vB Easy Archive - Don't do the A56>C56 flash

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Don't do the A56>C56 flash
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Posted by: Rebel_lord

Alrite ... early this morning, I noticed that my phone wasn't charging properly. I was like gawd damned. I had a pretty bad feeling about it so I posted a thread asking on Fido's warrentee stuff. yea anyways the phone didn't charge properly. Everytime I stuck the charger in, it would charge for a few seconds and den turn off. More often than not, the phone wouldn't boot up at all, telling me the battery was empty. So I went down to the flagship store and I got a service guy. Lucky for me, he was really nice and tried to clean my phone for me. He didn't want to get in trouble or anything so he spoke rather quietly and tried to tell me dat phone was relatively done for. Apparently according to him, he has tried the A56>C56 flash mod himself and fried his phone. The mod somehow affects the resistor on the phone. The resistor is weak and is used for the speaker for the polyphonic ringtones and speakerphone. From wat I understood, in someway, the flash mod screws up the phone and basically ruins the ability of the phone to work with the charger and wat not. As well the battery level indicator, which uses the same resistor is also broken so it will read the battery as dead, even when it's not. If u have any ideas on how to fix it, lemme know ... In the meantime, I wouldn't suggest anyone else do the A56/C56 mod.

Posted by: mihali

has anyone else seen this problem? or any weird battery-related issues since converting to a c56? i was considering doing the flash but now i'm not so sure...

Posted by: mosquito_R

I was over at http://forum.gsmhosting.com and took a random look through their Siemens problem. Seems that a lot of the A5x and C5x phones have charging problems that are similar to what Rebel_lord described. However, most of the problems were found on unconverted phones.

Also in that forum a lot of people have done the A55/6>C55/6 conversion and I haven't read that this problem is conversion-related; it seems that by nature that resistor is weak and will fry itself over time.

Personally, I think that since Siemens made the hardware the same for A56 and C56, why would they just put a different resistor of a different rating of the lower-line phone model? After all, the cost difference in hardware should be pretty much negligible. As we have seen, only the software differentiates these two models (aside from the obvious different faceplates).

As for battery issues, the conversion utilizes the battery-related EEPROM blocks from the original phone, so battery measurements/charging duties remain the same as the unconverted phone and thus should not have a problem. I have converted quite a few of these phones and to the best of my knowledge they're still running fine - I did conversions for a bunch of people I know.

Please correct me if I made any mistakes. Again, it's just my 2 cents I'd like to share.

Posted by: mihali

yeah i know it makes no sense to have a different resistor in the c56 but stranger things have happened. my company also builds machines this way same hardware, different firmware; but sometimes there are other little differences too, so...

oh well, i'm still waiting for johnnyt to contact me to do the conversion.

Posted by: mosquito_R

Yeah, while it couldn't be taken for granted that the resistors in both phones are the same, my opinion was that it made sense from a cost-effectiveness standpoint to use common hardware... but of course, it could be possible that the A5x models just use a lower-quality resistor and the better ones go to the C5x models.

One practical thing that could be done for those who've done the conversion already: reduce the use of the speakerphone or the polyphonic rings. From what I understand, the need more power to run and would thus place more stress on the resistor. I normally use my headset with auto-answer, so I'm using very little of both.

Also, could it be that Rebel_lord's phone was a refurb unit/OTC exchange unit? If so, there's already some mileage on the resistor, thus it died earlier than expected? Just a thought...

Posted by: Rebel_lord

nah it was a brand new phone.

It's kinda sad taht it died on me. But atleast it had decent timing. I'm going away to university in a bit and I've explored a lot of opinions and I've found that it will be the most cost effective for me to use Telus instead of Fido despite losing my great number (XX-R-U-HOT) and GSM phone, because I'll be logging around 3k minutes per month (with the T2T Canada Match it plan) to keep in touch w/ my girlfriend who's gonna be in Sudbury. I've talked to the telus ppl and they're fine w/ me switching to Telus as long as my sim is active, even if the phone doesn't work.

I hate CDMA phones ... but oh well.

Posted by: mosquito_R

Quote:

Originally posted by Rebel_lord
nah it was a brand new phone.

Man, that's too bad... but yes, at least the timing was decent. School's starting in a couple weeks again! (ha ha, good thing I'm done long time ago!)

I feel bad that you have to let go of Fido and your awesome phone number (I'd take it from you if it were a 403 number!). Yes, Telus coverage is better than Fido when you're in the middle of nowhere, and you really can milk the promotional offer for Fido converts.

Yeah, CDMA sucks, but what can you do? I just hope you don't end up with a plasticky silver flip phone that everyone has.

I just have this very paranoid thought that one day I might have to move to the middle of nowhere and end up using Telus... hmmm... nasty thought...

So, are you handing Telus your dead A56? I wonder what they're gonna do with your phone... Take it and roam US and South America??

Posted by: Rebel_lord

Quote:

Originally posted by mosquito_R
Man, that's too bad... but yes, at least the timing was decent. School's starting in a couple weeks again! (ha ha, good thing I'm done long time ago!)

I feel bad that you have to let go of Fido and your awesome phone number (I'd take it from you if it were a 403 number!). Yes, Telus coverage is better than Fido when you're in the middle of nowhere, and you really can milk the promotional offer for Fido converts.

Yeah, CDMA sucks, but what can you do? I just hope you don't end up with a plasticky silver flip phone that everyone has.

I just have this very paranoid thought that one day I might have to move to the middle of nowhere and end up using Telus... hmmm... nasty thought...

So, are you handing Telus your dead A56? I wonder what they're gonna do with your phone... Take it and roam US and South America??

apparently they just keep the phone ... I heard rumours do comparison in rf. I dunno ...

hmm does Telus have any other affordable phone that's not plastic and flip? oh yea the ugly arse Blade ... ewww ... hehe

anyways clear ur pm box =)

Posted by: MethodMan

Quote:

Originally posted by Rebel_lord
I'm going away to university in a bit and I've explored a lot of opinions and I've found that it will be the most cost effective for me to use Telus instead of Fido despite losing my great number (XX-R-U-HOT) and GSM phone, because I'll be logging around 3k minutes per month (with the T2T Canada Match it plan) to keep in touch w/ my girlfriend who's gonna be in Sudbury. ...I hate CDMA phones ... but oh well.

Just my 2 cents; if you still want GSM, you can get onto Rogers and they have a Roger2Rogers plan for $5 more. Not a bad deal if your gf already has a GSM phone.

Posted by: alpha tag

how long till it'll fry? i've done the conversion at least 5 - 10 times on one phone only (trial and error stuff) and it works like a tank... maybe there's differences on when it was built and such? the phone works flawlessly still and battery meter is fine after the initial battery cycling that's needed to fix the accuracy after the conversion

Posted by: Zombie999

Quote:

Originally posted by alpha tag
how long till it'll fry? i've done the conversion at least 5 - 10 times on one phone only (trial and error stuff) and it works like a tank... maybe there's differences on when it was built and such? the phone works flawlessly still and battery meter is fine after the initial battery cycling that's needed to fix the accuracy after the conversion

Don't worry, as a tech I can guarantee you that changing your phone software will not result in hardware failure. I'm using one right now and have no problems whatsoever, it even works better than real C56.

Posted by: Riazg

Quote:

Originally posted by Zombie999
Don't worry, as a tech I can guarantee you that changing your phone software will not result in hardware failure. I'm using one right now and have no problems whatsoever, it even works better than real C56.

But if you change the software so that'll it'll push the limits of your current phone will it not make the hardware more prone to failure? I want to do the update but I am a bit iffy after reading this thread. Could it be a possibility that the ones made in china are more prone to failure?

*request*: people with phones that failed can they post where and when your phone was made? Maybe we can find a trend of affected phones?

better then a real C56? how so?

Posted by: mosquito_R

Quote:

Originally posted by Riazg

*request*: people with phones that failed can they post where and when your phone was made? Maybe we can find a trend of affected phones?

better then a real C56? how so?

My first A56 was not even converted and it failed within 2 months of me owning it... I was using it outside during -30C weather, so I dunno if that would have caused the problem or not. The phone was made in China, variant E140, build date Nov 2003. That phone was exchanged for a refurb German built A140, build date Sep 2003. I've had the most mileage with that one (2-3hrs talk time each day) and then it failed after 6 months. Mind you, this was a refurb, so it's probably got some mileage on it beforehand.

On the other hand, phones I've converted for my friends have been predominantly E140 Chinese-built models and they've been functioning quite well. One of them uses the phone quite heavily each day and it's been 9 months since new and 6 months since conversion and it's still running along fine.

And Zombie999, please enlighten us on how a converted A56 works better than a C56.

I'm partial to the A56 keypad cuz it's better for SMS work.

Posted by: Zombie999

Quote:

Originally posted by mosquito_R
And Zombie999, please enlighten us on how a converted A56 works better than a C56. I'm partial to the A56 keypad cuz it's better for SMS work.

-Higher earpiece volume on A56, makes a difference when used on Rogers.

-Slightly better outgoing voice quality. I work in a noisy place and I have done several test recordings with both C56 and A56 and A56 wins. This helps when talking to Melanie

-Better keypad, yes.

-SAME battery lasts longer when used in A56 than C56.

I was using C56 and switched to a converted A56 after reading this thread just to see if it's gonna fail.

However I'm not a heavy user as this is my secondary line, so it may take a while, if it ever fails.

Posted by: Zombie999

Quote:

Originally posted by Riazg
But if you change the software so that'll it'll push the limits of your current phone will it not make the hardware more prone to failure? I want to do the update but I am a bit iffy after reading this thread. Could it be a possibility that the ones made in china are more prone to failure?

You see most likely electronics in both phones is the same. What's the different is the keypad and casing. If not, software wouldn't work. Try loading WinXP on Mac.

You would have a problem if for example C56 was using different battery than A56, you do a conversion and charge A56 battery with C56 software. This could definately cause charging circuit to fail.

Original poster said that "weak resistor" is prone to failure due to phone speaker draining to much current when speakerphone is used.
First, there is no such a thing as a "weak" and "strong" resistor.

Second, a resistor doesn't control the current. Third, both A56 & C56 use same type of speaker and use it for earpiece, speakerphone and ringer. This speaker will draw same current when ringing or used as speaker. We are talking mAmpers here.

I'd say use your phone for few months, if everything works ok, go and upgrade, you'll be happy you did, it's a great upgrade.

Posted by: mosquito_R

Quote:

Originally posted by Zombie999
-Slightly better outgoing voice quality. I work in a noisy place and I have done several test recordings with both C56 and A56 and A56 wins. This helps when talking to Melanie

Wow... I'm surprised! Could this be that your phones are manufactured in different places and different times? I also have a German-made C56; I should do some comparisons with my German A56.

I was using my A56 on Rogers Paygo. Melanie doesn't like my voice, apparently. IMHO, I hate voice-activated commands.

Quote:

-SAME battery lasts longer when used in A56 than C56.

On the issue of the battery, did you base your battery endurance observation on the battery meter or on talk/standby time? I noticed on one of my converted A56's (I had a few) the battery meter was non-linear. The 5 battery-related EEPROM blocks were of course imported back into the phone after conversion. Could this be because I didn't cycle the battery (full charge-discharge) after the conversion?

Your comments would be much appreciated.

Posted by: Zombie999

Quote:

Originally posted by mosquito_R
Wow... I'm surprised! Could this be that your phones are manufactured in different places and different times? I also have a German-made C56; I should do some comparisons with my German A56.

I was using my A56 on Rogers Paygo. Melanie doesn't like my voice, apparently. IMHO, I hate voice-activated commands.

My C56 was made in Germany and my A56 was made in China (production date 12/18/03, E-140). I don't have the C56 handy to check the production date.
Yeah, I was suprised to see phone made in China perform better, but it does.
I'm using it on rogers and call melanie daily. With C56 I have to put the phone right in front of my mouth to make melanie understand me. However with A56 I can hold phone normally and melanie understands well. In both cases I'm using the phones in a place with lots of loud background noise.

Quote:

Originally posted by mosquito_R
On the issue of the battery, did you base your battery endurance observation on the battery meter or on talk/standby time?

I based my battery obversation on actual phone standby time.

With C56 I would normally get maximum of 3 days of standby and would normally charge it every 2 days.

A56 gives me 5-6 days of standby and I can charge it every 4 days. In both cases on rogers.

Before conversion I had same A56 on standby for 10 days on fido.

Quote:

Originally posted by mosquito_R
I noticed on one of my converted A56's (I had a few) the battery meter was non-linear. The 5 battery-related EEPROM blocks were of course imported back into the phone after conversion. Could this be because I didn't cycle the battery (full charge-discharge) after the conversion?

As for the battery meter, I didn't cycle the battery after conversion, I used the same battery, I find it quite accurate on converted A56.

I don't think that not cycling the battery was cause of your problem. I doubt that this phone has inteligent battery meter circuit. It simply translates the battery voltage to show capacity level.

Most important thing during conversion is to use fully charged battery. Phone consumes power during conversion and when you restore battery realated eeprom block it assumes battery is in the same condition as before conversion. If you took a while converting, your battery voltage may have been different before and after conversion causing you battery meter to be non-linear.

The only phone I have with really good and accurate battery meter is ericsson T28.

Posted by: mosquito_R

Zombie999,

Thanks for your expertise!! Your comments, especially regarding the battery level pre- and post-conversion, was very enlightening.

I'll do the A56>C56 vs C56 comparison once my C56 comes back, it'll be interesting to see the difference.

Rogers should fire Melanie!

As for Chinese-made phones, I think it's again a matter of quality control. If a company exercises good QC in all their plants around the globe, then one should expect relatively good consistency in their products. Honda is a good example of this - their US and Canadian built cars are just as good in quality as their Japanese built variants.

Hmm... I wonder where my 7250i was built? It just said "Made by Nokia".

cheers,
Mosquito_R

Posted by: Gaunt911

are all USB cables created equal?
if I pick up a USB cable off eBay (with drivers), can use that for conversions and servicing (MBUS/FBUS) right... =)

I have a Siemens serial cable at home - I suspect it is only for datasuite purposes and not MBUS/FBUS.

I am bidding on some AT&T c56 on eBay...^^
I am currently using a T300...... but giving it up for my sis in law to use =)

Posted by: President Kim

Does anyone have a flash file (a.k.a. firmware) for C56? I 'accidently' flashed mine to C55 and it no longer picks up 850/1900 bandwiths. Stupid me... Please help~

Posted by: mosquito_R

Quote:

Originally posted by Gaunt911
are all USB cables created equal?
if I pick up a USB cable off eBay (with drivers), can use that for conversions and servicing (MBUS/FBUS) right... =)

I have a Siemens serial cable at home - I suspect it is only for datasuite purposes and not MBUS/FBUS.

I am bidding on some AT&T c56 on eBay...^^
I am currently using a T300...... but giving it up for my sis in law to use =)

Funny thing... one of the guys on here just e-mailed me and told me he had problems with his (presumably aftermarket) serial cable - ie, the phone's not recognised when using Freia and EEPROM tools, but he was able to use Data Suite.

A good bunch of people here used USB for the conversion and other stuff, so I presume most USB cables are created equal. Heck, probably all of the ones we get here in N.America are from the same factory in Taiwan.
www.prolific.com.tw

I bid on a C56 from AT&T previously; turned out to be a refurb unit (with stickers indicating this in the battery bay) although the phone was advertised as a "new, never been used". So, please be careful while bidding.

So, how's the T300? I've heard an equal amount of positive and negative comments...

cheers,
Mosquito_R

Posted by: mosquito_R

Quote:

Originally posted by President Kim
Does anyone have a flash file (a.k.a. firmware) for C56? I 'accidently' flashed mine to C55 and it no longer picks up 850/1900 bandwiths. Stupid me... Please help~

Send a PM to me with an e-mail address that can accommodate >8 MB. (ie. don't use Hotmail)

Posted by: Mint

Hey guys, i'm planning on signing with fido and they offer this as a free one. How's reception for fido/A56? Is it a lot better after the flash to a C56?

Lotta people have negative reviews on fido, but the people who use it, say its pretty good. I'm mainly using it in the Toronto area too.
TIA

Posted by: mosquito_R

First, a usual quick reminder/disclaimer: Whether or not a phone provider's reception is good really depends on where you are located; it's best to take advantage of Fido's 15-day trial period to see whether or not Fido's service works for you.

Now onto the A56: It's a basic phone, but in terms of reception, it's among the better ones in Fido's lineup. I've tried it in the same locations against a Vtech A700, Nokia 3390, Nokia 7250i. The A56 is up near the top since it holds onto signal pretty well and the voice quality is almost like landline. If you want a phone that functions like a phone without too much bling, this is a good one to carry around each day.

As an aside, I purchased the 7250i before the A56, and I ended up being more impressed with the A56 because it's such a good phone for so little outlay. For me the A56 was good enough, being able to unlock it and convert to C56 was really icing on the cake. Even if you don't succeed in the conversion, it'll be a great phone to have, esp. if you need to use your phone everyday on a CityFido, F2F or the $70 plan.

BTW, reception does not improve after conversion. I don't think you really need to improve its already good reception.

Just my 2 cents...
Mosquito_R

Quote:

Originally posted by Mint
Hey guys, i'm planning on signing with fido and they offer this as a free one. How's reception for fido/A56? Is it a lot better after the flash to a C56?

Lotta people have negative reviews on fido, but the people who use it, say its pretty good. I'm mainly using it in the Toronto area too.
TIA

Posted by: Mint

Hey Mosquito,

Thanks for all the info! Answered most of my questions.

Just one last question. What does the flashing to C56 do?

Posted by: mosquito_R

I'm Mosquito_R, by the way...

What does the C56 do? Find out here:
http://www.siemens-mobile.com/cds/f...NrNrNrN,00.html

Or... you should have just went to the A56>C56 conversion thread. Again, read up on that thread and understand what you're doing before trying to convert. Too many people have skipped a step or two and screwed up their phones.

Have fun!

Mosquito_R

Quote:

Originally posted by Mint
Hey Mosquito,

Thanks for all the info! Answered most of my questions.

Just one last question. What does the flashing to C56 do?

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