iPhone 3GS baseband check

Hi there everyone!
I need some pointers. I'm 'bout to go buy a 32gb white 3gs that the seller says after a jailbreak the baseband didn't load/install. It is an italian iphone, and those come sim-lock free. So...i would really like to know what should i look out for. I'm well aware of what i'm getting myself into. I have the basic knowledge to get it working again, but i sincerley don't know how can i check the iphone for other issues, like, what if it's not the baseband the problem and actually the antenas are fried....so. if anyone could lend a hand here i would apreciate it a lot. Thanks and sorry for posting and asking answers on such a short notice.

thanks for the answer! Well, i got it. wont be sorry because i have the 3g as a replacement...so...
Well, from what he told me, and what i'v seen, he jailbreaked the 3gs while on ios 6.0.1, and when asked if he has the old bootrom or new one he just presed the one he "thought" was the right one...the guy had no idea that he could put the phone in dfu mode without a jailbreak app running on his pc...that says a lot. the phone isn't stolen, cause i was provided with a box and all of its accessories, and the serial number on the box matched the one in settings.
Now, the phone is turning on and all, works fine just that it is stuck on "searching" in the upper left corner, even when the sim is removed, from what i googled, it's a common symptom for jailbreak gone wrong on 3gs. so i'm sure i can fix it, having the advantage of knowing a little english (this is and advantage in italy) and that most of the tutorials out there are in english, i guess i can sort this out.
Thanks again! You guys can close the thread as i am no longer in need of guidance

Ok, so apparently the owner messed up the baseband. We are talking about an old bootrom 3GS made in the week 22 of 2009 (serial XX0922XXX). The problem is that every time i try to restore it using itunes (recovery mode or DFU mode) i get "error 1" , not "-1", after googleing a bit i found out that error 1 isn't a hardware error but a software one, not like "-1" which indeed is a hardware error. The problem is that i can't go past this error. Tried it with redsnow to push it out of recovery, thinking that having it installed around 70% i could boot into the os. Well, no luck there. I kept on searching around and didn't find much help anywhere, looked on youtube, on forums, around here and nothing. In the iphone updater log the error is caused by failing to update the baseband. I'm attaching the log here. So is there any way i could officially restore this jailbroken/messed up iphone and get it working again? Links, suggestions, anything is welcome. Thanks.

I am using (and have tried it on) two macs, one is a ppc g4 running 10.5.8 with itunes version 10.6.3, the other is a core2duo imac running the same os and same itunes version.
I must underline that the restore goes until it gets to the firmware restore part, where it hangs and eventually reboots the device saying "error 1"

PS: looks like i "didn't" know what i was getting myself into.

TriJetHero said:

first of all update your itunes version
10.7+ is needed to install or restore 6.01

than try again

what you can try is flash the ipad BB with redsn0w
than downgrade to 5.13.04 with redsn0w and after that do a restore in itunes to stock 6.01

also before you try that make sure it is indeed factory unlocked, check on http://www.s-url.ro with the IMEI or serial.

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thanks for the answer. the thing is that i can't update itunes because it requires 10.6.8. the intel mac isn't mine, so i can't mess around with it, and i own a ppc mac and can't go past 10.5.8. so basically i'm screwed, right? i'll try to downgrade or maybe find someone with itunes 10.7... thanks..

edit: itis unlocked
"Purchased: 2009-06-19
Contract: Out of contract
SIM lock: Unlocked"

well then...i managed to restore to a custom 5.1.1 via redsn0w, but with the same messed up baseband as it stays on searching even without the sim, no iccid, no imei, no nothing. and i'm kind of stuck at the activation screen. Spent most of today and yesterday evening trying to fix it...at this point, what hopes can i have on making it work again?

labman said:

Sorry good luck I have never been willing to take on such headaches. Honestly saving a few $$$ for all the time and effort isn't worth it imo. I going to fallow the thread just to see if you fix it or end up unloading to somebody else. Good luck

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Thanks! Hope i'll bring back good news from my travels ..At least i still have my positive thinking.
I was wondering...now that i managed to downgrade to 5.1.1, what if i update again to 6.0.1 will i still get the "error 1" thing and get stuck in the same loop i've been in since yeasterday i am asking this because i'm not sure if the error is caused by the baseband itself or it was just something with the 6.0.1 jailbreak and if all that data was canceled restoring to this custom 5.1.1 or i'm exactly where i started...

TriJetHero said:

if it is via a custom IPSW it won't do anything to the baseband, try to restore to a stock 5.1.1 with redsn0w or try to flash the ipad BB

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thanks thanks thanks. well internet didn't work over night, some problems they had..don't know. anyways, i tried restoring back to 6.0.1 with no luck. so now i'm restoring to a stock 5.1.1 with redsnow, then i'll restart the phone a couple of times, and try to flash ipad baseband, then another couple of restarts and back to stock baseband, after that if all is well, i'll update to 6.0.1, or maybe just stay the hell on 5.1.1 if it solves the issue with network, wifi, bluetooth...and will be able to use.
i'll update in a couple of hours. hopefully with good news.
aa...and sorry for my grammar, spelling etc. and thanks again for the support. it actually helps seeing that people are curious, kind of motivates me on trying again.

well...no luck guys. Upgraded baseband to the ipad one, then downgraded and nothing. updated again and still nothing. itunes now wont restore to 6.0.1 saying that my iphone isn't eligible for that build, can't restore to a stock 5.1.1 because i don't have the necessary shsh blobs. Left with one last thing. put it in the freezer for 30minutes and see if that fixes it. ha...at this point i think i'm going to try that one too and if all else fails i'm going to put it into that restore loop i was in yesterday and make up a good story then try to see if anyone at apple store will notice. maybe get a cheap/free replacement. if that fails too, well...sell it for parts and maybe next time be more careful.

TriJetHero said:

did you try jailbreaking it and installing ultrasn0w?

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jailbreak yes, but how can i install ultrasn0w if i can't connect my iphone to any wifi network? thanks anyways. and happy new year

can't sleep restoring now to 4.1. found out that apple still signs this one. fingers crossed.

gaboshenia said:

can't sleep restoring now to 4.1. found out that apple still signs this one. fingers crossed.

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Now that didn't work, and probably because 4.1 isn't a major release? so...seeing that i can't downgrade to 5.0 because i don't have shsh blobs, i'll try 6.0, right? 6.0 includes the baseband, right? and it is still signed by apple, right? Haven't tried this one, so i could give it a go. I'v already found someone who is willing to trade his 3g 16gb for mine, but i think that it deserves another try, don't you think?

1ST - thanks to everyone for your interest. I've read about ultrasnow, but does that actually work in my case? having no baseband at all/corrupt baseband? i'd would actually give it a try, but tomorrow, unless any of you guys know a PPC mac app for accessing files on the root of an iphone without network/wifi connections...that would rock. And if you can do that, isn't there a way to manually put the baseband file there? mmm...guess not. Anywayz, i'll try it tomorrow, the thing with ultrasnow. see what happens. Thanks!

TriJetHero said:

you can download the deb, transfer via usb(ifunbox) and install via ifile or putting the deb in Private/Var/Root/Media/Cydia/AutoInstall and restarting your phone, you might have to create the Cydia/AutoInstall directory.

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Applejuiced said:

True that.
But it's a lot of legwork to do it the manual way.
I'd try to find an open wifi.

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TriJetHero said:

but if the wifi doesn't work it narrows down the possibilities a bit.

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Applejuiced said:

I hear you.
That would suck.

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Guys!!! i've found this and i think i could work. All i need is the baseband file for 5.0/3gs/my phone. D you guys think this will work?

So...ultrasn0w didn't work. Installed it using diskaid. first installed mobilesubstrate, restarted, then installed ultrasn0w. they both show in cydia, but nothing happens after restarting the device. So, back to square 1. As i said above, if i could only get the right baseband files for 5.1.1/3gs, and push them on my iphone then run bbupdater extreme....it would probably work. But i also need mobile terminal and coreservices thinghy on the phone too...mmm...complicated but worth i try. I can find a way/and where to download everything except the baseband files. Searched all morning and nothing. Maybe someone here reading my thread has them and would like to share.