Upgrade unlocked iPhone 3GS to IOS 5.0.1 baseband 06.15.00 untethered.
- December 27th, 2011
- Posted in Documentation
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This is the process I used to upgrade an iPhone 3Gs running IOS 4.1 baseband 06.15.00 to IOS 5.0.1 while preserving the baseband and the carrier unlock.
Software installed/downloaded:
OS: MacOS Lion 10.7.2
iTunes: 10.5.2
redsn0w_mac_0.9.10b1.zip
iPhone2,1_5.0.1_9A405_Restore.ipsw
I plugged the phone into my computer and backed up from iTunes by right mouse clicking on the phone and selecting “Backup”.
I downloaded the redsn0w application and the IOS install into a folder called JB.
I unzipped the redsn0w_mac_0.9.10b1.zip and executed redsn0w.app from the redsn0w_mac_0.9.10b1 folder.
Clicked Extras.
Clicked Custom IPSW and browsed to the JB folder where I downloaded the iPhone2,1_5.0.1_9A405_Restore.ipsw from Apple.
Since I had an original 3Gs, I selected “No” on the “Will this custom IPSW be used on a newer (fixed) version of the iPhone3GS?”.
This created a custom NO_BB_OLDROM_iPhone2,1_5.0.1_9A405_Restore.ipsw file that will not attempt to update the baseband when IOS 5.0.1 is restored.
Once created, I needed to put the phone in DFU mode. For some reason, I had trouble using the method I had used before. This is what I did this time:
With device powered on,unlocked and connected via the USB cable with iTunes running:
Hold the Power and Home buttons.
When the screen goes black, count to 2.
Then, release the Power button, and hold the Home button for 10 – 15 seconds.
iTunes came up and displayed that it was in recover mode. I tried restoring my custom IPSW from here but I kept getting a 1600 error. So, once I had in recover mode, I fired up Redsn0w again and went into Extras and clicked on “Pwned DFU”.
This put it in DFU mode quickly.
Then, I was able to hold “alt/option” and click the “Restore” button in iTunes.
This allowed me to browse to the custom IPSW: NO_BB_OLDROM_iPhone2,1_5.0.1_9A405_Restore.ipsw.
This installed IOS 5.0.1 on the phone and preserved the baseband (06.15.00) with the applications and settings restored.
Once up, the phone still needed to be jailbroken and unlocked.
I closed iTunes, and brought up Redsn0w again. I needed to point redsn0w to the unchanged iPhone2,1_5.0.1_9A405_Restore.ipsw file. This time, I chose Jailbreak. The only option that I had selected was “Install Cydia”.
After rebooting and verifying the Cydia icon is installed, I needed to unlock the phone.
I launched Cydia and clicked on Manage and then Sources.
Then, I added the Ultrasn0w repository by clicking “Edit” and “Add”. Then, I added the repository: http://repo666.ultrasn0w.com. Note: this took me quite a few attempts on the 27th, due to server load some where along the line. Eventually, I was able to get the repository added.
Once added, I was able to search for and install Ultrasn0w.
I rebooted and the phone was updated, jailbroken and unlocked.
@Taratari
Do you get the phone activated once you restore?
@Jgz
I thought by checking General option instead of Simple option while using Snowbreeze to create custom FW will launch Cydia,hactivate as well as jailbreak
Any other suggestion I really don’t know what to do .
Hey is it possible that I have converted my phone into an ipod because I cannot make calls,receive messages…
@Taratari
I have not used Sn0wbreeze in a long time, so I can’t really say. But I believe that the hackivate is just when iTunes attempts to activate the phone when the gs.apple.com hostname is pointing to a Cydia IP address.
$ host 74.208.10.249
249.10.208.74.in-addr.arpa domain name pointer nginx.saurik.com.
You might want to check you hosts file to see if gs.apple.com has been added.
Yesterday I tried to flash Ipad bb with redsnow(ofcourse the latest version …9.12b..) but no much improvemen.I just saw your post this morning and mmhh why not take you back to where it began.When I bought the phoneit was working-messages,calls,loading Cydia all was good except for the one bar network bug.There was one thing I didn’t mention that there was no ultrasnow because I remember serching for ultrasnow under manage tab in Cydia but nothing like ultrrasnow but the phone was working on bb 6.15 with unofficial sim card.I tried to add repo for ultrasnow at the manage tab but won’t install just said there was an error as something to do with network was open or not found-I don’t exatly remember the words.My question how did this guy manage to get the phone working on bb 6.15 without ultrasnow ?
@Jgz
I’m trying to look for the host files under windows/system32/drivers/etc but seems there is nothing under etc seems I don’t even have the address you are talking about 74.208…
@Taratari
This depends on when you got the phone. AT&T started unlocking phones after their contracts expired two months ago. I had my 3Gs unlocked at that time with the 06.15.00 baseband and did not have Ultrasn0w installed. Of course, if the phone was previously unlocked, why use the iPad baseband? Maybe it is possible install Ultrasn0w to unlock, and then remove the repository.
@Taratari
Every Windows version as far back as I can remember has something in the etc directory. There should be a hosts file there. At a minimum, it would have everything commented out. Note: if you are trying to activate the latest version of IOS, you do NOT want the entry in the hosts file. Apple will activate that. If you are trying to restore something older and have shsh blobs saved, the entry is needed in the hosts file.
@Jgz
You are right,I should not try to edit host files-I agree.
I didn’t know about AT&T term ending I should not have gone that way I went(reflashing ipad bb)may be I should have just updated without the other nonsense.
I guess the way to go now will be try something different may be start the phone as new on ios 5.1.1(I’m still there),as you had earlier advised and see if it works on me.
The wi-fi,bluetooth have not greyed so atleast I know the problem am getting is something to do with either the ipad bb or the fw
I got a question about my iphone 3GS ios 5.1.1 it’s jailbroken and i want to know if it going to affect my phone software or or lose my unlock if i syc. with itune?
@Kristofer
You should have no issue syncing your phone with iTunes. I usually do some checking before using the newest version of iTunes to make sure nothing happens to the jailbreak/unlock, but have never had to postpone an iTunes upgrade.
The only thing you need to keep an eye on is an IOS update. You obviously want to skip those until the jailbreak community has either come up with a new jailbreak or verified that the current methods still work.
Hey I have been trying to looks back at what/how I tried to work around my iphone issue and noticed some mistakes
1.I had been trying to run cydia after restoring the phone without wifi(where I come from people don’t know about wifi infact just a couple of guys do use wifi about tenth) which of course would not work as the phone was still locked
2.I realized my problem was software related as I had earlier said,just needed to unlock the phone with ultrasnow or something
Finally I did make to go around the issue with redsnow 0.9.14b2 and am good to go.Anyway thanks for your support I really appreciated it especially the post to do with downgrading 3gs baseband to 05.13.04
@Taratari
Great. Glad to hear you got it going.
for the new bootrom , is this a tethered jailbreak ?
thanks
@besta
Yes, this is untethered.
Hey Jgz what was this ipad bb,I man after downgrading the bb the iphone is great,the one bug network thing is fixed,power drain is fixed,you don’t have to keep your iphone in EDGE mode always what was this ipad bb?
Another question I’m having problems with saving my shsh since iFaith is not working for ios 5.1.1,and TinyUmbrella won’t run on my PC any suggestion
@Taratari
The iPad baseband is installed to support Ultrasn0w to unlock the phone, if the baseband was upgraded beyond a version that Ultrasn0w supports. That is the only reason it would be done.
Regarding your shsh blobs, open Cydia and see that they are saved on the Cydia servers. It is at the top of the page under Home. This should be sufficient.
@Jgz
I can see it right there under home,I can also see also for version 4.1 which I was previously at,guess am good to go
@Taratari
Yeah, so basically you can still downgrade to 4.1 and 5.1.1 when IOS 6 comes out.
@Jgz
Hey I,ve been thinking ,ideally when you upgrade your ios Apple ensures that you also upgrade your BB to the version that you are going to if your are using stock FW.
Does this mean that the BB upgrade is like the optimum BB for that particular new ios
@Taratari
That is always the intention, but I suppose it is possible that there could be a situation where a bug is introduced in a baseband upgrade.
I followed your instruction but i encountered error 1601 after restore, the phone is not booting, more like stuck in DFU. its not being detected when i plug it into the conputer what should i do?
@Selector
This most certainly means that the phone is not really in DFU mode. Hold the Power and Home button for about 5-10 seconds, and it should boot. Then, try it again. It can be difficult to get it in DFU mode and usually takes me a couple times, but the 1601 error has always been because the phone was in in DFU mode for me.
Hey version 5.1.1 is really cool,I have some photo and video editing apps,some 3D games,music apps and they are working fine good unlike version 4.1