Recovery Loop, no DFU issue...

I am trying to help a friend fix their iPhone. I have no idea what version it was on before.

The unit is currently stuck in the recovery loop.

I have tried: RecBoot, iReb, TinyUmbrella

they all kick it out and it restarts to the apple logo, then restarts again, and goes back to the recovery screen

In iTunes I tried to do a basic restore to the 5.0.1 software, I hit restore and it seems to go fine, it shows the loading bar and gets to about the end and gives me error (1). I tried to do the Shift+Restore and select my software 5.0.1 ipsw and it gives me errors ranging from 1, 2, 9, 11.

I have Avast and I disabled it completely. I also turned off Windows Firewall.

Now here is the other issue, if I could get into DFU or Pwned DFU I might be able to BUT:

-Once I plug unit into the USB it comes on, I have no swipe to power off
-If I hold the home+sleep the unit will flash off, but restart back to recovery
-If I hold Home+sleep it will flash off, while still holding the buttons the apple symbol will come on and after a few seconds it goes off. Great...except when I try to hold home+sleep for 10 seconds to start DFU the phone immediately comes back on.
-I have tried holding the sleep and the home+sleep for 30 seconds to completely shut off phone, but does not seem to help as soon as I hit the sleep button in any combination it turns on to the apple then recovery screen

So I have no idea how to get it into DFU mode, again if I could I could try Redsn0w get it into Pwned DFU and then try the restore.

Any ideas????

 

Ok I finally got it into DFU mode.

I did this by plugging it in, holding the sleep button for about 7-8 secs (unit turned off), I kept holding it and also pressed the home button, and did the DFU steps. I did shift+restore selected 5.0.1 and got Error (1) again.

Gonna see if I can get it into Pwned DFU now.

I tried in Pwned DFU mode and it again gave me Error (1).

I tried the Pwned DFU with a custom ipsw made via Snowbreeze, and all seemed to work, but now the unit just restarts and shows the restore bar, the bar fills up and it restarts.