Debranding and upgrading Nokia E65

Posted by Radek in IT stuff on 12 30th, 2008

nokiaupgradeSome time ago I got myself a Nokia E-65 phone in UK’s Three network. It was quite new shiny and fancy. It had Skype running with Three, a bit underfeatured but prepared by Three. The phone however was slow like hell, it didn’t have Polish writing dictionary and hanged from time to time.

So I started to search for upgrades, and then I’ve learned that Three is not providing them very often. In the meanwhile I went from UK to Poland, so I decided to search how to hack the phone to work faster.

The Nokia Software Updater didn’t help because it constantly said that there are no software updates available. The reason for that was that the phone was branded for Three. The difference in version was quite big, in my phone the Software was 1.0633.18.02 whereas the software available from Nokia was already 4.0633.74.00. Of course, look on the things after 0633, because the 1 and 4 at the beginning mean that the software is branded.

!!Be sure to have the phone fully charged before the process!!

So, debranding the phone and upgrading it is in fact quite easy:

  1. Install Nokia PC Suite and make a FULL BACKUP of your phone… :-)
  2. Install Nokia Software Updater
  3. Install Nemesis Software Suite

Now, firstly you have to debrand your phone. Debranding in this case is just changing the Product Code of the phone.

  1. Run Nemesis Software Suite and click on Scan devices.
  2. Click “Phone Info” icon and then “Read” button on the right in the “Production data edit” section.
  3. Note down the Product Code number that you have. My previous code was 0545811.
  4. Go to google, and look for “Nokia E65 Product Code” for your country. I used one of those two codes for Poland: 0515304 , 0542334.
  5. Enter that product code in the Product Code field and check “Enable” on the right.
  6. Then push the “Write” button.

That’s it! Your phone is now debranded. Now launch the Nokia Software Updater and it should guide you through the firmware upgrade process.

Have fun!

14 Responses to “Debranding and upgrading Nokia E65”

  • Matthew, on January 16th, 2009 at 09:01:01 Said:

    this just does not work. the nemesis software suite and the nokia tool can not find my phone, and just keep on saying error. Quite dissapointed

  • Radek, on January 16th, 2009 at 10:01:41 Said:

    @Matthew: I assume that:
    1. You are connected to the computer via USB Nokia Cable
    2. You are able to backup the data with Nokia PC Suite
    ?
    If not, then please firstly resolve the connectivity between your phone and then try again :)

  • Matthew, on January 16th, 2009 at 12:01:52 Said:

    Help… I got the thing to change the product code to work..now the nokia software updater cant find a connected phone. What do i do?

  • Matthew, on January 16th, 2009 at 12:01:27 Said:

    Ah right.. i see now. all is good. Sucessfully updated to 4.0633.74.00
    Really sorry for being a pain in the ar*e.
    It works well if you give it chance. Thanks very much

  • Will, on February 21st, 2009 at 11:02:55 Said:

    Wow, thank you so much for writing this – it worked first time without a problem!

  • colin, on February 27th, 2009 at 12:02:35 Said:

    I have entered a new product code and installed new firmware but the fome still remains a uk 3 network fone and will not except my t-mobile sim. What am i doing wrong?

  • PB, on May 28th, 2009 at 05:05:32 Said:

    this just does not work. the nemesis software suite and the nokia tool can not find my phone, and just keep on saying error. Quite dissapointed

  • Radek, on May 29th, 2009 at 07:05:23 Said:

    If the nokia tool can’t see your phone, then for sure you have something wrong with the connection to the phone.

  • Ativie, on August 13th, 2009 at 09:08:31 Said:

    This works. I had an error problem initially. Solution there’s a conflict between Nokia software updater and NSS. Delete NSU and debrand phone. Reinstall NSU and update firmware.

  • nezer, on October 15th, 2009 at 09:10:47 Said:

    Yes. It works well. I had to use your first product number and a Thailand SIM card to get around some form of blocking here in New Zealand. Had tried a few other product numbers with NZ SIM but cold not get WIFI connected. Could only browse internet using provider of SIM card. Great now.

  • Sando, on August 17th, 2010 at 03:08:42 Said:

    Thanks Radek!

    This worked a treat! A few tips. As Ativie said you need to uninstall Nokia software updater because it conflicts with NSS. The only problem is that if the code is the wrong one you have uninstall NSU and then change the code and reinstall NSS. Lucky for me I only had to do this twice.

    I have the Australia optus branded e65 with code 0551955. I found my code on this website http://www.esato.com/board/viewtopic.php?topic=162207. I had to use 0515337: APAC 3 Red/Silver. I’m assumong that APAC (Asia Pacific).

    Good luck to anyone else that wants to do debrand.

  • Sando, on August 17th, 2010 at 03:08:01 Said:

    Sorry for the double post but I meant you had to uninstall and reinstall Nokia Software Updater everytime you want to change the code if the code happens to be the wrong one.

  • AgentZero, on August 23rd, 2010 at 06:08:49 Said:

    Thanks Heaps! The whole process took less than 30 secs! Is now downloading the lastest firmware (56Mb).

  • AgentZero, on August 23rd, 2010 at 06:08:13 Said:

    Went from 3 Branded Red E65.
    OLD:
    #0547831

    NEW:
    #0515333: APAC 3 Australia Red/Silver

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