Screwed up on Iphone 3g update. Really need some help please

[Dreamcatcher28805]

Hello all and good day/evening to you. I was hoping I could get some advice/help from some people here that well.....are smarter than me frankly. Hahaha I am not sure if I really screwed up or not here. =/ I bought an Iphone 3g off of ebay really cheap. It was running version 3.1.3 I think and was unlocked. It also had cydia on it which also indicates that it had been jail broken as well. Anyways, I have been using it for the past few days etc listening to music, safari etc using my home wirless. Today on iTunes I noticed that there was an update for 4.2.1 I knew I would have to re jail break and unlock again. I had the program Green Poison ready for that. Anyways I receive 4.2.1 and begin to try to put the phone into dfu mode. For some reason it went into recovery mode instead...>.< ehh... I guess I didn't hold something down long enough or something =/ I went back on iTunes, recovered the phone back to factory settings which I guess is 3.1.3. Now it just tells me No SIM card installed. Insert a valid sim with no PIN lock to activate iPhone. The only other screen I have besides that is the emergency call screen. So it seems I have to jailbreak/unlock this thing myself here. I have been reading countless pages and just can't find anything solid and easy on how to do this for this phone/version. Pffff This thing is supposed to be a gift for someone this Christmas....and now I am dead in the water. I have never done a jailbreak/unlock but I pretty much get the idea. Can you guys please help me out here? I haven't the slightest idea as to what I am supposed to do now.....I thank you so much in advance for all of your help.

Best Regards

 

[iDonev]

The emergency call slider indicates that you've restored the phone to factory settings on the latest iOS. In your case that's 4.2.1.

Now, since the phone is carrier locked, you need an original carrier SIM in order to activate.

Here's what I'd suggest:
Follow this guide on how to jailbreak 4.2.1.
Note: With the update of the OS you've most likely updated the baseband to one that can't be software unlocked. So during the jailbreak process make sure to install the iPad baseband.

 

[Dreamcatcher28805]

Hello there. First of all I want to take a moment to thank you very much for your response! Pardon the long wait in me getting back. I have been a little bit ill. I have clicked the link, downloaded everything I have needed to download however there seems to be some sort of problem still. When I am running redsnow, it gets to the point to where it is about to install the ipad baseband. It says searching for file please be patient. Then all of a sudden redsnow just closes and my iphone 3g is simply left in recovery mode. I keep having to restore through iTunes to try the process again, but it just keeps closing out no matter what...=/ No matter if I hold the home button through out the entire process or I keep it released this is what happens....=/ So basically my iphone seems completely unusable. I might as well have a brick because that's all it is right now.....................sigh........................Any ideas? Thanks so much.

 

[Hulings5Robert]

I thank you so much in advance for all of your help.

 

[Dreamcatcher28805]

I cannot read what you have attached other than what you wrote Hulings. What is it you were trying to show?

 

[iDonev]

1. Try using a newer version of redsn0w (i.e. Redsn0w 0.9.6b6)
2. If you have Windows Vista/7/8 run redsn0w in XP SP2 compatibility mode with administrator privileges.
3. Try a different USB port.
4. Try a different computer altogether.