iOS 5.1.1 JB and restore with iTunes

[Falconyx]

Hello guys and thank you for this wonderful forum! I just got my new iPad 3 32gb wi-fi and am generally new to iOS (been using android and man I feel great now..). Here is what I would kindly ask you to inform me about:

- iPad came with ios 5.1.1 out of the box
- I read that I cannot update to 6.1.2 anymore (also tried it, but iTunes gives error ofc)
- Now, if I want to jailbreak, I need to do it using Absinthe and with my current 5.1.1 firmware (there are no other methods, right?). My question is though - since Apple is no longer signing old firmwares, lets say I get one of those issues while trying to jailbreak - it fails for some reason...- and I try to restore to original firmware with iTunes in order to attempt the jailbreak again afterward- will iTunes let me restore at all? I mean it didn't let me restore to 6.1.2, will it let me restore to my current and old 5.1.1 firmware? Or do I need to reset factory settings in this case?

I realize my question might sound a bit stupid and I did read through alot of posts, but I am still a bit confused. Thanks in advance for your time and any answers, I really appreciate it :thumbs:

 

[Mickey330]

Welcome to the forum! It's good to "see" you and I hope you enjoy your visits.

Wow! iOS 5.1.1 on a new iPad. Odd. Regardless, yes, the only jail break tool you can use is Absinthe. It's pretty easy, especially if you run the jail break straight off, before you've had a chance to load the iPad up with apps and data.

You shouldn't have a problem jail breaking - it's a pretty straightforward/easy process nowadays. It's more what you do with the iPad afterwards that you have to be mindful of. But - as long as you stay away from dodgy repos and untested tweaks and such, you'll be fine.

Because yes, bottom line is if you do something that causes the iPad to need a restore, as of today you will be restoring to iOS 6.1.3 - which is not jail breakable. No other options would be available.

But, don't let that stop you! Let 'er rip with the jail break and see what it can do. It's pretty simple process and, IMNSHO, you will love it jail broken.

Hope this clarifies. Good luck and holler back if you need more or have questions.

Marilyn

P.S. And, since you talk about a jail broken iPad, I've taken the liberty of moving your post over to the Hacking section. Thanks for your understanding.

 

[Falconyx]

Thank you so much for the insightful and quick response! I will give it a go then for sure! And one last thing, if I want to remove the jailbreak later on, do I just update OTA or is it better to update via iTunes? Thx again!

P.S. You said that it is better if the pad is not loaded with apps yet, I do have around 30 apps installed though, would it be better to remove some before jb?

 

[f4780y]

Thank you so much for the insightful and quick response! I will give it a go then for sure! And one last thing, if I want to remove the jailbreak later on, do I just update OTA or is it better to update via iTunes? Thx again!

P.S. You said that it is better if the pad is not loaded with apps yet, I do have around 30 apps installed though, would it be better to remove some before jb?

1. You cannot ever update a jailbroken device OTA. You must restore using iTunes, if you choose to do that.
2. You won't be any better off removing the apps, but you should be fine with what you've got. I'd recommend using redsn0w rather than Absinthe as I've never had any problem with jailbreaking fully loaded devices on 5.x with redsn0w.

Good luck!

 

[Falconyx]

Thank you so much for the clarifications, I really appreciate it!

 

[Falconyx]

One last thing, regarding redsn0w, which version would you recommend out of those here: REMOVED or should I just go for the latest - redsn0w 0.9.15b3 ?

 

[f4780y]

You only ever download redsn0w (or any other jailbreak tool) from it's official homepage. For redsn0w, that is here - Dev-Team Blog - The links are at the foot of the first blog post (these take you to the second link you posted)

The first link you posted to is NOT an official site, so I have removed the link from your post

 

[Falconyx]

Oh boy, thanks for providing the correct link I think I'm gonna get my hands dirty tonight, can't wait hehe.