Downgrade iPhone 3G 3.0 back to 2.2.1

iphone-os-30Previously we have wrote a bit about upgrading and downgrading your Apple products. Today we wanted to run through the steps of downgrading your iPhone 3.0 firmware to 2.2.1.

Connect your iPhone to your Mac or PC and select your iPhone from the list of devices in iTunes. If iTunes does not detect your iPhone then you will need to put it in DFU (Device Firmware Upgrade) mode.

You can follow these steps to put your iPhone in DFU mode (this is required only if iTunes does not recognize your iPhone):

* Connect your iPhone to your computer.
* Turn iPhone off.
* Hold power and home together for 10 seconds (exactly).
* Release power but keep holding home until the computers beeps (observed on a PC) as a USB device is recognized.
* A few seconds later iTunes should detect your iPhone.

Browse the Summary Tab, For Mac user Hold down Option and press the “Restore” button. For Windows user hold down Shift and press the Restore button. Now you will be able to browse the folder where you have the iPhone firmware.Select the firmware & hit the restore button and cross your fingers for 5 minutes.

If you get error message like 1011, 1013, 1015, just ignore them(Actually the firmware 2.2 is already successfully installed). Fire Quickpwn 2.2.1 and jailbreak your iPhone use this guide

But if you encountered with error message like 1601, 1602, 1600 or anything else then try putting the iPhone into DFU mode and try again.

If you have an Unlocked iPhone then use pwnage tool to make a custom firmware then enter DFU and restore / downgrade to 2.2.1 if not works in first time done it again n again.

Tags: 2.2.1 downgrade firmware iphone iPhone 3G iphone 3g 3.0 mac pc Software

66 Comments

  1. stanley says:

    i try Zend’s way these two days and still didn’t work and got error code “13″ everytime!!! what should i do???? please help!! thanks

  2. maz says:

    ZEND YOU’RE AWESOME!!!!! IT WORKED!!!! BACK TO 2.2.1 !!! WOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

  3. Ohood says:

    Thaaaaaaaanx alot Zend you saved me after 3 days of trying to downgrade from 3.0 my Iphone didn’t stop crashing on me i nearly restored it 8 times nothing worked. V 3.0 sucks
    But your method really worked your a GENIUS

    Thaaaaaaanx again

  4. Luis says:

    ZEND OR ANYONE HELP ME

    I got iPhone 3G 2.28.00 jailbreaked with yellowsnowed to put the firmware 2.20, then I Pwnaged a 3.0 firmware and restored with iTunes 8.2, later tried to unlock with ultrasnow, but still no carrier. I tried like 8 times to redo all but no success, then I tried to downgrade to 2.2.1 following your instructions, and Luis1’s as well:
    - Used itunes 8.1
    - Couldn’t get DFU white screen with any of the tools you say, but I could get it with RedSnow, and STILL, always get Error 20 from Any Itunes version, so I reasonably think I got an iBrick please could anyone tell me what is wrong, or if there is a solution for Error 20 from itunes? I think my big mistake was trying to see how 3.0 works in the first place, it sucks, its slow, drain battery, and it’s nothing amazing at all. Desperately Help!!

    Cheers

  5. aditya says:

    hey zend thank u so much …..
    you rockk..

  6. Vasi says:

    if you want to downgrade you must uninstall itunes and Apple Mobile Device Support, restart and instal itunes 7.43, 7.7 or other older versions; now:
    -Download the 2.2.1 (or 2.2) ipsw file for your phone.
    Launch iTunes, connect to USB, and enter DFU mode (see below).
    iTunes will mention restore mode. Click OK and then Shift-click “Restore”
    -Choose the ipsw file you downloaded. Wait for restore.
    If this completes successfully, congratulations! You’re done! If you get Error 1013 (as I did), ignore and continue.
    -Hold the Power and Home button for 15 seconds, then press Power for 2 seconds to reset your phone.
    -You should now have the “Emergency Call” screen. If your phone has service, it should activate itself.
    -If you’ve switched phones (to a 3GS for instance), you will need to either purchase phone service for it, or activate it via jailbreak.
    -Once activated, you’re ready to start testing!

  7. vernonscbiker says:

    ZEND are you married ??? cause you rock and i want you all to myself…lol….

    thanks for the awesome work………you are a life saver…….

    & apple…thanks for nothing….your customer service sucks and your 3.0 sucks even more……..

  8. tabs says:

    A very big thanks to ZEND,this is the only method for downgrading that works!
    Keep doin wat you doin man! you have a great mind!
    i’m a big fan!
    cheers!^_^

  9. Trond says:

    When I downloading ispw 2.2.1 or 3.0 I get restore files.
    How can I put this file in to my Iphone 3G. I have now 3.0.1 but will back to 2.2.1 or 3.0. Itune do not see that files.

  10. TJ says:

    ZEND, you are the man, thanks a bunch. But now, i only have one problem. The iphone gave me an error 1010 or something close to that, but that was after restoring the firmware back to 2.2 from 3.0. When i use QuickPwn 2.5.5 it wont detect my phone, what should i do. My phone is stuck with the itunes logo and a USB pointing to it!

  11. gab says:

    Hey, my phone was recently jailbroken and now it won’t work with itunes 8.2. I am looking on the internet for itunes 8.1 on mac but cannot find it. Does anyone know where to find it?

  12. Jcardozo says:

    Zend
    After been stuck for hour trying to fifure it out finall find your solution, works great thanx

  13. Sanjib says:

    Hi, i have a iphone 2g 3.0 8GB Phone. i want to downgrade to any older version like 2.2.1 or 1.4 but i am constantly getting the Error (20) . I am using vista,itune 8.2.
    please suggest how i can solve this problem.

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Author: Steven Finch

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