K790i WSOD - has anyone had this fixed?

Posted by Tervel
I have a prototype K790i which I've been using for about a month now. It's been working OK, if you don't count the daily crashes, however today I was trying to set a theme (Lamborgini d/l-ed from here) when it crashed. Normally it restarts itself, but I almost always have to shut it down and pull the battery to get it fully reset. This time I pulled the battery before it had started back up and the next time I tried to power it on I got the White Screen Of Death. I get that now anytime I plug it into the computer or the power charger. The only time the computer recognizes the phone is if I hold down the 'C' button when plugging it in - then it's seen as a the Sony Ericsson Flash etc... (and I don't get the WSOD). This makes me hopeful that some tool out there can re-flash it and recover it, but I was wondering if anyone here has had their phone fixed from this state. Sending it back to SE is not an option since it's a prototype phone.

Posted by nalbagli
What is a prototype phone? Why do you have it?

Posted by tranced
yeah xplain us. and it's been attacked by WSOD so fast!

Posted by carkitter
Good News! WSOD can be repaired.

Just got my V800 back from the Service Centre and all A-OK.
It had some impact damage and WSOD.

Excerpt from my invoice:

Fault description: 1) display is white 2) please replace damaged cover/chassis (at hinge) 3) software upgrade also to be done thank you.

Repair Description: FV. Blank Display. Cosmetic damage to hinges. Cleaned and checked internals. Replaced flex ass'y. Replaced upper front and rear housings and screw protection tape. Reloaded software. Tested on air @11:38:13 All ok.

Hope this helps.

Posted by ghostfreak
You could try an update from wotan (firmware and EROM).

Posted by Tervel
The phone is not a new prototype - it's is build 06w08 so it is about as old as the announcement (has the old style logo on the front). The reason I have it is because I wanted a quad-band K790 and that is the only one that was made quad-band.

Wotan server can't do much because it is a prototype phone with CID49 BROWN, I'm waiting on SETool to get some credits to get it converted, but what I wanted to know is if flashing the firmware fixes this issue on other SE phones with WSOD.

Posted by carkitter
Yes it does, as above.

Posted by Tervel
So you had your phone fixed at a Sony Ericsson Service Center? That is not an option for me since as I mentioned this is a Prototype phone which pretty much has ZERO warranty if I'm not mistaken. Not to mention that as a K790i phone, it probably has no warranty within the US (k790a is the only acknowledged phone here). But if you had yours fixed, that makes me hopeful that mine can be fixed as well, only through a third party service such as SEtool. They are the only ones so far that are able to convert BROWN to RED, once that is done the phone will be falshable and I hope that THIS will fix the WSOD.

Posted by carkitter
There are no dedicated SE service centres in NZ. Only third party service centre with SE authorisation.

Posted by >500
i got my w900i fixed at a se authorised service centre here under warranty...Got it fixed under warranty, but if you dont have warranty, dont worry tervel, you will have to pay a few $$$, not too much though.....

They will just flash the phone, reinstall the software....they may flash to a new firmware, it might remove your quad band, but im not sure if a flash can do that.......