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Please help - Confused UK/US iPhone user

T

Touringman

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 14, 2007
6
0
Hi

I have read and read posts and lots of links regarding unlocking iPhone and upgrading firmware but regretably I still can't work out what to do.

I have a US iPhone bought on e-bay already unlocked to work with any network. I am using the phone sucessfully on Vodaphone in the UK

I don't have iTunes store etc and wanted to upgrade the firmware but I am lead to understand by the seller of the phone that this would "brick" the phone rendering it useless

The Settings/General/about firmware says my iPhone is on version 1.0.2 but the modem firmware is on 04.01.13. The IMEI number begins 01130...

All the links I have read indicate that if the firmware is 1.0.2 then the modem firmware should read 03.01.08?

The info in http://iphone.unlock.no/ doesn't seem to cover my situation exactly (the IMEI numbers etc?)

Can I update to 1.1.1 using iTunes safely or can anyone point me to a really simple guide as to what steps need to be taken to upgrade the firmware successfully

Many thanks in advance
 
I'm in a similar situation to you, using an unlocked American 1.0.2 phone and wanting to upgrade to 1.1.1.

There doesn't seem to be a single source of information on what to do if you have firmware as old as 1.0.2 - most sites seem to assume that you'll have 1.1.1 as a minimum - but from looking carefully at hackintosh and unlock.no, I think I've pieced together that as long as you virginize first, you can safely upgrade a hacked phone from 1.0.2 to 1.1.1. However, if you simply try to update via iTunes as if you were an "official" iPhone user, you *will* render the phone temporarily useless.

That's the good bit - since it became possible to virginize, talk of "bricking" an iPhone is now inaccurate. Yes, updating the firmware of a hacked phone can render it useless, but only until you virginize (and then update and jailbreak). The "irreversible damage" Apple was talking about isn't irreversible at all :cool:

That said, I don't know what to make of the fact that you don't have the expected modem firmware for 1.0.2 :confused: I've got the "normal" firmware, and I'll probably try updating to 1.1.1 tonight.
 
Thanks for the response - be good to know how you get on - I will just have to leave my phone at 1.0.2 I guess unless someone know what to do!

Tim
 
Okay, I've now gone from 1.0.2 to 1.1.1, but it's taken me about 5 hours and the phone ended up well and truly bricked for a while...

The problem was that all the "easy" update solutions (i.e. the ones that don't involve having to open Terminal and type reams of arcane instructions) require that Installer.app be installed on the phone, and I didn't have it. I tried installing it using AppTapp installer, but it kept failing with a "Bootstrap error", despite my doing everything the instructions said to do the event of that error occurring.

After a bit of faffing around, I thought "Screw this, I'll stick with 1.0.2 but I want the SMS crashing problem fixed so I'll just do a restore through iTunes". Several sources on the net said that restoring an unlocked 1.0.2 with the original 1.0.2 software wouldn't relock it. Sadly, those sources were wrong :rolleyes:

So now I had a relocked 1.0.2 requiring activation. I tried the technique to be found here, which installs Installer.app as part of the process, but sadly that depends on you having the 1.1.1 firmware.

Things get a bit hazy at this point, since it was about 2am by now and I was tired, but for some reason I decided I'd try updating with the 1.1.1 software. I think I was taking a calculated risk that the original unlocking of my phone had been done with one of the non-flawed methods, and hence the update wouldn't brick it. Sadly, I was wrong :rolleyes::rolleyes:

So now I had the classic bricked iPhone, with the screwed modem firmware and an IMEI number beginning with 0049.

However, I was now in the position of being able to try this method, because I had the 1.1.1 firmware, and it actually worked. Installer.app installed itself, I was subsequently able to virginize the phone, downgrade to 1.0.2, then restore 1.1.1 and jailbreak, reactivate, run AnySIM, and now I have a working unlocked 1.1.1 with Installer.app on it :cool:

The above is actually a condensed version of what happened... I went down lots of blind alleys and had to go into recovery mode lots of times along the way.

In your particular case, I *think* the reason why you have the higher modem firmware number is that someone before you tried updating the phone, then went back to 1.0.2. If you want to try updating, I would suggest that you restore to 1.1.1 using the iTunes method, then use this technique to get Installer.app onto the phone, use the instructions on the same page to virginize (specifically the section headed "How to Virginize if you already upgraded and have 04.01.13_G"), downgrade again to 1.0.2, and then finally update to 1.1.1 and jailbreak/activate/unlock SIM by doing this again.

However, that's *only* a suggestion, to be followed at your own risk! It worked for me after a lot of screwing around, but YMMV.

BTW, if you do try it, you may have to visit jailbreakme.com multiple times before the software installs properly and the phone restarts. It took about 15 minutes of trying before it worked for me - the server load seems to be pretty high.
 
I do think that http://iphone.unlock.no/ is the best site around. It's the simplest and got me out of a real pickle. I got an iPhone shipped from Ebay. It was supposed to be unlocked with 1.1.1 installed.

But on inspection it only had 1.0.2.

On hooking it up to iTunes, something happened and it went into restore. After following instructions on another site I reinstalled the firmware then upgraded to 1.1.1. It unlocked the phone but I couldn't make calls even after running anysim. Then I followed other instructions to restore and it did but then the modem was still the 1.0.2 version but the firmware was 1.1.1....Reinstalled again but this time the IMEI number was 0049.....

Found that site after spending hours trawling the net and looking at extraordinarily complex instructions on some sites to the http://iPhone.unlock.no/ site and simply virginised the phone back as per the instructions and then started again and this time it was all done in about 15 mins and the result a full working phone.

That site is a godsend, so simple and straightforward with clear and concise instructions.
 
AVR2 said:
I tried the technique to be found here, which installs Installer.app as part of the process, but sadly that depends on you having the 1.1.1 firmware.
Click to expand...
Hi. I am in a similar position (I bought an unlocked US phone and am using it in Europe). Fortunately my phone already has v1.1.1, but I am wondering if I can use the method you linked on an *already* unlocked iPhone?

Basically I want to know how to do the unlocking myself in case e.g. I have to restore my phone and it gets locked 'accidentally'.

Do you (or anyone) know if I can restore my phone and then use this method? Will it still work that way or does it only work on 'virgin' phones?

I would like to be 'self-sufficient' regarding unlocking and unstalling apps, but I am scared in case I lose the use of my phone in the process! :)
 
Basically I want to know how to do the unlocking myself in case e.g. I have to restore my phone and it gets locked 'accidentally'.
Click to expand...


That's what I did with mione,. On an already unlocked phone I had to restore and used that method. Virginised the baseband first using his method which is in the installer and then just restored to 1.1.1 and jailbroke the phone very easily and then anysim did the rest...
 
thanks for the reply.

I noticed those instructions on virginizing for 1.1.1 (here: How to "Virginize" if you already upgraded and have 04.01.13_G.) states it is for if you have Modem version 04.01.13_G (which I have) and 0049xxx IMEI (which I don't have)

Will the Virginizer still work for me??? I am scared to try it in case I end up with a locked phone (or worse) :)

Incidentally, are you on Mac OS X too?
 
Yeah, I'm on OSX myself...

Now don't wquote me on this! But you'd be safe virginising the baseband and then restoring and jailbreaking and then finally running anysim.

But make sure it's 1.1.1 you restore to. Do the restore manually in iTunes, option-shift and choose the 1.1.1 file you would have downloaded from his site as well.
 
OW22 said:
Yeah, I'm on OSX myself...

Now don't wquote me on this! But you'd be safe virginising the baseband and then restoring and jailbreaking and then finally running anysim.

But make sure it's 1.1.1 you restore to. Do the restore manually in iTunes, option-shift and choose the 1.1.1 file you would have downloaded from his site as well.
Click to expand...

ok man **** it I'm gonna try it. Watch this space :eek:
 
if anyone is interested http://iphoneunlock.no now has a fix for the lack of voicemail notification :D

the only thing I am missing now is to get rid of the "call forwarding - dismiss" button when I make a call, but it goes away aftar a few seconds so it isnt too big of a deal.
 
OW22 said:
I've gone through his site and can't see where the fix for the voicemail notification is??
Click to expand...
It is the first item in his FAQ (it doesnt appear in the FAQ menu on the left, but it is in the body of the page further down), here you go:

SMS recieved from internet is scrambled/not working?

For some ridiculous reason, Apple did not add real support for the SMS standard. The result is that SMS sent with a alphanumeric/non standard number will either not be recieved at all or the text will get scrambled as shown on the screenshot below. This bug may even damage the SMS database on your phone. It took Apple some time, but in 1.1.2 it's finally fixed, so we can just use the phone application from 1.1.2 on 1.1.1 (1.0.2 or older is not supported currently). Thanks to saraf_suman for telling me that.
125691
How to fix the SMS problem easily:

1. Open installer, and tap Sources, Edit and Add.
2. Type in http://i.unlock.no/ and Ok then Done.
3. Now tap on Install at the bottom and scroll down to the Unlocking Tools category
4. Install SMS Fix
5. When done installing, reboot your phone and it should work

Note: I have not throughly tested this, so there may be side effects i'm not aware of yet. But you can just uninstall the package to revert the changes. I only tested on 1.1.1.
Click to expand...

Worked for me first time... don't forget to restart your phone afterwards, I missed that step and had a chalky!

EDIT: Ah, I've just realised why you couldn't find it... it doesnt specifically mention voicemail. Voicemail notifications are normally sent as alphanumeric texts, and that is the reason they weren't working :)
 
Thanks for that, looks like a great fix. That guy has a great site doesn't he? Full of simple solutions and great tweaks.

I'll try that fix when I get home. If I get a voicemail currently, my iPhone calls me to tell me....
 
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