Need Help with iPhone 3G that has been jailbroken

[JustMyAlias]

old school - yes!
I need some really basic, laymen's help (if possible)... and I am not an iPerson in any form...
I have my son's old iPhone 3G. He performed a jailbreak on it and used it successfully for awhile, and then it just locked up.
He didn't bother with it, because he was using it on T-Mobile and it was too slow anyways.
But now my phone is broken and I don't want to buy a new one - I rarely ever talk and mostly text. Slow or not, this would prob. be enough for me...

anyways, I have tried to restore the phone using iTunes and received error 1015 and also 3194, at different points.
I have Googled to try to resolve my issues, but there are way too many answers and too many variations.
I don't know what OS was on the phone.
He did use RedSnow for the original jailbreak.
I have downloaded tinyumbrella and this iPhone1,2_4.0.1_8A306_Restore.zip and changed the extension to .ipsw.
I have tried running it from iTunes (this is where I get the error 3194).
I have looked at my hosts file and this was already at the very end:
#74.208.10.249 gs.apple.com
#127.0.0.1 gs.apple.com

I am not sure what to do or where to start.
I would like to restore the phone, then jailbreak it again (? right??) so that I can use it on a non-ATT network.
TIA for any help!!

 

[Jmills87]

Welcome to the forum! You can only restore 4.0.1 if you have the SHSH blobs saved for that firmware. If you do then you need to make sure the SHSH is showing up in TinyUmbrella and then you need to start the TinyTSS server before shift+restoring your custom firmware. Also, the device must be in Pwned-DFU mode in order to restore a custom firmware.

 

[JustMyAlias]

Okay - and sorry, but you have already lost me.
I don't care what version I restore to (do I?)...
so if I am not able to restore to 4.0.1, can I restore it to a different version?

But first, how do I know if I have the SHSH blobs saved? Where do I check for this?
And I do not know what Pwned DFU mode is, or how to get into this mode...

 

[Jmills87]

Download the latest version of TinyUmbrella and with your device connected go into the "advanced settings" and check the "request SHSH from Cydia" option then hit "save SHSH" and it will save all the SHSHs you have on file and then you will know what firmware you can restore to.

If you are planning on using the carrier that the phone is locked to you can just connect to iTunes and hit restore which will install 4.2.1, but if you need to unlock you will need to restore a custom firmware made with sn0wbreeze in order to preserve your baseband. Sn0wbreeze makes an application called iReb and places it on your desktop and that's what you use to enter Pwned-DFU mode.

 

[JustMyAlias]

I have downloaded v5.11.01.
I checked the option "Request SHSH from Cydia"
but the "Save SHSH" option is grayed out.

Okay - re-started everything and now it's recognizing the phone - I think (shows Recovery Devices, then 1114129 as the device). And I can click on Save SHSH, but nothing happens.

 

[JustMyAlias]

like this:

 

[Jmills87]

The device can't be in recovery mode while you are saving SHSH

 

[JustMyAlias]

it would just do that every time I plugged it in to the computer : /

I downloaded sn0wbreeze and used 4.2 though, and it worked (seemingly, so far...)
I will also be using it on T-mobile, so it needs to be jailbroken anyways (and iTunes was not allowing me to just restore it...)
Tx for all of your help - I may be back if I run into any issues...

 

[zig9449]

Try downloading a Whited00r iPSW for iPhone 3G. It's iOS 5 for older devices.

It's fast, smooth, no lag.

Not that you have to, but if you ever encounter lag, or freezing and can't fix it....Whited00r really speeds up an older device.

Must enter PWNED DFU mode with iREB before restoring to any custom iPSW.

Like I said.....it's not necessary but should you encounter freezing, or lag...check out Whited00r.

 

[JustMyAlias]

now I think I really goofed...
I had it jailbroken using 4.2
then i DID go back and use WhiteD00r as recommended above
it was much faster
and worked very well for my needs
then, I got a legit carrier unlock from AT&T
and tried to do a restore through iTunes
and now I'm stuck with the error 1015 again...
help!!