Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

nelnel

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 21, 2007
16
0
forwards from hackint0sh..

--------------------------------------------

Hi Guys,

I have said to everyone that i will keep them updated on the progress being made by us so its only fair you know the full story!!

As many of you, im sure, have already read geohots blog, you may or may not be aware that as it currently stands, we WILL NOT be able to software unlock the 4.6 bootloader iPhone until a new firmware Update is released.

Now, alot of people are having a hard time understanding this and for most people Geo's blog wont make sense so im gonna explain why to you.

Most of you know, that to Unlock the phone, the baseband firware needs to be patched, but to patch a firmware means we need to delete the old one and flash the patched one, this was done with ieraser or anySIM or whatever way you unlock the phone. To erase the baseband firmware, you need to have the secpack, again i am sure most of you are aware of this.

With the old bootloader, the 3.9 one, you needed to have the secpack of your current baseband firmware OR the secpack of a newer baseband firmware to allow you to erase the Flash, the problem with the new bootloader is it no longer accepts the current secpack, only a newer one. Therefore, until a new firmeware upgrade comes along, we cannot erase the baseband firmware.

Now, its not ALL gloom and doom, It may be possible that someone will figure out how to bypass the secpack for deletion or another way might be found but as of now, this is where we stand.

Now that we have all that nasty stuff out of the way, i do have some good news!! Firstly, an exploit has been found in the new bootloader that should allow us to run anySIM, this is excellent news as many people where worried if there would be an exploit in this bootloader. So basically, When we get the next firmware update, once the secpack is retrieved, we should have no problem unlocking 1.1.2 with bootloader 4.6, however, after the next firmware comes out, we WILL NOT be able to update to it as we will then need the secpack from the one AFTER THAT to unlock it.

Now, back to OTB 1.1.2 Hardware Unlocks:

TA_Mobile, geohot and myself have found away of harware unlocking 1.1.2 OTB iPhones, the problem is there are very very few people in the world with the skills and equipment needed to do it. It is basically a Hardware bootloader downgrade but involves removing the Intel IC from the Comm board and reflashing the chip. This method will not be useful to most people but once we have it done and completed the first phone, we will post a Turorial for the extremely technically minded!!

Another area being looked at is a Test Point bootloader downgrade, in theory, its possible but as of yet we have no information on this.

And finally for those of you who are going to ask, what about a Test Point unlock, we still need to patch the firmware and have no way of erasing it so at the moment, that is in the sae boat as the software unlock.

As i said guys, a promise is a promise and i will keep you updated!!
 

PDE

macrumors 68020
Nov 16, 2005
2,482
13
Sad....the only thing I worry about is that hackers will get tired of this game before Apple does. I was going to give my girlfriend an iphone for Christmas, but not if I can't unlock it. Apple will lose a lot of business when phone can no longer be unlocked, but that's their choice.
 

Mindflux

macrumors 68000
Oct 20, 2007
1,987
1
Austin
Sad....the only thing I worry about is that hackers will get tired of this game before Apple does. I was going to give my girlfriend an iphone for Christmas, but not if I can't unlock it. Apple will lose a lot of business when phone can no longer be unlocked, but that's their choice.

If anything they GAIN business. Apple makes 18/mo from AT&T for the 2 year contract. That's 864 dollars. Far far beyond what they make profit wise on an iPhone
 

pjh

macrumors regular
Sep 25, 2007
166
106
Airstrip 1
If anything they GAIN business. Apple makes 18/mo from AT&T for the 2 year contract. That's 864 dollars. Far far beyond what they make profit wise on an iPhone

It all depends if people that would have bought an unlockable iphone will now purchase a locked one. I can't say for the US, but in the UK, most will not. As to if this loss of revenue is offset by the contract sharing revenue, that's any ones guess!

It's a sad day if no more software unlocks are possible, but you that's the game I suppose!
 

PDE

macrumors 68020
Nov 16, 2005
2,482
13
If anything they GAIN business. Apple makes 18/mo from AT&T for the 2 year contract. That's 864 dollars. Far far beyond what they make profit wise on an iPhone

It's anybody's guess if the loss in hardware sales revenue will be made up easily by contracts. If the acticvation numbers Apple published are any indication, there were a few hundred thousands phones that had not been activated on ATT, or something like 20% of all sales. I'm pretty sure that trend would have continued, mostly by people who otherwise would not buy an iphone. The people who unlock are those that either a) travel a lot and don't want to pay ATT roaming fees or b) live places where the iphone is not for sale, c) don't want to switch carriers just to have the iphone, or d) don't want to be tied into a 2-year contract or e) just don't like being locked down when they've paid so much for the phone.

Few of these people would have purchased an iphone if it could not be unlocked. I think Apple will sell many fewer iphones if they are not unlockable, but only time will tell.
 

braziliphone

macrumors newbie
Sep 22, 2007
10
0
Hi, I know that the only ''solution'' now is to hardware downgrade bootloader, and I also know that its a hard procedure that only a few ppl can do.
Well, I am interested in this hardware unlock, so I contacted my father (he has a smd component factory) and explained him the summarized proccess, he said he probably can do it, but we need a some more detailed info... I am not asking for a guide (I'd love, but...) I am just asking if somebody can give me more info about this procedure or give me a link to a website with some info

Thanks...
 

cookie1105

macrumors 6502
Mar 27, 2006
426
0
London, UK
@ braziliphone: patience my friend!! You made exactly the same post on hackint0sh. pspsully said that he would publish the guide to the 1.1.2 hardware unlock asap.

This news is such a shame. Here's to hoping that apple release a new firmware update soon. ;) In the meantime big respect to geohot & co. Keep up the good work.
 

nelnel

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 21, 2007
16
0
more information:

The new bootloader needs a newer version then the current fw to validate the secpack. Basically iEraser won't work until an update comes out. At that point DO NOT UPDATE. You will be able to iEraser and then hardware unlock with the new secpack.

It all comes down to this:
new(A00086A0): BLS badversion ; secpackver<=mainfwver
old(A0000574): BCC badversion ; secpackver<mainfwver
One equals sign can make a big difference

Also nor dumpers will never work with this bootloader. The read command needs a development certificate. We believe a variant of the anySim exploit may still be present in this bootloader, but we need to wait for a newer secpack to test it. There may be a way around this, look for an exploit.

Thanks to pspsully for giving me a new bootloader iPhone to play with, ta_mobile for getting us the bootloader dump, and gray for continuing to reverse.
 

SRSound

macrumors 6502
Jun 7, 2005
489
0
Just to clarify... this concerns unlocking for use with other carriers, not jailbreaking for use with 3rd party apps, right?
 

nelnel

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 21, 2007
16
0
Just to clarify... this concerns unlocking for use with other carriers, not jailbreaking for use with 3rd party apps, right?

Yeap.
U can still use it as iphone touch.
should not affect 3rd parties applications.
the only think you can't do is "dialing"
 

jav6454

macrumors Core
Nov 14, 2007
22,303
6,257
1 Geostationary Tower Plaza
It all comes down to this:
new(A00086A0): BLS badversion ; secpackver<=mainfwver
old(A0000574): BCC badversion ; secpackver<mainfwver
One equals sign can make a big difference

Call me Ignorant if I am wrong. I am using C++ to learn how to program in a more advanced method. Using the "<=" usually means for me secpacker version must be less or equal to mainfwver(current firmware), which is basically as it was in the past, you could use a previous or same secpack on a determined firmware.

Now, saying "<" means for me secpack version must be less than the current firmware version. This is how things are right now 1.1.2 won't accept a old or same verson of secpack.

As I said before, correct me if I got this worng...
 

nelnel

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 21, 2007
16
0
Call me Ignorant if I am wrong. I am using C++ to learn how to program in a more advanced method. Using the "<=" usually means for me secpacker version must be less or equal to mainfwver(current firmware), which is basically as it was in the past, you could use a previous or same secpack on a determined firmware.

Now, saying "<" means for me secpack version must be less than the current firmware version. This is how things are right now 1.1.2 won't accept a old or same verson of secpack.

As I said before, correct me if I got this worng...


I just copied from his blog
What he means is: for 1.1.2 OTB, it needs a 1.1.3 firmware comes out from Apple first ( and hence, the secpack)
 

jonny

macrumors regular
Jun 28, 2007
152
11
Toronto
Documented cases of 1.1.2 otb with old bootloader?

Does anyone know of any cases of a brand new 1.1.2 otb iphone with the old bootloader? Just wondering as my brother bought one (iphone preloaded with 1.1.2). Also, he'll probably have to have it jailbreaked for when a new unlock comes out. Does anyone think that there is any harm whatsoever trying the ipsf unlock that he purchased? or will it potentially brick the device?
 

werkedm3

macrumors member
Mar 28, 2007
85
0
Not quite sure what OTB means, but I gather it means out of the box? Anyways I just purchased an iphone with 1.1.2 preloaded and I unlocked it with iFuntastic 4.7. Cost me $5 to do and it worked perfectly, and it was really easy.
 

jonny

macrumors regular
Jun 28, 2007
152
11
Toronto
Not quite sure what OTB means, but I gather it means out of the box? Anyways I just purchased an iphone with 1.1.2 preloaded and I unlocked it with iFuntastic 4.7. Cost me $5 to do and it worked perfectly, and it was really easy.

Sorry I mean SIM Unlock for use with providers other than ATT. not activate/jailbreak.
 

RubberShoes

macrumors regular
Jun 30, 2007
174
60
Wait...

Wait so you bought an iphone with 1.1.2 pre-installed and the new 4.6 boot loader...

and you unlocked it to work with other SIM cards?

I'm asking because I want to buy a new iphone and use it on the US T-mobile network...would this work or do I also have to activate/jailbreak it?
 

albinoAZN

macrumors regular
Nov 19, 2007
136
0
Not quite sure what OTB means, but I gather it means out of the box? Anyways I just purchased an iphone with 1.1.2 preloaded and I unlocked it with iFuntastic 4.7. Cost me $5 to do and it worked perfectly, and it was really easy.

eh? Are you sure you unlocked it for use with other SIMs and didn't just jailbreak it to use apps?
 

Consultant

macrumors G5
Jun 27, 2007
13,314
34
OTB = Out The Box

iFuntastic only jailbreaks, which allow you to install additional apps, modify the looks.

iFuntastic DOES NOT sim unlock the phone. If a sim unlock is available, the sim unlock can be run after the phone is jailbreaked, but no sim unlock is available at this time for OTB 1.1.2 iPhone.
 

TurboSC

macrumors 65816
Aug 4, 2007
1,361
0
California
Damn I really hope the hackers don't get tired before Apple does... well at least the SDK is coming soon, that can only mean good things...

I don't mind paying a few bucks for useful applications I don't have to worry about breaking every time there's a new update.
 

jav6454

macrumors Core
Nov 14, 2007
22,303
6,257
1 Geostationary Tower Plaza
Damn I really hope the hackers don't get tired before Apple does... well at least the SDK is coming soon, that can only mean good things...

I don't mind paying a few bucks for useful applications I don't have to worry about breaking every time there's a new update.

3rd party apps should come in free like they have comed in so far if you jailbreak. Some people charge you, but thats wrong, donations are the way to go around...look at the iPhone Dev Team, they give us their time so we can have fun and still they don't charge.

The good thing about the SDK like you said is that every new iPhone software update won't break the applications.
 

jonny

macrumors regular
Jun 28, 2007
152
11
Toronto
Wait so you bought an iphone with 1.1.2 pre-installed and the new 4.6 boot loader...

and you unlocked it to work with other SIM cards?

I'm asking because I want to buy a new iphone and use it on the US T-mobile network...would this work or do I also have to activate/jailbreak it?

no it is not unlocked. the question is "Does anyone know of an instance where a US bought 1.1.2 phone has come with the old bootloader?"

the second question is "let's say for instance that the person who bought this phone is too dumb to check the bootloader version, will the phone be harmed if he runs iphonesimfree 1.8 on it. or will it just remain locked?"
 

RubberShoes

macrumors regular
Jun 30, 2007
174
60
With an entirely new boot loader that is unaffected by any old unlocks...

I would guess that it would just render the unlock useless, not actually damage the boot loader itself, since the old (3.9 boot loader) and the new (4.6 boot loader) are totally different.

So far we can jailbreak a 1.1.2 and downgrade it to 1.1.1,

but now the unlocking process is what's lagging...
 

Glomeg132

macrumors newbie
Nov 30, 2007
1
0
New Bootloader 4.6

Hi is it possible to jailbreak and activate a new iPhone with new bootloader and then use it with a at&t pay as u go card?
If yes is it also possible to use it somehow later with a telekom card in germany?
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.