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Restore and NOT update iPhone 3G

S

scottgroovez

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 20, 2010
148
1
My girlfriend's iphone 3G wouldn't boot past the Apple logo and kept switching off. Restarted in recovery mode and now it's saying it will restore and update to the latest iOS software. Now I don't want to do this, I just want it back to iOS whatever it had (3?).

I read holding shift brings up the file dialog, now where can I find the appropriate software to install?
 
scottgroovez said:
My girlfriend's iphone 3G wouldn't boot past the Apple logo and kept switching off. Restarted in recovery mode and now it's saying it will restore and update to the latest iOS software. Now I don't want to do this, I just want it back to iOS whatever it had (3?).

I read holding shift brings up the file dialog, now where can I find the appropriate software to install?
Click to expand...

The 3G does not have to receive Apple's approval before installing firmware. So, you should be able to restore it to whatever firmware you please. The most stable pre-iOS 4 build is 3.1.3. Google and download it. Then, when you are in iTunes hold down the option key while you click the restore button (on a PC I think it's Alt). iTunes will then let you select the firmware you want to install. Find the 3.1.3 ipsw file on your computer and you should be good to go.

One note: if the phone has previously been using any version of iOS 4, you will get an iTunes error because the phone's modem firmware won't match the iOS version. The phone will go into recovery mode and ask you restore to the latest firmware (4.2.1 for the 3G). If you get that error, ignore it and download a program called TinyUmbrella. This program can then be used to bypass the error and force the phone to boot normally.

Good luck.
 
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Cheers for the reply. This hasn't had iOS 4 on it. What happened was my GF deleted the facebook app an restarted the phone. Then it started experiencing the problem.

I read that someone had the same issue and left their phone plugged in for a few hours and it booted up. I guess it needs to be out of recovery mode for that.
 
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