I'm ready to pitch this phone into the dog kennel - frustrated beyond belief. Back in December it stopped sync'ing with iTunes (WinXP, SP3) and wouldn't let me change any music. I ignored it for a while but in the last few days the phone itself has started hanging - won't respond to screen touches. That got old fast so I attempted to re-jailbreak it with the 3.0 firmware via iClarified and redsn0w 8.0 It hung at the "waiting for reboot" screen and never went beyond that.

I can get it into a recovery mode that iTunes seems to see, and is happy to restore with the latest 3.1.13 or whatever, but moments before I agreed, I ran across the post that stated that the latest firmware is not jail-breakable and may never be. I don't need to be unlocked, but I do love my multiflow and text messaging mods. I dearly want to be able to run my Cydia stuff again.

I've tried redsn0w a few times but it doesn't see the phone even if iTunes does.

Do I have any options besides "leave it and hope for a better day" or "restore to the lastest and kiss cydia goodbye"?

Edit: What's with the iClarified IPSW? iPhone2,1_3.0.1_7A400_Restore.ipsw has never been recognized by any of the JB software I've downloaded.

Can you tell what firmware is on the phone ? and was the phone jailbroken before ?.
Also, does your 3GS have an old bootrom ? (note: new bootrom on 3GS requires you to run blackra1n to kick start the device / e.g: tether-boot).

If you have an old bootrom, you can always use custom firmware to restore to your iphone provided it is jailbroken/pwned.
Lastly, do you have shsh for you phone ?

Yes, was previously JB'd using the 3.0 ipsw and redsn0w. No idea on the bootrom. SHSH files were stored with Cydia I think. However...

After walking away from the process for an hour and change, it would appear my fears were ungrounded. I came back to find the battery charge page up with full carrier logo and status ticking away, the Cydia clock bar...right back where I left off. I assume it's as it was before meaning no update in anything. All the apps, settings, etc are there including my Cydia bits, and going into Settings, General, About still crashes the settings app. Same old, Same old.

I think you have old bootrom, but just to confirm with you one more time: Do you need to run blackra1n on the computer with iphone attached in order to boot the phone up ?

Regarding your shsh, you have to be sure. Saying i think shsh was stored with Cydia is simply not good enough.

Can you run Cydia, if you can, it will tell you right on the main page if you have shsh stored. Please check and get back to me what it says

Tethered boot - no. I can reboot at will, I've not used blackra1n at all.

Shsh-yes, confirmed.
This device has shshs on file for iPhone os: 3.1, 3.1.2

shsh for what firmware ?
Tell me exactly what it says in cydia.

Too bad you don't have 3.0 or 3.0.1 shsh on Cydia. You only have 3.1 and 3.1.2.

Since you don't have your 3.0/3.0.1 shsh, therefore you cannot restore to stock firmware on your phone.

I need you to tell me what firmware is running on your phone right now if you can because it will help tremendously.

Do you need an unlock ? or are you only interested in restoring the iphone and have a jailbreak. Is FIDO an apple authorized carrier or do you need to unlock to use it?

Cydia asked if it could store the SHSHs, I said yes. I don't recall it asking what versions it could store for or my limiting it.
I am running the iPhone 2.1_3.0_7A341_Restore.ipsw via a redsn0w 0.8 Windows jailbreak.

I don't need an unlock - Fido is a legit carrier for the iphone in Canada. I'd like to maintain that option but it's not the end of the world if I can't. I would however like to restore the phone with the jailbreak again.

The "About" page in the settings is a no-go for me. Everytime I try to access it, it boots me back out to the springboard.

OK.
This is the BEST scenario for you. The way I am about to describe to you will bring you up-to-date to firmware 3.1.2 jailbroken and you will maintain the possibility to unlock if you need that in the future. Note: this restore will wipe your phone, so if you have anything important to backup, do so before the restore.

First, you need to find a MAC. Download firmware 3.1.2. Download PwnageTool 3.1.5. Run pwnagetool to create a CUSTOM firmware 3.1.2 for your phone. When you run pwnagetool, select expert mode, do not put a check mark on activation, put a check mark on Cydia. You keep clicking next and so on, then pwnagetool will begin to create custom firmware. At the end, it will ask if your phone has been pwned before, ANSWER YES.

At this point, you can quit pwnagetool.

Now, you can take the custom firmware you just built, and restore it to your iphone. You do this via itunes. If you on a mac, hold option and click restore to select the custom firmware. If you on a PC, hold shift and click restore to select the custom firmware.

This is the best way to fix your phone, maintain jailbreak, and maintain the option to unlock.

Here's a tutorial for pwnagetool. Take a look at it so you have some ideas, don't change logo if you don't want to. The main thing is to answer YES this phone has been pwned before at the end.
http://iclarified.com/entry/index.php?enid=5432