Wednesday, June 30, 2010

How To Check iPhone 3GS Bootrom Version

How To Check iPhone 3GS Bootrom Version
After I published the post about PwnageTool for iOS4 jailbreak, one frequently-asked question that has been raised by many readers is: How can I check the bootrom version of my iPhone 3GS? How does I know it’s an old or new bootrom? For those who do not read the article about PwnageTool, you may wonder why we [...]

After I published the post about PwnageTool for iOS4 jailbreak, one frequently-asked question that has been raised by many readers is:

How can I check the bootrom version of my iPhone 3GS? How does I know it’s an old or new bootrom?

For those who do not read the article about PwnageTool, you may wonder why we need to know the bootrom version. As of now, the PwnageTool is only applicable on previously jailbroken 3GS devices with the old bootrom. The old bootrom is indicated by a version number of iBoot-359.3, while the new bootrom is with iBoot-359.3.2. So if you are using iPhone 3GS, before jailbreaking iOS4 with PwnageTool, the very first step is to determine whether your iPhone is using the old or new bootrom.

To check the bootrom version, you can follow these step-by-step procedures:

For Windows User

1. First, put your iPhone in DFU mode.

(i) To put your iPhone into DFU mode, first connect your iPhone to computer (via USB cable)
(ii) Next, power off your iPhone.
(iii) Next, press and hold both POWER and HOME button for exactly 10 seconds.
(iv) Then release the POWER button and continue to hold the HOME button for 10 more seconds.
(v) At this point, your iPhone should remain blank and your computer should detect a device in DFU mode. If your iPhone shows “Connect to iTunes” screen, you have put it into recovery mode instead of DFU. Please go through the steps again.

2. After your iPhone is in DFU mode, open “Control Panel” -> “Hardware and Sound” -> “Device Manager”.

Control Panel - Hardware and Sound

3. Navigate to “Universal Serial Bus Controllers” and select “Apple Mobile Device USB Driver”.

4. Right click on “Apple Mobile Device USB Driver” and click “Properties”.

5. Click “Details” and select “Device Instance Path” for the “Property” field

You can reveal the bootrom version from the “Value” field. For the above screen, the bootrom version is iBoot-359.3. That means the iPhone 3GS uses an old bootrom.

For Mac OS User

1. First, put your iPhone in DFU mode.

(i) To put your iPhone into DFU mode, first connect your iPhone to computer (via USB cable)
(ii) Next, power off your iPhone.
(iii) Next, press and hold both POWER and HOME button for exactly 10 seconds.
(iv) Then release the POWER button and continue to hold the HOME button for 10 more seconds.
(v) At this point, your iPhone should remain blank and your computer should detect a device in DFU mode. If your iPhone shows “Connect to iTunes” screen, you have put it into recovery mode instead of DFU. Please go through the steps again.

2. After your iPhone is in DFU mode, open “Applications” -> “Utilities” -> “System Profiler” on your Mac.

3. In “Contents”, select “USB” under “Hardware” section.

4. Navigate the USB device tree, you should find “Apple Mobile Device (DFU mode)”. Click on it and you can find the bootrom version under “Serial number”.

For the above screen, the bootrom version is iBoot-359.3, which represents an old bootrom. In casae your iPhone uses a new bootrom, it should show iBoot-359.3.2.

After you check the bootrom version, you can simply press and hold both HOME & POWER button for a few second (until you see the Apple logo) to bring your iPhone back to normal.

Can you manage to check the bootrom version of your iPhone 3GS? If you have any questions, simply leave me comment below. I will try my best to help.

Update: For those using Windows XP, you may not be able to find the “Device Instance Path” property. In this case, you can download USBView to discover your bootrom version. After launching USBview, locate “Apple recovery (DFU) USB driver”. Then click on “Options” and select “Config Descriptors”. Next, click “File” -> “Refresh” and you should be able to view the bootrom version under “SerialNumber” field.





Hayden Panettiere
Cameron Diaz

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