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After 3G upgrade, nothing.....

P

packetjunkie

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 15, 2008
134
0
I've got two older iPhone 3Gs that I'd like to make usable for my kids around the house as wifi imessage devices. I plugged them in and it prompted me to upgrade them, which I did.

Now the phones are stuck on the "plug into itunes" mode and iTunes shows an "iPhone" when connected, but the window to the right that should show the setup information just is blank with the word "iPhone" in the middle.

I've tried putting it into recovery mode and restoring it twice more since then, but the same thing keeps happening and I can't get to where I can just use it without the phone enabled.

I had no problems doing this with an older 3GS I'm not using.

When I tried to manually select a firmware version for restore, I get messages that the firmware is not compatible with whatever IPSW file I try to use for the 3G.

Any ideas on how to get this working?
 
packetjunkie said:
I've got two older iPhone 3Gs that I'd like to make usable for my kids around the house as wifi imessage devices. I plugged them in and it prompted me to upgrade them, which I did.

Now the phones are stuck on the "plug into itunes" mode and iTunes shows an "iPhone" when connected, but the window to the right that should show the setup information just is blank with the word "iPhone" in the middle.

I've tried putting it into recovery mode and restoring it twice more since then, but the same thing keeps happening and I can't get to where I can just use it without the phone enabled.

I had no problems doing this with an older 3GS I'm not using.

When I tried to manually select a firmware version for restore, I get messages that the firmware is not compatible with whatever IPSW file I try to use for the 3G.

Any ideas on how to get this working?
Click to expand...

Which software version are you trying to upgrade them to?
 
iMessage will not work without a sim I think since it's associated with a phone number for iPhones (much like facetime). You could just use a free texting app once you get the phone working.

Not to mention iPhone 3g cannot be upgraded to iOS 5
 
It didnt tell me what version it was upgrading to; if I go into recovery mode it does an install, but I have no way of knowing what version. The only option iTunes gives me is to eject it.

It'll only show something in iTunes in recovery mode, does a full restore, but then when it comes back its on the "plug into itunes" mode on the iphone and I can see the iPhone in iTunes, but the right panel is blank (except for that iPhone logo in the middle).

(This was not jailbroken or anything)

I think iMessage works off an email and not a SIM since you can use it on non-cellular devices, right?
 
Last edited:
The 3G and 3GS are different phones. Using a 3GS ipsw file to try and update a 3G to iOS 5 will not work. The 3G is limited to iOS 4.1.
 
I didn't manually select an ipsw file initially - I let iTunes upgrade the phones.

I only tried to install an ipsw after the phone wouldnt do anything more in itunes after it did the upgrade. But none of the versions I selected (downloaded for the 3G) worked and all said the firmware wasnt compatible.
 
iPhone 3g can use up to 4.2.1. If you updated through iTunes then that's what is on it now. Take a look: Settings>General>About.
You can't do iMessage on 4.2.1.
 
Find a direct download for the latest iPhone 3G software (which I believe, as someone else pointed out, is 4.2.1) and try putting it in DFU and then manually restoring it to the downloaded IPSW.

As others have pointed out, you won't be using the official iMessage app, but they should still be able to be used as iPod Touch equivalents.
 
packetjunkie said:
I cant get past the Connect to iTunes screen....
Click to expand...

Just a question.

Are these the original iPhone 3G that you or someone else didn't hack?

Cause if someone uses iPad firmware to to restore the iPhone 3G (in order to unlock the 3G). Than the OP can never restore the iPhone 3G via regular iTunes means.


So OP. have these iPhone 3G ever been jailbroken? With the iPad baseband?
 
packetjunkie said:
I cant get past the Connect to iTunes screen....
Click to expand...

Are you able to put either of them in recovery mode? If you have successfully done this you will get an itunes pop-up that says something to the effect of "a phone in recovery mode has been detected, you must restore".
 
Yes, I do get the in recovery mode and it allows me to reinstall, but after that the phone says I need to connect to itunes; but in itunes, i see the phone but the screen to view the phone is blank.
 
packetjunkie said:
Yes, I do get the in recovery mode and it allows me to reinstall, but after that the phone says I need to connect to itunes; but in itunes, i see the phone but the screen to view the phone is blank.
Click to expand...

Have you tried directly downloading the correct IPSW and forcing it to install that one and not whatever it's automatically downloading?

Honestly I am not convinced that my suggestion is going to fix anything, but it's what I would do...
 
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