Hello everybody
I have been reading on this forum for some time now, and I understand the update process, including unlocking, its all great.
However, Im at a loss - I have no idea what I have to gain from upgrading my ROM.
I currently have an untouched T-Mobile Vario II with bootloader 1.04, hardware vesion (?) 634.
My friend has just recieved his Vario II, v646.
Everyones talking about using ROMs from other providers, but I've yet to read anything substantial about whats to be gained from switching or upgrading ROMs.
What CAN actually be changed by changing ROMs? For example, T-Mobile have been kind enough to bundle my device with a free registered version of 'Spb GPRS Monitor' - it monitors GPRS/3G and battery power, plus providing a useful bar on the today screen. it's very useful and I wouldn't want to lose it should I decide to gamble on a ROM update that provides nothing nearly as useful.
I have identified several short comings of my devide, not the least of which is the fact that it intermittantly skips every 30+ seconds when playing music through my stereo bluetooth earphones. I imagine that some kind of update will be required to fix this, as it seems to be a problem for only certain version of the device - the Vario II being the obvious.
I have also decided that I would like to try other graphic themes. Before I have a go at making my own I thought it might be nice to try some existing ones...
There are lots of hardware/radio versions published, but unless I've missed it theres very little talk about what the ROMs provide.
Cheers very much for all your help thus far, and in advance for anything else you might be able to help me with!
lets make this a simple one.. if you are happy with the device the way it is then there is nothing to change... kinda like the old saying, "If it aint broke then dont fix it"
If there are things you are looking to change then maybe post your problems here and we can tell you if you would benefit from changing roms!
I have the universal and purchased the hermes for size and HSDPA / UMTS improvements.
The universal was upgraded and hacked many times.
However, I cant see an upgrade rom hack that is available at all here for the hermes yet.
Can anybody confirm a WWE 3.x Rom upgrade being available? Mine is Imate, but I am not particularly loyal in any way, but would like more reliable Push Email, and the speed improvements that occur with 3.x
To the moderator, you cant really say if it aint broke dont fix it, cause quite often, you dont know if it is broken until you start to fix something, and you dont know if something is faster, better, more efficient, more effective, or provides improvements in functionality until a question is asked.
Its a bit like me taking my car to a mechanic, they always ask if everything is fine, it always is, but they always call me up and tell me that this isnt working, this needs fixing, and this is about to broke... You can triple the cost if you would like us to fix it.
You didnt know until somebody points out the improvements and benefits.
So, I would like the initial question answered as well, if somebody is prepared to give an explanation and some guidance.
Here's some upgrading facts for you:
There is no AKU 3.x ROM available for the Hermes yet.
Due to a new encryption strategy, ROMS take 25 minutes to flash. Any interruptions during this time may brick your device.
Also due to the above encryption strategy, we are not yet able to cook our own custom ROMS for the Hermes.
Boot Loader v1.04 which shipped with most of the early ROMs contains a bug which allows easy bypassing of CID lock. However subsequent bootloaders fix this problem and will CID lock you to your original vendor. The only crossgrade solution is to first downgrade to a BL1.04 version of your vendor's ROM then exploit the bug to load another. Device owners without a 1.04BL version of their ROM have consequently been unable to crossgrade/unlock their Hermes.
There is a bootleg solution that will flash BL1.04 on any Hermes while leaving the rest of the ROM untouched. However, it isn't available here. In fact the original owner of it's copyrighted code actively pursues anybody who posts this solution on the internet. Consequently, it's worldwide availability is constantly changing
There is a CID/SIM unlock solution by pof that is posted here which works with the 1.04 Bootloader only
The more current ROMS for the DoPod, TyTN and 8525 contain measured performance improvements
The most current radio rom (v1.20) improves battery performance
Most of the newer roms fix a media player audio stutter bug
Getting a combination of the most current radio ROM and the most current device ROM involves 40-60 minutes of flashing time and the use of the bootleg BL1.04 solution described above.
HTH!
Thanks sleuth255 for taking the time to answer comprehensively.
I am really only interested in upgrading to 3.x and will wait and see how things transpire. There was major benefits to the universal upgrade to 3.x however, the hermes doesnt appear to suffer the speed issues of the universal and I am so far very happy with the device.
jubbbird said:
Hello everybody
I have identified several short comings of my devide, not the least of which is the fact that it intermittantly skips every 30+ seconds when playing music through my stereo bluetooth earphones. I imagine that some kind of update will be required to fix this, as it seems to be a problem for only certain version of the device - the Vario II being the obvious.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tested all the WWE ROM here (not the one with 1.09 bootloader, because since today is a one way only road, no way to flash back the original ROM)
About music skip: not sure if upgrade will solve it (since today) but there is a good patch here. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=284974
Other well known problems (lost storage card in windows media player, overnight and in-call freeze, poor efficiency (short battery life in UMTS coverage, slow performances if compared to processor speed promise, ...) are still unsolved
I will suggest: play if you want, but having in mind that HERMES ROM flashing today is just for play, have a look, testing, not for really solving anything
Supercid ( http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=282073 ) your device to play with ROMs, now, because you have the 1.04 bootloader version. Once SUPERCIDed you can play with all ROM
Well thats my primary issue at the moment and it sounds a lot like your fix may work for me.
I am using an original ROM im guessing, with bootloader 1.04 so all the doors are open for me. I'm in nor rush, strictly speaking, because I love this device and it generally works wonders for me. I listen to music for long periods of time once in a while (long car journeys alone with my SE ds970 - plugs the ears well providing awsome noise removal from external sources, can't even hear the engine on my crappy Vauxhall Corsa with those in...) but it is during those periods that I suffer with the skipping. fixing it will be wonderful.
I have a question about your fix though, but I worry that having read the first few pages of your other thread, and the last few, I may have missed the answer so I apologise if I'm asking questions you have already answered - but I remember reading the original thread a while ago from the guy who discovered the Task Manager app that fixed the issue and he mentioned that because the software seems to prevent any CPU speed scaling (not sure if thats actually what its doing) he observed that CPU battery consumption while running that specific app + audio decreased noticably. Is this still an issue with your patch? I plan to purchase a working in-car power adapter so it won't really be a problem, but im curious
I'm gonna take my time with regards to ROM upgrades because as has been mentioned above - I have only a few issues which after reading this thread now seem to be standing issues which won't be fixed whatever I decide to do right now. Ultimately, I have the stuff I detailed above adn thus far no steadfast information about which ROMs are good for what. I don't even know anything about this 3.x business noted above...
What I'd like to know now, before I try your fix, is - if i were to install a TyTn ROM (which right now Im assuming is an original HTC TyTn ROM as oposed to a yet-to-be-released T-Mobile ROM...?) will that effectively brand it back to HTC, wipe the onboard flash, give me the original TyTn green theme, remove all the software and settings T-Mobile gave me (they were kind enough to give me a licensed copy of Spb GPRS Monitor which is quite an advantage for me - my friend has a more recent T-Mobile Vario II and they seem to have retracted the offer ... ) and leave me at square one with any fixes/improvements/new-issues that ROM provides?
I also seem to remember reading that because as yet T-Mobile have not released an original ROM, changing now is a one way trip.
I think what I need is for someone to set me in the right direction from the perspective of a early Vario II user. I really enjoy my gadgets, and the best thing about them is "fixing things that aint broke" I love upgrading and trying to squeeze it for all its worth. Better yet, updating my device and gloating to those who have no idea what that means! It's all good...
Anyway, cheers very much for your help thus far - greatly appreciated.
Related
I'm currently a cingular customer with a Tytn. I was wondering if there's any real benifit to upgrading to the Cingular Rom or if I'm better just sticking with HTC's Rom?
From what I've read - you loose the functionality of the 5th button (which a hack has recently been developed to regain that) and that the video button stops working (as well as loosing the video chat functionality all together). Not that I use the front video cam much but does this mean that the video camera doesn't function at all?
So far what little I've read makes me wonder what why I would want to use the cingular rom (YYYYEeeeaaahhhhh - I can have another branded OS!). I think I must be missing something important to loose the functionality of some buttons and possibly the front camera - I can't believe everybody just wants that cingular logo all over the place so there must be something big I'm missin here
Hi, I must be missin something also..cause I haven't a clue either why someone would go to the cingular rom or for that matter any branded rom.
I'm sure that there are a lot of people looking for better performance, stability and/or resolution of annoying issues like screen alignment
Whether any of these can be resolved by using a different ROM version remains to be seen.
Ok, I'll field some answers here.. Why did I go with the Cingular rom? (reasons not necessarily in order of importance). First let me say that my operator is Cingular and I'm running the 1.31 AKU2.6 Cingular release with the 1.13 radio.
1. No more roaming triangles on Cingular's network.
2. Better Radio. I have much better reception with this ROM
3. Better overall performance
4. Those nagging low battery tones are fixed
5. Better A2DP performance (although I believe its related to #3)
6. The "won't come back from powersave" bug is fixed
From a branding perspective, I aborted the Cingular customization, instead loading the TyTN extRom and I'm happy to report that there is zero Cingular branding on my TyTN still.
What did I loose? Pressing the video call button doesn't bring up the video call application (yet.... heheheheh). This isn't a priority issue for me though since Cingular doesn't have the infrastructure to support video calling.
btw: to see how well your front video camera works, go here and load up the CoolCamera 1.15 beta. As a proof of concept, this little applicaton is huge. Video calling may never catch on in the US you see, however as the link shows, the front camera is api connected which means that vendors like Skype or the next iteration of Mobile Communicator will very likely support it as well. IMO this is the real reason for a front video camera.
I can hardly wait...
@sleuth
Why didn't you do the 1.34 cingular rom? I am trying to decide if I should load one of the cingular rom's or wait for the next htc rom. I am currently running the htc tytn shipped rom with the 1.16 radio.
I had heard that the next htc tytn rom may include aku3..any thoughts
Sleuth255 said:
Ok, I'll field some answers here.. Why did I go with the Cingular rom? (reasons not necessarily in order of importance). First let me say that my operator is Cingular and I'm running the 1.31 AKU2.6 Cingular release with the 1.13 radio.
1. No more roaming triangles on Cingular's network.
2. Better Radio. I have much better reception with this ROM
3. Better overall performance
4. Those nagging low battery tones are fixed
5. Better A2DP performance (although I believe its related to #3)
6. The "won't come back from powersave" bug is fixed
From a branding perspective, I aborted the Cingular customization, instead loading the TyTN extRom and I'm happy to report that there is zero Cingular branding on my TyTN still.
What did I loose? Pressing the video call button doesn't bring up the video call application (yet.... heheheheh). This isn't a priority issue for me though since Cingular doesn't have the infrastructure to support video calling.
btw: to see how well your front video camera works, go here and load up the CoolCamera 1.15 beta. As a proof of concept, this little applicaton is huge. Video calling may never catch on in the US you see, however as the link shows, the front camera is api connected which means that vendors like Skype or the next iteration of Mobile Communicator will very likely support it as well. IMO this is the real reason for a front video camera.
I can hardly wait...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks - sounds like some good reasons to use the Cingular Rom.
So quick follow up on the Video camera - it sounds like it still functions -the button just no longer brings up the video camera ap (is this key mapable on the cingular version or do you loose the button all together currently?)
Thanks again!
@chymmylt:Right now, the video call button is lost (unmappable by any applicaton). When I get a few minutes I'll work on it...
@eagle 1: I jumped on the 1.31 ROM just before the 1.34 ROM came out. AFAIK, the only fix in the 1.34 ROM that wasn't in 1.31 has to do with the battery level display after return from powersave mode. In v1.34, instead of starting at 100% and then dropping down to the correct level, it now starts at "unknown" then changes to the correct level.
Also, the 1.31 ROM is an AKU 2.6 vs. AKU 2.3 release. Nothing different here other than bragging rights I guess
Anyway, the small differences between the ROMs wasn't worth the 2 hour downgrade/upgrade process. I'll reflash again when the latest TyTN ROM is released which will be an AKU 3.x variant.
I upgraded my JasJam radio but I did not anything else. My device seems to be pretty stable with I-mate rom right now and I don't feel like loosing my video call button. I am waiting for AKU 3.x before investing the time it takes to do upgrades now. I could not believe how long it took just for the radio.
It's not like you can Video Call on Cingular's network anyway...
Agreed, but I can use the button for other things.
darkjedi said:
It's not like you can Video Call on Cingular's network anyway...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why not? I haven't tried it, as I know no one else who has a TyTN...
Cingular's network is a "best effort" data delivery infrastructure and lacks the QOS enhancements needed to support video calling. This is according to austin_boy (the source for all Cingular ROMS here).
From what I've heard from Boy Genius, they disabled it on their network, so unless someone can figure a way out, it's not going to work.
darkjedi said:
It's not like you can Video Call on Cingular's network anyway...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True but I spend a 3rd of the year in Europe where I can use it (not that I have but I have a number of friends who have phones capable) and it'd be nice to have the ability if I need it
Anyone managed to downgrade from Cingular 1.31 (bootloader 1.06) tried all the tricks on wiki but without success. Probably its because of bootloader version, as from 1.04 is quite easy to go back with rom. Do You have any ideas?
@lukjod: you need a rom matching your CID with bootloader 1.04 to be able to downgrade.
The question is were to get it.... and in the past i remember with the s100 to hack the files and put t-mob003 (my device code) in the files to flash even a rom that was not correct... Any chance doing this also?
chymmylt said:
True but I spend a 3rd of the year in Europe where I can use it (not that I have but I have a number of friends who have phones capable) and it'd be nice to have the ability if I need it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The video call feature is still there (pressing soft button that says "Video Call" on the Phone app works just fine). You get this back when you reload the TyTN extrom instead of the Cingular. Just no link to the physical button. I need to play around on a ROM that has a working video call button to see how it's done before I can fix this.
Sleuth255 said:
The video call feature is still there (pressing soft button that says "Video Call" on the Phone app works just fine). You get this back when you reload the TyTN extrom instead of the Cingular. Just no link to the physical button. I need to play around on a ROM that has a working video call button to see how it's done before I can fix this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So if I upgraded to Cingulars rom but used the extrom from the TyTN it would look and have all the functions of the TyTN roms (except the 2 keys with mapping issues - one you've kindly fixed) but the benifits of a more currently tweeked OS? Aside from having the mapping issues and having to downgrade to upgrade in the future (but being a TyTN I shouldn't have problems with this right?) are there any other downsides to doing this?
Thanks
Nope... other than the fact that the upgrade process itself is a bit risky. This is because it takes 25 minutes to accomplish and any interruptions during the process itself can brick your device.
Close all apps, disable screen saver and use a rear USB port when flashing then walk away and go do something else for 25 minutes or the suspense will drive you nuts.....
Radio confirmed in 6 dead GSM cases : 1.54.30.10
Radio stated in 5 dead GSM cases : 1.54.7
1.54.30.10 and 1.54.00.10 are known to have stability issues
Other 1.54 varients may have issues which are killing the radio hardware
As has been mentioned in other threads elsewhere and on another forum (win4mobiles) - there is presently an epidemic of GSM problems that seem to be plaguing users and either killing or bricking Hermes.
There are at least 14 cases around the Hermes area on this board now of people running a varient of radio 1.54 as their last radio then ending up with intermittent GSM or no radio - many being unable to roll back when problems start or finding bad blocks when telnetting into their phone to try and unbrick it.
I also have just learnt of another case here running 1.54.30.10 that's just died over xmas.
For technical discussion on these issues - see this thread
This is the one thing they all have in common and it's starting to look suspiciously like there may either be an issue with this radio or an issue with the radio when used on certain networks or combination of issues. Certainly, up to the 1.50 dying GSM modules was a little more uncommon and now there has been a splurge of them.
Just to remind some of the more inexperienced ROM experimenters out there - Hermes has a firmware driven radio in a custom chip and the radio images change how the hardware within the chip functions. It is quite possible for a bug in a radio to damage the hardware over time.
If the radio hardware itself gets fried then the only cure is a new motherboard, if the flash goes bad but the hardware isn't damaged then using the unbricking guide in the wiki you may be able to get some life back into it or roll it back.
So experienced users be careful until we know more, and inexperienced users please bear in mind that once you've found a radio that is good for you and works there is not much further point in trying every other radio.
Especially use caution with any versions of 1.54 at the moment until there has been more information collected about this.
Good to know...I'm staying away from that bad boy! It was odd that so many were having radio issues lately. thx for the notice!
A little alarmist..... That being said, read this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=349461
Boiling it down, it doesn't seem to have any reliance on specific radio rom versions...
Hello mikeapollo, why apollo do you live in beswick
Anyway back on topic ,i have upgraded to 1.54 and then down graded to 1.50 and have had no problems with either radio and i have flashed my device more times than i can remember over the last few months, so maybe i am just lucky.
What type of herme's are the ones that are being bricked hermes 100 or hermes 300?
mine died way before I upgraded to the 1.5x radio, I believe it first started showing problems with 1.38, or 1.4something.
I don't think it has anything to do with the radio, simply people upgrade, hoping the latest and greatest radio will solve or help their problems. Then the radio completly dies and they are stuck with the last radio flashed.
If the latest radio was 1.12, I think you would see the same thing happening.
CRCinAU said:
A little alarmist..... That being said, read this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=349461
Boiling it down, it doesn't seem to have any reliance on specific radio rom versions...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, there is an implication from that thread that the problem is 1.54.xx based.
But the core of Mike's post is that programming/reprogramming radio ROMs is not the same as flashing the OS. The radio ROM drives the radio output directly so if it accidentally sets too high a level then it can be like turning up your home hifi amp too high. And just like your home hifi, you can blow it up.
So being more cautious with radio ROMs is sensible advice. If a radio works for you don't go seeking even better performance because that "better performance" might be at the cost of increased gain and eventual failure of the radio hardware.
Incidentally, my son works in radio design and tells me that radio circuits are very sensitive to heat and can be damaged by overheating.
Richard
eagercrow said:
mine died way before I upgraded to the 1.5x radio, I believe it first started showing problems with 1.38, or 1.4something.
I don't think it has anything to do with the radio, simply people upgrade, hoping the latest and greatest radio will solve or help their problems. Then the radio completly dies and they are stuck with the last radio flashed.
If the latest radio was 1.12, I think you would see the same thing happening.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see your point - thats why this thread is labeled potential problems... It is a warning and is not an alarmist statement of "This will kill your device" it is merely a caution that there are well documented cases of instability with this radio and there are growing numbers of dead radio modules which have all been using 1.54.x at time of death - and that death has occured within a few weeks of starting to use it.
Again, if you think that there is a sudden spate of dead radios because "things have worn out" then look at the evidence - Not everyones device is dying at the same rate but users of 1.54.x are seeing their devices dead within a very close timescale - usually 6-8 weeks of use. We've had lots of dead radio threads here but the amount over recent time is unpresedented and it's affecting both "young" and "older" devices.
If you cross-reference posts from the threads about 1.54.x some posters from there also posted in other threads about "odd" problems - then a month later have posted in the bricking threads saying their phone one morning just said "No GSM". Some of these devices appear to have been "new" - so unless they were exceptionally heavy users I think the rules out the devices wearing out. Again tho - they could have just been runts as you can get a duff one out of the box...
Radios normally don't just fail like that - the normal thing that happens is they degrade over time. The PGA that holds the firmware is also very resilient - once it's written unless something dramatic happens it will rarely just "grow" bad blocks overnight on it's own - particularly if it's turned on at the time - as it's structure is different to NAND memory (where your OS image is held).
So while it is certainly true that flashing 1.54.x will not instantly kill the device unless you're seriously unlucky - it looks like there may be an issue that either grows over time (a progressive effect) or causes dramatic sudden failure under certain usage scenarios (which may or may not be common to all areas/networks/bands/etc).
So if you're in a strong signal area and the radio hardware never needs to be driven "hard" by the firmware you may never experience a problem with this radio - but if you're in an area of variable or weak coverage it may just be driving the whole shebang too hard.
As Ree-shar has correctly said, the programmable arrays (where the radio firmware is held) and the output drivers in radio hardware are effected by heat - and looking at the facts, driving a higher power (gain) will generate more heat and drain a battery faster - that heat could be a factor in either the GSM hardware simply failing or (as has also been seen) the blocks in the PGA where the firmware itself is stored going "bad" therefore making it impossible to flash another radio image to it.
Again, it's not being alarmist it's about exercising caution that there could be a problem for SOME people with this radio and reminding the casual users of this forum of the basics about the radio images - and in particular :
having the latest release is NOT always the best option for your device,
many radios are developed for certain countries/networks/etc so one developed for an AT&T device in the US may not quite perform as intended when used in Europe so try and use one at least that is roughly native to where you are first if you can
Problems with heat, battery life, long drop out periods or "odd" radio issues can be a warning that something may not be right.
It is very possible for firmware to kill actual hardware (something people often forget).
Changing your radio will NOT fix broken SIM cards, WiFi, Bluetooth or external GPS problems, Nor will it magic up a signal from nowhere if you live in a crap coverage area.
Using firmware that drives the hardware harder in order to increase the gain of both the transmit element and recieve element in any radio module is usually at the expense of the lifespan of the radio device.
Always experiment cautiously, be aware of the risks and minimise them and read other peoples experiences before just taking the latest image and flashing it (ie - read the wiki, cross reference posts and take some time to do some research BEFORE flashing that new radio/rom/whatever!.
scousemartin said:
Hello mikeapollo, why apollo do you live in beswick
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL! Went to school in Beswick - but given the Apollo is in Ardwick...
It's a nickname that just stuck from yonks ago during a more theatrical time of my life.. (and I live in Moston now).
scousemartin said:
Anyway back on topic ,i have upgraded to 1.54 and then down graded to 1.50 and have had no problems with either radio and i have flashed my device more times than i can remember over the last few months, so maybe i am just lucky.
What type of herme's are the ones that are being bricked hermes 100 or hermes 300?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From what I've cross referenced so far, 3 deaths have been Herm300 and 1 was stated to be a Herm200.
I'm trying to collate as much info as possible on this to find out if there is a definite correlation between this radio and certain models/networks/areas,
We've had dodgy radios released before but never a potential "suicide-bomb" radio hence my interest - (I'm still on 1.43 here with over 500hrs talk on the life timer and it's still going strong).
<conspiracy> On the other hand... Could 1.54.x have leaked out to help sales of the TyTN II </conspiracy>
Mikeapollo said:
having the latest release is NOT always the best option for your device,
many radios are developed for certain countries/networks/etc so one developed for an AT&T device in the US may not quite perform as intended when used in Europe so try and use one at least that is roughly native to where you are first if you can
Problems with heat, battery life, long drop out periods or "odd" radio issues can be a warning that something may not be right.
It is very possible for firmware to kill actual hardware (something people often forget).
Changing your radio will NOT fix broken SIM cards, WiFi, Bluetooth or external GPS problems, Nor will it magic up a signal from nowhere if you live in a crap coverage area.
Using firmware that drives the hardware harder in order to increase the gain of both the transmit element and recieve element in any radio module is usually at the expense of the lifespan of the radio device.
Always experiment cautiously, be aware of the risks and minimise them and read other peoples experiences before just taking the latest image and flashing it (ie - read the wiki, cross reference posts and take some time to do some research BEFORE flashing that new radio/rom/whatever!.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Man, this should be put to the wiki or to the every new Radio ROM thread.
KarhU said:
Man, this should be put to the wiki or to the every new Radio ROM thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Updated the wiki page with general advice.
I have been using 1.54.07.00 pretty much since I got my 8525 a few months ago and haven't any issues...yet . I flashed the 1.54.x radio when I tried out the official AT&T WM6 ROM, but since have been using schap's ROMs (no radio update). My question: is the official 1.54.07.00 radio from the AT&T WM6 ROM the same as getting a 1.54.07.00 from elsewhere?
gnahc79 said:
I have been using 1.54.07.00 pretty much since I got my 8525 a few months ago and haven't any issues...yet . I flashed the 1.54.x radio when I tried out the official AT&T WM6 ROM, but since have been using schap's ROMs (no radio update). My question: is the official 1.54.07.00 radio from the AT&T WM6 ROM the same as getting a 1.54.07.00 from elsewhere?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. The official AT&T 1.54.07.00 will be identical to the extracted 1.54.07.00 as thats where it was extracted from - the clue is in the numbers
Also, if you are using the official radio update for your device on your network you should nothave nothing to worry about - and of course if it turns out there is a problem with this bit of firmware you'll be well covered by your network & waranty anyway.
Incidentally, quite a few people who have suffered the mysterious sudden "NO GSM" death problem can still boot their phones to the OS but generally have been unable to re-flash the radio so in the event of death it still seems possible to "roll back" the OS ROM to "the proper one" for waranty reasons <ahem>
Latest update on research - and general advice
NO-GSM bricks - 28/11/07-03/01/08 (from forums)
Type Location Radio Sudden death info :
--------------------------------------------------------
H300 UK 1.54.00.10 Yes Problem from 1.50 T-Mob WM6
H200 unknown 1.54.00.10 yes Unable to reflash radio
H100 Netherlands 1.54.30.10 no Gradual loss of service
H100 unknown 1.54.00.10 yes Died on soft reset
H100 Netherlands 1.54.00.10 yes Died after 12 days
H300 Germany 1.54.00.10 yes Died after 4 weeks
H100 Iran 1.54 stated apparently Died on hard reset
H300 UK 1.54.7 yes Dropouts then dead
H300 UK 1.54.30.10 yes Died rolling to 1.38
H300 Germany 1.54.00.10 yes Died after soft reset
H100 Netherlands 1.54.00.10 Yes GSM increasingly unrealible
H100 Singapore 1.48 yes No GSM after flashing black PRO
H300 Germany 1.54.00.10 yes Died after soft reset (2wks in)
H200 Pakistan 1.50 yes died reverting to 1.48
H300 UK 1.54.30 yes Unable re-flash bad blocks
H100 unknown 1.57 (?????) yes died in use 2 days post flash
n/A Spain 1.51 yes batt hot / 1wk then GSM fail
n/a UK 1.54.7 unsure GSM bad - Died flashing 1.4x
There are another 12 which I don't have quite enough detail on yet to class as a "No-GSM brick" so am not presently including them in this table.
Stats so far :
12 x European found and confirmed failures of which :
* most unable to roll back radio
* if able to - failure still occurs or
* All died after some sort of 1.54.xx flash regardless of rollback
* Majority seem to be European failures many on T-Mobile in Germany/Netherlands and UK
Pakistan/Iran - Actual ROMs and circumstances not clear. 1.5x quoted but no confirmation.
Singapore 1.48 failure - Included in list as failed between 28/11 - present.
NB
Statistically, more people are likely to run the more-recent ROMS so while the
evidence here appears to show that there is a risk with the 1.5x radios - many people with a TyTN in a questionable state of health will be running them anyway so do bear this in mind. Use this info to make an informed choice!!!
The common trend appears to indicate problems starting after flashing a 1.5x radio and staying even if they roll back *OR* dying when trying to flash a lower radio - Again, not conclusive but building a picture.
OFFICIAL updates
Users who are downloading OFFICIAL updates from their network operator, HTC or any other "official" source should not need to worry - whether there is an issue or not with radios 1.5x your network should support you in the case of failure as you have an "official" update. Especially as the "official" updates containing radio 1.51.xx and above seem to be in areas where "no gsm bricks" are not being commonly reported (as of yet).
General radio issues
To clarify one point many seem confused about - Your signal lock, radio stability etc is generally unaffected by the OS ROM as the GSM stuff is handled by the RIL itself.
The issues of things like the "dialler going weird", applications locking up, etc are generally NOT related to the radio ROM and are related to the OS ROM or combination of 3rd party apps/hacks and OS ROM.
Issues with "lost calls" or "unconnected calls" or "bad data" can be caused by the network itself. The T-Mobile 3G network in the UK is a good example where it has "off" days in some areas where people miss calls (phone never rings) or need to make 10 attempts to dial out.
Switching to GSM for a while, trying another networks SIM card or moving area often magically "fixes" these issues and by the time the user puts their own SIM back in or moves back into area the network has got it's act together again ;-)
Radio roms themselves only affect the radio interface layer (RIL) - the OS "calls" this when it needs to use it and this is where many people seem to be mixing up the issue of "stability" of a radio and "stability" of an OS ROM/application. (remember, the dialler IS an application)
If a radio is unstable - you may experience GSM/3G dropouts, calls breaking up, slow dialling or long signal searches but your OS should on the whole function fine.
If an OS or application is unstable - you may experience dialler lockup or failed calls (remember, the RIL tells windows to tell YOU that you have a call!)
but your GSM/3G signal should be solid, switch between bands and log on and off the network without any fuss.
Overall stability is not just dependent on the OS ROM you are using but also 3rd party applications. Problem solve your device BEFORE just flashing a radio to try and fix an issue as it may give you a nasty surprise and introduce MORE issues - then troubleshooting becomes even harder still and we end up where we are today...
When It's broke, It's BROKE
Some radios work better than others on different networks in different places - that has (and always will!) be the case. People though have become complacent in thinking that they are safe running any old bit of radio code from anywhere and are not looking into what effects it can have.
Many flashers don't even know that mismatched radio bootloaders can cause a brick and will have several fun-packed hours sat down trying to turn it into an "unbrick" (or just make it worse turning it into a breezeblock )
The radio rom itself effects how the RIL talks to the OS (windows) and how your signals get transmitted to the base station. Two separate things. Usually, the main bit which radio updates change is the radio stack itself - the bit between the radio hardware and windows - with minor tweaks to the radio hardware itself and how it's driven.
However, it is possible as well for a radio rom to drastically change how the radio hardware (the tiny transmitter in your phone) transmits
its signal onto the network... The tiny transmitter might have a current limit of, say, 50mA but there is nothing except software
to limit the current to 50mA... And software can have bugs or can be tweaked and could accidentally drive 100mA through it and burn the device out if it's in a given situation (like a poor reception area, switching bands etc)
IF (and it's a big if) you find that a poor radio has actually done something like this and caused physical damage to the radio hardware itself (overdriven an output for example) then
unfortunately that's it... It's knackered. No amount of rolling back will fix it to how it was. Like driving an LED with too much
voltage - it will never burn as brightly as it should have done had the specifications been followed in the first place.
Therefore, *IF* a radio like 1.5x turns out to have a bug and has introduced problems with the radio hardware itself - upgrading it or downgrading it will mean the problem will remain - At this point the only cure will be to have the whole radio PGA hardware replaced by a service centre.
Hence the importance of finding out *IF* we are seeing European devices being damaged in this way.
The better news about the RADIO failures (roll-back for warranty)
Most people who have experienced these recent failures find their OS will still boot - in which case it is possible to "roll it back" to how it was if you are under warranty. Don't worry about rolling back the radio - if it's dead it's screwed anyway so doesn't show any trace of what
radio ROM was on it in the first place. Just get the correct OS and bootloaders back on it.
T-MOBILE UK OFFICIAL WM6 ROM WARNING
I've given T-Mobile UK a call about this one... The "official" T-Mobile UK WM6 ROM is in effect a beta and while it is on Tmobiles own site, it IS NOT officially supported by T-Mobile
(according to tech support) and was not meant for general release. Therefore should be treated with caution until more is known and researched - however technically you should be supported and can roll back the device if necessary anyway to the official Tmobile WM5 ROM for warranty (which is, at least at the moment, available on their download site).
This ROM appears to contain radio 1.50 - ONE user (Sbirsen - view post) confirms he had problem introduced with radio 1.50 which was a perfectly working vario II, he upgraded to 1.54 and down but still suffered the problems which 1.50 introduced.
Despite his very kind assurance that there is clearly no problem with radio 1.54 we do not know if his device is dead or alive as he's moved onto trying to brick a TyTN-II due to getting fed up with radio issues apparently not caused by his radio flash
Back to unsarcastic mode - I suspect by T-Mobiles response - he is not the only one and some drilling on the board here may reveal more over the next
few weeks.
This ROM may also be pulled over the next few days due to "feedback issues" - sorry no more info on that one.
IN the mean time please just be careful when selecting your radios, fault find FIRST before thinking a flash will magic up a solution, do your research *properly* and look out for warning signs.
Further update - possible resolution to try if you've having intermittent problems and a very long theory posted here
In short - My thinking is if there is a bug in this radio it will be something to do with the PIC16LF72 chip with the D/A and A/D stuff that drives and measures outputs from the phyiscal hardware radio chips (the Qualcomm ones and the Anadigics amplifiers) on the main mobo.
A small firmware bug affecting values returned from D/A and A/D measurements
This bug or whatever causes either false return values or bad data
This causes radio to work harder
This then either causes wear or heat based issues on the PIC effecting the storage area and causing bad blocks (death) or causes damage to the rest of the radio chipset (qualcomm and anadigics amps).
PS. If any tech support desk needs a bum on seat in either North-West or the South East of the UK - I am now OFFICIALLY AVAILABLE FOR HIRE as I'm officially unemployed from tomorrow morning! I don't have a degree so never get through the paper sift (hence unemployed) but do have the experience and skills and plenty of developers certificates..I-thank-you.
Mike,
Heres another UK Tmobile Herm 300 thats Died
For the record this phone was brand new on 17th December 2007; only been flashed once to the official T-Mobile WM6.
timbouk said:
Mike,
Heres another UK Tmobile Herm 300 thats Died
For the record this phone was brand new on 17th December 2007; only been flashed once to the official T-Mobile WM6.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
God they're dropping like flies! Sorry to hear about that
Bit concerning though as IIRC the TMUK rom is radio 1.50 but that's the 3rd report of someone having problems introduced by it. (will have to pull the .nhb apart and check). Cheers for the tipoff.
I fear the Hermes will soon be an endangered species - must be a marketing plan by HTC to flog the kieser
Edit :: durr - of course it's radio 1.50 - even your sig says that - I'm rebooting my braincell as I type
Yes, its the 1.50 (My signiture has correct details)
Not sure if this is worthy info; but at work one side of my building has a very low signal strength, so the radio works very hard to keep up the connection. I can tell it is as my battery can be virtually flat after, say, 6 hours!
Maybe its poor signal areas accelerating the radio deterioration?
I got 1.50, and I still have occasional issues, such as hardware buttons that stop functioning.
What other radio could possibly be safer? Maybe 1.43 or 1.47. I kind of remember they used to serve me well.
Mikeapollo said:
PS. If any tech support desk needs a bum on seat in either North-West or the South East of the UK - I am now OFFICIALLY AVAILABLE FOR HIRE as I'm officially unemployed from tomorrow morning! I don't have a degree so never get through the paper sift (hence unemployed) but do have the experience and skills and plenty of developers certificates..I-thank-you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would be glad to propose you such offer if I could... In the mean time, you definitely should post the same in the main section, given most viewers here are in the tech industry.
im using the 1.54.30.10 for last 2 months and its workg absolutely fine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
First of all, I apologize for being a PPC noob, but I asure you, my technical skills are high and my PC familiarity is high too. I have done alot of searching/learning on here and other forums (and the internet in general) and think I am ready to take the plunge.
Background Data
----------------
HTC 6800 Windows Mobile 6.0
ROM Version 2.17.557.0
Radio Version 1.64.00
ROM Date 11/20/07 (geesh, I just got the thing)
Garmin Mobile XT
Provider: Cellcom (non-major / tier 2 provider in Wisconsin. I get great coverage from them in the area I spend 99.99% of my life in)
Mostly I want yes or no's to the following questions, but if you want to educate me, believe me, it is appreciated. The potential of this device feels massive, but right now it is too cumbersome/unreliable (I am sick of soft rebooting this darn phone).
1) Is there any way to backup my phone in its entirity so if I need to revert to the carrier provided rom/config I can? Including can I revert back to my original bootloader?
2) Can I use the newest Sprint ROM on my phone (WinMob 6.1) even tho I am not a Sprint customer?
3) Would I be better off using one of the ROMs provided by this forum?
4) If I upgrade the phone, I should no longer need Garmin's bluetooth GPS transmitter, correct?
Thanks in advance to all who help. I see the potential of this tool and really want to try and unleash it.
Afternoon, onioneater! It sounds like you've got a generic ROM that is often used by minor, or local carriers (I'm down in Illinois with a local carrier, had the same ROM as you). There are many, many ROM upgrade options available for you. I talked with a technician from my carrier about upgrading, and as it turns out, you could probably flash to any major carrier ROM as long as you do not allow customizations to run. Check out the tutorial on flashing to custom ROMs over at the XDA Wiki.
http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=TitanRecentHome
Although I did not back up the original generic ROM, I wrote down all EPST and provisioning settings for somewhat of a backup. As I said above, a customer with my provider flashed to a major ROM, for Sprint, and got it to work. But there is a wide expanse of options with custom ROMs too. By the way, as long as the radio version is higher than 3.35, internal GPS is unlocked (newest Sprint ROM and most newer custom ROMs work on a radio of 3.35 or higher). Although with custom ROMs, you have to manually unlock the bootloader and manually install a radio with a MicroSD card that is 2GB or less. Check out the link above for more. On a side note - A few months ago I was in the exact same situation as you before, being a noob and all with a generic ROM - you can keep in touch with me through E-Mail if you have any more questions [email protected]
Thanks dfc. What ROM did you settle on using? I was thinking about using dcd3.2.6 with the recommended radio and bootloader that dcd recommends. Seems like a pretty safe way to go and sounds like many people go that route.
Have you made any of your own ROMs yet? I am going to keep reading and studying and trying to figure out a way to fully backup the phone so if I have to revert due to company policy or anything like that, I will be able to.
I was very surprised to get help from someone from Illinois being that this is Packers/Bears weekend. If it makes you feel any better, I watched the movie Brian's Song the other night and I still get teary eyed. LOL.
Hi all!
I'm picking up a hopefully gently used Touch Pro tomorrow to replace my HTC Mogul. Very excited to have some extra RAM to work with, as well as the capability to try out all of these great ROMs.
As I have no experience with the Touch Pro, I am hoping you all can tell me what Radio and SPL I will need to begin my journey, and hopefully where to find them!
If you can offer any additional advice about this phone, any tips, tweaks, or general recommendations, I'd be very appreciative.
Thanks in advance!
I forgot to add that I'm going to be on the Sprint network!
Anyone?
I found the unlocking guide above which includes info on obtaining a HardSPL version. I hope this is the best one available.
I have not been able to find any information about updating the radio of the device so it works best with Sprint.
Hopefully someone can shed more light on this for me.
xiton said:
Anyone?
I found the unlocking guide above which includes info on obtaining a HardSPL version. I hope this is the best one available.
I have not been able to find any information about updating the radio of the device so it works best with Sprint.
Hopefully someone can shed more light on this for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should have everything you need on my guide. As far as radio, what you could do is after unlocking the device, flash a Sprint stock rom (the latest available), which will likely have the latest radio that Sprint released as well. Once you have flashed this package, simply flash another rom (whichever one you like) on top. The radio will remain the same and only your rom will change. Hope this helps.
egzthunder1 said:
You should have everything you need on my guide. As far as radio, what you could do is after unlocking the device, flash a Sprint stock rom (the latest available), which will likely have the latest radio that Sprint released as well. Once you have flashed this package, simply flash another rom (whichever one you like) on top. The radio will remain the same and only your rom will change. Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply. I was able to find more for our device on another popular forum. It seems that XDA has more of a GSM focus for the Touch Pro. I appreciate your guide as it has helped me expand my knowledge of the device. I feel like I'm all set now.
I did the same thing a few months ago. There is everything you could ever need to unlock and flash to what ever rom you want. After flashing just about every rom here, my problem is that I want to combine about 3 different roms to make the one I want, The only problem is I have no idea how to use a kitchen or build a rom hahahaha.
Tony
YO MAN!!!
Glad you were able to find everything you needed. Holler if you need anything else, we here and over at PPCG are always ready to help someone else... Just remember, there will always be nOObs out there and it never hurts to share the knowledge you have received.
Take care man.
EDIT 1: To the post above mine, try PPCKITCHEN.org... if you are not sure how to cook a rom, this kitchen is made for people with little to no experience... Experiment with it, build your own rom with your own options. Just make sure you do the update first...(it takes forever for the update to complete.) There are also other kitchens out there, but this is the one I first started out with. (Sorry for advertising other sites...)
mapaz04 said:
Glad you were able to find everything you needed. Holler if you need anything else, we here and over at PPCG are always ready to help someone else... Just remember, there will always be nOObs out there and it never hurts to share the knowledge you have received.
Take care man.
EDIT 1: To the post above mine, try PPCKITCHEN.org... if you are not sure how to cook a rom, this kitchen is made for people with little to no experience... Experiment with it, build your own rom with your own options. Just make sure you do the update first...(it takes forever for the update to complete.) There are also other kitchens out there, but this is the one I first started out with. (Sorry for advertising other sites...)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are a LOT of issues with the rom kitchen for the Herman in PPCK. A lot of reports of roms simply getting stuck at the initial boot-screen. You can try Ervius or one of the newer Visual Kitchens. Good luck!
xiton said:
Thanks for the reply. I was able to find more for our device on another popular forum. It seems that XDA has more of a GSM focus for the Touch Pro. I appreciate your guide as it has helped me expand my knowledge of the device. I feel like I'm all set now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the pro is a good phone as long as you have a good rom.
i am currently using the new xxxRootRom which can be found on the ppcgeeks.com forums. i have tested about 6 - 8 different roms so far and found this one to be very stable and snappy.
maybe try a few so you can compare.
only thing i would recommend is to change the pagepool on the xxxrootrom because for some reason it was set to 6. change the value to 0 and you will be very happy with it.
hope that help.
New to Touch Pro (former Mogul User) - Many Issues - Verizon
I just got a new Touch Pro from Asurion as an insurance replacement to XV6800. I am not new to these forums and have, over the years, applied many hacks and flashed many ROMS to my Mogul.
I'm currently using the stock ROM from Vzn (full device details in my sig) but I'm experiencing too many issues to address in a single post perhaps, and I researched and tried many solutions for hours. My biggest issue is Bluetooth related.
I am using the Bluespoon Spider stereo headset which worked great on Mogul. On TP I cannot get any settings to not cause skips and lags on locally stored music playback. I use both Adv Config 3.3 and Total Commander to adjust bitpool Min/Max bitpool. sample rate, & audio gateway settings. The best I've gotten is clear, mostly uninterupted music with the TP sitting in my lap, BUT if I turn my head to the right (the AVRP controls are in the right earpiece) I get serious skips & lags. I used to go about 100 ft clearsight from my Mogul before experiencing drops! Now with TP a matter of inches and my own head blocks the signal?
Anyone else experince this issue? What are you best results with BT seeings? I remember dumping M$ Bluetooth Stack for Widcomm's on Mogul and that made all the difference - can I / should swap out stacks on the TP? My headset won't even properly coonect, I must continually choose "set as wireless stereo" each time I turn on BT.
As for players, Ive used WMP, HTC player and S2P all with the same poor results. I hate that with TouchFlo 3D off, WMP insists on opening and assuming control of AVRP (play/pause/next) features. I tried one hack to break that and it nearly bricked my phone and it caused my SD card to become unreadable AND unformattable. I'll address that in the proper forum
I was so psyched about getting the Touch Pro, but I think I'm gonna have to cook the pants of the stock ROM. Any help with my bluetooth issue woud be greatly appreciated.
Hey guys,
I'm having some major issues with GPS on my g/f's I5500. For some reason GPS isn't working at all. I ordered this thing online and haven't been able to get it working despite numerous attempts with suggestions from this forums and others.
Amongst *trying* to get a decent baseband on this thing, I've tried the recommended GPS optimisation apps and such to no avail. Regardless of application nothing is picking up any GPS satellites, which makes me think this is a firmware or hardware problem. I'm of course hoping it's not the latter of the two.
This is a european I5500 (looking to have an optimal configuration with froyo in Germany) being used in Germany.
I'm to the point now that I believe I need to downgrade this to a typical German 2.1 (or just an older 2.2 rom perhaps) and then let Odin update the phone accordingly. I've had a little bit of a hard time really understanding the Galaxy 5 scene (X10 user normally).
Anyone saying I need to "learn how to use the search function" can respectfully keep his opinion to himself as I have definitely given this a shot.
My basic understanding of the I5500 scene at the moment is that since 2.2 was released mostly all attention is being given to CM7.1 and roms designed for daily use are harder to get running due to bad links to Team MAD's site.
Could anyone give me a hand?
BB: LUYJP2
PDA: MDBKD9
Phone: LUYJP2
Thank you very much for reading and helping
sorry 2 x same post so deleted
Perhaps this link will help you a bit?? http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2009/01/assisted-gps.ars Because your phone has AGPS instead of GPS