Unlocking, Flashing, Debranding, Firmware upgrade explained

Last edited by cellcorner on Sun Apr 15, 2007 11:23 pm, edited 22 times in total

I saw a few unanswered questions in this forum about
Unlocking/Upgrading/Decustomization of Sony Ericsson. I hope the
following article will help and answer at least some of your
questions.

Terms Unlocking, Firmware upgrade, Decustomization explained

Unlocking
Phones are generally sold by a wireless carrier for much less than their actual
retail value. The wireless carrier oftens subsidizes the cost of the phone with
the expectation that they can recover more than this amount throughout the subscriber's
contract. They will try to make sure that the phone can only be used on their particular network,
and thus, locks the phone's software to their wireless network.
Unlocking means clearing the phone's software setting so that the phone can be used on any network.

Firmware upgrade
During the lifetime of a phone model manufacturer releases improved
versions of firmware. Sometimes you can see quite a bit of those e.g.
T610 was rather popular in this sence.

Decustomization or Debranding
This removes not only a provider placed lock but also its anoying
logos ( think Vodafone ), predefined themes, images, sounds, locked WAP
profiles and links. Debranding gives your phone a brand new look plus
frees up its memory (if you care).

Model conversion
In some cases different models of a some phone while having identical hardware only differ by the main software. This is done by manufacturers to place phones in different marketing or geographical categories.
Such phone models can be converted by flashing appropriate files in place of their "limited feature firmware"
For example Sony Ericsson V800i to Z800i conversion,
SonyEricsson K750i/D750 to W800i conversion,
SonyEricsson T610 T618 conversion,
T610 to T616, T226 to T230, T68m to T68i conversion, etc

How to Unlock Sony Ericsson

There are several options. Let's stop at some of them.
1. Terminator Dongle: Cheap, reliable way to do some modding on sony ericsson models before Sony-ericsson J200, Z600 (all T- models and earlier)

2. Cable unlocking via remote server: The least expensive, most reliable, fast and overall my personal favorite.

3. Standalone unlocking hardware : SEtool, Cruiser, Smart dongle etc. This is usually expensive, works for professional unlockers or shops.

4. Free unlocking software : just to be fair I had to mention this option. There is some software floating around on the internet. These are usually hacked versions of legitimate software. The problem with it is that such sofware comes without support and if the phone is damaged for some reason - you are on your own. Just on this board I can see several messages about SE cellphones with 'white screen of death' or message 'configuration error, contact your service provider.'

Terminator Dongle is a piece of hardware that goes along with software called DIV. The phone you are trying to unlock is connected through the dongle to computer's LPT/Printer port.

It can perform the following functions:
AVR/ARM/GDFS flashing
Firmware upgrade
Debranding
Unlocking as well as Locking to network
Empty board flashing
GDFS area repair and backup
Repair four locks closed
Model conversion

CONVERSION AND BAND CHANGE
Convert T68m to T68i to add MMS support for use with camera attachement
Convert T300 to T310 to improve many phone characteristics including signal reception
Convert T610 to T630 to improve screen contrast issues, adds ability to take pictures in 640 x 480 fotmat
Convert T616 to T610 to be able to add/change languages
Convert T610 to T616 in order to improve signal reception

CHANGE LANGUAGES
This allows you to upload new language packs into your phone. Some
of the available laguage packs are:
English, Indonesian, Malaysian
English, Tagalong, Vietnamese, Thai
English, Simp Chinese
English, Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Russian
English, Czech, Croatian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian
English, Greek, Turkish
English, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Romanian
English, French, Arabic, Persian, Hebrew, Russian
English, French, Danish, Dutch
English, French, German
English, French, Portugeuse, Spanish
English, French, German, Italian
English, Dutch, Greek, Polish,Spanish, Swedish
Hong Kong
Taiwan

Some of the models supported by Terminator Dongle at the moment:
Sony Ericsson:
Z600, P900, P800, T360, T616,T630, T637, T68, T610, Z200, T61z,
T62u, T226, T237, T620, P802, T100, T310, T310c, T300, T316, T302,
T200, T202, T216, T230, T237, T68i, T68ie, T68m, T68mc, T65, T65s,
T39, T39m, T39mc, T20, T29, R520, R520m, R520mc, A3618, R600, A2618, A2628, A2218

Cable unlocking/flashing via remote server is a more flexible option
in terms of supported models and new features as it's constantly being
improved.
It's working on pay-per-phone basis. Unlocking of one phone costs one
credit.

Remote server can perform the following functions:
AVR/ARM/GDFS flashing
Firmware upgrade
Debranding
Unlocking
Conversion and band change
Language change

Supported phones are:

Sony Ericsson
• Sony Ericsson Z and V Series: Z200, Z208, Z300 (Z300i, Z300a, Z300c), Z520i, Z520a, Z520c, V600i, V800i, V802SE (a.k.a. V802, 802SE), Z800i, Z1010i, Z1010c, Z500 (Z500i, Z500a, Z500c), Z520 (Z520i, Z520a, Z520c), Z530 (Z530i, Z530c), Z600, Z608, Z800i
• Sony Ericsson K, F, D and W Series: K300, F500i, K500i, K500c, K506c, K508i, K508c, K510 (K510i, K510a, K510c), K600i, K608i, K700i, K700c, K750i, D750i
• Sony Ericsson W-Series: W300 (W300i, W300c), W550i, W550c, W600i, W600c, W800i, W800c, W810 (W810i, W810a), W900i, W900c
• Sony Ericsson S-Series: S700i, S700c and S710a
• Sony Ericsson J-Series: J200i, J200c, J210i, J210c, J300i, J300a and J300c
• Sony Ericsson P-Series: P800, P802, P900, P908, P910i, P910a and P910c
• Sony Ericsson T-Series: T100, T105, T200, T226, T226s, T230, T238, T226m, T237, T237s, T290a, T290i, T290c, T300, T306, T310, T312, T316, T39m, T600, T610, T616, T618, T62u, T630, T628, T637, T65, T66, T68m, T68i and T68ie
• Sony Ericsson A and R Series: A3618s, R520m, R520mc and R600

Panasonic
X60, X66, X68, X300, X400
A100, A108, A210
G50, G51, G51M, G70
SC3, SA6, SA7, VS2, VS3, VS6, VS7, MX7

Alcatel
E157, E157, E159, E160, E161, E252, E256, E257, E259

Sharp
V801SH
V802SH, V902SH, SX813
V903SH, SX833
V703SH, SX313

Samsung
• D Series: D100, D410, D418
• E Series: E105, E310, E400, E600, E608, E710
• S-Series: S200, S208, S300, S300m
• P-Series: P100, P108, P400, P408
• Q-Series: Q100, Q105, Q200, Q300, Q400, Z605
• V-Series: V100, V200, V205, V208
• X-Series: X105, X400, X430, X450, X480

[added Apr 15, 2007]

What's the deal about new Sony Ericsson models like k790, K800, Z710, etc?

With the arrival of new DB2020 based phone it's became much harder to unlock SonyEricsson.
DB2020 are:
K610 K610i K618 K618i K790 K790i K790a K800 K800i
V630 V630i
Z550 Z558 Z610 Z610i Z710 Z710i Z710a Z710c
M600 M608
W710 W710i W710c W850 W850i W950 W950i W958 P990

Currently there is no hardware tool that unlocks these models. All unlocking methods are based on server access to the official Sony Ericsson server and retreiving code from their DB.
SEtool and Multibox teams were the first who acquired such access and started exploiting it. Untill they kicked them out.
If server access comes back, those are the ones to have, if you know what I mean

DB2020 flashing on the other hand is widely available, either by remote software or hardware tools like Cruiser, SEtool, etc
As I explained before by flashing we can fix phone software problems like White screen of Death, blue screen, blinking screen, white screen, debrand phone, upgrade firmware, change language, etc

www.nycellshop.com

Hi,

It's very helpfull for the members indeed. Perticulaly you have clearly sorted out all questions on the forum for the newbies. It should be even choosen to make this thread a sticky. Anyhow this'll be a little problematic since you have made a business propagation progress. (Hope you've read the forum rules.)

Bye,

Decustomization instructions for use with Terminator Dongle

You want to remove all Vodafone customization from your T610. The phone will need to be flashed to remove the branding and give you a 100% normal T610. Let's start with understanding how your phone works. There are 3 areas that you can flash/update:

The first is the AVR CPU. This CPU contains the main software that makes the phone work. It is this CPU that Vodafone modify the most, putting their own Icons and that annoying Live button on the main screen. It will have a software version associated with it.

The second is the ARM CPU. This CPU contain the code that operates the modem functions of the phone, such as Infared and Bluetooth. This CPU does contain customised Vodafone software also, but nothing that affects the visual aspect of the phone. It will also have a software version associated with it, and this version MUST match the AVR version.

The third area is the GDFS area. This area contains things like the default pictures and themes that come with the phone. Vodafone also put their own stuff in here, filling the phone up with images, sounds and themes you can't remove (because they're "predefined"). It also contains the locked WAP Profiles and links (such as More Sounds) that direct you to Vodafone Live. This does not have a software version, ie once it's been flashed you never need to flash it again, even if you want to upgrade the software version of your phone. So, you have 2 areas that run software versions (AVR and ARM CPUs) and 1 area that just contains static content (GDFS). Here is what you need to do to remove the Vodafone branding.

To unbrand your Vodafone T610 you'll need to flash the AVR CPU with the same revision of sofware, but one that isn't Vodafone customised. A Vodafone customised phone will be running AVR software with language pack version EU6 or EU7. Both those versions are Vodafone customised language packs, containing their icons and Live button. What you have to do is flash it with the same code release, but a different language pack.

You'll also want to flash the GDFS area with the original version from SonyEricsson. This means that you'll only have 2 tiny pictures you can't delete, one theme you can't delete and 5 sounds you can't delete. Plus it will also unlock your WAP profiles so you can change them if you want, including the ability to change your Homepage to something other than Vodafone Live!

So, what you need to do!
To remove the Vodafone branding, you'll need to flash your AVR CPU, ARM CPU and your GDFS Area.

If you want to upgrade the version of sofware your phone is running, you'll need to flash your AVR CPU and your ARM CPU. If you wanted to do both (Remove the Vodafone branding while upgrading your phone) then you'd need to flash all there areas.

--TiM
--edited by ME

I flashed avr- and amr-file on a T610-Vodafone-phone and managed to get rid of lot of customization but not all. (much nicer menus now)

I didn't flash the GDFS yet.

Does not GDFS contain Radio Calibration e.t.c. information which if overwritten can f***-up the phone?

Or is it OK to just overwrite it with SE_T610_Original_GDFS?

There are files modifing only parts of GDFS but I didn't try to replace whole GDFS yet.

Thanks in advance for more info.

What are you flashing with
terminator or multiserver?
Multiserver's GDFS only decustomizes logos, menus, icons etc
and doesn't damage any default stuff in the phone
Terminator - don't know, there is so many gdfs files for it

I'm using DIVUSB 5.0 - works fine but I'm a bit afraid of messing up GDFS.

I played a little flashing parts of GDFS e.g. enabling and disabling Net Monitor (Channel Menu) on a T230.
ALL_Models_Channel_Menu_ON/OFF(GDFS_NoBloksErase) - NO PROBLEMS.

Then I flashed the T230 with T230_FullGdfs_d (encrypted file). - PROBLEMS

The customisation was removed and e.g. other games/pictures were loaded in the phone.
It's OK but I discovered 2 bugs:

1. When choosing ringing signal in the menu the signal is played very loud (Max volume?)
2. During a call nothing is heard in the earpiece - even when increasing volume (Min volume ? all the time regardless changing volume level) - serious problem

There are GDFS files for Volume/Audio fix e.g. T200_Volume_Level_Fix_g or T610_Audio_Reset_v1_g but I couldn't find anything for T230.

Therefore I'm a bit afraid to play around with T610...

Does anybody have a good full/original GDFS for T230? Please...
(mine seems to be a bit faulty)

Is there any software available making FULL GDFS backup - not only security area?

Does anybody have experience in flashing T610 GDFS using DIVUSB 5.0 ?

Last edited by kevinlai on Sat Jan 15, 2005 7:27 pm, edited 1 time in total

hi,

i just got my T637 but i wish to unbrand it.
do anyone know where can i get the GDFS, ARM and AVR firmware for T637. Thank you.

Kevin

i got those file if u need it... and i got experience with the flashing (T610 & T616) so u can contact me... oh ya, do u have firmware for T637? if u do may be we can trade.

Unlocking, Flashing, Debranding, Firmware upgrade explained

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