Tricky 3gs restore problem! Reward offered!

[mj1989]

Hey guys,
I'm an Aussie living in Santa Barbara for 7 months and I recently purchased a 3GS 32gb iPhone off ebay. When I got the phone I noticed it had a few programs on it that I couldn't get rid of (Cydia, and two others). I got my new Sim card from T-Mobile and tried to update the software to the 5 iOs (or whatever its called) but I found that it wouldn't let me because the phone is 'hacked' or something (or at least thats what the apple store lady said).. Afterwards I tried to downgrade do 4.3.5 and did so successfully.. but now my iTunes will not recognise the phone. It keeps telling me to plug it in, even though it is plugged in. I have restored it from DFU mode and all kinds of things.. is there anything I can do? I will give someone $20 on paypall if they can sort out this problem for me and talk me through it.. I have been without a phone for a week now and its seriously impacting on my travel and new life in SB... I'm a desperate man here.. hahaha

 

[SDub90]

That hack is called jailbreaking. The jailbreak was used to unlock your phone. Now that you restored it, it won't work with t-mobile until you jailbreak and unlock it again (and when you do that, it will only work on EDGE).

Make sure iTunes is up to date, make sure there is nothing in your HOSTS file that will block updates (in case you used tinyumbrella to downgrade).

Plug in your iphone, put it in DFU mode.

Try restoring it again.

 

[chargit]

it probably has the iPad baseband installed also

 

[mj1989]

Hey guys, thanks for the quick replies!
The iTunes is upto date and the host files are clean. I restored it again but still it is stuck at hte 'connect to itunes screen' (Just a picture of the cable with an arrow pointing towards the 'itunes' logo). All I can do is slide for emergency.
Thanks for your help but do you have any other suggestions? (Keep in mind i'm not very tech savvy when explaining answers)
Thanks guys

 

[Granitel]

it is stuck at the 'connect to itunes screen'

I have a similar problem and came here for help for my similar problem:
- How to resolve locked up jailbroken iPhone stuck in "recovery mode" (see pictures)

Only I can't even get to the slider that you can.

I'll keep an eye on this thread in case someone offers a solution.

Here's a picture of the sequence of my particular problem:

 

[Kyotoma]

I have a similar problem and came here for help for my similar problem:
- How to resolve locked up jailbroken iPhone stuck in "recovery mode" (see pictures)

Only I can't even get to the slider that you can.

I'll keep an eye on this thread in case someone offers a solution.

Here's a picture of the sequence of my particular problem:
Image

You should be able to use TinyUmbrella to kick it out of recovery.

 

[Crystal-RX]

Hey guys, thanks for the quick replies!
The iTunes is upto date and the host files are clean. I restored it again but still it is stuck at hte 'connect to itunes screen' (Just a picture of the cable with an arrow pointing towards the 'itunes' logo). All I can do is slide for emergency.
Thanks for your help but do you have any other suggestions? (Keep in mind i'm not very tech savvy when explaining answers)
Thanks guys

Hactivate it with Redsn0w and it will bring your phone to home screen.