How to Unlock your Cingular Treo 650

Here are the instructions originally found here with my notes:

PRE-INSTALL
- Read this whole damn thing especially the very last paragraph before doing anything.
- backup all your files with a hotsync, then if you want to be sure, go ahead and export each thing to a file.

Even if you have an exchange server with all your important info, you still want to backup. Because it will backup all of your preferences and ring tones.

- what sucks is I just know some of you won’t read this whole thing and will just jump right into it, I can’t wait till you put the SD card back in after you have 1.28 installed and you go along with the installation, gonna make me laugh. =-) actually it won’t.. just cause I know I’d probably do the same thing. lol.

I Read everything over and over, so many times that I did it without reading the directions again. I also went through the process so many times because of errors that I had no problems, in regards to making my phone a brick.

1. Your going to have to get the 1.23 upgrade first. (for an explanation of why you can’t just go straight to the newest 1.28 read below). I am hosting this file on my website via a cable modem, you can easily find it elsewhere though. If my site is down sry.. but after all its a cable modem!
http://www.codywalker.com/temp/Treo650-fw123.zip

*Q: Why can’t I go straight to 1.28? Wouldn’t that be easier? A: It won’t let you so ha! the official ROW (unlocked) updater will not overwrite a non-ROW install.

True, it won’t, it wouldn’t be a hack otherwise.

2. I am going to teach the SD card method. So you have to get the PALM folder (contents of that zip file you just downloaded) onto your SD card. You can plug your sd card into some type of reader so you can copy files onto it, or you can just get “Card Export” and use your treo to do it.
http://palmsource.palmgear.com/inde…re&prodid=44626

3. Copy the “PALM” folder from that zip you downloaded (the whole folder, not just the contents) to your SD card, make sure NOTHING else is on your SD card except this folder.

The SD card method is the easiest and you wouldn’t want to do it any other way. Originally I was using Missing sync to get the files on the SD card and for some reason it wouldn’t work. It gave me an error after the setup, “error updating rom”. At first I was horrified but after a reset it was the same Phone I had an hour earlier. I recommend all users including Mac users to just use a card reader to transfer the files over.

4. Turn the radio off and remove your sim card
5. remove the SD card
6. take the stylus out and do a soft reset
7. Your sim card and the SD card should NOT BE in your phone. Now place the SD card in your phone and it should pop up with some instructions, just follow them and badda boom. you are going to “HAVE TO” plug your palm in when it tells you to or it won’t let you proceed.
8. When it comes up and says select which patch or something like that to use, it will delay about 5-10 seconds before proceeding.. I think I punched the thing like 20 times, just click ok ONCE and wait, don’t screw it up!

9. A progress bar will come up and let you know whats going on. after 100% it will come up with what looks like a txt document and code scrolling by, the whole thing takes about 3 min, the progress bar took about 5-8 min.

10. Don’t freak out, your phone will power cycle a few times. Your phone will come back up. plug the Sim back in and turn the radio on (hold down power button). go to teh main phone screen, hit the top right “menu” key on your keypad and check the firmware, it should say 1.23. If it does continue to step 11.

Originally I used missing sync, like I said above, and I got an error. At first I thought everything was okay because the firmware looked like it was updated but the software was not, very strange. Even though I knew it didn’t go through I still went through to the next step. Which proves two things: 1. you can’t really screw anything up by going to the next step without the first complete and even though it says the firmware is updated it really isn’t.
The best way to know that you completed the first upgrade, is you phone will be unlocked and you will know it since it will ask your language and some other questions it wouldn’t have asked with the Locked Cingular phone.
If this happens you actually have an unlocked phone, but you didn’t come this far without getting everything, did you?

—– 1.23 to 1.28 —-
go to palm one’s site and download the update or you can grab it from my site (not gonna be pretty on the bandwidth, I recommend going for palmone site)

Go to Palm’s website and go through their steps, it tell you everything you need to know about updating to the new version. I originally had a memory error but I followed the instructions on Palm’s site, and it was fixed. You can also update with your Mac and missing sync or you could also do an SD install.

The SD method:
download the files from the mac download and put all the 44 files on a clean SD card. You must erase that PALM folder from the previous update. Use a program like Filz and move all the files to ‘internal’ memory. The updater will automatically start (you must move all the files in the same move otherwise it will start without all the files needed).

These steps are so easy. I know you can get these next steps done
1. Unzip the installer and run it.
Take YOUR SIM CARD and SD CARD OUT!
2. At this point you should have nothing on your palm, (hope ya backed up!)
3. FOLLOW the on screen instructions, CREATE A NEW USER called “UPGRADE” (this doesn’t matter what you name it, just shutup and go with upgrade and listen to a guy thats done it, muah)
4. let it go, when it asks for power, give it power (you can unplug the hotsync cable)
5. it will take you through the same stuff you dealt with in the first 1.23 upgrade. let it go
6. When it comes back up you can hit cancel on your computer (its just going to try and backup stuff back to your palm, but because we used a user called “upgrade’, there really isn’t anything to backup.
7. plug it in and run a hotsync, use the old user you had and make sure everything is set up right to put it back on your palm.

BADDA BING, BADDA BAM, badda 1.28….

Insert the SIM CARD and turn the radio on, check the firmware (phone, menu, phone info) and it should say 1.28, if it didn’t that sucks, god be with you. =-)

*** READ THIS (I learned the hard way) ***
NOW, go to cardexport and connect to desktop BEFORE you put that damned SD card in again, if you don’t do it this way, it will try and run the files on the SD CARD. DELETE that damned PALM folder. there ya go. if your dumb and your just now reading this AFTER you put the card in and it says “plug in the power”, just take the battery out and take the sim card out, then battery back in, no harm done. if your dumb and you hit ok.. good luck moron, shoulda read this first!