iPhone 4 won't restore, device isn't eligible...!?

[alexvasile]

hey guys,
Very long story behind what I'm about to tell you, so I'll keep it short.

I have a friend who gave me an iPhone 4 to unlock for him, as a reflex, immediately after getting it, I put the phone in DFU mode and hit the restore button. (4.0 restore)

I got an error that looks like this: "The iPhone 'iPhone' could not be restored. This device isn't eligible for requested build."

I don't want to restore it with 4.1 since I won't be able to unlock it. So question is, is there a way I could bypass the whole 'iTunes checking eligibility thing' or is there a way I can restore the iPhone without iTunes?

All suggestions will be appreciated,
Thanks,
Alex

[stlcaddie]

What fw is it at right now?

[alexvasile]

I don't know the current fw version, the phone was given to me locked and deactivated without a sim, so my only option was to restore it, i never found out the fw version.

however between my last post and this one, i figured that apple won't allow me to restore to same fw if newer one is out, so, I'm guessing it's running anything under 4.1 I'm gonna try restoring with 4.0.1, maybe if I'm lucky it's been running 4.0 all this time

[bchilton9]

Apple won't let you restore with anything less then the newest firmware. If you have the shsh blobs you can restore it. If not you might still get 4.0.2 but you will probably have to install 4.1

[screamforme02]

use an older version of itunes and ctrl shift restore with a copy of 4.0.1 or 4.0.2. i stayed with 4.0.1 cause i like jailbreakme.com

[taxbax]

will using an older version of itunes really work? i guess it would be one that does not check shsh blobs?

[alexvasile]

I'm trying that now, although I doubt anything under iTunes 9.0 will recognize the iPhone 4

[taxbax]

let me know, i have the same issue