Apple seeded iOS 5 update to the public yesterday. It’s the same GM build which was released last week to the developers. And it can be jailbroken with the already available sn0wbreeze 2.8b8 & redsn0w 0.9.9b5. (Both these tools currently provide tethered jailbreak, meaning that you need to connect iPhone to computer everytime it reboots & boot it in tethered mode)
Update: 25th Jan, 2012
[How To] Preserve Baseband & Jailbreak iOS 5.0.1 using sn0wbreeze 2.9
sn0wbreeze helps you to update to a newer iOS version without updating the baseband or the modem firmware. This is helpful for unlockers. Users with locked iPhones can preserve the baseband to use ultrasn0w or GEVEY sims to unlock their iPhone 3GS/4.
Note: sn0wbreeze is for Windows only. If you’re on Mac & want to build custom firmware to preserve baseband, download redsn0w 0.9.9b5.
[How To] Jailbreak iOS 5 using sn0wbreeze to Preserve Baseband
1. Download iOS 5 for your iPhone & make sure you’ve iTunes 10.5
2. Download sn0wbreeze 2.8b8 from ih8sn0w.com
3. Open sn0wbreeze & point it to iOS 5 IPSW file
4. sn0wbreeze will then recognize the firmware
5. Click Next & you’ll see three options:
- Baseband Preservation Mode: This mode only preserves the baseband, doesn’t jailbreak or install Cydia, SSH, etc. This mode doesn’t “hacktivate”
- Simple Mode: This mode preserves the baseband as well as installs Cydia, SSH & other necessary packages that will jailbreak your iPhone
- Expert Mode: This mode preserves the baseband, jailbreaks your device, installs Cydia & let’s you install extra packages also. This mode gives you the option to “hacktivate” your iPhone, in case you don’t have original carrier’s sim (eg. AT&T)
So which mode should you select? If you want to just preserve the baseband for using GEVEY sim or ultrasn0w unlock, select baseband preservation mode. But you must have original carrier’s sim with you to activate the iPhone after restore is complete.
If you don’t have original carrier’s sim, select Expert menu & then check “hacktivate” option. This will activate the iPhone after restore. Also, when you select hacktivate option, the iPhone will be stuck after restore. Use iBooty (this will be automatically saved on Desktop along with custom IPSW) to boot tethered. Don’t panic!
Simple mode & Expert mode will also install Cydia, SSH, etc..
6. Select the appropriate mode & click Next (The screenshot below shows Expert mode)
Select Build IPSW & click Next
7. sn0wbreeze will start building the custom firmware. Wait for some time (It may take up to 10 minutes). The custom iOS 5 IPSW file will be saved on Desktop along with iBooty
8. After that, sn0wbreeze will ask you to put your iPhone into DFU mode for patching it to install custom firmware. Follow the steps on the screen
9. Once your device is in Pwned DFU mode (Black Screen), open iTunes, press Shift key + Restore & point to the iOS 5 IPSW file stored on Desktop
10. Sit back & relax. iTunes will restore your iPhone to iOS 5
Now, if you had earlier selected Simple mode or Expert mode, you must use iBooty to “boot tethered” so you can use Cydia & other jailbreak stuff. If you just selected Baseband preservation mode, you don’t need to use iBooty.
You can now use GEVEY sim or ultrasn0w unlock. To know how to use GEVEY sim on iOS 5, follow the steps in this post. If you’ve anymore queries, feel free to comment below.
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I tried these step but I am stuck. iPhone is now showing the status bar which it shows while restoring but nothing happens.
Now what to do?
Preet Varun Singh,
What does iTunes show? I think it’s the problem with “Hacktivation” in sn0wbreeze. Another reader of my blog is also facing the problem. I’ll try to find solution to this problem soon.
I can’t thank you enough! I haven’t tried it yet, but I’m downloading everything to do it. I’m still nervous about doing it because my baseband is 4.10.01 and right now I have the Gevey Ultra unlock. Are you sure really this works?
Giuliana,
The baseband preservation works for sure. But you’re on GEVEY Ultra, which has been facing certain problems with iOS 5. I’ll test it soon. I’ve currently tested 1st generation GEVEY & GEVEY Pro.
It does work – I’ve just tried it and it works like a charm.
Hello,
iTune throws up unable to recover error with different numbers at different times!
Is apple still signing iOS 4.3.5? in that case, I could at least restore to that!
Weird! sn0breeze fix for just baseband preserve creates a 345MB ipsw file whereas if I use the expert option and tick only hactivation, its only 33.7MB!!
Venkat,
Open hosts file on your computer & make sure gs.apple.com line is not present there. If it is, remove it & save the hosts file. Try restoring to 4.3.5 again via iTunes. And what error numbers are you getting? I recommend you to use iReb (can be downloaded from ih8sn0w.com) to put your iPhone into Pwned DFU mode & then restore to custom iOS 5 IPSW.
And, I don’t know about the size issue, Custom iOS 5 IPSW size must be approximately 650 MB-800 MB, because the iOS file must contain all the necessary packages to run the iOS. It cannot be just 33.7 MB. Something wrong here.
You were right, there was some problem with hacktivation.
I created another custom ipsw using simple mode and it worked but now problem is I need a valid sim to activate it?
Any solution for this?
Preet Varun Singh,
You need original carrier’s sim to activate the iPhone, or “hacktivation”. No other way.
I was able to restore to iOS 4.3.5 and use Gevey. But, i plan to give one more try. Maybe some problem with the sn0wbreeze. I’ll download it again and retry.
these three lines are there and i’m removing all of these… hope this will do, right?
#74.208.10.249 gs.apple.com
#127.0.0.1 gs.apple.com
#74.208.105.171 gs.apple.com
Venkat,
There seems to be some issue with hacktivation on sn0wbreeze with iOS 5. And those lines are already commented out with #. So you don’t need to worry about them. If you’ve original carrier’s sim, you can build a custom firmware and restore via iTunes.
In iTunes it say “Preparing iPhone for restore”, and I wait and wait… 🙁 How much does it need?
Mladen,
Did you select “hacktivation” while building custom fw? There’s some hacktivation issue on iOS 5.
Its 348MB for baseband preserve although the original ipsw is 792MB! Is it worth trying again?
The errors I got were 14, 1604, 3002 etc
Venkat,
Errors like 1600, 1604 can be solved using iReb. For 3002, restart the computer and try again.
Thank you for the tutorial!
If I do the process now, when the untethered version be released I’ll have to do it all again? I don’t want to jailbreak, just preserve the baseband to use iOS5 with gevey.
Thanks again!
Thiago,
If you just preserve the baseband now & don’t install Cydia, you don’t need to redo the procedure once untethered jailbreak is released. You only need to boot tethered if you’ve installed Cydia, SSH, etc..
Admin, quick question: I use the original gevey sim — without the original sim card — on 03.10.01 (on iphone 4). Are you saying it is not possible to simply preserve the baseband and upgrade to iOS5 in this situation? It sounds like you’re saying the only way to do this is if you have the original sim.
It’s possible to preserve the baseband (in your case 03.10.01) and upgrade to ios 5 using sn0wbreeze. And if you don’t have original carrier’s sim, you can select “hacktivate” to activate your iPhone.
Ok, currently I have an untethered jailbreak with greenpoison. If I do this, I will then have a new jailbreak with snowbreeze, [tethered], right?
I guess my question is: is there any way to preserve the baseband and just upgrade, and not jailbreak (to avoid the tether).. without original sim?
Thanks
If you just want to preserve baseband, then Baseband preservation mode will help you. But it won’t hacktivate l, so you need original carrier’s sim. If you don’t have one, you will have to choose hacktivate option from Expert mode & this will also jailbreak your iPhone.
hey guys, im getting error 1602. i dont know whats going wrong?
its not able to upgrade. im performing all the steps mentioned above as im using gevey plus, it was working fine with 4.3.3.
is there any way i can downgrade it to 4.3.5 or make this thing work?
i dont know what to do?
Karan,
Try this:
Make sure to show hidden files under your folder options. Close the iTunes and disconnect your iDevice from your Computer. Go to the following directory:
Win 7 & Vista Users:
C:Users\*UsersName*\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\iTunes\Device Support
Windows XP :
C:\Documents and Settings\*UserName*\Application Data\Apple Computer\iTunes\Device Support or iPhone Software Updates
Backup the files available in the folder and delete them from that folder.
hey admin, there is nothing in my folder.
right now ive uninstalled my apple mobile device and itunes and now reinstalling it.
hope it helps
im either getting 1604, 1602 or 3194 again and again..
im using windows 7 32 bits. please help me out steps by steps as to how can i solve the problem and use my iphone on ios 5 with gevey!
thnks
After re-installing iTunes, sync your iPhone (which i suppose is on 4.3.x). Then create custom iOS 5 using sn0wbreeze & restore via iTunes.
I used a different computer and sn0breeze made the custom ipsw with 750 odd MB. iTunes also restored iPhone to iOS 5. However, the baseband was not preserved 🙁
So, now, i’m back on my usual desktop and tried the simple mode wherein sn0wbreeze created a 660MB ipsw file! Trying now to restore with that.
If this doesn’t work, I hope I can go back to iOS 4.3.5 stock, without jailbreak… keeping fingers crossed…
Venkat,
Make sure you do the restore asap, as Apple might stop signing iOS 4.3.5 anytime.
i think they stopped it already? 🙁
i get error 3194!
Error 3194: Resolve error 3194 by updating to the latest version of iTunes. “This device is not eligible for the requested build” in the updater logs confirms this is the root of the issue. For more Error 3194 steps see: This device is not eligible for the requested build above.
can anyone confirm?
If I copy the ICE3_04.10.01_BOOT_02.13.Release.bbfw file from firmware folder of iOS 4.3.5 ipsw file and replace the same into the iOS 5 ipsw, is there any chance of success?
I dont know why sn0wbreeze isn’t retaining baseband!
Venkat,
I don’t think that’ll work. sn0wbreeze patches the kernel to prevent iOS from updating the baseband.
oh sad!! I don’t know why sn0breeze is not preserving baseband then! it keeps 4.11.08 in the custom ipsw! I tried all modes, but no use!
Can I use the custom ipsw created by a different user?
You can use custom ipsw created on a different computer. But even if you do, your baseband will still be 04.11.08. You need to first go back to 4.3.5 & then update to custom iOS 5.
aah! finally i’m now running iOS 4.3.5! Have to find out the cause for sn0wbreeze not working…
Oh I get it now!! Sn0wbreeze uses iTunes data to create the ipsw and on my laptop, I freshly installed iTunes. Thus, I never had my phone connected there and hence sn0wbreeze din’t find the old baseband!
I shall now reinstall iTunes on laptop and sync my iPhone on the laptop as well. Hence, sn0wbreeze should be able to get the old bb info…
Hello,
My AT&T account was suspended temporarily. I am currently using GEVEY sim. Will I be able to activate my Iphone 4 after following above steps with my Suspended SIM?. I tried activating Facetime with that suspended At&t SIM and it did not go through. Please let me know.
Thank you
Ram
Ram,
It doesn’t matter if your AT&T account is suspended. Just insert the sim in iPhone when it asks for activation.
Hello,
I completed the whole restore procedure but i cant activate my sim .. so it isnt getting past!
ibooty is restarting the phone but i cant get past the screen … please help me asap!
okay one more question .. i selected a simple mode however i think i need to select expert mode and should check the option of “hactivate” is it?
Shobhit,
You need to select “hacktivate” while building custom firmware.
i tried all the step but still not working. i guess i am missing something!! PLease help here. Actually i updated my iphone 4 yesterday to ios5 and as it is a locked phone my Gevey pro stoped working. i went through all this blogs and downloaded Snowbrezz and redsn0w. Below are the steps i followed but still Modem firmware is not updated.
” 1. Obtain iOS 5 GM. I’m an app developer, so I just got it from Apple’s site.
2. Download and update iTunes to the latest beta from the same site. (10.5b9, afaik). I spent a couple of hours trying to do this with an older version and couldn’t get it working.
3. Download the latest sn0wbreeze v2.8b8. Run it on a Windows machine (or use VMWare) and create your new ipsw. I only did baseband preservation, not the jailbreak. Not interested in jail breaking my phone.
4. Use redsn0w (not sn0wbreeze) to put your iPhone into pwned DFU.
5. Make sure you don’t have any gs.apple.com (i.e. tinyumbrella or cydia’s server) entries in your /etc/hosts file. It’s okay to let it talk to Apple’s servers.
6. Option+click restore with your new IPSW, you’re good to go!”
Than i tried restoring ios 4.3.5 and got error currently my iphone is stuck and not sure what to do !! Please help.. i want ios5 to be working in my phone with Gevey. please suggest where am i making mistake and at this point what should i do..
Soneji,
Restore to factory iOS 4.3.5 now. Your baseband will be 04.10. Then build custom firmware via sn0wbreeze and select “hacktivate” from Expert menu. Then update to this custom firmware via iTunes.
Can you tell which errors it has on ultra? I am using ultra,too.. would be horrible if it wouldn´t work on ios 5 with preserved bb 🙁
there is a hacktivation problem it seems coz i cant mvove ahead when im selecting expert mode and hacktivation!
Shobhit,
Boot via iBooty. You’ll get past that screen then.
Hey! great tutorial.. i have a big problem;
i go back to 4.3.5 for BB 4.10.01 & made a custom IPSW with Sn0wBrezee, ” , my iPhone its Pwned DFU mode with iReb & then i try restore to custom iOS 5 IPSW, but itunes always gives “Error 11” or stay in recovery screen all the time [itunes says “waiting for sync”]
i dont know what to do..
sorry for my english
SerGio,
Re-install iTunes.
Thank you so much.. it works!
now im os iOS5 with BB 4.10.01!
Good news Mahesh. I hacktivated my phone n now successfully using Gevey sim.
You have to use ibooty after restoring with hacktivated ipsw.
Thanks for the help buddy.
i am unable to restore using hactivated custom ipsw….it is getting stuck evrytime
I have done everything but it seems that GEvey sim does not work with iOS5 if it is jailbroken.
If you just choose preserve baseband in Snowbreeze it will work but if you select jailbreak, the gevey sim menu (at start) does not show..
Hi, how do i select the hacktivate function in sn0wbreeze?
i already install a custome iOS 5 firmware using Simple Mode and it does not hacktivate my iPhone 4 GSM, and i don’t have any AT&T sim card, i just have my T-Mobile sim card and Gevey Ultra.
David,
You can select Hacktivate function from Expert Menu.
ok i see it now Thank You Very Much I Appreciate Your Help, is on Expert Mode then, General.
is my Gevey Ultra Going to work on iOS 5?
i want to use it whit T-Mobile
It’s a 50-50 game with Gevey ultra. I may or may not work. If it doesn’t work, you can get a Gevey or Gevey pro from eBay for a cheap price.
i just bought my Gevey Ultra like 4 weeks ago, i dont want to buy the Gevey or gevey pro right now.
It looks like Gevey Ultra is not Working,
i turn on my iPhone with iBooty, then i see the Gevey message, then i go to settings, phone, sim application,i select sim instruction, then i see the Gevey Welcome message,it says wait 15 seconds when one bar shows dial 112, i Accept it to proceed, but the one bar never shows, so i can’t proceed any more and i can’t dial 112 and i can’t unlock the iPhone.
any idea how to make it work?
David,
You won’t see one signal bar. You must dial 112 when it says No Service. Try your luck.
D:
i already Downgrade to iOS 4.3.5
let me install iOS 5 again and see if it works
but are you sure? because on iOS 4.3.5 i have to wait until the one bar shows to dial 112.
i dont get it the 1 signal bar, just try it, with no service..
This work for me
http://www.iphone4jailbreak.org/unlock-ios-5-with-gevey-sim.html
i’m using gevey PRO, it works!
ok i already reinstall iOS 5, and dial 112 when it says No Service and Gevey Ultra is working now .
Thank You Admin and Tank You SerGio, i appreciate your help very much.
hey I have a question. If I hactivate my phone on iOS 5..will I lose my Facetime and Push Notification like it did before on 4.x.x?
I think you won’t lose. But if you do, some patch might come soon on Cydia.
what should I do? I think I lost mine. What I did is snowbreeze – – baseband preservation mode – – after updating to iOS 5 – – jailbreak using redsnow (my at&t is not working anymore, that is why I jailbroke it)
I saved my shsh on 4.3.5 device updated 5.0 without preveservation mode, now bb 04.11.08, gevey don’t work, how to downgrade ??
Help please.
Directly restore to 4.3.5 via iTunes. If you get 1600, 1604 errors use ireb. Also delete any line from hosts file that contains gs.apple.com.
okai i have updated to ios 5 and the jailbreak is working perfect !!! i didnt do anything special just followed the instructions and my gevey pro is working perfectly !!!
THANKS A BUNCH MATE !
but i have one question, i lost all my contacts 😛 lol !! is there anyways i can get them back ??? and i dont have imessage =[
Didn’t you take a backup in iTunes before restore? And you need to turn on iMessage in Settings.
i did and i clicked on restore but it didnt sync any of my contacts as it syncs the contacts from windows which is empty =/
any other way mate ???
iTunes didn’t backup. You should’ve manually done it by right clicking your iPhone in iTunes and clicking “Backup”.
@ Venkat
A possible reson for the size issue might be that you don’t have enough free-space on your HD.
By hacktivation ur won’t lose FaceTime or iMessage. Working perfectly for me.
what exactly did you do? i lost mine when i hacktivated mine
If for some reason it doesn’t work, is there an easy way I can downgrade back to iOS 4.3.x or whatever was the latest (that was working with Gevey?)
If so, how do I do that? Just download a regular ipsw file and shift-click install from iTunes??
Thanks
You can restore back to iOS 4.3.5. Apple might be still signing it officially.
Well, I tried to follow every step that is told here.
What happened? My iphone is stuck.
After the restore is done, when the iphone resets, and the apple logo appers with a loading bar, it just stuck there.
What can I do?
PS: Sorry ’bout my english, i’m a desperate brazilian guy
You must boot tethered using iBooty. This will solve your problem.
But when i used iBooty, it stayed o long time waiting for an iPhone answer and nothing happened.
Fck it works!!!!!!!!
Damn im sooo happy…thnx evryone for ur comments nw if anyone having any probs leave a comment…il b glad to help u….
ITS WORKING!! YAY!!!!!
I was scared because it took 3 times after the gevey steps for it to finally find O2 uk.. BUT IT DID!!! WOO!!
@Johan,
I have about 4GB on my C drive on my desktop and sn0wbreeze creates a 348MB ipsw.
I have over 20GB on my laptop and there sn0wbreeze creates a 780MB ipsw. However, on opening the ipsw (using 7zip), I find the iOS 5 BB 04.11.08 (updated). Hence, I don’t want to restore. I’m not sure if I can take chances now since Apple may have stopped signing iOS 4.3.5…
Venkat,
Reinstall iTunes, then sync your iPhone with iTunes (I suppose your iPhone is on 4.3.x). Now build custom iOS 5 using sn0wbreeze & check again.
Can anyone tell me if ICE3_04.11.08_BOOT_02.13.Release.bbfw is present inside sn0wbreeze_iPhone 4-5.0.ipsw in the Firmware folder?
You can use 7zip to open the ipsw file (right click, 7Zip -> open archive)
2 days ago, i created a custom IPSW with snowbreeze, install & i’ve BB 4.10.01
@SerGio,
Can you confirm if the custom IPSW have the ICE3_04.11.08_BOOT>02.13.Release.bbfw present in it?
Once I created a custom IPSW and restored my iPhone but the BB was not preserved! Hence I’m skeptical to upgrade…. especially if Apple stops signing iOS 4.3.5, then my iPhone would become useless!
Hello @Venkat
well the BB is named as 4.11.08, but on my iphone i’ve 4.10.11
i think is named as 4.11.08 to not create a conflict when the IPSW is installed directly from apple, no needed for TSSserver
here a Screen Cap –> http://img832.imageshack.us/img832/1052/ipsw.png
It is getting stuck durin restoring when i select hacktivate…..ne way around for tht///
thnx
Use iBooty to boot tethered. Your iPhone will then boot. It won’t get stuck.
but phone is nt getting restored via itunes….the process of restoring is getting stuck in between…i tried 2-3 times…this is when i create ipsw by selecting “hactivate” option….i no this must b the problems with others as wel…..but still i m hoping tht u might b knowing the issue and the work around….
and can i order a lapse AT&T sim thru ebay, so tht i can activate my phone
do we need acitvated at&t sim to hacktivate or any at&t sim will do
Any AT&T sim will do. It’s not necessary that the sim is activated.
Guys
Please help. I have an iPhone 3gS new bootroom. I follow all steps but i got a Error 10 after creating a custom IPSW in sn0wbreeze-v2.8b8 . Before this i used to have an 4.3 firm 05.13.04 band unlock jailbreak
I saw in the iPhone screen that the sn0wbreeze freeze progress bar stops and then itunes pop up a message saying that cant be restored and shows error 10.
Please help what can I do?
Reinstall iTunes.
Sync your iPhone (which is on 4.3) with iTunes.
Create custom firmware via sn0wbreeze & preserve baseband.
Restore to this custom firmware using iTunes.
phone is nt getting restored via itunes….the process of restoring is getting stuck in between…i tried 2-3 times…this is when i create ipsw by selecting “hactivate” option….i no this must b the problems with others as wel…..but still i m hoping tht u might b knowing the issue and the work around….
You must boot tethered with iBooty.
i did it in expert mode and followed the steps and i also runed ibooty but it still asks me to insert original sim……… pls find a solution to my problem…
Did you check hacktivate option in Expert mode?
Hi, I have a jailbroken 3GS with old bootrom and IOS4.1 using L1mera1n. It was also unlocked some time ago by my network (O2) when my contract ran out or something similar, I never used any other tools to unlock it.
If I upgrade to IOS5 using this method will the phone still be unlocked? Thanks, Dan
Yes Dan, the iPhone will still be unlocked after you upgrade to iOS 5.
Done 🙂
I downloaded the custom no jail break ipsw from below site:
http://www.beijingiphonerepair.com/hack/download-hacktivated-custom-ios-5-ipsw-for-iphone-4-gsm-and-iphone-3gs-here/#idc-container
and success 🙂 i now have iOS with BB 04.10.01.
However, I don’t have wi-fi hotspot anywhere!
I should add…
there was no signal bar once phone is started with the gevey sim.
After the “accept”, you get No service… wait for a while and call 112 and follow the normal procedure and it works.
Maybe it signal bar comes up on some iphones, but, just in case it doesn’t come, don’t panic…
hi, i downloaded the latest version of snowbreeze but i dont get the baseband preservation option
You’ll see it after sn0wbreeze identifies iOS 5 IPSW.
i have selected the iOS5 firmware and snowbreeze has identified it but its still not showing the baseband preservation option
Did you click Next after sn0wbreeze identified the ipsw?
yes i did, my ios5 firmware is not the GM version, could that be the problem?
No, that isn’t the problem.
ok, i have tried everything still no luck 🙁 my snowbreeze is version 2.8b8 amd im running windows vista service pack 1. pls dont know what to do anymore 🙁
What screen do you get after you click Next when ipsw is identified?
Hi i want to jailbreak ios 5 but with baseband preservation what should i do and i am using gevey pro thanks 🙂
You can select Simple mode or Expert mode.
this is the screen i get
iphone 4 (verizon)
5.0 [GM] (9A334) IPSW verified
IPSW verified! click the next arrow to continue
Everything went correctly except when I try and open Cydia, it crashes immediately. What do i do?
You must boot tethered using iBooty.
just want to confirm dear sir.. im using ip4 att locked using gevey sim (hacktivated using sam) .currently im on 4.3.5. to upgrade to ios 5 do i need to uninstall sam/samprefs or just continue with the hacktivate using snow breeze? if all else fails can i restore back to ios 4.3.5? can u tell me the steps how?
thank you MK i have successfully completed in iphone 4 and mine is gevey pro sim…..
Hello, Need some help,
i have a iphone4 with ios 4.2.1, baseband 1.59, jailbroken with greenpoison, i want to update to ios5 without upgrading baseband, if i use preserve mode wud i have to jailbreak again?(asking cos i wud cydia for ultrasnow unlock, wud i lose contacts and apps?), if i use expert mode to jailbreak and preserve would i lose my contacts and apps as well?, could you tell me lil more abt ireb and how and when to use it during the process.
You must backup your data in iTunes. Then create custom firmware using sn0wbreeze. Update using iTunes. When the restore is complete, you can restore backup from iTunes. You’ll get back your contacts.
if i have sam / samprefs installed on 4.3.5 w/ gevey sim.. do i need to uninstall it or reinstall it after the upgrade to ios 5 in order for the gevey sim to work?