HOWTO: Remove the Orange Home screen from a Nokia N70
So I recently decided I had to buy a new phone. I have a Nokia 6280 and its driving me crazy. It seemed great at first. 3G, bluetooth, 2MP camera, external memory card slot (which I upgraded to 512MB), slide design. Lovely. But the firmware let me down. It spent months restarting itself, and its been back to Three many times for reflashing.Well I reached the final tether. I shifted onto eBay and bought a Nokia N70. Funny thing of course is that the N70 was the phone I was going to get originally. But I changed it to a 6280 after using my girlfriends (which she got at the same time).
Well it arrived the other day, locked to Orange, and it had this horrible “Homescreen” built into Orange’s branded firmware. It was obviously designed to make it more Smartphone-ish and look like a Windows Mobile device, which its not. It does better than that really. So I went searching around for info on this (how to remove it really). I read loads of posts saying everyone hated the Homescreen, and Orange just wouldn’t do away with it.
While searching, I came across this post at Tech Enclave which solved my problem, and I’m passing it on to you.
At first, I tried using Nokia Software Updater to replace the software, even tried reinstalling the current firmware (v3.0546.2.3). That did nothing. Then this post gave me an idea. I can use the method described, to make my phone think it is a Nokia N70 Music Edition, and then maybe reinstalling the firmware would clear the Orange screen. So I did the following (taken from Tech Enclave)
1. Download and install Nokia Software Updater
2. Download and install Nemesis Service Suite (select Virtual USB device in install process)
3. Connect my phone (wait for Windoze to install drivers), open NSS and click Scan For New Device
4. Click Phone Info, click Scan, in the box next to Product Code, type 0536418, tick the Enable box and click Write.
5. Wait for confirmation on the screen that the changes have happened. Close NSS
6. Open NSU, follow the instructions (please, please, please backup your data. This can be done with Nokia PC Suite. NSU reflashes the firmware and all data on the phone will be lost. Simcard and memory cards are fine but programs need to be reinstalled).
7. You should be informed that there is a firmware update. Install that, and be sure not to let your computer switch off (vitally dangerous as it can brick you phone, not great if you are on an old laptop that has a battery that barely lasts 20 mins)
8. Wait for your phone to restart, and when it gets back to the home screen, unplug.
Congratulations. You have some pretty much generic firmware now. Some new themes, a better Music player, and generally a better phone, thanks to the lack of Orange Home screen.I did it and it worked fine. Be aware that this will void your warranty completely, as well as wipe your phone data.
Well I hope that helps at least one person. It would’ve saved me hours of searching around. Enjoy your new, free N70.
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