[Windows Mobile Development and Hacking General] pcwe:
Tired of waiting until your service provider releases HTC updates for your branded phone?

Here comes your step by step guide on how to unbrand or debrand your HTC HD2/Leo using a PSAS Goldcard.

(Thanks go to svc und oliverweidel)

Introduction:

What does a Goldcard do? Mark's post answers this best:

"All a GoldCard will do is bypass the carrier ID check when you attempt to flash a stock rom via the microsd card that you wrote the GoldCard to. A GoldCard [as such] won't unbrand your phone, that is only acomplished by flashing an HTC Stock Rom [with your Goldcard]. If you flash a carrier's Stock Rom [with your Goldcard] then it will still be branded with whatever that carrier added to it. That means that you have to use that same card everytime you want to flash a stock rom and you have to use the same method to flash it (via the same microsd card). It wont sim unlock your phone and it wont let you flash any other roms apart from stock roms".

Note:

If you experience problems:

- Check first whether you have correctly followed each step carefully

- Read the Troubleshoot Section below

- Search the thread for a similar problem

- Post a question (Please do not send me a PM with support requests but post them. Thank you!)

A. Prerequisites:

A.1. Micro SD card (no SDHC [HighCapacity], it needs to be <4GB)

A.2. The "PSAS" Software

A.3. PC with ActiveSync or MobileDeviceCenter Connection to your HD2 (Guest is good enough)

B. Make your SD Card a Gold Card:

B.1. Back up your system (especially your SD-Card!! for a Goldcard you have to format your SD-Card)

B.2. Format your Micro SD card with FAT32

B.3. Insert your formatted SD Card into your HD2

B.4. Connect your device to your PC (ActiveSync/MobileDeviceCenter)

B.O.1. Option 1: PSAS Full Version:

..O.1.1. Buy your PSAS Full Version (30€). http://psas.revskills.de/?q=payment

..O.1.2. Following the link in the registration confirmation e-mail, download, install and activate PSAS

..O.1.3. Start PSAS (needs administrator rights)

..O.1.4. Goto "Calculators/Generators" - "Generate HTC Goldcard"

..O.1.5. Select Device Key “LEO”

..O.1.6. Click on "Get SD Card Serial from WINCE Device"

..O.1.7. Choose the right SD Card (note the Size under SD Card Info)

..O.1.8. Click on "Save Goldcard Image to WINSCE SD" (Alternatively, you can save the Goldcard image to file and write the image later - see Option 2.7)

..O.1.9. Now your Goldcard is ready

B.O.2. Option 2: PSAS free Version:

..O.2.1. Download an install the PSAS Free Version: http://revskills.de/downloads/revskills.zip

..O.2.2. Start PSAS (needs administrator rights)

..O.2.3. Goto "Hardware Forensics" - "WINCE SD Card Utils"

..O.2.4. Click on "Get Serial and Disk ID".

..O.2.5. Choose the right SD Card (note the size)

..O.2.6. Copy the displayed CID (i.E. 9E000000400000000000020002000000)

..O.2.7. Send the CID to a friend owning the full version to prepare your image

..O.2.8. If you don’t know one, send a PM to either "lyriquidperfection", "oliverweidel", "mskip", "sirsmiles" or me ("pcwe")

..O.2.9. Once you have your image, click on “Write Image File”

..O.2.10. Select the image you received (Goldcard.img)

..O.2.11. Now your Goldcard is ready

**********************************

Links to images for frequently used CIDs:

GoldCard_9B000000400000000000020002000000.img

GoldCard_9D000000400000000000020002000000.img

GoldCard_9E000000400000000000020002000000.img

**********************************

C. Flash HTC Stock ROM:

C.1. Download your HTC 3.14 Stock ROM

C.2. Extract your Stock ROM (RUU_Leo_S_HTC_XXX_3.14.XXX_Radio_15.42.50.11U_2.1 5 .50.14_LEO_S_Ship.exe)

C.3. Copy RUU_signed.nbh to your Goldcard and rename it to LEOIMG.nbh (Use the “Explore” Feature of ActiveSync / MobileDeviceCenter)

C.4. Switch Off your device (or remove the battery)

C.5. Press VOL Down and Switch Device on to enter Bootloader

C.6. Bootloader loads your Goldcard (grey screen) and flashes every part of your HD2 (Bootloader, Radio, OS…) Takes up to 10 mins.

C.7. When finished, Reboot your device (remove/insert battery or press red button)

C.8. Congratulations, now your HD2 is unbranded!!

D. Install favored ROM (Artemis!):

D.1. Download your favored ROM

D.2. Connect your device to your PC (ActiveSync/MobileDeviceCenter)

D.3. Run SSPL_RUU.exe with Artemis v40 RUU_Signed_0xxx.nbh in the same folder and follow the instructions

D.4. Hard reset (Press VolUp+VolDown and still holding both press PowerOn and follow the instructions)

D.5. Boot to homescreen

D.6. When on homescreen –> Softreset

D.7. For more information, read the first page of the Artemis Forum

*** Troubleshooting ***

In case you experience a problem check these points:

1. Is your card a no SDHC Card? -> SDHCCards (all cards 4GB or bigger) often cause problems, especially many of the no- or low-brand cards.

Then, follow these steps again:

2.1. Format your card again, using a Windows PC instead of the HD2's card utility.

2.2 File System must be FAT32 and allocation unit size 4096 Bytes

2.2. Make sure your card has no name (no Volume Label).

2.3. Double check your drive ID. You need the CID of drive ID 07.

2.3. Double check your CID.

3.1. Download your HTC Stock ROM a second time.

3.2. Extract RUU_signed.nbh from the newly downloaded Stock ROM again.

3.3. Rename RUU_signed.nbh to LEOIMG.NBH.

3.4. Copy LEOIMG.NBH to your newly formatted and try again.

4. It didn't help? Post a support request on this thread with a detailed description of your problem and when it occurs.

Note: Do not send me a PM with support requests but post your problem here. More persons can help you and others benefit from it as well. Thank you!