Disclaimer: This guide is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Neither TiPb nor the author take any responsibility for any problems/issues/bricking/etc. that may occur while using this or any software to modify your iPhone. Please be aware of what you are doing. If you’re not sure, don’t do it.

Note to New Macbook Owners – if you have a late 2008 model aluminum MacBook, MacBook Pro, or MacBook Air and have not previously Pwned your iPhone (under firmware 2.1 or earlier), the issues we blogged about previously mean you will have to use a different computer to Jailbreak 2.2.1. Sorry folks. If you have already Pwned under 2.1 or previous, then you can simply put your iPhone into recovery mode and restore with the freshly created IPSW. (If you don’t understand what all that means, keep reading, or go to our Jailbreak Central Forum for help)

This applies if you have a locked iPhone 3G and you wish to update to 2.2.1 but preserve the iPhone’s current baseband software. Preserving the baseband will ensure that you can still use “yellowsn0w” the iPhone 3G unlock application. To upgrade your phone to 2.2.1 and preserve the state of the baseband you need to create a custom .ipsw with PwnageTool. This custom .ipsw will not contain the baseband update but of course will still give you any new stuff from 2.2.1

*You must be on firmware 2.2 or below in order to preserve your baseband. If you are already on 2.2.1 prior to Jailbreaking you will not be able to unlock your phone.

Let’s get started, after the jump!

1. Get the Tools

First things first, make sure you are running the latest version of iTunes [8.0.2]

Then you will want to create a folder on your desktop to keep things clean. Name it whatever you’d like.

Next you want to download the Pwnage 2.2.5 tool to the folder you just created.

Now download the 2.2.1 iPhone 3G firmware. Make sure to place that in the above folder as well. If you are able to use Firefox for this download, please do so. In the last set of guides, many of you had issues downloading the file with Safari.

2. Install the Tools

Now double click on the PwnageTool file to mount PwnageTool. Once mounted click and drag the PwnageTool application into the Pwnage folder you created on your desktop.

Then double click the icon that was just created to launch the PwnageTool.

3. Expert Mode

This is a easy one, select “Expert Mode”.

4. Select your Device

Which in this case would be the iPhone 3G.

5. Browse for IPSW

Click the blue arrow button to continue. You will be brought to the “Browse for IPSW” page. It should automatically find the correct file, then click the blue arrow to continue. If Pwnage does not find the file, you must manually browse to the IPSW file that is in the folder you created on your desktop.

6. Menu with 7 Options

You will then be brought to a menu with 7 different options. We will only address the “General” and “Custom Package Settings”. More advanced users can make any changes they see fit. Select the “General” tab and then click the blue arrow button to move forward.

When you are in the “General” tab there are a few things you must take care of. Here you will decide your partition size, 530 MB should be good. Next, if you are using your iPhone on an official carrier (AT&T, O2, Rogers, etc.) uncheck “Activate the phone”. Lastly, check “Disable partition wipe-out”. Hit the arrow button to continue.

Next select the “Custom Package Settings” tab. Be sure that “Cydia Installer” and “Installer” are both checked, hit the arrow to move to the next step.

7. Ready to Begin Pwnage Process!

Click the “Build” button and then click the arrow to begin the Pwnage process.

Now simply select where you would like to save the custom IPSW file that will be created. The folder you created on your desktop would be a good place.

Your IPSW is being created. Please be patient during this process, it could take up to 15 minutes. During this time Pwnage will ask for your administrator password, this is normal, enter it.

8. DFU Mode

First you will be prompted to shut off your iPhone.

This next part seems to give some people trouble, pay close attention. Pwnage will ask you to hold the home button and the power button for 10 seconds. Then, you will have to release the power button and hold the home button for 10 seconds. This should put you in DFU.

If you have succeeded you will see the following graphic.

*Important Note – The new Macbooks that were recently released prevent you from entering DFU mode. It is possible to go from 2.1 Pwned to 2.2.1 Pwned but you will not be able to go from 2.1 stock to 2.2.1 Pwned. Got that? In order to proceed, you must enter recovery mode as outlined in this Apple Knowledge Base article.

9. iTunes Restore

Now we have to go into iTunes and restore the iPhone with the custom built firmware. Do so by pressing the Alt/Option button and click “Restore”.

Simply select the following file, “iPhone1,22.2.15G77CustomRestore.ipsw”, from the folder on your desktop.

iTunes is now restoring the firmware on your iPhone. This can take up to 10-15 minutes.

When complete you will be asked to “set up as a new iPhone” or “restore from a backup”. You can select either option but my recommendation is to start fresh and select “set up as a new iPhone”.

Congratulations! You are now the owner of a freshly jailbroken iPhone 3G with the 2.2.1 firmware!

Have questions? Run into problems? Check out our Jailbreak Central Forum for help!