Official firmware upgrades for Orange users

[Guest Dan Mullen]

(NOTE: I've posted this as a reply elsewhere but thought it might be useful/easier to find in its own topic).

I'm on Orange and bought someone's upgrade handset on eBay. Kies has continually stated that my firmware (JF3) cannot be upgraded but, after reading up a few posts on XDA, I've found a way to force an official update.

Go into the Windows registry and navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Samsung\Kies\DeviceDB\ then some number, (for me it was 4). Look for a key named ProductCode. Orange handsets - or at least mine - show the product code "GT-I9000HKDORA". If you change the ORA part to XEU (for UK users), Kies will tell you that an upgraded firmware is available. You can then go ahead and install the official JM1 update.

I can confirm that all of my apps, data and settings are intact following the upgrade. Also, it has removed all of the bloat that Orange put onto their handsets, (e.g. Orange Maps, Contacts Backup, etc.).

My versions are now as follows:

PDA: I9000XXJM1

PHONE: I9000XXJM1

CSC: I9000OXAJM1

Bear in mind that you will lose root access (if you had it) following the update. You can apply the quick update.zip root access update afterwards, (info can be found on XDA, probably on here too).

Cheers,

Dan

[Guest Iain51]

Oohhh! Exciting news, ta :huh: I will try that out as I am in that position too - handset bought on ebay and it appears to be an Orange one (is unlocked tho).

Mind you, I can't get Kies to recognise my phone atm, so am about to format everything as some people are saying that helped.

[Guest Dan Mullen]

Oohhh! Exciting news, ta :huh: I will try that out as I am in that position too - handset bought on ebay and it appears to be an Orange one (is unlocked tho).

Mind you, I can't get Kies to recognise my phone atm, so am about to format everything as some people are saying that helped.

HOLD ON! Don't wipe your phone yet, I've just posted a reply in another thread about connecting to Kies... basically:

1. Make sure you are running the TouchWiz launcher.

2. In the SD settings screen, unmount the external SD card (if you have one).

3. If you are a user of the app SoundHound, delete the SoundHound directory from the internal SD card. It contains a number of cache files that have odd file extensions - these stop Kies form working.

Cheers,

Dan

[Guest Iain51]

Well! It's only gone and bloody worked! :huh:

A couple of points to note:

• make the registry change after connecting the phone to the PC
  
• even tho Kies wasn't fully recognising my phone I could still do the update
  

Mind you, I'm currently a bit scared as it's stayed on the splash screen after rebooting for a couple of minutes now. ;) But it's finally fired up so all is well. :(

Now time to restore from Titanium Backup.

[Guest Iain51]

HOLD ON! Don't wipe your phone yet, I've just posted a reply in another thread about connecting to Kies...

Too late!!

Actually, I had formatted it before I could get your warning, but thanks for trying to stop me :huh: And that info is likely to be useful in future, I'll try it out.

[Guest Dan Mullen]

Glad it worked for you! I did mean to mention that the Galaxy S boot screen does stick around for a while - almost 10 minutes for me! I think it depends on how many apps you have installed.

[Guest Dan Mullen]

One more thing... if you connect your phone again and check the registry, you'll see that the product code has reverted back to the original one. Not a problem - just remember to change it again next time you want to do a firmware upgrade :huh:

[Guest xarxiusxiii]

This is excellent news for me! I'm going to go and try it now on my XP machine (on Ubuntu atm) :huh:

[Guest dr_ysp]

One more thing... if you connect your phone again and check the registry, you'll see that the product code has reverted back to the original one. Not a problem - just remember to change it again next time you want to do a firmware upgrade :huh:

hi, dan, i remeber you from hero section of modaco, i think u have migrated to sgs, anyway, thanks for all those knowledgeble tips in hero section, i learned many things from you. keep up th good work.

[Guest Dan Mullen]

hi, dan, i remeber you from hero section of modaco, i think u have migrated to sgs, anyway, thanks for all those knowledgeble tips in hero section, i learned many things from you. keep up th good work.

Cheers mate, yes, that was me :huh: I got the Galaxy S and my Hero went to my brother, although he has now sold it and also bought a Galaxy S!

[Guest xarxiusxiii]

Doesn't work for me ;)

I've tried changing the value when it's connected in Kies, says there's no update available. Tried doing it before Kies is running, and it gets reset to ORA when I open Kies. I then try changing to XEU and it doesn't work then...

I'll try again tomorrow to see if it works then. If not, does anyone have any suggestions? Or am I just doing something stupid (sounds like me :huh:)?

My firmware:

PDA: I9000BVJG1

PHONE: I9000BVJF3

CSC: I9000ORAJG1

Edited August 24, 2010 by xarxiusxiii

[Guest Dan Mullen]

Doesn't work for me ;)

I've tried changing the value when it's connected in Kies, says there's no update available. Tried doing it before Kies is running, and it gets reset to ORA when I open Kies. I then try changing to XEU and it doesn't work then...

I'll try again tomorrow to see if it works then. If not, does anyone have any suggestions? Or am I just doing something stupid (sounds like me :huh:)?

My firmware:

PDA: I9000BVJG1

PHONE: I9000BVJF3

CSC: I9000ORAJG1

You could try putting Kies into test mode... when the update box pops up, try pressing <CTRL>+<ALT>+U+P. This will indicate that test mode is on. Close the box then try updating again.

[Guest xarxiusxiii]

You could try putting Kies into test mode... when the update box pops up, try pressing <CTRL>+<ALT>+U+P. This will indicate that test mode is on. Close the box then try updating again.

Hmmm, thanks for the suggestion, but that didn't work... I did, however, get it working! All my apps and settings have stayed, the only problem I've had is all my widgets had to be removed and replaced (problem loading widget came up).

What I did, in the end, was replace ORA with XEU, and in the strings SoftwareRevision, HIDSWVER and DEVCONINFO (it was in there twice) replaced the values with I9000XXJF3/I9000OXAJF3/I9000XXJF3/I9000XXJF3. Then Kies said there was an update available, and it installed! I'm already noticing less lag, and am glad to see the Orange crap removed :huh:

Thanks for the guide and your help ;)

[Guest Dan Mullen]

Hmmm, thanks for the suggestion, but that didn't work... I did, however, get it working! All my apps and settings have stayed, the only problem I've had is all my widgets had to be removed and replaced (problem loading widget came up).

What I did, in the end, was replace ORA with XEU, and in the strings SoftwareRevision, HIDSWVER and DEVCONINFO (it was in there twice) replaced the values with I9000XXJF3/I9000OXAJF3/I9000XXJF3/I9000XXJF3. Then Kies said there was an update available, and it installed! I'm already noticing less lag, and am glad to see the Orange crap removed ;)

Thanks for the guide and your help :(

No problem bud, pleased to be able to help :huh:

[Guest seraphine]

This worked perfectly! I now am on JM1 and it's nice.

I feel that it's a lot smoother, and the GPS seems to work a lot better -- got a lock in < 10 seconds from a window in my building!

Hmmm, thanks for the suggestion, but that didn't work... I did, however, get it working! All my apps and settings have stayed, the only problem I've had is all my widgets had to be removed and replaced (problem loading widget came up).

What I did, in the end, was replace ORA with XEU, and in the strings SoftwareRevision, HIDSWVER and DEVCONINFO (it was in there twice) replaced the values with I9000XXJF3/I9000OXAJF3/I9000XXJF3/I9000XXJF3. Then Kies said there was an update available, and it installed! I'm already noticing less lag, and am glad to see the Orange crap removed :huh:

Thanks for the guide and your help ;)

[Guest Iain51]

It should be said that the new slide to unlock screen is far more annoying! It seems to need a much bigger slide than when on JF3.

However, the lack of crapware from Orange is great :huh: Thanks again Dan!

[Guest demon-knight]

Excellent worked a treat for the wifes phone!

[Guest ranblv]

I did the same thing on the way to JM6 but for some reason JM6 wouldn't open the Home screen after the boot animation, had to revert to JM1, some people on XDA say JM6 is fine, but I couldn't get my phone to like it.

Edited August 25, 2010 by ranblv

[Guest Dan Mullen]

It should be said that the new slide to unlock screen is far more annoying! It seems to need a much bigger slide than when on JF3.

However, the lack of crapware from Orange is great ;) Thanks again Dan!

You're welcome - and I agree about the slide to unlock! :huh:

[Guest mirox3m]

@ Dan Mullen Hi thanks for your tutorial! I successfuly updated my Bulgarian Galaxy S (ending letters MTL, probably multi language).

I did it after implementing the advices in posts 3,4 and 13. Could you integrate them in your first post, so that it is easier for other users.

BTW Do you have the voice search option, since I don't have it?

[Guest razzda]

Hi Dan!

I'd just like to confirm that this works on a unbranded Samsung Galaxy S bought in Germany with stock firmware JF3 (product code: GT-I9000HKDDBT) using Kies 1.5.1.10074_2, Windows 7 64-bit.

After unmounting the external SD card, I started Kies and let it detect the phone. I then went in Windows Registry and changed the product code from GT-I9000HKDDBT to GT-I9000HKDXEU and asked Kies to check for firmware updates and ..... hey presto .... I was allowed to upgrade to JM1.

Upgrade went smooth - it seemed to halt a little after the boot animation. It does come about as a little more reponsive now and I got a full lock on 8 satellites in less than 10 seconds, which is quite an improvement.

I didn't suffer any problems with widgets, unlike a previous user.

Many thanks for the tip!

Raz

Edited August 27, 2010 by razzda

[Guest itaykoren]

Hi Dan,

Just wanted to let you know that there's 2 topics (or more) regarding this issue that have suggested that you need to change more than just the Product Code for it to work everytime, and not sometimes. (one said that you must change SOFTWARE REVISION, while the other said that you need to change HIDSWVER).

I would be happy if you could check them out and perhaps reach a conclusion regarding what exactly MUST be changed and what is not necessary to change.

Here are the links:

http://ip208-100-42-21.static.xda-develope...ad.php?t=765029

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=766589

Cheers and keep up the good work.

Itay