| CONNECT WITH MAC|LIFE | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
MOST COMMENTED ARTICLES
- NewsiTunes 10 Now Ready for Download, Finally!12 TOTAL COMMENTS
- FeatureFirst Look: Apple TV11 TOTAL COMMENTS
- NewsThink the iTunes 10 Icon Sucks? Steve Jobs Disagrees8 TOTAL COMMENTS
- VideosVideo: Navigating the New iPod nano7 TOTAL COMMENTS
- NewsCould iStethoscopes Replace Real Stethoscopes6 TOTAL COMMENTS
IN THIS MONTH'S ISSUE!
September 2010
Feature
Review
Feature
|
Think you’ve made a mistake by upgrading your iPhone or iPod touch to the latest and greatest iPhone OS beta? iPhone OS 4.0 can be a little buggy and may not even work nicely with some applications, but that didn’t stop some from making the leap. Apple intended for this beta version of the iPhone OS to be strictly for developers and it shows. We're going to show you how to return your device back to OS 3.1.3 far away from those beta bugs.
We suggest reading this how-to in its entirety before proceeding with this process. We successfully downgraded our device from 4.0 to 3.1.2 on multiple iPhone 3GS models, but haven’t tried this process on an iPhone 3G or iPod touch.
Disclaimer: Your mileage may vary, so proceed at your own risk. Mac|Life takes no responsibility if you brick your device.
Difficulty Level: Medium
What You Need:
- An iPhone Running OS 4.0
- A Mac
- iRecovery v. 1.3 for Mac
- Libusb Library
Step 1 - Download iRecovery and Libusb
You’ll need two pieces of software in order to downgrade your device from OS 4.0 back to OS 3.1.3. You can download iRecovery by clicking here (direct-download link). You can download Libusb by clicking here (direct-download link).
You can install Libusb by unzipping and running the installer. Unzip and place the iRecovery script on your Desktop.
Step 2 - Sync Your iPhone
The first part of any OS restore should be to backup and sync your iPhone data. Connect your device to iTunes and click the lovely Sync button. Depending on how many changes you have, this could take a while so get a snack and watch the status bar climb to the finish line.
iPhone OS 4.0 doesn’t allow you to backup your device, so anything that’s not synced over to iTunes will be lost.
Step 3 - Start The Restore
Press alt/option and click the Restore button in iTunes. This will bring up a dialog that will allow you to manually select your iPhone OS firmware. Navigate to User/Library/iTunes/iPhone Software Updates/ and select “iPhone2,1_3.1.3_7E18_Restore.ipsw”. Click Choose and the OS restore process will begin.
If you don’t have this version of the iPhone OS software, then you’ll need to download it by clicking your version below. Then repeat this process by navigating to the download location and selecting it. Click Choose and the OS restore process will begin.
Download iPhone OS 3.1.3 for iPhone 3G
Download iPhone OS 3.1.3 for iPhone 3GS
Your device will most likely show the error "1015" when it is restoring the firmware. Ignore this error as we will take care of it in the next step.
Step 4 - Use iRecovery to complete restore
Now we’re going to use iRecovery to complete the restore process and get around the firmware upgrade problem that we encountered in the previous step.
To do this, launch Terminal (Applications/Utilities) and type in the following commands:
cd Desktop
./iRecovery -s
setenv auto-boot true
saveenv
fsboot
exit
After a few seconds, you can disconnect your iPhone and power it off manually by pressing the power and home buttons simultaneously. Now when you power up your iPhone, you should see the standard connect to iTunes image.
You can now safely connect your iPhone to iTunes.
Step 5 - Restore Your iPhone from a Backup
When you connect your iPhone back to iTunes, you’ll have two options: Set up as a new iPhone or Restore from the backup of. If you’re restoring from a previous backup, select it from the drop down menu and click Continue. If not, select Set up as a new iPhone and continue the on-screen instructions.
Your device restore will take a few minutes to complete, so you may want to grab a snack and watch the status bar for entertainment (or not, your choice).
Step 6 - Relax You’re Back to 3.1.3
You can now breathe a sigh of relief and pat yourself on the back. Your iPhone has now been safely restored back to its previous OS version (3.1.3). If you’re into jailbreaking, you can now re-jailbreak your device following the same process you followed before.
Process via Gadgets DNA
THANK YOU
Submitted by cyoung29093 on Mon, 2010-04-12 17:40.
All I have to say is THANK YOU for publishing this. I was uncertain of the solutions i found elsewhere on the web, thankfully MacLife came through. Worked like a champ!I will happily wait for the public release of 4.0.
Nice!!
Submitted by cbillin6 on Tue, 2010-04-13 19:29.
Great tutorial!!!! Thanks a lot!!!!! Worked nicely!!!
Worked on my 3G
Submitted by Stephen Hershey on Wed, 2010-04-14 05:43.
Back to 3.1.3 and a usable iPhone w/o a problem.
Permission denied....
Submitted by jbgroup on Wed, 2010-04-14 20:53.
Get to the step
./iRecovery -sand get a Permission denied error.
What am I missing?
Thank you very much. Iphone
Submitted by OXYGEN2 on Thu, 2010-04-15 12:28.
Thank you very much. Iphone 1.13 firmware was good, its usable without problem. กล่องไปรษณีย์ . Princo . Verbatim . Bluray . กระดาษ Glossy . DVD . CD-R
Thanks, you saved my life: iPhone 4.0 promising but too buggy
Submitted by iguy on Sat, 2010-04-17 14:46.
Restoration to OS 3.1.3 in progress and looking like its working. Although the features have great potential, this first beta was just too buggy. Even the built-in apps like mail had screen refresh issues going into landscape and leaving the menu stuck there even if try to rotate back. Also, didn't like that so many apps ceased to function and all my data in every app was gone. This was not an issue with the 3.0 beta releases...that upgrade did not wipe out all database files.
Another major flaw was the so-called multitasking designed to save power. I am guessing this won't really work until apps are designed to conform. From what I could see, the way it handled multitasking was to keep absolutely every program open in the background. Double-clicking the home button then tap-holding any background apps just kept making other background apps appear. May explain why OS 4.0 drained more than 20% battery power per hour even with minimal use.
Anyway, thanks again to MacLife for posting a way to get back my iPhone 3.1.3.
Does it work
Submitted by allplatform on Sun, 2010-04-18 07:41.
On OS 3.1.2? Can I downgrade from 4 to 3.1.2 so I can do a Backra1n JB?
worked Iphone 3G
Submitted by jenn79 on Tue, 2010-04-20 11:23.
Thank you thank you thank you!!!!
Downgrade from 4.0 beta 2 works!
Submitted by OlBlueEys on Wed, 2010-04-21 20:32.
Just wanted to let you know that this method still works even if you've upgraded to the new beta 2 of 4.0.
Awesome
Submitted by crazymikesapps on Thu, 2010-04-22 19:15.
I got the OS 4 Beta 2 and wow does it stink. A few cool features, but nothing to make me want it on my iPhone.
My screen capture stopped working, device was slow, various programs crashed, really hard to believe that Apple would allow this to go out.
Your how to to downgrade to OS 3.1.3 was very good and I am thankful. I have an app review website and without screen captures I felt restricted.
thank you for your expertise.
Mike
Error message when using Terminal
Submitted by edgemania on Fri, 2010-04-23 07:51.
I get this message when I try to put the command ./iRecovery -s-bash: ./iRecovery: No such file or directoryWhat am I doing wrong??? Pat
make sure you
Submitted by sparknostalgia on Tue, 2010-05-04 23:52.
put the irecovery script that u downloaded on the desktop dont leave in downloaded folder
OS 4.0 Beta 2 downgrade worked for me too!
Submitted by idev on Sun, 2010-04-25 00:05.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!I'm in the process of restoring the backup from 3.1.3 right before upgrading to 4.0 b1. I won't make the usual comments and rants about the quality of the releases. Simply put, I'm involved in iPhone development to make money and the two beta releases have cost me quite a bit in time.Anyway, I've downloaded two different IPSW files for 3.1.3 and the MD5 hashes match. In case you were wondering about the validity of the file you downloaded (I couldn't locate my 3.1.3 firmware and it's no longer available via Apple's dev site), here's the hash: MD5 (iPhone1,2_3.1.3_7E18_Restore.ipsw) = 82e93e4e51b0e4503a8165507b8a3df2. Happy restoring - it was quick and painless and my phone is working perfectly on 3.1.3.iDev
Great Tutorial. Thanks.Only
Submitted by Jambo on Sun, 2010-04-25 01:12.
Great Tutorial. Thanks.Only ran into a couple of hitches that are worth mentioning.1/ In Step 3 - Start The Restore I have an iPhone 3G so when restoring it wasn't “iPhone2,1_3.1.3_7E18_Restore.ipsw” rather it was: "iPhone1,2_3.1.3_7E18_Restore.ipsw"2/ In Step 5 - Restore Your iPhone from a BackupI'm a legit Dev so I've been using 4.0 since launch of Beta 1.When I went to restore from my latest Sync "My Name's iPhone" It wouldn't allow it.I wish I'd recorded the error but it was along the lines of it couldn't restore with that version of the iPhone's software.I then selected an older Back Up from just after I installed 4.0 beta 1 and it worked.Thankfully I didn't lose much but any suggestions for a fix?
Great How-To
Submitted by inforailway on Mon, 2010-04-26 13:55.
Worked as indicated for me. As another commenter noted, I had to restore to a backup made PRIOR to upgrading my phone to OS4 beta. OS4 Beta shows promise, but as my development phone is also my personal phone it was a bit too unstable for my liking.
restore
Submitted by tolliverc on Mon, 2010-04-26 16:33.
The new software is cool but it is sill to buggy for us to use rite now. We decided to wait for the final version. For now we will use xcode to help us with our software.Thank you for helping us.
Too easy?
Submitted by Staphyl on Tue, 2010-04-27 19:09.
Idk what I did right, but I didn't even have to use iRestore or that libusb tool to downgrade my iPod Touch 3rd Gen. I just selected the restore and down it went back to 3.1.3.
GREAT tutorial - you saved my bacon!
Submitted by kewpiedoll99 on Tue, 2010-04-27 19:37.
Thanks a million for this. I searched high and low for how to do this and thank goodness I found your article. I had gotten to the error 1015 on my own, but iRecovery and LibUsb were unknowns to me. TOTALLY fixed my iPhone back to its v 3.1.3 goodness!
Restore didn't work
Submitted by szobell on Wed, 2010-04-28 05:38.
I must be doing something wrong. I never see the message saying 'Restoring Software' in step 3. It says items such as 'preparing software for restore', but I then get an 'unknown error has occurred (Error 6)'. If i then press ok - I get the standard "Connect to Itunes' image. Once I am there - it just says it must be restored and I am still on 4.0.What am I missing?
I stand corrected
Submitted by szobell on Wed, 2010-04-28 06:22.
So - I went through the loop I was getting about 3 times (Error 6)... iTunes saying my iPhone was in restore mode and needed to be restored... then restore it. Try this over again... On the 4th Try - it didn't give me the same error - I received the wonderful 1015 error. Continued the instructions above and it worked flawlessly. Not sure what caused by Error 6 loops - but I am restored to 3.1.3. thank you!
VERY HELPFUL
Submitted by bballar on Mon, 2010-05-03 18:16.
Thanks very much this tutorial worked exactly as described saved my butt much appreciated!!
IT WORKED!
Submitted by sparknostalgia on Tue, 2010-05-04 23:49.
it worked great thanks amazing truly
Worked on iPhone OS 4.0 beta 3 /iPhone 3G.
Submitted by oisee on Fri, 2010-05-07 23:42.
Worked on iPhone OS 4.0 beta 3 /iPhone 3G.Thanks a lot!
Awsome Tutorial
Submitted by rcdace11 on Fri, 2010-05-14 13:54.
Thank you soo much for these steps you helped out alot. keep up the good work.
Thanks!
Submitted by glbaker on Thu, 2010-05-20 21:57.
This was awesome! Thank you for helping me unbrick my iphone. Worked as written.
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!
Submitted by arlilgegns on Sat, 2010-05-22 00:11.
You just saved me an embarrassing trip to the Apple Store. This worked like a charm on my 3GS. Thanks again!!
Lifesaver!!
Submitted by 1976Hoosiers on Mon, 2010-05-24 09:37.
this was so awesome thanks! Thats so stupid that Apple doesn't have this as a support article! Thanks so much Mac Life! You have a new reader for life! Keep on Keeping on!!
Error
Submitted by sunky on Thu, 2010-06-03 06:12.
I'm getting this error after I run iRecovery in terminal:
iRecovery - Recovery Utility for 0x1281 and WTF. by wEsTbAeR-- and Tom3q
Got USB
Error -9 when setting configurationSo when I type the following commands
setenv auto-boot true
saveenv
fsboot
exitI get nothing. Any ideas?
I just downgraded my iPhone
Submitted by dukeblue17 on Fri, 2010-06-04 13:43.
I just downgraded my iPhone from 4.0 beta 4 to 3.1.3 but iTunes will not let me restore from the backup of my information when I was running the 4.0 beta 4. Is there any way to work around this?
Thanks
jubiiiiiiiiiii maclife just
Submitted by kaarup on Fri, 2010-06-11 15:11.
jubiiiiiiiiiii maclife just saved my day. Thanks a million for this guide.
jubiiiiiiiiiii maclife just
Submitted by kaarup on Fri, 2010-06-11 15:11.
jubiiiiiiiiiii maclife just saved my day. Thanks a million for this guide.
One slight change to instructions
Submitted by bowerstech on Thu, 2010-06-17 05:52.
The version of iRecovery I downloaded had a space 2 added to the end. Which of course caused the instructions to fail. I renamed it to just iRecovery and worked flawless.
Back to 3.1.3 from iOS4
Submitted by Lexxie on Tue, 2010-06-22 01:01.
Because my iPhone 3G became sluggish after upgrading to OS4 i wanted to downgrade again. Of course I did not find the 3.1.3 in my Mac, read your item, FOUND THE LINK TO 3.1.3 for 3G, downloaded it, and now the iPhone 3G is working great again with 3.1.3 in it. Fantastic article even for a layman.... THANKS
Doesn't seem to work...
Submitted by sfp on Tue, 2010-06-22 12:53.
I followed the instructions to a T to take my 3G from 4.0 to 3.1.3, and all seemed to go smoothly until the reboot. An inspection also shows that my baseband didn't downgrade (it's still at 5.13.04 from the iOS4 upgrade attempt). Any ideas?
Will these instructions work
Submitted by jbchicken on Fri, 2010-06-25 06:14.
Will these instructions work on a pc; noticed on the front end you say a Mac is required.
No iPhone/iPod found
Submitted by gcs181074 on Sat, 2010-06-26 12:01.
Last login: Sat Jun 26 19:55:10 on ttys001
gordon-stewarts-iMac:~ gcs181074$ cd desktop
gordon-stewarts-iMac:desktop gcs181074$ ./iRecovery -s
iRecovery - Recovery Utility for 0x1281 and WTF.
by wEsTbAeR-- and Tom3qGot USB
No iPhone/iPod found.
gordon-stewarts-iMac:desktop gcs181074$HELP WHAT AM I DOING WRONG
CANT GET PAST THE ./IRecovery -s Command
Submitted by corymann@epbfi.com on Sat, 2010-06-26 17:48.
It keeps telling me:
Got USB
No Iphone/Ipod Found.I saw a command earlier that u need the iRecovery script on the desktop, I think I have that already on the desktop. Could anyone be more specific on what that is exactly so that I can verify if I have it right.
Thanks
cant get past first base!
Submitted by jasisdad on Wed, 2010-06-30 14:10.
After i have clicked the restore tab and started the restore it takes a while then comes back with "This device is not eligible for the requested build"
Any ideas as not having internet other than through wifi is a nightmare and has only happened since i upgraded.
Many thanks
Got USB - No iPhone/iPod Found
Submitted by jd24dragon on Wed, 2010-06-30 14:19.
after the command ./iRecovery -s
it tells me
Got USB
No iPhone/iPod foundAny ideas?
downgrade..
Submitted by kpaulsen on Thu, 2010-07-01 01:11.
Hey there.. I tried to do the restore, but connects and tells me that I'm ineligible to downgrade.. Then I get the no iphone/usb error as well..
Eek! Help!
Works on 3G!
Submitted by albors on Thu, 2010-07-01 07:56.
Thank you sooo much for this tutorial. The only difference was step 3 where I had to find the restore software elsewhere on my computer. Other than that it was a breeze to fix!
Baseband downgrade from 5.13.04 to 5.12.01
Submitted by dkouri on Thu, 2010-07-01 14:40.
Is there a way to downgrade the modem firmware from OS4 5.13.04 on my 3G?
Thanks
error when running script
Submitted by acutshall on Sat, 2010-07-03 12:52.
Getting the following error when runniong script
MacPro2:~ acutshall$ cd Desktop
MacPro2:Desktop acutshall$ ./iRecovery -s
dyld: Library not loaded: /usr/local/lib/libusb-0.1.4.dylib
Referenced from: /Users/acutshall/Desktop/./iRecovery
Reason: image not found
Trace/BPT trap
MacPro2:Desktop acutshall$ setenv auto-boot true
-bash: setenv: command not found
MacPro2:Desktop acutshall$Thx
Had to restore to Feb 2009
Submitted by laserone on Sat, 2010-07-03 22:39.
I just finished doing this w/ my iPhone 3G. Everything went as described except it would not let me restore from the backup I made tonight or recently. I sync and backup every day. It kept saying that it was "too old" and I had to drop the drop-down box to another backup of the same name and I thought it said "Feb 2010" but now that I'm done everything on my phone is as it was in *Feb 2009*. Not sure what to do next... hmm.
"This device is not eligible for the requested build"
Submitted by hmalissa on Thu, 2010-07-08 11:20.
After choosing the old firmware version I get an error message:
"This device is not eligible for the requested build"
What can I do???
iPhone 3G
Submitted by ReluctantiPhoneUser on Fri, 2010-07-09 08:24.
I used this method to downgrade my 3G from the final release 4.0 to 3.1.3. Worked like a charm. I placed all files on the desktop beforehand, and did not restore from a backup. I made sure the iPhone was 'seen' by itunes before I began the process. The text of the terminal instructions is small, and I missed the 'i' before Recovery, so that was my only problem.
My reason for downgrading was a large drop in battery life, loss of Bluetooth, and the iPhone went from a snappy performer to a sluggard. The 3G does not seem to have the processing power to handle 4.0. Anyway, what does a 3G user get besides folders with 4.0? The new mailbox setup is nicer, but......It is not worth the trade-offs and problems listed above.
Downgrade software can be done in Window Vista PC?
Submitted by Kyaw Swar on Fri, 2010-07-09 19:25.
Hi,
Can I do all the downgrading steps in Window Vista? I can't even install the software. Is there any other way to do in Window vista.
Thanks!
Libusb Library won't install
Submitted by Elvis Cole on Mon, 2010-07-12 16:52.
Says I need 10.6 ... I only have 10.5.8 ... any help? OS4 is killing my 3G.
Thanks all.
Multiple replies
Submitted by Pecos Bill on Thu, 2010-07-15 14:03.
To the multiple PC / Windoze questions, you might have luck googling as I saw references of Windows for the tools in question. You may also need to install cygwin to get unix. There may be better alternatives though.
Elvis Cole, You might have success if you can find a version of libusb that supports OS 10.5 but I don't think I'd trust my expensive iOS device to it.
acutshall, it's complaining that libusb isn't installed. The rest of the commands are useless without it.
jd24dragon, is it plugged into the Mac directly or via hub? The latter may not work.
That's about all the suggestions i have. Meanwhile, for safety, I'd remove libusb and reboot once completed as that's a security risk.
My question: Use it to Upgrade to 3.1.3???
Submitted by Pecos Bill on Thu, 2010-07-15 14:08.
I'm still at 3.0. I don't want to go to v4.0 as I've heard it's slower even after fixes are applied. (4.0 doesn't really offer much to a 3G anyway.) Anyone know if these steps could be used to upgrade from 3.0 to 3.1.3? It would seem yes.
(I never upgraded past 3.0 because I wanted the option to tether)
© 2010 Future US, Inc. All rights reserved.