How to upgrade a previously jailbroken iPhone to iOS 5.1.1 and preserve the baseband.

The process of getting this job done requires a number of steps (but are easily done), which are downloading the official iOS firmware from Apple, upgrading iTunes to the latest version, getting the latest redsn0w from the dev team, making your custom iOS, restoring your iPhone to the custom iOS, restoring your iPhone data, installing Cydia and lastly installing Ultrasn0w. If you are new to this it can well be intimidating with loads of jargon but take your time and go through the information below.

This process has been tested and successfully installed/Jailbroken on a iPhone 3GS old boot rom device that has been previously jailbroken and had the iPad baseband firmware of 6.15 applied.

iOS 5.1.1 Jailbroken

If you have previously jailbroken your iPhone, the only way to get to the latest iOS 5.1.1 is from a custom iOS IPSW which is made from a stock Apple standard iOS IPSW. In which case you will want to follow the whole post.

If you are on an unjailbroken iPhone stock iOS 5.1.1 and just want to jailbreak go to the second half of the post.

Mac/Win users can create their own custom IPSW with the coolest software app from the dev team called ‘redsn0w’.

Please note that this is only an untethered jailbreak for iPhone old-boot rom 3GS, but a tethered jailbreak for new-boot rom 3GS Phone 4, iPhone 4-CDMA, iPad1, iPodTouch 3G, iPodTouch 4G. Untethered meaning that you can reboot the device normally without software assistance. Tethered boot note.

This will not work on iPhone 4s and iPad2/iPad2 known as A5 devices.

What boot-rom am I (for iPhone 3GS) ?

What basebands are unlockable ?

Getting Started…

Download Standard stock iOS for
iPhone | iPad | iPodTouch

Download the latest official Apple stock IPSW iOS 5 for your iOS device:

• iPhone 4 GSM (AT&T)
• iPhone 4 CDMA (Verizon)
• iPhone 3GS
• iPad 1
• iPod touch 3rd gen
• iPod touch 4th gen

Upgrade iTunes

Update to the latest version of iTunes

Mac – iTunes Menu > Check for Updates
Win –  iTunes Help Menu > Check for Updates

Sync iPhone to iTunes

This will ensure you have an up to date backup of your iPhone in iTunes

Get the lastest redsn0w

Get the latest Redsn0w   — Mac OSX   or  Windows

 Upgrade to iOS 5.1.1 with redsnow

1) Launch redsn0w – click Extras

launch redsn0w > click extras

2) Select Custom IPSW

Select Custom IPSW

3) Browse and select the stock standard iOS IPSW 5.1.1 that was downloaded from Apple – and let redsn0w make the custom firmware, – this will take a little while… in this example the 3GS iPhone standard iOS file was selected “iPhone2,1_5.1.1_9B206_Restore.ipsw” – Before the IPSW is created you are asked which bootrom the iPhone is old or new. (see the section near the bottom of the post )

Confirm which bootrom the iPhone is

Custom IPSW being made

4) A Custom IPSW is then created by redsn0w created with a prefix of “NO_BB…..” which is short for no baseband, the full file name for 3GS iPhone is named ‘NO_BB_OLDROM_iPhone2,1_5.1.1_9B206_Restore.ipsw’

Custom IPSW created with NO_BB prefix

5) Connect the iPhone to the the computer  and in redsn0w – Enter Pwned DFU Mode

Enter pwned DFU mode

6) Follow the Steps in the redsn0w app to get the iphone into Pwned DFU Mode:

follow-dfu-mode-instructions

7) Once the screen is black – time to do the custom restore. If the screen has a USB/iTunes logo then it did not enter pwned DFU mode – the screen has to be black.

success-dfu-mode

8 ) Launch iTunes and option (Mac) /shift (Win) click on restore and browse to and select the custom IPSW created which starts with “NO_BB_” make sure this is the one you restore to.

Shift/Option click restore to restore iphone from custom IPSW

iTunes extracts the software  and preps the iPhone for restore, verifies the restore, restores the firmware and then restarts the iPhone.

Voila!, you are on iOS5.1

9) Now in iTunes you can restore all your data from the last  iTunes backup as prompted – just have to remember that password that was initially set for iTunes!

restore-from-itunes-backup

After the restore, iTunes will then sync all of the Apps, Music, Photos etc.

To Activate (Hacktivate) Jailbreak and Unlock the iOS device

To activate and jailbreak and install Cydia and to unlock install Ultrasn0w: -  launch redsn0w again and this time the application needs to work with the stock standard official iOS firmware  initially downloaded from the links above in this instance with the iPhone 3GS the firmware is ‘iPhone2,1_5.1.1_9B206_Restore.ipsw’

1) launch redsnow and click on ‘Extras‘

ios501-select-stock-firmware

2) Select IPSW and browse to your downloaded stock iOS – in this case it is - iPhone2,1_5.1_9B176_Restore.ipsw

3) For the iPhone 3GS redsnow needs to know if it is an old or new bootrom – see other notes on the post if you are not sure on what bootrom version. If you are not sure use refer to this boot rom guide.

Which BootRom is This?

4) IPSW verification made from redsn0w

Confirm IPSW

5) Now time to Jailbreak

jaibreak-iphone-install-cydia

6) Click on Install Cydia

install-cydia

7) You then have to enter the PwnedDFU mode again, so follow the onscreen instructions

8 ) After it enters DFU

jailbreak-complete

You should see a hardrive icon followed by a bunch of scrolling code and then running pineapples – and its all happy days.

9) After rebooting, launch Cydia on the iPhone, the app will ask you what type of user you are and then download the lastest packages and upgrade when prompted, then tap the Cydia Search icon (bottom right) and tap in ultrasn0w, Cydia finds the package and then install ultrasn0w 1.2.5 and reboot the iPhone this will complete the jailbreak and unlock the device.

Note on Tethered Boot !

If your iPhone requires a tethered boot this means that the device requires a software jumpstart (everytime it is booted) to operate after being jailbroken, there are a few apps that can do this but redsn0w also has the function built in. So if you have successfully jailbroke but are stuck on iPhone Apple logo, spinning gear on iPhone boot up, connect the iPhone, launch redsn0w > Extras.

Then ‘just boot tethered right now’.

This also applies if Cydia crashes on launch or you get a white icon – this means that a tethered boot is also required but is known as a semi-tethered boot as the iPhone can reboot without assistance but to be in a jailbroken state needs a tethered boot.

The only iPhone that can boot untethered on this redsn0w/jailbreak is the old bootrom iPhone 3GS.

iphone-tethered-boot-apple-logo

Future versions of the redsn0w software will no doubt allow for an untethered experience for iPhone 4 users.

What boot-rom am I?

Check your iPhone 3GS serial number, on iPhone – Settings > General > About
Look for the Serial Number – if the 4th & 5th digits are below 40 you are lucky and have the old boot-rom.

To be absolutely sure about the boot rom – check if you have iboot 359.3

What basebands are unlockable with Ultrasn0w?

iPhone 4

iPhone 3G/3GS

The official basebands installed for iOS 5.1 are:
iPhone 3Gs = 05.16.05
iPhone 4 = 04.12.01
iPhone 4S  = 2.0.10

These are not currently unlockable with Ultrasn0w. If you mistakenly upgraded an unlocked/jailbroken iPhone via iTunes to a regular iOS update you will end up on one of these basebands and lose that unlockable functionality.

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