8525 semi-n00b qestion - 8525, TyTN, MDA Vario II, JasJam Software Upgradin

i was gonna unlock my 8525 via pof's unlocker and downgrade solution when i read this post http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=1062526&postcount=7 I then figured it wouldnt hurt to just called cingular and see if they would give me the unlock code...i placed a call to cingular's international department and get them to send me the unlock code in less then 12 hours by telling them i was planning to go on a trip out of the country on sunday and what is the soonest i could get the code..i then acted like i didnt know anything about getting a phone unlocked and he recommended that i place international roaming on my phone yada yada yada..... i declined and asked if i would still be able to roam while out of the country.. he said yes... i said thats fine.. but i would also like to have the phone unlocked incase i would like to buy a sim and use it for making local calls in the country that i will be in.. he said sure no problem... he submitted a request and in less then 12 hours i had the unlock code in my mailbox... i hope this helps anyone on cingular trying to unlock there phone with no modding...
now the second part of this thread is relating to the bootloader versions.. now i know that my bootloader is 1.6.. is it necessary for me to still use pof's method in combination with the downgrade in order to supercid unlock my phone in order to flash the rom with different hermes roms even tho' my phones sim is unlocked....is it possible to use pof's file to supercid unlock and then reflash back the same radio with no patch and same cingular rom to have the phone back to fully stock out of the box with the exception of having it be fully unlocked with the sim and sid..... also.. .is the same necessary for flashing the radio with different versions??..from what i understand you can "unhind the ext roms to see them but not activate themm.. and in order to use the features in the extended roms do i need to be supercid unlocked in order to unlock the ext.roms??i have fit4cat tweaker installed already and it makes the changes making me feel like i am accessing the ext.rom features already... and if so when i cid unlock my phone can i just pick and chose the .cabs to install from the different options on the different roms... .. i am not in an area that supports Edge .. but when i am will it display so on my screen with a E? or is that a mod i will need to do as well.. and i also see a feature in fit4cat that enables hsdpa.. i thought my phone would default using the connectin if it was available.. am i wrong.. and the ptt hack that someone on this forum created as a .cabs.. do i need to have it supercid ulocked to use that as well...
im sorry if alot of you have answered these questions time and time again.. i have really tried to answer my own questions for the last 8 hours or so with reading the forums and wiki's.. after a while it becomes a blur...
Ps. when using mtty.exe and i hook it up following exact settings and instructions when it connects it says CLIENTCLIENT then i hit the I to type info and i get CLIENT again.. no prompt.. ??help<< i was not in bootloader mode...oops.. it worked fine after i placed it in bootloader mode
thanks in advance
Abe

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honestabe said:
now i know that my bootloader is 1.6.. is it necessary for me to still use pof's method in combination with the downgrade in order to supercid unlock my phone in order to flash the rom with different hermes roms even tho' my phones sim is unlocked....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, you need to patch the radio to CID-Unlock. It doesn't matter if the phone is SIM-Locked or not. This needs bootloader 1.04, you can have it by flashing cingular's 1.30 rom.
honestabe said:
is it possible to use pof's file to supercid unlock and then reflash back the same radio with no patch and same cingular rom to have the phone back to fully stock out of the box with the exception of having it be fully unlocked with the sim and sid..... also.. .is the same necessary for flashing the radio with different versions??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it is possible but you need to downgrade your bootloader to 1.04 for this, otherwise you won't be able to flash any radio (patched or not).
honestabe said:
from what i understand you can "unhind the ext roms to see them but not activate themm.. and in order to use the features in the extended roms do i need to be supercid unlocked in order to unlock the ext.roms??i have fit4cat tweaker installed already and it makes the changes making me feel like i am accessing the ext.rom features already... and if so when i cid unlock my phone can i just pick and chose the .cabs to install from the different options on the different roms...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to have a SuperCID phone in order to UNLOCK the extrom, this means WRITE to it (i.e. delete cab files you don't need and use it as storage space, or put signed cab files from other ExtROM). If your Hermes is not SuperCID you'll be able to unhide it, but will not be able to unlock it.
honestabe said:
i am not in an area that supports Edge .. but when i am will it display so on my screen with a E? or is that a mod i will need to do as well..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It will not display "E", and the previous hack used in HTC Wizard for this doesn't work on Hermes. It displays "G" if you are under GPRS or EDGE coverage and "U" or "3G" if you are under UMTS/3G or HSDPA coverage.
honestabe said:
and i also see a feature in fit4cat that enables hsdpa.. i thought my phone would default using the connectin if it was available.. am i wrong..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cingular ROMs have HSDPA enabled by default, you don't need to use that option from fit4cat hermes tweaker (it won't hurt if you do it), but it is there because not all roms have HSDPA enabled by default.
honestabe said:
and the ptt hack that someone on this forum created as a .cabs.. do i need to have it supercid ulocked to use that as well...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, you don't need SuperCID to use this.
honestabe said:
im sorry if alot of you have answered these questions time and time again.. i have really tried to answer my own questions for the last 8 hours or so with reading the forums and wiki's.. after a while it becomes a blur...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ALL I answered is in the wiki, but probably explained in a bad way because I am not english native speaker, I would be very glad if you EDIT the wiki and explain it better/clearer than it is, so other people like you can understand it next time they read.

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one more question... if i flash back to the cingular rom that is a 1.6 bootloader after i have done this whole process am i still able to flash to whatever i want providing that i have flashed from 1.6 to 1.4 unlocked sim and supercid previously.. basically does this flash the cidlock back on it.. or must i keep the bootloader in 1.4 in order to keep flashing roms
On another note.. i read these forums all night for the first time and i want to tell you Pof that you are the most helpful person i have ever come across on ANY forum board and the xda members are lucky to have you here... also extremely intelligent... thanks
extremely grateful
Abe

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The main reason to SuperCID your Hermes is to be able to flash "whatever" rom you like, without having to bother with bootloader versions. If you use SIM & CID unlocker v2a to make your Hermes SuperCID it will be SuperCID forever, so the CID lock will not be back anymore.
Basically, after your device is SuperCID you only need to go back to bootloader 1.04 if you want to be able to flash extracted radio-upgrade only, as this is not possible with other bootloader versions.

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is the patch u put in the radio overwritten when i apply a new rom???
the radio file is included in the rom you flash right?
or you can just find the radio file and flash that alone??
does the radio flash require it to be hooked via active synch or dissable
i have gotten Error 120 country id error twice now trying to flash ur radio flash.. any advice?
i should be outa noob questions shortly..
thank you again
if all goes well(im in the process of this whole precedure as i type...30% now) i shall write this in the wiki in n00b language...

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honestabe said:
is the patch u put in the radio overwritten when i apply a new rom???
the radio file is included in the rom you flash right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes and yes
honestabe said:
or you can just find the radio file and flash that alone??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, see wiki:
http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=Hermes_ExtractedRadioRoms
honestabe said:
does the radio flash require it to be hooked via active synch or dissable
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It doesn't really matter, as the RUU will kill activesync anyway, but I always recommend to disable activesync and start the update from bootloader mode (tri-color screen).
honestabe said:
i have gotten Error 120 country id error twice now trying to flash ur radio flash.. any advice?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Follow all the instructions, read and read
honestabe said:
if all goes well(im in the process of this whole precedure as i type...30% now) i shall write this in the wiki in n00b language...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, that would be great!
And good luck with the flashing

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presto everything is working fine all done..
when it gave me the error i just closed the flash and restarted it...(just like what it said to do in the "if your having problems flashing post"
ran ur unlocker supercid program.. and voila
anyway.. ill write up somethin real user friendly..
thanks again Pof
-abe

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Hey abe,
thanks for the tip on getting my phone unlocked...It worked like a charm.