3230 on Orange

I'm afraid it is in ROM (Read-Only Memory). Easiest way to get rid of it is to sell/return the Orange branded phone and get a retail/unbranded one. A more difficult way is to find someone who can flash the phone with a "standard", un-branded firmware release.

Is it a difficult process to get the phone flashed to a generic 3230 rom without all the Orange mistakes? If I was to take it to a Nokia service centre would they be able to do this?

When you say "Oranges mistakes" Just remember Nokia generate the firmware for the phone, all oragne do is have there logo's etc added to the O/S. So you may find your revision of firmware is no different even if you have a generic version installed by a Nokia Service center, all that will be missing is the logo's, bugs may remain. Also you must ensure they return the phone unlocked for use on Orange, you can check your firmware by typing *#0000# Current version is 3.0505.2 for the majority of users.

Duke.

I understand Nokia generate the firmware for the phone, the Orange mistakes I refer to are purely centred around the additional (and unnecessary) Orange homescreen.
It is the latest firmware that I have (3.0505.2), if I have it flashed with this again at a Nokia service centre I assume it will operate exactly as it does at present just without the Orange homescreen...

yep should do, have you checked if you can uninstall it? O2 put on there own O2 Active software which gets expensive if you use it and first thing i did was uninstalled that. You might find its an additional program and not in the firmware.

Just found another issue with the Orange homescreen.. you cant use the power button to swap profiles like you do from the normal Nokia homescreen!!
Didnt Orange test this before releasing it!?!?! I jumped ship from the SPV because of Oranges inability to test before shipping.....

I agree totally - Orange homescreen is the most frustrating thing. Not just that it looks bad and prevents features from operating properly but it keeps causing my 3230 to crash apparently due to an error in the programme. I have contacted Orange about this however as I didn't take out their own 'Orange insurance' when I got the 'phone they are not willing to replace it and say that it is not their problem. It's such a shame as I think the 3230 is basically a good 'phone that is being ruined by this! I'll be so glad if/when someone actually figures a way to get this off the handset. Ahhhhhh.....rant over.....that's better!

Did either of you look in tools>manager and see if it can be uninstalled in any way? No one mentioned if its an after installed app or if it is part of the firmware.

Duke.

The Orange Homescreen can't be removed.

However if you have a specific instance where you can repeat a crash (i.e. not just once) and think it may be related to the home screen I will pass the details onto Orange.

I've been using the Orange Home screen and at first it did annoy me, but now I find it's OK. (Something better than standard), that said I would like the option to be able to remove it.

Rafe wrote:The Orange Homescreen can't be removed.

However if you have a specific instance where you can repeat a crash (i.e. not just once) and think it may be related to the home screen I will pass the details onto Orange.

I've been using the Orange Home screen and at first it did annoy me, but now I find it's OK. (Something better than standard), that said I would like the option to be able to remove it.

Rafe, what relationship do you have with orange? as you mention you can pass on the details to orange?

anyway, the homescreen faults i have with the phone so far are,
1) as mentioned above the profiles don't work from the on/off button.
2) none of the joystick shortcuts work
3) the voice comm doesn't work from the homescreen
4) it keeps changing the wallpaper from none to the one used on the orange homepage. ( i keep changing the theme setting but every time i go into the settings its changed back to user defined 😡

i have found an app called task spy which can identify the offending hidden app and shut it down but then the dam thing restarts a few seconds later

Rafe wrote:The Orange Homescreen can't be removed.

However if you have a specific instance where you can repeat a crash (i.e. not just once) and think it may be related to the home screen I will pass the details onto Orange.

I've been using the Orange Home screen and at first it did annoy me, but now I find it's OK. (Something better than standard), that said I would like the option to be able to remove it.

My 3230 is actually keeping it's own log of every time is crashes i've discovered! It has made itself a txt file which contains date and time of 'HomeScreen.app exit' which now totals 18 times since 11/04/2005. I have reported this to orange and they have told me if it 'carries on doing it' then they'll look at it! This is on top of all the probs mentioned by rich_uk.

nich wrote:My 3230 is actually keeping it's own log of every time is crashes i've discovered!

Rich_uk wrote:nich, would you mind letting us know where to find this log?
cheers
Rich

It is in tools > file manager and right at the bottom in no folder in the 'phone memory

nich wrote:It is in tools > file manager and right at the bottom in no folder in the 'phone memory

Spoke to my local Nokia Service Centre yesterday and they said that they can re-flash the phone and it will remove the Orange branding. They didnt seem to think it would affect anything else. I mentioned that some people had said that I might lose answerphone but they didnt seem to think so....

I don't have a special relationship with Orange as such, but I can pass them on to a PR contact who may be able to forward them to the tech guys. That said they are aware of the problem I believe.

mark4130 wrote:Spoke to my local Nokia Service Centre yesterday and they said that they can re-flash the phone and it will remove the Orange branding. They didnt seem to think it would affect anything else. I mentioned that some people had said that I might lose answerphone but they didnt seem to think so....

This might be why it isnt widely available on orange theyre only selling them with contracts on their website. They probably trying to get a decent firmware before selling it as PAYG. Its been only contract for about for 4 months.

If h/s is re flashed with orig firmware an Orange h/s will lose Line 2

Apparently the firmware is not available yet (my local O2 shop is my closest Nokia dealer and they will reflash FOC 😊 )

the joystick shortcuts do work when in 'phone' mode. If you press and hold the menu button an options box pops up which shows which applications are open. Switch to 'phone' which exits the HomeScreen. Only problem is that if you press the 'back' button it goes back to the HomeScreen.

HomeScreen - very nice app, shame about the bugs.

Its been stated - In Nokia homescreen mode, all the shortcuts work correctly.
In Orange homescreen mode, it doesnt. You shouldnt have to choose a default homescreen (ie the Nokia homescreen) from a list of apps.
Its a very poor implementation of something that everybody changes almost immediately in the world of MS smartphones. The fact that you cant overwrite it is ridiculous - luckily it has been proven that reflashing the phone at a Nokia Service Centre will remove all the Orange rubbish and make the phone run a hell of a lot quicker.

lergik wrote:

HomeScreen - very nice app,

😮 I've failed to find any usefulness in this app?
the sooner the new firmware comes out and i can get the phone flashed, the better

I have also tried to delete 'HomeScreen' within FExplorer and it won't delete, even from the C drive???

It looks like it's deleted but re appears plus it's still in the Z drive and you can't delete from that drive

Really getting fed up now - anyone shed any light on deletion of HomeScreen application?

:frown:

I just spent 30mins on the phone to Orange reporting this today. I've had this phone since the week it came out and it's been doing this from the off. The Orange CS rep reckoned she couldn't find anything about it and made out I'm the only person. She got back to me later on having escalated it to the tech people and guess what the answer was - full reset and wipe everything. No. This is garbage. That isn't troubleshooting. That's like getting someone to reinstall Windows just because they have a problem with their PC.

Thanks for the pointer about the log, I'll see if I can email it to them.

patters wrote:I just spent 30mins on the phone to Orange reporting this today. I've had this phone since the week it came out and it's been doing this from the off. The Orange CS rep reckoned she couldn't find anything about it and made out I'm the only person. She got back to me later on having escalated it to the tech people and guess what the answer was - full reset and wipe everything. No. This is garbage. That isn't troubleshooting. That's like getting someone to reinstall Windows just because they have a problem with their PC.

Thanks for the pointer about the log, I'll see if I can email it to them.