Need help w/ 3G downgrade questions

[CyberCod]

I lucked out (maybe) and bought an iPhone 3G yesterday for $35. No, it wasn't stolen. The seller, an older gentleman who is a friend of mine, said that he lost the ability to connect to Wifi after a recent update (maybe 2 months ago?).

Going into the settings on the phone, the wifi options are greyed out and it says "No Wifi"

I already tried to reset the network settings, reset all settings, and I restored the phone via iTunes. Of course, iTunes gives the same exact firmware that is already on it.

My question is this: is there much chance that downgrading the firmware will restore the ability to use Wifi on the device? Its an A1241 3G, if that makes any difference.

I do not have a mac available, though I do have Windows and Ubuntu, if that helps.

The phone is not activated with any carrier, and I have no idea how to get software or utilities on it without the wifi working.

Is this fixable? What would you do?

[i.Annie]

Downgrading won't make a difference. What makes a difference is if it gets a fresh restore meaning no jailbreak and setting it up as new.

If you've already done that and it still doesnt work, it's a hardware problem.

[CyberCod]

I tried putting it in the freezer for an hour.

No luck

I saw some interesting instructions on
Knowledge is Power: iPhone:Sure Shot fix for greyed WIFI & Bluetooth

but apparently it is for the first generation iPhone... cuz the tool won't recognize when I have it plugged in, and I tried using ipdo -z or -a to make the phone findable by the ibooter app, and it doesn't work.

The guy I bought it from said it happened as a result of an update, I wouldn't think it was hardware related, but I've just not found the tools necessary to work with it.

I'mma keep trying, more out of stubbornness and boredom than anything else, and if I figure it out, I'll post here how.

I don't know that this phone was ever jailbroken. The previous owner isn't very technically inclined.