DIY -Unlock and Flash Tmobile Dash to HTC Excalibur

[Nvious]

Okay guys, this process took me 1 hour on the first Tmobile Dash i flashed cause i was reading and searching instructions from different sources at one time on the FLY so it took me longer. The 2nd Dash i flashed for my girlfriend took me 22 minutes flat cause i saved all these links and files.

You will have your phone done in about 20 minutes from start to finish if you follow these simple instructions.

DISCLAIMER TIME -

I'm writing this because i went through so many threads out there just to find out how i had to reflash the phone. Now, i've done 2 phones back to back and i wanted to put my experience in one SIMPLE thread. This worked for me, twice. I had success in reflashing my new Tmobile dash into an HTC Excalibur so i went and bought one for my girlfriend and did the same thing to hers with success.
I'm not responsible for any damages that you may incur in bricking your phone simple cause i wasn't the one that was reflashing your phone. This is my "story".

I went to http://www.imei-check.com/dashunlock.php to unlock my phone.
Seriously, its $38 bucks, don't be cheap. I did both of my Dash phones through them, its easy as all hell to do AND within 3 minutes, i was SIM unlocked and CID unlocked.

Sim Unlock - Use any carrier's SIM card.
CID Unlock - Unlocking the phone's Software lock
Application Unlock - Unlocking registry and installing 3rd party applicates that don't have certificates.

IMEI Check only SIM and CID unlocks (which is what most ppl do)



Step 1 -
With your new Tmobile dash - I want you to wipe the handheld clear first, based on my experience, it makes loading new ROM's FASTER.
Follow these Key strokes in the start menu

START - EXPERT - Clear Storage - enter 1234 to wipe the handheld.
(make sure your stuff is backed up if any!!)

Step 2 -
Install Activesync on your computer and make sure its Connected!!

Step 3 -
After that's done, you need to run this Rom bootloader update. I found this from the wonderful developers here. This is the link. To run this, all you have to do is download it and just run it on your desktop with your ActiveSync Connected.

ftp://xda:xda@ftp.xda-developers.com...pgradeOnly.exe

I've read about ppl getting errors while trying to directly install the NEW ROM so i'm including this step ( once again, these are the exact steps that I took and it worked fine, i'm not going to tell you guys something that I didn't try or didnt work )

Step 4 - Let it fully set up and then install the new ROM. This is the ROM i used. Download it and run it with the ActiveSync Connected (Duh) Here's the link.
ftp://xda:xda@ftp.xda-developers.com...63.90_Ship.exe
I've read that this was the ROM that was most stable and I'm running it on 2 Dash phones without a single problem.
Now you're almost done!!!!

Step 5
After you get all that stuff set up, you need to edit the registry because the keyboard function still needs to be tweaked. This is a SDA Unlocker that I used on both phones to do the "Application Unlock".
ftp://xda:xda@ftp.xda-developers.com...tionUnlock.exe

I know its for the TMobile SDA but it apparently works on the Dash too. This will do the APPLICATION UNLOCK and now you should be able to change the registry keys.

Step 6
Go into the phone and click START - Settings - More - Regional Settings-
Now change everything to English US, Not English UK. After that, reset the phone again for the changes to take place.

Step 7
Now click this link - Its a Registry Editor (best one i've used so far).
http://www.breaksoft.com/Download/MR...stryEditor.zip
Unzip it into a Folder on your desktop (no , its not a virus, scan if it you must)
and open it up.

it should look like this. (taken from their website)


What you're doing right now is you're changing the KEYBOARD layout BACK to the Standard US one. The ABC's work but the secondary symbols don't correspond to each other (IE - "alt" + "K" should be the $ sign but its the Euro Sign instead)

Step 8
Now, go to this location in your registry -

HKEY_Local_Machine -
HARDWARE -
DEVICEMAP -
KEYBD -

Now look for "CurLang" - double click that value and a little window opens up that looks like this



Change the "Value Data" to "1033" as the US Keyboard Layout value.
Exit the program, and restart the Phone.

DONE!!!!!!! - Your phone is unlocked without the TMobile Branding and its back to the good ol HTC Excalibur setup.

Now, Depending on your phone carrier, you must set up the GPRS Settings and stuff. I'm on Cingular's network, you can find their settings on their website by going here-

I know its for a different phone but the settings are the same.

As for text message setting and voicemail numbers - here's a shortcut -

START - SETTINGS - PHONE - PHONE OPTIONS -
This will automatically download the voicemail numbers and SMS numbers to your phone from the network.


Kennykong116@gmail.com if you have questions.

*****************UPDATE-FEB 13th 2009 *****************
I've just checked my old emails and i've been receiving LOTS of emails about the links on this post being down. There was an issue with the FTP servers before where these roms were stored. They are no longer there.
They can be found by going here -->http://lmgtfy.com/?q=HTC+Excalibur+ROMS
I apologize that i haven't gotten back to those of you who have emailed me.
I no longer have this phone now so i never bothered to look into any of the emails.
There are plenty of sites where you can find the ROM images.

[bkeaver]

good post... thanks for the insight and instructions. been waiting for someone to confirm success before I actually went throught it myself. Thanks!

[chaznet]

What about putting things back the way they were should you need warranty service, etc... With the SDA, I could, and did, put T-Mobile back with the shipping ROM available at the HTC web site -- but -- I don't see the shipping Dash ROM there or at T-Mobile.

[Nvious]

To be honest with you, Warranty repairs and those sort of things should be a concern. You can reflash the factory ROM back onto the phone but i don't think anyone's released it yet. If you find it, please post it back up for more people that have the same concerns. To be frank, if you're going to flash a phone or "mod" it in anyway, it voids the warranty period but from what i understand, i believe HTC has a 1 year warranty on the phone. If its going to be carrier warranty, i wouldn't know where to begin to answer that question simply because I'm not with Tmobile as a carrier (and they are the only carrier that has released this phone in the US). This was the same ROM that i was posted up as the shipping ROM, not a test ROM. I'm merely using the resources that I've found as a simple guide for those who deem to do what I've done successfully.

I wish i had a better answer for you though.
Thanks

[DanITman]

Originally Posted by Nvious To be honest with you, Warranty repairs and those sort of things should be a concern. You can reflash the factory ROM back onto the phone but i don't think anyone's released it yet. If you find it, please post it back up for more people that have the same concerns. To be frank, if you're going to flash a phone or "mod" it in anyway, it voids the warranty period but from what i understand, i believe HTC has a 1 year warranty on the phone. If its going to be carrier warranty, i wouldn't know where to begin to answer that question simply because I'm not with Tmobile as a carrier (and they are the only carrier that has released this phone in the US). This was the same ROM that i was posted up as the shipping ROM, not a test ROM. I'm merely using the resources that I've found as a simple guide for those who deem to do what I've done successfully. I wish i had a better answer for you though. Thanks

This is what I am waiting for, otherwise I would have flashed this thing about 20 times. I don't know what is taking so long for us to get the original ROM from T-Mobile.

[jsp_m]

Originally Posted by Nvious I went to http://www.imei-check.com/dashunlock.php to unlock my phone. Seriously, its $38 bucks, don't be cheap. I did both of my Dash phones through them, its easy as all hell to do AND within 3 minutes, i was SIM unlocked and CID unlocked.

I don't want to stir the boat, you really did an excellent job on writing all, but I believe all can be done WITHOUT the prior unlocking, it's not necessary.. correct me if I'm wrong

good post though, kudos

[Nvious]

Originally Posted by jsp_m I don't want to stir the boat, you really did an excellent job on writing all, but I believe all can be done WITHOUT the prior unlocking, it's not necessary.. correct me if I'm wrong good post though, kudos

Hey, thanks man. I looked at so many different sites and did so much searching, but i still couldn't find a site that just gave me steps to do it. That's what motivated me to do it!

I read on another thread that there was a way to reflash the ROM without a CID unlock through the bootloader. I tried it and I got the error code, it didn't work.

It was the bootloader that needed to be changed so i changed it but it still didn't work. I think the code was "invalid vendor" or something like that.

After all this, i'm pretty sure that AS OF NOW, there is no way to doing it.
I'm sure someone will find a way though. The first time i tried to flash my
personal Dash, i went through IMEI check cause i knew it was a sure fire way to do it. Then, the next day i went and bought a dash for my girlfriend and decided on trying to bypass the CID lock before we flashed the phone, i had a little more experience than i started with so i gave it a shot. I tried changing the bootloader, didn't work, there was still a SIM lock on the phone.

I had to get it done regardless so i did it. From what I understand ( i might be wrong), you can get the phone SIM unlocked through Tmobile if you've been in good standings for 90 days, but it won't remove the CID lock which is needed to have access to flashing the Carrier's ROM that's been installed. The application unlock is just to protect the registry and prevents you from installing programs that don't have secured and verified certificates. I tried all of the above and the only way i was able to it. Anyone else have any shortcuts? I can modify my original post so if there's a shortcut.
Thanks for all the input guys!

[Nvious]

This was the thread that i read to try and bypass the CID lock= this might be worth following up for those of you who would rather save the $38.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=287791

[chaznet]

Sort of... if you return the device to T-Mobile with anything other than their ROM, they'll either charge you a restocking fee (full retail) or send it back -- and getting them to send it back is no minor undertaking. If you reflash it with their ROM, they won't know, at least they didn't with my 2nd SDA -- the first one I mistakingly left the iMate ROM on and it turned into a lengthy ordeal. Eventually, they sent it back, and I reflashed it, and sent it in again without issue.

It appears the shipping ROM isn't going to be posted at the HTC or T-Mobile sites. If and when they issue an update, then that'll be the new 'shipping' ROM we need to start playing around with the others

Personally, I'm fine with the T-Mobile ROM, except for the HotSpot stuff that loads on boot. I'd rather free up the memory, but haven't yet run into a hack that lets the device boot up without all that HotSpot junk.

Originally Posted by Nvious To be honest with you, Warranty repairs and those sort of things should be a concern. You can reflash the factory ROM back onto the phone but i don't think anyone's released it yet. If you find it, please post it back up for more people that have the same concerns. To be frank, if you're going to flash a phone or "mod" it in anyway, it voids the warranty period but from what i understand, i believe HTC has a 1 year warranty on the phone. If its going to be carrier warranty, i wouldn't know where to begin to answer that question simply because I'm not with Tmobile as a carrier (and they are the only carrier that has released this phone in the US). This was the same ROM that i was posted up as the shipping ROM, not a test ROM. I'm merely using the resources that I've found as a simple guide for those who deem to do what I've done successfully. I wish i had a better answer for you though. Thanks

[arfan24]

Hi I keep getting rejection to log in to the FTP site, any idea why is that ? it keep saying permission denied

thank you