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iPhone Failed attempt to hacktivate! Urgent help needed!

J

jameswilby5

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 12, 2011
16
0
Hi everyone,

I had initially posted this in the general iPhone section but was advised to post it here as I may have more luck finding experienced jailbreakers (if thats the word :cool: ).

Basically I had an old iPhone 4 which I was planning on selling to my friend. However it was locked to Vodafone and he is on T-Mobile. So I said I would unlock it for him. I had stupidly restored the phone and no longer had the micro sim (upgraded to iPhone 5 so have a nano sim) so could not activate the phone to get the IMEI code.

So I decided to hacktivate the phone. I used RedSn0w and some internet guides to do this. It was going well until it finished and it took me back the the activation screen. However when I try to activate the phone I get a message saying "We're sorry, we are unable to continue with your activation at this time. Please try again later, or contact customer care."

I tried plugging it into iTunes did multiple restores but the same message still appears and won't let me do anything else. The only way to restore it through iTunes is to put it in recovery mode. Does anyone know what I could do to get it back to activating properly. If I can do that I will pay to get it unlocked at my local store as I no longer have time to wait for Vodafone to do it. My friend is trying to buy this as a Christmas gift so if you could help it would be greatly appreciated!

Many thanks,
James
 
You don't say what firmware you are on.

Apple has been moving toward sim activations for over a year now (never ever discard a sim even if inactive)

If the iPhone 4 is on iOS6, you will need to get hold of a Vodaphone sim to activate or just get it IMEI unlocked by a grey market vendor then any sim will activate it.
 
Hi thanks for the replies. I'm unsure as to what firmware I am on. How do I find out without being able to activate the phone.

Before I started the jailbreak when I tried to activate it without a sim card it just said something like "please insert a sim card."
However now it is saying "We're sorry, we are unable to continue with your activation at this time. Please try again later, or contact customer care."

So this makes me think that the Jailbreaking did something to wreak the phone. I'll try get hold of a sim card to put in it and see if that helps but do you know if it jailbreaking could have caused this to happen to the phone?

Many thanks,
James
 
jameswilby5 said:
Hi thanks for the replies. I'm unsure as to what firmware I am on. How do I find out without being able to activate the phone.

Before I started the jailbreak when I tried to activate it without a sim card it just said something like "please insert a sim card."
However now it is saying "We're sorry, we are unable to continue with your activation at this time. Please try again later, or contact customer care."

So this makes me think that the Jailbreaking did something to wreak the phone. I'll try get hold of a sim card to put in it and see if that helps but do you know if it jailbreaking could have caused this to happen to the phone?

Many thanks,
James
Click to expand...

Are you connected to wifi when you're trying to activate the phone or plug it in to itunes that's updated to the latest version?
 
Hi thanks for the reply. I've tried both plugging it into iTunes (which is updated) and connecting to my WiFi network.

Many thanks,
James
 
I downloaded TinyUmbrella and it shows me useful information like my IMEI but the firmware section is blank. I think the firmware would be IOS 5 but I can't remember exactly which one.

Many thanks,
James
 
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