FLASHING ORIGINAL OR CUSTOM FIRMWARE (LIKE SYMBIAN BELLE) ON SYMBIAN PHONES (NOKIA N8,n97 mini etc) VIA PC USING PHOENIX 2011

WARNING: Phone flashing is a double-edged sword; it may be useful and dangerous at the same time. It may brick/damage your phone for good (If not done carefully), so please DO NOT flash your device if you don’t know what the hell “Flashing a phone” is.

In this post I will describe the use of latest version of Phoenix to flash the phone (working or dead) with a custom (hacked) firmware (or the original firmware if required). This flashing is usually done in “Dead Phone USB” mode (because in this mode the phone remains switched off and get flashed peacefully (less probability of errors). Also this method works in all situations – normal flashing, dead/bricked phone or custom firmware flashing. Anyway, carefully read rest of the post.

You need to have following before continuing with the process –

a. Phoenix latest version ( search Google for “Phoenix 2011 download”) – only for Windows
b. Navifirm
c. Original Firmware files (downloaded via Navifirm)
d. OPTIONAL – In case you want to flash the phone with a Custom/hacked/leaked firmware then you will also need Custom Firmware files (usually .uda, core and/or rofs files) – you should know where to get these (or search Google).

Now before proceeding with the actual flashing process, make sure -
A. Backup your important phone content (Contacts, media files etc) via PC Suite\Ovi Suite etc. Preferably format your memory card and mass storage memory before flashing the phone (or if you don’t want to format the memory then at least delete everything in E:\sys, E:\private, F:\sys and F:\private folders by connecting the phone to PC via “Mass storage mode”).

B. Download your phones original FW files via Navifirm). Better do not download the xyz.emmc.fpsx file (Memory card content) which is very large in size (around 1GB for N8) and thus will take too much time to download.

C. You can also modify and create your own hacked custom firmware using Nokia Cooker (to safely hack the phone) – refer to this post

D. If you want to flash N8 with Symbian Belle (any leaked firmware) then make sure that you have updated to Symbian Anna first (i.e. you need to have Anna installed rather than any older firmware).

E. ALSO REMEMBER that – DO NOT CONNECT THE PHONE with PC at this stage and until the last step of this process when Phoenix will ask to connect it (Even then connect the phone in “Switched Off” condition)

All set up! Now follow the instructions and screenshots given below –

1. Launch Phoenix and go to “Tools\Data Package Download”

Create a folder named RM-xxx (replace “xxx” with the actual product code of your phone – for example it will be RM-596 for Nokia N8) in the last folder of the location noted in the above screenshot. (Plus also create RM-xxx in “C:\Program Files\Nokia\Phoenix\Products” in case the location in the screenshot is different from it). Now place (copy\paste) all the downloaded ORIGINAL firmware files (and not the hacked or custom ones) into the “RM-xxx” folder that you have just created in both the locations above.

2. Go to File\Open Product in Phoenix

 Note however that if you want to flash the phone with original firmware files (and not the hacked ones) then do not click on “Options” (as shown in the above screenshot), instead check/tick the “Dead phone USB flashing” option and then click on “Refurbish” tab and directly go to the last screenshot below….
Otherwise if you are flashing with a hacked/custom firmware then follow the above and rest of the screenshots given below…

Switch Off the phone completely and wait for the “phone connect” prompt to appear (When Phoenix asks to connect the phone with PC). When it appears click OK and connect the switched off phone to PC using data cable. Flashing will start, wait for the process to complete (do not touch the phone or data cable during the process). After the process completes, phone will reboot, now disconnect it from PC and enjoy.

Troubleshooting – Do not panic if something goes wrong, try following
1. Format the phone with *#7370# code and see if this solves the issue
2. Hard reset the phone by key combinations and see if this solves the issue otherwise
3. Flash the phone again with original firmware files (that you downloaded with Navifirm) by following the above method and everything should be OK