Guide to Flashing your A1200 Last Updated: Nov 1st 2008
This write-up explains:
• what is firmware and how to tell what version you have
• which firmwares can be flashed to which other versions
• how to change the firmware (flash) on your phone.
• problem solving steps if the flash fails
• complete list of all firmware versions - with a review of the advantages/disadvantages of each. This list is up-to-date as of Nov 2008.
The information provided here was created by combining and summarizing the information from dozens of threads on this forum and then rewriting it as easy-to-understand steps that new users can print off and have all the information that they need in one place to (hopefully) easily and successfully flash their phones.
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WARNINGS
Flashing your phone to a different version of firmware should be fairly straightforward, however, please read the following cautions before you start:
- Always find out what your current version of firmware is before you start (instructions below) and write it down! - so if issues then you will know what you started with..
. - The A1200 has 4 firmware tracks. You can flash between any firmware versions on the same track - but there can be problems if you flash between tracks - in worst case, the flash may fail making the phone unusable. The different tracks are explained below as well a whole section devoted to which tracks can be flashed to which other tracks. Please read before flashing. Be especially careful if you have the A1200I (International) or any of the new A1200E edge series.....
. - At this time there is no way to extract/copy/backup a complete firmware version directly from a phone (see FAQ's for more detailed explanation why this is not possible). This means that you can not backup your firmware before flashing. In addition, many of the versions do not have firmware files available (eg 53p, 12p) so if you flash to a different version then there is no means for you to be able to flash back. (Check the list of firmware below to find out whether yours has a firmware file available).....
. - Flashing completely replaces your phone's operating system so there is always a small chance that the flash could fail and you could end up with an unusable "bricked" phone (the forum is full of posts of people who had their flash fail. Some were able to recover, while others were not!). Depending on your carrier you may also void the warranty - so you would have to pay to get Motorola to fix it. So make sure that you consider that risk before attempting to flash your phone and read ALL the instructions in this sticky before starting. That said most people perform their flashes with no issues.
Also:
• Make sure your battery is
fully charged before beginning a flash
•
Back up your contacts and files using Motorola Phone Tools or Superman before doing any flashing as flashing will delete all of these and return your phone to a "vanilla" state. Data on your SD card is not touched.
• Give yourself plenty of time to complete the flashing and BE PATIENT. Sometimes it appears as nothing is happening and it is stuck at a certain % - but sometimes it can take up to 5 min before the % value changes.
Never disconnect your phone or turn off your PC until the flashing is finished or you may make it unusable (i.e. "brick" it!!). There are ways to recover using a tool called radiocom (described in the threads) - but they are fairly complex.
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1. What is Firmware
The A1200 runs using a special Motorola version of the Linux operating system (MONTAVISTA Linux CONSUMER ELECTRONICS 3.1). This is known as the "firmware". There are several different versions of "firmware" that will run successfully on the A1200. Think of firmware as being equivalent to different versions of the operating system (just as there is Windows 98 versus Windows 2000). Every so often Motorola releases a new version of firmware with new features and enhancements. All firmwares come with both English and Chinese languages (except for the International version released in Latin America - up until now it's the only firmware that doesn't come with Chinese language).
Firmware consists of two parts - the Flex and the Flash.
The Flex: is the files and branding of the phone. It contains all the carrier specific menus and images, like T-Zones for T-Mobile, or whichever graphic branding and text links your carrier puts in the phone.
The Flash: is the part we change most often. Basically, the flash is the software of the phone. When you change the flash, it adjusts features, menus, the way your phone handles reception, menu speed, etc.
2. Firmware Versions
It can be confusing to decipher the firmware versions as the higher the number does NOT mean the later the version. In addition, there are 4 different "models" of the A1200 with different firmware "tracks" or paths:
A1200 (Released: Jan 2006) - this was the first model. It was released in 2006. Many of the generic firmwares that come with the A1200 have issues with low speaker volume that makes it hard to listen to voice calls and media from within the handset.
A1200I (Released: June 2006) - shortly after the release of the A1200 in east Asia, the A200I was released in Latin America. It came with an International version of firmware that included Spanish, Portuguese and French language support.
A1200R (Released: Dec 2006) - in response to the volume issue with the A1200, Motorola released the A1200R (Refresh) whose firmware is considered to be the most stable. Motherboard components have changed, runs different software, small change to the battery cover to permit a lanyard strap to be attached.
A1200E (Released: Jan 2007)- this is the latest model and comes with firmware that includes EDGE. (EDGE stands for Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution or just Ehanced GPRS for short. It is sometimes referred to as EGPRS. EDGE allows for a higher bandwidth data transfer over a GSM network). Aside from its EDGE capabilities, this phone is not very different from its predecessors. Its firmware's have the audio issues resolved and supposedly better Voice Recognition. However it has one big disadvantage - is only tri-band rather than quad.
It is almost impossible to tell what model you have just by looking at it as the only
physical difference between them that has been reported is that the A1200R has a small slot for attaching a hand-strap on the top left corner of the handset (opposite the stylus) - the other models lack this. (Dec 2007 - some of the newer A1200E models also now have this slot for a strap)
The only reliable way to tell which "model" you have is to remove the battery and looking at the IMEI label inside the phone. At the top of the label it should have A1200 then either an R, E, or I (if it just has "A1200" then it is likely you have the generic A1200).
An easier way is to check which version of firmware it is running (see next section) as each model can only run certain firmwares. The 4 "models" and the firmware tracks that they can run are as follows:
R532 or R532H2 : Original A1200 : It has 2 supported firmware tracks - standard and H2 (both referred to in this sticky as the H2 tracks):
- R532_G_11.00.30p-->40p-->50p track (eg 34p, 43p, 46p, 59p)
- R532H2_G_11.20.01p-->06p-->08p-->12p track
R532C2 - A1200R : newer version (first appeared Feb 2007). Hardware is exactly the same, but runs different firmware than the original A1200. It has a newer bootloader so can only support 1 firmware track (called the C2 track):
- R532C2_G_11.19p-->24p-->25p-->30p-->31p-->32p track
R532L4 - A1200I : the international language version (L4 track) - which is only available in Latin America. Comes with Spanish/Portuguese/French/English language support. Be careful if you decide to flash this phone - see section on "Spanish/Portuguese/French Language" below for more detail.
R541 - A1200E : new A1200 Edge Series (as of Jan 07). This firmware already has Edge enabled (For all other firmwares you have to do a radiocom mod to turn on Edge). Downside is that A1200E is only a tri-band phone rather than Quad-band. As of Dec 2007, 6 versions of firmware available:
- R541_G_11.51.01P --> 29P --> 34P --> 04R --> 08R --> 09R
You will also see lots of discussions in the forums about firmwares like Bints 59p, Bints 24xp30 hybrid, Mischka's 24xp30 EMEA hybrid, etc. These are modified versions of the vanilla firmware (aka "monsterpacks") with certain mods and bug fixes already incorporated. There is a whole section devoted to reviewing Monsterpacks further down.
3. What Version of Firmware does my Phone Have?
To determine what version your phone is currently running do the following:
• Go to your Dial Pad and dial:
WWW008W. To make the
W tap the
menu button at bottom left while in the dial pad, then select
insert-->insert wait to make the W .
You should see something like:
R532H2_G_11.20.08P
BP:
R532H2_G_11.20.
08PPB
PFlex: GSZHNANT677JF014D
SP: 631F1F00
Look at the numbers at the
end of the second line for the version. The version shown here is .08P from the H2 track.
• A1200 - will have something like "
R532_G_11.00.xxx" or"
R532H2_G_11.20.xxx" (eg:
R532_G_11.00.
53P,
R532H2_G_11.20.
06P)
• A1200R - will have something like "
R532C2_G_11.31.xxx" (eg:
R532C2_G_11.31.
25P).
• A1200I - will have something similar to "
R532L4_G_11.40.xxx" (eg:
R532L4_G_11.40.
0FR,
R532L4_G_11.40.
19FR, etc.)
• A1200E - will have something like "
R541_G_11.51.xxx" (eg:
R541_G_11.51.
01P,
R541_G_11.50.
34P, etc.).
ØIf you see different firmware numbers on line 1 and 2, this means you do not have an original firmware from Motorola, but some form of modified firmware (monsterpack). A common one is:
R532_G_11.00.
59P
BP:R532C2_G_11.30.
24PBP
which is one of the 24p (C2 track) monsterpacks (See section on Monsterpacks further down).
4. Spanish/Portuguese/French Language Support (L4 track)
The only original firmware with Spanish/Portuguese/French language support is on the A1200I released in Latin America. There are numerous versions - but they are all indicated with the L4 next to the R532:
R532L4_G_11.40.0FR
R532L4_G_11.40.1AR
R532L4_G_11.40.14RB
R532L4_G_11.40.19FR
Unless you had one of these firmwares on your phone when you bought there is no other way to get them as they are not available for download. Not much has been posted about the pros and cons of each of these versions - just a little about 19R:
R532L4_G_11.40.19R
Advantages:
• Better volume than 0FR
• Better camera
• Realplayer can hold more than 200 songs
• Reads 2GB card
Can I Flash my A1200I to Other Firmwares?
Originally you could not flash your A1200I to other firmware - people who tried it ended up making their phones unworkable. [You should still never flash your phone to any of the
Standard or H2 track firmwares].
With the release of the C2 firmware track (24p, 25p, etc), however, the A1200I can now be successfully flashed to these new C2 versions. Even people with bricked A1200I's, have been able to flash to these to get the phone working again. But once on the C2 track you can not flash back to the A1200I firmware.
June 2007 - Mischka and eduprogramador have also developed C2 track 24p and 30p EMEA versions with Spanish/Portuguese/French language support added (eg Mischka's 24xp30 EMEA monsterpack). These versions have keyboard, GUI, VR and word prediction support for these languages (only for french there's no VR). Many users have reported flashing their A1200I's to the 24xp30 EMEA version and find it faster, better battery life, speaker is louder, has superman included, support for startup1.txt, and better camera support. See the section on Monsterpacks further down this sticky for more information on these.
5. China Mobile versus Generic (Unbranded) Firmware
Some of the firmware versions are generic (straight from Motorola) while others are China Mobile branded. This means that the Chinese mobile operator "China Mobile" has added their stuff to that firmware, like modified icons, wallpapers, startup and shutdown animation of their own brand. Some of the main differences are:
• Startup screen is a red China Mobile one.
• Web browser is called Monternet
• Additional icons for a customer service program and 'China Mobile In" (whatever that is!)
• Additional icon for kodak app in Chinese (removable) and a bowling game
• No MSN
• File Explorer is called "My Favorites" which includes a bunch of MMS cards and the folders are named a bit differently. There are a lot of Chinese settings for e-mail, internet etc. Some can be removed, some cannot.
You can also tell if your phone was originally China Mobile branded if has a "CM" printed on the back of the battery cover.
6. Advantages/Disadvantages of each A1200 Firmware Version
This section got so large that it has been moved to its own post!! See the second post at the bottom of this sticky.
7. What is the "Best" Firmware?
"What is the Best Firmware...?"
"What Firmware should I Use...?"
People ask this at least once a week - but, unfortunately at this time, there is no clear "best" firmware! Each fw has certain strengths and weaknesses especially in the area of battery life and Voice Response (VR). So what is great for one person, another person may hate - it all depends on how you use your phone and what is important to you - do you want a phone with good speed for playing games or is a good battery life or a good camera more important.
The best thing to do is to read the next post in this sticky which lists each firmware and its Advantages and Disadvantages - and decide which firmware best suits your needs.
But here are some recommendations:
If you are on one of the
H2 or
A1200I L4 firmwares, then probably the hardest decision is to decide whether you want to flash to the C2 track (24p, 25p, 30p, etc) - as once you are on this you can not go back to other versions.
H2 track (= Standard & H2)
- If you do a lot of web browsing then currently probably
53P is the best as it has a fast internet speed and an excellent battery life. However, no source file is available for the vanilla 53p fw (so if you have this on your phone, then recommend you stay with it). You are able to flash to
Bint's 53p plus.
- Most other H2 track users indicate that they like
.08p or
Bints 08p plus (.08p is what Alpha43 uses)
- You can also try
Mischka's 30p/46p hybrid. This H2 hybrid is feature packed and fast and comes with the EMEA language support. It also allows you to try some of the features of the C2 track firmwares and still be able to flash back. It biggest drawback is poor battery life.
C2 track
As of Aug 2008, probably the best firmware available for the C2 track is
Amins Extreme Elite monsterpack - released in March 2008. It has been getting rave reviews and I have just flashed my phone to it and really like all of its features including that it has English, Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French and Thai language support!!! Get the source file and read all about
here.
Another recent monsterpack from Amin called
Amin's Persian-Gulf El dorado LP , also seems to be very promising though has a number of bugs - most importantly a 3-5 lag from when you answer an incoming call phone until you are connected. Amin is working on a new version to fix this - but for the meantime, if you want to try this FW make sure you use the version posted by Rosyzara on Post #55 of this
thread - which fixes the lag issue. This firmware works on both A1200R and a1200E firmwares.
A full list of the advantages/disadvantages of each of these firmwares is posted in the next post of this sticky so you can decide which is best for you.
- If you want to stick to generic, then between 24p, 25p and 30p, most people think
24p is the best.
- The latest firmware
32p has been getting a lot of good reviews also (see the
32P discussion thread - but there is disagreement on how good the VR is - for some people it works very well, while others think it sucks! Depends on how important VR is for you)
R541 Edge Series Track
- Hard decision here as none of the firmwares are fantastic. Probably best to go with the latest fw for this track. A lot of people have flashed to
Yan0's 34P monster pack,
34_OENT_XP_v1 or if you want to stay with generic then go with
R541_G_11.50.34P
There is also a new monsterpack called
Amin's Persian-Gulf El dorado LP which can be flashed to from both C2 and R541 firmwares. See under the C2 discussion above for more information on this firmware.
8. What is Flashing?
Flashing is the process by which you can change the version of firmware running on your phone. (Just like you can upgrade your Windows software). The process takes about 10 minutes. Flashing to a different version of firmware should be fairly straightforward if you follow the directions carefully - but if you have any problems then there are many threads devoted to resolving flashing problems.
Generally you can flash from any version of firmware within a track to any other - and then flash back again if desired, but there are important restrictions flashing between the different tracks. Make sure you read the next section
What Firmware Can I Flash To before trying to flash between tracks.
No harm will come to the phone from too much flashing, however, you are replacing the entire OS so there is always a small chance you could "brick" your phone if something goes seriously wrong - so the more you flash it, the more chances are that something might go wrong!
Depending on your carrier you may also void the warranty! So do it at your own risk and print off and read ALL the instructions before starting. That said I have successfully flashed my phone 8 times now to try out different versions.
9. What Firmware Can I Flash To?
You can flash between any firmware versions on the same track - but there can be problems if you flash between tracks - in worst case, the flash may fail making the phone unusable. Check the following before flashing:
A1200 (H2 track )
(H2 includes Standard and H2 fw tracks)
H2 --> H2: YES - If you are on any of the H2 track fw's, then can flash to any other H2 fw (eg .8p-->59p, 43p->12p) or the H2 hybrids (Mischka's 24p/46p, Mischka's 30p/46p, etc)
H2 --> C2: YES - If you are on any of the H2 track fw's, you can also flash to any of the C2 track fw's (24p, 25p, 30p, etc) or C2 monsterpacks (eg 24xp30).
BUT you can NOT flash from the C2 track back to any of the H2 track fw's as C2 has a newer bootloader that doesn't allow downgrade to older version. (i.e if you have one of the H2 track fw's and you do flash to a C2 fw - be certain about it as you will
not be able to go back!)
H2 --> A1200E: MAYBE! - If you are on any of the H2 track firmwares, you can also successfully flash to the A1200E firmwares - although users report that they can not get their internet connections working after doing this - so recommended that you do not try this unless you are experienced. See this
thread for more information.
If you flash from the A1200 H2 firmware to A1200E you can NOT flash back to the H2 again or you will brick your phone! A1200R (C2 track) C2 --> C2: YES - If you have any of the C2 fw's you can flash to any of the others C2 fw's (eg 30p --> 24p).
C2 --> H2: NO - Do NOT try to flash to any of the H2 (R532 or R532H2) fw's if your phone has a C2 fw - the flash will fail. This includes flashing to the H2 hybrids (eg Mischka's 24p/46p or Mischka's 30p/46p)
C2 --> A1200E: MAYBE! - You are able to flash from a phone with C2 track fw to one of the fw's listed for the A1200E - but users report that the A1200E fw has different Edge settings and, as a result, they were unable to get internet connectivity working with 01P and 29p and many had issues with 34p. [ See
here for discussion on this]. However, if you do flash from the C2 track to one of these, then it looks like it is fairly straightforward to flash back to C2 again.
A1200I (L4 track) L4 --> L4: NO - Not possible as no source files exist for A1200I firmware
L4 --> H2: NO - You will brick your phone!
L4 --> C2: YES - If you are on any of the L4 track fw's, you can successfully flash to any of the C2 track fw's (24p, 25p, 30p, etc) or C2 monsterpacks (eg 24xp30).
L4 --> A1200E: NO
See the section on "Spanish/Portuguese/French Language Support" for more detail.
A1200E: A1200E --> A1200E: YES If you have any of the A1200E fw's you can flash to any of the others A1200E fw's (eg 29p --> 34p).
A1200E --> H2 or C2: NO If your phone came with one of the A1200E fw's, it appears you
may be able to flash it to one of the H2 and C2 track fw - but you do so at your own risk - as most users report not being able to complete the flash successfully and several have bricked their phones (See
here and
here for two sad examples).
10. How to Flash your Phone
[Thanks to MSmiles who wrote most of these instructions for Motorolafans]
Give yourself plenty of time to complete the flashing and
BE PATIENT. Sometimes it appears as nothing is happening and the % completed indicator does not change - but in my experience it can sometimes take up to 5 min before the % value changes (especially around 97-99%) - so wait at least 30 minutes before deciding it is stuck. Never disconnect your phone or turn off your PC until the flashing is finished or you may make it unusable (i.e. "brick" it!!). There are ways to recover using a tool called radiocomm (described in the threads) - but they are fairly complex.
01. NECESSARY TOOLS a. Software and Drivers
You will need to install the following software on your PC:
- Motorola Phone Tools (MPT): This is necessary for you to backup all your contacts, calendar appointments, ringtones, and other media in your phone. Also, installing MPT will also install the basic prerequisite USB drivers necessary for flashing (USB Modem / USB Mass Storage)
. - Motorola RSDLite: This is the software we will be using to update the firmware within the a1200 Handset. There are different versions of this software. For the most part, all versions of this software work with the a1200 - though many users prefer versions 2.7 or 2.8.
- For trouble free installation, if you are running Windows XP, you should have Service Pack 2 installed.
- If you are using Windows Vista or Windows XP64, you must use RSDLite version 4.1 or greater.
.
All the different versions of RSDLite can be downloaded from this thread.
. - Drivers: Aside from the USB Modem and USB Mass Storage driver, you will need to utilize additional drivers for the different connection states required for flashing. Many times these drivers already come with MPT. They are stored within the "Program Files\Common Files\Motorola Shared\MotPCSDrivers" directory.
The drivers you will need are as follows:
.
- cdma1x.INF
- motblan.INF
- motcomp2k.INF
- motcompXP.INF
- p2k.INF
- USBMOT2000.INF
- W2KXPMDM.INF
- motblan.SYS
- motfilt.SYS
- P2k.SYS
.
If you do not have these additional drivers, you can download MotPCSDrivers.RAR which can be found in can be obtained from this thread. To use this file, you must first 'unrar' it to your desktop so you can easily find it.
b. Firmware Operating System Track
This is one of the most important, if not THE most important thing you will need to pay attention to. You must select the proper firmware compatible with your a1200 Handset.
(Do not try to flash from a C2 or A1200E firmware to any of the H2 firmwares or you will brick your phone!!). Links to all the firmware files can found in the
Links to A1200 Firmwares sticky.
Once downloaded, you should have a file with the extension of ".SBF" This is the file we will be using in conjunction with MRL.
02. STEP BY STEP PROCEDURE a. Preparation- Back up your contacts and files using Motorola Phone Tools as flashing will delete all of these and return your phone to a 'vanilla' state. Data on your SD card is not touched.
. - Make sure your battery is fully charged. You want to do this for 2 reasons. One, running out of power during the flashing process will potentially render your phone unuseable. Two, should the flashing process fail, there is a possibility your phone will not be able to charge the battery. You want to have enough power in your battery for multiple retries.
. - Go to your MotPCSDrivers directory and manually install every single driver .INF beforehand. To install the drivers manually, simply right click each .INF file and select Install from the pop-up menu.
.
With the .INFs pre-installed, RSDLite will automatically detect and load each driver accordingly during the flashing process when they are required.
.
This will avoid the hassle of having to install the drivers during the flashing process, mistaken mouse clicks, and failed installs due to time constraints of the flashing process and connection state switches. If you're not able to click fast enough and install the right .INF file before Motorola RSD Lite decides to switch states, you'll have a failed firmware flash. Wait until it's completely finished before disconnecting your phone.
. - Launch the USB Modem connection state in your phone. (This is found in the Applications Browser under Setup --> USB Mode) Don't forget to check the box that says "Auto Launch" in your Modem application
. - Close all other running software in your PC. Close all running apps in your phone.
. - Turn power management settings and screensavers off on your PC.
b. Software Flashing
Breathe easily as this is the easiest step in the whole walkthrough.
- Launch RSDLite in your PC. You should not be asked to install any drivers if you followed step 3 in the Preparation, but if you are then point it in the direction to the motpcsdrivers folder you unrared.
. - Put your phone into Motorola Bootloader Mode (MBM):
In order to flash your a1200 Handset, it must be in MBM Flash mode. This is an administrative tech mode and your handset screen will be red. There are three methods to enter this mode.
.
MBM Method #1: With your phone already in the USB Modem state, go ahead and connect it to your computer via USB mini cable. Close Motorola Phone Tools if it launches automatically. Go to RSDLite and click "Show Device." It should be able to detect your phone and switch it to MBM Mode automatically.
.
MBM Method #2: With your phone turned off, press and hold the "Center Joystick Button" on the face of the phone and the "Voice Command Button" on the right side of the phone. With these two buttons pressed down, press the red "Hang-Up / Power Button" once. Your phone will turn on and enter MBM Mode. At this time you can connect your phone via USB min cable to your PC. Go to RSDLite and click "Show Device."
.
MBM Method #3: With phone off, hold the Voice button (bottom button on right side) down. While still pressed down, connect to USB mini cable that is already plugged into PC. Phone should start in MBM mode
. - Once your handset is connected, RSDLite should list the phone (this may take a minute or so. If it does not close down RSDLite and restart it. If still issues having RSDLite recognise your phone then see this troubleshooting thread). When it has recognized your phone, RSDLite will show "Connected" under the status column.
. - Under "Filename:" locate the firmware track file you downloaded previously. (This is your ".SBF" file) Open the file and it will be loaded into MRL.
. - Once the firmware track is loaded, MRL will display META Data about the firmware. (Filename, Creation Date, File Size, RAM DL Version, Bootloader Version, Platform: GSM, HAB Type, etc.)
. - Double check to make sure your phone is in MBM Mode.
. - Click "Start" and this will initialize the flashing process.
The process will take up to 10 minutes so be patient, the screen on you phone will turn off, but RSDLite will still show progress. BE PATIENT - sometime the % complete indicator may not change for up to 3-5 minutes. Do not disconnect your phone until MRL gives you a result.
[It should not ask you to install any additional drivers if your did step 3 in Preparation correctly. But if a "Found New Hardware" screen does pop up, select "NO" for "Can Windows connect to Windows Update?" then select "Y" for "Install Software from a specific location" and point it to the motpcsdrivers folder you unrared. Once the driver has installed, click on "Finish" on the "Found New Hardware wizard" to continue the process. A popup may also appear stating that Microsoft has not certified this software - just click on Continue]
c. Safety Precautions- Do not leave your PC. Watch each process finish under status to make sure they all cleared successfully.
- This is the time where your PC will make the USB connection / disconnection sounds.
- Power management and screensavers have the ability to turn off your hard-drive after your mouse idles for a certain amount of time.
- Double check to make sure these settings are turned off as they may interfere with the flashing.
03. CLOSURE a. Finished Firmware Update- It may ask you to manually restart the phone - if so, unplug the cable from PC, remove the battery for 5 seconds (make sure unplugged first!), put battery back in then turn phone back on (before plugging back into PC).
- Once its fully on, go to Setup --> USB Mode and change mode from "Mass Storage" to "Modem".
- Plug phone back into the PC using the cable. If flash was successful, then RSDLite should say "complete" or "PASS". If the flash update was successful it will say "PASS" or "Completed" otherwise you will see "ERROR" or "Flash Failed" (If the procedure fails. See next section).
- Unplug the phone again, turn it off and on. All should be complete.
b. Clean Up
After installing all the additional drivers, Motorola Phone Tools may have problems detecting your phone. This happens because the PC cannot decide which of the 9 drivers to associate with MPT. The administrative device drivers are detected by the PC with priority over the USB Modem and USB Mass Storage drivers. Unless these are taken out or the load priorities are switched, your phone will not connect as a USB Modem.
Solution #1:
Switching driver priorities.
- Connect your phone via USB mini to your PC using Mass Storage state.
- At this time your PC will install generic Mass Storage drivers.
- Run Motorola Phone Tools. It should be able to detect your phone.
- MPT will say "Please wait while changing phone to USB Modem mode"
- This will reinstall the USB Modem driver and overwrite the administrative driver priority.
- After the USB Modem driver is installed. Disconnect your phone.
- Run the phone detection on MPT and connect your phone.
• Don't forget to switch from Mass Storage to USB Modem when you do this.
• Make sure to check "Auto Launch" in the Modem application
If this fails then use
Solution #2:
Uninstall ALL the Motorola related devices.
- Connect your phone via USB mini to your PC using USB Modem state with the "Auto Launch" checked.
- Open up Windows Hardware Device Manager.
- There should be a branch that says "Motorola USB Devices"
- Go down the list and uninstall each one.
- Restart your computer
(Note: Your phone has to be connected to see this list of devices and to uninstall them. The device list is attached to this thread)
You can now restore all your contacts, calendar and tasks back to your phone using MPT. (Be sure to remove the SIM card before doing this as the recovery function from MPT deletes any contact on SIM for some reason!)
11. What to Do if Problems!!!
If you have any problems then don't panic - the best thing is to close RSDLite, unplug the phone,
take out the battery, replace then try again from the start
flashing to the SAME firmware as the first time
If you get any of the following error messages that have been reported by users, then it appears most have been resolved by starting the flash process from the start:
- The "secure_motorola_flash" interface could not be found the super-file is secure and for re-flash, the phone needs a super-file that is not secure and for reflash. (0x7066)
- "flashing couldn't be complete because of licensed data"
- "error jumping to RAM downloader"
- "error verifying subscriber unit info chipset type does not match "
- a red line across their battery after flashing
Most times it will go right through the second time - although some users have reported having to repeat
the process up to 5 times before getting the "PASS".
If flash fails and you are unable to get it back into boot mode by pressing the 3 buttonns together - then take out the battery, wait 10 secs and try again - that usually seems to do the trick.
If you flash again several times and it is still unsuccessful:
1. Try a different USB port - a lot of users have stated that changing the USB port they have their phone plugged into helps, this is most likely because windows will reinstall all the drivers.
2. Try a different version of RSD Lite.
3. Make sure you put your phone in to USB MODEM MODE before plugging it back in. If you do not do this your system will not install all the devices correctly.
4. Try a different version of the firmware.
Postings indicate that if all else fails, then as a last resort you can flash your phone to one of the firmwares on the C2 firmware track and it will be successful (however you will be stuck with that firmware). Even users who attempted to flash their Spanish Language A1200I phone and ended up with a dead phone were able to flash to 24p successfully (though lost all of their Spanish language functions).
• Problem: Phone will not go into MBM Mode
If the phone will not turn on in MBM mode (ie with the red screen) by using the 3 button method described above, you can also force it doing the following (start off with the phone off and battery must be in it)
1. Hold Voice button (bottom button on right side) down
2. While still pressed down, connect data cable that is already plugged into PC
Phone should start in MBM mode
• Problem: Phone does not turn on after flashing
If after flashing, the phone does not appear to turn on then take out the battery, wait at least 10 seconds then put back in. If still does not turn on then put it down, plug it in to charger and leave it for at least 30 minutes. This has happened to me a couple of times. After coming back to it - it turned on fine.
• Problem: Phone can not read SIM card or has no signal after flashing
Some users experienced problems with the phone reading the SIM card or not getting a signal after flashing (ie it searches and finds nothing). If this happens to you then try the following:
1. Tap on status bar in home screen. Switch off antenna tap ok on the bottom. Then switch on antenna again. (You may need to repeat this a couple of times)
2. If that doesn't work, change the network band to 850/1900 [dial pad-->menu button (at bottom left)-->setup--> network setup--> menu button--> search setup--> band and put it on 850/1900. After that close all those things and you should have service again. Once you get your service back, repeat the steps and put it on automatic again.
• Problem: After Flash phone only has Turkish and French Keyboards
After installing certain firmwares (eg .08p) there is a known bug that thre is no English keyboard - the phone will only show French, Turkish, Numeric, Pinyin, Zhuyin and Handwriting.
To fix it, change the Default Language Setting (in Setup) from Automatic to English and restart the phone. This should correct the problem.
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All of the information presented in this write-up was obtained from user's postings from the various threads on this forum. A best effort was made to ensure it is complete and accurate including performing all of the steps presented on my own phone - but there are no guarantees there are not errors!!
This Guide took many hours to research and put together. If you found the information useful, perhaps you would consider donating a few dollars to keep the Motorolafans site funded as it costs $60 each month in hosting fees. See the announcement at the top of the A1200 forum for details on how to do this or contact me (Alpha43 or Admin) for details on how to do so.
Thanks and happying Moto'ing & Good Luck to you all!
~Alpha~
Special Thanks to Kiwiguy for the help with the write up.
** GUIDE To FIRMWARE and FLASHING Your A1200 ** 
