I will have my BB8700g T-mobile early next week. I know there are posts everywhere about this but nobody seems to help me. I have two questions.

1. Will my phone come with the .284 software already on it? I know the zen theme is available but I am not sure how to get the version on my desktop to make the correct adjustments to delete the vendor I.D's.

2. I love the fact that the 4.2 has the zen theme already and the icons are on the left! How hard would it be for me to get the 4.2 on my phone? All I really need is the basic Zen theme (i dont need any special icons or to move anything around)

I would prefer having the 4.2 with the default zen theme already there, but if its too difficult then i will settle for the 4.1.0.284 and unlock the zen theme. I would just need someone to explain to me how to get that done.

I know that you need to have the OS on your desktop to make the adjustments, I just dont know how to get it there and make the changes.

Thanks in advance for any help!

B

Could you tell me exactly what to download to my pc (which version and .alx file) in order to change vendor id's? I won't change OS versions, I'll just stick with whatever the phone comes with see what themes I can unlock with it. If you could give me a simple step by step of just what things I need to download I would appreciate it. I apologize for sounding so dumb with all of this, but I don't want to make any mistakes. Thanks a bunch

When you get your BB look in Options >About and tell us the version number. Then we can link you to the right downloads. Use the link in kasper's signature and download and install the OS installation file that matches the version number on your Blackberry (disregard the carrier names in the link, just match version numbers.)

There's no sense doing it now as you don't know for sure what version will be on the BB.

Let me see if I understand this correctly. (I wish someone in memphis could just do this for me lol).

ok let me get this straight. i feel extremely retarded asking so many questions, but i really want to learn

i already have the desktop manager for 4.1 on my computer, so when i get my bb i dont have to load the CD.

do i have to download the OS provided in jibi's thread along with the .alx file?
im not sure what to do once i download the proper matching OS and the alx file. if you could be an extremely nice and patient person and give me a step by step in this thread as to what to do from there?? You experts here are a godsend to us folks who know absolutely nothing about file changing and what not on BB's.

So basically, I know what to download when I find out what my OS is, but I am unsure of how to finish it from there. Hope that makes explaining this to me easier for you! haha

Like John said, as soon as you get the BB, look and tell us what OS came on the device and then we can point you to the exact option you will need.

and on top of it all - go grab my tips sheet and really learn how to use it.

I'll do that. Thanks again guys for being kind and helping out

Ok, so I took it upon myself to figure this out. I downlaoded the.346 from dobson and followed the steps. I am getting hung up at what to do when I have to rename the blackberry.alx file. I have gotten to that step with no problem, but aia am not sure what to do from there. This is actually much easier than I thought it would be, thanks to all of you who posted steps! I was reading over stinsons tips and I took a look at what his intructions were for cingular but i wasnt sure if they would be the same as mine. When i go to
the loader file and see the blackberry.alx file, do i rename it to blackberry.alx.old? If so then what do i do from there regarding downloading a new alx file that was provided in the threads? do i download the corresponding blackberry.alx file for dobson and unzip it into the loader file folder where the original blackberry.alx is? That is where i get confused at.

p.s. everything with the OS download worked flawlessly. I have everything loaded correctly and see all the files I need to make the changes. Basically I have everything I need (I hope lol) but the .alx file part is what I can't figure out. Thanks in advance to anyone who helps me out!!

BG

Just rename the old blackberry.alx to blackberry.old. Then download the blackberry.alx from Jibi's thread that matches the OS version you downloaded. Again, pay no attention to carrier names, just match version numbers. Place the downloaded blackberry.alx in the same folder as blackberry.old.

The only reason to rename the old one is so you can get it back if you desire. You can totally delete it if you want. You can move it to another folder if you want. You are just replacing yours with Jibi's. That's all there is to it.

You are putting the cart before the horse. You don't even have the Blackberry yet. If the OS on the one you are getting is older than the one you downloaded then the first thing that will happen is an upgrade will take place. That's fine, just know that it will happen when you plug in and open Desktop Manager.

Also, be aware any time you install another carrier's OS release you should always delete the vendor.xml located in c:\program files\common files\research in motion\apploader. If you don't then Desktop Manager won't install the update or the themes. I usually just delete vendor.xml for good measure regardless of what OS release I'm installing. The OS's are the same but they won't install on the other carrier's BB's until you delete the vendor.xml. Short version: Always delete the vendor.xml.

Well I found out today that the new BB8700g's from T-MO come with the zen theme unlocked. So thankfully I don't have to do any of these upgrades. I do however want to get some different backrounds for the zen theme. How do I go about getting them on my phone?