You might be aware that WP 7.8 started showing up on XDA forums through custom roms. I am not sure how they managed to get hold of the new system and customize it before official release early next year, but upon trying it on my Lumia 710 I was surprised and rejoiced by finding many of WP8 features functional on my device, like the resizable tiles and additional colors, plus some other fixes and enhancements that were not on WP 7.5. These custom mods also introduce some very powerful features that won’t be available in the official WP 7.8 release, like the file manager and some other registry tweaks which made Windows Phone a pleasure to work with !
Of course installing such customized mod comes with risks and you would be fully responsible if you bricked your phone, not to mention voiding your warranty too, let alone the risks of flashing the phone itself even with a reliable stock/carrier firmware, nevertheless I decided to list the steps I followed, in hope it might help someone else, as I struggled a lot trying to understand the whole process before taking the plunge and doing something like this for the first time!
I started with a Canadian Nokia Lumia 710 (RM-809)
STEP 1:
Your phone should have something called a Qualcomm bootloader to be able to flash the custom WP 7.8 on it. My phone didn’t have that and it required an intermediate step which I will explain below. To find out if your phone is Qualcomm follow these sub steps:
A. Unplug the phone from the computer and turn it off
B. While holding the volume up button plug the phone to the computer
C. After you feel the vibration release the volume up button
D. On your computer go to Devices and Printers
E. If you see a device showing up with the word Qualcomm in it then you are good to go, jump to step 3, otherwise you have to do step 2
(IMPORTANT NOTE: If you get a message to format, click cancel , DON’T format)
STEP 2:
To convert your phone to Qualcomm you need to download a temporary Russian firmware and flash it on the phone using Nokia Care Suite
I downloaded the firmware from here:
Яндекс.На?€од
and downloaded Nokia_Care_Suite_5.0_2012.45.4.5 from here
http://www.filedropper.com/nokiacaresuite5020124545
A. Disconnect your phone from the computer and turn it off
B. Install Nokia_Care_Suite_5.0_2012.45.4.5
C. Create folder C:\ProgramData\Nokia\Packages\Products\RM-803
D. Unzip the content of the Russian firmware RM-803.rar to the folder above
E. Launch Nokia Care Suite and double click on Product Support Tool for Store 5.0
F. Click File --> Open Product --> select RM-803 (Nokia Lumia 710)
G. On the bottom left click Programming –> Recovery
H. Click Start and wait until you get a window with the Retry button
I. The software may have downloaded additional files under the folder created above. Wipe the content of that folder and paste the original content of RM-803.rar again
J. On your phone hold the volume up button while plugging it to the computer
K. When you feel the vibration release the volume up button and click Retry (the screen will have instruction on what to do)
L. Flashing will begin and take few minutes
M. Once done, if your phone is still off, unplug it from the computer then start it
N. If the phone doesn’t start, remove the battery for 2 minutes, insert it back and try again
O. You will get the Russian setup screen. Switch to English and setup your phone normally.
P. Turn your phone off and follow instructions in step 1 above to validate you got a Qualcomm bootloader
STEP 3:
Once your phone has a Qualcomm bootloader, you need to download the custom WP7.8 ROM and use a program called downloader to flash it to your Lumia 710
I downloaded the Rainbow WP7.8 custom rom from here:
[ROM] RainbowMod 2.0 for Lumia 710 [Updated 24.11.2012] - xda-developers
and downloaded the downloader tool (downloader_lumia_v20120606.zip) from a link here:
Nokia Lumia 710 downloader —— One key tool for flashing custom ROM - xda-developers
Then followed these steps:
A. Disconnect the phone from the computer and turn it off
B. Unzip the custom rom (RainbowMod_v2.0.1.zip) and extract the file os-new.nb
C. Unzip downloader_lumia_v20120606.zip and extract the file downloader.exe
D. Run downloader.exe as administrator
E. While holding the volume up button on the phone, plug it to the computer
F. After you feel the vibration release the volume up button
(IMPORTANT NOTE: If you get a message on your computer to format, click cancel , DON’T format)
E. In the downloader tool click the Download ROM button and select the os-new.nb file
F. Flashing the rom will take few minutes
G. Once done, unplug the phone from the computer and start it normally
H. If the phone doesn’t restart, remove the battery for 2 minutes, insert it back and try again
I. Don’t change the Region format under Region+Language settings or otherwise you won’t be able to connect to Windows Live
That’s all. You should have WP7.8 running on your Lumia 710 now. After this process, my phone is still working properly on Wind Mobile with no problems making or receiving calls and messages.
Remember, although this worked for most people who tried it, flashing your phone will always involve risks and might brick your phone, specially if you are not sure what you are doing. I am not responsible for any damage this may cause to your phone. Follow at your own liability, and I hope this helps those who feel confident enough to try it.
Note: I think you should be able to revert back to original carrier firmware if needed or to official WP7.8 when released next year, although with what I am seeing with this mod, I am very happy with it and feels like a fresh Windows Phone 8 experience + the additional powerful controls and tweaks you can do.
Finally, these 2 videos helped me a lot and gave me the confidence to do this:
Jailbreak/Unlock/Debrand Nokia Lumia 710 - Downgrade to Qualcomm - YouTube
Install Custom ROMS - Nokia Lumia 710 - YouTube
Of course installing such customized mod comes with risks and you would be fully responsible if you bricked your phone, not to mention voiding your warranty too, let alone the risks of flashing the phone itself even with a reliable stock/carrier firmware, nevertheless I decided to list the steps I followed, in hope it might help someone else, as I struggled a lot trying to understand the whole process before taking the plunge and doing something like this for the first time!
I started with a Canadian Nokia Lumia 710 (RM-809)
STEP 1:
Your phone should have something called a Qualcomm bootloader to be able to flash the custom WP 7.8 on it. My phone didn’t have that and it required an intermediate step which I will explain below. To find out if your phone is Qualcomm follow these sub steps:
A. Unplug the phone from the computer and turn it off
B. While holding the volume up button plug the phone to the computer
C. After you feel the vibration release the volume up button
D. On your computer go to Devices and Printers
E. If you see a device showing up with the word Qualcomm in it then you are good to go, jump to step 3, otherwise you have to do step 2
(IMPORTANT NOTE: If you get a message to format, click cancel , DON’T format)
STEP 2:
To convert your phone to Qualcomm you need to download a temporary Russian firmware and flash it on the phone using Nokia Care Suite
I downloaded the firmware from here:
Яндекс.На?€од
and downloaded Nokia_Care_Suite_5.0_2012.45.4.5 from here
http://www.filedropper.com/nokiacaresuite5020124545
A. Disconnect your phone from the computer and turn it off
B. Install Nokia_Care_Suite_5.0_2012.45.4.5
C. Create folder C:\ProgramData\Nokia\Packages\Products\RM-803
D. Unzip the content of the Russian firmware RM-803.rar to the folder above
E. Launch Nokia Care Suite and double click on Product Support Tool for Store 5.0
F. Click File --> Open Product --> select RM-803 (Nokia Lumia 710)
G. On the bottom left click Programming –> Recovery
H. Click Start and wait until you get a window with the Retry button
I. The software may have downloaded additional files under the folder created above. Wipe the content of that folder and paste the original content of RM-803.rar again
J. On your phone hold the volume up button while plugging it to the computer
K. When you feel the vibration release the volume up button and click Retry (the screen will have instruction on what to do)
L. Flashing will begin and take few minutes
M. Once done, if your phone is still off, unplug it from the computer then start it
N. If the phone doesn’t start, remove the battery for 2 minutes, insert it back and try again
O. You will get the Russian setup screen. Switch to English and setup your phone normally.
P. Turn your phone off and follow instructions in step 1 above to validate you got a Qualcomm bootloader
STEP 3:
Once your phone has a Qualcomm bootloader, you need to download the custom WP7.8 ROM and use a program called downloader to flash it to your Lumia 710
I downloaded the Rainbow WP7.8 custom rom from here:
[ROM] RainbowMod 2.0 for Lumia 710 [Updated 24.11.2012] - xda-developers
and downloaded the downloader tool (downloader_lumia_v20120606.zip) from a link here:
Nokia Lumia 710 downloader —— One key tool for flashing custom ROM - xda-developers
Then followed these steps:
A. Disconnect the phone from the computer and turn it off
B. Unzip the custom rom (RainbowMod_v2.0.1.zip) and extract the file os-new.nb
C. Unzip downloader_lumia_v20120606.zip and extract the file downloader.exe
D. Run downloader.exe as administrator
E. While holding the volume up button on the phone, plug it to the computer
F. After you feel the vibration release the volume up button
(IMPORTANT NOTE: If you get a message on your computer to format, click cancel , DON’T format)
E. In the downloader tool click the Download ROM button and select the os-new.nb file
F. Flashing the rom will take few minutes
G. Once done, unplug the phone from the computer and start it normally
H. If the phone doesn’t restart, remove the battery for 2 minutes, insert it back and try again
I. Don’t change the Region format under Region+Language settings or otherwise you won’t be able to connect to Windows Live
That’s all. You should have WP7.8 running on your Lumia 710 now. After this process, my phone is still working properly on Wind Mobile with no problems making or receiving calls and messages.
Remember, although this worked for most people who tried it, flashing your phone will always involve risks and might brick your phone, specially if you are not sure what you are doing. I am not responsible for any damage this may cause to your phone. Follow at your own liability, and I hope this helps those who feel confident enough to try it.
Note: I think you should be able to revert back to original carrier firmware if needed or to official WP7.8 when released next year, although with what I am seeing with this mod, I am very happy with it and feels like a fresh Windows Phone 8 experience + the additional powerful controls and tweaks you can do.
Finally, these 2 videos helped me a lot and gave me the confidence to do this:
Jailbreak/Unlock/Debrand Nokia Lumia 710 - Downgrade to Qualcomm - YouTube
Install Custom ROMS - Nokia Lumia 710 - YouTube
Last edited:
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