my 5230 is 100% de-branded

[timsy]

So in the case of the Nuron 5230, specifically, do you believe you would have success
in downgrading the firmware with any of the commonly available hardware or software or such options or not in a corresponding manner?

Why (technically) is it so difficult anyway? I can think of only a few possibilities for this:

A: that version updates are always sent out encoded as a set of incremental memory patches to transition from some specific older version to some newer version without actually having the complete 'new' version information available, so it would simply lack the data to go from Rev F to rev C since there would be no such differential patch data published, and you would not have the entire 'Rev F' image available to flash regardless of your starting version.

B: The update loader runs with the cooperation of the flash loader software in the handset, and the flash loader / upgrader software in the handset will just check the version of the loaded software versus the version ID of the incoming software, and it will refuse to load older version software. To change this one would have to either corrupt/delete the existing software or its ID code on the handset and hope that a full 'dead phone' reflash could write the new image, or one would have to alter the presented version data ID tag from either the existing or new software so that it appeared that it was a suitable upgrade regardless of the original version numbers.

C: The only update loader software available was actually written by Nokia or other parties that simply refuse by design to let you downgrade, although there would be no technical reason why it could not be otherwise. The mechanism of the check and the options of bypassing it would be as in (B), or, of course, just having a differently programmed firmware updater loader program which was not restricted in what it would permit loading.

D: Nokia's own sofware is created to arbitrarily deny downgrades in most cases, and 3rd party software updater / loader programs either do not exist or are really incompetent enough that they don't really understand how to fully and correctly reflash the unit in any but the simplest of cases, and so any given upgrade or downgrade may fail if they don't totally update the code and corresponding metadata properly. In this case it seems like we just need better 3rd party version loader / updater programs if there's no technical reason they shouldn't be able to read any firmware image and upload it successfully.

Anyway it is a bit strange since I've heard of people talking about 'dead phone' flashing etc. So that would usually imply that you could have a totally corrupted existing flash and successfully reflash a new ab initio version onto it regardless of what version had been previously loaded. Only if the phone wasn't completely zeroed / formatted could any trace of the previous version be left to matter relative to what the new version might be. Since the downgrade is still complicated, it must be that either the dead phone reflashing must not work fully in the case of missing firmware/metadata, or that the new firmware simply isn't able to be loaded without some kind of contextual data left on the handset from the previous version as in (A).

It is disconcerting that there should be such a problem, though, and it seems like
the origin of it should either be corrected or at least clearly documented so that it
is not so unclear.

[iamon69]

The MCU firmware is RSA-1024 signed, so you can't alter it. At start-up the firmware checks a special section of PM entry 308. If the value is lower than that of the present firmware, it's updated. If it's higher, start-up is stopped. But firmware updates this entry, too, if this entry is corrupt. To be able to corrupt this entry you have to manage to write to this section, which is prevented, especially by newer firmware revisions.

[cristina :)]

I ran into this issue as well. I wanted to debrand my unlocked via code RM-593 Nuron to allow use with AT&T MMS.

This was a good experience for me. I had not previously used the two programs and getting a dry run that didn't destroy my phone is a real confidence builder for me. Hopefully a generic RM-593 firmware that is newer than the current T-Mobile firmware will pop up in the next several weeks or months and I'll get to do this for real.

Elsewhere in this thread someone mentioned there was a high degree of difficulty installing the T-Mobile Visual Messaging application. Could the process be posted? That is a functionality I'd like to retain. The Day/Night themes have been extracted, links to these are in this thread somewhere, and were incredibly easy to install.

My thanks to the people who share this information and take the time to make it easily understood.

[tahlula54]

Has anyone been able to install visual voicemail after debranding it? Any way to extract the sis file for the visual voicemail from the TMobile firmware?

[Ravenfang]

I'd still be interested in learning how to extract software from phones. I know it should technically be possible with helloox2, but the latest firmware does not allow it to function properly.

If anyone is willing to help me figure out exactly what files will contain the software data, and how to create a .sis file that will then install said data in the correct locations of an unbranded phone, I will take the time to do it. I have plenty of time, a quick mind, and a desire to learn as much about this phone as possible.

[coldsw13]

anyways, Phoenix/JAF flashing on some PCs as noted elsewhere with XP sp3 and some USB ports won't do it right.... seems to not work 100% perfectly with P/J. Anyways, bricked Nuron here due to that - figure there was a reason JAF saw the phone fine on the new PC, but Phoenix never did. Old, Old PC was stable and worked right, both P/J saw the phone - should have flashed from that. Anyways, 98% complete, then white screen, faded, black, flashing back to white, faded, dark, and nothing. Vibrate for a moment upon power up, otherwise 100% dark screen with no other response.

Pretty good brick, eh?

Tried reflashing with P/J on the old PC, but only 98% complete, then stopped around the time it tried to reboot the phone. Connecting it to the PC by itself - wierd, device manager shows the Nokia Parent whatever devices for a moment, then disappears for a dozen more before continuing this cycle.

Anyways, only point? Figure Nokia's gotta make it easier to flash these babies in light of other phone makes (eg. Windows, Android) w/o as much risk of bricking. Esp. since they've released dev code for customizing the phone, might as well make it super easy for everyone to tweak w/o bricking. Esp. installing some sort of SD card recovery flash routing! - would be nice to simply drop the flash files onto the SD card, boot, and voila! recovered.

Figuring maybe I would need a JAF box or some other hardware to recover the baby, figure Nokia might as well play with it cheaper. So it's out for service. Their techs must laugh everytime....

[Ivanawannaknow!]

All of the tools and this information can be found at http://btjunkie.org/torrent/Various-...94a32cd35bc9a1 or http://www.demonoid.com/files/detail...rel=1281836125

[Rusty Steele]

List of Games and Apps that work with the Nuron itself can be found at

http://www.demonoid.com/files/details/2363359/15139962/
http://btjunkie.org/torrent/S60V5-No...a29ab50d8e5cad


If you require a Demonoid.com account, please pm me here for an invite. If you use torrents at all, it is a great asset to have.