[Touch Diamond, MDA Compact IV ROM Development] nanohaxor:
Hi,

Can anyone please help provide some clear guidance on the following issues and questions:

I recently purchased a HTC Touch Diamond. It was purchased brand new and unlocked from a reasonably reputable Australian store, and is branded with the Australian carrier Telstra NextG, and appears to be running a customised Telstra ROM. The phone is currently being used on the Hutchison 3 carrier in Australia.

The phone has the following hardware/firmware settings:

R 1.00.25.06 (Radio Version)

G 52.31.25.13U (Protocol Version)

D 1.38.00.00 (ROM Version)

Installed ROM Version: 1.38.841.5 WWE

ROM Date: 07/07/08

I am finding that when using the EDGE data connection, whenever I attempt to make a call, the phone instantly crashes and reboots. Everytime. Arrggghhh! I am also finding that when using the HSDPA phone connection it has quite poor signal strength that results in lots of call dropouts. For a brand new phone these issues are very annoying.

I then discovered on the XDA-Developers site that HTC has released updates for their ROM on Hutchison 3 that, according to the htc Australia website, may fix the crash issue described above. Thanks!!! I've found this site is hugely informative but unfortunately for a noob like me, it is taking a while to learn what all the HTC jargon _actually means_.

I originally tried to download the official HTC Hutchison '3' ROM Update Utility but was denied access to this from the HTC website. I'm guessing this may be because the phone is Telstra Branded with a Telstra assigned serial number.

Eventually getting past this, I obtained access to the official HTC ROM Update Utility here:

[1] HTC Touch Diamond ROM Upgrade for Hutchison ‘3’ network customers

http://www.htc.com/au/SupportDownload.aspx?p_id=133&cat=2&dl_id=451

An updated ROM is now available for HTC Touch Diamond users to download. As always, HTC is committed to providing customers with the best possible mobile experience. ROM version:1.93.861.4 Radio Version: 1.08.25.20

HTC Touch Diamond ROM Upgrade for Hutchison ‘3’ network customers

Date: 2008-12-09 Category: ROM Upgrade

Download URL:

http://203.73.25.118/download/RomCo...igned_Diamond_52.44.25.24_1.08.25.20_Ship.exe

Also, for anyone interested that can't get past the HTC website serial number authentication process, also available is the latest Telstra ROM (I could access this Telstra ROM with my serial number):

[2] HTC Touch Diamond ROM code for Telstra Network

http://www.htc.com/au/SupportDownload.aspx?p_id=133&cat=2&dl_id=324

Date: 2008-08-07 Category: ROM Upgrade

HTC Touch Diamond ROM code (For Telstra Network customers) - version 1.38.841.5

Download URL:

http://203.73.25.118/download/RomCo...igned_Diamond_52.31.25.13_1.00.25.06_Ship.exe

So, my several related questions are as follows:

1. Is there an exact stepwise procedure that I can use that will definitely not brick my phone? Eg. Something really informative like this post: (http://selfmod.net/?p=7)

2. Reading the posts on the XDA Developers site seem to indicate I need to install Hard-SPL onto the phone first. Is this correct? and if yes, then which exact edition (Noob Edition, or Developer Edition) and version number should be used for the HTC Diamond specifications above? What is the official link for downloading this?

3. Will running the downloaded official HTC Hutchison 3 ROM provided above, without installing Hard-SPL at all, have the risk of bricking the phone?

4. What does Hard-SPL _actually_ do? Even after reading this: (http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=Diamond_HardSPL) it's still not actually clear to me what this really does, but then I'm just a noob.

5. Exactly how do I backup my original Telstra ROM, just in case I need to re-install this.

Any help with these questions is appreciated.

Thanks.