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iPhone Instructions for - updating iPhone 4 4.3.5 to iOS 5 with baseband preserved?

P

psejcf

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 9, 2011
62
0
Planet Earth
[Update: I did a custom iOS 5 IPSW install on my iPhone 4 using redsn0w 0.9.9b7 on OS X and the Gevey continues to work. See this post further below in this thread for details - Upgrade iPhone 4.3.5 to iOS 5 with baseband preserved
]

Hello all,
I'm new to the iPhone 4 jailbreaking scene and not very familiar with the tools and procedures. I have a iPhone 4 (iOS 4.3.5) unlocked using Gevey. It is not jailbroken yet.

I've seen some other threads related threads here, but they don't have the answers I'm seeking (more so because I'm new to this).

I've read that Gevey doesn't work with the iOS 5 update. So I'm looking for detailed instructions on what to do to be prepared for upgrading to iOS 5 while preserving my current baseband (4.10). I need the solution to run on Mac OS X 10.6.8. I'm not in a hurry to upgrade to iOS 5, but want to make sure that I don't miss anything I should be doing right now (before iOS 5 is released).

My questions (please provide detailed answers/instructions):
1. Do I need to jailbreak my iPhone 4 right away and save the SHSH blobs before iOS 5 is released? Or will I be fine doing it much later? I don't know if this has any relation to the code signing windows that Apple uses for firmware restores.

2. What is the best way to upgrade while preserving the baseband on the OS X platform? Tools and instructions? (I don't care about the part that my jailbreak on 4.3.5 will be tethered)

3. I don't really know the differences between redsn0w and pwnage tool as they stand today. Is there any place I can find the differences (and advantages/disadvantages) for their current versions?

Thanks!
 
Last edited:
Use sn0wbreeze in Windows (yeah, your going to need Windows in at least a VM), prepare your iOS 5 GM .ipsw and restore using iTunes 10.5 beta 7 or higher. To boot tethered on in OS 10.6 or 10.7, use redsn0w.
 
Sneakz said:
Use sn0wbreeze in Windows (yeah, your going to need Windows in at least a VM), prepare your iOS 5 GM .ipsw and restore using iTunes 10.5 beta 7 or higher. To boot tethered on in OS 10.6 or 10.7, use redsn0w.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your response. I'm getting a better understanding of the tools now.

1. I'm repeating my understanding of what you said here. Please correct as necessary:
a) Wait till October 12 for iOS 5 and iTunes 5 to be released
b) Use sn0wbreeze on Windows to prepare custom firmware ipsw of iOS 5
c) Use iTunes 5 to restore the iOS 5 custom firmware ipsw on my unjailbroken iPhone 4 (iOS 4.3.5) phone
d) The custom firmware ipsw of iOS 5 is already jailbroken. So all I have to do whenever the phone is powered off and on is boot tethered using redsn0w on OS X. There's no need to re-jailbreak using redsn0w.

3. After following the above steps, I'm essentially stuck with using sn0wbreeze in the future too (for upgrading to iOS 5.1, 5.2 and so on). Is that right?

4. Can the same thing be done with pwnage tool on OS X?

Thanks!
 
Yes, you have it correct.

It can only be done on sn0wbreeze, not pwnage tool at the moment. Pwnage tool will probably do this in the future. You'll never have to jailbreak using redsn0w, just to boot. A untethered jailbreak should be available soon though. I'd guess with the first week or two. They are probably going to want to bundle the iPhone 4S into that jailbreak.

Note that you can boot without redsn0w, but nothing jailbroken will work (like Cydia, SBsettings etc). They will immediately crash.

No need to wait till Wednesday. You can if you want.
 
Sneakz said:
Yes, you have it correct.

It can only be done on sn0wbreeze, not pwnage tool at the moment. Pwnage tool will probably do this in the future. You'll never have to jailbreak using redsn0w, just to boot. A untethered jailbreak should be available soon though. I'd guess with the first week or two. They are probably going to want to bundle the iPhone 4S into that jailbreak.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the confirmation. I did search for pwnage tool for iOS 5, but couldn't find any information about it. So I understood that sn0wbreeze is the only solution for now.

An untethered jailbreak for iOS 5 would be very nice!


Sneakz said:
Note that you can boot without redsn0w, but nothing jailbroken will work (like Cydia, SBsettings etc). They will immediately crash.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I gathered that when I was looking at jailbreaking some months ago.
 
psejcf said:
Thanks for the confirmation. I did search for pwnage tool for iOS 5, but couldn't find any information about it. So I understood that sn0wbreeze is the only solution for now.

An untethered jailbreak for iOS 5 would be very nice!




Yeah, I gathered that when I was looking at jailbreaking some months ago.
Click to expand...

can someone explains what a tethered or untethered jailbreak is?

and so you're saying I can still preserve the baseband (essentially still use my gevey sim) without "jailbreaking"

thanks
 
sou1 so1di3r said:
can someone explains what a tethered or untethered jailbreak is?

and so you're saying I can still preserve the baseband (essentially still use my gevey sim) without "jailbreaking"

thanks
Click to expand...
Not 100% percent sure but there may be an option to not install Cydia in sn0wbreeze. So you could preserve baseband.

The phone would still be jailbroken though if you booted it using iBooty or redsn0w. Just because Cydia wasn't installed doesn't mean it hasn't been rooted.
 
sou1 so1di3r said:
can someone explains what a tethered or untethered jailbreak is?
Click to expand...

An untethered jailbreak is one where the jailbreak lasts even if you reboot the phone (or power it off and power it on). The last untethered jailbreak was for iOS 4.3.3 through the simple jailbreakme.com website by @comex that exploited a PDF vulnerability in Mobile Safari.

Tools like sn0wbreeze (on Windows) and redsn0w (on Mac OS X and Windows) do tethered jailbreaks. If you use these (because you're already past 4.3.3), then every time your phone reboots (or is powered off and powered on), you have to use the tool to do a "just boot" to boot jailbroken. You're not redoing the jailbreak, but just booting from the jailbroken software. This implies that for every boot, you need a computer to connect to and do the tethered bootup. You can still boot normally without the tools, but the jailbreak apps (including Cydia) wouldn't work.

sou1 so1di3r said:
and so you're saying I can still preserve the baseband (essentially still use my gevey sim) without "jailbreaking"
thanks
Click to expand...

Yes, the latest redsn0w allows you to build a custom iOS 5 IPSW without the baseband and "restore" it through iTunes to your iPhone 4. This would result in an iPhone 4 with the baseband preserved, with iOS 5 and without a jailbreak. You should save the "NO_BB_..." IPSW file somewhere safe so that you can use it to in the future for restores (if needed). If you do an update or restore with the stock IPSW from Apple, your baseband will get updated and the Gevey unlock will no longer work.

If you need to jailbreak the custom iOS 5 IPSW, you would have to use sn0wbreeze or redsn0w (although the articles I've read on the web make it look like there's some incompatibility with jailbroken iOS 5 and Gevey that seems to disable the Gevey until the jailbreak is removed).

There is no untethered jailbreak for iOS 5 yet.
 
psejcf said:
An untethered jailbreak is one where the jailbreak lasts even if you reboot the phone (or power it off and power it on). The last untethered jailbreak was for iOS 4.3.3 through the simple jailbreakme.com website by @comex that exploited a PDF vulnerability in Mobile Safari.

Tools like sn0wbreeze (on Windows) and redsn0w (on Mac OS X and Windows) do tethered jailbreaks. If you use these (because you're already past 4.3.3), then every time your phone reboots (or is powered off and powered on), you have to use the tool to do a "just boot" to boot jailbroken. You're not redoing the jailbreak, but just booting from the jailbroken software. This implies that for every boot, you need a computer to connect to and do the tethered bootup. You can still boot normally without the tools, but the jailbreak apps (including Cydia) wouldn't work.
Click to expand...

Per the Dev Team, the highlighted quote is only partly correct.

If you install NOTHING that ties into Springboard functions or uses Mobile Substrate, you will be able to reboot the phone and only lose access to jailbreak apps (plus Safari). So you'd still have an actual usable phone in an emergency.

If you install any tweaks that do tie into Springboard or do use Mobile Substrate--and this covers a great deal of what people JB for--you will be unable to get past the Apple logo without being tethered to a computer running Redsn0w or sn0wbreeze. Until you can do that, you effectively have no phone.

Spontaneous reboots happen even on stock, non JB'd phones, so this isn't a situation you can always plan for. My last freeze up that required a hard reset happened when I was leaving the house for the day, a day with zero access to a computer and a need to stay in contact. And it's why I think a tethered JB is only for those who have absolutely no other choice, or who are scrupulous about not installing Mobile Substrate based tweaks. (No thanks--I find those way too useful. LOL)
 
IrishVixen said:
Per the Dev Team, the highlighted quote is only partly correct.

If you install NOTHING that ties into Springboard functions or uses Mobile Substrate, you will be able to reboot the phone and only lose access to jailbreak apps (plus Safari). So you'd still have an actual usable phone in an emergency.

If you install any tweaks that do tie into Springboard or do use Mobile Substrate--and this covers a great deal of what people JB for--you will be unable to get past the Apple logo without being tethered to a computer running Redsn0w or sn0wbreeze. Until you can do that, you effectively have no phone.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the clarification. But as you said, most JBers jailbreak for tweaking the Springboard and/or Mobile Substrate.

IrishVixen said:
Spontaneous reboots happen even on stock, non JB'd phones, so this isn't a situation you can always plan for. My last freeze up that required a hard reset happened when I was leaving the house for the day, a day with zero access to a computer and a need to stay in contact. And it's why I think a tethered JB is only for those who have absolutely no other choice, or who are scrupulous about not installing Mobile Substrate based tweaks. (No thanks--I find those way too useful. LOL)
Click to expand...

Tethered JB is mainly for people who're always with a computer. I've been without a usable device a few times and that really sucks.
 
Upgrade iPhone 4.3.5 to iOS 5 with baseband preserved (Excuse the double post)

FWIW, I updated my iPhone 4 (baseband 4.10.01) with Gevey to iOS 5 using the custom IPSW feature in redsn0w on OS X. As expected, my baseband is still the same as before and Gevey continues to work. I did not re-jailbreak my device.

If you have a Mac, here's what you'd need to do for an iPhone 4 GSM device (the downloads and filenames vary for other devices):
0. Make sure you have iTunes 10.5 on your Mac.

1. Downloaded the stock iOS 5 IPSW from Apple (the file for the iPhone 4 GSM device is called "iPhone3,1_5.0_9A334_Restore" and is dated October 8, 2011). For security reasons, it's better to be sure you're downloading from the Apple site and not from any other site or torrent.

2. Download redsn0w 0.9.9b7 or 0.9.9b7b for OS X (the latest at the time of writing this) post.

3. Run redsn0w, click on "Extras", then click on "Custom IPSW" and point it to the iOS 5 IPSW you downloaded in step #1.

4. redsn0w will prepare a custom IPSW with the a "NO_BB_" prefix added to the original filename, like "NO_BB_iPhone3,1_5.0_9A334_Restore" (the filename will be different if this is not an iPhone 4 GSM device).

5. Remove your Gevey and your SIM and insert your original (AT&T or the original carrier to which it's locked) SIM. If you do not do this, the device will say, in a later step, "Invalid SIM" and will not allow you to proceed with the restoration of all your data, settings and apps through iTunes. It's only after you insert the original SIM will it take you to the "Connect to iTunes" screen and iTunes will recognize your device and show the list of backups available to restore from.

6. Connect your iPhone 4 to your Mac, but don't run iTunes (and if it starts, quit it).

7. Launch redsn0w again if you've quit it after the custom IPSW step. Go to "Extras" and then click on "Pwned DFU".

8. redsn0w will guide you to put the iPhone 4 in "Recovery mode" (the iTunes name for this state).

9. Launch iTunes. It'll say that it's discovered a device in Recovery Mode.

10. Click on the iPhone (from the left panel in iTunes), and then hold the Option key while clicking on the "Restore" button. This will force iTunes to ask you for an IPSW file.

11. Point iTunes to the "NO_BB_" file that redsn0w prepared. DO NOT point it to the stock IPSW file you downloaded from Apple!!!

12. iTunes will restore the firmware with the custom iOS 5 IPSW, your phone will reboot and then iOS 5 will prompt you for the initial setup (language, country, iCloud, etc.).

13. iTunes will ask if you'd like to restore data/settings. Choose the backup corresponding to your old device name (otherwise your phone would be with nothing on it except stock Apple apps). Note that iOS 5 allows sync and other activities to happen in parallel.

14. iTunes will restore settings and data from your latest backup.

15. Perform a Sync to get all your Apps, music, photos, videos, ringtones, books, etc., synced to your device.

16. Turn off the iPhone, remove the original SIM, put your Gevey plus current carrier SIM and turn it on. Follow the steps to activate the Gevey hack.


Note:
1. The above steps will give you an un-jailbroken iOS 5 iPhone 4.
2. If you share your Apple ID for the App/iTunes store with other people, you will want to change the iCloud setup to use your personal Apple ID instead of a shared Apple ID.
 
Last edited:
psejcf said:
[Update: I did a custom iOS 5 IPSW install on my iPhone 4 using redsn0w 0.9.9b7 on OS X and the Gevey continues to work. See this post further below in this thread for details - Upgrade iPhone 4.3.5 to iOS 5 with baseband preserved
]

Hello all,
I'm new to the iPhone 4 jailbreaking scene and not very familiar with the tools and procedures. I have a iPhone 4 (iOS 4.3.5) unlocked using Gevey. It is not jailbroken yet.

I've seen some other threads related threads here, but they don't have the answers I'm seeking (more so because I'm new to this).

I've read that Gevey doesn't work with the iOS 5 update. So I'm looking for detailed instructions on what to do to be prepared for upgrading to iOS 5 while preserving my current baseband (4.10). I need the solution to run on Mac OS X 10.6.8. I'm not in a hurry to upgrade to iOS 5, but want to make sure that I don't miss anything I should be doing right now (before iOS 5 is released).

My questions (please provide detailed answers/instructions):
1. Do I need to jailbreak my iPhone 4 right away and save the SHSH blobs before iOS 5 is released? Or will I be fine doing it much later? I don't know if this has any relation to the code signing windows that Apple uses for firmware restores.

2. What is the best way to upgrade while preserving the baseband on the OS X platform? Tools and instructions? (I don't care about the part that my jailbreak on 4.3.5 will be tethered)

3. I don't really know the differences between redsn0w and pwnage tool as they stand today. Is there any place I can find the differences (and advantages/disadvantages) for their current versions?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Ok, i Backed up my phone before update, and i can see backup is there.
I updated my iPhone 4 to iOS 5 and iTunes didnt let me chose what restore i want, it just set it up as new phone.
I also dont have option of restore form backup when i right click on it.

Can anyone help me ?
 
After having just spent a good chunk of time working on this, thought I'd on to help those that are a bit lost on that last step.

The original poster's comments were awesome, I followed all of them well, but when I got to the last part (where I had to actually unlock it with the Gevey), that was the hardest part.

I suggest watching this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwrFQ9nuo6Q

This guy does it right, except he's missing a step. When you flip it to your language in the Settings and wait for the "ACCEPT" pop up, once you do that, wait 15 seconds. Those 15 seconds are crucial, THEN dial 112 and do the rest of the steps.

Hope this helps anyone else who was lost like I was. OP, you might want to add this, as this part took me a while to figure out.
 
psejcf said:
5. (Not 100% sure about this step but it didn't work for me any other way) Remove your Gevey plus your SIM and put in your original (AT&T?) SIM (or the device will just wait at the "Connect - iTunes" prompt).
Click to expand...

Just to check on this step - I still have an original AT&T sim, but I'm now abroad (not in the US). Is this going to be a problem?
 
tsg20 said:
Just to check on this step - I still have an original AT&T sim, but I'm now abroad (not in the US). Is this going to be a problem?
Click to expand...

No, I did the same thing as a Canadian abroad.

Oh and I was having problems with the unlock too. Inspired by pookieinc's post above (didn't work for me but appreciate it nonetheless) I found these instructions for gevey ultra - what I have

http://applenberry.com/store/instructions/gevey-ultra-1/manual.html

Only instructions that worked for me. With all the other instructions, clicking the language in settings would have no effect. If it matters, I had 3G off, data and data roaming on.
 
Last edited:
Pookieinc said:
The original poster's comments were awesome, I followed all of them well, but when I got to the last part (where I had to actually unlock it with the Gevey), that was the hardest part.

I suggest watching this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwrFQ9nuo6Q

This guy does it right, except he's missing a step. When you flip it to your language in the Settings and wait for the "ACCEPT" pop up, once you do that, wait 15 seconds. Those 15 seconds are crucial, THEN dial 112 and do the rest of the steps.

Hope this helps anyone else who was lost like I was. OP, you might want to add this, as this part took me a while to figure out.
Click to expand...

The reason I did not expand on the Gevey unlocking process is that I don't seem to have an original Gevey and the exact steps and screens vary a bit across all the "Gevey" SIM interposers out there. It's best to retain the instructions that come with your "Gevey" and follow them. Or try different ways like you have stated above and see what works best.
 
Thanks for this guide - very helpful, worked beautifully.

The only thing that confused me was at the end, and the video above helped here. I've been using my Gevey Ultra manually for months, and it's a bit different on ios5. I don't get the screen when I reboot (have to launch it from sim applications), and more importantly I never get the 1 bar of signal - it shows no service, but dialing 112 still worked OK.
 
The video shows you exactly what to do except for one thing. After you call 112 and go back to settings turn on airplane mode and and just wait forty seconds and sim failure will pop up and then you push that, turn airplane mode off and it will start searching for carrier. It is less frustrating just to wait for it. I also find that with the jailbreak it took a lot longer to work. I am stock now and it works within a minute and a half. With the jailbreak it took four or five tries. Which meant you had to do tethered process over and over again.
 
yes, all those steps are the same as on ios4 (except it's always a lot less than 40s for me).
 
jeans94621 said:
The video shows you exactly what to do except for one thing. After you call 112 and go back to settings turn on airplane mode and and just wait forty seconds and sim failure will pop up and then you push that, turn airplane mode off and it will start searching for carrier. It is less frustrating just to wait for it. I also find that with the jailbreak it took a lot longer to work. I am stock now and it works within a minute and a half. With the jailbreak it took four or five tries. Which meant you had to do tethered process over and over again.
Click to expand...


Actually, I tried this same method (which is also mentioned on the original Gevey website). I do not have a SIM application menu for my "Gevey" (clone) or any language selection. All I do is:
* Turn on the phone and wait for the No Service message (this is after choosing "Accept" from the Gevey)
* Dial 112 and hang up in a second or two
* Go to settings and turn on Airplane Mode
* Wait for 25 to 40 seconds for the Invalid SIM message to show up
* Turn off Airplane Mode and wait a few more seconds for it to show the Invalid SIM and SIM Failure messages
* Dismiss those messages and wait for it to search and connect to the carrier

As you said, it's really less frustrating to just wait (by following the above steps) rather than flip Airplane Mode on and off repeatedly and pray for the failure messages to appear. I've had some very frustrating experiences with getting connected by following whatever instructions came with my "Gevey" (clone) and it used to be even more painful when I had a tethered jalbreak since it meant multiple tethered boots if something went wrong in the Gevey process (semitether wasn't out at that point in time). The process above works flawlessly every single time!
 
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