Workaround for downgrading iOS 5.0

[iMule]

Ok, so...

I googled every solution I could find to downgrade back to iOS 4.3.3. I tried them all. I used the option+restore method, tried the TinyUmbrella trick, downgraded iTunes to 10.3, NONE of which worked. I spent hours trying to find a fix for this. I kept getting the iTunes unknown error (1) message. I made sure I was in DFU mode every single time. Hell, I even tried xCode, which failed while updating the baseband. I was a rare case that couldn't be fixed easily.

What I did:

Downloaded pwnage tool. Clicked on DFU and then let it search for the 4.3.3 ipsw. I then created a custom firmware bundle. It was able to be restored.

That's the only thing I was able to do. The second I tried the default downgrade method using a restore, my phone would NOT get out of restore mode. Maybe some of you unlucky ones out there like me could benefit from this. I use my phone for work and lost a lot of sleep last night!

 

[saving107]

I downgraded in just 5 minutes.

I used RecBoot to put my iPhone into DFU mode, then in iTunes I clicked Restore, it told that currently iOS 4.3.3 was the current software available, so I said OK and walked away.

I came back 5 minutes later and iOS 4.3.3 was installed without any issues. I used Time Machine to bring back my old Back-up and restored to right before I upgraded.

Maybe I was just lucky.

 

[wordoflife]

I just downloaded a 4.3.3 iSPW from Google and clicked shift-restore in Itunes. Apple is still signing 4.3.3 so I had no issue and was running in 10 minutes. I didn't do anything fancy. I didn't bother downgrading iTunes. I'm still runing the beta

 

[WeegieMac]

There is no "workaround".

Put your iPhone into DFU mode, click Option/Shift + Restore, browse to your 4.3.3 ipsw file, and click OK.

Done.

 

[Frenchjay]

There is no "workaround".

Put your iPhone into DFU mode, click Option/Shift + Restore, browse to your 4.3.3 ipsw file, and click OK.

Done.

Yes this works fine i just done this now!

 

[mdotjr]

There is no "workaround".

Put your iPhone into DFU mode, click Option/Shift + Restore, browse to your 4.3.3 ipsw file, and click OK.

Done.

I cant get this to work for my att IP4. I tried downgrading itunes and everything. When its in dfu mode i click option restore find the 4.3.3 ispw file and after it verifies with apple it says my phone cannot support that software bundle or something like that??

What do i doooo????

 

[WeegieMac]

I cant get this to work for my att IP4. I tried downgrading itunes and everything. When its in dfu mode i click option restore find the 4.3.3 ispw file and after it verifies with apple it says my phone cannot support that software bundle or something like that??

What do i doooo????

No idea mate, I've gone from 4.3.3 to 5.0 B1 and back to 4.3.3 numerous times without any issues. My iPhone 4 is factory unlocked, UK model.

 

[WeegieMac]

I'd just like to confirm that I tested out downgrading from 5.0 Beta 2 to 4.3.3 without any problem.

I put the iPhone 4 into DFU mode, pressed Option + clicked Restore, and chose the 4.3.3 ipsw which I had sitting on my desktop. Restore went as expected, no problems at all.

My iPhone 4 is now restoring back to iOS 5.0 B2.

 

[azk]

I actually had the exact same problem with my iPhone 4 being stuck in recovery mode. Kept getting the unknown error (1). This was even before installing any beta. I was only trying to restore from a jailbreak. Very strange. I panicked a bit but in the end I managed to restore it by having a mess around with TinyUmbrella.
Haven't tried downgrading back to iOS 4.3.3 yet but I have a feeling if/when I do, I may have the same problems.

 

[ashman70]

Question, when you install iOS5 beta 1 or 2, does it upgrade the iPhone's baseband? If so, I imagine that it remains the same (upgraded) when you downgrade to 4.x.x?

AM

 

[Travisimo]

I haven't had the need to downgrade yet, but want to be prepared if the need arises. Where did you guys get the 4.3.3 ipsw file? I have the CDMA iPhone 4, so I would need the 4.2.8 version, right? Is this downloadable from the Apple developer site?

 

[mikelegacy]

Why are you all putting your phone in DFU mode? This isn't even necessary. I downgraded my iPad today to 4.3.3 easily.

All you have to do is plug it in to iTunes, Option(Alt) + Click and choose your IPSW file.

It works like a charm. If it's not working for you, download a different IPSW. You probably have a corrupt one.

I haven't had the need to downgrade yet, but want to be prepared if the need arises. Where did you guys get the 4.3.3 ipsw file? I have the CDMA iPhone 4, so I would need the 4.2.8 version, right? Is this downloadable from the Apple developer site?

Dude, just google search "iOS 4.3.3 firmware download". You'll get a ton of sites that MAP IT OUT for you what to download.

Just pick the CDMA download. It will download the correct version.

 

[Phil A.]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone 4: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/9A5248d Safari/6533.18.5)

I put my IPhone (gsm UK) into Restore mode and just clicked restore in iTunes. It said it would restore my phone to the latest version, found the one I'd downloaded when i first went to 4.3.3 and restored it. It just worked without a hitch for me. I've also done the same on a 3GS and an iPad.

 

[iMule]

There is no "workaround".

Put your iPhone into DFU mode, click Option/Shift + Restore, browse to your 4.3.3 ipsw file, and click OK.

Done.

Oh yes there is. I was one of the rare cases that couldn't restore in DFU mode. Believe me. I spent almost all night (and had little sleep) trying to get it restored. I tried that 1 million times. Google it. There's people out there who have had the same issues.

 

[WeegieMac]

Oh yes there is. I was one of the rare cases that couldn't restore in DFU mode. Believe me. I spent almost all night (and had little sleep) trying to get it restored. I tried that 1 million times. Google it. There's people out there who have had the same issues.

And you've checked all the (annoyingly asked if correct) ipsw files, iTunes versions, etc?