My second hand Lumia 920 won't update

[WPCentral Question]

My cracked the screen and melted the surrounding to my old Lumia 920, and I really want a Windows 10 phone but need something until then so I bought a cheap Lumia 920 off ebay.

Problem is when I try to update the OS software it says it's already up to date. But it's an old firmware. Details below:

OS Version 8.0.9903.10
Firmware revision number: 1232.2107.1241.1000
Hardware Revision Number: 1.0.0.0

It's on Windows 8.0

I've got so used to 8.1 I forgot how bad 8.0 actually was :/

 

[Harrie-S]

Could this ebay phone be locked to a carrier or so?
Did you already try to use the WPRT?
Is all fails could you change the screen from the e-bay phone with your 920. (This should not be too difficult check some youtube video's.

 

[zmally]

No the phone is unlocked, which is part of the reason it's not updating I'm guessing.
I hadn't heard of WPRT, but I googled it, downloaded it and I've tried it but it's not getting past the "Reading phone information" screen, research suggests this might be because it's Windows 8.0 and not 8.1+ but I honestly have no idea!
I'm considering swapping the screens but the old one had a lot more problems than just the screen so I'm in two minds haha!

Thanks for your help, it means a lot!

 

[Harrie-S]

No the phone is unlocked, which is part of the reason it's not updating I'm guessing.
I hadn't heard of WPRT, but I googled it, downloaded it and I've tried it but it's not getting past the "Reading phone information" screen, research suggests this might be because it's Windows 8.0 and not 8.1+ but I honestly have no idea!
I'm considering swapping the screens but the old one had a lot more problems than just the screen so I'm in two minds haha!

Thanks for your help, it means a lot!

Sorry if I knew I has added the link for WPRT but it should also work for w8
How can I recover/reset/restore my phone software? - Microsoft - USA

What you could do is use different USB cables or another USB port or another PC this helps sometimes to get the phone recognized.
Or use the "my phone is not detected" method. See also the link

 

[zmally]

I've tried three different cables, four different versions of software (Nokia Care Suite, Lumia Software Recovery Tool, Nokia Software Recovery Tool, Nokia Software Updater for Retail), and I've tried all three different USB ports in the laptop. Tomorrow I'm going to try to use my work computer and see if that helps, if not I'm stuffed!

I'm really, really hoping it's just my laptop playing silly buggers and not the phone!

Thanks for all your help, I'll let you know how I get on.

 

[zmally]

Work computer recognises the phone correctly in the software, but claims there isn't any newer software available... My guess is it's dodgy firmware with it being an unlocked phone, but honestly I'm stabbing in the dark. Any idea what I need to do? :/

 

[ttsoldier]

you might want need to manually flash the 920 with a different firmware (8.1)

 

[zmally]

How do I go about that? I did try, but every tutorial I found was from 2012 or 2013 and related to software that doesn't work anymore to download the firmware lol

Thanks guys, you're both being incredibly helpful!