Trying to convert iPhone to iTouch in South Africa

[AMVMommy]

Hey-

I gave an American iPhone 3G to my inlaws in South Africa. There is no sim card installed but we were able to set up a new iTunes account and download apps and such this week. However, my husband updated it to 3.1.2 this afternoon and now is says:

No sim card installed - Need to install a valid SIM with no PIN lock to activate iPhone.

Also has a graphic of a cord to plug into ITunes.

If I press the Info button, I get
IMEI:
01 147200 685683 3

ICCID:
Unknown

Got any ideas? I don't want to jailbreak it, just use it as an iTouch so don't see why I need a SIM card. Any help would be appreciated. I'm flying back to the States this evening!!!!!!

 

[flyingember]

I believe you need an active AT&T sim card unless you jailbreak it.

 

[AMVMommy]

BUt I don't want to use it as an iPhone, just as an iTouch. Is there a way to reverse the upgrade possibly?

AMVMommy

 

[flyingember]

BUt I don't want to use it as an iPhone, just as an iTouch. Is there a way to reverse the upgrade possibly?

AMVMommy

it's not the upgrade. it's the lack of a sim card. if you downgrade this will still be missing.

the only thing I've heard of is called hacktivation but I believe Apple did something that broke these phones

 

[big9erfan]

I believe blackra1n/blacksn0w does the hactivation and unlock and all that. Might be worth a try.

 

[AMVMommy]

It was working without the sim card before my husband upgraded to 3.1.2. Apparently one of the games his nephews wanted needed the upgrade. What will jailbreaking it do? Any way to un-upgrade?

 

[Brickman]

Check this link out. It is suppose to let you "downgrade" back to 3.0.

 

[flyingember]

Check this link out. It is suppose to let you "downgrade" back to 3.0.

Which will still need to be activated