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cap2587

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 12, 2010
119
1
My Iphone 3 GS suddenly had a white screen of death and I tried everything to fix this. Eventually I restored my phone in Itunes, but now I am unable to use it until I jailbreak and unlock the phone. I am just looking to use the phone like an Ipod touch. What firmware would the phone have once I did the restore in Itunes. Prior to this it had firmware 4.0. What software and tutorial should I follow to do this. Appreciate the help and let me know what you think.
 

jdaniel

macrumors 65816
Mar 21, 2009
1,150
15
Lviv, Ukraine
My Iphone 3 GS suddenly had a white screen of death and I tried everything to fix this. Eventually I restored my phone in Itunes, but now I am unable to use it until I jailbreak and unlock the phone. I am just looking to use the phone like an Ipod touch. What firmware would the phone have once I did the restore in Itunes. Prior to this it had firmware 4.0. What software and tutorial should I follow to do this. Appreciate the help and let me know what you think.

So is your phone working now or not? Firmware and baseband are not tied together.....So you can be 4.0 and a number of basebands..

If you want to use it as an ipod touch.. why do you need to jailbreak or unlock?

You say you restored it in itunes.. so it should be working? you should be able to check your baseband.. under modem version or whatever its called and google and see if it unlockable.

have you jailbroken it before?
 

cap2587

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 12, 2010
119
1
Thanks for the quick reply! I did restore the phone in Itunes to try and get rid of the white screen. Unfortunately I do not have an AT& T phone account, therefore I cannot activate it in Itunes. This means the phone needs activation and the only way that can happen is if it is Jailbroken and unlocked. When you restore in Itunes what Firmware version does it go to? Is it what you previously had prior to doing the restore. Let me know my options. Thanks.
 

jdaniel

macrumors 65816
Mar 21, 2009
1,150
15
Lviv, Ukraine
Thanks for the quick reply! I did restore the phone in Itunes to try and get rid of the white screen. Unfortunately I do not have an AT& T phone account, therefore I cannot activate it in Itunes. This means the phone needs activation and the only way that can happen is if it is Jailbroken and unlocked. When you restore in Itunes what Firmware version does it go to? Is it what you previously had prior to doing the restore. Let me know my options. Thanks.

Ok... do you have any idea what baseband it is on? 3GS....hmmm I guess 4.3 if u go with itunes? and theres no untethered jailbreak for that at this moment.. should be coming soon I think. But theres a tethered jailbreak.. but to me thats a PITA, And I dont know if you can hacktivate with that

Do you have your SHSH files saved? Did you have cydia before and saved your SHSH files on there or on tinyumrella? If yes then then you can probably restore to a custom ipsw and sign it using tinyumrella or point itunes to look at saurik's/cydia servers ----- then you can keep your current firm ware... or whatever firm ware that you have shsh files saved.. for..
 

cap2587

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 12, 2010
119
1
That all seems pretty complex. What happens if I borrow someone Sim card that has current service with AT&T and activate the phone. Will that work and then I can remove the card and give it back to them. How long until a Jailbreak will come out for 4.3 firmware. Thanks.
 

cap2587

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 12, 2010
119
1
I think the baseband was 05.13.04 for my Iphone 3GS. There is no way to roll back the firmware to Iphone to 4.0 Firmware. How can I tell if the white screen of death is permanent or just a software glitch. I do not see the white screen when I turn on the Iphone to the activation symbol, but I see some white when I switch to the next screen with dialing an emergency #. Any ideas. Thanks
 

Myzhi

macrumors 6502a
Dec 15, 2009
973
64
If you can, use ATT sim, even non active one, to activate the phone and get pass the emergency screen. If you restore through iTunes, your phone has most likely updated to 4.3 OS and can't be unlock 5.16 baseband. Thus, even if you tried the 4.3 tethered JB, you won't be able to unlock.
 

Weiser878

macrumors regular
Sep 9, 2009
228
2
Just a general rant, but it amazes me at the people that depend on an unlock for their phone to work, yet don't take 30 seconds to google before trying to repair their phone when something happens.

OP, when you restored it in iTunes, you didn't do what you needed to preserve an unlock, and thus, your phone is now an iPod touch. Sorry
 

cap2587

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 12, 2010
119
1
Thanks for the information. To me with a white screen the phone is useless. If I had of continued to use 4.0 Firmware and jailbroke the phone with jailbreak.me as I actually did - This was not going to fix my white screen. I did proceed to follow all of the recovery methods to get rid of this, but had no luck. In my opinion I had no choice, but to restore in Itunes to get rid of my white screen. Hindsight, I should have posted with white screen problem prior to restoring in Itunes.

What is the deal with restoring in Itunes with an active AT&T customer's sim card. Will they get in trouble somehow through the activation locating them on a different phone. How does an Inactive AT&T sim card work when it is not registered for service. Are both the method's above going to work. I did get the phone for free and have no intention to use it as a phone, just for Internet/email/contacts/calendar. Thanks for staying with me on this post.
 

jdaniel

macrumors 65816
Mar 21, 2009
1,150
15
Lviv, Ukraine
Thanks for the information. To me with a white screen the phone is useless. If I had of continued to use 4.0 Firmware and jailbroke the phone with jailbreak.me as I actually did - This was not going to fix my white screen. I did proceed to follow all of the recovery methods to get rid of this, but had no luck. In my opinion I had no choice, but to restore in Itunes to get rid of my white screen. Hindsight, I should have posted with white screen problem prior to restoring in Itunes.

What is the deal with restoring in Itunes with an active AT&T customer's sim card. Will they get in trouble somehow through the activation locating them on a different phone. How does an Inactive AT&T sim card work when it is not registered for service. Are both the method's above going to work. I did get the phone for free and have no intention to use it as a phone, just for Internet/email/contacts/calendar. Thanks for staying with me on this post.

Your posts are very confusing. And:

1. Do you know the diff between recovery mode screen and activation screen? As far as I know... we cant really tell the diff.. I think recovery mode you cant make an emergency call screen and activation screen you can... someone correct me if I am wrong..

2. We don't know for sure from what you tell us whether, you actually managed to restore or not and to what effect.

So if you think its only an activation thing.. get an ATT sim put it in and connect to Itunes.. if nothing happens and u still have no access to your phone then clearly its not that.. but how about you try that first.

If getting a ATT sim is a problem, say so and we can try something else.
 

jdaniel

macrumors 65816
Mar 21, 2009
1,150
15
Lviv, Ukraine
One way to tell is if you connect your phone with any sim card into itunes.. what does it say? If it says sim card not supported then it is just an activation thing. And you can also google about ways to activate w/o att sim....
 

cap2587

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 12, 2010
119
1
Thanks for giving me some good advice and sorry if I have been misleading with my information. I really though that restoring the phone to factory settings was my last option to see if the white screen of death could be solved. When I see the Iphone cable and it is asking me to activate in Itunes the screen seems normal. When I scroll one more screen over, to make an emergency call it seems like there is some white in the background, but it is hard to tell if it is a WSOD. MY next move is to try and activate the phone in Itunes with an AT&T sim card. I will let you know how that goes. Thanks.
 

jdaniel

macrumors 65816
Mar 21, 2009
1,150
15
Lviv, Ukraine
Thanks for giving me some good advice and sorry if I have been misleading with my information. I really though that restoring the phone to factory settings was my last option to see if the white screen of death could be solved. When I see the Iphone cable and it is asking me to activate in Itunes the screen seems normal. When I scroll one more screen over, to make an emergency call it seems like there is some white in the background, but it is hard to tell if it is a WSOD. MY next move is to try and activate the phone in Itunes with an AT&T sim card. I will let you know how that goes. Thanks.

Yeah use ATT or follow the guides online about using phonebook sim cards, you can google, activating without ATT sim.
 
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