Z710i Unlock/debranding questions

[Sledge Hammer]

I’m new to SE Phones and the whole unlocking debranding, but I’ve been trying to read quite a bit. I recently purchased a slightly used Z710i which was locked to Fido. I was planning to unlock/debrand it to use with my Rogers plan which I still have a year of commitment.

I unlocked the phone with GSMLiberty which seemed to go well, but now the phone has an unusual problem. The display shuts off when you close the clam shell or when it goes into screensaver mode. I have to shut the phone off and turn it on again to get the display back. I was hoping that when I debrand it, it would clear the problem. At present it is at CID49, would it help to upgrade it to CID50/51? What is the best program to use to bebrand/upgrade, XS++ or SETools Lite?

Any help would be appreciated.

[ikjadoon]

I'd use XS++ and this guide:

http://forums.se-nse.net/index.php?showtopic=16148&st=0

How much do you know? If you don't know what a custom pack or MAIN is, then this guide is kind of useless.

~Ibrahim~

[Sledge Hammer]

I’ve managed to re-lock my phone. I used XS++ V2.0 and Z710_R1EF001_MAIN_GENERIC_CN_RED49 & Z710_R1EF001_FS_AMERICA_2_RED49. I backed-up the GDFS before I started with XS++, then flashed the Main & FS. The phone restarted and no longer shuts down when I close the clamshell, but it gives me the Insert Correct Sim Card message. I tried to recover the GDFS that I backed-up, but it didn’t change anything.

I think the problem might have something to do with the fact that, after I unlocked the phone, it indicated NETWORK: LOCKED (when read with SETool). It worked with my sim card on the Rogers Network even though it was previously locked to FIDO.

I'm currently working with the GSMLiberty techs to find out what happened and why the phone is locked.

[ikjadoon]

Shoot, I think I know how it got 're-locked'. They unlocked your phone using a patch, I think. The patch was applied to the MAIN firmware. The patch basically tells the phone to ignore the startup check for the correct SIM; hence the phone is "unlocked". However, the patch was applied to the MAIN firmware. And when you flashed a new MAIN, one w/o the patch, the phone became "re-locked".

There are other ways to unlock, but this way one is common.

Before I go on, did you flash a custom pack? Might it be causing this issue?

~Ibrahim~

[zumtotal]

Sledge Hammer, I reckon ikjadoon is right. I 'unlocked' my phone with GSMLiberty but the phone behaved oddly like yours - took ages to come out of standby - so bad it was unusable. I re-flashed the phone with Wotan and it worked OK but became locked again.

I think that the problem with the screen going blank is due to GSMliberty's bad instructions for D-Client: they only tell you to download the Main_FW file, but you really need the corresponding File System file as well (in Raw_FS folder) - both have to be flashed for the phone to work. That's my theory, anyway, but I'm a newbie too so I could be wrong. With Wotan their client chooses and downloads the two files for you - far more straightforward. Unfortunately they don't offer an unlock service, just de-brand etc.

I have a support ticket open with GSMliberty complaining about the incomplete instructions and asking for a refund, but they've stopped responding to my emails. I'd advise anyone else to avoid them.

I got my phone unlocked properly at a shop. Working well in general but it does take about 25 seconds to boot up when I turn it on each day - is that normal?

Zum

[zumtotal]

I have now been told by GSMliberty that they have updated their instructions after my complaint. They now tell people to download the RAW_FS file as well, but they also warn don't use any CID52 files at all, when last week I was specifically told to use a CID52 file. Ah well ...

[zumtotal]

At least they've now admitted their error and have refunded me.

[ikjadoon]

Ah, that may well be the issue. While a non-matching MAIN and FS phone will work, it is usually quirky and isn't the best for said reasons. A matching MAIN + FS is the recommended version; so instead of letting you apply the patch, they gave you an already-patched MAIN. Interesting.

The CID52 issue. The thing is that CID52 is a newer protection and requires a different mechanism to access the internals of the phone; thus, it is still using the bruteforce method (picking random lottery numbers and hoping you get the right one) which takes quite a few hours. The bad thing, however, is that CID52 phones with a CID52 EROM won't accept regular firmwares, ones used by CID36/49 phones; they require a separate firmware with the correct header or 'password', so to speak. So if you wanted to debrand your CID52 Z710i, it would require a CID52, generic firmware, which is rare. Especially with Top Sony asking for money: they are the prime location for procuring a firmware, yet since their "greedy" demise, many people have set up alternate locations to download firmwares.

Glad they gave you the refund; yeah, I personally like Wotan better, too. I wish you had a W810i, they just released a free version of the unlock patch for it a few days ago...Maybe someone could port it to the Z710i? But I'm not sure if we can even patch the the DB2020-based phones yet (K800i and any phone later, basically)..

Good luck, though.

~Ibrahim~

[zumtotal]

Hi Ibrahim

Thanks for clarifying the CID52 issue. No wonder my phone wouldn't work - it's CID49 and they told me to apply a CID52 patch - main only!

Anyway, thanks to Wotan and my local phone shop I have a working, debranded, unlocked phone - still CID49.

Can you shed any light on the slow boot? I timed it and it's more like 30 to 45 seconds to get from pressing the on button to seeing the main screen, depending on which animated theme I use. Would using a static theme speed things up?

Zum

[Sledge Hammer]

Well I have been working with the GSMLiberty techs to resolve the problem. They confirmed what you’ve been saying about the patch, without actually saying they are applying a patch. I had reflashed the Z710_R1EF001_MAIN_GENERIC_CN_RED49 & Z710_R1EF001_FS_AMERICA_2_RED49 Main & FS and I flashed the Z710i_CDA102651_7_R3A_Generic_Trade_USA custpack, because I understood that you need to add the correct custpack to ‘finalize’ and I was hoping to get my phone’s files to the same CID and region.

GSMLiberty gave me an additional unlock code (free) with instructions to use both the MAIN and FS RAW files I used their Z710a_CXC1250434_NAM1_R1EF001_Red49 & Z710i_CXC1250436_America2_R1EF001_Red49 files to unlock my phone. Everything seemed to go well with their DClient software not reporting any errors. However, my phone now displays the following error message "Configuration error. Please contact your service provider or service center."

I give credit to the GSMLiberty techs as they are still patiently assisting me and I’m not in dire straights as I have my old phone that I can use while I sort this out. I’d just like to start using my ‘new’ phone. Is there any chance that I still have a conflict between Main/FS & my custpack? If I flash a different custpack does it risk changing the patch and relocking my phone? I wouldn’t think so as I understand changing the custpack is part of the fun that everyone is having with these phones.

[ikjadoon]

@zumtotal

Slow boot, eh? Hmm...What is your startup image? The theme might help. Interestingly enough, my W810i (semi-branded with Da_G's pack) takes 30 seconds to boot up including the standard startup image. It has never really bothered me because I rarely turn my phone off, but it is a minor annoyance. I have a startup image, both locks enabled, Walkman-Only Menu, and then I finally see the main standby screen.

Maybe debranded phones just have this issue? I'm not sure...You'd think they would start up faster without all the junk having to come on. Do you have a memory stick inserted when you boot? Mine boots up nearly twice as fast if I don't insert it.

@Sledge Hammer

Right, you need a custom pack to finalize the phone. OK, so you used their two files to unlock the phone, correct?

Now you get the infamous "Configuration Error". This is caused by a missing custom pack. While it may look the firmware has three parts, it is more like two and a half. You have the MAIN, which is literally a bunch of code. Then you have the FS, which is actually a bunch of folders 'compressed' into a .bin/.fbn file. So, if you extracted the FS, you'd get folders named ifs, tpa, etc. OK, so the MAIN is just some code and the FS is a compressed set of folders, similar to a *.zip or *.rar package. The final ".5" is the custom pack. Custom pack = a bunch of files. Now these files are actually *inserted* inside the FS after the FS has been flashed. These files are uploaded to: FS/tpa/preset/custom; a location in your phone's FS.

When you download a FS, this folder (FS/tpa/preset/custom) is empty. The phone cannot function without these files. So you must flash a custom pack, which is these few files uploaded to the FS.

You might wonder why they just don't put the custom pack in the FS to begin with. For one, if they did flashing would be infinitely easier and you would almost never have to pay to debrand; this is because we could flash the MAIN and FS to these phones ages ago. It is only rather recently that we could flash the custom pack, thus debranding a phone completely. Secondly, the custom pack contains the files that are most altered for different regions, different carriers. This way, SE doesn't have to design 100 FS files for all these different languages. They just design a few FS files and many custom packs. Custom = 'customize'.

So, you just need a custom pack to upload. They didn't provide one? Ask for one, they should give one for you that will work nicely with your MAIN and FS. Make sure that it has the languages you want. However, if you want just English, no need to worry. All custom packs contain English,

~Ibrahim~

[Sledge Hammer]

Ibrahim, thank you for your very informative lay-man's language post. That makes all of this flashing stuff make sense. I could understand the MAIN (Program) & FS (Files System), but I didn’t realise the FS was empty or overwrote the previous custpack. It makes sense if the FS is installed empty, which allows for maximum configuration changes by network providers, then the files must be provided after the File System is created. I can’t figure out how GSMLiberty hasn’t clued into this sooner unless they were assuming that I would pay to debrand and unlock at the same time.

If GSMLiberty's MAIN & FS were North American would I not be able to flash a generic USA custpack? I’m not sure how long it will take GSMLiberty to figure out what they have done.

[zumtotal]

Thanks, Ibrahim. It seems that a slow boot is pretty common, then. I've tried various startup images, themes etc and the fastest boot is 30 secs, slowest 45 secs. It doesn't seem to make any difference if the theme is large or small (in terms of how big it was to download off the web), static or animated, or whether it's in the phone memory or memory stick. Removing the memory stick makes no difference. Just one of those little annoyances, like you say.

[ikjadoon]

@Sledge Hammer

Hehe, thanks. You really don't need to know all that stuff, I just thought it would make more sense if I told you outright. Actually, a generic USA custom pack should be fine, as long as it is NOT branded. That is what can causes problems.

I'm not sure why GSM Liberty wouldn't have known this. I don't mean to demean them, but this error is extremely common to flashing 'newbies'. I'm wondering if they know this fact, yet have a different mechanism or something? That would be very odd and cumbersome, but I'm going to assume they know what they are doing. You could flash the custom pack yourself, if you wanted. But that won't void any "warranty" you have with GSM Liberty, right?

@zumtotal

Hmm...Interesting. I'll check it out some more, as I've been meaning to get this fixed. I'll have a little poll over at se-nse.net if I get the time; right now the site is down...

I'll see if I can mess with it some more; maybe I'll figure it out.

~Ibrahim~

[dav1209]

i sent my phone oversea to my brother and he couldn't get it unlock
i don't think he familiar with any of the unlocking...
so what is the best way to get it unlock online ...and how much it would be
thanks