[Q] Extreme newb in need of help :S!

[Neithie]

Hi all,

I was hoping someone could help me out? I've just got myself a HTC Desire which I was lead to believe would be unbranded. Unfortunately I dealt with a liar and I've just discovered it's got a load of virgin crap on the boot up screen and what not. How do I remove it and is there a way to get rid of this without rooting my phone? I really don't want to root and mess with a custom rom or anything been as I know absolutely nothing about this kind of thing :S! I'd really appreciate any help you guys could give me!

 

[EddyOS]

You first need to create a gold card. Google it and you'll find plenty of guides on how to do this.

Secondly, you need the RUU for the unbranded Desire ROM, which you can find here:

http://www.multiupload.com/UOWLL86GVB

To install the ROM, have the gold card in your phone and make sure HTC Sync is installed on your PC. Connect your Desire to the PC and select 'HTC Sync' from the menu on the phone. Once Sync on the PC shows connected just run the RUU. If the gold card is working correctly it will install and voila - one unbranded Desire!!!

* Best to make your every day SD card into the gold card as you WILL need it for all future updates

 

[Neithie]

Thanks for the speedy reply! I just have a few more questions (sorry ^^;!)
Would that get rid of every non-htc thing on my phone including start up rubbish? I also have one about gold cards, if I change my sd card will my phone not work if it's been unbranded on another? I'm unsure whether to give this a go on a tiny one or go for a bigger one that I'll probably use full time. I'm sorry for the silly questions :S!

 

[EddyOS]

If you have a working gold card then just use that, it will then be on the stock HTC ROM. If you're now using a larger SD card just make that into a gold card and leave it the phone

 

[Neithie]

Oops, sorry if I confused you, I don't have one. I was just wondering if it mattered if I swapped the gold card-ed sd card for another.

On a side note, if I didn't use a gold card to debrand the phone, will the splash screen start up branding disappear if I change it to a custom one?

 

[ste1164]

You can't debrand unless you use a gold card. After you have unbranded you can use your other SD card. But if there are any ota updates you will need the goldcard to update the phone.

Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

 

[EddyOS]

You CANNOT debrand without a gold card if you're just going for a stock ROM

You could, however, root the phone and use a custom ROM but that won't change the boot screen when you first turn it on - just the animated one. You'd need S-OFF to change the first one.

Easiest thing is to just make a gold card now and debrand using a stock WWE RUU

 

[EddyOS]

You can't debrand unless you use a gold card. After you have unbranded you can use your other SD card. But if there are any ota updates you will need the goldcard to update the phone.

Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

Which is why you just make your usual SD card into a gold card and leave it in the phone

 

[Neithie]

Hmm. Okay, let me get this right, debranding would get rid of any virgin app stuff on the phone but wouldn't get rid of the virgin start up image and using S-off *would* replace the virgin animation with a static custom image?

 

[AndroHero]

Hmm. Okay, let me get this right, debranding would get rid of any virgin app stuff on the phone but wouldn't get rid of the virgin start up image and using S-off *would* replace the virgin animation with a static custom image?

no what there saying is, if you want to debrand using a ruu, (that will remove everything vigin including the splash screen) you need a goldcard, but if you dont have a gold card, you can root using unrevoked and flash a custom rom, that will remove everything virgin except the splash screen, you can then s-off and manually flash a new splash

 

[Neithie]

Oh wow, this is confusing :S I've now discovered a virgin media scene option as well as a random link to the virgin internet that doesn't show up in my apps along with the flashscreen.

Oh right So using a gold card will leave the htc/android innards alone but get rid of everything virgin? And will I need to do anything special if I upgrade my sd card to a larger one in the future (don't quite have the money for a big one at the moment ^^?

 

[RaymondErasmus]

A gold card doesnt get rid of the Virgin branding ... A gold card only allows you to run an unbranded RUU for a branded phone ... which then gets rid of the branding (Virgin stuff)

Oh and if you purchase a larger sd card later you can turn that one into gold card too if you need to ...

 

[EddyOS]

Here's a few things about the RUU...

1. It's a COMPLETE ROM, flashing it will wipe the existing one in its entirety and replace it with the new one.
2. You will LOSE all data on the phone when flashing an RUU
3. You need a gold card to flash an RUU not suitable for your handset, e.g. if your phone is x.xx.405.x you can only use RUUs which are also x.xx.405.x - unless you use a gold card