Has anyone here successfully rolled back OS 4 to 3.x.x?

PNut12345

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Dec 27, 2004
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Update in last post of thread.

I'm about to put a fucking bullet in my iphone 3G. Long story short, like many other dipshits, I upgraded to OS4 when it was released, and since then my 3G has slowed to a fucking crawl. I'm trying to roll back the OS to 3.1.3 using the steps laid out on macworld.com here http://www.macworld.com/article/152428/2010/06/roll_back_iphone_3g.html

At the point where I hold shift and click restore, I try to select OS 3.1.3 but it's not found anywhere. I've read that Apple, in their infinite fucking wisdom, stops signing old OS's, causing OS4 users to be unable to roll back their now-practically-uselss idevices. Is this true? If so, I'll post video of me shooting the phone as soon as I've purchased an Android or similar phone.

Yes, I've tried to restore with several OS's older than OS4, and no options to use an older OS has ever appeared. Ever. At all. It's as though my 3G has a death wish, and I WILL grant that wish.

If anyone here has any insight as to what I may be doing wrong (I haven't totally ruled out operator error here, it could be the case but I doubt it), please let me know. I really can't afford a new phone right now but at the rate my 3G has been dropping fucking calls since the upgrade to OS4 (versus practically never dropping calls with any prior OS), the overall attitude from my phone of "I'll open the app when I fucking get around to it" and "I know you didn't mean to type that on my virtual keyboard, but since the upgrade I've been feeling uppity and you'll text what I want you to text", I will get a new one if I can't roll this one back.

Let me restate: I will shoot my phone with a caliber of gun yet to be determined, I will record the incident and put it on youtube, with a link to the video to come shortly thereafter. Also, that video will be sent to apple, and they can use the video to gauge my level of customer satisfaction with their product.

Cliffs:
1. Fuck apple
2. Fuck steve jobs
3. Fuck any apple OS
4. Fuck.
 
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Apple does the signing thing with the 3GS that will restrict the downgrade of older OS's, so you should be able to downgrade the 3G just fine. I believe iTunes gets rid of older firmware files once a new one is released and downloaded, just hit the following URL and download the version you want, then when you do the shift restore browse to the location where you saved the ipsw.

http://iclarified.com/entry/index.php?enid=750
 
I remember when I had 3.1.3 on my iphone 3GS in order to properly roll back I used Sariuk's server to prevent apple's servers from communicating so I can go to 3.1.2 but I'm not sure if that will work now on iOS 4.

But whatever happens to your phone I would like to see the youtube video :eek:
 
Apple does the signing thing with the 3GS that will restrict the downgrade of older OS's, so you should be able to downgrade the 3G just fine. I believe iTunes gets rid of older firmware files once a new one is released and downloaded, just hit the following URL and download the version you want, then when you do the shift restore browse to the location where you saved the ipsw.

http://iclarified.com/entry/index.php?enid=750

That's where I DL'd the older versions of the OS from. I DL'd to my desktop and extracted to the same place. Nothing shows up at all on the desktop when I browse to that location after hitting shift+restore.

Iphone 3G execution date rolling ever and ever closer...
 
"Extracted"! I think that is the problem. Download the IPSW files to your desktop and "DO NOT" extract, those files are ready to go as is.
 
"Extracted"! I think that is the problem. Download the IPSW files to your desktop and "DO NOT" extract, those files are ready to go as is.

I've tried it both ways, I'll give it another whirl after a restart of my computer, just to see if that helps...
 
Wow. Just wow. Nowhere in any of the rollback instructions does it mention needing to rename the .zip file to a .ipsw file.

<head on desk> BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG </head on desk>

It's rolling back now. Or my iphone is being bricked as we speak. I'm assuming the latter and hoping for the former.
 
Weird. I have downloaded all of my firmware files from those links at iClarified and they have always been saved as IPSWs. Even hovering over them show that they are ISPWs, must have been something on your machine that was changing the file extension on download. Glad you got things figured out though.
 
Weird. I have downloaded all of my firmware files from those links at iClarified and they have always been saved as IPSWs. Even hovering over them show that they are ISPWs, must have been something on your machine that was changing the file extension on download. Glad you got things figured out though.

Thanks for the help. After nearly killing my computer's' USB ports installing libusb 64 bit hotfix, it's looking promising that I may have a rolled back iphone. I don't recommend this process to anyone though!

Edit: it didn't take. Fuck it, going back to OS4 long enough to buy a new phone. Stay tuned a few months from now, I'll update the thread with the promised video. Rolling back my phone is not a good enough reason to risk breaking my desktop computer over.

Fuck apple, and fuck steve jobs right in his ear.
 
I had this problem with my 3G on OS4 vanilla and jailbroken with multitasking + wallpapers. After backing up my contacts and restoring my phone, and choosing "set up as a new iPhone" it is running vanilla OS4 and it's very fast. It feels significantly faster than 3.X ever did. Battery life is maybe a little worse by my estimate.
 
OS4 does have some issues. My 3GS was constantly rebooting, especially during phone calls.

Try putting your iphone into recovery mode or the other one (DFU Mode i think...?) and a full restore on it. I did that a few days ago and its been solid ever since! I think its something in the upgrade thats messed up.

Give it a try and let us know if it fixes it for you. if not you can still make your video :D

G
 
OS4 does have some issues. My 3GS was constantly rebooting, especially during phone calls.

Try putting your iphone into recovery mode or the other one (DFU Mode i think...?) and a full restore on it. I did that a few days ago and its been solid ever since! I think its something in the upgrade thats messed up.

Give it a try and let us know if it fixes it for you. if not you can still make your video :D

G

No go here. OS4 is too buggy....I mean, I don't know what 3 was release day, but 4 is utter bullshit. Restores and all, the browser still blows, apps still crash a fair amount, I still run my battery down too fast, starting games sometimes slows the phone down so much I need to reboot...etc.

As soon as something better is out - like WP7, or an android phone with a good KB...I'm taking my 3GS to the range.

Until then, I will likely downgrade & jailbreak.

Cliffs:
1. Fuck apple
2. Fuck steve jobs
3. Fuck any apple OS
4. Fuck.

Thank you for saying what needed to be said.

Also, what is up with mac fanboys and fangirls tolerating this? I sat in a bar today, where a girl berated me for still owning a 3GS and not a 4, and when I mentioned the reception bullshit, said I just need to hold the phone right. Fuck you steve jobs, I should be able to hold the phone however I want to. I shouldn't have to worry about the blunders your moronic electrical engineers and industrial designers made.
 
OS4 does have some issues. My 3GS was constantly rebooting, especially during phone calls.

Try putting your iphone into recovery mode or the other one (DFU Mode i think...?) and a full restore on it. I did that a few days ago and its been solid ever since! I think its something in the upgrade thats messed up.

Give it a try and let us know if it fixes it for you. if not you can still make your video :D

G

Yeah, tried that (unintentionally, while trying to roll it back) about 12 times. The video will be made...

Texts to wife still look like this:

"I lov

E you"

Goddamn phone just sends messages whenever it feels the need...
 
I'm so gonna enjoy killing this phone. What I really look forward to is sending the video to apple...

Hey, apple, it's a 3G. Video not sent from my iphone. Pricks.
 
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Or, as my iphone would now say:

"No d

Ont kill me!!!

!! Please, I am on

Ly here to ser

Ve you, even i

F I do vuck up you

R messages, wi

Th my new dictiona

Ry that thinks you m

Eant to say shot ins

Tead of shit, I'm st

I'll the best smart p

Hone around, hones

T. Don't kill me ju

St because I flock u

P your messages!!!!

!! Please!!!!!
 
:eek:

That is a lot of rage. Have you tried doing a full restore and full downgrade using a older itune version? Also, have you tried downloading the firmware using a different web browser, say, IE?
 
Or you could sell it and make some money back, and someone who actually knows how to treat expensive electronics will enjoy it.
 
I was able to successfully downgrade an iphone 3g twice from os4 to 3.1.3.

It definitely took some work, there's maybe 3 different ways to jb and probably only 1 way to downgrade lol.

I'm now running a 3gs on 3.1.3 but I need to make SHSH backups. It may even be too late :(
 
Yep, it is not as easy as I thought it was. After you had all the problems, I pulled out my 3G that I still keep around as a backup. I had already upgraded it to 4.0 to test out while I was waiting for the jailbreak to become available for the 3GS. I tried it both in regular and DFU modes, both times I got the 1015, error, which is actually a good error letting you know that the firmware was successful but it will not run because it is old. I found and followed the tutorial at the URL below to fix the error, and I did not have to install libUSB either. The 3G is now running 3.1.2.

http://modmyi.com/forums/3g-s-downgrading/714717-ultimate-downgrade-tutorial.html
 
I feel your pain man. I seriously shot myself in the foot by upgrading my 3GS to 4.0 without saving my SHSH on 3.1.2 AND 3.1.3. If only I knew now what I did back then...

For those who said to sell his phone, sure, he could, or he could get the self satisfaction and justification by exploding its digital brains out on a shooting range. OP, for whatever you choose, I won't think anymore or less of you. ;)
 
This is really messed up, Apple just released 4.0.1; I suspect that if we don't make backups now as in within the next few minutes/hours you will be effed in the a.

I do not have my stinking cable with me and stuck at work. Argh.
 
Yep, it is not as easy as I thought it was. After you had all the problems, I pulled out my 3G that I still keep around as a backup. I had already upgraded it to 4.0 to test out while I was waiting for the jailbreak to become available for the 3GS. I tried it both in regular and DFU modes, both times I got the 1015, error, which is actually a good error letting you know that the firmware was successful but it will not run because it is old. I found and followed the tutorial at the URL below to fix the error, and I did not have to install libUSB either. The 3G is now running 3.1.2.

http://modmyi.com/forums/3g-s-downgrading/714717-ultimate-downgrade-tutorial.html

I'm just not willing to try anything else, short of apple releasing a fix that lets us downgrade.

Apple won't take care of this, ever, and steve jobs may as well carve that edict into stone atop Mt Olympus.
 
:eek:

That is a lot of rage. Have you tried doing a full restore and full downgrade using a older itune version? Also, have you tried downloading the firmware using a different web browser, say, IE?

No joy there, put the phone in DFU mode and plugged it into my netbook with the 3.1.2 firmware. Click Restore, get the 1015 error then the phone just displays the "connect to itunes" screen.

Or you could sell it and make some money back, and someone who actually knows how to treat expensive electronics will enjoy it.

Or I could buy a phone from a company that actually knows how to assemble all those neat little expensive electronic pieces and knows how to treat their customers, and get the satisfaction of sending my iphone straight to hell at ~ 1,400 fps.

For what it's worth, I treat my electronics gear very well. The phone has been cased from day 1 and is still in mint condition after a year and a half.
 
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Yeah, that's the exact method I used as well. The problem is, libusb disabled all my USB ports in the process of rolling back the phone, meaning my phone was no longer "plugged in" since the ports were disabled. This made completing the process quite impossible. It also scared the shit outta me.

Luckily I've still got my old wired KB/M and was able to restart, get back into windows, remove libusb, then restart again.

Like I've said, that's entirely too much bullshit to go through just to downgrade the OS on my iphone...:mad:

edit: I know the link in my OP is to a macworld page, but that page is where I found the link to the lifehacker article you mention.
 
UPDATE: I just got off the phone with apple customer "support". I explained my problems (slowdown, heat, shortened battery life, the normal stuff that's happened since the "upgrade" to os4). I was just gonna stick it out, buy a new phone, and shoot this one but like everyone else, my problems have been getting worse with each passing day.

The gal I talked to actually sounded sympathetic. After being on hold for 14 minutes, she told me that she had talked to 2 supervisors, and they both told her the same thing:

"There's nothing we can do."

I told her to let them know I'll keep that in mind when I make my new phone purchase.

Fucking pricks.
 
UPDATE: I just got off the phone with apple customer "support". I explained my problems (slowdown, heat, shortened battery life, the normal stuff that's happened since the "upgrade" to os4). I was just gonna stick it out, buy a new phone, and shoot this one but like everyone else, my problems have been getting worse with each passing day.

The gal I talked to actually sounded sympathetic. After being on hold for 14 minutes, she told me that she had talked to 2 supervisors, and they both told her the same thing:

"There's nothing we can do."

I told her to let them know I'll keep that in mind when I make my new phone purchase.

Fucking pricks.

It's because right now they are looking to fix the issue more than likely. They admitted they are "looking into it", but that still doesn't fix your phone. Douchetacular but par for the course.
 
When you get the 1015 error, try just jailbreaking immediately. Or restore with a custom firmware initially
 
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