"This device isn't eligible for the requested build"

[juandanielserra]

@Peter

Yes, that is exactly what I did and it worked like a charm.

 

[Peter Harrison]

Sure, I'm glad you solved it...

Was that addressed to me?

For me, iTunes still tries to verify the restore and contacts Apple.

 

[tbone78]

perfect

thanks very much. was having trouble installing 5.0 and this solution worked perfectly - after several frustrating hours. should have come here sooner.

 

[Peter Harrison]

Is anyone aware of other solutions besides what's mentioned already in this thread? My iTunes keeps trying to verify with Apple even after doing everything suggested here.

 

[Peter Harrison]

I'm obviously doing something wrong, and it's probably something really simple. But I appreciate the help.

Here is what I'm doing (and it isn't working).

- With iTunes closed, I go into TinyUmbrella and make sure the Cydia option is unchecked in Advanced.

- I then open Terminal and type sudo /Applications/TextEdit.app/Contents/MacOS/TextEdit /etc/hosts and delete all lines that go to Apple (only one in my case along with a bunch of Adobe lines)

- Restart iTunes

- Hold option on the keyboard and click restore. I think this is where I'm going wrong. My iPhone is currently on 4.2.1 and has been for a long time. I believe I have to use the same firmware so I've downloaded the 4.2.1 firmware and I select it at this stage.

- Apple then verifies it, and comes back with the error that the device isn't eligible for the requested build.

Is my choice of firmware wrong? What else can I do to stop iTunes from having Apple verify it?

 

[0970373]

I'm a little confused. Do you use the custom IPSW from the Pwnage tool AND TinyUmbrella? In what order do you launch things?

Is this correct?

1 - create custom IPSW in pwnage
2 - enter DFU
3 - start tinyumbrella & start TSS
4 - restore using custom IPSW created

 

[honocorp]

requested build... alternate solution

The 'hosts' solution certainly works in certain conditions, but not always...

I found another interesting case and here is the solution.

If you want to upgrade to 4.3.3 and have an earlier version jailbreak TETHERED, Itunes will not upgrade your device.

What you need to do is reJailbreak with a UNTETHERED version.
When the device is UNTETHERED you can upgrade from Itunes. Of course, if you have used an Umbrella before, you also need to clean up the host file.

Worked for me on both Ipad 1 4.2.1 tethered and Iphone 4 4.2.1 tethered.

Arnaud

 

[Peter Harrison]

The 'hosts' solution certainly works in certain conditions, but not always...

I found another interesting case and here is the solution.

If you want to upgrade to 4.3.3 and have an earlier version jailbreak TETHERED, Itunes will not upgrade your device.

What you need to do is reJailbreak with a UNTETHERED version.
When the device is UNTETHERED you can upgrade from Itunes. Of course, if you have used an Umbrella before, you also need to clean up the host file.

Worked for me on both Ipad 1 4.2.1 tethered and Iphone 4 4.2.1 tethered.

Arnaud

Brilliant, I'll try that. I've been trying for weeks and still nothing has worked, but I am tethered so I'll give it a go!

 

[Peter Harrison]

It worked! Thanks so much. You have no idea how much this has frustrated me!

 

[honocorp]

Glad it helped

It worked! Thanks so much. You have no idea how much this has frustrated me!

Hey Peter, you have no idea how I was frustrated too.... spending hours on the web trying to find THE solution, and always this 'host' thing... I then realized that when switching off and on a tethered version, you were stuck on the apple... Not really clean ! That's how I got the idea to 'untethered' my installed version, strangely enough, I never found this solution on the web before ;-) Yeah !

 

[karim7]

What I find really weird is that I've never jailbroken my phone and for some reason i had the gs.apple in my host file.

Does anybody know what causes gs.apple to get added to the host file?

 

[mkozdemir]

help!

Okay so i get the same problem while trying to restore my iphone, but i have tried everything which this thread has said and NOTHING works..

The iphone 4 was working perfect until i decided to press 'erase all contents and settings'.. It was jailbroken and was using gevey sim.. Now the phone wont boot and always get stuck on the boot logo of the skull..

Please can someone help? I have googled everywhere and i cant find anything that will help me fix this..

 

[blitzxp]

This might help:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1207685/

I'm assuming you have to upgrade to 4.3.3 using TinyUmbrella ..

 

[cashinstinct]

For Mountain Lion 10.8.2, if your hosts file is locked and you cannot edit it:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4466790?start=0&tstart=0

Okay, after a ton of researching terminal commands, I finally found the solution to my own question.

1) First you need to log-in as the Root User in Terminal using the following command:

sudo su -

2) Then you need to remove the "sticky" lock assigned to the hosts file that prevents people from modifying it:

chflags nouchg /private/etc/hosts

3) Then you can edit the hosts file as per usual via the following command:

sudo nano /private/etc/hosts

"Control O" to Save
"Control X" to Exit

4) Then in Mountain Lion you should flush your cache to ensure the new hosts file is current:

sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder

5) Go ahead and reapply the "sticky" lock so the hosts file doesn't modify itself:

chflags uchg /private/etc/hosts