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Every time Apple releases a new firmware, they stop signing the older one, which means you technically can’t downgrade to a previous firmware by restoring. Fortunately, if you have your ECID SHSH on file on Saurik’s servers, then you might be able to downgrade your iPhone from iOS 4 to 3.1.3 or earlier.
The trick is to make iTunes believe it is requesting a signature from Apple’s servers while it will actually be talking to Saurik’s servers.
Downgrading from iOS 4 to 3.1.3 does require you saved your SHSH on Saurik’s servers. If you haven’t, then you can’t downgrade.
Downgrade from iPhone iOS 4 to firmware 3.1.3
Step 1 for Windows: Make sure you are logged in with administrator privileges. Launch Notepad and navigate to C:/Windows/System32/drivers/etc. Add the following at the very bottom of the file: 74.208.10.249 gs.apple.com
Now save the file back where you found it.
Step 1 for Mac: In Finder, select Go To Folder, and enter /etc. Search the hosts file and right click on it to open with TextEdit. Add the following at the very bottom of the file: 74.208.10.249 gs.apple.com
Click Save As to save the edited file on your desktop. Name the file hosts, and make sure to uncheck the box that says “if no extension is provide, use .txt”.
Now drag and drop this edited file to /etc.
Step 2: Download the firmware you want to downgrade to from here.
Step 3: Put your iPhone in DFU mode. Launch iTunes and plug your iPhone in. Press and hold the home and and sleep button together for 10 seconds. After exactly 10 seconds, release the sleep button while still holding the home button. Keep holding the home button until iTunes tells you it has found an iPhone in recovery mode.
Step 4: Now hold the Option key (Mac only) or Shift key (Windows only) while clicking the Restore button in iTunes. A dialog box will pop up and you’ll be able to choose the firmware you downloaded in step 2.
Step 5: At this point, some of you will be fine. The iPhone will restore without any problem. However, some of you might end up in recovery mode again. It’s ok. We just need to kick the iPhone out of recovery mode. To do so, download and launch iReb for Windows or iRecovery (both Mac and Windows).
Welcome back to 3.1.3!
[image Life Hacker]
It was a Bit Tricky but eventualy Did It Successfully.
Can I update It Back To 4.0?
I used Spirit To Jailbreak and Unlocked By Ultrasn0w.
Plz Reply.
@Mir Suleman Talpur….YES you can update back to iOS 4 but it won’t be jailbroken or unlocked. Twitter messages from MuscleNerd and Comex have pretty much confirmed that they will be a userland jailbreak for the iOS 4 here soon……go on Twitter and read what MuscleNerd and Comex have to say about it…….
your article is mostly right. you do not have to have your SHSH file on sauriks servers using this method http://www.gadgetsdna.com/downgrade-iphone-os-4-0-beta1-to-iphone-os-3-1-3-firmware/2045/
it does require a few lines using the Terminal or Command Prompt.
Been there, done that. iRecovery worked for me for boot up.
for MB or MC serie.
does this work for the new bootrom too? the 6.***.2??
ive got a 3GS (old bootrom) running ios 4, and I want to downgrade back to 3.1.3. i have updated my host file with 74.208.10.249 gs.apple.com. whenever i go to do the restore in itunes (9.2), the restore fails whilst its trying to verify with apples server. it appears it doesnt try to look for saurik’s server where my ECID is stored. Any suggestions?
i have the same exact case as Shan, have an mc model but have verified that it is an old bootrom, used to be jb with spirit, someone ugraded me to ios4 and now i wanna downgrade and re-jb but fixing host file doesnt seem to do anything, still does not verify and will not accept the 3.1.3
SHSH on Saurik
If I did not save my SHSH on Saurik before upgrading to v4, can I downgrade to 3.1?
correct me if im wrong but in the host file dont you put 74.208.105.171 gs.apple.com? thats what i have in host from when saurik posted from beginning. did it change please let me no if been updated
It works on new bootrom.
can i downgrade iphone 3gs on ios4 with new bootrom? without shsh
Hey Seb can u plz specify in which file for windows should i add saurik’s server ?? thank you
@Thefallen Can you please specify what phone. Wanted to give iOS4 a quick peek, but have new iBoot on 3gs.
Thanks
Thank Sebastian. I love when you post step by step instructions, saves me some time googling things! Off to downgrade and unlock.
where is the ipsw file(s)
when I download and extract the firmware for 3gs, I see lot of dmg files. How am I supposed to load that in iTunes???
dont extract the file. If you’re on a mac… use another browser other than safari, since it’ll auto mount the disk image.
I just did it!!! works great!!! for all of you that have a 3GS (MC MODEL, NEW BOOT ETC ETC) i just downgrade from 4.0 to 3.1.3
Seb, sweet, thanks. Slight pain in the ass getting it out of recovery mode, but I finally got it switching over to the Windows side of things. Jailbroken again, no problems (I had to download iTunes 9.1.1). Now if only the jailbreak for my iPhone 4 would come out.
Minifender – did you have your ECID SHSH on file with Saurik’s before you originally upgraded to 4.0?
iPhone 3GS
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Z said:
@Thefallen Can you please specify what phone. Wanted to give iOS4 a quick peek, but have new iBoot on 3gs.
Thanks
No SHSHs saved, forget it…
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kupal said:
can i downgrade iphone 3gs on ios4 with new bootrom? without shsh
thefallen – I have 3GS and upgraded to v4 but can no longer access webbased work e-mails due multiport config and tracking cookie on companies end. v4.0 is sensitive to that while 3.1.3 was not. I never saved ECID SHSH on file with Saurik’s or Cyndia for that matter. Am I out of luck?
@ Thefallen Thanks bud. What made you downgrade? Didn’t like the new look?
@Coach
unfortunately yes
@Z
multitasking sucks, i prefer Backgrounder from Cydia along with SBSettings
@Thefallen Try backgrounder along with circuitous or dock (those two are similar, one is free, one is paid with prettier ui) or proswitcher. Good news about the downgrade, gives me a project for the night.
@thefallen
Will jailbreaking the phone make any difference (allow for downgrade without saving shsh prior) when that becomes available for v4 (if it isn’t already)
@Coach
each OS (i.e. 3.1.2 or 3.1.3 or iOS4) has its own SHSH Blobs. If you dont have the shsh’s for 3.1.3, you can’t go back from iOS4 to 3.1.3. Now… you can use Firmware Umbrella (google it) to backup the SHSH Blobs for your CURRENT OS (i.e. iOS4).
@Thefallen
Thank you, much appreciated. Thats leaves with one Q, the only reason I would save my iOS4 shsh would be for future use as this v4 shsh save will not help me with my immediate need to revert back to 3.1.3 right?
Yup
“This device is not eligible for the requested build”.
GODDAMNIT.
Thanks for this article, I think IOS 4 is Apples equivalent to Windows Vista since my iPod has only given me one new feature, slown down, and is not compatable with most of my apps (until the updates come out).
IOS4 is NOT WORTH the bandwidth, the time, or the frustration.
Hi guys, I need enlightment here.
I have two iphone one 3g 3.1.3 alrealy spirit jailbroken and 3gs iOS4. If I save my shsh of my 3g 3.1.3 on cydia can I use it to downgrade my 3gs iOS4 to 3.1.3 ??? or the shsh is one phone specific code ??
One more question, for my 3g I havent saved the shsh on cydia, since I have cydia already, can I save it through cydia directly not using such as autoshsh ???
Many thanks, Kind regards,
I’m wondering.
I have the early iPhone 3GS with 3.1.2 on it.
If I want to try out 4.0 but be sure I can go back to 3.1.2 and still Jailbreak and Unlock.
what would be the safest way to do this?
Hi, I have a jailbreak and unlocked iphone 3g on IOS 4 and I want to downgrade to 3.1.3. What step I need to follow? I jailbreak with ultrasn0w.
opps I Jailbreak with redsn0w_0.9.8b8-5.
@donex96
I think you can thru Cydia. Click the link above that tells you how to save your SHSH.
Help question:
The instructions page says if I have iPhone 3G then I don’t need to worry about having saved my ECID SHSH. If that’s the case, then can anyone point me to the page with instructions on how to downgrade iPhone 3G from 4.0 to 3.1.3? The instructions on this page involve 3GS and devices that require having their blobs saved already.
I went ahead and tried the above steps anyway. BUT step 4 didn’t work! No dialog box popped up allowing me to choose my firmware. Instead, a download and update box popped up. After clicking it, iTunes wanted to install 4.02 from the server. I tried this 2 more times using the shift key (I’m windows Vista), and no go.
Does this mean step 1 didn’t work? i checked that too. By the way, all the lines in the hosts file start with this symbol: #
Am i supposed to insert that (#) at the beginning of the line so it’s like this?: “# 74.208.10.249 gs.apple.com”?