If you’re the type of person who likes to sell your current iPhone and use the funds to upgrade to the latest and greatest iPhone, then you’ve been there before. Restoring your iPhone to stock, and cleaning it up, is essential if you want to ensure you get top dollar for your device.
Thankfully, Cody already covered quite a few bases in his article, here. But what if you’re still having issues downgrading your iPhone, or getting it back to stock after jailbreaking? I know a lot of you have personally told me about your struggles with the iPhone’s dreaded recovery loop.
If you’re having issues downgrading your iPhone back to iOS 4.3.3, issues with iTunes Error (1), and/or you’re stuck in the recovery loop, and can’t get out, this video tutorial should fix what ails you…
[tube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P_3oDLk7tI[/tube]
Watch the video above for an in-depth explanation and walkthrough that shows you how to downgrade your iPhone back to iOS 4.3.3. iOS 4.3.3 is the last firmware with an untethered jailbreak, that’s why this firmware is particularly significant.
If you’ve messed around with iOS 5, accidentally upgraded to iOS 4.3.5, or some other wacky scenario, you can use this tutorial to downgrade back to iOS 4.3.3, and regain your untethered jailbreak.
Of course, the main purpose of this tutorial is to regain a non-jailbroken, stock 4.3.3 installation on your iPhone, in order to prepare it for sale. If you’re just interested in regaining a jailbroken installation of iOS 4.3.3, you can always just jailbreak with RedSn0w to bypass the recovery loop.
In all scenarios, you WILL need your SHSH blobs saved in order to downgrade; sorry, no exceptions.
How to Downgrade Your iPhone Firmware and Fix the Recovery Loop and iTunes Error (1)
Step 1: Put your iPhone into DFU mode.
Step 2: Enable the TSS Server on TinyUmbrella. If iTunes is open, it will close.
Step 3: Open iTunes, and it should recognize your device in recovery mode. Hold Alt/Option+Click ‘Restore’ in iTunes, and select the iOS 4.3.3 firmware for your device
Step 4: Allow iTunes to restore. You may get an iTunes Error (1) when the restore is complete. This is due to the fact that the TSS server is still running, and can be misleading. Just ignore this error.
Step 5: Your iPhone should now be stuck in the recovery loop. You will see a “Connect to iTunes” message. Rebooting, booting out of recovery, etc will get your nowhere.
Step 6: Download the Fix TinyUmbrella Fix Recovery file for Windows or Mac via our Downloads page.
Step 7: Place your iPhone back into DFU Mode.
Step 8: Extract the contents of the fixrecovery.zip file, right click on ‘fixrecovery43’ and select ‘Open With’ then ‘Terminal’.
Step 9: The fix recovery should execute, and your iPhone will be kicked out of the recovery loop.
Step 10: Run iTunes with your iPhone plugged in to activate if necessary.
I know this seems like a lot of steps, but it’s really not that bad. It’s highly worth it, especially if you need to restore your iPhone back to stock so that you can sell it in order to purchase an iPhone 5.
I hope this tutorial is able to help a few folks here and there. Again, I highly suggest watching the video in order to see the steps performed in action. Let me know if you have any comments or questions below.