Flashing The HTC Touch HD

Because I keep forgetting:

1. Start Win7 in "allow unsigned drivers" mode.
2. Turn off USB connectivity in ActiveSync.
3. Start the phone in bootloader mode by holding down vol down while booting.
4. Update the drivers to those here. Note the 64 bit option. If "the device cannot start" unplug the phone and plug it back in again.
5. Run USPL.
6. Flash ROM. (Serial HT847KD00009.)

I guess steps 2. and 4. may be unnecessary once you've done it once.

Or...

1. Copy BLACIMG.NBH into the root dir of your Storage Card.
2. Turn off your device by using the Power Button.
3. Remove storage card.
4. Go to Boot loader mode. (Push and hold Vol. Down + press Power button.)
5. Insert storage card when you see USB displaying on screen.
6. Disallow USB connections in ActiveSync.
7. Disallow On-Access virus scanning.
8. Run USPL 2.5.
9. Phone should restart and ask you to press the power button to start flashing the ROM.
10. Apparently you should always do a hard reset after an update.

More Service From HTC

Finally getting to the bottom of my HTC service woes. Actually spoke to the repair centre today, who claim that there is no way that my phone could have been scratched while in their care. When I told them that after the first repair it had come back without a screen protector it sounded like I was making it up :( They also said that I didn't fill in the check sheet the first time to say there were no scratches, well that was because there were no scratches. Also really annoyed that it's taken days of effort from me to actually get this information out of them.

HTC Service: No Longer Funny

So I sent my HTC Touch HD back for the third time a week ago. Usually by this point I have had about three emails giving me some useless, meaningless, but I now realise still reassuring, information. I called today as I am going on holiday tomorrow, and I don't really want it delivered while I am away. The first call made me wonder if they had just lost it. The phone that is. The guy said that it had been delivered but that "delivery had failed" and then asked if it had been collected. Well yes. He didn't call me back. The second person tried to call the repair centre while I was on hold. When they didn't pick up he explained that they might be on a break, and would I like him to ask their secretary to get them back in from their break. Not especially. He also couldn't see any record of my request to not have the phone delivered until I'm back from holiday. He didn't call back either. At 5 I called back again, and finally was told that my phone was "on hold" due to the fact that I hadn't replied to the email that I hadn't received. Apparently I needed to answer some question, which she couldn't tell me, but she would email the repair centre, which by this time was closed, who would email me the question again.

Recommended Listening

This year's ever excellent Reith Lectures began this morning on Radio 4. The first lecture, Markets and Morals is especially relevant with the news today of Shell capitulating days before they go to court over the executions of Nigerian activists 13 years ago.

Favourite quote from the lecture: "We need to recognise that there are some things that money can’t buy and other things that money can buy but shouldn’t."

Scratches Without The Service

I spoke too soon. Once I'd received my phone back for the second time, still scratched, I wasn't so happy with HTC's service. I am even less happy with their service a day later when neither of the two people who've promised to get back to me have done so, and I still haven't received any emails regarding the next pick up.

Apparently they have two problems. My phone is regarded as still in transit, despite the fact that I have it in my pocket, this means that they cannot open a new support call. Also they have just discovered that they cannot make outgoing calls, to people such as the transit company/department to ask about why my phone is reported as still in transit. Presumably this is also why no one has called me back, though why they didn't know they wouldn't be able to call me back is anyone's guess.

Incidentally I have found that the best way to get through to someone quickly who will be able to hear and understand you is to dial 01279 206906 and then choose technical support, option 2.

Something That Sucks About news.bbc.co.uk

I really like the BBC News site, but there is one aspect that completely sucks: search. First you type in your search terms, so far so good. Now press enter or click "Search". What's this? A random list of results from the entire BBC site. But I was on the news site, blatantly I want news results only. So click on "News & Sport". Now I want the most recent result, so I click "Order by date". But I'm not getting the video I want. Oh, videos are separate, of course, on the right. So I click "more like this" under the videos, but it's not there. Now how do I get back to the normal results? How many clicks is that? I don't know, I've lost the will to live.

Eventually I gave up and found the video I was after on YouTube. Albeit in worse quality.

Another thing they could do would be to provide links to new stories from previous articles on the same story, currently they only do it in the opposite direction.

What I Learnt Today

When you get spam messages from your friends on Yahoo! Messenger! and the like about pills to reduce the size of your measurement in one direction or increase it in another, it is apparently not because that friend has a virus on their computer as I mistakenly assumed, it is apparently because their password has been compromised and there is some presumably automated process out there sending messages remotely. So my replies of "you have a virus" were wasted, you actually need to email your friends and tell them to change their passwords. So if you happen to be reading this Sonia, Diana, Morgan or Raquel, change your passwords.