Son upgraded to wrong version of Android, what can be done?

Caromom · 12-01-2013 2:37pm #1

Hi

Bought my son a Huawei Honor U8860 for Christmas, UK version, Sim Free, but used on the Meteor Network. Out of box specs from vendor as follow:

CPU : 1.4GHz Scorpion
System : Android 2.3 Gingerbread, upgradable to 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
Memory : 512MB RAM / 4GB ROM / 1GB storage / microSD slot up to 32GB
Connectivity : Wi-Fi 802.11 b-g-n / A-GPS / 3.5mm jack / microUSB / GSM 850-900-1800-1900 / HSDPA 900-1700-2100
Camera : 8MP 3264x2448 / autofocus / LED flash / 720p video recording / front 2MP

He wanted to carry out the upgrade from Gingerbread to Ice Cream Sandwich and he downloaded a ROM from somewhere (not sure where) - however, since he installed the upgrade the camera does not work and the phone will not connect to the internet plus he lost all his contacts which he had backed up to the SD card

How can we resolve this - can we do it ourselves or is there a phone repair service that can help us out?

Thanks for any suggestions
Caromom

BobbyPropane · 12-01-2013 2:38pm

Factory reset?

Settings - Backup and reset

ED E · 12-01-2013 2:40pm

Download the stock ROM from XDA and flash that in the same manner.

As for contacts, depends how he backed them up. Try contacts.google.com and log in with the same google account as he used with the phone originally.

kingtiger · 12-01-2013 2:55pm

you can get the original firmware here

Just follow the drop down menus to select your phones firmware

it looks like you son updated to an open source ICS update, with just a quick Google on this firmware its not completely finished so there are lots of bugs, mainly the one you already mentioned

Caromom · 13-01-2013 12:55pm

Thanks guys - factory reset would not work because he had flashed it - he tried to download the official version of Gingerbread from Huawei website and it said "update failed" - probably won't let you install an older version over a newer one - and when he checked Google his contacts were not there either - I am not quite sure what he has done to be honest! Does anyone know if any of the mobile phone repair places might be able to help?

ED E · 13-01-2013 4:08pm

You need to use whatever tool he used to flash the custom ROM to flash the stock one, the official tools wont recognize the device.

Gnicireland · 13-01-2013 9:19pm

I'm the idiot son.

It said I could upgrade my phone up to ICS 4.0.3 from Gingerbread 2.3.6 so I was keen as it seemed like the obvious choice. I didn't download any custom ROM or anything like that, nor did I root the phone because

A) I didn't know how
and

I didn't want to make a bollocks of my first smartphone 2 days after getting it.

I was also wary about where I got these upgrades from and so only used upgrade files from the official Huawei site. First off I tried using the ICS upgrade offered on the Huawei website for my phone ( http://www.huaweidevice.com/worldwide/downloadCenter.do?method=toDownloadFile&flay=software&softid=NDY4Nzg= )

That's where I ran into problems. Every update (bar the wrong one, in keeping with my luck) gets to about 25% (There's no percentage bar, only a pink line) and says update failed and I have no choice other than to take out the battery and restart the phone. It doesn't do the phone any damage but it doesn't update either.

The update that actually worked ( http://www.huaweidevice.com/worldwide/downloadCenter.do?method=toDownloadFile&flay=software&softid=NDY4Nzk= ) is for a non-camera version of my phone that I didn't even know existed. I must have mixed up the two while downloading. That explains why the camera doesn't work but I don't know why my contacts deleted (Backed up prior to upgrade) or my cellular internet service is completely gone.

I tried downgrading back to 2.3.6 with the official Huawei file again ( http://www.huaweidevice.com/worldwide/downloadCenter.do?method=toDownloadFile&flay=software&softid=NDY2NTM= ) as suggested here but ran into the same UPDATE FAILED! problems as with the installation of the correct ICS file.

I'm not sure what you mean by flash but the way I did it was by;

(1) Downloading the file to my computer
(2) Unzipping it
(3) Transferring across to the phone by USB into a folder entitled "dload"
(4) Going into Settings > Storage > Software Upgrade > SD Card Upgrade

The phone then restarts before getting to around 25% complete and inevitably failing.

I just want it back working on Gingerbread. If it can work on ICS then great I'm not too pushed. I just want to be able to take photos and tweet/check football scores on the go again. I'd like my contacts back too but I'd say that's a lost cause at this stage. Just annoyed that I made such a mess of it trying to upgrade when there was nothing wrong with it in the first place.

kingtiger · 13-01-2013 10:28pm

your best bet is to have a read through the following thread on XDA

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1552038

I don't know that much about your model phone but everything you need to know will be on XDA

Good luck

Gnicireland · 13-01-2013 10:37pm

Thank you. In an act of technologically-advanced Darwinism, the phone has bested me once again. Damn my computing incompetence.

Kristopherus · 13-01-2013 10:56pm

Anything you want to know about the Hauwei Honor is here:http://www.modaco.com/forum/586-huawei-honor-honormodacocom

PrzemoF · 14-01-2013 1:34pm

Gnicireland wrote: »

[..]
I didn't want to make a bollocks of my first smartphone 2 days after getting it.
[..]

That's the best way of learning

Learn about flashing, it's not that hard and you already did the most unpleasant part ("OMG, I broke the phone!!")

danniemcq · 14-01-2013 3:04pm

PrzemoF wrote: »

That's the best way of learning

Learn about flashing, it's not that hard and you already did the most unpleasant part ("OMG, I broke the phone!!")

i remember that feeling when my s3 got stuck in a bootloop after ugrading it to Jelly bean

horrible feeling but its just been added to my growing Android knowledge so i can help others with the same issue

(LBE privacy guard causes bootloop on Jelly bean. if it happens you delete the app in recovery mode or when you boot up quickly navigate to the app in the app drawer and uninstall)

ED E · 14-01-2013 10:58pm

Gnicireland wrote: »

I'm not sure what you mean by flash but the way I did it was by;

(1) Downloading the file to my computer
(2) Unzipping it
(3) Transferring across to the phone by USB into a folder entitled "dload"
(4) Going into Settings > Storage > Software Upgrade > SD Card Upgrade

The phone then restarts before getting to around 25% complete and inevitably failing.

Does this start updating straight away, or does it reboot to do it?

If it doesnt reboot first, try finding out if there is a recovery mode you can get into(usually power button + volume or power + back).

Problem you may have is that the fw will have changed your IDs to the cameraless device, and correct ones may think you have that one and fail(if they check before installing).

Gnicireland · 15-01-2013 3:59am

ED E wrote: »

Does this start updating straight away, or does it reboot to do it?

If it doesnt reboot first, try finding out if there is a recovery mode you can get into(usually power button + volume or power + back).

Problem you may have is that the fw will have changed your IDs to the cameraless device, and correct ones may think you have that one and fail(if they check before installing).

Nope. Spent the last hour and a half trying to do all the upgrades in recovery mode. No joy unfortunately.

Kristopherus · 15-01-2013 4:08pm

Gnicireland wrote: »

Nope. Spent the last hour and a half trying to do all the upgrades in recovery mode. No joy unfortunately.

Did you read this ? http://www.modaco.com/topic/357243-explained-like-youre-5-install-custom-roms-from-scratch-install-the-official-ics-update-root-more/

Can you get into Recovery at all?

Gnicireland · 15-01-2013 7:01pm

Kristopherus wrote: »

Did you read this ? http://www.modaco.com/topic/357243-explained-like-youre-5-install-custom-roms-from-scratch-install-the-official-ics-update-root-more/

Can you get into Recovery at all?

Yeah I can get into recovery mode alright. Power volume up volume down. I'll give these a go tonight and see how they work.

EDIT: These are for the Huawei Ascend. My phone is the Huawei Honor. Thank you for the effort though.

thebman · 15-01-2013 11:24pm

Looks like you need to use Flashtool and a stock rom to recover from this situation.

If your going to do it, read everything twice at least and then double check it.

You can brick your phone with Flashtool if used incorrectly.

There are also servers you can pay to get access to for a few Euro that will Flash your phone to a new ROM (usually a choice of stock and custom available).

Can't remember the URL but I did it once as the reports of bricking my model were quite high but the reviews of the online flashing server service were very good and it worked without any issues.

Cost me 3 Euro I think.

Gnicireland · 15-01-2013 11:35pm

thebman wrote: »

Looks like you need to use Flashtool and a stock rom to recover from this situation.

If your going to do it, read everything twice at least and then double check it.

You can brick your phone with Flashtool if used incorrectly.

There are also servers you can pay to get access to for a few Euro that will Flash your phone to a new ROM (usually a choice of stock and custom available).

Can't remember the URL but I did it once as the reports of bricking my model were quite high but the reviews of the online flashing server service were very good and it worked without any issues.

Cost me 3 Euro I think.

Cheers mate I'll give that a go now.

EDIT: Nope not working either. Only decent flashtool is for Sony Ericcson. One for Huawei is unusable.

Kristopherus · 16-01-2013 1:45am

Gnicireland wrote: »

Yeah I can get into recovery mode alright. Power volume up volume down. I'll give these a go tonight and see how they work.

EDIT: These are for the Huawei Ascend. My phone is the Huawei Honor. Thank you for the effort though.

Oh Sh*t, my apologies, wrong link:o.

Ok, if you can get int recovery, at least there is some hope. Now download the rom of your choice and save it to a folder on your desktop - call it Honor. Copy & paste that file to the sd card of your phone. You may have to do that via another phone that takes a micro sd card.You do NOT unzip the file. When you get it on the card, put the card back in your phone. Boot into recovery. In the recovery menu, go to wipe data, clean as much as the menu allows you to. This method applies to all android phones. Now go back to the main recovery nenu. Hit install zip. Scroll down to the zip on the card., and hit ok. if it installs, you should be good to go.

Gnicireland · 16-01-2013 2:18am

Kristopherus wrote: »

Oh Sh*t, my apologies, wrong link:o.

Ok, if you can get int recovery, at least there is some hope. Now download the rom of your choice and save it to a folder on your desktop - call it Honor. Copy & paste that file to the sd card of your phone. You may have to do that via another phone that takes a micro sd card.You do NOT unzip the file. When you get it on the card, put the card back in your phone. Boot into recovery. In the recovery menu, go to wipe data, clean as much as the menu allows you to. This method applies to all android phones. Now go back to the main recovery nenu. Hit install zip. Scroll down to the zip on the card., and hit ok. if it installs, you should be good to go.

Install zip isn't an option. I get

reboot system now
apply update from sdcard
wipe data/factory reset
wipe cache partition
touchscreen firmware update

It failed when I tried to update from sdcard after wiping data.

EDIT: Just getting "E: Signature Verification Failed" every single time on each update even though they're all from the official Huawei site.

griffdaddy · 16-01-2013 4:10pm

Can you boot into android? Don't worry, you'll get there eventually.

Follow these steps from the thread below and let me know if you can get CWM installed:

HOW TO ROOT OFFICIAL/STOCK ROM
1. Download the file in the attachment (UPDATE.RAR)
2. Extract u get (update.app)--> Create a folder in SDcard by name "dload" copy update.app in the folder
3. go to Settings --> SDCARD --> SOFTWARE UPDATE --> UPDATE then restart
4. Download SuperOneClick.rar --> extract (below link)
5. start SuperOneClick.exe --> connect the phone to pc via USB cable
6. Click root -- > DONE ENJOY ur device is rooted
http://www.mediafire.com/?8a921g3bvq4uxp9

HOW TO INSTALL CWM V5
1. Download "recovery.img" form attachment
2. Install "Romtoolbox" free version form google market (need root to run)
3. Open the app --> Go to Rootbrowser --> find ".cust_backup" folder --> open "image" folder
4. Rename "recovery.img" to "recovery_backup.img"
5. Copy the downloaded version of "recover.img" and paste in "image" folder (step3)
6. Exit the app --> Switch Off
7. Press "power on" button while holding "volume up"
done u got cwm V5 enjoy

All the files you need are there.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1763170

Kristopherus · 16-01-2013 4:40pm

Yea, that a bitch. Your best option at this stage is toroot the phone. Then you should be able to put any rom you like on the phone. And if recovery only lists an update ,if you have a CM rom, it may very well take.

Gnicireland · 16-01-2013 8:13pm

I rooted it last night. Clockworkmod won't work with my phone as it doesn't have a supported file for Huawei U8860 and I can't find one online anywhere

Gnicireland · 16-01-2013 8:48pm

griffdaddy wrote: »

Can you boot into android? Don't worry, you'll get there eventually.

Follow these steps from the thread below and let me know if you can get CWM installed:

HOW TO ROOT OFFICIAL/STOCK ROM
1. Download the file in the attachment (UPDATE.RAR)
2. Extract u get (update.app)--> Create a folder in SDcard by name "dload" copy update.app in the folder
3. go to Settings --> SDCARD --> SOFTWARE UPDATE --> UPDATE then restart
4. Download SuperOneClick.rar --> extract (below link)
5. start SuperOneClick.exe --> connect the phone to pc via USB cable
6. Click root -- > DONE ENJOY ur device is rooted
http://www.mediafire.com/?8a921g3bvq4uxp9

HOW TO INSTALL CWM V5
1. Download "recovery.img" form attachment
2. Install "Romtoolbox" free version form google market (need root to run)
3. Open the app --> Go to Rootbrowser --> find ".cust_backup" folder --> open "image" folder
4. Rename "recovery.img" to "recovery_backup.img"
5. Copy the downloaded version of "recover.img" and paste in "image" folder (step3)
6. Exit the app --> Switch Off
7. Press "power on" button while holding "volume up"
done u got cwm V5 enjoy

All the files you need are there.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1763170

I appreciate the effort you put in to find that but it's made the phone worse. Now it won't turn on without me getting a message saying "Image signature verify fail" I can get it to pink screen but not to recovery mode. It's completely banjaxed the phone. My computer won't recognise the phone in pink screen mode despite installing the drivers.

griffdaddy · 16-01-2013 9:18pm

Gnicireland wrote: »

I appreciate the effort you put in to find that but it's made the phone worse. Now it won't turn on without me getting a message saying "Image signature verify fail" I can get it to pink screen but not to recovery mode. It's completely banjaxed the phone. My computer won't recognise the phone in pink screen mode despite installing the drivers.

Is there a difference between what comes up when you boot normally and when you boot while holding the volume up key in?

Gnicireland · 16-01-2013 9:25pm

griffdaddy wrote: »

Is there a difference between what comes up when you boot normally and when you boot while holding the volume up key in?

Nope. I get the exact same screen.

Image signature verify fail.

Your boot/recovery image may have an incorrect signature.

Please update your image to a signature official one.

You can remove battery for power down.

But I can't update the image because my computer won't recognise the phone in pink screen mode.

griffdaddy · 16-01-2013 9:35pm

Try and put the update.app file from the zip file on http://www.huaweidevice.com/cn/downloadCenter.do?method=toDownloadFile&flay=software&softid=NDE5Nzg= in a folder called dload on your sd and reboot. Make sure there's nothing else in there. It's hard to get info on this phone because so much of it is in Chinese but there must be someway back

Gnicireland · 16-01-2013 9:41pm

griffdaddy wrote: »

Try and put the update.app file from the zip file on http://www.huaweidevice.com/cn/downloadCenter.do?method=toDownloadFile&flay=software&softid=NDE5Nzg= in a folder called dload on your sd and reboot. Make sure there's nothing else in there. It's hard to get info on this phone because so much of it is in Chinese but there must be someway back

That file doesn't work I've tried it already thanks. It won't reboot because I can't get back into recovery mode. Only pink screen and that won't connect to my computer

biebiebie · 16-01-2013 9:45pm

If you remove your sd card can you get into recovery then?

Gnicireland · 16-01-2013 9:49pm

biebiebie wrote: »

If you remove your sd card can you get into recovery then?

No unfortunately not.

Kristopherus · 16-01-2013 11:57pm

If you cannot get into recovery, the your phone is as near fooked as makes no difference. I don't want to sound harsh, because we've all been there. I have rooted & updated a dozen family android phones over the past 2 years. At that stage I was a noob just like you, but once you get the hang of the whole process, it really is pretty easy. But I've never had your problem. I have to admit I'm stumped. And the info on Modaco or XDA Developers is sparse enough, & the problem is compounded because it a Chinese production.
If I can source any more info, I'll post here.

Gnicireland · 17-01-2013 12:03am

Kristopherus wrote: »

If you cannot get into recovery, the your phone is as near fooked as makes no difference. I don't want to sound harsh, because we've all been there. I have rooted & updated a dozen family android phones over the past 2 years. At that stage I was a noob just like you, but once you get the hang of the whole process, it really is pretty easy. But I've never had your problem. I have to admit I'm stumped. And the info on Modaco or XDA Developers is sparse enough, & the problem is compounded because it a Chinese production.
If I can source any more info, I'll post here.

Ah. That's a shame. Thank you anyway.

thebman · 17-01-2013 1:07am

Honestly with where you are now, post on XDA, wait and hope someone replies.

I've never seen that kind of an error but I've only messed with Xperias but I've rooted 4 models and put custom roms on two including custom kernels and almost bricked twice.

Never seen that error. Might be phone specific though. What XDA forum you posting in?

If you post in a more general forum, someone should be able to tell you if it's bricked or might take pity and try to work out a way to recover for you.

Very unusual that a phone gets bricked unless you put something completely incompatible on it.

Even if you can't access recovery, there is a mode to use flashtool like method to flash a Rom on.

Flashtool is just drivers and a ui to a command line tool. You can do same thing with android SDK.

Xda guys will help if you can find the right people

PrzemoF · 17-01-2013 11:29am

I'm not familiar with this phone, but what about a usb dongle to force download mode & a linuxbox to upload new image? (I never did that as I never had to use that method)

Gnicireland · 17-01-2013 6:03pm

PrzemoF wrote: »

I'm not familiar with this phone, but what about a usb dongle to force download mode & a linuxbox to upload new image? (I never did that as I never had to use that method)

I'm not really a tech lingo speaker. I'm sorry but I've no idea what any of that means.

Bluefoam · 18-01-2013 8:35am

Gnicireland wrote: »

I'm not really a tech lingo speaker. I'm sorry but I've no idea what any of that means.

OP, your best bet is to post a similar thread on xda, those guys should be able to help you. Don't fret, you'll sort it out eventually.

PrzemoF · 18-01-2013 1:06pm

Gnicireland wrote: »

I'm not really a tech lingo speaker. I'm sorry but I've no idea what any of that means.

OK, sorry for that.

From xda: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2080185
"I think if you download the official firmware from huawei, then put the dload folder on an SD card, then flash it (hold the + - volume buttons and power button in until there comes a screen of installing firmware) then it should be ok."

Have you seen this? http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1552038

I had "pink screen" on a tablet and fixed it, so I hope you'll be able to do the same.

Can you describe what happens if you boot the phone normally and if you boot the phone holding buttons (see above)

Son upgraded to wrong version of Android, what can be done?

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