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iPhone 4 - Preserve Baseband At 4.2.1

Riddle me this batman: will this updating method work in conjunction with the new redsn0w untethered jailbreak released today? Not that the jailbreak as it is is that great as bluetooth, ipod and mutittask switcher functions don't.
 
When you upgrade to 4.2.1 do you need to jailbreak and unlock again ??

Will you lose all the apps / data as well ?
 
ok guys - just did this, followed the steps and it works as expected. I was able to preserve my baseband at 1.59.

Things to note, first of iTunes would not let me use shift+restore to pick and choose the restore file even though it is the complete official version. No matter what I tried, that didnt work. So finally took the leap and update officially. Had TinyUmbrella running in the background, also had my hosts file pointing to cydia.

After update, none of my apps or music or anything on my iphone was erased so it was not a clean restore, apple just updated some files to make it 4.2.1 from 4.1(dont know why i had to download 600Mb if it was just a incremental update)

biggest problem i have right now is how to boot tethered, i am not dealing with untetheredness until is fixed properly. first off i used redsnow to install cydia, but in the second reboot when you had to check-off boot tethered - my iphone 4 always gets stuck on pine-apple logo. I have a windows 7 64 bit and i tried a lot of things with redsnow - including running it in xp compatibility mode(both service pack 2 and service pack 3), ran it also as administrator and set affinity to 1... no matter what i tried, always stuck in pineapple logo, so if anyone has any suggestions, please help me..
 
BlueKhufu said:
Yeah, it was quite a shock for me. I'm on AT&T so I didn't care about the unlock. Baseband preservation was only a concern for future resale value, so I said screw it and updated when the 4.2.1 jb was good to go. I just about **** when itunes gave me the 1013 error, then a double shart when TU was able to kick it out without issue. When I got to peek at my settings and saw the baseband was still at 01.59.00 I was really in disbelief. It was later that night when I read notcom's tweet that I realized that in my lack of concern for preserving BB, I shift-updated instead of shift-restored, which ended up preserving my BB. Then OP posted the same thing and got all kinds of unjustified reaction, which really torqued me for some reason, so I had to butt in, especially when people were saying notcom never mentioned it, when he had.
I'm guessing (please dont take my word for it) that having run TU in the past modified my hosts file before the update, otherwise it may have just updated it all without issue. Or it could have been because I preserved 01.59.00 when I upgraded to 4.1, it caused a mismatch of sorts, and threw it out with the error. I don't know, all that side is way beyond my scope, and don't want to presume, or cause someone to update BB unintentionally. Whatever it was though, it worked.
Click to expand...

Not sure if this has anything to do with anything here, but back when 4.1 was the latest and greatest, I restored through iTunes w/out TU (I wanted a factory restore - BB and all - since I was returning the phone to the Apple Store due to a hardware issue). Even w/ a "standard" (i.e. not "shift > "restore"), and w/out running TU, my BB was preserved at 1.59.00. Fortunately I wasn't called out on it when I exchanged my iPhone :) Just pointing out that it's entirely possible that it's an issue like the poster I quoted above mentioned.
 
iloveiphone4 said:
ok guys - just did this, followed the steps and it works as expected. I was able to preserve my baseband at 1.59.

Things to note, first of iTunes would not let me use shift+restore to pick and choose the restore file even though it is the complete official version. No matter what I tried, that didnt work. So finally took the leap and update officially. Had TinyUmbrella running in the background, also had my hosts file pointing to cydia.
Click to expand...


You didn't read the instructions. They state you have to shift/option update NOT shift/option restore to make this work. The law of averages eventually worked in your favor. It makes me wonder what else you either did wrong or documented wrong. It is not my intent to bash, I'm just saying you seem to have stumbled through accomplishing this. Clear, repeatable directions are what's needed, and no one seems to be able to post that.
 
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Wait, command+update in order to preserve Baseband? I thought all you had to do on the iPhone 4 running 4.1 with baseband 1.59.00 was simply click update on iTunes NOT point it to some other iOS. iTunes would then run through the motion and then you will get an error, in which you will use TinyUmbrella to kick it out?

Do I have this correct?
 
i guess the law of averages did work in my favor, but i know i had some bit of sense too in my madness. let me explain, i would have had a smoother sailing if not on my reliance on some site which provided me with faulty downloads.

1. i did try to update using the shift+update, i did update my OS without updating baseband( my hosts file was pointing to cydia where i had 4.1 and 4.2.1 shsh already stored) and to be doubly sure, i had tiny-umbrella running in the background.
2. the reason i couldnt jailbreak tethered was because of the faulty iphone 4 4.2.1 firmware i downloaded from some site. when i did the update process, itunes downloaded the good version and that is what i used to do the final tethered jailbreak which works fine. so after my trials, here is what you could do in 2 different ways:

If you want a regular upgrade:

first of launch tiny umbrella, make sure you save the shsh for 4.2.1, keep it running in the background. Also modify your hosts file to point to cydia.

1. run regular update in itunes, let itunes do the upgrade, then use tiny umbrella to kick the phone out of recovery mode.

if you want a clean slate:

same steps as above to preserve baseband:

1. run regular restore, let itunes install do the complete install, then use tiny umbrella to kick phone out of recovery mode, in both cases baseband will be preserved.

i have tried both scenarios in that order so i know both work and in both cases my baseband was preserved.

my biggest mistake was to start with a faulty firmware file, please make sure you download yours from reliable sources and you should have smooth sailing.

my iphone is a iphone 4, 32Gb bought in the first month and now running 4.2.1 and baseband 1.59.00
 
iloveiphone4 said:
i guess the law of averages did work in my favor, but i know i had some bit of sense too in my madness. let me explain, i would have had a smoother sailing if not on my reliance on some site which provided me with faulty downloads.

1. i did try to update using the shift+update, i did update my OS without updating baseband( my hosts file was pointing to cydia where i had 4.1 and 4.2.1 shsh already stored) and to be doubly sure, i had tiny-umbrella running in the background.
2. the reason i couldnt jailbreak tethered was because of the faulty iphone 4 4.2.1 firmware i downloaded from some site. when i did the update process, itunes downloaded the good version and that is what i used to do the final tethered jailbreak which works fine. so after my trials, here is what you could do in 2 different ways:

If you want a regular upgrade:

first of launch tiny umbrella, make sure you save the shsh for 4.2.1, keep it running in the background. Also modify your hosts file to point to cydia.

1. run regular update in itunes, let itunes do the upgrade, then use tiny umbrella to kick the phone out of recovery mode.

if you want a clean slate:

same steps as above to preserve baseband:

1. run regular restore, let itunes install do the complete install, then use tiny umbrella to kick phone out of recovery mode, in both cases baseband will be preserved.

i have tried both scenarios in that order so i know both work and in both cases my baseband was preserved.

my biggest mistake was to start with a faulty firmware file, please make sure you download yours from reliable sources and you should have smooth sailing.

my iphone is a iphone 4, 32Gb bought in the first month and now running 4.2.1 and baseband 1.59.00
Click to expand...

So to avoid a faulty version of 4.2.1, just use iTunes and act as if your upgrading.

So heres the steps with an iPhone 4 running 4.1 with 1.59.00

1) plug in iPhone 4 to iTunes and upgrade to 4.2.1.
2) iTunes will do it's thing upgrading and then it will run into and erro where you use tiny umbrella to kick it out.
3) all done and your iPhone 4 is now on 4.2.1 with 1.59.00 baseband.

Seems simple enough.
 
Maverick1337 said:
So to avoid a faulty version of 4.2.1, just use iTunes and act as if your upgrading.

So heres the steps with an iPhone 4 running 4.1 with 1.59.00

1) plug in iPhone 4 to iTunes and upgrade to 4.2.1.
2) iTunes will do it's thing upgrading and then it will run into and erro where you use tiny umbrella to kick it out.
3) all done and your iPhone 4 is now on 4.2.1 with 1.59.00 baseband.

Seems simple enough.
Click to expand...

Your instructions are wrong and anyone following them will get themselves in trouble. There is one important step you missed out. You have to either 1. be running tiny umbrella with tss started or 2. Have edited your host file to point to Cydia.

If neither of those are done then you will update your baseband.

Your host file is probably pointing to Cydia and you don't even realise it.
 
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Newbie here, with (perhaps?) a slight wrinkle to introduce. Either that or I screwed it up the first time. Clarification is welcomed.

nebo1ss said:
Your instructions are wrong and anyone following them will get themselves in trouble. There is one important step you missed out. You have to either 1. be running tiny umbrella with tss started or 2. Have edited your host file to point to Cydia.

If neither of those are done then you will update your baseband.

Your host file is probably pointing to Cydia and you don't even realise it.
Click to expand...

My iPhone 4 was on firmware 4.1 but at its original modem baseband, 1.59. This is because I previously had retained the old baseband when I updated to 4.1---and I've already forgotten how I did that. Nevermind.

So today I fired up the latest TinyUmbrella, saved blobs for the recent firmwares (I have them all now) and started the TSS server.

iTunes wouldn't update the phone to 4.2.1---the error at the end was -21, with the phone stuck in recovery (Apple logo screen).

Knowing that TinyUmbrella had already changed my hosts file the last time (it's the default behavior in the "Advanced" tab, for those that never bothered to look) and wanting to make "double sure" I quit TinyUmbrella entirely and ran the 4.2.1 update from iTunes again.

This time the update went without a problem (yes, I got the expected -1013 error, phone showing the "plug me in to iTunes" logo) and then launched TinyUmbrella and kicked it out of recovery. The phone is now at 4.2.1 and 1.59 baseband still.
 
The next question is (if the debate will ever end on what the steps are to do this anyway) will this work with the current redsn0w jailbreak on 4.2.1?

Personally I think it's useless/stupid to go to 4.2.1 if you can't jailbreak anyway. Why bother preserving your older baseband if you can't even jailbreak to unlock?
 
hackthatphone said:
The next question is (if the debate will ever end on what the steps are to do this anyway) will this work with the current redsn0w jailbreak on 4.2.1?

Personally I think it's useless/stupid to go to 4.2.1 if you can't jailbreak anyway. Why bother preserving your older baseband if you can't even jailbreak to unlock?
Click to expand...

I may be wrong, but the instructions I've read so far for jailbreaking 4.2.1 didn't specify that you had to also be at a certain baseband. I was under the impression typical 4.2.1 jailbreak info "assumed" people would be at the updated baseband that comes with 4.2, and so carried a buttload of "you'll-lose-your-unlock-if-you-update-to-4.2!" caveats.

Granted, I haven't tried to jailbreak mine yet, because I don't want to be tethered in order to reboot if necessary, and I'm waiting for the untethered 4.2.1 to more fully mature.
 
Yeah I'd like to hear from someone who has not only performed this update to 4.2.1 method (and keeping an unlockable baseband), but has also managed to jailbreak with redsn0w on 4.2.1 using the b3 hash.
 
hackthatphone said:
Yeah I'd like to hear from someone who has not only performed this update to 4.2.1 method (and keeping an unlockable baseband), but has also managed to jailbreak with redsn0w on 4.2.1 using the b3 hash.
Click to expand...

Hello!


Just thought I would post up and let you know I just did a fresh restore to 4.1, selected "Set Up As New...", updated to 4.2.1 (no TinyUmbrella running in the background, just hosts file set to Cydia), then ran redsn0w 0.9.7b5 for untethered 4.2.1 jailbreak.
 
Pyrofallout said:
Hello!


Just thought I would post up and let you know I just did a fresh restore to 4.1, selected "Set Up As New...", updated to 4.2.1 (no TinyUmbrella running in the background, just hosts file set to Cydia), then ran redsn0w 0.9.7b5 for untethered 4.2.1 jailbreak.
Click to expand...

And your modem firmware is what?
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but...

1. The key to upgrading iOS without baseband is to update to 4.2.1, not restore.
2. The iPhone 4 requires that any baseband update be signed off by Apple's servers.
3. Using TinyUmbrella at all modifies your hosts file to redirect hash requests from Apple's servers to Cydia's servers.
4. Thus, if you've used Tiny Umbrella at all in the past, you can restore or update to your heart's content (either to custom firmware or stock firmware) and your baseband won't be modified. This is because Tiny Umbrella modifies your hosts file (it did mine).

Try this out... ping gs.apple.com and see what IP gets returned. If it shows 74.208.10.249 then your requests are being redirected and you can update/restore your iPhone 4 however you want and your baseband will stay where it's at.

EDIT: the reason your baseband doesn't get updated is because Cydia's servers don't store baseband signatures, thus the baseband never gets touched
 
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I got it to work, too, on my iPhone4

I was on 4.1, with the 1.59.00 bb. I've had my SHSH's saved on TU. I had an edited hosts file that pointed to Saurik's server at 74.208.10.249. I had previously updated to 4.1 and preserved my bb via TU.

This time, I did option/update and selected the 4.2.1 ipsw from my desktop. I had TU open, but the TSS server was not running. I got the expected -1013 error, phone showing the "plug me in to iTunes" logo and then launched TU and kicked it out of recovery. I was then on 4.2.1, with the 1.59.00 bb.

I then used redsn0w 0.9.6b4 to get the tethered JB. I then used redsn0w 0.9.7b6 to JB untethered. I am on an untethered JB 4.2.1, with 1.59.00 bb.
 
So far, so good. Everything seems to be working normally. No Skype or Bluetooth issues. I still need to do the com center hack to enable tethering.

rocknrolldoggy said:
I got it to work, too, on my iPhone4

I was on 4.1, with the 1.59.00 bb. I've had my SHSH's saved on TU. I had an edited hosts file that pointed to Saurik's server at 74.208.10.249. I had previously updated to 4.1 and preserved my bb via TU.

This time, I did option/update and selected the 4.2.1 ipsw from my desktop. I had TU open, but the TSS server was not running. I got the expected -1013 error, phone showing the "plug me in to iTunes" logo and then launched TU and kicked it out of recovery. I was then on 4.2.1, with the 1.59.00 bb.

I then used redsn0w 0.9.6b4 to get the tethered JB. I then used redsn0w 0.9.7b6 to JB untethered. I am on an untethered JB 4.2.1, with 1.59.00 bb.
Click to expand...
 
I am also finally on 4.2.1 with bb 1.59.00 on IP4.

Had to do it twice as it did not work for the first time. Instructions given by ignus graius are spot on for preserving the BB.

Everything seems okay so far apart from few apps (Mail, Safari, etc) crashed once once.

Skype (low importance) crashes but I read than you can rerun redsn0w on the same phone with Skype already installed and it should take care of it. Haven't done that yet as I don't use Skype.

I really wanted Airplay as I have AppleTV2. Also, Find My iPhone is also a very good feature which is available only with 4.2.1+
 
Iphone 4 on 4.1 with 01.59.00.

Verify in Cydia/Tiny Umbrella that you have your 42b3 SHSH at a minimum.

In Tiny go to the Advanced tab and ensure the set hosts to Cydia box is checked. If you want to be extra paranoid, actually look at your hosts file in the Terminal and ensure this line: 74.208.10.249 gs.apple.com is NOT commented out with a # symbol. If you happen to be mucking with Tiny and start or stop the TSS server it could comment out this line! You will NOT be running the TSS server, it only results in error 21 blocking this process.

Launch itunes, option click update and point to 4.2.1 firmware.

The update will end in error 1013. Go back to Tiny and click the recovery device and click exit recovery.

You will now be on 4.2.1 and 01.59.00

You can then use redsn0w 0.9.7b6 to jailbreak untethered.

There are some instabilities, one time Cydia did not launch the first time. It can take several resprings/reboots for ultrasn0w to work (but that is usually the case). Activator complains that the 4.2.1 firmware is too new.

I too doubted the author of this thread and apologize for that misplaced doubt. This is the first time ever since '07 that we have used shift update to get around the Apple boogeyman. It is important for newbies to follow this procedure precisely as there are many pitfalls where you could hose your phone. This thread is probably moot since 4.3 is out for the developers, but still good to know.
 
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