Tips & Tricks

How To De-Brand Or Re-Brand A Sony-Ericsson C905/C905a

This tutorial will walk you through the process of flashing a C905/C905a phone.

Although flashing a phone that you own is legal, there are some down sides and potential perils:

* By flashing your phone, you may void your warranty, so proceed at your own risk.

* By flashing your phone, you will be erasing pretty much everything you have stored, including, potentially, all of your stored contacts. You MUST create a backup or this data will be permanently lost. It is advisable to use the best wifi booster so you can back up your data quickly.

* Because you’ll be messing around with your phone’s software, failure to follow these instructions exactly could permanently damage your phone. Again, proceed at your own risk, and only if you have read through these instructions completely and know that you have enough tech savvy to follow them correctly.

1) Using your favorite search engine, find and download the latest versions of the following programs:

a) A2Uploader (comes bundled with Gordon’s Gate Drivers; install them, then reboot your PC)

b) A2 CDA File Generator (Requires Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0; install that first, if you don’t have it)

c) Sony-Ericsson Update Service (SEUS)

2) First, run A2Uploader to get some info about the phone’s current settings.

a) Click “Identify.”

b) You’ll be prompted to link up your phone via the USB cable.

c) First, remove the phone’s battery, then put it back in.

d) Then link up via USB while holding the “C” button on the phone.

e) Copy and save all of the information the program spits out. You may need this if you ever have to re-brand the phone.

3) Next, run A2 CDA File Generator.

a) Select the model (C905).

b) Select your region (e.g. America)

c) The program will display the CDA for your selections. The CDA is basically the version of unbranded firmware that you will be installing onto the phone. (If you’re looking to rebrand, you’ll want to use the CDA values you got during Step 2e.)

d) Click “Generate XML file.” You may get a prompt asking you if you’d like to rewrite the existing “customize_upgrade.xml” file. Say yes.

e) The file should be located in the same places as A2 CDA File Generator. Open it up and verify that it looks OK.

4) Now, using A2Uploader, you’re going to transfer this file onto your phone.

a) Start the program and click “File System tool.”

b) You’ll be prompted to link up your phone via the USB cable.

c) First, remove the phone’s battery, then put it back in.

d) Then link up via USB while holding the “C” button on the phone.

e) You should see a file directory appear.

f) Navigate to the /tpa/present/custom folder.

g) Drag and drop the “customize_upgrade.xml” into this folder.

h) The file will be uploaded to the phone. Verify that it’s there.

5) Next, you’ll use SEUS to download and install the new firmware. This will completely erase pretty much everything you have saved on your phone, so make sure you’ve backed things up. Also, make sure your phone has a full charge, because this process could take a while.

a) Start SEUS.

b) Select your phone (C905) from the available options.

c) You’ll be prompted to link up your phone via the USB cable.

d) First, remove the phone’s battery, then put it back in.

e) Then link up via USB while holding the “C” button on the phone.

f) SEUS will look up the firmware specified by the CDA in your “customize_upgrade.xml” file.

g) You may get a message saying that you already have the most recent firmware available for that CDA. If this is the case, you may have to go all the way back to step 3-b and specify a different region (e.g. “Western Europe”).

h) SEUS will download the firmware. Expect the download to be around 65 MB.

i) SEUS will install the downloaded firmware onto your phone. This could take 10 minutes or more.

6) Turn off the phone, unplug everything, close out of all the programs, remove and replace the battery, and cross your fingers.

7) When you restart the phone, it may take a few minutes to process the new firmware. That’s normal.

8) At this point, your phone should be de-branded! Congrats!

9) If at any point you need to re-brand your phone, just follow the same process, but in the “customize_upgrade.xml” file, use the CDA and related information that you got from Step 2.

About author

Dane Judd is a creative writer for SBI Marathon. She has been in the industry of communications for 5 meaningful years and counting. Aside from writing, Dane also loves to surf.
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