My iPhone is now an iPod touch (sort of)
So I spent much of last night and today trying to turn my bricked iPhone into something other than an emergency cell phone. I went through the various methods outlined on the Web for downgrading the firmware from 1.1.1 to 1.0.2 (knowing full well that having run a software SIM unlock in the past, the best outcome I could hope for was a fancy iPod touch).
On my Mac Pro, I downloaded the old firmware, forced the iPhone into recovery mode, and told iTunes to restore from the 1.0.2 software. That failed several times. I then tried the same process with Parallels Desktop running Windows XP with similar lack of results. I then tried reverting to iTunes 7.3.2 on Windows (as written about on the same Web page) and restoring 1.0.2, which worked.
After that, I spent a while trying to reinstall AppTapp as directed. It failed several times on both OS X and Windows, but finally worked (can’t remember which OS won in the end).
I then tried to run iNdependence in order to fake an activation of my phone without much luck. But when I brought the iPhone to someone else’s Mac, it worked (he might have had a newer version of the software). When we finished, I was holding a previously dead iPhone that could now be used as an iPod, Web browser, Mail client, and various other things — but not a phone. The hacks I subjected it to both pre- and post-bricking did damage to the cellular radio. Hopefully someone will come up with a way to fix that.
In the meantime, I’m using a brand new iPhone.
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Comments (5)
Although I have not hacked my iPhone and, thus, have
had no problem with the 1.1.1 update, it really frosts
me to have an UPDATE dished out by the iPhone's
manufacturer with the potential to destroy my iPhone--with no
way to back track or repair the damage and no help
offered by the manufacturer.
This would be different from Sony's root kit in what
way, pray tell???? Oh, yeah, I remember--I'm not even
trying to steal anything, but Apple still feels like it
can trash my personal property.
I love my iPhone, but this situation is untenable.
Posted by Marian Petrides, M.D. | October 1, 2007 8:46 PM
Considering that the phone was fully functional BEFORE the 1.1.1 update, and that the IMEI was correct... and that it becomes useless AFTER the update (and IMEI becomes invalid)...
I'd say that the update is what damaged the phone, not the unlock. Has noone wondered why the IMEI changes? And how convenient it is that a changed IMEI voids the warranty, exactly as stated in the TOS?
Coincidence? Or deliberate planning? You have a brain, you decide!
Posted by Sunny | October 2, 2007 9:01 AM
you can reset the baseband firmware if you want your phone back. IT isn't hard. I've done it for about 4 different Bricks
see instructions here:
http://9to5mac.com/iphone-downgrade-1.1.1-1.0.2-543662346
Posted by Cleve | October 3, 2007 9:30 AM
It's an interesting take. I am actually thinking of getting an iPhone just for email and iPodding around the office - with no phone.
Posted by Archiform 3D | October 3, 2007 4:31 PM
The poster who thinks this is like the Sony Rootkit issue is not remembering things correctly. Sony did not warn, inform, ask permission, or give any other form of feedback. They just installed it, and only acknowledged it when pressed.
Apple made a press release a week before, held a press briefing, and put up a dialog box during the update that said "This update will erase your phone's data. Continue or Cancel?" I had installed AppTapp, loved it, read the press release, decided it was probably true that the phone would be bricked, and reverted back to 1.0.2 before updating to 1.1.1.
And I am entering this post from my fully functional iPhone.
Posted by Smitty | October 8, 2007 1:02 PM