iPhone Dev Team released PwnageTool 3.1.3 for iPhone OS 3.1, which added support for iPhone 3GS so that users can upgrade their jailbroken iPhone 3GS to iPhone OS 3.1 and also preserve the baseband firmware so that they can unlock their iPhone.
This step-by-step guide will show you how to use Dev Team's PwnageTool 3.1.3 courtesy folks at iClarified.
Some important points to note before we start:
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Hacking your iPhone could void its warranty. So please proceed with caution.
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This guide is applicable only for iPhone 3GS users. iPhone 3G users can refer to this guide. We’ll publish a guide for iPhone 2G users shortly.
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PwnageTool 3.1.3 will work only if you had jailbroken or pwned your iPhone 3GS running iPhone OS 3.0 or iPhone OS 3.0.1. If you accidentally upgraded your jailbroken iPhone 3GS to iPhone OS 3.1 then PwnageTool 3.1.3 might not work.
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If your iPhone 3GS came with iPhone OS 3.1 pre-installed or you have not jailbroken your iPhone 3GS running iPhone OS 3.0 or iPhone OS 3.0.1 then PwnageTool 3.1.3 will not work. Dev Team is figuring out a way to make it work so please be patient.
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PwnageTool does not unlock iPhone 3GS but it allows you to jailbreak your iPhone 3GS by allowing you to create a pre-jailbroken iPhone OS 3.1 and also preserves your iPhone 3GS’s baseband from getting updated so that you can use UltraSn0w to unlock it. (After unlocking your iPhone running jailbroken iPhone 3.1 if you notice that the name and/or logo of the carrier is missing then it appears to be a cosmetic issue, it shouldn’t impact coverage or signal. Dev Team are looking into the issue.)
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This guide cannot be used to downgrade your baseband from 05.11.07 to 04.26.08 (currently there no method away to downgrade the baseband from 05.11.07 included in iPhone OS 3.1).
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If you already have a jailbroken iPhone and have installed jailbreak iPhone apps then this method will also result in wiping out the jailbreak apps. You'll need to reinstall them via Cydia.
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The only way to update your jailbroken iPhone 3GS to jailbroken iPhone OS 3.1 and preserve its baseband is by using the PwnageTool 3.1. PwnageTool is only available for Mac users, so Windows users who want to unlock their iPhone 3GS should either get the custom firmware created by the PwnageTool on a Mac from someone they trust or borrow their friend's Mac and follow this guide.
Preparatory steps before Jailbreaking your iPhone 3GS and preserving its baseband:
1. Please take a backup of your iPhone, refer to this post for more details.
2. Please download PwnageTool from any of these download links:
- http://apfelportal.de/host/images/PwnageTool__3.1.3.dmg
- http://imodzone.net/pwn/PwnageTool__3.1.3.dmg
- http://nevyn.nu/files/PwnageTool__3.1.3.dmg
- http://zcr.me/f/PwnageTool__3.1.3.dmg
- http://dl.opt-6.com/public/PwnageTool__3.1.3.dmg
- http://mirrors.c2wifi.org/iPhone/PwnageTool__3.1.3.dmg
- http://www.spiralnine.com/bin/PwnageTool__3.1.3.dmg
- http://www.hackthatphone.net/PwnageTool__3.1.3.dmg
- http://downloads2.touch-mania.com/PwnageTool__3.1.3.dmg
- http://coldgame.de/PwnageTool__3.1.3.dmg
- http://files.mackgoodstein.com/PwnageTool__3.1.3.dmg
- http://dev.poorlad.com/PwnageTool__3.1.3.dmg
3. You need to download the iPhone firmware 3.1 file for iPhone 3GS from this link (iPhone2,1_3.1_7C144_Restore.ipsw).
Create Custom Firmware 3.1 using PwnageTool 3.1.3:
1. Launch PwnageTool 3.1.3. You will see the following warning message, click OK.
2. Please select the Expert Mode from the menu bar in the next screen.
3. Then select iPhone 3GS from the options presented and then click on the blue arrow button to continue.
4. You will see the "Browse for IPSW" screen. PwnageTool will automatically find the iPhone2,1_3.1_7C144_Restore.ipsw file that you had downloaded on your Mac. If PwnageTool doesn't automatically find the ipsw file you can click Browse and select the file.
5. Click iPhone2,1_3.1_7C144 to select the IPSW file, a checkmark will appear next to it. Then click the blue arrow button to continue.
6. In the next screen, select General and then click on the blue arrow button to continue.
7. The General settings allows you to decide the partition size (you have to increase the size of the root partition to 695 MB). Keep "Activate the phone" option checked if you want to unlock your iPhone or deselect it if you are using an official iPhone carrier. Click the blue arrow button to continue.
8. In the next screen, you will see the Bootneuter settings greyed out for iPhone 3GS. Click the blue arrow button to continue.
9. In the next Cydia settings screen; you can pre-install the packages in the custom firmware so you don't have to manually install them later. Select the packages and click the blue arrow button to continue.
10. The Custom Logos Settings screen allows you to change the boot and restore logos. Once you have selected the boot and restore logos, click the blue arrow button to continue.
11. In the next screen, select Build and then click on the blue arrow button to continue. You will be prompted to save the custom firmware file, save it as iPhone2,1_3.1_7C144_Custom_Restore.ipsw so that you differentiate the custom firmware file created by PwnageTool with the firmware file you had downloaded earlier.
12. While building the custom firmware, you will be prompted to enter a password. Enter your administrator password and then click OK.
13. You will then be prompted to close PwnageTool application then put your iPhone 3GS in recovery mode. Click the Ok button to continue.
14. You can follow these instructions to put your iPhone 3GS in recovery mode:
- Disconnect your iPhone 3GS from your computer.
- Turn off your iPhone 3GS.
- Press and hold the Home button while reconnecting the USB cable to iPhone. When you reconnect the iPhone 3GS to your computer via USB port, the device should then power on.
- Continue holding the Home button while your iPhone starts up. While starting up, you will see the Apple logo.
- When you see "Connect to iTunes" on the screen, you can release the Home button and iTunes will display the recovery mode message as seen below:
15. When iTunes pops up the message as seen above telling you that it has detected an iPhone in recovery mode. Select "Ok".
Restore your iPhone 3GS in Recovery mode with Custom iPhone Firmware created using PwnageTool 3.1.3:
You can now use the custom iPhone firmware created using the PwnageTool 3.1.3 to restore your iPhone 3GS in recovery mode on either Mac or Windows by following these steps.
1. Connect your iPhone 3GS to your Mac or PC and select your iPhone from the list of devices in iTunes.
2. In the Summary Tab, Hold down Option and press the "Restore" button. If you are using Windows hold down Shift and press the Restore button. (This is a VERY IMPORTANT STEP as just pressing the "Restore" button will result in restoring your iPhone with the latest firmware which is firmware 3.1 currently, by holding down Option in case of Mac or Shift in case of Windows, allows you choose the custom iPhone firmware file.)
3. You should be able to see all the older iPhone firmware files you had downloaded so far, select the custom iPhone firmware (iPhone2,1_3.1_7C144_Custom_Restore.ipsw file) that was created earlier using PwnageTool to restore your iPhone 3GS (it’s important that you use the custom firmware file iPhone2,1_3.1_7C144_Custom_Restore.ipsw).
4. Once your iPhone 3GS is restored, it will be jailbroken and updated with iPhone firmware 3.1 but the baseband will still be 04.26.08 (and not 05.11.07) so you can unlock your iPhone 3GS using UltraSn0w. You can check it by going to Settings -> General -> About and looking for Version, it should be 3.1 (7C144) and Modem firmware should be 04.26.08.
5. The last step is to set up your iPhone 3GS from a backup.
Update:
Updated the instructions for putting iPhone 3GS in recovery mode thanks to feedback from our readers.
As always, don't forget to drop us a line to tell us how it goes.
[via iClarified]
