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I finally got around to taking a look at my original iPhone – the 2G. I used it for about 2 years, when I got the 3GS the nannie took it and spilled apple juice on it (killing it). It sat in a drawer for years. I pulled it out and took it apart. I found a MB/Battery combo used but working on Ebay for $28 and bought it. The batteries are soldered onto the MB on the 2Gs.
The MB came and I swapped it out and carefully put it most of the way back together… and it booted! I had a pay-as-you SIM from T-Mobile and stuck it in. However, iTunes wouldn’t activate the phone with a non-approved Carrier SIM. So I hit the ATT Unlock page and applied for their carrier unlock. But I’m not sure if that affects the phone itself or a SIM.
Meanwhile, I decided to jailbreak and unlock it myself. After many attempts to get into DFU, I finally got it. It turns out the sleep/wake button is going on bad on the unit, and this is critical for getting into DFU mode to replace the baseband. I found a replacement sleep/wake switch on ebay.
For some reason, the first JB didn’t completely take the the iPhone started up in Recovery Mode, even though it had been jailbroken. I again got it into DFU and re-JBed. That did the trick, as it now booted up and let me use the T-Mobile SIM.
I’m on iOS 3.1.3 now, and realizing that you can’t find many apps now that target iOS 3 still. I haven’t even tried going to the App store on the iPhone itself.
It’s cool to have my original iPhone again, the size and curve feel nice compared to a year with the 4.
