PwnageTool 3.1.4 Released to Jailbreak Any iPhone Running iPhone OS 3.1.2; Preserves Baseband for Unlocking

BY Jason

Published 13 Oct 2009

Geohot had released blackra1n, an extremely simple and easy tool to jailbreak any iPhone and iPod Touch running iPhone OS 3.1.2 but it did not preserve the baseband, which is important for users who want to unlock their iPhone.

iPhone Dev Team has released PwnageTool 3.1.4 for Mac, which supports iPhone OS 3.1.2 for iPhone 2G, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS and also iPod Touch 1G/2G. It will also allow users to preserve their iPhone's baseband so that they can unlock their iPhone.

The iPhone dev team has published the following details on their blog about PwnageTool 3.1.4:

If you’re already jailbroken (by whatever means), you don’t need to mess around with DFU mode at all.  Just create (or get from a friend) your custom IPSW and Option-Restore (Shift-Restore on Windows) to it via iTunes.  Don’t enter DFU mode at all.  Please make sure you are restoring to the custom IPSW, not the stock one from Apple!  For best results, use the latest iTunes (9.0.1) — which includes a nice new application organizer.

This release allows your baseband to remain unlocked at 3.1.2, but it does not unlock a new baseband put there by restoring to official 3.1.x.  It is super important that people who need the unlock to understand they can keep it only by starting at 3.0 (or earlier) and updating solely to custom IPSWs that don’t update the baseband.  For those who have been onboard the “unlock train”, simply install ultrasn0w via Cydia once you’ve restored to your custom IPSW.  Don’t forget to turn off the “3G” setting in Settings->General->Network if you use T-Mobile in the U.S.A.

Note for 3GS users not already jailbroken and stuck at 3.1.x: this version of PwnageTool has a side feature to jailbreak your 3GS.  It uses a simple implementation of the usb control msg hole found by chronicdev, geohot, and our very own gray.  Now that the hole is public and in use, we expect Apple to close it by the next major firmware update. That’s why 3GS users need to get their ECID hashes for 3.1.x now, and need to stay onboard the “jailbreak train” in all future updates.

For the early adopters who ran blackra1n and are having problems with mobilesubstrate, winterboard, diskaid, or ifunbox, you can install a custom .ipsw from PwnageTool to fix these issues.  That’s because all jailbroken devices accept a custom .ipsw created by PwnageTool.  (However, if you ran blackra1n on a 3G or 3GS that means you updated to stock 3.1.x, and the carrier unlock is now out of reach.  We’ll continue to work on a carrier unlock for the latest basebands, but the timeframe for such an unlock is unknowable.)

Note: If you use internet tethering on a carrier that doesn’t officially support it, you’ll lose it by going to 3.1.x.  Stay back at 3.0 until a hack for that is developed.

SUMMARY:

  • The iPhone 3GS is now supported out of the box in PwnageTool 3.1.4 (or if you have upgraded to 3.1.x in iTunes)

  • The iPod 2G is still supported in PwnageTool 3.1.4 but you must already be jailbroken (we’ll update this if there’s a big demand from non-jailbroken ipt2G owners)

  • The iPod touch 3G is NOT supported

DETAILS:

  1. GOLDEN RULE: If you are using a iPhone 3G or iPhone 3G(S) with ultrasn0w and rely on ultrasn0w to obtain cellular service then you should only update your device with an .ipsw that is made with the new PwnageTool. There are no second chances with this. You need to remember that PwnageTool will provide an upgrade path to newer versions of the iPhone software in the future.

  2. Please read all parts of this post before downloading and using these tools.

  3. Read items 1, 2 and 3 again and again.

  4. At the bottom of this post are the bittorrent files for the 3.1.4 capable version of PwnageTool.

  5. PwnageTool will work for the iPhone 3GS

  6. PwnageTool will work for the iPod touch 2G

  7. PwnageTool WILL work for Original iPhone (1st Generation), the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3G(S) and the iPod touch (1st Generation and 2nd Generation) but NOT the iPod touch 3rd generation.

  8. For 3G and 3G(S) users who are Pwned, PwnageTool is your key to updating in the future, just remember to never install an update directly from Apple, always use an .ipsw that has been created with PwnageTool.

  9. There is no Windows version of PwnageTool it is a Mac OS X tool only, we are not developing a Windows version of PwnageTool.

What’s a Baseband?

The ‘baseband’ is the generic nickname given to the internal components of the iPhone that handle the phone calls and Internet access. This ‘baseband’ is a tiny and unique independent computer system that runs inside your iPhone, it is separate to the main system that handles the applications (such as email and google maps) and it talks to the main part of the phone over an internal communications network.

Think of it like a cable modem or other peripheral that is attached to your home PC that needs occasional updates. When a software update is released and presented to you within iTunes the baseband is sometimes updated (to fix bugs or add new features).

The 3.1.2 update for the iPhone 3G and 3GS contains such an update, so running the vanilla updater straight away with iTunes will reprogram and update the baseband.

WHICH DEVICE DO I HAVE?

Read the description to identify your device, once you have correctly identified your device follow the specific instructions for that device as listed below.

SIM Free/SP Unlocked/Factory Unlocked iPhone 3G(S)

This applies if you bought your iPhone 3G(S) for $$$$$$$. This model of iPhone 3G(S) doesn’t have an Service Provider lock (aka factory unlocked) and you are able to put any SIM card into the phone and get service. Your phone is already unlocked so you do not need to worry about baseband updates, you can use PwnageTool to create an ipsw and then use this to update and jailbreak your phone.

SIM Free/SP Unlocked/Factory Unlocked iPhone 3G

This applies if you bought your iPhone 3G for $$$$$$$. This model of iPhone 3G doesn’t have an Service Provider lock (aka factory unlocked) and you are able to put any SIM card into the phone and get service. Your phone is already unlocked so you do not need to worry about baseband updates,  you can use PwnageTool to create a 3.1.ipsw and then use this to with iTunes to upgrade and jailbreak your phone.

iPhone 3G

Use PwnageTool to do the magic and then restore with iTunes using your newly created .ipsw

iPhone 3G(S)

Use PwnageTool to do the magic and then restore with iTunes using your newly created .ipsw

iPhone 2G (1st Generation)

Use PwnageTool to do the magic and then restore with iTunes using your newly created .ipsw ‘nuff said, you don’t need to worry about anything, the baseband will be unlocked, the phone jailbroken.

iPod Touch 1G (Original iPod Touch)

Use PwnageTool to create a firmware image and restore with that .ipsw using iTunes.

iPod Touch 2G

Use PwnageTool to create a firmware image and restore with that .ipsw to your already jailbroken device using iTunes.

iPod Touch 3G

At this time PwnageTool does not support this device.

Please take a backup of your iPhone before you use PwnageTool to jailbreak it. Please refer to this post for more details. As with any hack, please proceed with caution as jailbreaking your iPhone could void it's warranty so proceed at your own risk.

You can download PwnageTool 3.1.4 from the official BitTorrent link or the unofficial mirror sites:

Unofficial mirror sites:

As always, please tell us know how it goes in the comments.

[via Dev Team’s blog]




Follow us on Twitter