Downgrade from 3.0 to 2.2.1

by lightmaster on Jun.13, 2009, under Guides, iPhone 2G, iPhone 3G

The Info:

This guide is pretty much just for the iPhone 3G and the iPhone 2G. The iTouchs should be able to downgrade like normal. The problem with the iPhones is that the baseband is updated when you upgraded to 3.0. iTunes is incapable of downgrading the baseband and realizes that the baseband is not what it should be on 2.2.1, so it gives you a 16xx error. This guide should help you successfully downgrade from 3.0 to 2.2.1.

The Requirements:

  1. The 2.2.1 firmware for you iPhone:
    1. iPhone 3G firmwares
    2. iPhone 2G firmwares
  2. QuickPwn for 2.2.1

The Process:

  1. Enter DFU mode (see this guide if you need to know how: How to enter DFU mode).
  2. Open iTunes and wait for it to recognize your iPhone.
  3. If you’re on Windows, click Shift+Restore; if you’re on a Mac, click Opt+Restore.
  4. Select your copy of the 2.2.1 firmware and click “Open”.
  5. Your iPhone will restore to 2.2.1. At the end, you will get a 16xx error, this is normal.
  6. Unplug your iPhone and close iTunes, then plug your iPhone back in.
  7. Open QuickPwn.
  8. Quickpwn will tell you to turn your iPhone off and the back on. Do that.
  9. Your iPhone will restart into normal mode.
  10. You can now close QuickPwn.
  11. If you are on a legit carrier, open iTunes and iTunes should activate your iPhone.
  12. Close iTunes
  13. Open QuickPwn.
  14. Jailbreak your iPhone. Only select “Activate” if you aren’t on a legit carrier or if you never got the message about your iPhone being activated.
  15. Let your iPhone jailbreak. This process can take up to 15 minutes, depending on your computer.
  16. Once your iPhone reboots the second time and you get back to the “Slide to Unlock” screen, close QuickPwn and open iTunes.
  17. You can either restore from a backup or set it up as an new phone. If you restore from a backup, the backup must be from 2.2.1, not 3.0.
  18. You can now sync your iPhone, which will copy all of your apps back to your iPhone if you did a restore from backup.

Congratulations! If everything went according to plan, you should be back on 2.2.1 and you should still be able to use your iPhone like normal. If this guide helped you, please leave a comment below. If you don’t leave comments, how will I know if my guides are actually helping people, or just taking up space on the internet?

Credit for this guide goes to zwaldowski from MMi.

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5 Comments for this entry

  • daniel
    June 23rd, 2009 on 1:20 pm

    I tried to follow your guide, but at step 11, iTunes just says

    “The SIM card inserted in this iPhone idoes not appear to be supported.”

    and don’t let me restore my device =/

    Reply
    • lightmaster
      June 24th, 2009 on 12:07 am

      If you get that message, go ahead and QuickPwn your iPhone first, making sure to tell QuickPwn to activate it. Once its jailbroken and activate, do a restore from back up (If you have a backup from 2.2.1).
      BTW, why are you trying to get back to 2.2.1? 3.0 has be jailbroken and unlocked on all devices except the iPhone 3GS.

      Reply
  • crt
    June 23rd, 2009 on 5:39 pm

    which itunes dod u used?

    Reply
  • John
    June 26th, 2009 on 12:54 pm

    I tried this and I got the 1600 error in tunes, the unpluged and closed itunes. I plugged back in, started qucikPwn and turned off and back on the device and quickpwn said that the device was still running 3.0 which isn’t supported. Have you ran into this before? Any help will be appreciated.

    Reply
  • Justin
    August 1st, 2009 on 4:51 am

    Use iTunes 8.0.2 to do this. I did and didn’t get ANY error messages. After the restore you can either DFU and custom restore it with Pwnage or use QuickPWN to unlock/jailbreak it.

    Reply

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