How to Downgrade iPhone 3G Firmware 2.2.1 to 2.2

30 January 2009 by Vinay 28 Comments

iPhone DEV team released a serious warning regarding unlocked iPhones to” Do not upgrade to firmware 2.2.1 if you want to unlock your iPhone 3G because it permanently updates your baseband and you can’t use yellowsn0w iPhone 3G unlock with the newest baseband. ” Since many of iPhone lovers can’t hold thereselve to updte iPhone to 2.2.1 accidently or in a hurry & loose there jailbreaking.For the people who wants to downgrade from 2.2.1 to previous 2.2 or 2.1 a quckpwn forum active user have made the way check the following guide.

Edit : If you are looking for how to downgrade from OS 3.0 Check Here

Follow these steps to downgrade from iPhone firmware 2.2.1 to firmware 2.2 or 2.1:

* Connect your iPhone to your Mac or PC and select your iPhone from the list of devices in iTunes. If things had gone horribly wrong while hacking your iPhone and iTunes does not detect your iPhone then you will need to put it in DFU (Device Firmware Upgrade) mode.

o You can follow these steps to put your iPhone in DFU mode (this is required only if iTunes does not recognize your iPhone):
+ Connect your iPhone to your computer.
+ Turn iPhone off.
+ Hold power and home together for 10 seconds (exactly).
+ Release power but keep holding home until the computers beeps (observed on a PC) as a USB device is recognized.
+ A few seconds later iTunes should detect your iPhone.

* In the Summary Tab, Hold down Option and press the “Restore” button. If you are using Windows hold down Shift and press the Restore button. (This is an important step as just pressing the “Restore” button will result in restoring your iPhone with the latest firmware which is firmware 2.2.1 currently, by holding down Option in case of Mac or Shift in case of Windows, allows you choose the firmware file that you want to downgrade to.)

After the restore, flip on the QUICKPWN and your back in business

Edit : If you are looking for how to downgrade from OS 3.0 Check Here

More Guides of Interest :

28 Comments »

sid said:

Hey, I tried this step. It did restored back to firmware 2.2 but the firmware is still 2.30. Please can anybody help me out to downgrade the firmware also so that i can unlock my iphone 3g with yellowsn0w.

# 1 February 2009 at 2:35 am

Vinay Prashar said:

Dev team released the Pwnage tool for 2.2.1 download here http://www.ihackintosh.com/2009/01/dev-team-released-pwnagetool-225-quickpwn-225-for-firmware-221/ to Unlock/Jailbreak iPhone 3G

# 1 February 2009 at 9:59 am

ilham said:

Hi – I tried to downgrade using the steps above, but the phone gets stuck halfway with error 1013… how do I proceed?

# 3 February 2009 at 7:49 pm

Vinay Prashar said:

Error 1013/1014/1015
This error message occurs when you downgrade or upgrade to a different baseband than the firmware your restoring to has. This message does NOT mean the restore failed – it simply means the phone firmware does not match the baseband.

1. Disconnect the iPhone3G from iTunes when it comes across the error 1013. (Actually the firmware 2.2 is already successfully installed)
2. Launch Quickpwn 2.2-1 at this time, quickpwn will pop up a window telling you to hold down both of the power & home buttons for 15 seconds then release the home button but keep holding the power button for another 2 seconds to re-activate your iPhone3G.
3. Then you will see a white apple as usual and the iPhone 3G is now re-activating.
4. You can see a normal screen with those lovely icons and your service back to normal.
5. Jailbreak it using the ready launched Quickpwn tool.

# 3 February 2009 at 9:48 pm

Luiz said:

Hey all, (sorry about my terrible english, but i need help. I am a brazilian)

I am having a serious problem with my iphone 3G. It did work very well untill the moment that i tryied to do an upgrade. It did work with 2.2 firmware and 02.28.00 modem firmware.
I didn’t can do this through itunes (8.0.2) one error message did appear and i decided to do this with the 2.2.1 downloaded file from iclarified web site pushing option+click on restore button on itunes.
The extracting started and stoped suddenly.
After this my iPhone doesn’t recognized through my itunes and has a screen with a itunes logo and usb cable asking me to plug to itunes.
I tryied a milion times and nothing happens…

Somebody can help me?

# 7 February 2009 at 7:50 pm

mack said:

hi,

i accidently upgraded my iphone 3G to 2.3 firmware and got stucked in the middle of nowhere…i want to downgrade my phone back to 2.2 firmware to jail break it and unlock..can some one please tell me how to do it..??

# 9 February 2009 at 2:24 pm

Fei said:

Hi

I’ve tried to downgrade the firmware using windows, but i can not locate the software updates, is there something wrong with it or i do it wrong? I have connected my iphone 3g to ituness and press shift + restore. Thanks.

# 13 February 2009 at 7:35 pm

Ajit said:

Thanks everybody, my iphone is now jailbroken and unlocked.

# 19 February 2009 at 6:34 pm

aone said:

Someone please help. I try down grading my iphone even after I held “power and home” buttons together and put it in force restore mode.

I hold shift and click restore I click on my 2.2 firmware and it gives me error 5 in about 10 seconds into the process ?????????????

# 6 March 2009 at 11:46 am

abuyemen said:

i Downgrade ok to 2.2 but still modem 2.30 so i am also stock so any tips ?????

# 6 March 2009 at 4:41 pm

craig said:

hey,i upgraded mp phone today and it updated my modem firmware to 2.30 so how do i downgrade bck?

# 9 March 2009 at 7:28 am

Angelo said:

Hey i downgraded to 2.2 but its still on 2.30.3 how can i get it to downgrade aswell

# 16 March 2009 at 7:21 am

Anvil said:

You can use this same procedure to downgrade from 3.0 beta. it seems that 3.0 beta you MUST have your phone registered with Apple as a developer phone in order to use the new beta firmware.

# 18 March 2009 at 6:28 pm

happy said:

Hi Friends
i am happy coz i managed to restore back 2.1 from messy 3.0 i phone 3g
i must tell u all guys how it works too easy if someone like me can do then anyone can do it
only u have to put ur mobile in DFU mode the best way to watch video on u tube
u’ll understand
then uchoose which firmware u wanna install 2.2.1 or 2.2 2.1 2.0.1 any
only the modem u can’t change which would stay 40.20.01 once u r in dfu mode use itunes to find software wich u downloaded press shift key and klik restor u’ll see window open asking u to choose location where the firmware is choose that then let it install
in the end u’ll get Error(1013) it’s mean u have done press ok to disappear that msg and then press power and home buton togather for 15 seconds then itunes will detect ur phone and let it finish
Thats all
Hope it would make u relaxe

# 24 March 2009 at 2:46 am

Jaan said:

This question is in regards to Pashar’s message:

I am trying to unlock my Iphone 3G, upgraded to 2.2.1 by mistake, so I am following your tutorial to downgrade firmware to 2.2 Working on a Mac OS 10.5.5.

I get accross error 1013. When you say “Disconnect the iPhone3G from iTunes when it comes across the error 1013. (Actually the firmware 2.2 is already successfully installed)” do you mean just quit I tunes or unplug the Iphone from my computer?

Also, you say, “Quickpwn 2.2-1″… Is that a Windows file? The only Quickpwn file I am able to download is the 2.5.5 version.

I run accross that problem and I get stuck. I would appreciate your response. Thanks!

# 27 March 2009 at 5:23 pm

Dan said:

i downgraded bk to 2.2, jailbreaked, installed yellosn0w, all done but still the phone is not unlocked.. any help?

# 28 March 2009 at 10:47 am

jay said:

You can not downgrade the modem baseband 2.30.3. you are however able to downgrade the firmware. If you are trying to use yell0wsnow. it will not work with modem baseband 2.30.3. have to wait for dev-team.

# 1 April 2009 at 6:40 am

Attila said:

Please help!
You said:
1. Disconnect the iPhone3G from iTunes when it comes across the error 1013. (Actually the firmware 2.2 is already successfully installed)
2. Launch Quickpwn 2.2-1 at this time, quickpwn will pop up a window telling you to hold down both of the power & home buttons for 15 seconds then release the home button but keep holding the power button for another 2 seconds to re-activate your iPhone3G.
3. Then you will see a white apple as usual and the iPhone 3G is now re-activating.
4. You can see a normal screen with those lovely icons and your service back to normal.
5. Jailbreak it using the ready launched Quickpwn tool.

power & home buttons for 15 seconds???????
My is asking for hold an option for 5 sec, after hold them together for 10 sec, and after I wasn’t release a power for to more sec, but I released the option button?
Is that right?
But I have a same black screen with I tunes ikon.
Please , what I missed?

# 26 April 2009 at 6:12 am

techmann said:

Downgrated and winpawned iphone 3G all down to 2.0.2 and my firmware is still 02.30.03

what can I do ???

Please write to my email

# 15 May 2009 at 5:52 am

iquanyin said:

um, this is weird. my own phone (jailbroken, latest fw) wasn’t starting, but i have restored it. apparently hardware issues. anyway, i decided to see, since i was doing stuff anyway, if i could get a 3g my son gave me working. he had just gotten it a couple of months before, then it quit working (so prob about 4 months old now). he never unlocked nor jb it. apple was a butt, moisture sensor triggered, so he gave it to me. here’s the thing: it restores (latest ver of itunes) but gives 1013 at the end. since it’s never been unlocked or jb, i don’t understand this. i decided to try pwning it (on windows, xp dexktop), but can’t get the blue arrow to proceed. i’ve restored and repwnd my own (2.g) phone on this machine several times with (almost) no problems. any ideas what’s going on with the 3.g? should i try independence to force it into the right mode? i just don’t see how error 13 even arose at all. thanks for any advice.

btw, i gotten my 2.g into dfu mode many times. this 3.g just gets the apple for a few seconds, then flips back to restore mode (that’s the usb cable = itunes logo, right?) i assume that’s why i can’t get the blue pwn arrow to continue.

also, i’m somewhat familiar with the files on my own phone via ifiles, i even modify icons with it. but i’ve never used ssh, and since the 3g wasn’t jb, that wouldn’t work anyway because it lacks open ssh. um, right? i’ll check back in a few.

# 22 May 2009 at 7:46 pm

iquanyin said:

er, i mean should i use ibrickr. (damn, i have mac envy!)

# 22 May 2009 at 8:04 pm

Vinay Prashar said:

@Iquanyin About error 1013 check comment no.4 on this page. For error 13 this is the most weird one you can try various tricks like change ur USB port,Reinstall iTunes, If possible try on different computer.

In mine case here is what i did, Unplug the iphone from computer then uninstall itunes, To uninstall you need to go to the apple website and download the new itunes. it will ask you if you want to repair or uninstall … click uninstall….it will ask you to restart your computer. then simply reinstall itunes, plug in your phone and restore it to it’s original format. it will then download all your info to your last restored date. This should work!

# 22 May 2009 at 8:15 pm