WARNING! - Verizon 1.04 updater

**kabeyun** · 10-14-2005, 07:29 AM

A major warning about the Verizon Wireless 1.04 updater for Treo, folks.

After following Palm's update steps exactly (and I mean exactly) the result was a fried phone. My firmware version was 1.03 both before and after the update, the only difference being that every time I tried to turn on the phone, it said "Verizon...welcome," crashed, and reset itself.

I called Palm for help, and they directed me to Verizon. Gosh, thanks.

I called Verizon for help and they sent me a free replacement phone! Promising, thought I. Just make sure the new phone has v1.04 on it, because the updater seems to downgrade the smartphone to a PDA, I said. No problem, they said.

The replacement, or "F.R.U.," came by FedEx the next day. Even more promising. Guess what. 1.03. I called them back and told them the updater would turn this phone into a chicklet, too. They said try it anyway. I did. Guess what. Another chicklet. Now they tell me I have to go to a store and beg, which is exactly what they first told me not to do because the store wasn't authorized to do anything about it.

My advice? Unless you NEED 1.04 for some reason, DON'T UPGRADE YOUR PHONE. Even if there are owners out there who have done it successfully, why take the chance?

-K

P.S. I should've known evil was afoot when Palm's upgrade instruction proved to be wrong. You're told that tapping the "Treo 650" updater application will update the phone. Not true. The "Treo 650" application you install from your computer is another installer that, when run, puts an application called "CDMA updater" on your Treo. Launching this presents you with a button labeled "Press to upgrade" or some such, and then the process (allegedly) begins. I e-mailed Palm about this, but no reply yet.

P.P.S. Chris, I'm surprised the Verizon updater thread isn't a sticky like Cingular's. Maybe I missed it.

**kwitkowski** · 10-14-2005, 09:56 AM

Is this really an issue?

If it is, I'm supprised there are not more horror stories here.

**tgif1111** · 10-14-2005, 11:24 AM

I have to admit that the 1.04 update process was a little weird and I had to read the instructions a zillion times to make certain I was on track but it really did work! My Treo 650 hasn't done a soft reset since I did the upgrade and before it was happening a lot. I did my update on a G4 Powerbook. The only stupid thing was that the "Memo" conduit seemed to hang but since I don't use that one I cancelled out of it and everything else was just fine.

**kabeyun** · 10-14-2005, 10:52 PM

Went to the Verizon store. Apparently, and this is Verizon's official position, performing Palm's recommended update voids the Treo's warranty. They gave me a (third) replacement, but said that if it happened again, I was on my own. Looks like it's 1.03 for me. Please proceed at your own risk.

**Shady** · 10-15-2005, 01:17 PM

I've held off on updating because it doesn't seem to be very compelling. Is all you get is a littel more memory to work with?
Also, that would be B.S. if Verizon truly voids the warranty for updating firmware that they provide.

**tomcatt1** · 10-15-2005, 07:51 PM

The update worked fine for me by following the directions provided. I didn't get everything reinstalled by the final hotsync in the procedure, so simply restored using BackupMan. I didn't notice a huge increase in RAM, but it does seem to reset much less now.

**nickw** · 10-17-2005, 09:21 AM

Well, count me as another one for whom the 1.04 update turned their smartphone into a PDA. Everytime I turn on the phone the device resets. Strangely enough I can't seem to be able to perform a hard reset at all.

Wonder what the common difference is between those of for whom it fails
and those of us for whom it works? For those for whom it seems to have worked,
have you gone to the Phone Info panel and verified you're indeeed running the 1.04
version of the software?

Sigh.. Verizon tech support, here I come..

- N

**kabeyun** · 10-17-2005, 09:45 AM

Originally Posted by nickw

Well, count me as another one for whom the 1.04 update turned their smartphone into a PDA.

I feel your pain, but I am relieved that it's not just me.

I can't imagine what it could be, since a hard reset is performed prior to the attempted update. Furthermore, I did successfully update to v1.03, as did you I presume.

**Fafafoooey** · 10-17-2005, 03:17 PM

I followed the Palm instructions "exactly". No problems whatsoever. The update definitely addresses some stability issue in the memory management. My phone used to soft reset once a day. Since the update, it has not reset once. I still have all the same apps as before the update. I am finally pleased with this phone.

Sorry that you are having so many problems. I have to say that if you followed the instructions from Palm twice and fried the phone both times, you must be missing a step somewhere. I just don't see how you could fry 2 of them. But this is just my opinion.

Originally Posted by kabeyun

A major warning about the Verizon Wireless 1.04 updater for Treo, folks.

After following Palm's update steps exactly (and I mean exactly) the result was a fried phone. My firmware version was 1.03 both before and after the update, the only difference being that every time I tried to turn on the phone, it said "Verizon...welcome," crashed, and reset itself.

I called Palm for help, and they directed me to Verizon. Gosh, thanks.

I called Verizon for help and they sent me a free replacement phone! Promising, thought I. Just make sure the new phone has v1.04 on it, because the updater seems to downgrade the smartphone to a PDA, I said. No problem, they said.

The replacement, or "F.R.U.," came by FedEx the next day. Even more promising. Guess what. 1.03. I called them back and told them the updater would turn this phone into a chicklet, too. They said try it anyway. I did. Guess what. Another chicklet. Now they tell me I have to go to a store and beg, which is exactly what they first told me not to do because the store wasn't authorized to do anything about it.

My advice? Unless you NEED 1.04 for some reason, DON'T UPGRADE YOUR PHONE. Even if there are owners out there who have done it successfully, why take the chance?

-K

P.S. I should've known evil was afoot when Palm's upgrade instruction proved to be wrong. You're told that tapping the "Treo 650" updater application will update the phone. Not true. The "Treo 650" application you install from your computer is another installer that, when run, puts an application called "CDMA updater" on your Treo. Launching this presents you with a button labeled "Press to upgrade" or some such, and then the process (allegedly) begins. I e-mailed Palm about this, but no reply yet.

P.P.S. Chris, I'm surprised the Verizon updater thread isn't a sticky like Cingular's. Maybe I missed it.

**nickw** · 10-17-2005, 05:12 PM

Originally Posted by Fafafoooey

I followed the Palm instructions "exactly". No problems whatsoever. The update definitely addresses some stability issue in the memory management. My phone used to soft reset once a day. Since the update, it has not reset once. I still have all the same apps as before the update. I am finally pleased with this phone.

Did you update from Mac, or a PC?

If from a Mac, did you click on the CDMA update application that is left on your phone
by the updater package? Without doing that, I sincerely doubt you're running 1.04,
since the update itself simply unpacks the CDMA update app. Have you checked
the "phone info" display to see what version of the software you are reported as running?

Thanks,

- N