I have an old Sony Ericsson K750i which has been lying around the house for a while. It’s got no sim and the joystick is broken so its useless as a phone, but I’ve been using it as a spare charger for my new phone – a newer but less featured SE v630i which takes the same battery
I really miss the camera on the k750i – it’s got autofocus, macro mode and an LED flash/light, and its always produced a better image than the newer v630i camera.
I’ve looking for a way to keep using the handset. I tried getting a spare SIM card, but the phone is locked to vodafone and they charge for new SIM cards.
Then recently I found a forum thread on how to flash the k750i to be a w800 – a phone which was launched around the same time, identical hardware but released under the walkman branding and with different firmware. The w800 can function as an MP3 player and camera without a SIM card! Viola! Just what I was looking for – and I could even use the original DCU-60 USB cable that came with the phone.
This is the forum thread, but I’ve extracted the important bits in case it happens to be down. Here’s all I had to do to flash the k750i to a w800
Before u start
1. A phone needs two things FLASH and MAIN. These are the operating system for ur phone. The files for any of the models can be found from www.topsony.com. But u need registration. The FLASH file will be something like W800_R1BC002_FS_EMEA6.bin and MAIN something like W800_R1BC002_MAIN_EU_EMEA.bin.
2. EMEA indicates the software type and the above supports for India tested by myself. For others u will have to download others like (W800_R1BC002_MAIN_EU_EMEA_RED49 & W800_R1BC002_FS_EMEA2)
3. W800 stands for the mobile model for which the software is and R1BC002 is the type of FIRMWARE (Something like software version).
4. Full package can be found at http://rapidshare.com/files/12706205…oW800.rar.html
5. or search for this file at www.4shared.com “K750toW800” it also contains the full package. I have used this its free.
The rapidshare link is corrupted here, bit searching k750toW800 led me to the right file quickly enough. =)
Unpack the rar file using WinRAR.
The package includes:
XS++: This program is used to flash you phone’s firmware. This also lets you check your CID number.
Gslide: This program converts W800 CID36 firmware to CID49, to make the firmware compatible to K750 CID49 phones. CID36 users need not use this.
W800 Firmware: Your Main and File System files. Your W800’s operating system files.
USB Flash Driver: The driver you need to enable your phone for flashing through USB cable. These drivers are NOT (I repeat NOT) the same ones you get on K750 PC suite CD
Flashing should be done in this order
1) Flash FS
2) Customize FS
3) Flash MAIN
Because in XS++ the flashing has to be done in following order only because of a bug.STEP1: Installing USB Flash Driver.
Turn off your phone. Remove SIM and memory card, and re-insert battery. Do not turn ON.
Inside K750toW800 folder, goto XS++ folder and open the program. now click START. While pressing and holding the ‘c’ button on your phone’s keypad, insert USB cable. Windows will detect a new hardware and ‘Install new hardware’ wizard pops up. Release the ‘c’ button. In the wizard, click ‘no, not at this time’ and next. Choose to install from a specified location and click next. Under ‘search for the best drivers to install’, check ‘include this location in the search’. Under ‘browse’, choose the path to the unpacked folder you downloaded and select the folder USB Flash Driver. Now click next and let the windows install the driver.
After installing the driver, close XS++ and disconnect phone and turn it off in case it has switched on. Remove battery for 2 seconds and re-insert it (to refresh your phone). (Removing and re-inserting is usually required once u disconnect in any step)
Now your phone is ready to be flashed.CHECKING CID NUMBER
Again open XS++, click START, and insert cable while pressing ‘c’ the same way as before. Your fone gets detected and on the left side of the screen, you get the detailed info of your phone including the EROM CID number.
If you have CID 36, then goto STEP2 and go directly to STEP3. Do not close XS++ or unplug your fone.
STEP2:
Now, you know you have a CID49. So the CID36 firmware has to be converted to CID49.
A. Open Gslide. for flashfile, click ‘…’ and select the file named ‘W800_R1BC002_MAIN_EU_EMEA.bin’ inside the W800 Firmware folder. Inside ‘output’ type in the path… C:MAINFLASH.bin. Now click ‘Process’.B. After sliding process is completed, again click ‘…’ for flashfile and select file ‘W800_R1BC002_FS_EMEA6.bin’ inside the same folder. Under output type in C:FSFLASH.bin and hit process. Close the whole program after sliding completes.
Now there will be 2 files in C: drive using Gslide. MAINFLASH.bin and FSFLASH.bin
STEP3: Flashing FS.
• For CID36: Your phone is already detected by XS++. Under Select Firmware, check Flash File System, and then click ’…’ , now select the file ‘W800_R1BC002_FS_EMEA6.bin’ inside W800 Firmware folder. Hit flash… the flashing process is now initiated. After completion of 291 blocks, it will say either ‘done flashing’ or hang at ‘finishing flash’. Don’t worry about it. Close the program and unplug phone. Again take-out and reinsert battery to refresh. Goto STEP4.
• For CID49: Inside XS++, Under Select Firmware, check Flash File System, and then click ’…’ , now select the file ‘FSFLASH.bin’ in the C: drive which we generated from Gslide. Hit flash to start flashing process. After completion of 291 blocks, it will say either ‘done flashing’ or hang at ‘finishing flash’. Don’t worry about it. Close the program and unplug phone. Again take-out and reinsert battery to refresh.
STEP4: Customizing FS.
Common for CID36 and CID49: Again open XS++ and connect the phone same way as we did before. Now check Customize File System and then select phone model ‘W800’, select CDA and region ‘EMEA_6(CDA102430/6)’. Hit Flash. It will ask you whether you want to use ‘breakin’ or ‘brute-force’. Click ‘yes’ for breakin and strictly follow instructions on the left side of the screen. It will ask you to connect and re-connect phone 2-3 times by press and hold ‘c’ method. Do not panic at any point here, just follow the instructions carefully on the left. At the point when it says ‘FS activation’, wait for 3 minutes. After completion, close XS++ and unplug fone. Refresh by re-inserting battery.
STEP5: Flashing MAIN.
• For CID36: Open XS++ and again connect your phone the same way. Under Select Firmware, check Flash Main, and then click ’…’ , now select the file ‘W800_R1BC002_MAIN_EU_EMEA.bin’ inside W800 Firmware folder. Hit flash… the flashing process is now initiated. After completion of 291 blocks, it will say either ‘done flashing’ or hang at ‘finishing flash’. Unplug your phone and close XS++.
• For CID49: Open XS++ and again connect your phone the same way. Under Select Firmware, check Flash Main, and then click ’…’ , now select the file ‘MAINFLASH.bin’ in the C: drive which we generated from Gslide. Hit flash… the flashing process is now initiated. After completion of 291 blocks, it will say either ‘done flashing’ or hang at ‘finishing flash’. Unplug your phone and close XS++.
STEP6: Final steps
Now, insert your SIM and memory card and turn on the phone, wait for sometime as the phone takes time loading from a brand new firmware. It will say phone staring don’t panic it will take some time as the new software has to be initiated.
With that all done (and it only took like 5 minutes including the time spent installing things) I now had a w800 in a k750i shell. Unfortunately it would only fire up to a menu which let me choose either Phone mode or Player mode. Phone mode was selected by default and would allow me to do nothing without a SIM Card, and selecting Player mode with the broken joystick took several frustrating attempts. Even then it wouldn’t start that properly either. Back to the forums.
A few searches later and I had my solution. When the menu appears, simply lock the phone and open the camera shutter – this will start the camera app. And it works!
Thanks to a few minutes of searching, downloading and flashing, I now have a working standalone 2.0MP Autofocus camera from my broken k750i, which I can use as a quick document scanner thanks to the macro mode!