Couple of redsn0w questions

[buckyballs]

Hey guys, noobie here

I'm planning on jailbreaking (not unlocking!) my iPhone 3G, but can I check that I've got a few things correct?

1) Redsn0w does not touch the baseband and only fiddles with the other files, so can be completely undone by restoring via iTunes/Xcode

2) You can't brick the iPhone with redsn0w, just with ultrasn0w (which I don't need to use since I don't want to unlock)

3) Once unlocked, the phone will still work fine with iTunes/Xcode for transferring media/deploying apps

Thanks!

 

[-Ryan-]

You're correct on all counts!

 

[wRek]

You're correct on all counts!

Yep! Just did the process this morning. Everything is fully functioning just as before. Only better.

 

[buckyballs]

I've just watched a video of a jailbreak and it comes up saying "Flashing NOR". What exactly does this mean? The word "flashing" usually causes alarm bells to ring when I'm hacking something. I'm a computer science student, so it's ok if you get technical in your explanation

 

[thelatinist]

I've just watched a video of a jailbreak and it comes up saying "Flashing NOR". What exactly does this mean? The word "flashing" usually causes alarm bells to ring when I'm hacking something. I'm a computer science student, so it's ok if you get technical in your explanation

One of the iPhone's bootloaders is stored in its NOR flash memory, and that bootloader must be replaced with a modified version in order to boot the modified kernel that eliminates the chroot jail. During the jailbreaking process, redsn0w overwrites parts of the NOR memory, "flashing" it. You don't need to worry about this too much; if something goes wrong in the process, you can restore in DFU mode (which does not rely on this secondary bootloader) and it'll be good as new.

 

[buckyballs]

Oh, so that's how it fiddles with the bootloader

So this memory can be erased and modified easily (unlike the baseband, which can't be fiddled with unless it's an upgrade)?

 

[thelatinist]

So this memory can be erased and modified easily (unlike the baseband, which can't be fiddled with unless it's an upgrade)?

I wouldn't exactly say easily; it took the Dev Team months just to figure out how to dump it, originally. But the procedure has been working well for some time.

I applaud you for taking the time to do the research and understand the process of jailbreaking. Since you seem to need reassurance, though, I will say that I have never heard of an iPhone being bricked since version 1.1 of the firmware implemented the DFU mode (which bypasses the bootloader). Literally millions of people have jailbroken their phones without any permanent damage. The worst that can really happen is that you have to do a DFU restore.

 

[buckyballs]

All went well

Thanks for all your help guys!