My first recovery mode, hactivation, jailbreak, and unlock on a new to me iPhone 3G

Granitel · Oct 26, 2011

I introduced this problem in the new member section but that's really the wrong place:
- New member, new iPhone, already stuck in restore mode (jailbroken iPhone 3G) T-Mobile

I'm new to the iPhone, and, in fact, it's my kid's jailbroken iOS 4.2.1 iPhone 3G that I bought off of Craigslist in August which, after all this time working well on T-Mobile voice/text with WiFi for data suddenly locked up in 'restore mode'.

Any advice for resolution is always appreciated.

Granitel · Oct 26, 2011

I performed the following to get the iPhone 3G out of restore mode by downgrading the iOS from iOS 4.2.1 to iOS 3.1.3:
NOTE: This was all done in 'restore mode' (nothing was done in DFU mode yet).

I first installed iTunes 10.5.0.142 on the WinXP PC
I then downloaded the iClarify iOS 3.1.3 for iPhone 3G (iPhone1,2_3.1.3_7E18_Restore.ipsw)
I downloaded Tiny umbrella v5.00.12 to the WinXP PC
I tethered the jailbroken iPhone 3G 4.1.2 stuck in recovery mode to the WinXP PC
I opened Itunes: I held the shift key & then pressed the Restore button
Itunes then asked for the ipsw file (I gave it the iPhone1,2_3.1.3_7E18_Restore.ipsw)
After a while, Itunes gave me a 1015 error (which, I think, means I have the iPad baseband)
I ran tiny umbrella and hit "exit recovery" & then unplugged the iPhone & tried to use it
I again ran thorough steps 5 thru 8 (and again got the 1015 error).
Tiny Umbrella tells me the following versions are installed:

Device Model = MB702LL/A - iPhone3G
Installed Firmware Version = 3.1.3
Installed Baseband Version = 06.15.00-5.9_M3S2

Granitel · Oct 26, 2011

I don't have an 'active' AT&T SIM card; but I have my 3-month old AT&T SIM card (because I switched off of AT&T expressly because they penalize users of smart phones who do not want a data plan)!

The 'activation' step in iTunes 'seemed' to work using that inactive AT&T SIM card!

Here is what I 'think' are the next steps based on your suggestions (is this right?):

This morning, I downgraded iOS 4.2.1 to iOS 3.1.3 using iTunes, iClarify, & Tiny Umbrella (in order to get out of iTunes restore mode)
But then, the iPhone 3G had no sea-of-icons home screen, and could only make emergency calls on T-Mobile
My next step was to activate (either with an active or inactive AT&T SIM card or using Hacktivate (with Redsn0w & SAM)
- Note: Luckily, I didn't need Redsn0w because my 3-month old inactive AT&T SIM card worked great with iTunes to activate the iPhone 3G.
- That finally got me the iPod-like sea-of-icons home screen! (THANKS!)
I think now I need to set up the home WiFi encryption key information
And then, I think, I need to install Cydia (can I now upload Cydia at this point?)
With Cydia, I can upload Ultrasn0w
Then, I can Jailbreak (using Ultrasn0w)
Lastly, I need to unlock (again using Ultrasn0w)

Is this the correct plan of action for an iPhone 3G, iOS3.1.3, Baseband 06.15.00-5.9?

Granitel · Oct 27, 2011

Success at last!

I'm hoping the 3.1.3 iOS will be faster & more compatible (e.g., with Cycorder) than the 4.2.1 was; however, I'm not really sure 'how' I downgraded to iOS 3.1.3 without going into DFU mode (must have been the TSS button in Tiny Umbrella); but with a lot of asking questions, things moved (finally) right along!

Apparently, now that I'm on iOS 3.1.3, I had these options for jailbreaking:

a) Spirit (download it to the PC, tether the iPhone, and hit 1 button to jailbreak)
b) Redsn0w
c) Jailbreakme.com (connect to wifi, go to [URL="http://www.jailbreakme.com"]JailbreakMe 3.0[/URL] in Safari, follow instructions to jailbreak)

Here is what I did:

1. In a prior post, I finally got out of iTunes recovery mode by using Tiny Umbrella, iTunes, and iClarify ipsw files for the iPhone 3G iOS 3.1.3 (all the data was lost in that process)
2. In a prior post, I activated the iPhone by tethering to iTunes & using my 3-month-old inactive AT&T card
3. Now, with the T-Mobile SIM card in the still-locked iPhone ... I set up the WiFi encryption for my home network (I don't have the T-Mobile data plan ... which is the whole reason for switching off of AT&T)
4. And then simply went to Jailbreakme.com in Safari & moved the slider to begin the process
- I eventually saw the message "Cydia has been added to the home screen" (so that solves the question of how to get Cydia on board)
5. I started Cydia ...
- It asked "Who Are You?" (I said "Hacker" although that was being generous)
- Cydia started downloading packages & reloading data.
- Cydia requested one of 3 essential upgrades (Essential, complete, ignore).
- I let it do a complete upgrade & then it asked to "Close Cydia & Restart".
6. I clicked on the open-book icon for "Manage" at the bottom of the Cydia screen
- Then I hit the "Sources" button in the center of the screen.
- Then I hit "repo666.ultrasn0w.com" & then "ultrasn0w" (which only then revealed itself to be version 1.2.4)
- I hit the "install" and "confirm" buttons & it installed & reloaded data.
- I had to hit the home button to "Reaload Springboard"
- As I was reading what to do next, a zillion backed-up text messages came in (it is, after all, my kid's iPhone)
7. I went to the home screen & pressed Settings, General, Network, and changed "Enable 3G" from "ON" to "OFF".
8. I had the T-Mobile SIM card already in so I didn't have to pop it in at this point ... but ... everything was working perfectly by this point.

My kid lost all the data ... but now, thanks to a lot of Internet research, we started with a T-Mobile jailbroken/unlocked iOS 4.2.1 iPhone 3G (baseband 06.15.00) which was stuck in iTunes restore mode - and now ended with a working T-Mobile jailbroken/unlocked iOS 3.3.1 iPhone 3G (baseband stayed the same)!

To help others, here are some related pictures.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]2921[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]2922[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]2923[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]2924[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]2925[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]2922[/ATTACH]

Granitel · Oct 29, 2011

Since GPS is apparently a problem on the 06.15.00-5.9_M3S2 baseband that my iPhone 3G 3.1.3 has, I'm trying to see how to downgrade the baseband.
Apparently it might matter which bootrom I have.

Here's what I tried to find the bootrom version; but I failed:
a) I booted the WinXP PC (iTunes was not running)
b) I turned on the iPhone 3G iOS 3.1.3 BB 06.15.00
c) I connected the iPhone 3G to the WinXP PC
d) I launched iTunes 10.5.0.142 & waited for it to recognize the iPhone 3G
e) After iTunes recognized the iPhone 3G, I powered off the iPhone 3G
f) I waited for 10 seconds once the iPhone 3G was switched off
g) I simultaneously held the iPhone 3G Power & Home buttons for 10 seconds
h) I released the iPhone 3G Power button after the first 10 seconds but held onto the Home button until I saw the following message on iTunes:

Code:
"iTunes must check the iPod software update server to identify this device"
i) I right clicked on the WinXP My Computer -> Manage -> Device Manager -> Universal Serial Bus Controllers -> Apple Mobile Device USB Driver -> Properties -> Details and looked for "Device Instance Path" from the dropdown list. It wasn't there!
j) I was expecting to see the "Device Instance Path = [IBOOT-574.4]" or something like that in the string; but the property didn't exist!

5. I tried this multiple times, on two different WinXP computers.

6. Now I was stuck in DFU mode with nothing to show for it.

a) After googling how to exit DFU mode, I held the Home button & the Power button for about 10 seconds.
b) Since the iPhone 3G was connected to the WinXP PC, I heard a beep as the USB device was disconnected.
c) Then, I pressed the Power button and the iPhone 3G exited DFU mode & powered up to the apple logo & slide-to-unlock screen.

7. Now I was back running normally; except I had nothing to show for the effort.

I wanted to try to see if I can downgrade the unlocked iPhone 3G 3.1.3 baseband back to a less problematic (GPS, etc.) baseband than 06.15.00-5.9 (which is what Tiny Umbrella reports).

BTW, the serial number 3rd, 4th, & 5th characters indicate the iPhone was built in the 25th week of 2008, which would imply the 359.3 BOOTROM version (but since this phone was purchased off of Craigslist already jailbroken with the iPad baseband, I'm not sure if the bootrom was updated).

Granitel · Oct 29, 2011

I found out belatedly that the bootrom version won't matter for an iPhone 3G but that the bootloader version DOES matter if I wish to downgrade the baseband so that GPS works again.

I tried (and failed) to find the bootloader version using these instructions I found on the net:
On WinXP, here's what I did to check the boot loader version:
1. I downloaded BBUpdaterExtreme to my WinXP PC
2. I downloaded & installed WinSCP to my WinXP PC
3. Connecting to my home WiFi network, I found my IP address using:
* Settings -> Wi-Fi -> {network name} -> {blue arrow} -> IP Address
4. While connected to WiFi, I tethered the iPhone 3G to the WinXP PC
5. In Windows, I started WinSCP and entered the following at the login "Session" tab:
* HOSTNAME = the hostname found in step 3 above
* LOGIN = root
* PASSWORD = alpine
* PORT = 22
6. Unfortunately, that 'should' have allowed me to log into the iPhone to run the necessary steps to check the boot loader version; but it failed with a network-communication error.

I'll keep googling.

Granitel · Oct 30, 2011

I figured it all out (from help on another forum). But due to the lack of any response in this forum, I will be giving up here and moving to the other forums.
Good luck to all; I hope my posts will help others with the extensive details.

jwj · Nov 8, 2011

Thanks Granitel. What other forums are you going to? All I want to do is restore a previously jailbroken 3GS.
I have a 3GS iOS 4.2.1 with 6.15 baseband. I've deleted the gs.apple.com lines in the host file, used iREB, TinyUmbrella, and clicked 'shift' + Restore to load restore file. It almosts completely restores until it gives me the 1015 error.
Any suggestions?

Granitel · Nov 9, 2011

jwj said:
Thanks Granitel. What other forums are you going to?

I'll send you a PM as it's probably not apropos to discuss specifics of other forums especially when this particular forum won't fare at all well against them. Suffice to say I tested ten forums (easy to find on the record because I used the same user name) and of those ten, only three had responses and of those three, only two were useful. The good news is those two forums were VERY USEFUL (and solved all my problems). Look for a PM.