing else came down, “just waiting”.

I tried:

  • Installing an update, the app to update turned grey (pending new icon) and just hung there.
  • I tried downloading a new app, that hung too.
  • I tried deleting the an app in waiting, as if some sort of roadblock. System hung, borked restart screen. Soft reset fixed it back to half apps “waiting”.

Tonight I’d had enough: I backed up my new photos, then I stopped the restore from iCloud. Everything stayed the way it was, still “waiting”. Then I turned off iCloud backup, did a quick iTunes backup (just in case), and then a full sync with iTunes. Took a bit but it picked up installing the ‘waiting’ apps, and now I’m back up and running. Just need to sit through a full iTunes music sync, maybe it will work right and do it via wifi tonight while charging, we’ll see.

Love iCloud backup, but might wait until they have it live (and I have more storage being a legacy MobileMe user).

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