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These are a few my recent iPod repair experiences.
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Alan Levy works at Verified Audit in Larkspur California (94939)
Previously he had an assistant Vanessa Espinosa send up two iPods to me. That was 2 1/2 years ago. He called me recently about his older 8GB Apple 2G original iPhone. You may remember, people paid $599 for that model when they became available in June 2007.
He had passed his on to his 11 year old son who had been using it as an iPod Touch model. Somewhere along the way... his son decided to click the "Update" button, in iTunes and that migrated the phone up to 3.1.3 of the iPhone OS. One feature of this new version is that it MANDATES you have an AT&T activation afterward. Alan wasn't interested in getting another iPhone account so his son could have a "Touch" so he brought it to me.
We discussed the problem and I entered the project looking for one of three out comes.
1) Make the thing work as a full blown iPhone again
2) If I can't do that, can it work at least as a Touch iPod
3) failing either of those, turn it into something that would be useful enough that it could to help buy a new Touch for his son.
This was challenging and took almost three days of study to pull off. The "Update" had written new firmware, a new boot loader, and finally the new 3.1.3 OS. To make this work like anything without paying AT&T for a new iPhone account, I had to "rip the knitting" back all the way to a clean surface.
The first question is... "What is the best version of the OS I can find Pre-3.1.3?" It turns out 3.1.2 actually worked stably from all the reading I did. The next step was to build a custom "restore" (.ipsw) file that could be used as a new 'payload' to write over all of it, the firmware, loader and OS.
That was an overnight project. By the third morning I had a 'package' and started the 'downgrade'. After spending the time on these things I do , when it gets down to the last 20 minutes when I actually try and then test it the software... feels like your entire existence is justified only if it's successful.
When the "Restore" was finished, I had it safely downgraded, running 3.1.2 and it was jailbroken for him. That allowed him to let his son use a pre-paid Sim card and not have to pay for an "AT&T data plan". To receive data, his son uses the WiFi connection in their home and that allows him to play iPod Touch based multi-player games.
I gave Alan a copy of the Restore file in case he needed it again.
Here are shots of the finished iPhone and Alan holding it.
The total cost to recover all utility of 2G iPhone was $100
Fixed - Total cost $100.
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I'm in Sonoma County... Northern California wine country.
If you live nearby, are traveling through or live in the San Francisco Bay Area bring your iPod to me and I can do the work while you wait or go wine tasting for a while. Send me an
email just to make sure I have on hand whatever parts your repair will require.
Call or email me
with questions or to set up a repair. You can also call, I am here most days from 8am to 8pm
Toll Free 1-877-IPOD-PRO (1 - 877 - 476-3776)
Send the device to:
Frank Walburg
2145 Service Court
Santa Rosa, Ca 95403-3139
Methods of payment
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