3GS Stuck in recovery

[keispiegel]

So I tried to restore my 3GS that was running a JB 3.1.2, so that I could go back to OFW to give the phone to my brother.

During the restore process, it gave me an error (29) and said it could not restore. Now it's stuck in DFU mode and itunes refuses to restore it after 4 tries.

Searched around on here and read up on a program called iRecovery, and tried that. Followed the instructions and rebooted the phone with this method 3x and no luck. itunes still refuses to restore.

Never had any problems before with this phone, so i'm blown away by this. Reaaaaaly hoping someone can help me out with this since I don't want an expensive paper weight.

Oh, and for any program selections you might offer, i run windows. And no, it's not under warranty anymore

thanks!~

[iYeow]

What firmware are you restoring to ? what is your itunes version. Do you have any shsh blobs ?

[keispiegel]

I would imagine that I'm going to restore it to 4.1.2, the current OFW, unless that presents a problem.

I have iTunes 10.1.14

and I do have SHSH stored on Cydia all the way from 3.0, but I have ones backed up from TinyUmbrella of 4.0.1 and 4.0.2 on my computer. I check out this site often and I heard it was good to keep those handy.

[iYeow]

So i guess you don't need an unlock. Click save shsh again in tiny umbrella to download all the shsh blob first.
If you want to go to 4.2.1 and your iphone has the new bootrom, your jailbreak will be tethered.

I suggest you restore to 4.1 and jailbreak it with Limera1n.

[keispiegel]

No, no unlock needed. I really don't even need this one jailbroken again honestly.

I tried to run Tiny Umbrella again for this device, but it only comes up as "iDevice:######### (random numbers), with no option to save them.

How exactly could I go about restoring this? I do have a version of the 3GS 4.1.2 ipsw, in case that is helpful or if it would solve it to try and jb it with redsnow to get it working

[iYeow]

What version of tiny umbrella are you using ? If you are restoring to 4.2.1, you don't need to run tss server. Just hit restore in itunes or shift + restore to 4.2.1 which you have to download.

Do you know if you have the new or old bootrom ?

[keispiegel]

I'm running 4.02.05 for Tiny Umbrella.

I tried doing just that with the Shift+Restore and loading up the ipsw, but it still stops me at the same point during the restore and gives me error 29.

Edit: It should be the old boot room. I'm 24th week of 09 model, if that helps you decipher it. (I think that's how you figure it)

[iYeow]

Have you updated your itunes yet ? The version of TU is old, go get a new version that will download 4.2.1 shsh blob.

[keispiegel]

Yea, iTunes says that it is completely current.

I did update to the new TU, 4.21.02, and my device still shows up as a "recovery device"

I try hitting Save SHSH, but nothing comes up at all.

(and btw, thanks for all your help so far, seriously. I really appreciate it!)

[iYeow]

Tiny Umbrella cannot see your device if it is in recovery or dfu mode. It has to be bootable.
Do you have wifi sync installed on your computer ?

[keispiegel]

I don't believe I do, but I can if I need to get it.

[iYeow]

No , don't install wifi sync , it causes problem. Try putting your iphone into dfu mode and restore to stock 4.2.1 again.

[keispiegel]

Apologies if I'm really making no sense on this, but that's exactly the thing that I'm stuck at.

I have tried getting it into DFU mode, the iphone continues to reboot continuously and come to the iTunes and usb attach screen. I hit restore from iTunes (to which it says it must restore and update) and it just goes till it gives me the error 29. I also try shift+update with the ispw file I have and it does the same thing.

I have no idea how I'm supposed to restore this

[iYeow]

Error 29 is a tough one to tackle.

Do you have another computer ?

[keispiegel]

Yea, I've been attempting to do this all on my laptop. Should I attempt the same thing on my desktop?

Wondering how that would effect it o.O

[iYeow]

Even apple itself recommends to use another computer if the present one doesn't work.

[keispiegel]

Sigh...yet again this eludes me >>

I attempted it on my desktop using both methods (shift+) and the restore and update click, and nothing. It was the same Error 29 for both

EDIT - Okay, after experimenting with it all night, I managed to get it to restore to 3.1.2 by using a downloaded ispw and bypassing signature verification. It started up springboard no problem...but when I went to "Update" to current OFW, 4.2, it went right back to error 29. At this point, I'm going to leave it at 3.1.2 and not tempt fate.

Any possible fixes to get it update properly though?