PLEASE??? Radio only upgrade questions...

[pharoahwen]

I've read around the forum and wiki, and it is not clear to me the requirements of upgrading only the radio. My questions are:

1. I have a cing/Att 8525, running the latest WM5 release by att/htc from htc's att site; My phone has not been sim / cid unlocked. Can I upgrade my radio only without unlocking the phone? I upgraded to the official ATT WM6 release from this site, but I lost sync functionality for Microsoft Money for PPC; this is 90% of the reason I bought the phone in the first place, so I'm going to go back to the WM5 release. However, the 1.48 radio in the WM6 release gives me better reception. So, can I upgrade the radio only in the wm5 release w/o unlocking the phone (which is still under warranty)?

2. If the answer to 1 is yes, the second question is that if I clear storage and reformat the phone sometime in the future for warranty purposes, will the radio revert to the WM5 version?

Thanks in advance!

[ma499]

Yes you can flash the radio ROM only. Have a look at the wiki for instructions and download links to extracted radio ROMs (including 1.48). You do not need to unlock your device but installing Hard-SPL first is a very good idea if you want to avoid having to make a call on your warranty.

Yes you can downgrade by flashing over another radio - provided that it (like 1.48) uses radio bootloader 0108. If it uses an older bootloader version you will not be able to downgrade at all. You can check which bootloader version is in use on the wiki page listing radio roms. However, I wouldn't worry about it for two reasons: 1) if you can't downgrade you are stuck on 1.48 now anyway (anothe reason you ought to have Hard SPL installed as a failed downgrade may brick your device); and 2) virtually all official recent WM5 updates will include a radio sufficiently new that it uses bootloader 0108.

[pharoahwen]

I had read and read and read, and finally stepped out on a limb and did exactly that (hardsplv7, and radio rom 1.50) Prior to reading your response. but you actually answered my remaining question, concerning my warranty. I greatly appreciate your response.

[Trezona]

Yes you can flash the radio ROM only. Have a look at the wiki for instructions and download links to extracted radio ROMs (including 1.48). You do not need to unlock your device but installing Hard-SPL first is a very good idea if you want to avoid having to make a call on your warranty.

Yes you can downgrade by flashing over another radio - provided that it (like 1.48) uses radio bootloader 0108. If it uses an older bootloader version you will not be able to downgrade at all. You can check which bootloader version is in use on the wiki page listing radio roms. However, I wouldn't worry about it for two reasons: 1) if you can't downgrade you are stuck on 1.48 now anyway (anothe reason you ought to have Hard SPL installed as a failed downgrade may brick your device); and 2) virtually all official recent WM5 updates will include a radio sufficiently new that it uses bootloader 0108.

But if you follow Mrvanx's guide to downgrade the SPL to match your radio version, this should also work not so?

[ma499]

The "radio bootloader" is part of the Radio ROM image, and completely separate from the main SPL bootloader. Once you are on a Radio ROM that uses radio bootloader 0108 you can't downgrade to an older radio bootloader version.

See here for a more detailed discussion:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=1114233&postcount=2

[Trezona]

The "radio bootloader" is part of the Radio ROM image, and completely separate from the main SPL bootloader. Once you are on a Radio ROM that uses radio bootloader 0108 you can't downgrade to an older radio bootloader version.

See here for a more detailed discussion:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=1114233&postcount=2

Ahhh, ok sorry, i got a bit confused between the bootloaders.

Thanks for the reminder ma499. Really appreciate it!

Regards.