Like many, I had an original 2G iPhone. It has worked perfectly since day 1.
I skipped the 3G but got a day 1 issue 3Gs for the speed and 4X storage as my 8Gig 2G, but I was assured by ATT that moving my account to the new 3Gs would let my 2G work like a Touch -- all functions, including WiFi, just no telcom related functions-voice,MMS, etc. Which it did.
My plan was to give the 2G to my teen daughter, which I did. She also has several versions of iPods - original, mini, and nano, but liked the additional functions of the 2G, particularly the WiFi (mainly for Facebook). But with so many options, she left the 2G in the glove box of my car this past fall and just never got back to it.
Until this weekend. Said she had been wondering where she left it and didn't want to tell me. Was relieve to discover she hadn't lost it. No Prob. But we got busy and forgot to charge it up. So last night I plugged into the comp to charge it up and got the firmware upgrade to 3.1.3 prompt, (I had upgraded the firmware on my 3Gs earlier and have had no problems), so I let 'er rip.
Little did I know. As soon as the firmware installed, I totally lost the ability to connect to my home wifi network, which I had been having no problems with since the original purchase. My immediate thought was a firmware glitch --- DUH!
So I search this forum and was aghast at all the problems with firmware upgrades or just lost wifi capability. So I tried fooling around with all the settings, turning things on and off (I skipped some of the tips that are really just impractical like the freezer trick)all to no avail.
Call to Apple Support is the next stop. I explain the issue, and understand we first have to go through all the steps, and I am patient, so we do, all, as I had predicted at the outset, to no avail. At which point, the tech guy says he has to hand me off to a product specialist, which he does. I again explain the issue, only to be told that Apple doesn't roll back firmware. (I'm patient - been down this road before -- firmware is firmware - sometimes an upgrade works, sometimes, it just creates a mess but most comp parts makers- video cards, cpus, motherboards, whatever, and most software outfits who put out drivers, realize this and make it easy to roll back to an earlier version so you can tweak around until you get something that works.) Apple's policy, as the product guy explained, was not to do this. Instead, their conclusion is that it is not their firmware, but the product that must be broken, in my case, just serendipitously at the exact same time I upgraded to 3.1.3. OoooKaaaayy! And for $199 they would repair my broken 2G. No thanks, I say. Surely you can email me prior firmware versions. Nope, he says, BUT (finally sticking his neck out and going beyond "policy")--- just Google "iPhone firmware" and give it a try.
So, I do. I downloaded 2.2.1; 3.0; 3.0.1; and 3.1(7C144).
Starting at the oldest, I tried to (iPhone would not allow 2.2.1 to be installed) or did install each fw version. Nothing worked until I got to 3.1.
BINGO!
I did turn ON bluetooth and then reentered my WPA code for my home wifi router (remember this is different than you standard password)and suddenly, not only was I detecting the home net (which I could do with all other fw installs including 3.1.3, but just could not connect), but got a quick and smooth connection.
Don't be fooled. Much of this IS a firmware problem. But sometimes, there may be a hardware problem. But probably less often that you would think.
If you try this, and have a problem loading the earlier fw, for Windows users, "Shift click" on the "Restore" button in iTunes and navigate to the folder into which you put your downloaded fw file.
Hope it works for you too.
Message was edited by: SWFIII
