Jailbreaking iPhone 3.1.3 IPSW with PwnageTool 3.1.5

Intipadi.com – With the PwnageTool app now updated for Mac OS X users, most of the iPhone Dev Team’s set of jailbreak and unlock tools now supports iPhone firmware 3.1.3, the latest update from Apple. Although Softpedia does not condone jailbreaking, those who do wish to employ these tools and hack their iPhones should at least follow a few guidelines, so they don’t brick their devices.

“If you really truly feel that you need to update, [PwnageTool 3.1.5] creates a custom 3.1.3 IPSW for you to restore to on your iPhone 2G, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS with early bootrom, iPod touch 1G, and iPod touch 2G with early bootrom,” the iPhone Dev Team says in its recent blog post.

“If you don’t know if you have an early bootrom or not, please avoid updating until you learn more [...] If you have an iPhone 3GS, PwnageTool works if you’re currently at version 3.1.2 or below (down to 3.0). [...] Don’t use PwnageTool on the iPhone 3GS if you’re at 3.1.3, it just won’t work (you will need to downgrade to 3.1.2).” “Also, if you use the blacksn0w unlock (currently at baseband 05.11.07), you will need to stay at 3.1.2,” according to the infamous team of hackers.

With that out of the way, the steps to follow should ensure the proper jailbreaking of a first-generation iPhone for firmware version 3.1.3. The steps are similar for the other devices supported by PwnageTool, with few differences. This guide doesn’t include instructions on how to unlock your device at 3.1.3. If you’re already unlocked, PwnageTool will preserve it for you as you restore using your custom firmware IPSW bundle (it doesn’t update the phone’s baseband). If you do plan to unlock after jailbreaking, you will need to ensure there’s a wireless Internet connection you can hook up to. PwnageTool only does the jailbreak part, and installs Cydia, which allows you to download BootNeuter, install it, and use it to unlock. Ok, let’s move on to the actual jailbreak steps.

1 – First off, users need to download their tools:
- PwnageTool 3.1.5;
- iPhone1,1_3.1.3_7E18_Restore.ipsw.
(Sorry, no download links for such files says our policy; Google is your friend here)

2 – Fire up PwnageTool and select your device (as noted above, this tutorial is good word for word only with first-gen iPhones).

3 – By default, PwnageTool will move forward in simple mode attempting to find that iPhone 3.1.3 firmware you were supposed to download, according to step 1. If it can’t find it, you will be asked to browse your computer’s hard drive and select it yourself. Make sure it is listed exactly as the one shown in the screenshot below.

4 – After hitting the right arrow to move on to the next phase, PwnageTool will ask you if you want to continue with the procedure. Hit “yes,” if you’re feeling confident that you want to jailbreak, or “no,” if you decide that buying everything fair and square from the iTunes store is your thing. By choosing “yes” you continue with the jailbreak process. PwnageTool will also ask you if you have an iPhone contract that would activate normally through iTunes, meaning you wouldn’t have to unlock as well, afterwards. If you don’t, or if you’re not sure, hit “no,” as instructed, and click the arrow.

Note: during this step, PwnageTool may also ask you to provide a couple of extra files (bootloaders), which it needs in order to complete the jailbreak process. If you don’t have them lying around, go looking for them on the Internet as instructed by the software. They’re pretty easy to find and all you need to do is download them to your desktop. PwnageTool will then recognize them automatically and continue with the jailbreak process.

5 – This step involves some waiting time. Just sit back and wait as PwnageTool creates your custom (jailbroken) IPSW restore file. During this step, the application will require you to type in your administrator password, if that’s how your computer is set up.

6 – Before showing the “success” screen, PwnageTool will have a couple more things to say to you, as shown below. For the first dialog, choose based on the knowledge of your previous actions. Do as instructed, according to the second.

7 – For this step, you need to connect your iPhone to your computer (using the USB cable it shipped with). Hit the right-arrow button again to finish, and then hit the DFU button above. You will be shown how to enter DFU mode. Pay great attention to the steps here, as they involve some timely actions. If you don’t succeed at first, don’t worry, you can retry entering DFU mode.


8 – This is the last step. If everything has gone right up to this point, you’re minutes away from having a jailbroken iPhone. Launch iTunes (which needs to be at least version 9.0) and allow it to recognize your device. If you’ve successfully completed step 7 (DFU mode), iTunes should pop up a dialog saying it has found a phone in recovery mode, advising you to restore it. Hit “ok.” You now need to restore to the custom firmware bundle created by PwnageTool and placed on your desktop. Hold ALT (option key) and click “restore” in iTunes. The application will prompt you to select the firmware bundle you want to restore to. In this case, it will be “iPhone1,1_3.1.3_7E18_Custom_Restore.ipsw.” Select it and continue.

At this point, your new custom firmware is being installed, so all you have to do is wait for it to complete the process and reboot your phone. Depending on a number of factors (system specs, etc.), this last step may take somewhere between four and six minutes.