his FAQ exists to answer some of the most commonly asked questions on
the alt.cellular.ericsson newsgroup.
Please take a look through this FAQ before posting in the
alt.cellular.ericsson newsgroup (especially if you are new to the
group), as the answer to many common questions is contained herein.
As the FAQ will be continuously updated, some sections may not contain
complete answers (these sections will be marked with *?*)
I would like to enhance these sections as soon as possible, so if you
have contributions for the FAQ, please email me at:
alt.cellular.ericsson.faq@telstra.com
Contents:
———
Items marked with ** have been added or changed since the last version
of the alt.cellular.ericsson FAQ.
1. Ericsson Phone Firmware
—————————–
1.1 How do I find out what version of firmware is on my phone?
1.2 What is the latest version of firmware for my phone?
1.2.1 T Series firmware (68i, 68, 66, 65, 39, 29s)
1.2.2 R Series firmware (520, 380e, 380s)
1.2.3 Current firmware releases for other phones
1.3 How do I upgrade the firmware on my phone?
1.4 I think I’ve got a problem — what can I do?
1.4.1 The T39 "70 hour" bug
1.4.2 The T39 "No Network" bug
1.5 How do I check my phones IMEI? **
1.6 Handy menu shortcuts **
1.6.1 Reset to default language **
1.6.2 Reset to English language **
1.7 Various firmware nuances **
1.7.1 Call times in the call list **
1.7.2 How can I find out when a call came in? **
1.7.3 Is it possible to talk with the flip closed? **
1.7.4 Save a number from a text message **
1.7.5 Disable "tick tick tick" **
1.7.6 GPRS connections that fail **
1.7.7 Hiding or showing my phone number **
2. Ericsson Phone Hardware
—————————–
2.1 How do I open my phone?
2.2 Tips to save power **
2.2.1 Switch off GPRS **
2.3 Where can I get accessories? **
3. PC Software
—————–
3.1 Where do I get PC Software for my phone? **
4. About the alt.cellular.ericsson FAQ
—————————————–
4.1 Contributions (Can I contribute to this FAQ?) **
4.2 Contributors (Thanks to the following people) **
4.3 How to contact the author **
The alt.cellular.ericsson FAQ:
——————————
1. Ericsson Phone Firmware
—————————–
1.1 How do I find out what version of firmware is on my phone?
To access the service menu on all Ericsson phones, enter the following
key sequence:
Right Arrow, Star, Left Arrow, Left Arrow, Star, Left Arrow, Star (
>*<<*<* )
(If your phone has a joystick, you can move the joystick left and
right as indicated to achieve the same result.)
Next, select "Service Information" and then "Software Information"
The first line displays the software version of your phone, the first
three characters being significant (e.g. R4A008 = R4A)
————————————————
1.2 What is the latest version of firmware for my phone?
Information in this section is from Renegade’s Ericsson Mobile Phone
Site, which you can find at http://renegade.w3xs.com
1.2.1 T Series firmware (68i, 68, 66, 65, 39, 29s)
T68i ? R2F
T68 – R2E
T66 – 453
T65 – R4A
T39 – R4A
T29s – R3A
1.2.2 R Series firmware (520, 380e, 380s)
R520 ? R4A
R380e ? R2A (R5C for organiser)
R380s ? R1D (R4A for organiser)
1.2.3 Current firmware releases for other phones
*?*
————————————————
1.3 How do I upgrade the firmware on my phone?
To upgrade the firmware on your phone you MUST return it to an
authorised Sony Ericsson service centre. It is NOT possible to
download firmware or build a cable to upgrade the firmware yourself.
Check the Sony Ericsson web site (http://www.sonyericsson.com) for
your nearest service centre.
Upgrades are free in most countries if your phone is still within its
warranty period.
————————————————
1.4 I think I’ve got a problem — what can I do?
First off, search Google Groups (http://groups.google.com) to see if
anyone else has had a similar issue. If you include
"alt.cellular.ericsson" in the search box, this will narrow the search
down to this newsgroup.
If you cannot find any relevant articles, post a message to the
newsgroup and include the following information:
* Which phone you have
* What version of firmware you have
* A description of the problem
* What you to reproduce the problem
If you are not able to reproduce the problem, you might want to hold
off posting until you can — sometimes phones are temperamental and
will not misbehave on demand!
To contact your local service centre, go to the Sony Ericsson web site
(http://www.sonyericsson.com), select your country and then click on
the link for Support to access a list of service centres.
1.4.1 The T39 "70 hour" bug
Some T39’s exhibit a problem where, according to the status display, a
full battery charge will only permit a standby time of 70 hours.
This "70 hour" bug is resolved by a firmware patch which is separate
to the regular firmware upgrades.
If your phone has this problem, you need to make it clear to the staff
at the Service Centre that you need the 70 hour patch, not just a
firmware update.
1.4.2 The T39 "No Network" bug
Another T39 nuance is often described as the "No Network" bug. The
symptoms of this bug are that a T39 will start to display "No Network"
even when you should usually have a strong signal.
Unfortunately, things only get worse from here. The transmitter
circuitry on the phone develops physical damage which requires the
phone to be replaced by a Service Centre.
Phones manufactured before Week 50, 2001 are prone to this problem.
To check the manufacture date of your T39, look at the bar code under
the battery, near where the SIM Card is inserted. The manufacture
date is in the format xxWyy, where xx is the year of manufacture and
yy is the week (e.g. 01W48 = the 48th week of 2001)
————————————————
1.5 How do I check my phones IMEI? **
An IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) is a unique serial
number assigned to your phone when it is manufactured.
The IMEI is useful to the GSM network as it identifies the type of
phone you are using, and the features it has (such as if it is capable
of using WAP).
It is useful to know your IMEI if your phone is lost or stolen, as
some GSM networks have (or are implementing) the ability to block, or
"lock out" phones based on the IMEI.
To see the IMEI, enter *#06# — this is a standard GSM key sequence
which should work on phones from all manufacturers.
Alternatively, on Ericsson phones, the IMEI can also be displayed by
accessing the service menu (see FAQ section 1.1) and then selecting
"Service Info" and then "Configuration".
The first entry in this display is the IMEI of your phone.
[Additional contribution from a post by Michael Pronay
(pronay@gmx.at)]
————————————————
1.6 Handy menu shortcuts **
The following are menu shortcuts that can be entered from the default
display.
Particularly good to know when somehow your language settings have
been modified (amusing the first two times it happens, it starts to
wear thin from there).
1.6.1 Reset to default language **
Left Arrow, Eight, Eight, Eight, Eight, Right Arrow ( <8888> )
(If your phone has a joystick, you can move the joystick left and
right as indicated to achieve the same result.)
[Contributed from a post by Michael Pronay (pronay@gmx.at)]
1.6.2 Reset to English language **
Left Arrow, Zero, Zero, Zero, Zero, Right Arrow ( <0000> )
(If your phone has a joystick, you can move the joystick left and
right as indicated to achieve the same result.)
[Contributed from a post by Michael Pronay (pronay@gmx.at)]
————————————————
1.7 Various firmware nuances **
1.7.1 Call times in the call list (Why is the time of all calls in
the call list reset after I change the SIM?) **
If you change the SIM, the time of all calls in the list will be reset
to the time when you switched on the phone. This is an automatic
feature and cannot be changed.
[Contributed by Ole Streicher (ole-usenet-06@gmx.net)]
1.7.2 How can I find out when a call came in? **
The T39 call list only displays the date for any entries in the call
history that are not the current day. If I missed a call yesterday it
only lists yesterday’s date and not the time as well.
There is a little work-around: Change the phone’s date to the day of
the missed call and then it will display the time as well.
[Contributed by Olaf Peuss (olaf.peussNOSPAM@gmx.net)]
1.7.3 Is it possible to talk with the flip closed? **
Yes, moving the volume key up and holding it in this position will
allow you to close the flip whilst talking.
[Contributed by Olaf Peuss (olaf.peussNOSPAM@gmx.net)]
1.7.4 Save a number from a text message (How can I save a number sent
by text message to the phone book?) **
Highlight the number by using the menu keys, press YES to dial and
immediately afterwards NO to cancel the call before you are connected.
Now the number is in the call list and can be saved to the phone as
described in the manual. Unfortunately, this is the only work-around
for this slightly annoying problem.
[Contributed by Michael Pronay (pronay@gmx.at)]
1.7.5 Disable "tick tick tick" (Is there a way to disable the
annoying "tick tick tick" tone when the phone logs onto the network?)
**
Turn off the ring tone before turning off the handset by pressing "C"
key for a second and confirming with "YES". When you turn on the
handset everything will be completely silent – but don’t forget to
switch "ring tone silent" back.
[Contributed by Michael Pronay (pronay@gmx.at)]
1.7.6 GPRS connections that fail (Sometimes GPRS connections with a
T39m fail for no apparent reason when trying to use the T39m as a
laptop modem) **
Experience has shown that the T39 is quite reluctant to set up a GPRS
connection when power is two thirds down (or less). Notebooks usually
report a modem error. Connecting the phone to the charger should help
immediately.
[Contributed by Michael Pronay (pronay@gmx.at)]
1.7.7 Hiding or showing my phone number (How can I show/hide my phone
number to/from people I call? The respective menu options are greyed
out) **
You can only show/hide your number when you type in the call
receiver’s number by hand (not from the phone book) and then select
the menu option you wish to use.
If you wish to hide your number from certain call receivers, you may
store their numbers with the GSM hash code #31# in front of them.
Note that for all numbers in the international format, the GSM hash
code needs to be entered between the plus sign and the first digit of
the country code. Also note that you will not be able to send text
messages to numbers stored with a hash code.
[Contributed by Olaf Peuss (olaf.peussNOSPAM@gmx.net)]
————————————————
2. Ericsson Phone Hardware
—————————–
2.1 How do I open my phone?
Please note the following warning!
Proceed at your own risk as you are almost certainly voiding your
warranty if you open your phone anywhere other than at a Sony Ericsson
Service Centre!
If that did not scare you off, this website has diagrams of how to
open most models:
http://www.es-o-em.de/tigerente/open/open.html
————————————————
2.2 Tips to save power **
2.2.1 Switch off GPRS **
Ericsson GPRS capable phones have GPRS enabled by default. This
consumes extra power.
If you turn off GPRS, the phone will turn it back on automatically
when it is needed (e.g. when you access a WAP service via GPRS or make
a GPRS modem call), and then switch it back off when you end the GPRS
session.
To turn off GPRS, select "Settings", "Data comm.", "Pref. service" and
change "GPRS and GSM" to "GSM only".
After turning off GPRS, your standby time will increase.
[Contributed from a post by Lars Preben (larsar+news@usit.uio.no)]
————————————————
3. PC Software
—————–
Depending on which phone you have, PC Software allows you to
synchronise your phone with your PC contact management system, edit
start up or background images, or even use your phone as a cellular
modem.
3.1 Where do I get PC Software for my phone? **
If your phone did not come with a CD (or maybe you misplaced it, or do
not have a CD ROM drive on your PC), you can download PC Software from
the Sony Ericsson web site at http://www.sonyericsson.com
Once you reach this site, select the Global Support Area option and
enter the model of your phone into the product finder.
This then leads to the appropriate support page which, depending on
the model of your phone, will contain a link to software appropriate
for your phone.
Should you not have the original CD but the software update continues
to ask for it, just select the Sony Ericsson T65 software. It works
with the T39m, T68m and T68i as well and does not bother you with
prompts for the original CD when installing.
[Additional contribution from Olaf Peuss (olaf.peussNOSPAM@gmx.net)]
————————————————
4. About the alt.cellular.ericsson FAQ
—————————————–
4.1 Contributions (Can I contribute to this FAQ?) **
Please forward information you believe should be included in the FAQ
and I will ensure it is in the next update.
————————————————
4.2 Contributors (Thanks to the following people) **
Thanks to Michael Pronay, John Navas and Olaf Peuss for encouraging me
to start the alt.cellular.ericsson FAQ
Direct contributions have come from the following people:
Olaf Peuss: 1.7.2 / 1.7.3 / 1.7.7 / 3.1
Lars Preben: 2.2.1
Michael Pronay: 1.5 / 1.6.1 / 1.6.2 / 1.7.4 / 1.7.5 / 1.7.6
Ole Streicher: 1.7.1
If you would like to see your name here, please make a contribution to
the FAQ!
————————————————
4.3 How to contact the author **
The author of the alt.cellular.ericsson FAQ, Andrew Mitchell, can be
contacted via email at:
alt.cellular.ericsson.faq@telstra.com
Contributions, comments and suggestions are welcomed.
The alt.cellular.ericsson FAQ is in no way associated with Sony
Ericsson or Telstra Corporation.
Andrew Mitchell is not associated with Telstra Corporation or Sony
Ericsson, other than as a user of their respective products.
Format and original content is Copyright (C) 2002, Andrew Mitchell