Lot’s of iPhone bending latley. I’m in Buenos Aires so everyone needs their phone unlocked to run on the 3G networks here. Including me.

I lost my iPhone in Buenos Aires due to my own stupidity. So, I got a new one from  AT&T. This iPhone 3GS shipped with OS 3.1 installed and the 05.11.07 Modem Firmware aka BaseBand. I was a bummed at first because there is a lot of outdated info on the web saying that you can’t unlock the 5.11.07 baseband or that new 3GS iPhones which ship with OS 3.1 can’t even jailbreak. Happily this is all bullshit. In fact, this was the easiest, fastest, jailbreak and unlock I’ve done so far (this is my 4th).

Let me say that again. I just did a jailbreak and unlock on a brand new iPhone 3GS factory loaded with 3.1 and 5.11.07. I was up in running in 10-15 minutes and doing a test call on the local (Claro) network here in Buenos Aires. Here’s how:

1. Get a 3.1.2 .ipsw from the net. I used the Softipedia link here. If that doesn’t work just google 3.1.2 ipsw.
2. Download PwnageTool 3.14 from here or check http://blog.iphone-dev.org.
3. Plug the phone in and exit iTunes.
4. Run PwnageTool and it should find the ipsw file you downloaded. If it doesn’t you can search for it.
5. Follow the easy instructions from PwnageTool. It even puts the iPhone in DFU mode for you! No more stupid button tricks. This is about a 3 click process.
6. Once PwnageTool is done it will tell you to use iTunes to restore your custom ipsw. iTunes should launch automatiacally when the phone enters DFU mode. Just alt-click the restore button and select the custom ipsw on your desktop. iTunes does the rest. Just leave it alone and you’ll restart with a Jailbroken 3.1.2 phone.
7. For the carrier unlock; launch Cydia on the iPhone, click manage, click sources, click edit, click add, then enter blackra1n.com and click Add Source. Click done and then click on the new blackra1n.com source, then click blacksn0w and let it free you from AT&T’s carrier locking shackles.
8. Enjoy your brand new, unlocked, jailbroken 3GS with 3.1.2.

To clear a few things up that I had been confused on:

1. PwnageTool 3.1.4 works beautifully for the jailbreak. Don’t worry about blackra1n (the jailbreaking utility), you don’t need it.
2. You don’t need to start with a custom .ipsw. You create the custom ipsw with PwnageTool. So don’t worry about finding the write ipsw that’s already hacktivated etc.. there’s no need. A clean ipsw restore is fine.
3. Blacksn0w (the unlocker) and Blackra1n (the computer utility used to jailbreak) are different. Some say blackra1n is causing wifi issues. I have no idea since I didn’t use it. PwnageTool has never steered me wrong and blacksn0w worked great.

Good luck, I hope this works for you. To figure this out I read http://blog.iphone-dev.org/post/211802082/pwnage-pie and other blog.iphone.dev posts.

On an separate note,  I had an iPhone 2G  that was in a recovery mode or DFU loop. It would just display the iTunes connect image and nothing else. No amount of ridiculous button combination solved this. However, a command line tool called iRecovery worked great and it looks like it can do some other neat stuff as well.

UPDATE: blacksn0w did indeed hose my Wifi. The fix is here: http://www.redmondpie.com/youtube-fix-for-iphone-3.1.2-blacksn0w-unlock-9140104/

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 25th, 2009 @ 6:37 am on the category Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.