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[Q] HTC Sensation Screen going bad, how do I get this thing back to stock?

Well, my screen/buttons seem to be going bad. Tried a number of different Roms, and the home button just doesn't work consistently and the screen tweaks out too often.
So I have to take it to T-Mobile to have them fix it. I guess this is pretty common?
Question is...how do I get this thing back to stock? Stock Rom, Stock Radio, S-On, Stock Splash Screen (T-MOUS).... I did a search on the forum for "Stock Rom" and that just brought up the entire Android Development forum haha...
Any help is appreciated.

This might help it:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1228648

You can also just follow the same guide that you did to get s-off to get s-on, there's instructions in that thread for it, that's the way I did it when my wifi wasn't working.

MusicMan374 said:
You can also just follow the same guide that you did to get s-off to get s-on, there's instructions in that thread for it, that's the way I did it when my wifi wasn't working.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Doing that, I can get a stock Rom on there, and can probably get S-Off pretty easily, my big problem right now is getting stock Recovery on there. I followed the steps in the link above, but its not working... At this point I"m just wanting to get the thing fixed so I can sell it on ebay. The Sensation has been quite a disappointment I think. The HD7 is overall a better phone I think.

Start at Step 5 in this post.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1192300

[Q] Extremely slow bootloader performance --- Please Help.

Hi, folks.
I'm having a bit of a pain point with my new HTC Inspire. After I downgraded the device, the bootloader takes forever to do what it needs to do. It stays on a black screen for about five minutes or so, then brings up the HTC white screen, vibrates immediately after that for about two minutes straight (engine burnout seems imminent here), continues booting for another minute or so and then, finally, loads the operating system.
Potentially relevant specs:
HBOOT: 0.85.2007 (PD9812000)
MICROP: 0438
RADIO: 26.03.02.26_M
S-OFF
I think I need to flash something new, but I don't know what. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance, guys!

UPDATE: I tried re-flashing PD98IMG; did not work.

take out battery put it back in and while holding down the volume - button power the device on, now you will be in the boot loader and to to factory reset then try everything again
---------- Post added at 06:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:48 PM ----------
also this dose not belong in the development section it belongs in Q & A look before you post as this has nothing to do with development, mods please close

A senior member should know this does not belong in the developer forums

Wow; love the help. Thanks, guys.

Buddy, u will get more help if u post ur thoughts & questions in the proper forums. You've been told this before. So in that sense, we ARE helping u.

Right, so this isn't a general problem. I would think issues with bootloaders and such, especially in the context of rooting/unlocking a device, would be issues fit to ask this forum. None of the threads I've searched in Q&A have really helped me, but feel free to continuously tell me I don't know this site.

This is for development. Bottom line. No question of any kind should be posted here. That's why there is a q & a section. The system works if u let it

Well sense this started after you downgraded then I would start over from there. As for where this belongs. ALL questions go into Q&A.

Sorry for all the fuss. I'll make sure things go in the right places next time. Hoping someone can help me here; I just got this phone and would love to start using it!

You said you downgraded. What did you downgrade to?

@Gizmoe: Those instructions called for: 1.32.405.6

You should use "ace hack kit" to return your phone to gingerbread stock with s-on. And then use the same tool to root. It does both and is the most up to date and easy root/return to stock tool for the inspire.

Checking that thread out, I just realised that I did exactly what they warned against: my device shipped with a Gingerbread ROM and I downgraded to the Froyo one as per the Cyanogenmod instructions. I'm downloading the kit as well as the latest stock Gingerbread ROM. Will updating to latest stock ROM with S-ON get me back to where I was?

mrcrassic said:
Checking that thread out, I just realised that I did exactly what they warned against: my device shipped with a Gingerbread ROM and I downgraded to the Froyo one as per the Cyanogenmod instructions. I'm downloading the kit as well as the latest stock Gingerbread ROM. Will updating to latest stock ROM with S-ON get me back to where I was?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what I assumed. Ace kit should fix you up.

Thanks a lot! Out of curiosity; why does this type of downgrade slow down the bootloader so much? Doing a downgrade on the G2 I had was pretty straightforward (hence why I did this)

Great script. Feel your pain that it was done all in batch, but great script nonetheless.

mrcrassic said:
Thanks a lot! Out of curiosity; why does this type of downgrade slow down the bootloader so much? Doing a downgrade on the G2 I had was pretty straightforward (hence why I did this)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know. I have the original hboot so I haven't researched much about it. I just know it was an issue when gingerbread starting rolling out and HTC changed the version of hboot from 0.85.0024 to 0.85.2007.

Interesting. I've finally downloaded the kit; these long boot times make this excruciating, but I'm hoping this resolves it!

The problem is only on fairly recent Inspires (MFG after about Sep. 2011). HTC has shipped them with some different hardware than the earlier ones. The later hardware won't work with the earlier (or the ENG) hboots. I suspect this may be in direct response to AT&T being so anal about tethering. With froyo, you could get by the tethering blocks by editing you APNs. With GB, this ended for most users so many reverted back to froyo to regain tethering.

I've gone and made a paper weight

Well I decided to jump the hoop and go for rooting my mt4g slide. Was doing great and unlocked it using the lovely All-In-One tool kit and couldn't get the phone to show S-off. I figured I needed to get this done before installing a rom's as I tried 2 different ones and neither would work. Tried a few different things and still wouldn't work to get S-off. Long story short, now I'm in a boot loop where the phone automatically goes into the boot loader. It will start up and show the mytouch splash screen before going into the loader. It will scan the sdcard for files and say there isn't a image etc and go back to the main boot loader screen. I can't do anything beyond that. I hit recovery, factory reset, and nothing. Tried putting roms and see if it would out of the blue read one.
It's my fault for taking the risk but adding a bit of insult to my injury is my back up phone, G1, won't even turn on now. So now I'm kind of phone less. Any suggestions on how to restore hboot?

1st of all WRONG FORUM!!!!!! This is for Development, not questions. That's what general is for. Second, there's a couple threads in General about this. Just hit search.
Magical Mods, may we please have this moved. Thanks.
Sent from my MIUI V4

take out your sdcard and use an adapter to put a stock PG59IMG.zip on your sdcard (make sure its named PG59IMG.zip) and go back into the bootloader. It will confirm if you want to install the zip and in 10 mins you'll be back on stock. Oh and ^ plus one please next time post in general as this has nothing to do with developing.

wow ya'll so testy today. I found the roms and info here in development forgive me for asking the question when something goes wrong on the programing side. One would think developers/programers would be helpful when the thread isn't how great the device is or what the bench marks are. Take a chill pill people.

fsured said:
wow ya'll so testy today. I found the roms and info here in development forgive me for asking the question when something goes wrong on the programing side. One would think developers/programers would be helpful when the thread isn't how great the device is or what the bench marks are. Take a chill pill people.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thread reported just for the use of "take a chill pill."

blackknightavalon said:
Thread reported just for the use of "take a chill pill."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, the correct terminology is 'Take a chill pill, Bill.
Can't get chill without the Bill.

fsured said:
wow ya'll so testy today. I found the roms and info here in development forgive me for asking the question when something goes wrong on the programing side. One would think developers/programers would be helpful when the thread isn't how great the device is or what the bench marks are. Take a chill pill people.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry I wasn't "helpful". I'll do better to assist you next time....or just ignore it

I can't help you and I expect you to get a satisfactory answer.

fsured said:
wow ya'll so testy today. I found the roms and info here in development forgive me for asking the question when something goes wrong on the programing side. One would think developers/programers would be helpful when the thread isn't how great the device is or what the bench marks are. Take a chill pill people.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
XMC, a Dev. He helped you, we where all noobs once. You should check out the "Welcome to XDA Video". Just follow the Rules. That's all, follow the rules.
Sent from my MIUI V4

To supplement what Agent said the appropriate section for this would be the General section.
Additionally the development area is where devs post new roms, tools and hacks. Users can add observations to these threads to further development.
Hastily spouted for your befuddlement

fsured said:
Well I decided to jump the hoop and go for rooting my mt4g slide. Was doing great and unlocked it using the lovely All-In-One tool kit and couldn't get the phone to show S-off. I figured I needed to get this done before installing a rom's as I tried 2 different ones and neither would work. Tried a few different things and still wouldn't work to get S-off. Long story short, now I'm in a boot loop where the phone automatically goes into the boot loader. It will start up and show the mytouch splash screen before going into the loader. It will scan the sdcard for files and say there isn't a image etc and go back to the main boot loader screen. I can't do anything beyond that. I hit recovery, factory reset, and nothing. Tried putting roms and see if it would out of the blue read one.
It's my fault for taking the risk but adding a bit of insult to my injury is my back up phone, G1, won't even turn on now. So now I'm kind of phone less. Any suggestions on how to restore hboot?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"tried a few different things" to get S-Off?
There are two ways of getting S-off. One is done with Revolution if your HBOOT is earlier than 1.45. The other is juopunutbear if your HBOOT is 1.45. Did you check your HBOOT version before "trying a few things"?
Did you read the instructions for the all-in-one toolkit? Or possibly just follow the steps in order in the program? It's specifically designed so you don't need s-off.
I'm assuming you must have flashed CWM recovery since you said you did a factory reset. Did you do Juopunutbear or revolution, or are you planning on leaving S-ON? If S-ON, Did you flash a kernel(boot.img) using the toolkit? If you can get into HBOOT and get into recovery, there's no reason you should need to revert to stock. However, if your plan is to continue doing steps before reading the instructions, you should probably revert to stock anyway before you really do brick your device.
This link will provide you everything you need to get your device running. Just follow the spteps from the beginning. If your bootloader is already unlocked from HTCDev, then start at the step directly after unlocking the bootloader.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1532809

The toolkit worked well for me (even though it was my first attempt at anything), so I guess I'd echo that. It also matched with the step-by-step guides on stuff I found elsewhere in the forum. BUT there is a real difference in the method and order of things for the two hboots, hence KarriOn's questions.
However, having rooted and S-Offed, I then got a bit cocky and managed to end up in a not dissimilar position to you! Total panic, but I managed to get out by thinking through what I'd done, researching, and the cause and hence solution became clear. Took a night sleeping on it, and 2 hours.
what HBOOT?
Did you unlock the boot loader?
Did you get recovery on
Did you do a backup before going any further?
Sent from my myTouch_4G_Slide using xda premium

I followed the all in one tool for everything. I've finally been able to get into cwm recovery. For awhile it wouldn't and I gave up for the night. Came back yesterday morning to tinker with it more and it worked. I've tried flashing the superSu.zip file in cwm and after it reboots it still reads s-on. But either way I can't get the phone to do anything other than boot into the bootloader screen. I'm going to check out the link about 2 posts up and tinker with it after work. Thanks for the replies!

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1532809[/QUOTE]
Oh yeah, that is the tread I used and the tool. After getting unlocked from HTC I tried flashing a rom and it wouldn't work. Figured I needed to get s-off for roms also. That is where my error started.

fsured said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1532809
Oh yeah, that is the tread I used and the tool. After getting unlocked from HTC I tried flashing a rom and it wouldn't work. Figured I needed to get s-off for roms also. That is where my error started.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't need S-Off for ROMs to work. It sounds like you didn't flash a kernel after installing a ROM. The instructions on doing this are listed in the all-in one tool thread, the "flash ics roms with s-on" thread, and even on the all-in one tool interface itself.

fsured said:
I followed the all in one tool for everything. I've finally been able to get into cwm recovery. For awhile it wouldn't and I gave up for the night. Came back yesterday morning to tinker with it more and it worked. I've tried flashing the superSu.zip file in cwm and after it reboots it still reads s-on. But either way I can't get the phone to do anything other than boot into the bootloader screen. I'm going to check out the link about 2 posts up and tinker with it after work. Thanks for the replies!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Flashing SuperUser won't get you to S-Off. Hasoon2000 has two different toolkits. One that will guide you through the rooting process and the other on how to gain S-Off using the Juopunutbear method. Having S-Off isn't necessary to root but it will take a few extra steps to flash a different ROM with S-ON. I was too much of a chicken to try the S-Off method since there is some risk involved but several have reported that it worked successfully for them.

[Q] Continous Bootloops after S-Off

I tried an S-off as per the procedure everything went well
Supercid 11111111
and Finally A bootloader with S-Off
but when The device booted,it showed the home screen with the unlock screen and as soon as the screen unlocks its gives and error "Process system failed" (somethng almost similar) and gave an option to wait or close the program, choosing either of the two would result in a continuous bootloop
Attempts Made So far
-reflashed the kernals,ROMs, with Factory reset, Wipes Via fastboot commands
-Did A factory reset from Bootloader to clear all the Corrupt files
-Re-locked the bootloader to Install a fresh RUU
Attempted the S-Off from Win8 PC, but later RUUs were also tried Via Win7
Thannks to beaups and jcase so far for all the Help, Appreciated:good:
All the above steps couldnt bring back the cell to normal.Therefore,would Appreciate any help
#Latest attempt was Installing a Recovery via fastboot, it showed 'failed" Error
Thank You

Don't factory reset from bootloader, that corrupts the SD card. Have you tried flashing stock recovery? If your SD card is corrupted, that's the only way to fix it. Also, keep in mind next time that you should post questions in Q&A, people tend to get a little upset when they show up here.

C'mon man, wrong section.... Use Q&A.... :facepalm:

trathiang said:
Don't factory reset from bootloader, that corrupts the SD card. Have you tried flashing stock recovery? If your SD card is corrupted, that's the only way to fix it. Also, keep in mind next time that you should post questions in Q&A, people tend to get a little upset when they show up here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You shouldnt help people that dont follow rules. I have already reported this post. Reasons like this I just want to kill a kitten.

droidkevlar said:
You shouldnt help people that dont follow rules. I have already reported this post. Reasons like this I just want to kill a kitten.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
but.. I like kittens
Sent from my One S using xda premium

rufh_s said:
I tried an S-off as per the procedure everything went well
Supercid 11111111
and Finally A bootloader with S-Off
but when The device booted,it showed the home screen with the unlock screen and as soon as the screen unlocks its gives and error "Process system failed" (somethng almost similar) and gave an option to wait or close the program, choosing either of the two would result in a continuous bootloop...
...Error
Thank You
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You obtained S-Off but corrupted phone's internal card b/c perhaps you did not wait enough time when did the last step (adb shell su -c "/data/local/tmp/soffbin3" before reboot) when did S-Off.
1. Now, Re-lock your bootloader and then reboot into RUU flash mode: fastboot oem rebootRUU
2. Flash either HTC RUU or OTA Update from here
3. Reboot - you will have stock ROM
4. Now unlock bootloader, flash custom recovery, root, do backup, (you still have Super CID) and then do S-Off (if you really need)
P.S. Q should be in General Thread

droidkevlar said:
kill a kitten.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvqJ1mTkEuY

To be fair, if he hadn't posted in QA, he probably wouldn't have got the response. All the good people are here. QA is mostly full of 'how to I get into my bootloader' crowd.
(I follow the rules though )

ipit said:
To be fair, if he hadn't posted in QA, he probably wouldn't have got the response. All the good people are here. QA is mostly full of 'how to I get into my bootloader' crowd.
(I follow the rules though )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My thoughts exactly. If you want less Q&A posts here, go to Q&A and help some noobs out.

dr_rick13 said:
but.. I like kittens
Sent from my One S using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lmao...

WOW look at this right in developing (shakes head) always try q&a first if a few days go by and no response then maybe try in the rom but don't start a question here.
P. S. Next time you loop your phone Google it first then read till your blue in the face if no luck that way then come here, please.
Sent from my HTC one s running rootbox 4.2.2 unofficial, bubba kernel v3.5 fix oc using XDA app

good to see the noobs are the harshest critics.

#iamatroll
Sent from my HTC One S using xda app-developers app

droidkevlar said:
You shouldnt help people that dont follow rules. I have already reported this post. Reasons like this I just want to kill a kitten.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Em why not? So what its in the wrong section its a bit late to ***** about it so why not help and just let him know he did wrong like trathiang did and he only has 17 posts so shame on you.

I've factory reset from bootloader and stepped on other land mines as well. Don't worry, as long as you don't mess up your bootloader I think it is pretty hard to brick this phone.
I would suggest you flash TWRP recovery if you don't already use that, wipe everything including internal SD card, mount it and copy over the ROM and flash it again. Maybe it's something wrong with the ROM you are using?! Perhaps try a different one and of course make sure it's for an HTC One S (ville) phone.
If you try mount the internal SDcard and Winbloz says the sdcard needs to be formatted then do that using all defaults (fat32).

mustardman29 said:
I've factory reset from bootloader and stepped on other land mines as well. Don't worry, as long as you don't mess up your bootloader I think it is pretty hard to brick this phone.
I would suggest you flash TWRP recovery if you don't already use that, wipe everything including internal SD card, mount it and copy over the ROM and flash it again. Maybe it's something wrong with the ROM you are using?! Perhaps try a different one and of course make sure it's for an HTC One S (ville) phone.
If you try mount the internal SDcard and Winbloz says the sdcard needs to be formatted then do that using all defaults (fat32).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I apologize for posting in the wrong section, but in the past had an experience that my questions remained un-answered in Q &A Section so had to post it here to attract the best minds to comment
As far as i remember there was no issues with S-Off.. as i waited for some time then did an Adb reboot and later it showed S-Off in Bootloader
I also Googled alot before posting it here .. In case Someone missed out the procedures i followed to get it back, its a long list of tries
I Already tried the RUU process ( will give it one more try now)
I also tried with different ROMs but the same issue
Sorry for the wrong section

rufh_s said:
I apologize for posting in the wrong section, but in the past had an experience that my questions remained un-answered in Q &A Section so had to post it here to attract the best minds to comment
As far as i remember there was no issues with S-Off.. as i waited for some time then did an Adb reboot and later it showed S-Off in Bootloader
I also Googled alot before posting it here .. In case Someone missed out the procedures i followed to get it back, its a long list of tries
I Already tried the RUU process ( will give it one more try now)
I also tried with different ROMs but the same issue
Sorry for the wrong section
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which RUU are you trying? If it's 2.35, try something older, like 1.84. I could never get 2.35 to work.

Darknites said:
Em why not? So what its in the wrong section its a bit late to ***** about it so why not help and just let him know he did wrong like trathiang did and he only has 17 posts so shame on you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
why not? i guess rules arent needed, r they? he isnt the first, and wont be the last, but there is a reason for rules. if ppl continue to help them, they wont listen to the rules and continue to post in the wrong sections and clog up dev and general with crap. i help on here and irc and been around for quiet some time. tired of ppl just feeling entitled. i always check in q&a as i try to help when i can. but when ppl refuse to follow the rules, i will not help and will report the post.

droidkevlar said:
why not? i guess rules arent needed, r they? he isnt the first, and wont be the last, but there is a reason for rules. if ppl continue to help them, they wont listen to the rules and continue to post in the wrong sections and clog up dev and general with crap. i help on here and irc and been around for quiet some time. tired of ppl just feeling entitled. i always check in q&a as i try to help when i can. but when ppl refuse to follow the rules, i will not help and will report the post.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The way I see it, this guy is not asking how to change his wallpaper or install a Hello Kitty theme. His phone won't boot. The night I got my phone, I did a factory reset from the bootloader and spent 4 hours having a panic attack trying to fix it. It's a ****ty feeling, we've all been there, and when we were there, all we wanted was to figure out how to save our phones. Helping people while reminding them to post in the right section will make people have a more positive experience with xda. Telling them wrong section and refusing to answer them is petty and alienating.

The way I see it, this guy is not asking how to change his wallpaper or install a Hello Kitty theme. His phone won't boot. The night I got my phone, I did a factory reset from the bootloader and spent 4 hours having a panic attack trying to fix it. It's a ****ty feeling, we've all been there, and when we were there, all we wanted was to figure out how to save our phones. Helping people while reminding them to post in the right section will make people have a more positive experience with xda. Telling them wrong section and refusing to answer them is petty and alienating.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the Support, believe that's the same feeling I am going through, I would Generally follow All the Rules, this time had to take different path as it was a bit severe
Which RUU are you trying? If it's 2.35, try something older, like 1.84. I could never get 2.35 to work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did a 2.35, Ill go for something else now, As I am Using a US t-mobile, but I am from India, will the country specific RUU matter? like can I us Europe's version as well?
Downloading 1.84 now, will get back as soon as its done

[Q] tried many things, now need help for daughters phone

Hi Guys,
I'm trying to get a 'stable' rom for a phone I've given to my daughter (Evita / Telstra one XL).
I've tried a heap of things, tried to s-off, change radio files etc... Anyway, current status is that it's been unlocked, s-on, and I have twrp.. I'm using KickDroid XL v4.0.0 ROM, looks great, but the phone keeps on rebooting... Also loosing 3G signal, so have to reboot it quite a few times a day to resolve. (tired another rom, same problem, loss of 3g signal and multiple reboots during the day)
I'm sure it's got to do with the radio file, but can't seem to fix that. I've read 'so much!' information, but really confused now. I've tried to supercid it, unsuccessfully, tried to find the all-in-one toolking (bt it looks like its been removed)..
So, this is what I have when I boot it:
*** TAMPERED ***
*** UNLOCKED ***
EVITA PVT SHIP S-ON RL
HBOOT-1.11.0000
RADIO-0.23a.32.09.29
OpenDSP-v28.1.0.32.0504
eMMC-boot
Jun 7 2012,13:10:34
TWRP recovery
2.6.3.0
htc one xl
Evita​
Any help in how to (or if I should) get the radio/hboot up to hopefully resolve the loss of 3G?
I'm no expert, but not that dumb either. I follow instructions from the start, but most of the time it gets stuck half way (ie, when doing supercid, boots to the HTC logo, but won't go any further)..
Any help really appreciated.

The problem is not that the ROM is unstable, the ROM is perfectly stable if you meet the requirements. The problem is your current firmware version. You need to update to the 2.15 firmware package. It does state that very clearly in the "You Need" section in the beginning of the Kickdroid thread. Please search/research properly before posting in future, it's part of the XDA rules. This issue has been discussed extensively in every single Sense 5 ROM thread, plus this is probably the 100th thread like this in our Q&A section.
Sent from my Evita

Why are you even giving your daughter a rooted/modded phone at all? Unless she has an understanding of what root means, its not a good idea. Does she even need anything except a bone stock phone?

thanks timmaaa, I appreciate you taking the time out to reply.
I'll do some more checking on firmware 2.15... I've honestly read about 5 hours last weekend on various threads... some lead to dead ends (it toolbox), some I can't get to work (supercid)... I tried this a couple of months ago, and almost bricked it, but managed to get twrp working...
Redpoint73, are you asking why give her a phone, or why a rooted phone? The answer to the first one is that she is 11, and catches the bus to and from school. The phone is used in an emergency. I've rooted it to give her some new features, and because it was locked with Telstra and that is not the carrier we are using anymore (much cheaper options here than Telstra), so I needed to get rid of the firmware...
Overall, I appreciate any help. I actually run 5 forums (car related), and I fully understand noob's coming on and asking the same question week after week. Our forums have a lot less posts than this one (< 200,000), but we still have members, week in-week out, answering the same questions because they like to help, and because sometimes there is too much information out there to sift through, especially when somebody is willing to point you in the right direction with a friendly smile

duplicate post, (sorry, hit save twice!)

jnrdavo said:
Redpoint73, are you asking why give her a phone, or why a rooted phone? The answer to the first one is that she is 11, and catches the bus to and from school. The phone is used in an emergency. I've rooted it to give her some new features, and because it was locked with Telstra and that is not the carrier we are using anymore (much cheaper options here than Telstra), so I needed to get rid of the firmware...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its pretty clear from my post that it was root/mod that I was referring to. Root has nothing to do with Subsidy (SIM) Lock, and the firmware has little to do with the carrier you are on (I've been using the German T-Mobile stock ROM for a while now, despite being on AT&T).
Of course its up to you to decide what you do with the phone. But you should consider (if you haven't already) the security risk of giving a rooted device to a user that knows little or nothing about such things. Even more so for s-off, which is necessary for the solution that timmaaa suggested.
My question has less to do with exactly "who" the phone is for. But more to the point, when people come on here saying they are modding the phone for "someone else" (be it mom, third cousin, or whatever), if that person isn't doing it for themselves, its pretty questionable whether they need such mods at all.

ok, thanks redpoint73..
I understand where you are coming from, and appreciate your comments.
Now, anybody else like to point me in the right direction (to a link to get the latest firmware, or a compatible one working)?

jnrdavo said:
Now, anybody else like to point me in the right direction (to a link to get the latest firmware, or a compatible one working)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You serious? timmaaa already told you where to find it.
Since I'm feeling charitable right now, here it is, complete with step-by-step instructions (only need to follow Posts #2 and 4): http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2485865
The original thread where Turge posted his firmware package (see under "OPTIONAL", s-off is required before doing this): http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=45072132&postcount=1
Or just install the Beastmode kernel (S-off not required): http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2165880

thanks mate. I appreciate the charity, I really do I'm trying not to be a nob.. I'm actually having another go this morning... I've got win 8.1 (yeah, I know) so trying to get the latest driver to work is a pain.... Just trying x_factory windows, backups up twice, but then doesn't run the next command (to change CID)...
Anyway, thanks again. I'll persist on...