Important new update: It’s possible that using this utility could cause problems down the road. My advice is to not use this if you’ve held off so far, and let’s see what develops, perhaps as early as today. –Paul
Chris Walsh has released a tool that may allow you to bypass Microsoft’s silly restrictions and install the February 2011 (“pre-update”) and March 2011 (“NoDo”) updates for Windows Phone. Please note that I have not tested this yet, but will do so today.
Here’s the word.
Disclaimer, use this at your own risk, if this voids your warranty I’m not being held responsible, blah blah all that junk.
Well, first, thanks go out for Microsoft for releasing a support tool for Windows Phone yesterday. Inside that tool, were unreal hidden gems.
Basically they’ve created a managed wrapper over the whole update process for us, rather nice of them.
All you need to do is run the ChevronWP7.Updater.exe console app and follow the prompts.
Good luck, and thanks to everyone that wrote in with this. If I encounter any issues or have any notes about this process, I’ll add them to this post.
Update
So I just used this utility to upgrade another Windows Phone, an AT&T/HTC Surround, to the pre-update and then NoDo. The pre-update goes quickly and NoDo takes a while, just like the regular installation processes, but it worked flawlessly. In fact, why the “factory” upgrade doesn’t work just like this is beyond me. They clearly have the capability to make this painless.

I’d be interested in your results…I was also thinking it might be a good time for me to add a larger microSD.
Looks like it is a one way street. But my patience is thinner than an anorexic super model at this point.
The question I have is, it sounds like the developer was able to do this because of a set of APIs microsoft recently published. Could this mean a shift in strategy? I’m guessing microsoft is technically bound by contract not to update phones themselves without the carrier’s approval. But I’m guessing nothing in the contract states that they can’t make the update process easily refactored by the developer comunity in the hopes 3rd party updater software gets out, while still pulling the updates from MS’s servers.
With enough time, I suspect these tools will be refined to the point that it renders the zune software updater obsolete. If this is the case, then this is probably the best news for WP7 in a long long time.
I tried it on my Samsung Omnia 7… It worked!! Honestly I expected it to be a tad more difficult, but even my 9 year old can do this. How come MS can’t cook this thing up in their half baked Windows Phone Support Tools program? I can finally move from .7008 to 7390 and enjoy the copy paste functionality. Now my HD7 is next
microsoft can update your phone if carriers allowed it. that has never been a problem. the problems is the carriers.
Does this update the phone, or whip it and put on the new ROM?
Also since Microsoft released this tool, it sure seems like there may be a growing rift between AT&T and Microsoft.
As there should be. AT&T has done more harm to Microsoft, and Windows Phone, than good. Not that it wasn’t predictable.
Yeah I’m seriously considering paying my ETF and going to T-Mobile, just to $%#$ AT&T in the ear and have some freedom month to month. I just don’t know if the Focus will work with T-Mobile bands, even though it should be able to, who knows what AT&T or Samsung have done to the firmware to prevent that.
as long as this doesn’t happen you can…
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-20045266-94.html
Well hopefully by the time AT&T closes the deal with T-Mobile, another GSM carrier will get larger and I can switch to them. As long as I have freedom and I’m not tied into a contract I can go where I choose. In fact I wish there was a mandate for phones to be world phones, and work on CDMA, like the 86xx snapdragon chip does. That way we could break the contract and still use the phone, contract free wherever we liked. If carrier HAD to do that, you can bet your ass service would be MUCH better.
Worked for me on my Samsung Focus running 7004. All settings and apps remained intact.
Paul, it works perfectly. Tested on a Dell Venue Pro, and LG Quantum personally. I will be updating my wife’s HD7 when I get home as well.
Can’t wait to try this when I get home. I’ve been hearing a lot of reports that it works with the Samsung Focus, s0 I’m pretty stoked.
Paul, did this update your phone, or do a factory install. In other words did it save all your data like a Zune update or dev/carrier unlock would?
It didn’t change the contents of the phone at all. It just updated the OS.
I hope Microsoft leaves holes like this open so we can do the same with future updates if/when carriers drag ass again. If they think people were pissed about waiting for NoDo, wait until they make people wait for Mango.
Yep. And if they had any credibility at all–and they don’t, not so far anyway–they’d have an open beta of Mango where real users, enthusiast early adopters, can choose to install pre-release builds and give them actual, valuable feedback.
Wishful thinking.
This would be nice if the STORAGE worked and we could dual boot our phones. Most people, even techies, won’t want to use beta software as their main phone OS ya know. At least until we’re comfortable with it…
I would be all over that. I’ve done that with Windows for years (even before they officially made public betas) and would have no problem doing the same on my phone.
they did the betas with Win7, IE9 and now Xbox (that new DVD format thing…). So maybe…
It’s crazy why it takes hackers to deliver a simple thing such as this.
Now that would be awesome.
maybe this is one area where google and microsoft could find some common ground and join in demanding equal terms to what apple has. The fact carriers sell SIM cards that allow you to use it on whatever device you want, means the whole “testing” policy is nothing more than way to screw customers. I hate to say it but, this is all because lack of regulation. Carriers shouldn’t be allowed to “block” updates or even have any say in what people do with their phone’s software.
If I do this (Samsung Focus on AT&T), does that mean I have jailbroken my phone or is it just a way to update the phone?
Didn’t work on my Focus. I Tried it a few times this morning on two pcs and my phonoe is still at 7004.
It didn’t work for me, unfortunately. Here’s what I posted on the page linked above:
Samsung Focus, ATT branded, no previous unlocking or other trickery. Windows XP Pro 32-bit. Running version 7004 before I tried your program.
Your updater ran worked without crashing, but the phone didn”t actually get updated. It went through the whole update process without any error messages, the phone itself showed that “something” was going on (the screen that shows a computer and phone icon for part of the process, then Windows re-doing the “found new hardware” routine) and the appropriate reboots, but I ran your program twice, and the phone was still on 7004. After I did saw it was still on 7004, I turned the phone on and off, but it still showed “7004.”
The “downloading updates” step towards the beginning of the process showed it completed with 0% in 2.09 seconds for the first run and 2.05 seconds for the second run. If I had to guess, it”d be that it didn”t actually download the .CABs.
Thanks for the tool and your time.
The phone still works perfectly well, it just didn’t update, unfortunately.
I pasted the tool’s output on comments on the original site, so check there for comments by “dan” if you’re curious. Like I said above, it seemed like it did the update process, but didn’t actually put the new version on because there was an error downloading the CABs for the updates.
I’m getting the same results as dancfuller and markuslaff. “Looks” like it’s doing some heavy lifting behind the scenes, but after the process runs… no actually updates were installed.
I’m doing to try in airplane mode to see if that makes a difference for any reason.
Looking forward to what amounts to nothing, but it’s change and change is always good / interesting.
I just updated my ATT Samsung Focus from 7004. Everything worked flawlessly.
Don’t get to excited about the new update – I get error 8018112 dd when I try to upgrade my Samsung Focus.
QUESTION: How do I get support for this?
you don’t. when you do this, you take the risk of everything and anything going wrong.
Yes, run the Windows Phone Support Tool. It addresses two error codes (not yours in particular, but it may fix it): then run the Chevron Update app.
Check out this link: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2530409
Did you try running the WP7 support tool (it’s one of the programs you had to download)? The ChevronWP7.Updater is supposedly only a wrapper for this program (the source to ChevronWP7.Updater.exe is supposed to be released soon).
Ahh, another technique that doesn’t work for us 7003ers. So much for Steve & Joe’s “every device” mantra.
Yeesh, this is getting crazy.. that people have to hack their phone to get an update that Microsoft released. It’s pretty dangerous to MS that people are unlocking because hey once you start, why stop there? You can pretty much download whatever you want into the phone.
I doubt MS left security holes so people could unlock, as some have suggested.. why would they want less security?
I’ve heard wondering things about Chevron but I never ‘unlocked’ a phone before. Any drawbacks to going down that road? I might wait until May, then all bets are off.
It appears the Chevron team has a working relationship (understanding) with Microsoft. This is managed code to install updates that *DOES NOT* jailbreak the phone. The phones will maintain their locked carrier branding.
These tools are not exploiting a security hole in the OS. They are using Microsoft support tools that manage the update process.
Well count me in among those who did it. 20 minutes tops, not a single hitch. Loving the speed of games now. I wouldn’t have done it if every WP7 site I read vouched for the process. So, thanks for that Paul!
Worked for me from Windows 7 64 bit to a Samsung Focus on AT&T in the US with a MicroSD 32 GB Kingston Class 4 that only has 6 GB free. In other words I have about 32 Gb of content on my phone (17 GB of Zune music, 3 GB of photos about 9000 pictures, 6 Gb of Podcasts, and several Gb of apps about 100 apps.). I don’t think it did a backup before doing the update because there was only a small change in free space on my disk drive and a backup would have required around 40 GB and I would think would have taked quite a while.
Everything seems to be faster. Market Place does not seem to hang any more, but I still have some app updates that never seem to install properly. I think that may go away if I change from the demo app to the paid app? I have no idea what I would use copy and paste for. I was mainly wanting to avoid having to reboot the phone every time I wanted to use the market place.
I have three other Focus phones on my family plan so I guess I will update two more and hold one until later this year when AT&T finally releases just to see if I can detect any “goodness” in the extensive “testing” that AT&T has been performing on the update since last December!!!
Bill Walter
Do you know if this will also require a reset for phones with microSD cards as the other method before did? Any idea if a reset will be required updating with AT&T? Once a phone gets NoDo, do all the resets from then on also contain NoDo? I would think it should, but my focus is the first smartphone I ever used, so I just wanted to check. I will be switching my microSD card in the near future, so I will need to reset for that, but I am just trying to figure out if I should wait to update then or try to update now.
Worked on my At&t branded Focus.
I was not about VNP-ing to Denmark or whatever the last method was. But this was stupid easy.
Before I started I was on version 7.0.7004.
Ten minutes later after running the updater.exe, it was on 7.0.7008.
Another run of the .exe and another ten minutes and it was on 7.0.7390.
Amazing! Everything is intact as far as SMS, and game saves. It even remembered what artist I was last listening to on my Zune live tile.
The only issue I ran into was my Windows update poped up and said the Zune software had a update. Naturally, I saved that for after the phone update :-)
Also, I have an 8Gb micro SD card installed in my phone, and still no problems.
can you tell me which brand & model SD card you’re using so I can try it? thanks.
Wow..great news! Screw you AT&T I am going to upgrade both my phones today.
Sounds like MS got fedup and put out this workaround!
Also, looks like a lot of people are running into problems with this on the AT&T Focus. The process runs a few times but they are still at 7004.
http://pocketnow.com/windows-phone/get-windows-phone-7-updates-now-period
We have done two Samsung Focus devices and it was flawless. We posted a full step by step screen shots for anyone that is still on the fence. It was really easy!!
http://www.simplemobilereview.com/chevronwp7-windows-phone-7-nodo-update-step-by-step-screen-shots/
This worked on my Samsung Focus without the pre-NoDo update. As the instructions stated, I had to run the utility twice (once for the pre-update, and once for NoDo). The tool gave me an error at the end (something to the effect of “ChevronWP7.updater.exe has encountered a problem and must close”), but fortunately the update had completed by that time.
Trying this on a Focus now and not sure if it’s working or not. It’s showing as updating but when the first pass completed the system info still show version 7004.
Update: I just ran Chevron again as per the instructions and it still says pre-nodo.
Might try again with the phone in airplane mode to see if that makes any difference.
Follow the pocketnow user comments, looks like you have to run the microsoft tool first, and accept some fix or something
http://pocketnow.com/windows-phone/get-windows-phone-7-updates-now-period
Make sure to run ChevronWP7.Updater.exe: *NOT* the Windows Phone Support Tool.
If you never received an update prior to using these tools, you will have to run ChevronWP7.Updater.exe twice to get the pre-NoDo and NoDo updates.
Correction: run the Windows Phone Support Tool then the Chevron Update app.
See the following Microsoft support link: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2530409
Good stuff, thanks Darrick
Just completed updating my Samsung Focus to 7.0.7390.0 Updated the ‘pre-NoDo’ first and then NoDo. Phone seems to be working correctly. Paul, thanks for providing the information to us. I look forward to your comments on Thursday on Windows Weekly.
I’m using the tools now.
PreNodo…installed.
NoDo…inprogress
how do u know if u want the 32 bit or the 64 bit files?
Depends on if you’re using 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows.
its saying i don’t have the .net framework installed. my pc is probably 6 years old. not sure what version OS i’m running but it’s definitely not windows 7. is this likely a dead end for me?
If you still don’t get it. Do Windows + R (Run command window), type msinfo32 and look for system type on the right pane.
The tools have been coded to only install on supported processor architectures: so if one won’t install, try the other.
FYI, press ‘Windows Key’ + ‘Pause/Break’ on your keyboard to bring up the System panel. Look in the ‘System’ section and note the ‘System type’. It will display either 32-bit or 64-bit Operating System.
I hope you have the same smooth update experience I had.
If you have the Zune software running, then you have .NET as well. If your machine is 6 years old, then it’s most likely 32bit.
If you did not reinstall anything in the last 6 years then you probably have Windows XP. First install .NET Framework then do windows update then install Zune software and then check if you have any updates for Zune software install them if any and then connect your phone to the PC sync (should not be important but do it anyways) and then you should attempt to do this upgrade. You can use the following to check certain things..
1. appwiz.cpl – to check for programs installed on your machine (Windows + R and type appwiz.cpl and click ok)
2. launch msinfo32 like above or Windows key + Pause/break like the other guy said
If you still have trouble then you need to see someone who knows how to use a computer… sorry bro… just being funny! :)
Oh, this is so geeky…fun…
I remember when I used to be a bit-banger: controlling bits on a port to move data or control line signals.
…it is done…
My Samsung Focus has been NoDo’d !!!
Now let’s get that flash memory issue fixed!
These are the stock firmware/hardware versions….anything else change besides the base OS?
Firmware revision number: 2103.10.10.1
Hardware revision number: 3.1.07
Radio software version: 2103.10.10.1
Radio hardware version: 0.0.0.3
Bootloader version: 4.10.0.1
Chip SOC version: 0.36.2.0
Just updated my AT&T branded Samsung Focus (7004) with aftermarket 8GB class 2 Sandisk MicroSD installed. My desktop is Windows 7 Ultimate (32-bit). Update went off flawlessly, although I will admit it was nerve wracking. Now reporting 7390.
can you tell me which aftermarket card you have and if its running fine with more than 10GB of total data?
I don’t have a part number but it’s a SanDisk 8Gb class 2 MicroSD I picked up at Staples about 3 years ago and used in a Blackberry Curve. I found the Curve in a drawer, having replaced it with an iPhone, popped the memory card and installed it in my Focus. I’ve had over 10Gb of music and movies on it during a recent trip, but not that much since this afternoons update. I’m assuming it’ll work just the same.
Check out my review on amazon for the SanDisk 32GB microsd card… I have the class 4 version… ‘Been using it for nearly three months without a hitch. My phone has not reset, stuttered, or had any problems at all… and yes, it is full to nearly 3GB free… this new Chevron update process to NoDo kind of bricked my phone with a black/white image of plugging the phone into the pc. I then ran the Support Tool from MS (one of the two files you need to do the NoDo update), and my phone was back to 7004 working order. I then ran Chevron twice to get NoDo, without a hitch this time.
NoDo is running on my phone, since yesterday, with the 32GB Sandisk class 4, without a hitch at all.
Thanks to MS and Chevron for putting these tools out there. And for making this forced update process SO easy.
My attempt at the Sandisk 32GB Class 4 was a failure. Now I’m thinking of trying the 16gb version of a Samsung card that is getting a lot of positive feedback on xda forums. Also, apparently some cards that were having issues are now working fine after NoDo – i had already returned my 32GB card otherwise I would test it.
I did this on my AT&T Samsung Focus.
I ran the updater twice (as instructed) and I now have NoDo. All my data and settings remained.
Your mileage may vary, but it worked great for me!
Just to help out anyone on a Focus (AT&T). I was having the problem where it would run through the update process fine but not actually update the phone. I changed a couple things (I know, bad for troubleshooting) and am now progressing fine through the update. I simply ran the Windows Phone Support tool before trying to update again, then used the USB cord that came with the phone instead of my all-purpose one.
I have noticed that the other cord that I usually use will work fine for most things, but every once in a while it will be temperamental with my phone. Sorry I don’t have a more definitive answer, but at least one (possibly both) of those aspects that got the update to work for me.
Thanks Microsoft and the Chevron team.
I updated two different phones on two different computers this morning worked perfectly. takes a while i thought. both att focuses. i hope this will work on all future updates!!
Tool works great, but I had a lot of problems with my USB cable. For some reason, everytime I move my phone, it would disconnect. I thought I had bricked the phone, but it rebooted and recovery worked, so I tried it again making sure that the cable didn’t disconnect. It worked like a charm…now running “NoDo” on my Samsung Focus….take that AT&T!
Can anyone confirm if this is changing any other firmware on the stock Samsung Focus, besides the OS version of course
OS Version: 7.0.7004.0
Firmware revision number: 2103.10.10.1
Hardware revision number: 3.1.07
Radio software version: 2103.10.10.1
Radio hardware version: 0.0.0.3
Bootloader version: 4.10.0.1
Chip SOC version: 0.36.2.0
Only the OS gets updates to 7.0.7390.0
As I posted above, my ATT Focus has the following after I ran the fix:
OS Version: 7.0.7390.0
Firmware revision number: 2103.10.10.1
Hardware revision number: 3.1.07
Radio software version: 2103.10.10.1
Radio hardware version: 0.0.0.3
Bootloader version: 4.10.0.1
Chip SOC version: 0.36.2.0
Look like it just changes the OS Version…
Firmware/Hardware versions are identical on mine after the upgrade.
I updated my phone, everything is exactly the same except the OS version. So no firmware updates. We need to make note of this when and if AT&T actually updates phones officially. Just to make sure we’re running the same horse!
Sweet, T-Mobile UK Branded Samsung Omnia 7 – worked a charm both updates!!!
Paul, your mission should you choose to accept it is to determine if MS was secretly involved in getting this utility out there. (No idea who Chris Walsh is?) That would be so awesome if MS were playing underhand tactics hee hee.
Microsoft was not involved, sorry.
Damn it! It would have so improved their street cred ;)
Just finished updating on an AT&T Focus. No issues at all. Zune popped up couple of times and i just closed it to make sure it didn’t interfere wih the update. I’m on NoDo now and it took total of 10 minutes. Like someone else said, to hell with AT&T. Kudos to MS for listening to users’ complaints and coming up with alternative (albeit unofficial and risky).
works for HTC Mozart with Telstra in Australia. Did 2 updates now on Nodo.
Works for me–thanks!
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I have 2 to focus devices. Updated one w/o problem. I’ll leave the second with 7004 and wait for att.
Thank you for being on top of this stuff. I installed the update without a hitch on my Samsung Focus and I’m so happy. As long as this stuff is available outside the carriers when they decide to block it I will be happy. I’m so happy and relieved about this.
Just finished updating Samsung Focus w/ 24GB card on Windows 7 64 ! Yeah. In the “about’ section it now gives the mac address and I dont think it did before. I’m I wrong about that?
Worked for my Samsung Focus, but with the unfortunate side effect of breaking all the core features. IE, email, people hub, etc all crash when accessing. Tried using the recover option in windows phone tools with no luck, going to try a hard reset next.
AT&T Focus with no SD card installed both updates without any issues. They both took a long time for me though.
It would certainly be interesting to know just how many AT&T Focus users will ues this tool to update their phones in the face of AT&T and their utterly molasses pace “test” of the NoDo update.
I’ve updated both of my Focus AT&T branded phones this evening, no problems.
As an update a hard reset doesn’t work and I realized i cant make calls because the phone app crashes…ugh. I wonder if certain batches of the Samsung focus are whats holding up AT&T from releasing it
Anyone having issues with the marketplace since updating to NoDo? I mean the Windows version of the marketplace, not the phone. It doesn’t give me the option to buy or try apps after the update. I am logged in, and it still lets me get music through, it, just not apps.
I also see two copies of each app when I search on the phone, and it was showing 4 of each app I purchased in the history on the PC.
This seems to be fixed now.
Before NoDo I could go to the market place 3 -4 times and then it would get into a state where it would try to open the Market place and apparently fail and go back to the main Metro Menu with no error message. The only way to get to the Market Place after that was to fully power down the phone and restart. I tried switching hot spot WiFi connections, and waiting for several days and it just would not cler up without a shut down. Since NoDo I have not seen this issue at all.
I also kept getting a indication on the Market Place tile that I had 6 updates waiting. I would do downlod them and 3 would go away like they updated and 3 would say I had a license problem. If I closed market place and went back to Metro menu the 6 updates would be indicated again. I have been trying to install those updates since Jan. After Metro the 6 was still there but this time they all downloaded, installed and seem to be fine with no indication of missing application updates. I originally thought I still had the problem since I installed the updates and went back to the metro Market Place tile and it still showed 6, but when i looked a while later the 6 ws gone and has not come back.
Bill Walter
I’ve been running No-Do via a different update method to this one since last week, so it’s cool to see heaps more people finally getting it (even though it’s not via a proper update process as we should all had in the first place).
Let’s hope MSFT learn from this debacle and things go better for Mango.
So how is everyone feeling with their phones? Have you all noticed how much snappier and cleaner it all feels? I’ve been really loving mine. Smooth as anything!
Paul? Did it all work for you?
looks like a lot of users posting on various blogs and websites are Focus owners who are updating their phones. Good for Samsung I guess.
Worked like a charm on my HTC Trophy in the Netherlands (which is not even a WP7 supported country yet). Thanks !
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Just noticed the Important Update on this! I knew I should exercise more patience….
Is there a chance the recovery tool will back out the updates to 7004?
Probably clutching at straws I know.
Paul – cause issues for the official update releases? Or with functionality in general!
“It’s possible that using this utility could cause problems down the road. My advice is to not use this if you’ve held off so far, and let’s see what develops, perhaps as early as today. –Paul”
Can you clarify? I already installed it, I guess worst case I can always do a reset
Yes, please Paul.. be a bro. Let us know the source of that addendum you added to the post minutes after I installed it. :)
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I performed the process on my Samsung Focus today and I’m now happily up to date. Everything is working fine, apps do seem a trifle faster, and copy paste functionality is now available.
I needed both updates, this method got me there. My only word of advice is to be patient, and follow the instructions carefully.
Thanks guys!
You may be interested to know Paul I successfully used the chevron update process yesterday (4th april) on my HTC HD7. Upgraded to 7390 no problems. Ignoring that C&P was finally here, the phone just seemed smoother somehow.
Today, my carrier (O2 in the UK) released the NoDo update. Yes, I knew they were going to and I could have waited a day, but I like to live dangerously :). The interesting thing is that despite my phone saying the latest version and NoDo successfully running on it, I still got the ‘update available’ notification and my phone is undergoing the update again for NoDo, this time officially through Zune.
Zune had it listed as an update from HTC. So perhaps the chevron update is a generic NoDo build and the one installing on my phone right now is NoDo plus updates to the firmware (and maybe the carrier’s branding software too?).
I think the main question it raises is that although the chevron tool installed NoDo on our phones, we don’t really now what it was.
it’ll be interesting to see what happens when AT&T finally finishes testing. However, considering my past experience with AT&T’s testing process (on my Samsung Epix they took about 8 months to test MS’ update) I have no hope for it to come out any time soon.
Paul:
I used this tool to update a Samsung Focus on AT&T. I had no issues, didn’t need to use the repair tool, and have NoDo running on my phone. You sound like you have some extra information about the potential downside to this update approach. Should I be concerned that I damaged my phone? Everything seems to run fine so far: calls in and out, revised marketplace search, basic copy and paste, music. Are the people that had issues with the update the ones that may have longterm problems? Can you add some detail without getting anyone in trouble or giving away a source?
Thanks for all of your coverage.
The site the::unwired reports that:
“UPDATE 2: In an info, Microsoft seriously warns to use ChevronWP7.Updater. According to Microsoft, the use of ChevronWP7.Updater can/will put the updated Windows Phone 7 into a state where it cannot receive future regular updates to the OS and the only fix will be re-flashing the device with an original stock ROM.”
Source:
http://www.theunwired.net/?item=utility-chevronwp7-updater-flashes-windows-phone-7-nodo-to-any-supported-device-update-2
I’m a bit confused why Chris W. hasn’t updated his site. But yes, this what I’ve heard as well.
At the rate MS is going with releasing these updates with AT&T’s approval, it probably won’t matter. It will probably be 2015 before the next update anyway. Most folks will have had at least 2 other phones by then (assuming they re-up every 2 years). :-)
On a more serious note, is flashing back to the stock ROM as simple as a hard reset? If not does anyone know where to get it from for the Focus on AT&T?
These ROMs are not (currently) available in the wild, so it would require shipping the device back to the carrier. It’s not s simple as a hard reset, unfortunately.
I’d like to hear why a hard reset won’t work, considering the tool supposedly didn’t change any registry settings and pulled the updates from Microsoft. Either way I’m sure they will find a workaround for this problem, outside of having to send the phone back to the manufacturer, or even having to do a hard reset.
Paul is the Microsoft warning about the hack true?
Sorry I forgot to give you the link
http://wmpoweruser.com/microsoft-warns-chevronwp7-updater-will-prevent-all-future-official-updates/
I was just notified today that NoDo is available for my Samsung Focus. My carrier is Rogers in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
I installed NoDo using the tool on 4th and one day later my phone started acting up. Zune said it had detected an ‘Update’ and after ignoring it for sometime, I went through the paces and installed whatever it was pestering me about (NoDo I presume) I left it overnight doing the installation/download and it seems to have worked.
Maybe what Paul is warning us about is that you may still need to install the ‘official’ update…again.
This simple method worked for my LG Optimus 7 on Orange in the UK:
http://sspotts.wordpress.com/2011/04/02/upgraded-lg-optimus-7-e900-from-pdc10-to-nodo/
No hacks required. Can’t see any GAL searching for Exchange 2003 servers though – Paul have you seen this? Any clues?
So I ran the update with the wrong language (English UK instead of English US) and now I cant use any of the built in applications (IE, People Hub, Phone, etc). I’ve tried various methods to reapply the update with the right language, and tried to use the windows phone recover tool to get back to a pre-NoDo state with no luck. Does anyone know how I can get my phone back to it’s original state? Or will I have to wait until a post-NoDo update comes out to hopefully correct the issue? Or is there anywhere I can send the phone to get the original factory ROM loaded?
Can the support tool that needed to be installed for the updates with this method be used to set the phone back to the shipped ROM?
Microsoft just had this to say on the Windows Phone Blog (that very enlightening blog where all sorts of detailed information is communicated to users in an open and engaging manner):
“We’re working hard to get this job done as quickly as possible. But I’ve noticed that some of you are turning to homebrew solutions to update your phone immediately. As an engineer and a gadget lover, I totally understand the impulse to tinker. You want the latest technology and you’re tired of waiting. Believe me, I get it.
But my strong advice is: wait. If you attempt one of these workarounds, we can’t say for sure what might happen to your phone because we haven’t fully tested these homebrew techniques. You might not be getting the important device-specific software we would typically deliver in the official update. Or your phone might get misconfigured and not receive future updates.”
According to this post at least, Microsoft isn’t saying that a specific problem will occur if you used the ChevronWP7.update tool to apply updates to your phone. They are saying that they haven’t tested it and don’t know what will happen. If that is a fairer characterization of where we are at, then, yes, we all knew that using an untested homebrew updater carried with it a risk. Until they come out and say X, Y, or Z will happen to a phone updated in this matter, the claim that problems will arise is wild speculation. My update had zero hitches. I ran the update program twice and have NoDo running on a Samsung Focus. And I don’t care if getting the next update is more difficult as a result. There won’t be any updates from AT&T after NoDo until at least the end of 2011, assuming Microsoft releases Mango in the fall. By then I may want to circular file the Samsung Focus in favor of a Nokia handset made with better materials. The Focus has a great screen, but, be honest, the materials feel pretty cheap compared to a phone with more metal trim or panels. Even the buttons are crome-covered plastic.
I knew there would be pressure from some direction on Chris and he would pull out the tool so I downloaded it on the day he put it out and today I did the updated… just finished the upgrade now on my AT&T (screw you) branded Samsung focus!
The warning talk is BS.. even if thats true I can wait until someone like Chris or MS puts out something that will allow the phone to upgrade future updates normally.
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