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mattlet

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 24, 2012
11
0
Just got an iPhone 3g. The person I got it off said it had been unlocked but since then it has been displaying 'searching'.

specs

02-UK in the top left hand corner but no signal bars.
It connects to my BT wifi at home.
Version: 4.2.1 (8C148)
Model: MB489B
Model Firmware 06.15.00

Trouble is there is that many different solutions out there I don't know which one to choose, I don't want to pick the wrong one.

Any info you need just shout, help appreciated.

Thanks

Matt
 
reboot phone, it should work with the 06.15.0 BB the phone currently has, also ejecet and reinsert SIM.
 
ok, So I took the sim out, re-booted, switched back on, put sim back in, still the same as before? Any ideas
 
I find sometimes the IPAD baseband corrupts and dosen't allow the unlock to occur.

Download the latest version of redsn0w and re-apply the iPad baseband. Once thats done, pop your SIM back in and see if it finds the network.

Regards,

xentelworker
 
so you reccomend redsnow instead of ultrasnow?
I have no idea how to do this, but I will do my best to do what you said, do you know of any good links to look at on how to do this, there seems to be a tonne of different links on google, not sure which one to look at.
 
Ultrasn0w is something different than redsn0w

Ultrasn0w is the unlock tweak on your phone, need that anyway.

Redsn0w is the jailbreak tool on your mac/pc

iclarified.com has good tutorials, go read up first before you rush head first into problems which might ruin your phone.

Are you sure the phone was functioning when you bought it?
 
so you reccomend redsnow instead of ultrasnow?
I have no idea how to do this, but I will do my best to do what you said, do you know of any good links to look at on how to do this, there seems to be a tonne of different links on google, not sure which one to look at.

Redsn0w and Ultrasn0w are 2 different things. Redsn0w is used to apply the iPad baseband. Have a look at the article below:

http://www.idownloadblog.com/2012/06/18/downgrade-baseband-06-15/

ultrasn0w is used to unlock the iPhone after you applied the iPad baseband.
 
Ok, now I'm totally confused, I've never owned an iPhone so I'm just about grasping the lingo at the minute, forgive me for my complete idiocy. All this talk about redsn0w, ultrasn0w, jail break, my heads mangled! Just took a look at those websites and they lost me when I got to the part about the DFU, n then I saw that there's a fudgin yellowsn0w and I thought RIGHT that's it! I've had enough! Been looking for answers for about 6 hours straight now, looks like I'm gonna have to channel my inner jail breaker tomorrow, I will not be defeated...
Thanks for the links and the help guys, I'll post back the outcome once I've reached jail breaker ninja status! :p
 
Ok, now I'm totally confused, I've never owned an iPhone so I'm just about grasping the lingo at the minute, forgive me for my complete idiocy. All this talk about redsn0w, ultrasn0w, jail break, my heads mangled! Just took a look at those websites and they lost me when I got to the part about the DFU, n then I saw that there's a fudgin yellowsn0w and I thought RIGHT that's it! I've had enough! Been looking for answers for about 6 hours straight now, looks like I'm gonna have to channel my inner jail breaker tomorrow, I will not be defeated...
Thanks for the links and the help guys, I'll post back the outcome once I've reached jail breaker ninja status! :p

dhlizard does highlight a good feature, but I know you we're a newbie so you don't need to do that step quite yet. Go with iPad baseband for now and try to get everythign working. Once that is all established, move with dhlizard recommendation and change the baseband again.

The reason why you want to do this is to restore GPS functionality. Currently the iPad baseband does not allow GPS to work on the iPhone.

Post back on when you reach this level.
 
Followed the steps in this tut :

http://www.shoutpedia.com/download-r...and-iphone-3g/

Jail broke it,
Done DFU and got the screen where pineapple shows up,
Phone rebooted,
Base band has gone from 6.15.00 to 05.13.04,
GPS is now working,
Plugged into iTunes got a message saying 'Congratulations, your iPhone has been unlocked'.

What do I need to do now?

It says 02-UK carrier in the top corner but still has no signal bars? It also still says 'searching' under settings/carrier?

Am I missing something that needs to be done to get the signal bars?
 
Followed the steps in this tut :

http://www.shoutpedia.com/download-r...and-iphone-3g/

Jail broke it,
Done DFU and got the screen where pineapple shows up,
Phone rebooted,
Base band has gone from 6.15.00 to 05.13.04,
GPS is now working,
Plugged into iTunes got a message saying 'Congratulations, your iPhone has been unlocked'.

What do I need to do now?

It says 02-UK carrier in the top corner but still has no signal bars? It also still says 'searching' under settings/carrier?

Am I missing something that needs to be done to get the signal bars?

It sounds like your phone might be factory unlocked. You don't usually get that message if your using Ultrasn0w. Can you check your IMEI number against the following site to check the lock status:

http://dev.mk/iphone-simlock-status-imei-checker/

Let me know if it shows its factory unlocked. Yout might not need to do any of this.
 
hi, thanks for the reply, just checked now and it says

Activation Status : Yes

Does this mean it is factory unlocked?
 
Ok at least I know now that it is unlocked but it still has no signal? How to I get the signal bars in the top left corner? It still says 'searching' under settings/carrier too??? Any suggestions on how to get signal??
 
see if it helps to go in to settings/carrier and select the carrier manual, maybe it will find 1 that you can connect to.
 
hi, I tried o2-uk, orange, t-mobile-uk, and vodafone-uk,
I get a message each time I press each one of the carriers saying :

"your selected mobile range is restricted, you can choose a different network in settings"

I have tried each one but still get the same message.

The only one that shows up in the top left is 02-uk, my sim card is o2 uk so that makes sense, but I am still getting no signal bars??

Thanks for being patient with me, I just want to get to the bottom of this, it just seems strange that it is unlocked but shows that message saying it is restricted each time I click one of the carriers manually?
 
hi, I tried o2-uk, orange, t-mobile-uk, and vodafone-uk,
I get a message each time I press each one of the carriers saying :

"your selected mobile range is restricted, you can choose a different network in settings"

I have tried each one but still get the same message.

The only one that shows up in the top left is 02-uk, my sim card is o2 uk so that makes sense, but I am still getting no signal bars??

Thanks for being patient with me, I just want to get to the bottom of this, it just seems strange that it is unlocked but shows that message saying it is restricted each time I click one of the carriers manually?

You are factory unlocked. Do a stock restore through iTunes. it will update your baseband to the latest and iOS to 6. You can do this safely because you don't need any of the jailbreak tools to unlock your device. That should fix up your signal issue. I've had simliar issues with screwing around with the baseband, but I think stock restore should do the trick for you.
 
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