Filed under: iPhone
Downgrading your 2.0 iPhone from the Pink Screen of Death
I haven't played with iPhone firmware 1.2/2.0 yet, but I'm told that some developers have encountered what is becoming known as the PSOD: a pink-colored start screen that apparently replaces the "connect to iTunes" graphic you'd normally see before activation.
iPhone hacker AlJaMa wrote in with his how-to method for downgrading a 2.0 iPhone back to 1.1.4. According to AlJaMa, you can put your iPhone into restore mode, do a 1.1.4 restore (use option-Restore to pick the 1.1.4 ipsw package) and be no worse off than getting the Error 1015 we've all come to know and love. iLiberty or INdependence will kick you out of the 1015/recovery mode. The restored phone will continue to work as a phone despite the updated baseband.
AlJaMa warns that you may encounter error -2002. In such a case, he suggests you try restoring to other firmware versions until you get back to the 1015 error.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
eJay said 11:08AM on 4-02-2008
Thats kind of pointless to do it this way. I had this happen to me last night and all you have to do is downgrade baseband to 3.9FB, then upgrade it back to 4.6. Once you do just do a restore with the 1.1.4 firmware and you are good to go.
Reply
mark said 12:26PM on 4-02-2008
Actually what was POINTLESS is upgrading to a firmware that's not even due to be released for 3 more months. A firmware with no public jailbreak, activation or unlock.
And 3.9FB is a bootloader NOT a baseband. Learn what you are talking about.
eJay said 12:29PM on 4-02-2008
Hey dipshit its called a typo
mark said 6:27PM on 4-06-2008
Ok since we've resorted to name calling you moron, a typo for bootloader would be bootloder. NOT baseband.
Two completely different things! Learn what the heck you are talking about !
Icesword said 11:52AM on 4-02-2008
http://iPh2one.com
Reply
krye said 12:19PM on 4-02-2008
Or, call me crazy...but you could just stop hacking your iPhones!
Reply
mark said 12:23PM on 4-02-2008
You are crazy. If you don't like this articles and hacking iPhones then shut the hell up and stop posting your USELESS comments. We don't care that you don't like hacking, we do. Ok? Thanks. Bye. Now go back to your Pokemon site or whatever the heck you are in to. Or better yet, tell us what you are in to and what forums you frequent so we can bash your interests.
Welly said 2:19PM on 4-02-2008
Give me one good reason not to hack my iphone. One single good reason.
cpb said 12:22PM on 4-02-2008
how can i get hold of / install 1.2 on my ipod touch??
Reply
iDarbert said 12:50PM on 4-02-2008
You can't. Not yet.
The torrent floating around is a April Fool's joke.
Besides if you actually installed it it would be locked out unless you got a developer certificate for Apple or have a build of the Pwnage tool.
Whosthatrandom said 12:51PM on 4-02-2008
We'll leave that up to you; some creative googling is all that is required to "acquire" that firmware illegitimately. However, it's not worth the bother, as the device will be rendered unusable without having been registered by an approved iPhone Developer account; as of yet no method to "hacktivate" the beta firmware has been released.
Whosthatrandom said 12:53PM on 4-02-2008
iDarbert, it's hardly an April Fools' joke, as it is the actual firmware, which would work perfectly if it the activation prerequisite was removed.
iDarbert said 1:08PM on 4-02-2008
Ah well. Probably the guys at engadget were fooled themselves into thinking it was a April fool's joke then ;)
Still not gonna try it, not before Pwnage goes live... and I've heard it's pretty buggy too.
Plus no App Store in the newer build...
Brandt Kurowski said 12:59PM on 4-02-2008
For what it's worth, you're still left high and dry if you need to unlock your iPhone to use it as a phone (if you're living in someplace without AT&T like, say, Vermont). Downgrading from 2.0 to 1.1.4 doesn't downgrade the baseband, and none of the currently available unlocking tools work with the updated baseband.
Reply
Luigi193 said 1:12PM on 4-02-2008
Yeah... Come on VT, get AT&T!
maybesew said 1:39PM on 4-02-2008
You could point out that this only occurs if you are doing unlocking related activities. For legitimate iPhone SDK development, you can downgrade/upgrade from 2.0 -> 1.1.4 -> 2.0 without any problems using the official XCode method.
Reply
Jim said 1:43PM on 4-02-2008
Just to clarify, this pink screen is the screen the iPhone/iPod touch has before activation. When plugged in, the serial phones home through iTunes to see if it is registered in the beta program. If not, then the pink screen stays. I found an easier way to get it restored though, just disconnect from the internet and plug the device in. Then it just brings up the normal iPhone/iPod page in iTunes and option click restore and select the 1.1.4 firmware in the Library/iTunes/iPod software folder.
Reply
Greg L said 2:13PM on 4-08-2008
Wow, there is a ton of misinformation in this comments thread:
a) The "illicit" 2.0 firmware is the same (identical md5sums) as the "real" 2.0 firmware I have access to as part of the dev program.
b) There are tools, public tools, that let you install it without having to worry about the PSOD
c) If you have the illicit firmware installed with those tools, your phone will be working fine, whereas legit developers are the ones who's phones aren't working now.
d) The 2.0 firmware is laughably buggy and extremely slow. It isn't worth hacks to get it on your phone unless you need it to develop apps.
Reply
shraddha said 7:15AM on 4-26-2008
Fantastic help provided by hacker AlJaMa I must say on his how-to method for downgrading a 2.0 iPhone back to 1.1.4! I'll definitely use the specified error and recovery codes and try to benefit from his words. You too also guys go ahead!
http://iphone-pink.com/
Reply