So I was working on my iPod trying to disable Stealth MAC without removing it. I tried using UIctl after RTFMing on launchctl and everything that it does. Unfortunately something caused my Touch to stop responding, and nothing came up when I rebooted.

I reluctantly decided to restore my device. It’s not an easy thing because I had a lot of crap on there, though it was all replaceable. I pulled up WinPwn and built an IPSW with everything but Cydia, which seems to not fit on the restore image. Everything looked to be going great, until iTunes gave me the dreaded 1604 error. Things looked really grim as I saw people talking about their $500 paperweights, and so on, and so forth.

The best instructions I could find were to log out and log back in to a Windows system as a different user. Then it occurred to me - what if iTunes’s database somehow became corrupt?

So I figured out that the 1604 error is in fact easily fixed, and here’s how:

1. Navigate to your Application Data folder. I did this by going to Start > Run and typing %APPDATA% (case matters).
2. Delete or rename the “Apple Computer” folder.
3. Start iTunes

You should be warned here that this will blank your music library and preferences, and if you bought music from the iTunes Music Store, beware that you might lose it. I personally don’t know either way because I’ve never purchased from iTMS.

Furthermore though, if you choose to rename the folder, you can have two iTunes profiles, one for restoring your iPod and one for general use. It’s not a fantastic way of doing things, but it’s better than not being able to restore IMO.

(Disclaimer: I cannot assume responsibility for any damaged or lost data or hardware caused by following these instructions.)