I got my Desire from a regular shop, but i recently discovered it's branded (though simlock free). Usually branded phones are only distributed by the providers, that's why i assumed mine was unbranded since i got it separate without a subscription.
I already upgraded to Froyo and i'm now on version 2.10.161.2 and i'm wondering if it's possible to debrand my Desire with a goldcard to stock ROM RUU_Bravo_HTC_WWE_1.21.405.2_Radio_32.36.00.28U_4.06.00.02_2_release_126984_signed.exe and after that upgrade to generic Froyo through OTA.
Also when you have debranded your Desire do you have to use the goldcard everytime there is a new OTA available?
I don't think you'll be able to debrand using that RUU, it'll refuse to install because it has a lower HBOOT version than the one installed on your phone. You could try using a Froyo RUU to debrand, e.g. RUU_Bravo_Froyo_HTC_WWE_2.10.405.2_R_Radio_32.44.00.32U_5.09.05.30_2_release_142828_signed.exe
I think that you do have to use the goldcard for every OTA update after debranding, but I'm not sure.
You can use my downgrade tool to debrand (which installs 1.21.405.2), or the latest froyo RUU.
And yes, goldcard is essential for all official updates on a phone that was originally branded.
Ok i have HBOOT-0.93.0001 don't know if that works when i try it with RUU_Bravo_Froyo_HTC_WWE_2.10.405.2_R_Radio_32.44.0 0.32U_5.09.05.30_2_release_142828_signed.exe?
It really blows though that you have to use the goldcard for each official update.
I'm now thinking of returning my Desire and demanding an unbranded one.
My Desire is also branded (which i didn't know when i was buying it) and after complaining to the seller he replied: why what's the difference? Works with any sim! Well, there is a huge difference for many well known reasons (ie branded software have logos here and there, OTA updates delay, after debranding needs goldcard etc). That's why branded phones are being sold cheaper on ebay.
Yes i would expect that happening on Ebay, but not in retail stores and not even cheaper but full price. Since in retail stores HTC is the one delivering those devices to the retail stores, so HTC is deliberately selling branded phones (they first made them simlock free though before shipping them)
So if i would have Orange as provider with my Vodafone branded Desire and Vodafone decides to put in their 360 crap again i would have that Vodafone crap on my Desire even though i don't have Vodafone as my provider.
HTC doesn't sell branded phones to be sold unbranded. If you buy a genuine sim free unlocked phone and not from a network, it will be unbranded.
Same story with me , and i successfully debrand 3 uk to generic , use gold card and search thread in rom section for downgrade tool which support new and old desire ..
Then ota upgrade to generic froyo
Sent from my HTC Desire
Sinergie said:
Also when you have debranded your Desire do you have to use the goldcard everytime there is a new OTA available?
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Click to collapse
YES ONE TIME GOLD CARD REQUIRED AFTER UPDATE USE ANY CARD
Sent from my HTC Desire
teppic74 said:
HTC doesn't sell branded phones to be sold unbranded. If you buy a genuine sim free unlocked phone and not from a network, it will be unbranded.
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Click to collapse
Sadly this is not true.. they do sell branded phones as unbranded. I bought mine genuine sim free unlocked and not from a network and it IS branded..
@newstar
Are you confirming that you need to use that goldcard with every OTA update after you debranded your Desire? Or are you saying that you only need to use it one time to debrand?
How would HTC know it was originally branded when receiving a new OTA update (by chance through IMEI or S/N)?
Sinergie said:
Sadly this is not true.. they do sell branded phones as unbranded. I bought mine genuine sim free unlocked and not from a network and it IS branded..
@newstar
Are you confirming that you need to use that goldcard with every OTA update after you debranded your Desire? Or are you saying that you only need to use it one time to debrand?
How would HTC know it was originally branded when receiving a new OTA update (by chance through IMEI or S/N)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to use the goldcard with every OTA update or else you are going to have random restarts, not working wifi and sd card slot.
So the OP knows, you have a Vodafone Desire, the x.xx.161.x denotes a Vodafone product code...If you use a gold card and the 2.10.405.2 RUU it will update to the same ROM (Vodafone removed all branding from it) but you'll be on the generic product code
You'd still need your gold card for all future updates as well, mind
The only thing i still don't get is why would you need the gold card for future updates when you're on the generic product code. You would think it's then the same as the ones that were originally unbranded.
Because the phones CID will still be the branded one, so the gold card is still needed to trick the updates
Ah ok and i guess you can't change the CID so that it is exactly like an unbranded Desire.
Related
Browsing the forums today has made me aware that the following could be an issue if I wish to root and flash a froyo rom to my htc desire.
When I bought my htc desire I wanted to stay with the orange network but avoid actually buying an orange branded (corrupted) phone - so I bought my desire from the carphone warehouse (uk) and it's supposed to be unlocked. I got it with a contract orange sim though.
It has no label "ORANGE" and came with no orange games/apps installed, but today I realised that I don't have the GTalk app and I couldn't find it on the market. I installed it from elsewhere and it seems to run fine, but was it being blocked in some way in my view of the market? Is my phone still truly unlocked or was it ever? I will try a PAYG sim from another network tomorrow.
The main thing I'm concerned about though is the radio. I've received several OTA updates since I got the phone. Could one of these have updated the radio to work on orange uk and if I install a new radio (as most froyo guides insist on) will that break my orange uk link? I read somewhere that an orange specific radio effectively locks your phone to orange and it takes a whole load of unrooting/rooting and avoiding OTA updates to keep it going on custom roms.
Is this the issue that makes rooting an orange uk desire a dangerous proposition or is it the orange branding / locking / User interface corruptions that is the issue? If it's the former, I'm locked into orange after buying an unlocked phone. If it's the later then I should be okay.
Many forum posts say "safe EXCEPT ON ORANGE".
If I install one of these new radios, might I have a problem with orange UK?
Current software information:-
Firmware : 2.1 update 1
Baseband : 32.36.00.28U_4.06.00.02_2
Kernel : 2.6.29-0cb9f166
Build : 1.21.405.2
Bootloader 0.80.xx
Gtalk is on all Android phones, that's why it isn't on the market.
On all radios should be able to access any network without any problems.
The updates probably came from HTC themselves. The updates were probably to upgrade from factory to current. I got an unlocked HTC desire that's on 2.1 update 1 (exact same software information except the random string in the kernel field) I am usually on t-mobile but I pop it out for a orange PAYG when I'm in T-mobile blackspots.
I got some sms from Orange when I first got the phone telling me they were going to push some 'handy' additions to my phone and then I got some OTA updates.
Today I realised that GTalk was on my phone as a service but not as an app, which I read was how Orange branded phones arrive.
So what do all the "safe except on orange" warnings refer to?
Sorry I didn't see your last paragraph before. So if this radio works on other networks the warnings must be branded related.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
the 'additions' they send is just adding orange's APN so you can access the internet through the mobile network. This happened to me when I put the orange sim in.
Hi,
I brought my UK Desire sim-free, and apparently unbranded. There are no network-related apps anywhere, or a network startup logo.
However, my software number is 1.19.161.5, which is I believe is the latest update for branded phones. 1.21 being the last update for unbranded phones before FroYo?
There are no updates available when checking manually, and I've also tried using the update.zip files from the HTC liveimage URL (both 1.21 and FroYo), both of which fail with the fingerprint error.
Does anyone have any ideas what's going on here?
Thanks,
Rich
I know someone who was on Vodaphone SIM-FREE with that version number. He successfully debranded with a goldcard to 1.21, and then upgraded via OTA.
Sounds like you might actually have a Vodaphone ROM:
List of ROMs and version numbers here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=695667
161 doesn't look like unbranded, 405 is WWE which works for sure (receives OTA).
If you want it now, create a gold card, debrand with RUU_Bravo_HTC_WWE_1.21.405.2_T2_Radio_32.41.00.32U_4.08.00.09_release_137222_signed, keep the goldcard in, get the froyo OTA update. If something goes wrong, downgrade back to 1.21.405.2 and do the factory reset, remove sim and enter flight mode before installing the update.
Cheers guys, will give the goldcard approach a try tonight then. Was hoping I wouldn't have to go down this route, but I don't want to have to rely on networks for their own specific updates!
It worked a treat! Thanks guys
Hello guys. Is there a method to check a phone's original branding? I got my Desire here in Hungary but the ROM that was originally installed didn't have Hungarian language, only German and English so I suspect it is some grey import from Germany or I don't know.
I've rooted it, now i want to unroot it for warranty reasons, but can't install the stock WWE ROM because of customer ID error. This means it's not unbranded (or at least not WWE), but i bought it unbranded. So can I check somehow the phone's original branding? (from IMEI, S/N or I don't know)
The number next to the camera is HTW-EU-xxxxxx so I think it's definetly european.
Have you tried to flash the WWE rom with a Goldcard?
If not, do a search and create a goldcard and try reflashing the rom.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
Thanks, that's a good idea. But it would be good if I can prove somehow that the phone was branded or not an original WWE for the shop where I bought it. Or it's too late now to check what was the original branding?
Im not too sure about that.
You may have to get in touch with HTC with the details.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
He says he needs to unroot, though, so there is no need to try to flash a WWE ROM with goldcard.
As far as I am aware you cannot find out on which carrier you are branded.
The only idea that I can think of is to start flashing branded roms from shipped-roms and the one that doesn't give you a CID error is yours.
But the goldcard should eliminate any CID issues.
Flashing the WWE RUU will leave the phone unrooted....
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
Meanwhile in this thread I find an answer:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=831734&highlight=gold+card
Running fastboot oem gencheckpt gives the original Customer ID.
For me it's VODAP102 which is androidboot.carrier=VODA-Germany.
Great, got a branded HTC as an unbranded, time to go in the shop and have a nice chat with them.
Anyone knows if there is a stock RUU available for a german VODA branded phone?
Yes, it will be unrooted but not on the stock original ROM, since he's branded obviously, I meant.
Chapell said:
Meanwhile in this thread I find an answer:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=831734&highlight=gold+card
Running fastboot oem gencheckpt gives the original Customer ID.
For me it's VODAP102 which is androidboot.carrier=VODA-Germany.
Great, got a branded HTC as an unbranded, time to go in the shop and have a nice chat with them.
Anyone knows if there is a stock RUU available for a german VODA branded phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately there isn't one at shipped roms, only a french eclair and 2 UK, one of which is froyo.
But if they sold it to you, as you said for unbranded you should talk to them about that.
Thanks for both of you, i'll try to flash the WWE ROM with a gold card. Not the original branded but better than a rooted ROM And I'll go in the shop and ask why I have a branded german phone...
Need to send my phone back as the screen is cracked and I get a replacement.
However I'm unsure what RUU to get. I got the phone off vodafone. However there is no branding on the phone and when I startup there is no vodafone logo. So while I think the phone is unbranded, the only RUU i can find that matches my baseband and software version is a vodafone one.
Should I jsut try to use the vodafone RUU and does it require a gold card?
You had a vodafone rom before you rooted it? Then you have to install the Vodafone ruu (from your country).
http://theunlockr.com/2010/06/07/how-to-unroot-the-htc-desire/
_Balu said:
You had a vodafone rom before you rooted it? Then you have to install the Vodafone ruu (from your country).
http://theunlockr.com/2010/06/07/how-to-unroot-the-htc-desire/
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Click to collapse
That is not necessarily true. Check here: http://shipped-roms.com/index.php?category=android&model=Bravo.
If it's not there flash a generic one. Mine was network locked but not branded.
Just a quick question before you go to all the trouble..
Most carriers will not provide a warranty replacement for phones with physical damage like cracked screen.. might wana check that first
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
as above has anybody got or know where i can get it incase i need to return it for repair,many thanks
There isn't one - my One V is also from Virgin Mobile UK, and the software version is exactly the same as Europe Unbranded (even the CID is Europe Unbranded, HTC__001), and the branding that there was disappeared after unlocking the bootloader (I'm assuming the brand was located in a lovation that deals with the bootloader flag - kind of like DRM?). I looked at insurance/warranty stuff on their website about what modified software would do to the warranty and found nothing, but I did see this: "devices will be returned with Virgin Media-approved firmware".
So going by that, and the fact that VM UK One V's use Europe Unbranded as a base, as long as you have this version installed, you should be fine, since it's still the same software number as it was shipped with. YMMV though.
qzfive said:
There isn't one - my One V is also from Virgin Mobile UK, and the software version is exactly the same as Europe Unbranded (even the CID is Europe Unbranded, HTC__001), and the branding that there was disappeared after unlocking the bootloader (I'm assuming the brand was located in a lovation that deals with the bootloader flag - kind of like DRM?). I looked at insurance/warranty stuff on their website about what modified software would do to the warranty and found nothing, but I did see this: "devices will be returned with Virgin Media-approved firmware".
So going by that, and the fact that VM UK One V's use Europe Unbranded as a base, as long as you have this version installed, you should be fine, since it's still the same software number as it was shipped with. YMMV though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for the info qzfive i still have cid HTC_001 and used ClockworkMod to make a backup and later on after a fews roms used i to recover but it doest have the virgin branding,,
note to anyone else reading this,dont try when you have beer lol