Is my 3gs bricked :|

28061 · Mar 5, 2012

Hi everyone...

Really hoping someone can help me...
My 3gs was jailbroken with redsn0w on 5.0.1 when I leant it to a friend.

Background:
Apparently, whilst they were playing a game the battery died. It then apparently wouldn't start, so they tried a restore which failed. They repeated this process several times - each time it failed with differing error numbers (They can't remember them!(

Current:
When they returned the phone to me, i tried to do a restore in iTunes. It appeared to work fine, right up until the end when it failed and said "An unknown error has occured" - Error id was 1. The phone constantly booted into restore mode.
I used redSn0w recovery fix utility to bring it out of the loop, which worked. The phone now boots into what looks like a fresh IOS install - asking for location, language etc.
After completing the first few steps, it then asks to be connected to iTunes. When plugged in, iTunes doesn't react to it at all?
I've tried different ports, cables, restarts, iTunes updates etc... Same issue.

I also note that TU states the model number is : MC131B/A INVALID

So... what do you think!?
Thank you in advance!

EDIT: Added info:
Ok, so it does show in iTunes - it just takes a really long while. And when it does eventually show, iTunes reports that there is no sim card in the phone (Which there is). I notice that the iPhone signal bar remains on "searching" also... Baseband screwed?

maka · Mar 5, 2012

WelL what kind of sim card are you using?

28061 · Mar 5, 2012

maka said:
WelL what kind of sim card are you using?

Just a straight forward o2 card. Mini sim in with an adapter - which I'm told should be fine?

maka · Mar 5, 2012

Yea it should be fine. Just for the heck of it I would try downloading sn0wbreeze and hacktivating your phone to by passes the sim card deal and you would be putting a fresh new iOS on the phone. And make sure you put it into pwned dfu mode to install the software on the first shot. Sn0wbreeze will show you how after you create your ipsw

28061 · Mar 5, 2012

maka said:
Yea it should be fine. Just for the heck of it I would try downloading sn0wbreeze and hacktivating your phone to by passes the sim card deal and you would be putting a fresh new iOS on the phone. And make sure you put it into pwned dfu mode to install the software on the first shot. Sn0wbreeze will show you how after you create your ipsw

Gulp!....

So... Downloaded sn0wbreeze... Using integrated IPSW downloader to dl 5.0.1(9A405) for 3gs...
Sn0wbreeze will then show me how to enter pwned DFU and install the download IPSW?

Edit:Added:
Did as you suggested Maka, all seemed to work ok - Sn0wbreeze informed me it had entered pwned DFU, creation of IPSW and iTunes shift+restore appeared to work ok. iPhone turns on and faces same initial start questions, locality, language etc. However, iPhone now restarts repeatedly and randomly... :| Every 90 seconds or so... I've also noticed that the mobile phone signal still says "searching", and never seems to acquire a signal...

The hacktivation must have worked, because it now allows me to set up as new iPhone and begin signing into apple account etc. Or at least it would if it didn't keep restarting!?

Thank you Maka, we seem to be making progress.

maka · Mar 5, 2012

The restarting I'm not sure of... I've never had to deal with the issue so I'm sorry if I can't help passed this point.

28061 · Mar 5, 2012

maka said:
The restarting I'm not sure of... I've never had to deal with the issue so I'm sorry if I can't help passed this point.

No problem - thank you for your help Maka.

Anyone else? - I've left the phone turned off, but charging from the mains for several hours. Returned to it, powered it up, and it continues to restart randomly... Operator signal remains at "Searching"...