How to "carrier unlock" already JBroken and U.snow unlocked 3GS?

drjaycee · Feb 15, 2013

Hi,
I have a 3GS ,on 5.0.1 ; BB 6.15.00, which is out of contract and after request, AT&T has unlocked it. ( mailed)
Since I'm already Jailbroken and Ultrasn0w unlocked , wouldn't want to "Restore " in iTunes to avoid going to 6.1 just now.( not sure if the 3GS would be able keep up with it

)
I'd rather prefer to update to 5.1.1. and JB after the carrier unlock .
I've downgraded the BB with Redsn0w to 5:13:04.
What are the steps that I need to do before connecting my device to iTunes for the activation and unlock ?
I've got Ultrasn0w; Recovery Guard ; No Update tweaks installed.
Do I just uninstall Ultrasn0w and connect to iTunes ?

Thanks in advance

willerz2 · Feb 15, 2013

The only way to restore to iOS 5.1.1 now is if you have the SHSH blobs saved. Open up Cydia and on the top of the main screen, see if iOS 5.1.1 is listed on the very top. If it's there, you can, if it's not, then unless you have them manually saved yourself, you can't restore to iOS 5.1.1.

In some cases, you won't have to restore to iTunes even. Just deactivate the device and insert the new SIM and it'll work assuming the whitelist refreshed with your IMEI on it. You don't have to uninstall anything when restoring a device. Simply put it into DFU mode and restore.

drjaycee · Feb 15, 2013

Anyway I uninstalled Ultrasnow and while on "No Service " connected to iTunes and " Activation required " banner flashed on the phone . On tapping that the phone got activated and the " Congratulations ......." message popped in iTunes.
So far so good.
My Cydia shows blobs for 5.1.1 but am unable to get TU to save them from Cydia. I have them saved by iSHSHit though.
Would these be usable for the update ?
I guess I'd try to fetch them from Cydia with Redsnow .
Would restore from Redsnow be advisable or should I stick to shift-restore via iTunes ?
TIA

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willerz2 · Feb 15, 2013

Make sure that in the Advanced tab in TinyUmbrella that there is a tick next to "Retrieve SHSH from Cydia". You can use the Restore feature in RedSn0w. It does the stitching and restoring at the same time.

drjaycee · Feb 15, 2013

I have "Retrieve from Cydia " selected in the Advanced Tab but it's unable to fetch. I don't know if Cydia is denying the facility.
What would you advise ; iTunes or Redsnow restore?

Thanks for being so helpful. 😊

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willerz2 · Feb 15, 2013

You can't use iTunes to retrieve blobs. The only blobs that you can "retrieve" is the latest ones and they're not saved on your computer. They're retrieved for a one-time use. Use RedSn0w to retrieve. Or if you know that you have the blobs already, just go to RedSn0w > Extras > Even More > Restore, select the IPSW that you want to restore to, select Remote for blobs and let RedSn0w do your thing. If you want to preserve your 05.13.04 baseband, you can do so by saying that you want to preserve it with the first window that pops up.

By preserving the 05.13.04 baseband, you won't have to reflash the iPad Baseband and downgrade it again. But if that doesn't bother you, then you won't have to preserve it.

drjaycee · Feb 15, 2013

I guess I wasn't able to explain my doubts clearly enough.
I know that I'll have to prepare a custom IPSW for 5.1.1 , either with Redsnow ( using remote as I don't have the blobs saved locally) or Snowbreeze.
I did JB this phone with Redsnow about a year back , flashing the iPad baseband and only recently downgraded it to 5.13.04.
I am slightly more familiar with Redsnow than Snowbreeze and hence would prefer the former.
What I would like to know is:

1. Would it be better to restore using Redsnow or with iTunes ( Shift-Restore using the Redsnow prepared Custom IPSW )
I believe I'll have to JB with Redsnow/ Absinthe once again in both cases .

2. Since I won't be needing Ultrasnow unlock , do I need to preserve the Baseband in case I decide to update to 6.1 ?
I'm a bit hesitant to move to 6.1 though.

3. Would the 3GS be able to handle 6.1 without slowing down considerably ?

Sorry for bothering you with too many questions.
Thanks

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willerz2 · Feb 15, 2013

1) Either is fine. The methodology behind both is one and the same if you minus the stitching and such.

2) That's up to you. The only con about iOS 6.1 is that not all jailbroken tweaks are 100% compatible yet. Other than that, there's no real difference

3) The only thing I can really say that would be a damper on the 3GS on any iOS may be the fact that you won't have as much RAM as you would like compared to say an iPhone 5 on iOS 6, which has 4 times the available RAM compared to the 3GS, meaning you'd have an easier time caching stuff. The processor isn't duo core, but still a very nice device nonetheless.

I have colleagues still running their 3GS on iOS 6, and they're just fine with it as is on iOS 6. Not much if any problems with the whole RAM issue unless you use a huge theme on your device like Dreamboard or a theme that has a clock widget on the background or a moving background and such. Other than that, I don't see a scenario where your device will blow up from lack of caching. There might be a slight lack of speed, but that's been pretty obvious when the 4S and 5 are the major players on the market with duo core A5 and A6 chipsets.

drjaycee · Feb 15, 2013

Thanks a lot for the detailed reply.

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drjaycee · Feb 16, 2013

Since I'm carrier-unlocked and won't be needing Ultrasnow unlock , do I need to preserve the Baseband ( 5.13.04) in case I decide to update to 6.1 ?
I guess I don't need to, as I believe preservation of BB is necessary only for Software / alternate Unlocking.