HTC Desire Ruined by Orange Branding

[Hands0n]

Yup, thats what I was getting. It is most definitely a drivers problem. When the handset reboots to the bootloader the Windows 7 PC needs to have the correct drivers available for the USB connection to re-establish. Prior to installing HTC Sync Windows 7 was using some generic drivers for the SD Card and the SDK drivers for the comms to the handset with its OS running. But when bootloader loads it presents itself as yet another USB device - I noticed that the first time (after I'd installed HTC Sync) as the bootloader screen came up the Windows 7 PC installed yet another set of drivers for the "new" USB device.

I think you're very close - there is going to be some combination of having HTC Sync running at the same time as you're performing the RUU installer, or not.

I did my work on a Windows 7 Netbook (Samsung NC10), so I guess we're doing this on pretty close comparison of hardware and OS.

[kdub87]

iv finally got the rom on, was my gold card all along i think, now though my weather isnt working at all :s will not find my city although it did before on the tmobile rom, it lists smaller cities around me but not mine! is there any way to manually add my city as its not in the list

[Hands0n]

Nice that you got the RUU update sorted out. Curious that you'd get the USB error, but hey, I suppose none of this is an exact science

Thats interesting. I checked on my Nexus One and in the Weather settings you can actually enter a City or Postal Code. Also you are able to set it to detect where you are "Use my location". I'm presuming then that is not the same on the Desire/Bravo.

I just got my lad to check on his Desire and he is able to find our local town - it is not a major one, and usually we find only London and Maidstone as the nearest towns to our actual location in North Kent. But in this case our town is listed, although he cannot set it as the default.

I don't have the handset in front of me so can't really offer more than that. Sorry.

[Hatticus]

Got my lovely Orange branded Desire on Saturday. I'd exchange it for another network but doubt I'd get as good a deal anywhere else. Plus I can't be bothered to make the effort...

I'll probably be attempting to dump all the Orange crap next weekend, but just wanted to get some stuff clear in my head before hand.

I'll be using this Bravo RUU: http://android.modaco.com/content/ht...-t-mo-handset/

This site is pretty useful for setting up a Goldcard, so will follow those instructions.

My main question is about the Micro SD cards. My Desire came with one (4GB I think...). If I take this out, and make the Goldcard using a spare 1GB card I've got knocking around, can I then put the 4GB card back into the phone once it's flashed?

Will there be any problems/issues with the Bravo RUU (as opposed to a Desire one)?

[Hands0n]

Hi there Hatticus, welcome to Talk3G.

You won't go wrong following the instructions on Modaco's pages - but do make sure that you note the info on here about the need to install HTC Sync at the outset.

The Gold Card is only used to help you bypass the mechanism that prevents you installing a Bravo RUU on to the handset. The routine only writes somewhere around 512bytes of information to the SD card, so a 1GB card is more than sufficient. Please make sure you format the SD card to FAT32 as per the instructions. I don't know if the FAT format will cause any issues, but the instructions say FAT32 so follow that to avoid potential problems.

Once you have the handset updated to the Bravo ROM you can put your original 4GB card back and use the handset as normal.

In use my lad has not experienced any problems with the Bravo RUU. The Bravo is in fact the Desire, apparently HTC renamed it on release http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/3146...nounced-at-mwc .

[Hatticus]

Thanks for the welcome!

Your post pretty much summed up my understanding, just wanted to double check before I started to mess around with my shiny new toy! From the instructions I've read it seems pretty straight forward, so will give it a go when I've dug out the SD card!

Just one thing I did notice, Orange do state in their T&C's that using instant messengers is not permitted - I think it's all part of their ploy to get people to use the messenger they stuck on the Desire (which I guess there'd be an extra charge using)

[Hands0n]

@Hatticus - yup, you're pretty much got it right there re Orange and the use of instant messengers. Theirs is probably the most prohibitive network in the UK, unless someone can offer differently Not my cup of tea at all. But I'm reasonably sure you'll be getting a real buzz from the unfettered HTC Desire. My lad says that everything about it is so much improved - faster, all the standard HTC Android apps, longer battery life even.

Do let us know how you get on with it after the branding. Also note kdub87's troubles loading up the Bravo ROM. It was chucking up USB errors but turned out to be the SD Card itself!!! If you have any issues that you can't work around any other way then try and grab hold of another make/size of SD card. I suspect that a small (smaller than 1GB) card would work just as well given the tiny amount of data that goes to make up the Gold Card itself, approx 512bytes (yes, bytes!!)