from the edge of the deep green sea

After having it with the constant crashes in the 1.0.2 firmware, I decided to pull an “all in” (in geekiest terms) and upgrade the iPhone once and for all. The main reasons were:

• I was sick and tired of constant crashes
• My latest crashed rendered the iPhone unusable until I restored the firmware
• Instructions for future upgrades will be from 1.1.2 or 1.1.1, not from 1.0.2

This post is not a guide on doing so – I will just point you to the series of instructions I used to carry out each step.

Virginizing the iPhone

Before upgrading to 1.1.1, you need to restore your hacked iPhone to its original condition. This process is called “virginizing”. These instructions work if you hacked your iPhone with AnySim or iUnlock:

http://dzhiurgis.blogspot.com/2007/10/virginize-your-102-iphone.html

The instructions there are missing some steps that need to be done to copy some files from the iPhone’s firmware archive. Follow those instructions here:

http://www.tuaw.com/2007/09/24/how-to-relock-your-iphone-before-the-firmware-update/

So pretty much, Step 4 from DZHIURGIS BLOG should be:

1. cd /usr/bin
2. tar -xzvf Virginiser.tar.gz (I actually unatarred the file from OS and copied it over the iPhone using SFTP)
3. launchctl unload /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.CommCenter.plist
4. Download the 1.0.2 firmware to your computer and unzip it. It uses a .ipsw extension but your unzip program should still work. Change the extension if you have to.
5. Extract the ramdisk as such: dd if=009-7698-4.dmg of=ramdisk.dmg bs=512 skip=4 conv=sync
6. Mount the extracted ramdisk.
7. From the ramdisk, copy /usr/local/bin/bbupdater, /usr/local/standalone/firmware/ICE03.14.08_G.eep, and /usr/local/standalone/firmware/ICE03.14.08_G.fls to your iPhone (the virginiser folder from Step 2)
8. cd Virginiser
9. chmod 0755 *
10. ./virginise.sh
11. launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.CommCenter.plist

Upgrading & Hacking 1.1.1

To upgrade and hack to 1.1.1 I followed the instructions on modmyiphone.com, namely:

http://modmyifone.com/wiki/index.php/Upgrading_1.0.2_iPhone_to_1.1.1

http://www.modmyifone.com/wiki/index.php/Jailbreak_the_iPhone_1.1.1_out_of_the_box

Upgrading & Hacking to 1.1.2

Almost there!!! To upgrade a hacked 1.1.1 iPhone to 1.1.2, you need to do the following in order:

http://modmyifone.com/wiki/index.php/Getting_Started_iPhone_Modding_OS_X_current_3

http://modmyifone.com/wiki/index.php/Unlock_the_iPhone_1.1.2_%28Upgrade%29

At this point, if your dialpad returns to your home right after you press some buttons, you need to install iWorld from the Installer package in the iPhone and you are good to go!

I’ve been using a hacked iPhone for quite some time. Every now and then, I experienced a crash, and restarted it as I always did. The next time it restarted, it displayed a “Please Connect to iTunes” message. Crap.

To give you a bit of feedback on the iPhone

• 1.0.2 Firmware, hacked following these instructions.
• I had a lot of 3rd party apps installed
• The phone was hacked using iUnlocker

Now there really isn’t much I can do besides restore it to 1.0.2. I am writing this as I go for two reasons:

• Keep documented all I do in case I REALLY mess things up
• In case things work, to help someone out there who might have had this happen to them.

Steps

1. Restored 1.0.2 using iTunes
2. Activated it Using Independence

Success!!! The bloody thing works again. I have been experiencing constant crashes with 1.0.2, so I will upgrade to 1.1.1 after virginizing using these instructions.