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iPhone Jailbroken iPhone 3GS won't restore after Erase All Content and Settings

M

myoozician

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 22, 2010
4
0
I've been searching the forums for hours and I think mine is a subtly unique situation.

I sold my iPhone 3gs as "unlocked" on ebay since my iPhone 4 is coming tomorrow. Tonight I jailbroke it with spirit, then unlocked it with cydia/ultrasn0w. I was about to pack it up when I decided I should "Erase all content and settings" so that the buyer won't have any of my contact's info or anything.

I put my phone in DFU mode and it won't restore. "This device isn't eligible for the requested build"

I've tried everything. I went into Terminal and edited /etc/hosts to point to cydia instead of pointing to apple, but my gut tells me that its not working because the "Erase all content and settings" removed any traces of cydia.

I've never jailbroken anything before and have limited experience with this kind of stuff. I've downloaded all types of firmware versions (3.0, 3.01, 3.1.3) and nothing will take.

The phone is just cycling over and over between the apple logo and a black screen. The phone needs an OS, apple knows I tried to jailbreak I guess and won't let me restore, and since I did an "erase all" I can't utilize any of the hacks to bypass apple's safeguard.

I've run blackra1n to no avail as well. Nothing I do seems to reverse this awful mistake I've made.

What do I do?!
 
Applejuiced

Applejuiced

macrumors Westmere
Apr 16, 2008
40,672
6,533
At the iPhone hacks section.
You should never do an erase all content and settings unless you're ready to restore.
If you dont have SHSH's saved thru cydia for 3.1.3 of prior you will have to restore it to official 4.0
And will not be able to deliver the JB and unlock promise that you gave to your seller.
Be more carefull next time.

Did you edit your hosts file?
Try to restore to 3.1.3 if it lets you. You remember if you had SHSH's saved on file? What did it display on the top of cydia when you opened it up?
 
M

myoozician

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 22, 2010
4
0
I don't know what an SHSH is. I feel like a moron. I already tried to restore 3.1.3. iTunes won't let me

I don't know what cydia said when I opened it up. I was in a rush.

If I can at least get the phone to work again I'll be happy. How can I?
 
M

myoozician

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 22, 2010
4
0
I'm a professional at getting my phone into DFU mode. When I click restore and update it just says "This device isn't eligible for the requested build" should I download the iOS4 software from http://www.felixbruns.de/iPod/firmware/ or something?

Thank you so much for helping my btw.
 
M

myoozician

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 22, 2010
4
0
Many times. I'm 2 min away from finishing my 4.0 download. iTunes isn't letting me do a thing. I pray that this will work. Otherwise I think I through away $300.

Was I correct in my assumption that the Terminal edits:

sudo -s
(password)
sudo pico /etc/hosts
74.208.10.249 gs.apple.com

Aren't working since I completely wiped my phone of everything?


OK i just tried to restore to a version of 4.0 that I have on my desktop. iTunes says "Preparing for restore"!
 
pixelated

pixelated

macrumors 6502a
Oct 21, 2008
713
0
myoozician said:
Was I correct in my assumption that the Terminal edits:

sudo -s
(password)
sudo pico /etc/hosts
74.208.10.249 gs.apple.com

Aren't working since I completely wiped my phone of everything?
Click to expand...
nope, it's not working becuase you haven't got a SHSH for the FW you are trying to restore to. This isn't stored on your phone, but remotely on cydias servers.
 
S

soccer16

macrumors newbie
Jul 24, 2010
4
0
help

did you figure out how to fix it i did the same exact thing i just want the phone to work again.
 
S

soccer16

macrumors newbie
Jul 24, 2010
4
0
i tried to restore it i put it in recovery then plugged it into itunes but it says apple will not allow the restore
 
N

nebo1ss

macrumors 68030
Jun 2, 2010
2,903
1,695
What version of Itunes are you both running. You need 9.2 or 9.2.1 to install IOS 4.
 
J

jozzle06

macrumors newbie
Jul 26, 2010
2
0
Okay, I have jailbroken iphone at 3.1.3 firmware and itunes also gives me the same problem as my iphone isn't eligible to restore (however i never used the erase all setting). So I placed the iPhone into DFU mode and tried to restore it that way like you guys say but iTunes still says it's not eligible :/

EDIT: nevermind, I see you say I have to restore it to 4.0.1, but isn't it bad to install official firmware over hacked firmware?

EDIT 2: I downloaded the iPhone 4 firmware just like the previous guy did, then I placed the iphone in DFU mode and tried to restore it to OS4, however, iTunes STILL said it wasn't eligible, i need help here please
 
dhlizard

dhlizard

macrumors G4
Mar 16, 2009
10,214
119
The Jailbreak Community
jozzle06 said:
Okay, I have jailbroken iphone at 3.1.3 firmware and itunes also gives me the same problem as my iphone isn't eligible to restore (however i never used the erase all setting). So I placed the iPhone into DFU mode and tried to restore it that way like you guys say but iTunes still says it's not eligible :/

EDIT: nevermind, I see you say I have to restore it to 4.0.1, but isn't it bad to install official firmware over hacked firmware?

EDIT 2: I downloaded the iPhone 4 firmware just like the previous guy did, then I placed the iphone in DFU mode and tried to restore it to OS4, however, iTunes STILL said it wasn't eligible, i need help here please
Click to expand...

For a 3GS, you cannot restore to any version but the current version (4.0.1) without having saved the hashes for the version you want to restore to.

Google "Caching Apples SIgnature Server" a good place to start learning.
 
B

blah1986

macrumors newbie
Aug 5, 2010
1
0
help please!

my iphone had the same problem. i put it on the dfu mode and tried to restore it, after it was done restoring this popped up "The iphone "iphone" cannot be restored at this time because the iphone software update server could not be contacted or is temporarily unavailable"

what should i do?? i need to sell this phone but i can't even get it to work, please help.
 
Applejuiced

Applejuiced

macrumors Westmere
Apr 16, 2008
40,672
6,533
At the iPhone hacks section.
blah1986 said:
my iphone had the same problem. i put it on the dfu mode and tried to restore it, after it was done restoring this popped up "The iphone "iphone" cannot be restored at this time because the iphone software update server could not be contacted or is temporarily unavailable"

what should i do?? i need to sell this phone but i can't even get it to work, please help.
Click to expand...

Make sure you're connected online when you restore.
Turn off any firewall or anything blocking itunes contacting the activation server.
Try another computer maybe.
 
M

mctjlove

macrumors newbie
Jan 9, 2011
1
0
i am having tha same problem

after i bought tha phone from my friend i decided to erase all content and setting and now its stuck on a continuous loop of tha apple logo and loading circle. now its just a black screen and displays that tha battery needs to be charged after being left on the charger all night. please i need help asap. it does not recognize that i plug tha phone into itunes either after being able to get it into recovery mode
 
ansabakhan

ansabakhan

macrumors 65816
Mar 3, 2010
1,210
0
i know this is a old thread, but i am in a same situation right now , was on 4.0.2 but did erase all.... and not stuck on apple logo ..is there any why to save my baseband and get back in the phone ?
 
V

victorcan

macrumors newbie
Nov 4, 2007
2
0
ansabakhan said:
i know this is a old thread, but i am in a same situation right now , was on 4.0.2 but did erase all.... and not stuck on apple logo ..is there any why to save my baseband and get back in the phone ?
Click to expand...

I repeated the steps to jailbreak but had itunes up and running
hold the home and sleep key for ten seconds till reboot , then let go the sleep button and keep holding home button for another 15 sec. then itunes saw it and gave me the option to recover... Good luck :
)
 
S

sullycell

macrumors newbie
Feb 28, 2011
1
0
need help to restore

I have an iPhone 3g previously running 4.2.1 firmware, jailbroken with redsn0w, and baseband at 6.15.00

I was going to sell it so I went to the reset portion of the phone and did thee "erase all content and settings". after this, I go to restore and nothing works. phone goes into recovery mode and evertime I try to restore I get a "1015 ERROR" please help....
 
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