Goldcard and downgrade problems (Branded Desire HD)

Wang · 21 Mar 2011 at 14:22

Hi people,

I had a Desire HD on contract, direct from Orange. Luckily for me it was unbranded with no bloatware whatsoever, fast forward a couple of months, the phone developed a fault and was replaced with no arguments by Orange. Great I thought, till it arrived. It is absolutely crammed with all the Orange crap which on investigation can only be removed via the Goldcard -> downgrade method.

It is currently sat on software version 1.84.61.2 :mad:

and I know it needs to be rolled back to 1.32.405.6 software to remove branding and in future allow root. I have created the goldcard without too much hassle and now gone onto the following process:

adb push psneuter /data/local/tmp
adb push misc_version /data/local/tmp
adb shell chmod 777 /data/local/tmp/psneuter
adb shell chmod 777 /data/local/tmp/misc_version
adb shell /data/local/tmp/psneuter
adb shell

If you got "#" in the result, you have temproot! Proceed:

Problem I have is I can't get the "#" it just constantly throws up the $ sign.

I tried to continue with flashing the older software anyway via recovery mode but it just throws up "Main version is older".

So does anyone have any suggestions or an idiots walkthrough?

Thanks in advance people.

Wang · 21 Mar 2011 at 16:43

SimonCHere said:
do you get an error after the
adb shell /data/local/tmp/psneuter
line?

How would this error manifest itself?

After I type in the 1st, 2nd & 5th lines in command prompt, I just get a list of all the possible "adb" options.... is this correct?

Wang · 21 Mar 2011 at 17:08

amigafan2003 said:
Try connecting the phone to the computer via "HTC Sync", not "charge only" like the instructions say.

Are you following this guide?

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=905003

Very risky! If any step fails - just stop and reasearch the error - don't carry on regardless, else you risk bricking your phone.

Yes mate, that's the one. I followed all the instructions to the letter but it just doesn't seem to be working.
Been looking around for a video of what exactly I should be seeing but to no avail.

Wang · 21 Mar 2011 at 17:28

iDroid84 said:
Restore the phone to factory firmware and try it again.

Tried... same result

amigafan2003 said:
What's the point - he hasn't even flashed a rom yet?

As stated earlier, try connecting the phone to the computer via "HTC Sync", not "charge only".

Also tried this, still same result.

Wang · 21 Mar 2011 at 17:32

ViRuS2k said:
lol

If it spits up anything other than # then it means you dont have temp/root.
Once you use the gold card to flash stock on there then you can use visionary+ to temp root then perm root then after your rebooted you can proceed with those commands.

I recommend: you try visionary+ again to perm root you need to get the engineering hboot flashed.

Oh I know I don't have temp root, I fear I may be missing something here. To confirm:

I created a goldcard
Put this in the phone.
Copied the old firmware that allows root, onto it.
Then I get to this part of the process that seems to have me stumped.

Have I missed something out?

Wang · 21 Mar 2011 at 18:58

ViRuS2k said:
Once you make the goldcard and put it on your phone place the stock rom on the sd card and pull the battery out and put back in and press vol down + power and it should load to white bootloader screen and proceed with flashing the stock rom automaticly.

Hi mate,

Ok, I've done this and here is what I get...

SD Checking...
Loading....(PD98DIAG.zip)
No image!
Loading....(PD98DIAG.nbh)
No image or Wrong image!
Loading....(PD98IMG.Zip)

After this it loads the image, checks it and then says:

"Failed. Main image is older!"

Could it be my Goldcard??

Wang · 21 Mar 2011 at 22:47

ViRuS2k said:
i would say your gold card is not done correctly.

No problem, I shall get one ordered. Any suggestions on which one to get as I have read there can be a few compatibility issues? Would Kingston or Sandisk be ok??

Wang · 21 Mar 2011 at 22:57

Reading back through this thread I think there is some confusion (mainly on my part).

Just to check the order I should do things in:

1)Create Gold Card
2)Place old firmware on Gold Card
3)Do the "adb push psneu......" etc as mentioned in OP.
4)Boot into recovery and attempt to load IMG file.

Or have I got this totally wrong?? My head is scrambled with this

Wang · 22 Mar 2011 at 09:48

ViRuS2k said:
If you still havent gotten it sorted out i will walk you through it tonight via remote assistance...

Much appreciated dude.

Wang · 22 Mar 2011 at 09:50

SimonCHere said:
No, each line is a separate command, you type one line in and then press return.
You should either get an error message, a confirmation message (like the push commands should show the size of the file "pushed" to you phone) or just a new line.
If you are getting a list of adb options you haven't typed in the line correctly as it didn't understand what you were trying to do, or you typed in more than one line at a time.

Hopefully ViRuS2k has sorted you out anyway.

Hi mate, I am definitely only typing one line at a time and hitting enter at the end. This is the format I am typing it in command prompt:

adb push psneuter /data/local/tmp
adb push misc_version /data/local/tmp
adb shell chmod 777 /data/local/tmp/psneuter
adb shell chmod 777 /data/local/tmp/misc_version
adb shell /data/local/tmp/psneuter
adb shell

Do I have spaces in there that I shouldn't??

Wang · 22 Mar 2011 at 14:28

Hi guys,

Ok it is all done!!! I am slightly embarrased to admit what the problem was but here goes!!

I had simply not left a space after "psneuter" and "misc_version" in the first two lines of code! D'OH!!!

Anyways, all sorted and rooted now with Visionary, time to flash a custom ROM I think. Anyone any suggestions as to the nicest ones to use??

Finally a very big thank you to all who helped me in this thread, it is much appreciated.