Locked 3GS that was previously Carrier Unlocked

[JackWood]

Hi,

Please bare with me as I am new to this forum and iPhones in general.

Last week I recieved, as a gift, an iPhone 3GS 16GB.

The phone came to me from a Canadian customer. I am in the UK.

I took the phone, dropped the Orange UK SIM card straight out of my HTC Desire straight into the 3GS and used the phone all weekend. It was great. No issues at all.

Last night I plugged it into iTunes for the first time and updated the Firmware.

Big Mistake!!

Since then the phone is locked and can only be used for Emergency calls. Without a SIM in place it it comes up with the message:

"No SIM card Installed
Insert a valid SIM with no PIN lock to activate iPhone"

I now realise that the phone was Carrier Unlocked and Jailbroke (I did notice that Cydia was installed, but at the time had ne idea what Cydia was, so ignored it). I have, by blindly attempting to update the firmware to 4.2.1 ended up with an inactive phone with no way of activating it.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Here are some facts:

iPhone 3GS 16GB
Previously Carrier Unlocked and Jailbroke (I presume, as Cydia was present)
Using a PC with XP installed
Prior to Firmware Update it was 4.0.1 or 4.0.2 firmware.
After Firmware Update via iTunes I did do an Restore, so I am hoping it is back to 4.0.1

Can anyone help me, Please?

If you need any more info I will do my best to give it.

Cheers

Jack

 

[Myzhi]

You don't have a carrier unlock. A carrier unlock would forever be unlock even after updating the firmware. Your phone was JB, and then, software unlock using Ultrasnow. Since you update to 4.2.1, the baseband has also been update to one you can't unlock. Thus, downgrading to 4.01 won't do much good since baseband can't be downgraded even if the firmware could. So, if you want to JB and software unlock it again, you should read up on what to do and the issues in using iPad Baseband for unlocking.

Good place to start: http://blog.iphone-dev.org/

 

[maturola]

Sorry to say but you got yourself a real headache. you updated to a BB that is currently no unlockable, your only option if you MUST unlock now (i guess you have to since you are in the UK and want to use the phone) is to update your phone to the iPad baseband and unlock that one, however.... once you do that you will be voiding your Warranty (if the phone still have any) and your will be locking yourself to ALWAYS update using pwnage tool custom firmware (no more iTunes update, you will have to wait for pwnage tool to be updated everytime a new released comes around, however since you are software unlock that have always been pretty much the case).

Here are the official warnings from the Dev team:

WARNING — YOU DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK! PLEASE UNDERSTAND THE CONSEQUENCES OF UPDATING TO 06.15.

There is no way to come back down from 06.15, and there’s no hiding the baseband version from Apple. You’ll be voiding your warranty in a very obvious way.
If some future baseband comes out with a critical fix, you won’t be able to update to it if it remains down in the 05.xx sequence (then again, you wouldn’t update to it if you wanted to keep your unlock anyway).
Starting with FW 4.2.1 if you have 06.15 on your iPhone you won’t ever be able to restore to stock firmware (it will fail). You’ll need to only restore to custom IPSWs (then again, if you’re unlocker you should already be doing that).
Unlockers have been reporting mixed results about GPS functionality at 06.15.00. Until we can track down what differentiates those who retain GPS vs. those who lose it, be conservative and assume you’ll lose GPS at 06.15.00. As we work on finding the cause (and possibly a fix), please report your personal findings in our comments section. (Update: early indications are that while 06.15.00 is capable of GPS, it will require some further hacks. But please still be conservative and assume you will lose GPS at 06.15, in case the hacks don’t work).

Certainly don’t update to 06.15 if you don’t need to! Only do this if you need the unlock and you’re stuck on 05.14 or 05.15, and you’re willing to assume the above risks.

This PwnageTool also contains a 4.2.1 bundle for iPhone3G owners…for all else, it’s still only 4.1. If you have an iPhone3GS with an old bootrom, use redsn0w for an untethered 4.2.1 jailbreak (it can now install the iPad baseband too). For all other devices, the 4.2.1 jailbreak is tethered only (use redsn0w for it), until @comex can work some untethering magic.

Please feel free to use our comments section for questions. We have some very knowledgeable and helpful moderators: angiepangie, Confucious, sherif_hashim, dhlizard, and Frank55!

Note: if you don't Absolutely "HAVE" to use your phone right away (since you said you had a HTC desire) I would just wait around a bit, a new software unlock 'may' (please note i say "may", we don't really know) be just around the corner.

 

[JackWood]

You don't have a carrier unlock. A carrier unlock would forever be unlock even after updating the firmware. Your phone was JB, and then, software unlock using Ultrasnow. Since you update to 4.2.1, the baseband has also been update to one you can't unlock. Thus, downgrading to 4.01 won't do much good since baseband can't be downgraded even if the firmware could. So, if you want to JB and software unlock it again, you should read up on what to do and the issues in using iPad Baseband for unlocking.

Good place to start: http://blog.iphone-dev.org/

Thanks.

At the moment I can't get past the emergency call screen. Any way to get into the phone so I can see the Firmware and baseband?

 

[maturola]

Thanks.

At the moment I can't get past the emergency call screen. Any way to get into the phone so I can see the Firmware and baseband?

Not really need to, if you updated using iTunes, the only possible firmware it will let you do it will be 4.2.1 and its respective BB

 

[JackWood]

Not really need to, if you updated using iTunes, the only possible firmware it will let you do it will be 4.2.1 and its respective BB

"If you have an iPhone3GS with an old bootrom, use redsn0w for an untethered 4.2.1 jailbreak"

Is there a chance I have an old bootrom that will allow this?

For all of these unlocks I presume I still need to get past the Emergency Calls screen and into the phone. Is there a quick way to do that?

 

[Myzhi]

"If you have an iPhone3GS with an old bootrom, use redsn0w for an untethered 4.2.1 jailbreak"

Is there a chance I have an old bootrom that will allow this?

For all of these unlocks I presume I still need to get past the Emergency Calls screen and into the phone. Is there a quick way to do that?

Google for instructions on how to tell if you have the old or new bootrom. If new, it will be a tethered JB

And, to get pass the emergency screen, 1) activate the phone with the official carrier sim connected to iTunes or 2) Hackivate the phone using Redsnow during JB process. Beware that hackivate could cause battery drain and you might need to apply another workaround.

 

[maturola]

"If you have an iPhone3GS with an old bootrom, use redsn0w for an untethered 4.2.1 jailbreak"

Is there a chance I have an old bootrom that will allow this?

For all of these unlocks I presume I still need to get past the Emergency Calls screen and into the phone. Is there a quick way to do that?

To pass the Emer screen you need to hacktivate using some of the tool, redsn0w will Jailbreak your phone and let you pass that screen,however it is a tethered JB as right now.

You may be lucky and have a old Bootrom, you can take a look at this guide.

 

[JackWood]

Thank you both very much, guys.

Is there anywhere to get a copy of Redsn0w that is not a bittorrent download? I don't have anything on this machine to handle that.

Cheers

 

[Myzhi]

Thank you both very much, guys.

Is there anywhere to get a copy of Redsn0w that is not a bittorrent download? I don't have anything on this machine to handle that.

Cheers

Link I posted above has mirror sites to download it. You need to scroll down on the site.