[HOW TO] Debranding /Installing different/recovering bricked firmware on your Defy

Disclaimer: I will not be held responsible for any damage to your phone, your PC or indeed your life from following this guide. The steps in this guide worked for me. If you have problems uninstall everything and start from Step 4 again. Doing this kind of thing could affect your warranty and all that so have a long hard think about it before you go ahead

US Owners - If you flash the UK firmware, you will lose 3g and wifi calling app etc... There are fixes for this problem that can be found on other Forums. A guide on how to restore this which has worked for others is HERE

##WARNING: be careful when flashing 2.51 firmware, firstly its patched so root isn't achievable by the usual methods, and isn't easy to downgrade back to other firmware - I suggest you search and read the various topics on it. My advice is to use 2.21 UK or 2.34 Deblur firmware##

This guide will show you how to debrand your Motorola Defy (Eg bought on T-Mobile UK and want generic UK firmware), or indeed restore the phone if you brick (Eg removing important apps that you shouldn’t have touched!!)

Props go to jutley (Modaco)for his debranding guide for the flipout, and dkspook (Modaco) for his information in other threads, and anyone else who thinks they may have contributed, oh yeah and my Mum.

##Disconnect phone from PC##

STEP 1 Download usb drivers here below

Motorola Drivers Here

STEP 2 Download the debranded Firmware here (To debrand to generic UK I used the one marked UK - choose the one for your country)

Choose Firmware Here

STEP 3 Download RSDLite - I used v4.9, I found earlier versions would not work. Get it here.

RSDLite 4.9 Here

STEP 4 Install the USB Drivers and the RSDLite program and reboot PC

STEP 5 Extract the firmware file you downloaded a while ago. Then copy the .sbf firmware file to c:\Program files\Motorola\RSDLite folder (installation directory for RDSLite). this should come out as JRDNEM_U3_2.21.0_SIGNED_UCAJRDNEMARAB1B80AA028.0R_USAJORDANRTGB_P026_A007_HWp3_S
rvice1FF.sbf for the UK one.

STEP 6 Start the RSDLite program now where it says filename press the select button and find the .sbf firmware file in c:\Program files\Motorola\RSDLite (it should default to this folder) and select the (sbf) file some details will appear on the right hand side.

STEP 7 We now need to boot the phone into the bootloader (as above make sure the phone is disconnected from USB – not sure if matters tho!). Hold the volume up and then power the phone on, after about 5 seconds release the buttons and the bootloader should display - it will show the version and a battery check. Now plug in the USB cable and it should install the drivers . Once the driver installation has finished you should see the phone appear at the bottom of the RSDLite program window under `port 1` - Once this is there you are ready to flash the firmware. NB: I had issues getting it to show a number of times. Uninstalling RSDLite/Drivers, rebooting PC, and then reinstalling these resolved this issue.

STEP 8 Press the start button on the RSDLite and just relax while your device gets flashed,debranded etc. you will see a progress status on the right hand side wait till it reaches 100% but please do not disconect it will reboot the phone automaticly and restart the phone.And just wait untill android comes up and fully running untill you disconnect it should read (PLEASE START PHONE MANUALY) on RSDLite when this shows it is safe to unplug.

Hopefully now you will have a debranded/unbricked phone.

One thing I noticed that was cool is that the data partition stayed intact for me when I debranded, meaning all my settings and installed app (providing you hadn’t moved stuff to /system) were still there after the process – cool! The only thing you will have to do is re-root the device.

Hope you find this useful and I look forward to a great community for the Defy!

nitewalkergr said:

Nice job! This worked perfectly. We now just need the tmo us FW. I'm kind of iffy about messing with my phone much more until I have a failsafe.

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Whats the benefit of the T-Mobile US Firmware - some kind of extra functionality? If we could get it, we could flash by this method and flash back if we didn't like it anyways I suppose.

In theory this method is a failsafe tho because if you mess any thing up you can get back to a different firmware. I must say I personally would like to get my hands on the original T-Mobile UK .sbf, just in case I wanted to put it back to its original state for returns/repair, so if anyone has found it (I haven't yet) please let me know.

dj_destruction said:

Hi Higgsy, long time no see! Guess its cos you sold your Hero/G2 Touch so you have no need to visit htcdevscene, Its dead there now a days lol. I just got my Defy from T-Mobile UK. I here your after the T-Mobile UK Defy firmware? and I havent rooted or touched the firmware on mine at all, all i've done is charged it up and used as my day to day phone. If you know of a way to pull the firmware from the phone i will gladly upload it for you, if its even possible?

P.s. still got my Hero/G2 Touch not sure if i wanna sell the lil work horse yet lol, what are they selling for these days?

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Now then DJD!

Na we need the .sbf file for it but it no biggy at the moment. Get it rooted mate - easiest way is to download z4root from the market - works a treat and roots in like 10 secs lol.

Stopped going on htcdevscene for a number of reasons, firstly i could never get on the site and secondly i felt the way it was run was very inconsistent.

Just sold my Hero - they are going for between 80-120 on ebay the top end is for brand new boxed. I have just sold mine to a mobile recycle place for £103. This phone is different gravy to the hero for sure.

Anyway mate look forward to seeing you around again

milesg said:

Thanks for this guide Higgsy, very easy to follow even for a noob like me.

I have now said goodbye to Vodafone's crap a mere 20 minutes after opening the box with my shiny new DEFY in that was delivered today.

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No probs - Gone be the dirty network custom apps and splash screens!!

tim440 said:

EDIT: Just reflashed and then calibrated the compass. Seems to be working now. Sorry for the unnecessary message.

Ok, having taken the phone out since I got rid of the Vodafone stuff, I've discovered that the GPS is no longer working. I've got GPS Test on it and it only sees one satellite where before it saw a load. I'm going to reload the firmware now, but does anyone have any ideas?

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Hmm strange My GPS is fine, locks on in like 5 secs, maybe try rebooting with GPS switched on, if you haven't already done so.

DJD,

No real benefits apart from getting rid of any tmobile crap, there isn't much bloatware in the tmobile uk build anyways. I just like generic lol. And as for rooting - please tell me that question is joke surely as a seasoned veteran you know what that is geezer

dj_destruction said:

I know rooting opens up a world of goodies but there arent any goodies for this phone yet in the way of ROMS, at least thats what i can gather so far lol. Can it be over clocked and JITenabled yet? after rooting it of course, sorry im being lazy n not google-ing lol.

Plus for my totally blonde moment if i flash the generic uk firmware would it still mean i could get the over the air 2.2 update when it is released by motorola before t-mobile release their bloatware version?

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JIT can be enabled - its not stable imo - I tried it before, gonna have a better look at it.

i would expect you will be able to get the generic 2.2 update, to be fair, I think we will be flashing roms by that time anyways

Anyway stop being a ***** and get it rooted

tim440 said:

Ok, now I do have a problem. I've flashed the non-branded rom and very happy with it, but my in-call speaker has failed this morning. This seems to be a common problem with the Defy and I suspect it needs replacing or repairing, but I need to put back the branded rom to have the phone in warranty, don't I? How do I even begin to go about that?

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You can't unless you can find the vodafone .sbf sorry mate it was mentioned at the top of the post.

They probably wouldn't know anyway, just deny all knowledge if they say anything.