UPDATE: AT&T 950 owners ( USA)

[Bjfcm]

Dear friends,

I am the owner of a rare and very Unique Lumia 950( Read On)

I purchased it on the 1st day of release from an AT&T Store in Michigan , USA
I am a Software Engineering Student and have owned Windows phones for over 12 YEARS
I AM A FORMER FLASH ROM ***** ( If any of you want to know my experience level and Nerd Level)

PROBLEM: Reason for your attention .
My phone will not accept any changes to the OS beyond .36 - after Continuous Joining and re-joining the Insider Preview Program!!! I have been a member since using my 1520 ( the battery died) so I am very familiar with our devices and read this Forum Dailey.
Below is a list of task done to ignite updates to .71 ( or anything past .36)

• 
  I HAVE DONE 5 HARD RE-SETS
  5 UN INSTALL TO REINSTALL THE INSIDER PROGRAM
  I HAVE TRIED THE WDRT 8 TIMES ( IT tells me I have the latest Firmware , I ignore this and re- install only to get error messages
  I HAVE LEFT THE INSIDER PROGRAM
  JOINED THE FAST RING PROGRAM
  JOINED THE SLOW RING PROGRAM
  REMOVED THE STORAGE CARD( HARD RE SET INSTALL OS )
  REMOVED THE SIM CARD( AND INSTALLED INSIDER PROGRAM THRU WI FI)
  I HAVE DONE CLEAN BRAND NEW INSTALLATIONS
  I HAVE DONE BACK-UP RE-INSTALLATIONS

Crazy thing is my phone runs pretty well ( damn well ,actually) but I feel left behind( .36) and I don't have the Firmware that AT&T is holding back on ( and hey, it is what it is )

You guys are extremely bright and have been very helpful. So if you can think of anything I am doing wrong .PLEASE PLEASE POST ???.. As for now I give up ... This 950 is a Strange Beast... I cannot wait to something else drops . Let me decide and experience the upgrades or not.. This Rare 950 is taking away the adventure and experimental fun that I enjoy

Yours Truly,
The Loneliest Kid on the 950 ( At&t ) Block

 

[Elfonzerio]

I don't know if it makes a difference but I had to select my devices on Microsoft insider web page and agree that I may have problems. I have att and mine did upgrade to .76.

 

[dashrendar]

I had the same exact problem. I was stuck on 0.36. Apparently it was a bug in the early or late versions of that build that prevented upgrade to newer versions.

Just yesterday, I used the WDRT tool and it flashed me back to 0.29 successfully. The weird thing is I had a lot of errors during the download of the image, but I kept retrying until it finished.

The flash was successful. I didn't restore from backup. I downloaded Windows Insider, picked Slow Ring and it picked up the 0.71. Then I did a hard reset and finally restored from backup.

So far working smoothly.

If WDRT isn't working for you, that's reason enough to exchange the phone.

 

[Bjfcm]

Thanks verymuch

 

[constantreader16]

I have an unlocked 950 XL. I had similar issues. After doing the WDRT, I could see the updates, but they failed. I then reset the phone, updated from .29, to .36 without signing into the device at all. I then signed in without restoring from backup. After that I downloaded the Insider app, signed in, installed the .63 build, reset and restored from backup. I was able to update to .71 no problem. I hope that helps!

 

[Bjfcm]

Thanks Constantreader

I appreciate you and everyone for taking the time to assist.

I FOUND A SOLUTION !!!! Not only was there a bug or firmware issue with my 950 but THE WINDOWS DEVICE RECOVERY TOOL has a Bug that has been documented even reported to Microsoft Community ( online) by displaying ERROR Messages .

I hooked up my 950 to WDRT and it would start to Reinstall the Firmware and OS , Then an Error message would pop up every 5 Min to 30 seconds

I simply Kept selecting " TRY AGAIN" I was insanely persistent ( it kills me when something Technological doesn't work I will drop everything) and kept tapping ON THE " TRY AGAIN " Button at least 68 times!!!! .

6 hours later the entire 2.63 GBs of the Reinstalled OS/ Firmware downloaded . It took seconds to load on my 950 .

Took another 3 hours for the .71 to update and install . And today I am the proud owner of W. I. Preview OS .71 ... Ha ha ha

Its really sad that I had to go through so much ,but I know that "Trial and Error" is the only way to locate a bug or problem and my crazy [" I got ta fix this ****** "] attitude wouldn't let me stop

 

[dashrendar]

That was basically my experience. It's an issue in downloading the image from the internet and onto the phone. Weird. Were you using a WiFi connection when doing that by any chance?

 

[Bjfcm]

Yes... and it was strong[ Wi Fi Signal] .... When did you purchase your 950.???.. IT may be related to the version we own???

On .71 , It running pretty decent.. ( I 'm cool ) but it ran better and faster prior... I understand it is a Preview and I appreciate MS for providing this option . That Windows Recovery Tools needs to be updated , removed and replaced .

THIS IS A DIFFERENT SUBJECT:

ABOUT 3 weeks ago I made a mistake and briefly ( barely ) allowed my Power adapter Male end submerge in a bowl of milk( True Story) .. I let it dry out for weeks and even took and old soft toothbrush to remove residue from inside. The problem is it will only charge if its plugged in during a Soft Re set.. It will actually charge my phone .. but if I just plug it in normally ,,, Nothing!!!

Has anyone else experienced a simulaur mishap or have any suggestions . I have been using the additional connection cord [ that came with the 950 ] plugged into my 1520 Adapter for charging . Hey it works :sweaty: