Thanks for mentioning iclarified.com, I followed their instructions, and only thing I changed was to add openSSH and openSSL sources in cydia.
OK, does the recovery mode means the mode showing a usb connecting to itunes? I was in that mode. Thanks...
yes I was in DFU mode and I tried to uncheck the activation box. confused...
I just entered in an att 2 year 3gs contract. I started with a factory installed 3.1 and updated to 3.1.2 today before jailbreak. Then I tried to jailbreak under simple mode and expert mode with "activate my phone" checked and unchecked to create a custom ipsw. Everytime I got the same error message "an unknown error has occurred, error message 1046 when I was trying to restore with custom ipsw in DFU mode. Anyone can help? Thanks!