So I used PwnageTool to make custom firmware for my iPhone 3GS (3.1, old bootrom, never jailbroken before). Everything went well, then I plugged my phone in and attempted to put it into DFU mode. It failed, and went into a recovery mode loop instead. Now iTunes wants to restore and update my software, DEFINITELY not something I want. I tried clicking alt+restore to select the custom firmware, but to no avail. How do I get it out of this loop, or as a last resort install new firmware (preferably without updating my baseband)? I've tried all the button combinations possible, and even iRecovery for Linux.

Another question. God seems to have it out for me this week, because as soon as I returned home, guess whose PC's hard drive decided to crap out? So I lost all of my backups. I can live without my app and contact backups, but I lost my entire music collection, now it's only on my iPhone. Is there any way to recover my files, considering that it's only in recovery mode?

Thanks in advance.

Originally Posted by geezerclaypool

So I used PwnageTool to make custom firmware for my iPhone 3GS (3.1, old bootrom, never jailbroken before). Everything went well, then I plugged my phone in and attempted to put it into DFU mode. It failed, and went into a recovery mode loop instead. Now iTunes wants to restore and update my software, DEFINITELY not something I want. I tried clicking alt+restore to select the custom firmware, but to no avail. How do I get it out of this loop, or as a last resort install new firmware (preferably without updating my baseband)? I've tried all the button combinations possible, and even iRecovery for Linux.

Another question. God seems to have it out for me this week, because as soon as I returned home, guess whose PC's hard drive decided to crap out? So I lost all of my backups. I can live without my app and contact backups, but I lost my entire music collection, now it's only on my iPhone. Is there any way to recover my files, considering that it's only in recovery mode?

OK problem number 1, DFU mode on 3GS works only with official IPSW that has a corresponding SHSH issued by Apple.

Custom IPSW on 3GS needs to be loaded in recovery mode not DFU mode.

What did iRecovery say? Do you have the iPhone updater logs from when you tried to do the restore?

iRecovery didn't even recognize my phone as being plugged in. Not sure if that's a result of the recovery mode, but I'm assuming that it's an OS issue. I did not try to do a restore, so I don't have any logs for that.

If that makes me SOL, then another question. If I went ahead and upgraded the firmware without iTunes (redsn0w does this, right?), are there any apps (iPhone or PC based) that I could use to recover all of my data?

Thanks for your help.

Originally Posted by geezerclaypool

iRecovery didn't even recognize my phone as being plugged in. Not sure if that's a result of the recovery mode, but I'm assuming that it's an OS issue. I did not try to do a restore, so I don't have any logs for that.

As far as I know, iRecovery only works in recovery mode not from DFU mode. That is probably your problem. Does anything come up on the screen?

Originally Posted by geezerclaypool

If that makes me SOL, then another question. If I went ahead and upgraded the firmware without iTunes (redsn0w does this, right?), are there any apps (iPhone or PC based) that I could use to recover all of my data?

To recover your data you need to be able to jailbreak (and not overwrite the media partition)

I don't understand what you mean about using redsn0w to upload the firmware. Redsn0w only sends a very stripped down ramdisk payload - not a whole complete new OS firmware.

You should try and pwn your iPhone first with redsn0w and restore with a custom IPSW again.

Restoring via iTunes will remove any chance to jailbreak (until a newer jailbreak is released)

Originally Posted by Olethros

As far as I know, iRecovery only works in recovery mode not from DFU mode. That is probably your problem. Does anything come up on the screen?

Yeah, it's an iTunes logo with a USB cord pointing to it. So I'm assuming it's in recovery mode.

Originally Posted by Olethros

To recover your data you need to be able to jailbreak (and not overwrite the media partition)

Could you point me in the direction of a guide to do this, or briefly explain it?

Originally Posted by Olethros

I don't understand what you mean about using redsn0w to upload the firmware. Redsn0w only sends a very stripped down ramdisk payload - not a whole complete new OS firmware. You should try and pwn your iPhone first with redsn0w and restore with a custom IPSW again.

So can I pwn my iPhone with redsn0w while my iPhone is in recovery mode? And then upload my custom firmware with iTunes, correct?

Originally Posted by Olethros

As far as I know, iRecovery only works in recovery mode not from DFU mode. That is probably your problem. Does anything come up on the screen?



To recover your data you need to be able to jailbreak (and not overwrite the media partition)

I don't understand what you mean about using redsn0w to upload the firmware. Redsn0w only sends a very stripped down ramdisk payload - not a whole complete new OS firmware.

You should try and pwn your iPhone first with redsn0w and restore with a custom IPSW again.

Restoring via iTunes will remove any chance to jailbreak (until a newer jailbreak is released)

Originally Posted by geezerclaypool

Yeah, it's an iTunes logo with a USB cord pointing to it. So I'm assuming it's in recovery mode.

Yes that is recovery mode.

Originally Posted by geezerclaypool

Could you point me in the direction of a guide to do this, or briefly explain it?

iPhone Forensics - O'Reilly Media

Originally Posted by geezerclaypool

So can I pwn my iPhone with redsn0w while my iPhone is in recovery mode? And then upload my custom firmware with iTunes, correct?

I think so..
You should be able to do it all with pwnagetool as well. I would recommend pwnagetool for this.