iPhone What can I do with a bricked iPhone 3Gs? (no BB)

[grumpygeorge]

So I got for a fairly cheap price an iPhone 3Gs from a customer who previously tried to unlock it using the iPad baseband method but the iPhone is a late 2011 model, and as far as I know the NOR chip on the last 3Gs models is incompatible with the iPad baseband, causing irreversible damage to the phone, the phone was stuck on recovery mode and with error -1 when trying to restore via iTunes, I tried to downgrade the iPad baseband using redsn0w and the phone turned on and under Settings-General-about shows no baseband, no wifi and no bluetooth and restarts by itself every few minutes. I know the baseband thing can't be fixed but is there anything that can be done to this phone to at least use it as a wifi only device?
Thanks in advance

 

[TriJetHero]

So I got for a fairly cheap price an iPhone 3Gs from a customer who previously tried to unlock it using the iPad baseband method but the iPhone is a late 2011 model, and as far as I know the NOR chip on the last 3Gs models is incompatible with the iPad baseband, causing irreversible damage to the phone, the phone was stuck on recovery mode and with error -1 when trying to restore via iTunes, I tried to downgrade the iPad baseband using redsn0w and the phone turned on and under Settings-General-about shows no baseband, no wifi and no bluetooth and restarts by itself every few minutes. I know the baseband thing can't be fixed but is there anything that can be done to this phone to at least use it as a wifi only device?
Thanks in advance

Nope

 

[dhlizard]

So I got for a fairly cheap price an iPhone 3Gs from a customer who previously tried to unlock it using the iPad baseband method but the iPhone is a late 2011 model, and as far as I know the NOR chip on the last 3Gs models is incompatible with the iPad baseband, causing irreversible damage to the phone, the phone was stuck on recovery mode and with error -1 when trying to restore via iTunes, I tried to downgrade the iPad baseband using redsn0w and the phone turned on and under Settings-General-about shows no baseband, no wifi and no bluetooth and restarts by itself every few minutes. I know the baseband thing can't be fixed but is there anything that can be done to this phone to at least use it as a wifi only device?
Thanks in advance

You have an attractive paperweight

 

[braxton34]

Does it reboot every few minutes even when unplugged from the charger? I thought I remember that reboots only happened when plugged in but when unplugged it seemed more stable. If that is the case you can use it as an ipod for music, pictures, movies...
Wifi will be dead though.

 

[grumpygeorge]

You have an attractive paperweight

Indeed! haha I got it knowing it couldn't be fixed, I plan to use it for parts, the phone is in great shape I just wanted to make sure there's absolutely nothing to do besides using it for parts

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Does it reboot every few minutes even when unplugged from the charger? I thought I remember that reboots only happened when plugged in but when unplugged it seemed more stable. If that is the case you can use it as an ipod for music, pictures, movies...
Wifi will be dead though.

You're right it doesn't reboot when it's not charging I was thinking about downgrading it to iOS 4.1 I remember apple still signs it and it'll definitely be faster but it's kinda hard to do restores, I keep getting -1 errors

 

[braxton34]

If you can make or find a custom "no baseband" 4.1 firmware that is already hactivated, you should be able to do a pwned dfu restore to 4.1. You might need an older version of itunes though.

Once at 4.1, keep in airplane mode and you should have a functional ipod with video, music, camera and gaming capabilities. Also when charging, just power it down and then you don't have to worry about annoying reboots when plugged in.

 

[grumpygeorge]

If you can make or find a custom "no baseband" 4.1 firmware that is already hactivated, you should be able to do a pwned dfu restore to 4.1. You might need an older version of itunes though.

Once at 4.1, keep in airplane mode and you should have a functional ipod with video, music, camera and gaming capabilities. Also when charging, just power it down and then you don't have to worry about annoying reboots when plugged in.

Does it charge when powered down? Since reboots occur every 10 minutes or so even when plugged to the apple wall charger that came with the phone (thought at first it only happened when connected to a computer)

 

[braxton34]

yes it will charge when powered off.

 

[Justin Chaos]

What about putting a provider SIM card back in...would that help at all???

 

[Applejuiced]

What about putting a provider SIM card back in...would that help at all???

No.
The baseband is fried along with all wireless radios on it. It's pretty much useless.

 

[dhlizard]

You can replace the baseband chip (or have it replaced), not sure the value of the phone justifies the cost (beijiengphonerepair.com or ifixit.com).

 

[vertigoride]

What was your solution?

Hi there, i really got tricked with one of "these" phones. I was wondering what did you manage to do with yours. Have you installed a custom "no baseband" firmware? Wich one. I can´t install any firmware in my phone since i get itunes errors. It has the 6.1.6 installed, but stays in recovery mode. To get it out of there i have to jailbreak with redsn0w. My phone reboots every 2-3 minutes even if it is unplugged. When i re-install the 6.1.6 firmware i get the traditional -1 error due to baseband. What i wanted is to get it stable, preventing from reboot. Did you manage that? How? Thank you very much.

 

[Applejuiced]

Hi there, i really got tricked with one of "these" phones. I was wondering what did you manage to do with yours. Have you installed a custom "no baseband" firmware? Wich one. I can´t install any firmware in my phone since i get itunes errors. It has the 6.1.6 installed, but stays in recovery mode. To get it out of there i have to jailbreak with redsn0w. My phone reboots every 2-3 minutes even if it is unplugged. When i re-install the 6.1.6 firmware i get the traditional -1 error due to baseband. What i wanted is to get it stable, preventing from reboot. Did you manage that? How? Thank you very much.

What will you do with it anyway even if you got it to start?
You will get no wifi, no cellular radios will work, no bluetooth, no gps and basicly nothing will function as far as any type of data.
Its just a useless piece of plastic. Cut your losses and dont waste any more time or money on it.

 

[vertigoride]

True, but not helpfull comment i was looking for. I already know that, i have it at home!! Thanks anyway.

 

[Applejuiced]

Sorry, just the reality of it that's all.