Earlier this week I decided to upgrade my iPhone from 1.x to a newer version of the OS, hoping to use it as a tethered modem on the train down to London. I downloaded PwnageTool from a link I’d bookmarked months earlier, updated the iPhone to the latest firmware via iTunes, ran PwnageTool… and ended with an error message. I rummaged around on the Internet for alternate ways of jailbreaking my phone, and all I got was a variety of subtly different ways to end up with a bricked iPhone.
There are a shedload of blog posts and comment threads that say things like “Try downgrading to an earlier version of iTunes”, “When generating a new .ipsw in PwnageTool make sure your iPhone isn’t plugged in at first”, “Try using another machine” etc. etc.
Not one of them said “Make sure you’re using the latest version of PwnageTool” or suggested anything like checking the version number of the software you’re using.
After endless faffing about, I finally realised that I was running 2.0.3 and should really be running 2.2. I torrented the latest version, ran it, and everything worked fine.
So this is my salutary tale: particularly if you’re getting error 1600, check you’ve got the latest version of everything.
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