If you can't reload your firmware and you're tearing out your hair check here

[Ipheuria]

OK so if you're trying to Jailbreak your phone using Pwnage Tool, Sn0wbreeze or Redsn0w and it errors out on the verifying with Apple read on. If you're trying to upgrade your firmware through iTunes and it says you're not eligible for the upgrade when trying to verify with Apple read on.

If you've downgraded your firmware, tried to downgrade your firmware or ever used Tiny Umbrella your hosts file may have been changed. When reloading a firmware it tries to go to Apple's servers to authorize and if it's being redirected to Cydia or whatever then the process will most likely fail. So how do you edit your Hosts file?

Mac
host file editing

Editing in Terminal on the Mac is really quite easy. Launch Terminal.
Type sudo pico /etc/hosts and hit return. You will be
asked for your password. You won't see any characters on
the screen when you type the password. Just hit return
when it is typed and you should find yourself in a text
editor called Pico. Now use the up-down-left-right arrows
to get yourself into position to type the line. You can use
the tab between entries on the each line.
When you are finished typing, hit the ctrl-x keys. It will
ask if you want to save changes. Type a "y" to indicate yes.
Now you have a hosts file with your new entry.

Windows
c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
Open it in notepad and edit, you must have admin privileges or you wont be able to save your edited file. If you're unable to save it after the edit save it with a different name in the same location. Then get admin privilege and you can rename the old one hosts1 and rename the alternate you just created hosts

A sample of my hosts file near the bottom, in the hosts file just put a hash infront of anything you want to be edited out so in this case 74.blah.blah.blah is obviously not the Apple servers.

::1 localhost
fe80::1%lo0 localhost
#74.20.xxx.xxx gs.apple.com
#127.0.0.1 gs.apple.com (this should be taken out also)
Anyone editing the hosts file you only comment out any gs.apple.com lines. You do it by putting a hash symbol at the start of the line.

Massie Easier method if used Tiny Umbrella(TU)
For anyone using TU...have you tried just unchecking the "set hosts to Cydia" box in the Advanced settings in TU? I feel like a lot of people are getting into more complicated terminal/host edits without really needing to. The whole point of that setting in TU is that it takes care of it for you...when you want to use backed up SHSH you check it to look to Cydia, when you want an official Apple SHSH you uncheck it.

 

[Ipheuria]

When you're trying to reload the firmware using Pwnage Tool or Sn0wbreeze here are some common things to make sure are in place

Always use an Apple USB cable - I've used third party cables and wasn't able to get into DFU mode after 4 tries. I switched to an Apple cable and got it on the 1st shot.

Make sure your phone is in DFU mode, not recovery mode.

Plug into USB ports on the computer not through a hub

Your user should have administrator privileges, not a necessity but there might be ramifications to having a limited user account.

 

[anon(631531)]

I'm assuming that i'm using "terminal new" that i have on my iPhone. I don't have a password. Do i make one up?

 

[Ipheuria]

I edited it, you're using Terminal on the Mac, you can go into Applications or you can just search for Terminal in Spotlight. I have it on my dock so I always forget.

 

[dsmith3427]

When you're trying to reload the firmware using Pwnage Tool or Sn0wbreeze here are some common things to make sure are in place

Always use an Apple USB cable - I've used third party cables and wasn't able to get into DFU mode after 4 tries. I switched to an Apple cable and got it on the 1st shot.

Make sure your phone is in DFU mode, not recovery mode.

Plug into USB ports on the computer not through a hub

Your user should have administrator privileges, not a necessity but there might be ramifications to having a limited user account.

May I ask what the difference between recovery mode and DFU. No matter what I do when I try to put it inot DFU mode after I power off the device I get the apple for about 2-3 and then the screen goes black. Thanks.

 

[anon(631531)]

I found "terminal". I click on it but it will not open! What next.

 

[anon(631531)]

Is it a black box. If it is like the "terminal" on the phone, then i don't have it on my Mac, but my wife has it on her's.

 

[dsmith3427]

OK so if you're trying to Jailbreak your phone using Pwnage Tool, Sn0wbreeze or Redsn0w and it errors out on the verifying with Apple read on. If you're trying to upgrade your firmware through iTunes and it says you're not eligible for the upgrade when trying to verify with Apple read on.

If you've downgraded your firmware, tried to downgrade your firmware or ever used Tiny Umbrella your hosts file may have been changed. When reloading a firmware it tries to go to Apple's servers to authorize and if it's being redirected to Cydia or whatever then the process will most likely fail. So how do you edit your Hosts file?

Mac
host file editing


Editing in Terminal on the Mac is really quite easy. Launch Terminal.
Type sudo pico /etc/hosts and hit return. You will be
asked for your password. You won't see any characters on
the screen when you type the password. Just hit return
when it is typed and you should find yourself in a text
editor called Pico. Now use the up-down-left-right arrows
to get yourself into position to type the line. You can use
the tab between entries on the each line.
When you are finished typing, hit the ctrl-x keys. It will
ask if you want to save changes. Type a "y" to indicate yes.
Now you have a hosts file with your new entry.

Windows
c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
Open it in notepad and edit, you must have admin privileges or you wont be able to save your edited file. If you're unable to save it after the edit save it with a different name in the same location. Then get admin privilege and you can rename the old one hosts1 and rename the alternate you just created hosts

A sample of my hosts file near the bottom, in the hosts file just put a hash infront of anything you want to be edited out so in this case 74.blah.blah.blah is obviously not the Apple servers.

::1 localhost
fe80::1%lo0 localhost
#74.20.xxx.xxx gs.apple.com
127.0.0.1 gs.apple.com

You have been so helpful and patient with me. From a youtube video I was able to get my host thing on my desktop with wordpad. Could you tell me what I need to type in so maybe Apple can allow the firmware? Perhaps something I could even cut and paste so Joe Ignorant can't even screw it up. At least I'm learning!!

 

[Ipheuria]

May I ask what the difference between recovery mode and DFU. No matter what I do when I try to put it inot DFU mode after I power off the device I get the apple for about 2-3 and then the screen goes black. Thanks.

If the screen goes black but iTunes still detects the device as in recovery, then you're in DFU mode.

Grunt yoi should have Terminal on your mac the icon is a black box with a dos prompt. Did you try using Spotlight to find it?

dsmith look at the bottom of my example see where mine has gs.apple.com yours should match that if there are two entries like mine had you can add a hash(#) infront of one without any spaces. The one in my example 127.0.0.1 I beleive should be the correct one.

 

[anon(631531)]

Found "terminal" in one of my back-ups. When i click on the black box, it becomes a white box that says log-in. This jb is more trouble than it is worth. Maybe i'll just plug in and hit "restore", and take my chances from there. Eight hours to try and do a jailbreak is way more than i can stand. Thanks anyway.

 

[brucewayne]

Ipheuria I have my hosts file corrected to connect to Apple for a clean restore as my baseband is seems to be corrupted, whenever I attempt to update the baseband does not update and I get no service. Any ideas?


Also I am getting a unable to connect to Apple update server error, even after correcting the hosts file. I'm lost what to do here my phone appears to be hooched.

 

[uberspeed]

If the screen goes black but iTunes still detects the device as in recovery, then you're in DFU mode.

Grunt yoi should have Terminal on your mac the icon is a black box with a dos prompt. Did you try using Spotlight to find it?

dsmith look at the bottom of my example see where mine has gs.apple.com yours should match that if there are two entries like mine had you can add a hash(#) infront of one without any spaces. The one in my example 127.0.0.1 I beleive should be the correct one.

127.0.0.1 is the default loopback address, it refers to the machine itself, just FYI.

 

[uberspeed]

Ipheuria I have my hosts file corrected to connect to Apple for a clean restore as my baseband is seems to be corrupted, whenever I attempt to update the baseband does not update and I get no service. Any ideas?


Also I am getting a unable to connect to Apple update server error, even after correcting the hosts file. I'm lost what to do here my phone appears to be hooched.

If you're trying to connect to Apple either comment out using a # or delete any entries in your hosts file referencing Apple. Entries in your hosts file force your machine to resolve a name to a specific IP instead of relying on actual DNS name resolution. You're fooling your machine by forcing it to go somewhere.

 

[brucewayne]

Any idea why my baseband will not update? It's stuck at 4.10.01 and I get no service.

 

[Ipheuria]

Grunt even if you choose restore your device will just get stuck reloading like last time you had to take it in to Apple. I had the same problem recently, just connect your phone on your wife's computer and do the upgrade then connect and JB on yours. As long as you don't sync on your wife's it wont matter.

I know what the 127.0.0.1 is I also know that the 74.xxx.xxx.xxx IP in my Hosts was probably because of Tiny Umbrella and why recently I haven't been able to update any devices on my laptop. I don't know what the original hosts file looked like before the TU change but I surmise since there are two IPs listed for Apple and one was obviously wrong the other must be the correct one which is why I posted it.

I don't know why your baseband wont upgrade you may have to reload with official firmware to get it to upgrade.

 

[brucewayne]

Looks like it's hooched, I just updated with official 4.3.3 from Apple and my baseband stayed at 4.10.01, never seen this before. My i4 is a brick

 

[anon(631531)]

Ipheuria

It worked, Ricky! From the time i plugged my phone into my wife's Mac, it took about a half hour for the complete jailbreak. I don't know why the upgrade worked on her Mac, and i probably wouldn't understand the explanation, but thank you very much! I'm wondering how to keep this from happening to me again at the next upgrade. Should i plug my phone into iTunes just to see if it recognizes it? I'll wait for your reply. Thanks again.

 

[Ipheuria]

Now that everything is done you're good to connect it to iTunes on your computer now it will recognize it. Your hosts file has been edited that is why your iTunes will not do the upgrade while hers will. You should have Terminal, go to Applications then go to the bottom and look for Utilities. In there you will fine Terminal.

 

[Ipheuria]

Looks like it's hooched, I just updated with official 4.3.3 from Apple and my baseband stayed at 4.10.01, never seen this before. My i4 is a brick

it's not a brick, doesn't the phone still work? just because the baseband doesn't change the phone should still work fine. You have loaded the stock firmware through iTunes right? my iPhone 4 is on 4.3.2 and it's on the same baseband. The 4.3.3 was a very small patch it may not have updated the baseband which is why you still have the same baseband. I wouldn't worry about it if your phone works.

 

[Ipheuria]

The things I do for you guys lol I've just restored my iPad to test out the edit of my hosts file. I've edited my first post if you have entries for Apple like in my hosts file they both have to be commented out with a hash tag. I was unable to update my iPhone 4 or iPad 2 on 4.3.2 and then on 4.3.3 but I was able to update my iPad 2 on another computer. Well I just edited my hosts file which I think was changed by using Tiny Umbrella. I was able to restore 4.3.3 without any problems after my edit.