Being a go-getter is normally a good thing, but one must
always keep the saying “fools rush in where angels fear to tread”. This applies
most specially to gadget junkies who are stumbling all over themselves to unwrap
and power on their latest acquisition. In fact, being one of these junkies, I
have nothing but the highest admiration for those people who are able to
control themselves in order to painstakingly film the unpacking of their newest
gadget.
Such excitement tends accompany the upgrade of the software
as well. Because of the internet, upgrading a device requires little more than clicking
a link, installing software, downloading the updates and you have the newest
software onboard.
The updates are always a good thing right?
Well for a lot of people, it is. But for many others, it can
lead them to a harrowing experience like one that I just had. So here’s my
story:
When my Desire Z was new, my first impulse was to update it
and lucky for me, one was available right off. This is usually the case when
you buy a new device because the equipment on the market is usually a few
months old and there is likely to be some sort of update in the wings.
So I updated my DZ and the problem was that it was not so
much that there were niggling things in the phone that were bothering me. It's
more of I tend to go over the tech sites and forums every day and of course I
would be passing some Desire Z specific forums like this:
So I would read about some problems which other people have
encountered and even if it was not a problem I was likely to encounter, once I
was able to re-create the problem is my machine, it left me hungry for an
update to my own device.
So embarrassing as it may be to admit it, I would generally
check for updates most of my devices at least three times a week and as usual,
once it's released I would be one of the first to apply them to my devices.
The good news is that being able to do so gives me something
to write about on this blog. Regular readers will notice that one of the things
I usually make it a point to post here have to do with upgrades and updates
which I just happened to run into. That's actually a half-truth because I go
searching for those updates
Anyway that was the good news.
The bad news is that if you have such a propensity to update
like I do, it would be fine if your intention is to stay with the factory
updates. Meaning if it's not an official HTC, Samsung or other manufacturers
update then you're not applying it to your phone. However like for my original Desire,
there have been conflicting reports about the upgrade to gingerbread and while
I was able to update to Froyo already, I've spent the better part of several
months waiting for Gingerbread to appear while watching Desire HD owners
getting their upgrades.
Moreover the statements of HTC about the Desire (the Bravo) have
not been reassuring regarding the GB release. They are referring to the problem
of low memory on the Desire which might lead to the abandoning of the update
altogether. So this is what led me to upgrade my Desire to the Cyanogen mod rom
which was an eye-opener and has given my Desire an new lease on life.
However, while the original Desire already had some form of
protection against the third party rom installations via the S-ON protection,
it was a fairly easy thing to hack. The Desire Z was a totally different story
because looking at the wiki on XDA, one would notice that the last two updates
where what really sealed the fate for most Desire Z owners that time.
There was one update around December which introduced several
patches which provided a higher form of protection against third-party roms and
exploits. But some bypass was created by the wizards at XDA, however the 2011
update was such that it made it extremely difficult to bypass the protection in
order to root and S-OFF the phone.
Consequently, anyone who would have taken the time to read
the XDA forums about Desire Z would've seen this a warning about not updating
to that particular OTA update and saved themselves from unnecessary woe. Of
course given my excitement, I did not bother to wait for any feedback from the
forum at all and proceeded to apply the update as soon as I saw the
notification on the site and on my favorite mobile phone site:
Little did I know that I was putting my DZ in what would be
the equivalent of a maximum security prison. So it was updated to the 1.84
software and to make things worse, the CID on my device was one of those that
could not be readily downgraded or S-OFFed.
At that point it looked like I was probably destined to stay
with the stock HTC rom for the life my DZ. I was able to take such a fate lightly
for the next couple of months but when I went to Cyanogen Mod CM7 and observed
my HTC desire getting much better battery life than the Desire Z I began to
feel this uncontrollable urge to change my rom. At this point my Desire Z was
running 2.2.1 while my original Desire was running 2.3.3 so you can imagine how
difficult it was for a compulsive upgrader like myself to be in such a
situation.
So there that's when my three-day saga began where I had to
alternate between working and researching for the solution to downgrade my Desire
Z in order to get root, after which I
was going to upgrade to the latest rom which incorporated the 2.3.3 update.
I went through no less than six gold card creation and
countless sessions using ADB trying to push different software to get temporary
root in order to get my Desire Z to recognize a lower rom version as the
upgrade version.
However each attempt only ended up in my DZ ignoring the zip
file on the SD card which was supposed to provide the update. No amount of
tinkering with the files in the SD card could make it recognize the image file.
At this point it was now keeping me up at night because I just don't understand
why the downgrade wasn't working.
Finally I ran into this tool for Desire Z on the XDA forum which
offered to downgrade, S-off, root and change to super CID all in one sweep. Basically
all the things I wanted to do to my phone without having to go through ADB!!
Moreover, the feedback about the tool was most promising but
the only problem that confronted me was overwhelming. I must be able to
downgrade my software before I could use the tool.
Here is the link to the AMT tool:
Somehow, in the middle of burning midnight oil, I was able
to figure out a solution that utilized AMT and an original factory Asian ROM
which I found on XDA too. These two provided the key for me to be able to
downgrade my DZ easily.
The procedure went like this:
I used AMT to alter something on the DZ to make it believe
that the current rom was a much lower one, a 1.08 to enable me to flash an
upgrade which was actually a downgrade to the 1.40 something version. This was the
one which would allow AMT to work its magic. So since it was my third day of
tinkering with the DZ, I decided to go for broke and said to myself well if
it's going to get bricked then so be it. Because I wasn't going to leave this
thing hanging over my head much longer. So I fired up AMT, set it up and
proceeded to upgrade/downgrade my rom. Thankfully and to my amazement, it was
able to go through without a hitch.
It's hard to describe the elation that overcame me when this
happened. Finally I was able to proceed and root my device, install an
engineering H-boot and remove the S-ON, making it S off. In retrospect, it was
an extremely lucky break for me that I was able to find that particular piece
of software as well as the rom for the Asian version of my phone.
The hard earned lesson here is to wait for feedback about updates
before applying them to your device. Yes it's exciting to flash all the new updates
that's true, but undergoing 3 days of
aggravation trying to look for a solution to undo my hasty upgrade that
effectively locked in my phone is certainly not an enjoyable experience.
So wait for the feedback from reputable forums like XDA and
read before doing any updates to your machine.
For my part, my purpose in this whole exercise was to be
able to upgrade my phone which I was able to do. But I had to go through no
less than four different roms.
I ended up with Cyanogen mod 7.03 which is in an AOSP and
the story about how I went from wanting to stay with a Sense enabled rom to
dispensing with it altogether and going AOSP is one for another day. I'll be
posting that story after I am able to put the continuation of my buyers guide
to smart phones.
In the meantime gadget junkies, I know it's hard but try to wait
it out for at least one week after update is released before flashing the
machine.
That way you will be able to get the feedback from early upgraders and
not have to go through their difficulties.
