[TUT]Upgrade iPhone 4 to 4.2.1 {PRESERVING BASEBAND+HACKTIVATION+JAILBREAK}

[Wesss]

Now that Greenpois0n RC5 finally provides the long awaited iOS 4.2.1 untethered jailbreak (without the need of SHSH Blobs), many iPhone 4 owners with unlocked iPhones’ have been told to hold off upgrading to 4.2.1 as you will lose the ability to unlock (for now).

But thanks to TinyUmbrella developer @notcom, there is now a way to upgrade to iOS 4.2.1 without upgrading your baseband. Unfortunately, currently you will only be able to unlock your iPhone 4 on the older 1.59.00 baseband (modem firmware). So if you are not on the older baseband, you will not be able to unlock your iPhone 4.

For those of you with the older 1.59.00 baseband, follow the guide below to preserve your iPhone 4 baseband and unlock and jailbreak your iPhone 4 on iOS 4.2.1…

Note: If you are unsure as to what baseband your iPhone 4 is on, launch Settings > General > About > Modem Firmware.

Step 1: Download TinyUmbrella

Step 2: Connect your iPhone 4 & Launch TinyUmbrella

Step 3: Click On the “Save SHSH” button

Step 4: Now, Click on start the “TSS Server” button

Step 5: While the TSS server is running, Launch iTunes

Step 6: Now, Click on Restore in iTunes (Don’t Click on Update)

Step 7: During the Restore Process, iTunes will give you Error 1013. Don’t panic, this is good. This error means your baseband has been preserved. Exit out of iTunes. Your iPhone should be in recovery mode.

Step 8: Next, jailbreak your iPhone 4 with Greenpois0n RC5. This will jailbreak your iPhone 4 as well as kick it out of Recovery Mode.

Step 9: FOR ACTIVATING WITHOUT AN OFFICIAL SIM (T-MOBILE, ETC) LOOK OUTSIDE OF THIS QUOTE AND FOLLOW Step9B
If you have an official sim, just follow Step 9A.

Step 9A: Because Greenpois0n does not support hacktivation, you will need to find an official SIM card (doesn’t need to be activated), insert it in the iPhone 4 and connect to iTunes. This will bring you to the homescreen. Once you are on the homescreen, you will no longer need the official SIM card.

Step 10: Install ultrasn0w from Cydia to unlock your iPhone 4 on baseband 1.59.00.

STEP 9B: Use the latest redsn0w and browse to your 4.2.1 ipsw. Install Cydia and "jailbreak". This won't override greenpois0n. It will only hacktivate your iPhone 4. I can confirm this works, I tried this method earlier.

If you need help, ask here. Credit goes the original poster of this tut. I only found the hacktivation part.

[shathanand]

Couple Questions.
1. I have windows based machine so is redsn0w available for windows yet?
2. Upgrading by preserving baseband would fix the "no service" issue a 100% ?
3. I don't have the original Sim card (ATT) so how do i activate without sim? Would redsn0w patch the activation too?
4. And by starting as a new device would it mean I will loose all my apps?

Thanks for all your help!

Shathanand

[Wesss]

1. This was created before sn0wbreeze 2.2 was released. The steps are much more simplified now.

Download sn0wbreeze from ih8sn0w.com and your 4.2.1 ipsw. Create a custom ipsw using sn0wbreeze. Creating a custom one will preserve your baseband and jailbreak it at the same time. After its done, follow the DFU instructions on sn0wbreeze and restore to your custom ipsw.

You're done.

2. Yep. Only download ultrasn0w from Cydia though. It should all work smoothly.

3. Redsn0w patches the activation. I'd highly reccomend using sn0wbreeze though.

4. You woudn't lose all your apps if you already purchased them. Just re-download them from the app store. It's better if you set it up as a new phone, you'd get a battery increase and it'd remove the No Service issue.

[shathanand]

Hey There
Thanks for the instructions, but something wrong happened.
I downloaded sn0wbreeze for windows and created a custom ipsw, I also added ultrasnow as one of the packages during installation itself.
Now after the IPSW was built I followed the instructions given by sn0wbreeze and get my iphone to a black screen and then used itunes to restore my os to the one built by sn0wbreeze.

All went well until I started the restore process by itunes, it gave an error and then my phone landed up in a "connect to itunes" screen.

What went wrong? Was the software upgraded and do I have to follow additional stuff to get it out of the connect to itunes?

Please let me know as soon as you can !

Cheers
Shathanand

I tried again and this time I did not use ultrasn0w package in the ipsw. But that did not help much as I got this error 1611 while upgrading.
What would be the best way out of this? Currently my phone is stuck on the apple logo and hasn't budged.

Please let me know as my mini office is shut down and I am really unable to do anything right now!

Shathanand

Oh fish, I forgot to start tiny umberlla and tss server, does this mean my iphone is done to death?

[haraesh23]

you don't need to run TSS server in tiny umbrella while restoring with the custom IPSW u built with sn0wbreeze. try kicking out of recovery using tiny umbrella or build a new custom IPSW in expert mode without selecting any cydia apps and then try to restore. if u still get your error 1611 check this website Fix 1604, 1601, 1600, 16xx Error During iOS 4.2.1 Custom IPSW Firmware Restore in iTunes with iREB RC3 | Redmond Pie.

hope i helped.

[shathanand]

I actually kicked it out using tiny umbrella and it came back to my original settings, without any trouble but the os wasn't upgraded, still shows 4.0.1 , now I am trying to again create a custom ipsw and see if this works. Lets hope it works this time around.

Thanks for your help !

Shathanand

I realized i was running an older version of itunes, I just upgraded to 10.1.2, I also followed the steps to create a custom firmware, lets see how it goes now.

Shathanand

[haraesh23]

after restoring to jailbroken iOS 4.2.1 and setting everything up, can u pls tell me if push notification is working as it should?
I use SAM to get my iphone 4 officially activated. it is supposed to make youtube, maps and push notifications to work properly, but for me push notification isn't working. so i need to know if it's working for others.

[shathanand]

I used sn0wbreeze to hactivate my phone, as I type its upgrading and the white bar is progressing to the end. I hope I don't have to use an att sim card to activate my phone?
What was the process of using SAM? How different is the process?

Ok the upgrade was successful, I need to use ultrasnow to do a carrier unlock, did you start your phone as new? If not that could be the reason for your push notifications.

Let me know.

Shathanand

Is ultrasn0w better or SAM better to use unofficial sim?
Please help me choose what is best?

Thanks

[haraesh23]

1. SAM means Subscriber Artificial Module. After u get ur iphone hacktivated u'll have issues with youtube app, maps and the push notifications. sometimes ur iphone might get heated.

SAM fakes ur ICCID, and IMSI of ur SIM and makes iTunes think that u have an att sim installed in ur iphone and it activates officially the next time u connect ur iphone to itunes. by doing that the above mentioned issues won't be present. add repo.bingner.com in cydia under sources and search for SAM and install it. i recommend using it since ur iphone is unlockable.

2. I restored settings after i did my jailbreak with snowbreeze. maybe i'll restore and try setting up as new iphone.

3. ultrasn0w and SAM are 2 different things. ultrasn0w will let any sim work with ur locked phone while SAM will make sure u get officially activated and get unique certificates from apple for ur iphone to function properly.

[shathanand]

I just installed ultrasn0w, I should remove it and then try this right?

Are there absolute perfect instructions that I can follow so that I dont end myself with another issue?

Thanks for your help ! !!

also, 3g/cellular data network doesn't seem to be working, did you face this issue? what could have gone wrong? I used a custom apn certificate from unlockit.co.nz for tata docomo? Any idea?

[haraesh23]

sure check this site
Activate iPhone 4, 3GS, 3G Officially Without Original SIM or Hacktivation with Redsn0w 0.9.6b6 & SAM | Redmond Pie

skip steps 1,2 and 5 and for step 6 goto settings > SAM > Utilities > DeActivate/Revert lockdownd to stock. then make sure hacktivateis off and method Auto detect.

refer to this image IMG_0428 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

btw, my iphone 4 is on on BB 02.10.04 so it's not unlockable. so sorry i don't know about the 3g/cellular data network issue.

why not try an airtel sim? iphone 4 has the settings for airtel sim so it might work on 3G.

search google for "tata docomo bundle for iphone" and click on the result saying x s e l l i z e

[dabossman]

[QUOTE=
also, 3g/cellular data network doesn't seem to be working, did you face this issue? what could have gone wrong? I used a custom apn certificate from unlockit.co.nz for tata docomo? Any idea?[/QUOTE]

Where you able to solve this issue? I am currently experiencing the same problem. I cannot connect to the internet even though i have full t-mobile signal and 3g coverage. Have reset all my settings, network and full restore but still have the same problem

[shathanand]

Download this from cydia, add as source Cydia.pushfix.info and then install the carrier reset fix. That should take care of it :-)

[dabossman]

Download this from cydia, add as source Cydia.pushfix.info and then install the carrier reset fix. That should take care of it :-)

LEGEND!!!! Thank you works fine now. Had downloaded that source but for youtube fix.
Thanks agin

[Wesss]

SAM isn't an unlock. It's an activation method. If you already have activation, it isn't needed.

I'd personally reccomend setting up as a new phone, you get improved battery life, and any bugs/problems should be resolved.

[shathanand]

Thanks a ton ! now enjoying the 4.2.1 and thus far no "no service" or network issues what so ever, working like a charm.
One question though, how do i get to run fring and skype on the background, they seem to sign out as I leave them to run in the background?

[Wesss]

Where you able to solve this issue? I am currently experiencing the same problem. I cannot connect to the internet even though i have full t-mobile signal and 3g coverage. Have reset all my settings, network and full restore but still have the same problem

Refer to:

For those who are having MMS/EDGE issues on 4.2.1 (T-Mobile iPhone 4)

This fixed my EDGE/MMS issues. By the way, T-Mobiles 3G doesn't work on any iPhone.

Thanks a ton ! now enjoying the 4.2.1 and thus far no "no service" or network issues what so ever, working like a charm.
One question though, how do i get to run fring and skype on the background, they seem to sign out as I leave them to run in the background?

Turn on push notifications.

[haraesh23]

SAM isn't an unlock. It's an activation method. If you already have activation, it isn't needed.

I'd personally reccomend setting up as a new phone, you get improved battery life, and any bugs/problems should be resolved.

I built custom ios 4.2.1 ipsw using sn0wbreeze and unchecked activate iphone in general option. then after restoring, when it shows the itunes icon on screen i run iphone browser and copy SAM with the dependencies to AutoInstall folder and reboot. this activated my iphone and when i connected to itunes and checked sam it said "WildcardActivated". so does this mean that i got valid certificates from apple or do i still need to install push doctor or pushfix to get unique certificates?

I am not sure if i am doing the activation part correctly, so can u pls give me some advise on using SAM?

[Wesss]

I built custom ios 4.2.1 ipsw using sn0wbreeze and unchecked activate iphone in general option. then after restoring, when it shows the itunes icon on screen i run iphone browser and copy SAM with the dependencies to AutoInstall folder and reboot. this activated my iphone and when i connected to itunes and checked sam it said "WildcardActivated". so does this mean that i got valid certificates from apple or do i still need to install push doctor or pushfix to get unique certificates?

I am not sure if i am doing the activation part correctly, so can u pls give me some advise on using SAM?

That's actually a pretty good way of installing it. I de-activated my iPhone through SAM (it "stockifies" the activation files), and re-activated using SAM. I got the wildcard thing too. I think SAM doesn't give certificates though, it only patches the activation files (which helps battery life, other issues). The only way to get unique certs is by using an official sim, or using Pushfix/push doctor. I also read about being able to transfer iPod touch certs onto the iPhone.

You can check if your certs are unique by using Push Checker.

[haraesh23]

By using SAM I am able to use GPS and YouTube. iPhone seems to heat up a little if I am running any games or heavy apps. As most of the others push notification doesn't work for me too. I tried used push checker and it said atleast 340 others have the same certificates. Tried about 4 or 5 times and it gave me nearly the same count. But there was a change in the md5 hash, so I am sure new certificates are inserted. Anyway do u have any suggestions for getting legit certificates?
I don't want to try pushfix as there are reports of people buying the certifications and not getting push notification to work.