Filed under: iPhone, iPod touch, Jailbreak/pwnage
Mac OS X 10.5.6 update breaks DFU Mode for iPhone?
iPhone Alley is reporting that the Mac OS X 10.5.6 update is causing problems for the jailbreaking community. According to a recent post at the site, if you place the iPhone in DFU mode (similar to a restore mode), your iPhone will be unrecognized by a Mac running 10.5.6.
DFU mode is required to jailbreak your iPhone using many of the popular tools such as Pwnage or QuickPwn. So far there is no word from the iPhone Dev group on this finding. In doing our own research, we discovered that the problem does, in fact, exist. So, if you need to jailbreak your iPhone/iPod touch, you might want to hold off on updating your Mac.
Could this be Apple's way of combating owners who jailbreak their iPhones? Has this happened to you since upgrading your Mac to 10.5.6? Let us know in the comments!
[via iPhone Alley]


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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Hawkman said 8:14PM on 12-15-2008
So this may put everyone in the same position as us shiny new MacBook owners? That's good, then.
I'm not completely sold that this is a deliberate attempt to stop jailbreaking – DFU mode is pretty useful for standard troubleshooting too – but it seems more likely now than it did when it was just the new MacBooks. Still seems a bit egotistical to attribute every minor change as a direct attack (not aimed directly at these guys, but remembering the outcry every time there's a slight change to the iPod file system for instance).
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GiantTalkingCow said 8:37PM on 12-15-2008
"So this may put everyone in the same position as us shiny new MacBook owners? That's good, then."
Uh, I don't quite follow your line of reasoning. You're happy that everyone that updated their version of Leopard is now as screwed as you are when it comes to doing what they want with their own iPhone?
Hawkman said 8:45PM on 12-15-2008
Yup. Means, firstly, it's probably not a hardware bug, and secondly, it's incentive for someone to come up with a workaround instead of saying "find another computer" (which isn't much of an answer when you're poor). For _me_, it's good news all round. And at least knowing about it allows other people to make an informed decision as to whether to upgrade yet.
Gorjan said 2:29AM on 12-16-2008
You're poor, so you buy a Macbook? Shit, if everybody in the 3rd world was as poor as you.
Sam said 5:00AM on 12-16-2008
Maybe Hawkman is poor *now*, because (s)he bought a Macbook?
Hawkman said 6:00AM on 12-16-2008
Sam's pretty much right – spent my savings, with no regular income. So yeah, pretty poor! :)
mingistech said 10:34AM on 12-16-2008
There is already a workaround for us Aluminum Macbook owners.
It's Parallels 4 and TinyXP that I use.
Apple is blocking DFU mode through software and bypassing the OS fixes this.
João Coutinho said 8:16PM on 12-15-2008
Apple don't sleep!
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Chuck said 8:18PM on 12-15-2008
I have late 2008 MacBook Pro with Leopard 10.5.5 (have NOT upgraded to .6). Recently, I jailbreak my iPhone 3G 2.2 using PwnageTool and QuickPwn and DFU mode is not recognized.
The solution? BEFORE jailbreak, connect your iPhone to the MacBook using a USB HUB. I was able to jailbreak 2 iPhones 3G without any problem.
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sinX said 8:20PM on 12-15-2008
Ya, this is the same problem the unibodies have, apparently it has to do with the USB kernel extensions that came with the new unibodies and now it's spread like a plague to all other macs through the 10.5.6 update. And yes I'm almost positive apple did this on purpose.
The good news is if your iphone is already jailbroken you can still use the "restore" button to update any new custom firmware.
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Ted said 12:20AM on 12-16-2008
Could be... or maybe Apple just doesn't spend a second testing compatibility for Jailbreak tools?
Alex said 8:21PM on 12-15-2008
is it causing the same problem as us new macbook owner's have beeen getting or something new?
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OwlBoy said 8:23PM on 12-15-2008
The cat is wins. For now…
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Jeff said 8:27PM on 12-15-2008
I don't think it's Apple "combating" the jailbreak crowd - Apple could certainly make it far more difficult to Jailbreak 'em...
I think it's just keeping the jailbreak crowd on their toes - reminding them that doing it *the apple way* will generally be a smoother ride. :)
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RazorD said 8:37PM on 12-15-2008
Theres also a bug in Core Audio when trying to play an MP3 with callbacks that causes a divide by zero app crash :(
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Nick Heer said 12:03AM on 12-16-2008
This is obviously an effort on Apple's part to tell you to go through the iTunes store instead of using MP3s.
(sarcasm, for those who missed it)
rgpace said 8:47PM on 12-15-2008
Good this I have a hackintosh and can always boot back up into windows to rejailbreak
same goes for all u dual booters.
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05woodc said 7:45AM on 12-16-2008
Hackintosh! we don't want your kind round here...
Joke btw
Stephen.4 said 8:49PM on 12-15-2008
Meh, i have a 'Late 2008 MacBook" it didn't work in the first place, might as well update.
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Harry said 8:59PM on 12-15-2008
I have a late 2007 MacBook and a jailbroken 2.2 first gen iphone. if i upgrade my mac to 10.5.6, will I encounter any errors when connecting/syncing my iPhone? just checking to be sure...thanks!
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