iPhone 3GS unknown bootrom even in DFU mode

**jcitme** · 11-10-2010, 08:34 PM

I have purchased a iphone 3gs yesterday from someone upgrading to a iphone 4. i want to jailbreak it, but i have no clue what my bootrom is.
(note, i was a ipod touch 2g owner and had jailbroken that before dropping that in water about a year ago, so i know about jailbreaks in general but am fuzzy on recent developments after 24kpwn. i believe that exploit is still on the old bootrom :P )

at first, i tried to find out via DFU mode, but in device manager under the "apple mobile usb device", there was no 'device instance id' under the properties. There was a lot of the other stuff you expect to find under the properties page, acpi sleep mode support, device identifiers, etc, but not the crucial page that i needed. Then, i proceeded to try to use iDetector, but it spat a error at me. i forgot the exact number, but it was something along the lines of "can't find the device". i know it was in DFU mode, and not recovery mode (black screen, no itunes icon, i know this from experience from my old ipod touch, RIP) and limera1n detected it in dfu mode, but appearantly iDetector couldn't find the 'device instance id' string either.

i then tried to find the bootrom version by the more rough, serial/model number. Anyways, the first 5 digits of my serial number was 85929... "yay, i can 24kpwn it!" , right? 3rd digit is 9, so it's made in 2009, week 29. that puts it way before the cutoff date of 940 for the old bootrom, by more than 2 months.

but then apple threw me another loop: the model number. it turns out that the model numbre is MC135LL. that's right, a MC model, not a MB model, which implies the new bootrom.

so my question is: how can i find the bootrom version, short of attempting to use 24kpwn on it and see if it fails? is iDetector really failing, or just a bad DFU? (btw i tried many times in DFU mode)

would it be ok to just treat it as a new bootrom and use limera1n new bootrom option even if it was old bootrom?

any help is appreciated, thanks!

**iRepairIndy** · 11-10-2010, 08:45 PM

As of right now I'm pretty sure all iPhone 3GS's are jailbreakable.

Just get limera1n and install it.. this will jailbreak the phone. (just don't update to iOS 4.2 that's about to come out)

Now unlocking it is a whole different story. Someone else will have to chime in on that topic.

**jcitme** · 11-10-2010, 08:46 PM

yes, i installed limerain, but there is a menu that asks whether it's old or new bootrom that i'm stuck at. is it safe to pick new even if i'm on old bootrom?

also, 4.2 is tethered for new bootrom, i believe, which is another reason i want to find out...

**iRepairIndy** · 11-10-2010, 08:57 PM

Originally Posted by jcitme

yes, i installed limerain, but there is a menu that asks whether it's old or new bootrom that i'm stuck at. is it safe to pick new even if i'm on old bootrom?

also, 4.2 is tethered for new bootrom, i believe, which is another reason i want to find out...

Hmmm.. I never got that menu you are talking about..

If you updated to the newest software and didn't downgrade the baseband (or whatever the process is called) then I would assume you have the new baseband and you should pic "new"

**iYeow** · 11-10-2010, 09:11 PM

Originally Posted by jcitme

yes, i installed limerain, but there is a menu that asks whether it's old or new bootrom that i'm stuck at. is it safe to pick new even if i'm on old bootrom?

also, 4.2 is tethered for new bootrom, i believe, which is another reason i want to find out...

If it asks you if you have the newer bootrom, you should say N0 because you have the oldbootrom.

I am 100% sure you have the old bootrom and you can use USBview to view your bootrom.

When running Usbview, under option check the config decriptor and your iphone has to be either DFU or recovery mode, then hit F5 to refresh > scroll down and you will see it on the right pane.

**jcitme** · 11-10-2010, 10:31 PM

Originally Posted by yeow202

I am 100% sure you have the old bootrom and you can use USBview to view your bootrom.

thanks, will try usbview in a moment.
how are you 100% sure? i have a MC model, MC115LL... is it more dependent on the serial or model number?

just my #$*&@ luck. usbview crashes when i double click it, iphone plugged in or not.
i have to go grab my other laptop, which a friend is borrowing... for black ops. he's going to hate me, though i dont get why people play fpses...

**Mes** · 11-10-2010, 10:33 PM

Not sure if it's the same, but I use USBDeview (note the added 'De') on WinXP.

**jcitme** · 11-10-2010, 10:42 PM

k im going to try that, hopefully it doesnt throw a exception...

**iYeow** · 11-10-2010, 10:48 PM

Iphone bootrom is not determined by model, it is determined by the weeks. Only ipod touch 2nd gen is determined by MB and MC model.

You can download tiny umbrella, plug your iphone in and click save shsh, all available shsh will be downloaded if there is any.

**jcitme** · 11-10-2010, 10:51 PM

HOLY CRAP usbdeview has every device i ever plugged in logged...

*glances around for fbi*

on a different note, i had to dig around a bit, but eventually i found the golden words: [iBoot-359.3]
YAY!

now, the questions are: why doesnt idetector and the device manager show 'device instance id'?

and i was about to ask about why it's a mc model, but appearantly you answered it.

what does the model signify in iphones then?

**iYeow** · 11-10-2010, 11:03 PM

The model will determine which country's carrier it comes from

I told you , you have the old bootrom.

**jcitme** · 11-10-2010, 11:33 PM

so then, is there significance between the mc and mb for the 3gs?

**iYeow** · 11-11-2010, 12:07 AM

**iRepairIndy** · 11-11-2010, 12:36 AM

Originally Posted by jcitme

i dont get why people play fpses...

Cause we are not *** enough to play RPG's? lol jk

But glad u figured it out.. and someone chimed in that knew more than me

**heyyyitsjordan** · 11-12-2010, 12:45 AM

f0recast also will tell you if the phone is new or old bootrom

**padgzilla** · 12-31-2010, 04:01 PM

Originally Posted by jcitme

HOLY CRAP usbdeview has every device i ever plugged in logged...

*glances around for fbi*

on a different note, i had to dig around a bit, but eventually i found the golden words: [iBoot-359.3]
YAY!

now, the questions are: why doesnt idetector and the device manager show 'device instance id'?

and i was about to ask about why it's a mc model, but appearantly you answered it.

what does the model signify in iphones then?

Hey jcitme, I'm having the same problem you had. I am wondering if you could answer a couple questions... what did you do to "did around" to find the iBoot info? I can't seem to locate this info with usbdeview.

And, did you ever find out why the device manager doesn't show the iBoot info? I'm having that issue too.

Thank you!!!

**iYeow** · 12-31-2010, 04:42 PM

Here : iClarified - iPhone - How to Check the Bootrom Version of Your iPhone (Windows)

**padgzilla** · 12-31-2010, 05:07 PM

Originally Posted by iYeow

Here : iClarified - iPhone - How to Check the Bootrom Version of Your iPhone (Windows)

Thanks iYeow, but that is where I started. With the step where you select Device Instance Path (well, don't have "Path" I have "Device Instance Id" -other posts said this was ok), it does not show the iBoot info.

Any ideas on this? My second question above refers to this issue.

Thanks!

**Simon** · 12-31-2010, 05:09 PM

Is your screen totally black when in dfu?

**padgzilla** · 12-31-2010, 09:43 PM

Originally Posted by x98car

Is your screen totally black when in dfu?

It is yes.

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