Tool Released to Downgrade Baseband from 02.30.03 to 02.28.00 for iPhone 3G Users
Apple had released iPhone firmware 2.2.1 back in Jan which included some minor bugs and improvements.
However Dev Team had warned against updating to firmware 2.2.1 without preserving the baseband if iPhone 3G users wanted to unlock their iPhone as it also included a baseband update (02.30.03) which breaks the "injection hole" that they had used in their application yellowsn0w to modify the firmware which had helped to successfully unlock iPhone 3G.
There might be some good news for iPhone 3G users who had accidentally upgraded to iPhone firmware 2.2.1 without preserving their baseband as ModMyi is reporting that a tool called pHaseBanDowngrader has just been released that allows iPhone 3G users to downgrade baseband from 02.30.03 to 02.28.00.
Dev Team had released an updated version of their PwnageTool 2.2.5 which allowed users to update their iPhone 3G to firmware 2.2.1 and also jailbreak it but at the same time preserve the baseband (baseband isn't upgraded to 02.30.03) so they can unlock their iPhone.
However, some iPhone 3G users accidentally upgraded to firmware 2.2.1 without using Dev Team's PwnageTool to preserve the baseband only to realize that it was not possible to software unlock their iPhone 3G.
They were left with two options: one was to wait for Dev Team to unlock baseband 02.30.03 or wait for someone to figure out a way to downgrade baseband 02.30.03 to 02.28.00.
It looks like after a long wait, someone has figured out a solution for the second option i.e. to downgrade the baseband to 02.28.00.
In case you had accidentally upgraded to iPhone firmware 2.2.1 (or had bought a new iPhone with baseband 02.30.03 preinstalled) and want to software unlock your iPhone 3G then you can probably checkout pHaseBanDowngrader. The Baseband Downgrade tool has been developed by dev pH.
Please remember that based on the release notes available its not for the faint hearted and use it at your own risk. We would recommend you to wait until we hear more positive news.
ModMyi claims:
"this tool has been tested by multiple people and WILL NOT brick your device. if you have bootloader version 5.9 it will not work. you can try but it will not work (still no risk of brick)"
Apparently most new iPhone 3G's come with bootloader version 5.9. You can checkout this link for instructions to check your bootloader.
Below are the details for the tool's read me:
Note: The folder MUST named phasebandowngrader with lowercase letters!
To run it, open MobileTerminal and type "login". The user is "root" and password is "alpine" by default. Then type: "cd / Applications/phasebandowngrader/", then, to run the downgrader, type "./phasebandowngrader"
You can download pHaseBanDowngrader using the download links available at ModMyi.
But if you are the adventurous types and have gone ahead and given this a shot then please let us know how it goes.
Update:
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