Jailbreaking iPhone 3GS 5.1.1 for Newbies (No Network, No Service, Searching...)

I am making this post because it took me two days to fully jailbreak an iPhone 3GS my friend asked me to. Normally,, a click of the button labeled "Jailbreak" should do the trick. However, this one in particular was already jailbroken but some of things normally enjoyed by JB users weren't there.

So here are the reasons you may have decided to use this post:

1. The newly Jailbroken Task Manager isn't working as it should be.

2. You're experiencing the "Sim is not Valid" screen.

3. You can't further activate your iPhone 3GS (just like in number 2)

4. You've updated to 5.1.1 from 3.1.3 and don't know how to deal with it.

5. You have the "No Service" signal

6. You are stuck with "Searching..."

Before we go to the nitty gritty part of Jailbreaking iPhone 3GS running on 5.1.1. You'll have to determine when your iPhone 3GS was manufactured. The Serial Number can be found in two places.

1. One is in the About section of your iPhone. That would be on Settings> General> About.

2. Two would be on your Sim Tray (this is when you are unable to go to the About page). So pop out that Sim Tray and check for your Serial Number.

How to determine iPhone's Serial Number?

You will need to determine the date/week of the iPhone's manufacture date. Disregard the first two serial numbers. The next three are the crucial ones.

Say for example your SN is  86022******

Disregard 86

022 means it was created during the 22nd week of 2010 (where 0 in 022 is the year and 22 is the week)

Why redsn0w?

First, I tried Absinthe 2.0.4 and Snowbreeze. 

Snowbreeze (with the help of iTunes) was able to successfully customize the firmware but unfortunately, I encountered the "No Service" and "Searching" problem.

Absinthe 2.0.4 will not re-Jailbreak an already Jailbroken device. It was a Rocky Racoon jailbreak issue.

Now, we need to prepare the following:

Redsn0w_win_0.9.14b1 or later version

iPhone2,1_5.1.1_9B206_Restore Firmware (Or you could always go to Felix Burn's site for download)

Now What?!?

NOTE: If you've Jailbroken your phone already, don't forget to back up your data and restore your phone to a regular, non-customized firmware. Before we start anything else, don't forget to attach your phone to the cable.

ANOTHER NOTE: For Windows XP users, you'll need to right-click the redsn0w application and Run as Administrator.

1. Open redsn0w

2. Go to Extras

3. Click Select IPSW

4. Select the Firmware of your iPhone 3GS ( iPhone2,1_5.1.1_9B206_Restore)

5. The firmware should be successfully identified (Bottom Picture Labeled 1)

6. You will be prompted whether your bootrom is New or Fixed (Bottom Picture Labeled 2). Make sure you've read this prompt (especially the one highlighted in RED)!

7. Now, you can select Back and click on Jailbreak. After "Preparing jailbreak data" is done. Place a check on "Install Cydia" and "Install iPad baseband".

IMPORTANT NOTE: A prompt will appear again saying that you might brick your phone if you've ticked this and your phone was manufactured later than the 34th week of 2011 (e.g. SN **134******)

The bottom picture should be pop out after clicking on Next.

If your iPhone is connected, there should be the words "Connected: iPhone 3GS (.....).

8. You can now either follow the prompt by clicking on "Next" to provide you the process of doing DFU mode or you can download iREB in the link to teach you how.

9. In DFU Mode, a new message will pop out in Redsnow saying "Fetching iPad Baseband files (please be patient)."

NOTE: This took approximately 5 minutes in my machine. Then there will be more messages such as 

Exploiting limera1n

Uploading first stage

Uploading second stage

Uploading ram disk

Rebooting

Then, we wait while your iPhone does its magic. Complete the iPhone prompts and insert your sim to see if you get a signal. If not... here are the next steps to follow.

10. Open Cydia

11. Press on Manage> Sources> Edit> Add

12. Type in http://repo.iparelhos.com and press on Add Source

13. Wait for the "black" screen to be done.

14. Go to search and type in Ultrasnow Fixer.

15. Install that and look for Ultrasnow. Install this as well.

In a minute, your phone should have found your network. If not, reboot your iPhone. Time to install Installous. The latest as of this post's creation is Installous 5. Follow these steps:

16. Follow steps 10-12.

17. Type in http://cydia.hackulo.us and press on Add Source.

18. Wait for the "black" screen and press "Restart Springboard".

Viola...PHEW! I hope this helps.

 

Some of these steps were taken from the following references:

How To: Hacktivate iPhone 3GS & 4 on 5.1.1 (Activate without Sim Card)

Download install installous 5