Questions about jailbreaking+unlocking an iPhone 3G using a friend's Mac?

[mPod]

I have an iPhone 3G, bought/activated through AT&T, and it's been sitting at firmware 2.2 and baseband 2.28.00 for a while now. I don't have a mac so it's just always been synced to iTunes on my Windows laptop. I haven't jailbroken yet because I'd like to upgrade to 2.2.1 but want the ability to unlock the firmware, and I understand that QuickPwn won't do that with 2.2.1.

However I have a friend visiting tomorrow with a new Mac (that is also synced to his new iPhone). I'd like to take advantage of that and run PwnageTool. (I have a Dell monitor with USB hub so that should take care of any potential OS X DFU mode issues.) My problem is my general noobness about syncing an iPhone to multiple different machines. Some of my questions:

1. Do I even need to sync my phone to his mac's iTunes to do the jailbreak? I've read the iClarified guide and it appears that the final step involves iTunes setting up the just-restored-with-the-pwnage-image iPhone as a new phone (or restoring from backup).
2. Should I sync my phone to his mac's iTunes before starting the process? Would I need to log in with my iTunes account info or is that irrelevant? I clearly don't have a good handle on where the iTunes account figures into everything -- is it only for initial activation (if even that) and apps/music/video purchases, or does it also control what computers might be able to sync with the phone?
3. After the pwnage image restore, during that last "set up as a new phone/restore-from-backup?" stage, could I just disconnect the phone at that point and reconnect it to my Windows laptop and do that step from iTunes? Could I even restore from backup to keep my settings, or would that just wipe out the jailbroken 2.2.1 that I just installed and put a backup of 2.2 back on?
4. Is there any possibility of keeping my settings, or will this be as if a complete restore was done?
5. Side note: what root partition value should I choose? Are there any implications to making it bigger than needed? Like future flexibility to install more low-level apps -- or do those just go to the other partition?

Sorry for all the rookie questions!

 

[DannyBres]

I aint read all your text im lazy....

Just use Pwnage Tool on his mac and copy the Custom IPSW to your PC and use the IPSW through iTunes in windows. this means it will all be done with your iTunes and not use his at all.

 

[mPod]

So after PwnageTool builds the firmware I'll just copy it to my PC... can I just connect my phone and put it in DFU mode for the custom ipsw restore without even using QuickPwn?

 

[mPod]

So I built the custom 2.2.1 firmware using PwnageTool, copied it over to my Windows laptop, connected my phone to the laptop, powered off, put it in DFU mode (seemed to work fine), iTunes detected it and said it needed to recover it, I shift-clicked to select the custom firmware, but shortly after iTunes finished extracting it I got the "could not be restored unknown error occurred (1600)" error. It didn't modify my phone at all so it's not bricked / needing a base 2.2 restore, I'm just not sure how to get past the (1600) error.

 

[jmann]

Do I even need to sync my phone to his mac's iTunes to do the jailbreak? I've read the iClarified guide and it appears that the final step involves iTunes setting up the just-restored-with-the-pwnage-image iPhone as a new phone (or restoring from backup).

What you need to do is after pwnage tool is done running and you have your custom ipsw, you can do a option+restore in iTunes and once it is done restoring/jailbreaking you can unplug it and "set up" your iphone at your house on your computer.

Should I sync my phone to his mac's iTunes before starting the process? Would I need to log in with my iTunes account info or is that irrelevant? I clearly don't have a good handle on where the iTunes account figures into everything -- is it only for initial activation (if even that) and apps/music/video purchases, or does it also control what computers might be able to sync with the phone?

You don't need to sync anything. If you choose that you aren't using an official carrier or choosing the "activate" option in pwnagetool will "hacktivate" your phone for you, and no activating by iTunes/sim card is required.

After the pwnage image restore, during that last "set up as a new phone/restore-from-backup?" stage, could I just disconnect the phone at that point and reconnect it to my Windows laptop and do that step from iTunes? Could I even restore from backup to keep my settings, or would that just wipe out the jailbroken 2.2.1 that I just installed and put a backup of 2.2 back on?

Yes just disconnect. Don't set up the iPhone, do it at your house. Choosing an older restore, only changes what info is being synced to the device, even if you pick a "pre 2.2.1" restore it will stay on the current firmware you jailbroke it with.

Is there any possibility of keeping my settings, or will this be as if a complete restore was done?

When you restore from a previous backup (on your windows computer) it will reapply all the settings you had before the jailbreak. No extra work required.

Side note: what root partition value should I choose? Are there any implications to making it bigger than needed? Like future flexibility to install more low-level apps -- or do those just go to the other partition?

Leave the partition where it is at unless the jailbreak is unsuccessfull. But otherwise leave it where it is. It doesn't really matter.

So I built the custom 2.2.1 firmware using PwnageTool, copied it over to my Windows laptop, connected my phone to the laptop, powered off, put it in DFU mode (seemed to work fine), iTunes detected it and said it needed to recover it, I shift-clicked to select the custom firmware, but shortly after iTunes finished extracting it I got the "could not be restored unknown error occurred (1600)" error. It didn't modify my phone at all so it's not bricked / needing a base 2.2 restore, I'm just not sure how to get past the (1600) error.

Do the jailbreak/custom restore on the mac. It is a waste to use pwnage tool on the mac, and then do the restore/jailbreak on the pc. It will go smoother on the mac anyways. If you use your pc, you might as well have just torrented a custom firmware.

 

[mPod]

Thank you so much jmann for taking the time and providing such a detailed reply. I did a rebuild of the firmware (with the default root partition size this time) & the recover on my friend's Mac and it went just fine, and now (90 minutes later, heh) my windows-laptop restore-from-backup has completed and everything's working great! 2.2.1 with 2.28.00 baseband, all settings preserved, etc. Much appreciated -- I'm a very happy camper right now.

 

[mPod]

One followup question: so the phone and my AT&T SIM work fine if I install yellowsn0w. However without yellowsn0w I get no signal with my AT&T SIM. Until yesterday's jailbreak process it had just been a normal U.S.-bought AT&T iPhone 3G.

Is there anything I can do to get it to recognize my AT&T SIM without running yellowsn0w? I just figure it would be one less thing running and if I can wait until I might be traveling or switch to T-Mobile (unlikely) and re-install yellowsn0w.

Thanks.