UPDATE: PWNAGE 2.2 is out,
my success in using QUICKPWN 2.2 here.
UPDATE:
PWNAGE 2.2.1 is out also, fixed the bug and I managed to
successfully build a custom firmware!
Recently, I got a hold of a first generation iPhone that has never been unlocked, hacked (PWN'd), Pwnage, and/or ZiPhone'd. Its a "virgin" iPhone which comes with a bone-stock iPhone 2.1 Firmware straight out of Cupertino. Versus, my own first gen. iPhone which has seen different flavors of ZiPhone 1.3, 1.4 all the way to PWNAGE 2.0, 2.0.1, 2.0.2 and even 2.1.
Having my old iPhone's baseband pwn'd makes upgrading to new firmware an easy task. So easy that I did not even realize and I've taken the process for granted (all I had to do is simply press Option-Retore whenever I build a new custom firmware. That is, until I am up to the challenge to getting a custom firmware from PWNAGE 2.1 installed to this virgin iPhone 2.1. All hell breaks loose.
If you found this article because you Googled some combination of the phrases: "pwnage, 2.1, firmware, itunes, unknown, error, (1600)," then I'll cut right to the chase. I saw the same error messages over and over and I could not find any definite information. I just couldn't install the custom firmware in DFU or Recovery Mode. What ended up working for me is the following combination:
1. Practice and get real good at entering your iPhone into the real
DFU mode. Normally it is said to hold power+home for 10 seconds, then let go power button (while still holding down home button) for 10 more seconds and your screen will remain
black while iTunes prompts you an iPhone has been recognized in recovery mode. (If you entered recovery mode, which is not what ou want, the screen will be lit and show a picture of USB cable connecting to iTunes logo). I had a hard time getting my iPhone into DFU mode and
here is the trick I found with iPhones with firmware 2.1 -
IT NO LONGER TAKES 10 SECONDS before you release the power button. If you hold it for that long, you'll notice the apple logo lit up (and you are never suppose to see that logo). By my count, I think its about 8 to 9 seconds. Keep practice a couple of times, and pace your counting. Note when does the apple logo come up and try releasing the power button right before then while holding down home button (this is a very important step for later). If you get your phone stuck in the "Recovery Mode", I've managed to get it back to normal mode or DFU mode, but I can't retrace my exact steps. Its a combination of holding power button for a few seconds to turn screen off, then hold both Power+Home for 8 to 10 seconds and releasing power (much like DFU mode) to get it back to normal mode. I tried about 50 times to do this tonight and I honest forgot all of the steps. Worst case is do a real restore which takes about 10 minutes each time on iTunes 8.0 (some how it won't let me do it via 8.0.1).
2. Download
QuickPwn from the iPhone Dev team blog (1.1 version for mac which is what I used, not sure about the PC version). Get your iPhone to normal mode and launch QuickPwn. Follow on screen instructions as it does its thing (building custom firmware, settings, etc...). When QuickPwn asks to help you get into DFU mode, remember what I said in step one, get good with your own timing to enter DFU mode; QuickPwn still thinks DFU mode requires 10 seconds and if you follow their onscreen que with sound (which can be very distracting if you are doing your own counting up to 8 seconds - I suggest mute your pc speakers and turn your head from the screen while counting) you'll end up taking your phone into Recovery mode which will cost you more time to prime your phone back to step one again. After entering DFU mode successfully with QuickPwn running, you'll be noted that it is now doing its thing to unlock and hack the baseband as well as the firmware on the iPhone.
3. After step two has been completed, I noticed my iPhone is unlocked and I can do whatever I want, except for one thing - get a phone signal for my SIM card (zero bars!). So the natural next step is to launch iTunes and do the ALT-Restore via a custom 2.1 firmware I built with PWNAGE 2.1, and this time, no more error 1600 and after wards, the iPhone works perfectly.
Finding definitive answers on these topics are getting more and more difficult, I knew I was frustrated and just glad I got this new iPhone to work with PWNAGE customer firmware 2.1. I can't guarantee if this will work all the time so good luck to you. And please note that anything you do via custom firmware or hack can potential cause you to brick your iPhone; so please think it through and take your time. Don't panic if something seems to have gone wrong, as for my experience holding down the power+home button in various combination or time generally brings control back again.
[Update: I noticed after pwnage 2.1, the
phone will not awake from sleep mode (when you power off the LCD for more than 30 seconds) causing me to miss calls, more info describing my problem here. The
solution is to run a program called "Insomnia".
It seems like A2DP Bluetooth capability is all the rage these days. If you've purchased a late model Jawbone headset, make sure to visit mytalk.jawbone.com to get the latest updates to your bluetooth headset.
Okay, the iPhone camp has been taking plenty of complaints on the lack of "copy & paste" function from the get go; for a day to day user, there are a few more annoying missing features which enhance iPhone usability, I sincerly hope to see these hiccups resolved in future updates:
I sync'd my PWN'd iPhone 1st gen. on iTunes tonight to find out 2.0.2 firmware is out. According to most publications on the web, it is designed to fix 3G bugs. I'll hookup my wife's iPhone 3G tonight to give it shot. Hopefully it fixes the bug from the occasional shutdown that she has been complaining about.
Woke up this morning, approx. 7AM, saw iPhone Dev Team blog posting a sweet greeting of "Good-Morning" where they released their PWNAGE tool version 2.0.2 developed to help you unlock and activate iPhone 2.0.1 firmware.
I've noticed this myself over the past week, the 1st gen. iPhone running firmware 2.0 is excruciating slow when launching applications (such as: contacts, photos, camera, etc.). It is also becoming more buggy as it would randomly quit 3rd party applications to homescreen or just restart the iPhone.
Just as I was saying the other day while covering the E*Trade Mobile Pro story that the financial sector has been cautiously slow in rolling out true mobile services, Bank of America goes and rolls out a pretty cool iPhone application. Check it out for yourself!
Tonight, I've finally decided to upgrade the firmware of my iPhone to the all might 2.0. I've waited a couple of days for the iPhone 3G and 2.0 madness to settle down. Once I saw enough stability from friends' and web folks' testimony, I decided to upgrade and give my audience an update on the new Chinese text support. All together, the upgrade took about 25 minutes from beginning to finish (including updating iTunes to v. 7.7).
In the new 2.0 firmware, aside from the support for Developers and Applications, I personally think the support for Chinese text (Simplified and Traditional) is probably one of the other significant update. The the menu icons and primary functions throughout the phone is now is Chinese; there is an hand recognition input that takes a little practice getting used to when using the tip of your finger to write. I haven't been able to find out if PINYIN is an option (which is a much better option for folks like me forgetting how to write the characters, but I can speak it and using PINYIN can help me pick out the best possible match)
Over the last five days, my N95 has randomly shut itself down twice; I was just too lazy to report it here (as I always have). However, I am writing this blog entry with a potential solution to this problem (although not a solution I like, but it manages to keep my phone from shutting down until Nokia addresses this issue with an updated firmware).
With the much anticipated release of the N95-3 firmware V20.2.011 (aka. RM-160, NAM, North American 3G edition), I must say I am pleased with this new firmware. Overall, Nokia has polished its operating system and made it more efficient as well as more organized. Please find some of my upgrade feedback and screen shots below:
Nokia has jumped the gun in releasing the latest firmware 20.2.011 update for the North American 3G N95-3. It seems like these days, I always find myself re-installing the firmware for this phone. The update is still not supporting Windows Vista or OS X. Basically, it is an XP friendly scenario. This update requires you to 113.5MB prior to installation so make sure you give yourself some time for this major upgrade.
I went through a lot of work to document a really bad mobile experience I had with my Nokia N95-3's firmware update tonight. This is the very same reason why Apple is just kicking arse in iPhone's seemless integration via iTunes... (never such headache!). I wanted to document this experience hoping that the mobile industry can try to improve and simplify customer's mobile experience:
about 7 Nokia related applications previously installed so I decided to take different route. I went ahead to install the latest PC Suite version 6.86.9.3 since the installation screen prompted that it would remove all previous versions. Not true, after installation, I see two versions of PC Suite running on the my computer background. Somehow I managed to remove the older version and off I go to check for Nokia Software Update. Right away, I get an error message from PC Suite prompting me that Vista is not currently supported (see screen shot). As suggested by the prompt, I visited Nokia's website to download the software update directly from Nokia website. Frustration continues to build up as this time, I keep on getting an fetal ERROR 1731 message, saying the file I downloaded is corrputed. I tried this twice and finally gave up. (see screen shot below)
Wanting to go through this entire process the right way, I pulled my old HP laptop running XP from the closet and once again, downloaded and installed the Nokia PC Suite software to this machine. Again, I followed the on screen instructions to sync up the phone, I am finally connected and ready to go. By the way, this process have triggered atleast 10+ actions in which I had to approve from my firewall; it seems that Nokia's software is launching different services to access the internet and acting as a server. Keep in mind that at this point, none of Nokia's software have not actually confirmed with me if my firmware is outdated our not. You'd think as soon as I click on download handset software button, this would be the first step right? Not. This time around, it just automatically redirected me back to the same Nokia website as mentioned above where I am prompted to download the software update directly. I finally finished the download and was ready for a firmware update and guess what: the software now tells me that my N95-3 (RM-160) is up to date w/ 11.2.009 ver.
page would suggest that I download the latest firmware version 22.0.015 (see screenshot on left). This whole process is just way too complicated for even a power user. I can't imagine the mass public to be able to understand the relationship between all the software that is required to maximize this phone's potential. Nokia has basically setup a bunch of modular applications such as: Map Loader, Music Manager, Installer, etc. to manage every aspect of the phone's functionality. From the top, it looked as if PC Suite can help manage all of this process, but in reality, its just a glorified menu screen which is not responsible for anything. By updating PC Suite, you are not updating the individual applications. This is just too much work for non-technical people, especially considering they have so many different hardware versions (N95-1, N95-2, N95-3, N95-4) as well as firmware product codes for different regions (ie. Asian, Europe, Middle East, etc...). The iPhone's firmware update experience is a million times easier... besides, I am always clear if iPhone has an firmware update.