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mcleodjeff

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 23, 2011
8
0
I came down to Phoenix from Canada and wanted to unlock my 3gs so I could hop on a carrier down here and save myself the roaming fees. Once unlocked I've had nothing but trouble!

Currently my screen is just a picture of the usb cord pointing to the itunes logo. I had my 'tech guy' do whatever he is supposed to do to fix it and he worked on it for quite a while. When he was done my phone was wiped (no contacts, no music, no apps, etc) but seemed to more or less work. He told me to go home, install pwnage and use that to recover my phone. He said once I had done that I would be able to sync my phone but couldn't ever upgrade the software.

I followed his instructions and now I'm here. At this point I just want my phone to go back to the original, factory settings. Re-lock it, put it back in jail, and make it usable once again.

Any ideas?

thx.

-j
 
Download the .ipsw of iOS 4.3.1 (latest release for 3GS?)
Put the phone in DFW mode and install.

Nice, thank you. Can you give me a bit more info? How do I put it into DFW mode (10sec home+power, 10 sec home?). And once I do that, how do I use the ipsw file?

Thank you for such a speedy response!

-j
 
Sounds to me like he might have updated your baseband to 6.15.00. In which case you won't be able to restore to official software.
 
Reading between the lines. Your phone has be updated to the iPad baseband,
That is why you were told you cannot update thru iTunes again.

You can only restore to custom firmware with pawnage tool. If you have shah for 4.2.1 then you best option is to create custom 4.2.1 with pwnage tool. Use pawnage tool to put phone in dfu and then close pawnage open iTunes and option restore to custom firmware.

The changes that were made to baseband means your GPS is broken.
 
Reading between the lines. Your phone has be updated to the iPad baseband,
That is why you were told you cannot update thru iTunes again.

You can only restore to custom firmware with pawnage tool. If you have shah for 4.2.1 then you best option is to create custom 4.2.1 with pwnage tool. Use pawnage tool to put phone in dfu and then close pawnage open iTunes and option restore to custom firmware.

The changes that were made to baseband means your GPS is broken.

Wow, that sucks big time. Guess I'll have to deal with that.

When I go into the dfu mode using the pawnage tool, then close it and go into itunes the only option I have is to restore. I click on that and it forces me into updating to new software. I do the only thing I can, which is click ok, and when it's done with me I'm right back where I started.

Any other ideas?

-j
 
Wow, that sucks big time. Guess I'll have to deal with that.

When I go into the dfu mode using the pawnage tool, then close it and go into itunes the only option I have is to restore. I click on that and it forces me into updating to new software. I do the only thing I can, which is click ok, and when it's done with me I'm right back where I started.

Any other ideas?

-j

if Itunes won't let you try running TinyUmbrella hopefully you have saved shsh blobs. If not you really have a problem. I have never felt the ipad bb was worth it.
 
Wow, that sucks big time. Guess I'll have to deal with that.

When I go into the dfu mode using the pawnage tool, then close it and go into itunes the only option I have is to restore. I click on that and it forces me into updating to new software. I do the only thing I can, which is click ok, and when it's done with me I'm right back where I started.

Any other ideas?

-j

You have to hold down the option button on your keyboard and then click restore.
Then it will let you select the custom 4.2.1 ipsw you created with pwnage.
Also you will need tinyumbrella running in the back and selecting start tss server.
But you gotta make sure you put your iphone in Pwned DFU mode with pwnage tool before you attempt to restore.
 
You have to hold down the option button on your keyboard and then click restore.
Then it will let you select the custom 4.2.1 ipsw you created with pwnage.
Also you will need tinyumbrella running in the back and selecting start tss server.
But you gotta make sure you put your iphone in Pwned DFU mode with pwnage tool before you attempt to restore.

Hopefully, OP knows what you are teaching him and get his phone back to work and not like the other guy update his phone to the latest firmware:D
 
I laugh at these fools. I used to get angry, but then I realized that it's pointless to get angry at stupidity. Granted, some of them still grate on my nerves, but that's why they invented beer. :D
Is it mean that I often laugh out loud at these threads?
 
You have to hold down the option button on your keyboard and then click restore.
Then it will let you select the custom 4.2.1 ipsw you created with pwnage.
Also you will need tinyumbrella running in the back and selecting start tss server.
But you gotta make sure you put your iphone in Pwned DFU mode with pwnage tool before you attempt to restore.

OK, I followed this to the letter (thanks btw) and now I'm getting error 1600. I googled it and couldn't find anything useful.

-j
 
OK, I followed this to the letter (thanks btw) and now I'm getting error 1600. I googled it and couldn't find anything useful.

-j

You are not putting your phone in DFU correctly. Use the count down timer in pwnage tool to put the phone in DFU then close pwnage tool open itunes and then do the option restore and select the custom firmware.
 
You are not putting your phone in DFU correctly. Use the count down timer in pwnage tool to put the phone in DFU then close pwnage tool open itunes and then do the option restore and select the custom firmware.

Ok, so I tried again (a few more times). I get through the recovery and everything looks great. A message pops up from iTunes saying something along the lines of "Your phone has been restored to factory settings. It now needs to restart, please keep it plugged in until it has restarted. Once restarted it will appear in the iTunes sidebar".

Then about 5 seconds after that pops up it takes me to the sync menu with a pop up saying "iTunes has detected an iphone in recovery mode. You must restore this iPhone before it can be used with iTunes". And the phone remains with a black screen.

I have no idea where to go next!

-j
 
You clearly cannot follow directions then.
Restored to factory settings?
You can only restore using a custom ipsw.
I'm throwing in the towel, find someone that knows what they're doing to fix it for you.
 
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You clearly cannot follow directions then.
Restored to factory settings?
You can only restore using a custom ipsw.
I'm throwing in the towel, find someone that knows what they're doing to fix it for you.

Well, thanks for the help anyways. Just so I know whether I'm following the right method, here's what I did:

I created the custom ipsw by following the instructions given (in pwnage, using the firmware bundle I downloaded online for 4.2.1). I followed the pwnage tool's instructions and it told me I had successfully put the phone into dfu mode. I opened itunes, pressed option and clicked on restore. Selected the custom ipsw that I created, then sat and waited. Did I screw something up there?
 
Right now, Apple only allows you to restore / install to 4.3.1. Thus, if you want to restore to 4.2.1 (even with a custom file), you will need to have saved 4.2.1 SHSH files. So, did you previously saved them, through Cydia or on your HDD with Tinyumbrella?
 
Like Myzhi said you need shsh blobs for itunes to allow you to restore to 4.2.1
You should have tinyumbrella TSS server running in the back.
If you did all what you said above and put the iphone in pwned DFU mode, then selected the custom 4.2.1 ipsw you created with pwnage and restored to that it should have went thru. It works for everyone else.
Make sure you dont select the official ipsw or just click restore on itunes without selecting the custom firmware.
Slow down, double check you're doing everything right and follow the step by step without skipping anything.
http://www.iclarified.com/entry/index.php?enid=13931
Also when you create your custom ipsw with pwnage make sure you go into settings and UNCHECK the box that says "activate the iphone" since you want to use it again on official carrier. Create a whole new ipsw if you're not sure you did that or not. By default that box is checked to hactivate so make sure you uncheck it.
 
Last edited:
Like Myzhi said you need shsh blobs for itunes to allow you to restore to 4.2.1
You should have tinyumbrella TSS server running in the back.
If you did all what you said above and put the iphone in pwned DFU mode, then selected the custom 4.2.1 ipsw you created with pwnage and restored to that it should have went thru. It works for everyone else.
Make sure you dont select the official ipsw or just click restore on itunes without selecting the custom firmware.
Slow down, double check you're doing everything right and follow the step by step without skipping anything.
http://www.iclarified.com/entry/index.php?enid=13931
Also when you create your custom ipsw with pwnage make sure you go into settings and UNCHECK the box that says "activate the iphone" since you want to use it again on official carrier. Create a whole new ipsw if you're not sure you did that or not. By default that box is checked to hactivate to make sure you uncheck it.


I marvel at your patience
 
Right now, Apple only allows you to restore / install to 4.3.1. Thus, if you want to restore to 4.2.1 (even with a custom file), you will need to have saved 4.2.1 SHSH files. So, did you previously saved them, through Cydia or on your HDD with Tinyumbrella?

How can I check to see what saved SHSH files I may have on/for my 3gs?
 
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