Unable to Downgrade 3gs

[smittyjf]

Got the dreaded apple boot cycle today after installing something bad on my 3.01 3gs. I tried to reload 3.01 and kept getting errors that I couldnt use this build on my phone. Seems Apple won't even verify anything other than forcing you to upgrade to 3.1, which is what I was forced to do. Even after that, it still won't downgrade. Im on At&t so simlock dosent ever matter to me.

Just thought I'd let everyone know my experience.


Smitty

[angiepangie]

Apple verifies all restores on the 3GS and all future devices.
You won't be able to downgrade.

[smittyjf]

funny thing is it had 3.01 on it and it wouldn't even let me reload that.
It kept erroring not the right build for my phone (itunes 8.2).
I even upgraded Itunes to see if that made a difference but it didnt.

Well off to bed

Smitty

[angiepangie]

You won't be able to restore to any firmware except the latest version.

[confucious]

The boot cycle can be bypassed without restoring - but a bit late if you've already updated.

[smittyjf]

I threw everything I could at it. I tried True DFU mode, restore mode, SSh'ing back in rejailbreaking.

How is that done cause i tried every way I found on google to no avail.

[angiepangie]

Confucious has his little mobilewatchdog bundle(?) way.
You can't downgrade now though.

[reddawg]

The boot cycle can be bypassed without restoring - but a bit late if you've already updated.

This hasn't happenned to me yet, but how do you bypass the dreaded boot cycle? Would you mind posting it?

[angiepangie]

You SSH in and move the mobilewatchdog.bundle (right?).
Do a search for it. He's posted it multiple times

[ame=http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=mobilewatchdog.bundle&aq= f&oq=&aqi=]mobilewatchdog.bundle - Google Search[/ame]

[reddawg]

You SSH in and move the mobilewatchdog.bundle (right?).
Do a search for it. He's posted it multiple times

Thanks angiepangie. There are many postings on google. Here is one that seems straight forward.

this is just because rebuilding the application map took more than 6 minutes and the mobile watchdog service rebooted your phone. this is a design flaw and you can even get it w/o jailbreaking if you have 9 pages of apps and somehow trigger a rebuild of the app map by crashing badly.

*the irony here is that if you get into this state w/o being jailbroken you really do have to DFU mode and restore. gg apple.*

easy fix:

-ssh or use iphonebroswer to your phone while it has the ALOD (apple logo of death) and is bootlooping.
-navigate to System/Library/SystemConfiguration/mobilewatchdog.bundle
-rename mobilewatchdog.bundle folder to .bak or something. reboot
-allow the phone to successfully rebuild the app map (mine took 10min)
-after 1 successful boot immediately change the name of the mobilewatchdog.bundle folder back.
-reboot your phone again and get a second successful boot
-problem solved

credits: iPhone ALoD: MAJOR design flaw!! - Mac Forums

[black_orchid]

I feel for you. I am terrified to do anything with my 3GS. I hope it doesn't take long to come up with a solution. iPhone are useless unless they are jail broken.