In mid-Sep, I have reported iPhone Dev Team has released Pwnage Tool 2.1 that lets you jailbreak & unlock your 1st generation iPhone for firmware 2.1. Yes, the jailbreak procedures is similar to older version of Pwnage Tool that I have already covered. But I think it still deserves to write a complete guide, particularly for those readers who have already followed my guide to use Pwnage Tool to upgrade to firmware 2.0/2.0.1/2.0.2.
Okay, let’s get started.
Preparation for the upgrade
1. First, make sure you have upgraded to iTunes version 8.0 and backup your iPhone data by synchronizing it with iTunes
Tip:You can download older version of iTunes here if Apple already releases a newer version of iTunes at the time you’re reading this post.
2. Download all the files including Pwnage Tool 2.1, bootloader and iPhone firmware 2.1
Please use Firefox to download iPhone Firmware 2.1. Do not use Safari as by default it’ll unzip the IPSW file
3. Launch PwnageTool_2.1.dmg and copy “PwnageTool” to your desired folder. Also, extract bootloader to the same folder.
4. Place the iPhone firmware 2.1 file to “~/Library/iTunes/iPhone Software Updates”. If the folder does not exist, create it by yourself. However, in case the folder contains other firmware files, please delete them.
5. Finally, connect your iPhone to the dock/USB cable. Please keep connected for the whole process and close iTunes if it has been launched.
Running Pwnage Tool
6. Let’s get started the core part. Go to the folder you save PwnageTool. Click “PwnageTool” to launch it.
7. Click “Expert” mode. You’re upgrading the 1st-gen iPhone. So, select “iPhone” and click the arrow to continue.
8. Next, Pwnage tool searches for the iPhone 2.1 firmware file. It may take some time to locate the file. Once completed, select the firmware file and click the blue arrow to proceed.
9. Next, select “Bootneuter” and click the blue arrow. You will be go through several configuration screens. Keep all the default settings and proceed as shown.
10. After complete all the settings, you will go back to the main screen. Select “Build” and click the arrow to start building the custom firmware.
11. Accept the default filename for the custom firmware. (Of course, you can choose a better name)
12. Next, Pwnage will start creating a custom firmware file that will be used later to recover the iPhone. During the process, you will be prompted to enter your password.
13. When complete, Pwnage Tool will ask you whether your iPhone has been pwned before. Okay, take note here. If you haven’t pwned your iPhone before, please Answer “No” and go to step 14 to put your iPhone into DFU mode.
But if you have pwned it using Pwnage tool before (say, you have followed my previous guide to upgrade to firmware 2.0 using Pwnage Tool), please Answer “Yes” here. You’ll then be prompted to close Pwnage Tool. Close it and continue and put your iPhone in recovery mode.
To put your iPhone into recovery mode, first disconnect your iPhone from USB cable and power off your iPhone. Then hold the “Home” button and connect USB cable again. Keep holding the “Home” button until you see a dock cable pointing to the iTunes icon (or yellow triangle for older version of iPhone). Now you are in recovery mode. You can go to step 17 to continue with the procedures.
Put your iPhone in DFU mode
14. Now, the game starts. Pwnage shows you some instructions to follow. You should follow exactly the instructions to put your iPhone in DFU mode. Remember timing is important!
15. By following exactly the instruction, your iPhone can enter DFU mode. In case you fail, don’t panic! It won’t brick your iPhone. I did the procedures twice. To retry, you can just disconnect your iPhone from USB, turn on your iPhone and connect it again.
16. Ok, your iPhone should appear as if it’s turned off. Don’t touch it. Quit Pwnage and go to the final procedures.
Install the Custom Firmware
What you have completed with Pwnage is you have created a custom firmware 2.1 for your iPhone. The remaining procedures are to use iTunes and install that custom firmware onto the iPhone.
17. Start iTunes and it automatically detects your iPhone is in recovery mode.
18. Confirm “OK”. Hold down “Option” button and click “Restore”. You will be prompted to select the firmware file. Remember to select the custom firmware file.
19. Now, iTunes will start loading the firmware onto iPhone. Don’t touch anything, keep your iPhone connected. It may take several minutes to complete the process. Once complete, iTune will prompt you that it has recovered your iPhone to the default factory settings.
20. The iPhone will then start up automatically. For first time bootup, BootNeuter 2.1 will be launched to flash the baseband and unlock your iPhone. The process will take around 3-4 minutes to complete. Again, don’t touch your iPhone. Let it complete the process alone.
21. Okay, I believe everything is smooth. You should see your iPhone come back with firmware 2.1 (look at the version field)
22. Finally, you can sync back all your data using iTunes.
If you find the post is useful, you may consider subscribe to Simon Blog using RSS or Email to get free updates.
By the way, you may also find these posts useful:- Upgrade iPhone to 2.0 using Pwnage Tool
- iPhone Jailbreak/Upgrade: More on iTunes 1600 error
- Upgrade & unlock iPhone from 1.1.4 to 2.0 using WinPwn (for Windows)
- Complete Guide: Jailbreak & Unlock iPhone for firmware 2.1 using QuickPwn (For Windows)
- Complete Guide: Jailbreak iPhone 3G firmware 2.1 using QuickPwn (For Windows)
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{ 71 comments… read them below or add one }
iclim4 10.08.08 at 3:34 am
So is this only for MACS?
do you have a windows alternative?
iclim4 10.08.08 at 4:08 am
Oh also, this procedure will update a firmare 1.x to to 2.1 by just following the steps right?
Sorry for all the questions, but I’m really new at this. Thanks.
iclim4 10.08.08 at 5:36 am
Ummm yeah, hi again. =P
Just making sure, but theres nothing wrong unlocking the Iphone on a Mac then using it on a windows based machine after the unlocking/jailbreaking right?
Thanks again Simon.
BlackBird 10.08.08 at 7:12 am
Hello Simon,
Can you please post the similar thing for Windows?
Simon Ng 10.08.08 at 7:58 am
Blackbird & iclim4,
I’ll put up the jailbreak guide for Windows (using QuickPwn) for firmware 2.1 later today/tomorrow. Do check out later.
trebla2008 10.08.08 at 11:11 am
I did everything in the exact order, but ……. when ITunes was about to load the firmware on the iPhone I got an error message “an unknown error occured …..”, the screen of the iPhone was bright but nothing changed for at least 5 minutes. Knowing how dangerous the whole process is, I am stuck now ! Please help! My iPhone was previously running 1.1.4 and I unlocked it using Ziphone. Is that the problem? Any advice is highly appreciated !
trebla2008 10.08.08 at 11:38 am
I ried again and this time it looked good, until ….. it prompted me, that I do not have a suported SIM card inserted. Well, sure! But now what? I tried to use the AT&T card, which came with the iPhone, but of course I did not want to register. Any ideas? Can I at least restore to 1.1.4 by any means?
Puru 10.08.08 at 1:19 pm
Great! Great!! Great!!! Thanks to all of you guys worded and attempted so much to give us this much thing and the entire process. It’s like 1,2,3 and DONE.
Anybody familier to the word computer, will be able to follow your instructions. And the unlock is DONE.
Thanks A Lot!
Simon Ng 10.09.08 at 12:25 am
Blackbird & iclim4,
You may check the complete guide for QuickPwn (on Windows) here.
Merritt 10.10.08 at 4:33 pm
gosh .. my iphone stucked at boot logo with a loading logo on it .. it keeps virate a few seconds when connected to itunes .. what can i do?
Merritt 10.10.08 at 5:07 pm
Hey Simon!
I got a new solution to share with you about the stucked at boot logo in iphone 2.1.
1. If you had 5 icons dock installed in the previous FW, you should install it again before restores your previous data back into the ‘new iphone’.
This solution works for me.. ^^
Thanks for the guide anyways!
Simon Ng 10.11.08 at 1:41 am
Merritt, thanks for your great tips!
Duran 10.11.08 at 7:39 pm
Thanks nice work.
Alan 10.12.08 at 8:24 am
Simon,
Nice job… just upgraded, jailbroke and un-locked my 2G.. clean as possible. Keep up the good work. It is appreciated.
Alan
Chris 10.16.08 at 4:08 am
trying ti unlock 1st gen 8gb iPhone
with firmware 2.1
as soon as I start to use pwage tool I get
incorrect firmware package message
I’m using the latest a 1,1 ipsw file but no joy - ? any advice
Simon Ng 10.16.08 at 8:13 am
Chris, that’s strange. But make sure you have download the firmware 2.1 correctly. Some readers have experienced problem when downloading via Safari.
Ben 10.16.08 at 11:11 am
Your tutorials for unlocking the iPhone are by far the best on the web! Great job on articulating the process so clearly!
zltemptationlz 10.18.08 at 12:05 pm
Hello Simon,
I have an unlocked 1.1.2 iphone using T-mobile network, wondering if i can just use what you have provided to upgrade the firmware to 2.1?? I don’t know what software was used to unlock my iphone, please advise if this will work for me.
Thank you =)
Simon Ng 10.18.08 at 10:52 pm
zltemptationlz, you can upgrade from 1.1.2 to 2.1 and unlock it using QuickPwn. I have heard some of my readers to do so. But as always, you have to bare certain risk for upgrade/jailbreak.
Devang 10.19.08 at 7:01 am
I have 1.1.3 and tried to upgrade first to 2.0 via Pwnage tool. My iTunes version was 8.0.1. this didnt work. then i tried to upgrade to 2.0.1. At this time the Pwnage tool could not upload the bootloader. Every time it came with an error that it could not find the Bootloader 39 file. Can you please help.
Devang 10.19.08 at 7:21 am
I tried doing it again and it came up with an error. Your iPhone could not be restored. Error 21. Can you please help.
Jaime Carrion 10.19.08 at 7:19 pm
It worked like a charm!!!
Thank you so much for this tutorial…!!!
The screen captures were really helpful.
Jaime
Simon Ng 10.20.08 at 12:36 am
Devang, at which step did you encounter Error 21? Can you elaborate more so I (or other readers) can figure out the solution?
Moe 10.20.08 at 4:20 am
I did all what you mentioned. I already Pwnaged it with version 2.0 and now it got locked again. So I tried this version 2.1.
First gave me Error 1600, but now I am getting error 21.
Any ideas to help me
Thanks
matthew 10.20.08 at 10:27 am
getting error 21 when trying to upload custom .ipsw. Definitely in restore mode. during this process, i have gone back and forth between 1600 errors and 21 errors, but no successful jailbreak/unlock thus far
Simon Ng 10.21.08 at 8:16 am
Moe/Matthew,
Did you try to put your iPhone in recovery mode instead of DFU mode and do the restore again?
Also, someone in other forums, suggested to uninstall and install iTunes again? This may probably solve the issue.
Any other reader have the solution for error 21 problem?
annie 10.23.08 at 12:46 am
Simon!
YOU ARE SO AWESOME. I am going to use this to update my iphone to 2.1. I have used your tutorial to update to 2.0, do I follow this exact tutorial to get an unlocked 2.1 iphone?
Thanks again for providing this information. I love the pictures.
Simon Ng 10.24.08 at 11:17 pm
Annie, thanks. If you’re using Mac, you can follow this guide for the upgrade. For Windows, you can check another guide that uses QuickPwn for the upgrade.
Saad 10.24.08 at 11:45 pm
Dear all,
I have a 1.1.4 unlocked iphone and I used ziphone to do that. Is it possible to use the excellent guide provided here by Simon in order to upgrade to firmware 2.1?
Thank you for your help.
Simon Ng 10.25.08 at 12:07 am
Saad, sure. You can upgrade iPhone 1.1.4 to firmware 2.1 using this guide. Good luck!
Saad 10.25.08 at 1:13 am
Dear Simon,
I would like to confirm that the upgrade was as smooth as it can be.
Thank You very much.
needdoe 10.25.08 at 1:19 am
jailbroke and unlocked with pwnage tool 2.1wont sync it runs on and on when it gets to syncing contacts any help out there
needdoe 10.25.08 at 2:42 am
Hello out there
Sorry for the incomplete post before. I have a 1at gen 8 gig iphone jailbrolen and unlocked with 2.1. iTunes sees and backsup the phone but the when I try to sync anything of just runs on in that mode until I cancel the sync. The phone is fine on Tmobile and and wifi and apps are fine I just can’t get my contacts or anything else onto my computer. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for the great guide.
Frank 10.25.08 at 6:31 am
I tried 5 times to jailbreak 2.1, but at step 18, I’m NOT prompted to select the firmware file, but original iPhone settings restore all the time. Also, all along the process, iTunes activates 3 times automatically. I close it, but since it’s not mentioned in the tutorial, this could be a problem…
Fernando 10.25.08 at 6:40 am
Hello
I did all I had to do and made the custom firmware, but when I try to restore it in itunes, i get the error code 21. I tried over and over but it doesn’t work, can you help me out? thanks
Nia 10.25.08 at 2:23 pm
Hello Simon,
I would like to say thank you for the instructions. I took my time reading and following your instructions and it worked perfectly.
Thank you again.
Simon Ng 10.27.08 at 8:11 am
@Fernando, did you try to uninstall iTunes and install it with iTune 8.0.1 again?
@Nia, thanks. Great to see you have your iPhone upgraded.
Javeed Shah 10.27.08 at 8:14 pm
Wonderfull…it worked like a breez….thank you sooooo much…i owe u a beer :>)
pana4 10.28.08 at 11:55 pm
i spend half day reading your guide
and this morning i went for it
i have a g2 _iphone 1.1.4 _8gb
and now it runs the 2.1
it was not very hard to run the iphone through this
it was great because i was able to transfer my sim card info contacts and phone numbers from my motorola to the iphone
thanks for the great site
i did not know if i had to do this with the sim card on the phone or without
i did without a sim card running itunes 8
digitalpimp 10.29.08 at 4:08 am
Hi Simon. You have any idea why I get “Wrong firmware bundle selected” everytime I browse for the IPSW? I’ve been JB-ing since 1.0.2 and this is the first time I’m on a rut.. Thanks in advance.
digitalpimp 10.29.08 at 4:22 am
Ooops. Got it. Apparently, I downloaded an incomplete IPSW from another source. Only 46MB. Sheesh.. It’s all good now. Thanks anyways.
PrincessJee 10.29.08 at 11:45 pm
these instructions are great!!! I had no problem at all updating my iPhone!!! =) thanks!
pana4 10.30.08 at 8:23 am
any solution to the error 21 problem
pana4 10.31.08 at 12:06 am
i am helping a friend with his g2 iphone
and we are stuck with error 21 at step 17 itunes does not install the
custom install insted it gives me error 21
and 1600,anyone has a solution to this problem
please let me know
pana4 10.31.08 at 5:30 am
no need to give me a solution i spend the whole day
and it worked with your guide
you have to go through the DFU MODE AND wait make sure the itunes program reeds from the custome restore the pineapple program created
to achive DFU you need to be ahead a couple seconds
once you entered succesfull DFU mode
you are on the way home
just follow the rest of the guide
i was getting error 21 and 1600 when on DFU mode
i spend hours reading and wachting you tube videos
but it worked with this guide
i owe you a beer or two
JeffCR 10.31.08 at 7:46 am
Hey Simon!! Thanx 4 this guide… Piece of cake!!!
Pana4, I think your problem is the original IPSW… Another friend of mine downloaded it with Safari, and then, when he was unlocking his iPhone, got the same error… Try downloading the iPhone firmware 2.1 with FIREFOX….
My best regards to everyone!
iPhone 2.1 - 8gb
iMac Aluminium 10.5.5 - Core Duo 3.0 @ 4Gb - 320 GB HD
Jeff - Costa Rica
Houston 10.31.08 at 10:55 am
Hey Simon,
I’m stuck on step 10, when I press “Build” it gives me the error “bootloader v3.9 was not found”, I’ve tried several times and have downloaded the file a couple of times. I also transferred the whole folder to my applications instead of my desktop and it doesn’t work. Any suggestions?
I’m using a 1st gen iPhone 1.1.4 unlocked an jailbroken through ziphone
Thanks
jorge gomes 11.05.08 at 6:32 pm
Thanks, my Iphone 1st generation didn’t work so well since a fews days. After the update he is back! And it works!!
Brian 11.07.08 at 10:48 am
I am getting the unknown error (21) too. I get it on step 18 after selecting the custom ipsw file…it extracts and then errors out. Any ideas on how to get past this…I am following the directions exactly as stated. I have a 2G 8gig running 2.1
Brian 11.07.08 at 12:12 pm
I was able to get around this error by jailbreaking my phone first and then unlocking it. Follow these steps for jailbreaking:
http://www.theiphoneblog.com/2008/09/25/tipbs-jailbreaking-101-mac-edition/
Then using Cydia install bootneuter and flash the baseband. It all worked great.
zest 11.09.08 at 8:51 pm
Great tutorial, followed it word for word and now have a 1st gen on 2.1. Many thanks to the Dev. team, and Simon, for such a lucid tutorial. Thank you!!
Lars 11.11.08 at 10:44 pm
I’ve read through all the posts, and the instructions meticulously, and am about to pull the trigger on this. My 1st gen iphone was unlocked with ziphone in May (1.1.4), I use a Rogers SIM card. Do I leave the Rogers SIM card in the phone when I do this whole upgrade? I’ll be using a macbook to do it. I can’t find anywhere about which card to use. Also, will it keep all my contacts, etc.? How do I back that up ahead of time, just in case? I currently have two macbooks, so could use one to keep an old backup if needed (I’ll be selling one shortly). Thanks!
P.S. will I be able to install 3rd party apps (epocrates, for e.g.) after this?
Simon Ng 11.12.08 at 12:02 am
Lars,
1. Please keep your SIM card in your iPhone when performing the upgrade.
2. Are you using the old version of MacBook (i.e. white/black one)? There are reports described that the new version of MacBook disallows the use of jailbreak software.
3. To backup your contact/SMS, you can first sync it with iTunes. And after upgrade, sync it again to restore back the data.
4. You can download application via App Store or Cydia. But for Installer applications, not all are available on firmware 2.0. For eprocrates, it’s already available on iPhone App Store.
Lars 11.12.08 at 1:40 am
Thanks for the prompt reply! The macbook (white) that I originally used to unlock the phone (back in May) worked well then, I since have a Macbook Air that I just got as a refurb last week. So do you mean that I shouldn’t use the Air to unlock and back my iphone? I’ll be selling the white macbook, so the Air will be my only one - I’d really like to be able to use my iphone with it - is that still an option?
Oh, and should I be sticking with a certain version of iTunes? This Air currently runs 7.6 (29) - should I upgrade it first?
And by SIM card, you mean my Rogers one, right? That’s the one I had in, I believe, when I first unlocked with ziphone.
Thanks!
lars
Lars 11.12.08 at 4:10 am
One more thing - I am trying to download the initial version of iTunes 8 (Apple now has 8.0.1), but the version available with the link you posted is only for Windows. Is there a version for Mac? Or can I just use the 8.0.1 version that I inadvertently already downloaded?
clot 11.12.08 at 8:24 pm
im stuck at step 17. my itunes does not detect that my iphone is rebooting. im faced with ‘contacting the iPhone software update server’ and after that it told me that the iPhone software update server could not be contacted. what should i do?? help! thanks so mucH! im using itunes 8.0.1
clot 11.12.08 at 8:45 pm
i managed to fix the problem!!!hee thanks very much simon!!!the instructions were easy to follow and very comprehensive. thank you!
Simon Ng 11.12.08 at 9:51 pm
Lars,
Sure, you can use iTunes 8.0.1.
Joe 11.12.08 at 11:28 pm
Hi Simon,
Thanks for all your help with the iphone.
Having the same problem Brian did in post 50 & 51, I have a 1st gen 8 g iphone using on t-mobile that was running on firmware 2.1 with itunes 8.0.1. I was having internet access problems, so I tried to restore it to the custom restore. Upon doing so, when I tried to reconnect to itunes, it was giving me the error “wrong sim installed.” Looking at other posts, I was told to pwn it again, which i did, now I can’t get past step 18 without getting the message “iphone could not be restored…unknown error (21).” Brian said he got around this by Quick pwning the phone, but my concern is that since I’ve already Pwned it, would that affect the phone somehow? and isn’t Pwnage preferred over Qwkpwn?
Any help would be appreciated!
Thanks,
Joe
imah 11.14.08 at 10:53 pm
hey..how to solve the error 21 problem?? i need help asap!!
Will 11.16.08 at 9:39 am
Hi Simon,
I just ran your procedure on my 1st generation 8Gb iphone. It ran perfectly up until the completion of step 19. Itunes prompts that the phone “recovers to default factory settings,” then it proceeds to display a screen that says “sim card inserted does not appear to be supported.” On the iphone, instead of the Boot neuter launching to flash the baseband, it displays the recovery screen with a slider below allowing for “emergency calls.”
My iphone has been previously pwned for firmware 2.0 using Pwnage tool.
For this current upgrade, I used the recovery mode method described. I also tried it in DFU mode. Both ways show the same result.
I am using a black macbook with Itunes 8.0.1.
Any help would be greatly appreciated
Thank you
Will 11.16.08 at 1:01 pm
Sorry for the post, I made a truly stupid mistake. Instead of selecting the custom firmware file to I selected the original one initially downloaded. Everything is you said to do was absolutely perfect. I just have to learn how to follow instructions…
Thank you for the guide Simon.
kevO 11.17.08 at 5:19 am
will this upgrade work if i begin with a unlocked iphone??
Simon Ng 11.17.08 at 8:05 am
kevO, it should work on unlocked iPhone.
kevO 11.17.08 at 7:11 pm
im just afraid of bricking, is it still a possibility with this option??
Ron 11.18.08 at 7:43 am
Did the upgrade on 1st gen 2g running 1.1.4. Worked fine, however, when i bought this phone, it came up from the US. with an AT&T sim card. I did the upgrade with this sim card and not my Rogers card. The upgrade worked, but it now does not recognize my Rogers sim card. Any ideas.
Remedy 11.19.08 at 12:33 am
Hi there,
I followed the instructions and everything was fine until I put the phone in DFU mode. iTunes (8.01) started up and I get error 1619. Suggestions?
Randy 11.19.08 at 11:01 am
Hi,
Great step by step and the phone booted up (1st gen 16gb) pineapple logo, then it goes to some setting screens and does some auto things, then said it was restarting, when it did the pineapple logo appears and hangs there. There was the “thinking wheel” in front of the logo for a while, gone now, but now it just stays on the pineapple. Restarting the pineapple comes back up and stays.
Hope there is an easy solution, thanks!
Adil 11.21.08 at 10:55 am
Hi simon,
So I have an iphone 4GB old generation and when I got it I unlocked and jailbroke it with ziphone. Unitil last week I had the version 1.1.4 I think, so I tried to updated to teh 2.1 version thru my Itunes version 8 and that is when everything went down hill. I couldnt get it to work till finally I jailbroke it with QuickPwn and then when i put on my AT&T sim card is not recognizing the AT&t carrier or any other carrier like T-mobile or Vodafone Spain. I have AT&T the “pay as u go” (so prepaid) it used to work fine with the old version but now is not working. i tried to jailbroke it with Pwnage Tool 2.1 as u explain in here and it seems to work fine till I get to step 10 where it says “build” I cliked on that trying to go to next step and gives me an error saying that is not recognizing the bootloader .39 I tried and re tried but is not working. Im using a White MacBook the 80GB one.Is there anything u can do to help me unlock my iphone? Please I am really desperate I need my phone back!!
Adil 11.21.08 at 10:57 am
Simon,
Oh..also the weird thing is that it recognizes my number in contacts but it doenst show service or teh AT&T logo.
Adil 11.21.08 at 11:37 am
Hey Simon!!
Never mind about the trouble with my hack..I got it to work again!!
U r a genius!!!seriously!!!Thanks so much for everything!!!