No host file? Simply google it and follow the instructions based on what you use (PC, Mac). It's basically a text file afaik so shouldn't be a problem.
You are lacking some very basic insight and understanding how things related to jailbreaking work. And I'm not being mean when I say that if you continue like this without reading up on things and understanding what you do you WILL encounter problems and this is not a livechat helpdesk support (as someone else said so nicely recently ;) ) that will hold your hand.
Are you willing to learn? Then head on over to iclarified and search for the tutorial about downgrading to 5.0.1. Also take a good hard look at TinyUmbrella - many things are really self explanatory!! - and also read a tutorial for it.
Other parts of your questions are answered by simply reading the first part / paragraph of this very blog posting - you know, those words above the comment section! ;p
If, however, you "just want this to work" then I can only advise you to get someone else with knowledge to do this for you.
So redsn0w crashes? Does your host file point to Apple? (Google that if you don't know what it means and / or read the first page of comments here - I explained it someone else earlier. :) )
I believe you can try to kick it out of recovery with TinyUmbrella. Also you should google that Error 14, the first hit is a link to a support document from Apple listing possible causes for that error. Does your host file point to Apple? (Google that if you don't know what it means and / or read the first page of comments here - I explained it someone else earlier. :) )
I believe you need it to point to Apple for the upgrade to 5.1.1 at least, and I don't think you are supposed to switch inbetween upgrading and downgrading, so that setting *should* be okay.
There were two or three people I believe, but yeah, the comment system here is horrible for finding information quickly. I'm not sure if it makes any difference that the iPad in question was a Verizon model - I think it's related to the existence of a baseband itself, especially considering that these kind of problems seem to have occured before with iOS 4. Good luck and be sure to report back!
Hmm then I'm not sure what might be the cause of the problem ... the only thing that you can do is be persistent and try again and again ... reboot your pc (or mac I think heh), maybe try another usb port or cable ... the usual stuff. ;(
It seems that you want to restore a backup made with 5.1 on your newly downgraded device with 5.0.1? I don't think that's going to work, afaik it's never been possible to restore a backup from a higher fw version unto a device with a lower firmware version. As for plist editing you might be able to find answers by googling, however I'm not sure if that's really gonna help in this case. Good luck.
A quick google search will tell you about this whole host file thing, however I did miss that you said that you had recently updated your iPhone to, I guess, stock 5.1.1 through iTunes? Did you use TinyUmbrella at some point after that? If so, uncheck the "Set Hosts to Cydia on Exit" checkmark in TinyUmbrella under "Advanced", if it is checked. That makes your host file point to Apple which you need for clean, stock restores of firmwares that Apple still signs.
Yeah this redsn0w method actually updates to the current firmware (5.1.1) first and then downgrades with the help of the saved blobs / apticket. It's not a bad idea to wait. :)
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Medley