solved: restoring jailbroken iphone 3Gs 3.1.2

hi guys. i have a very BIG problem:

my iphone 3gs was jailbroken by a friend, so that i could use it with any sim card (it says 3.1.2 and it has a pineapple startup logo so i guess that means it is pwnage tool)

i am using a macbook pro (os 10.6.3) with itunes 9.1.1

it has cracks in the display and a messed up sleep/wake-up button, thus it won't permit me to go into DFU.

i am eligible for an iphone swap at the apple store (i've been there today) HOWEVER he said that i voided my warranty. i can come back tomorrow with an apple OS and get it exchanged.

i have a big time constraint, as i bought my phone/contract in australia, but i am going back home to germany where i can't exchange my phones. by the time i return (1 month) the warranty will be expired.

can you guys please tell me what to do exactly to restore my iphone to the original apple OS? and please make it as easy as possible, i am a bit dumb when it comes to the techy side of things.

i just used the settings > general > reset > erase all content and settings option, but it is still showing the pineapple symbol. and NOT MUCH ELSE :( it doesn't react when i connect it to my computer, iTunes doesn't recognise it.... i think its bricked?

i previously tried iTunes to restore it, it told me that my device is "not eligible" for restoring, which is probs linked to the fact that apple doesn't allow restoring to 3.1.2 anymore.... so what do i do?

big thanks in advance,
marius

1) Plug your iPhone into iTunes
2) Right-click on the iPhone and tell it to create a backup.
3) Download the latest official firmware from iTunes (easiest way is to just click 'Check for Update' when you have your phone connected.)
4) On the phone, go to Settings -> General -> Erase all Content and Settings
5) Let this complete (45mins to 2h, depending on device, etc.)
6) Plug the phone into iTunes and accept the prompt to restore the latest software onto the device but NOT to restore your backup.
7) If this completes successfully, you have a factory re-locked phone with a non-jailbroken firmware and no traces that it was ever jailbroken.

That said, I don't recommend you use the backup you made in step 2 directly on your new phone -- it's much better to use something to extract the important databases and information and move them manually than it is to restore a backup of a jailbroken phone to a newer, non-jailbroken OS. Stops a lot of difficult to troubleshoot problems with battery life, push, etc.

My iPhone just displays the pineapple logo at this point. If I plug it into any computer or mac it is not recognised... I am a bit devastated :/

Again: What I did was use the settings > general > restore > erase all content and data option, which rendered it useless. It showed the apple symbol with a loading-bar under it, then it took a while to process things and now its back to the pineapple, not doing anything else.. I can't get into DFU mode because my sleep button is broken.

Will I have to wait until its dead and then hold down home while connecting it?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wiggr

Will I have to wait until its dead and then hold down home while connecting it?

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If it's not presently recognized by iTunes after doing the erase all content and settings, you will need the battery to flatline so that it can reboot into recovery mode. Not normal behavior for this to happen -- in all the cases that I've done it, plugging in immediately after just tells me that it must be restored before it can be used with the computer.

Okay, I have it in restore mode right now and its downloading the 4.0 software. I hope this all goes well now. Will keep you guys updated. Thanks for the help so far.

I'm back at the pineapple logo, no progress at all... I don't know what happened in the meantime, I left the phone unattended and then when I came back the iPhone was not detected in iTunes anymore...

Any suggestions?

There's gotta be a way to fix this, right?

EDIT:

PROBLEM SOLVED!! (:
For some reason I had to do it again and it worked. Currently running 4.0 and hoping to get my phone exchanged tonight. Thanks for everyone's help.