Nokia PC Suite destroys Nokia 6310

The "Nokia PC Suite" is the official software shipped by Nokia to support its newer mobile phones (in past times, with the 6110/6130/6150 models, it was called "Nokia Data Suite"). It exists in several versions, each targeted at certain models, for example:

Nokia 6210	PC Suite 4.06
Nokia 6310	PC Suite 4.81
Nokia 6310i	PC Suite 4.88

More version information is available from the Nokia website, as I found out by now.

However, I did not find this information immediately of course. Instead I was given the pleasure of having official Nokia software destroy my Nokia 6310's firmware. How? Read on.

I had created a backup of my 6310i a while ago using the PC Suite 4.88. Then that phone was stolen and I got a 6310 instead. Now I wanted to restore the backup to the new 6310. Sounds like a reasonable application, doesn't it?

I took a look at Nokia's german website, looking for support pages for the 6310 model, but all I could find was pages for the 6310i. Shruggingly I used the software I had, PC Suite 4.88 instead. Which is not too far off since the 6310i is only a moderately enhanced version of the 6310. And in fact, PC Suite 4.88 works flawlessly with the 6310 model. Not only that it does not explicitly check for a 6310i model, it simply works: I could edit my phonebook, read and write short messages, edit profiles etc. -- safe for one part of the PC Suite, Nokia Content Copier.

When I tried to restore the backup, that had been previously created using exactly the same software, Nokia Content Copier, via IrDA, everything seemed to work well at first. Then, however, the mobile phone suddenly started to display a reminder for an appointment from days ago, followed by a message "4 calls while away" (roughly translated, I run my phone in German) and then just switched off, breaking the IrDA link. Consequently all attempts to revive the phone failed, even with the SIM card and the battery removed. The phone just turned on, noticeable by a slightly flashing display, and then immediately went off again -- the firmware had apparantly been destroyed.

Up to now I had no idea that the PC Suite was the culprit but rather thought of a firmware bug. So I went to a local "Nokia Competence Center" and had a firmware upgrade done. Of course not free of charge, but since I had firmware version 4.20 and the new version would be 5.01, I accepted. And indeed, the phone worked again.

But, alas, a firmware upgrade always means loss of data, so I had to restore my backup again. You can guess what happened... yep, the phone went dead again. So I learned it was no firmware bug the hard way...

Pissed off I contacted Nokia support in Germany and asked them how it could be that official Nokia software can crash an official Nokia phone, without custom modifications. I even got an answer a week later, briefly saying that:

the behaviour I encountered was not known by Nokia
restoring 6310i system data to a 6310 may indeed possible transfer data that is incompatible with the 6310
however, this application is "not intended and/or supported" -- only "older phone --> newer phone" and "same phone models" are supported applications
no cost replacement for the firmware upgrade can be done
the Nokia website still contains a 6310 support page

Well, honestly I didn't expect too much from them, but the last point made me curious. I revisited the site and indeed, they didn't lie, but see for yourself: go to your local Nokia site (they're all built the same way) and click on "Mobile phones support" or similar, so that you get to a page similar to this one: http://www.nokia.de/de/service/mobiltelefone/generell/8700.html. Go to the drop-down box to the left. There's no 6310 listed there, only the 6310i, right?

Yes and no. The trick is that this is no purely numerical listing. Instead Nokia hides the older models much further down, below "N-gage" and "Nokia Communicator" models... truely userfriendly, Nokia!

Being ultimately pissed, I ordered a cheapo flasher cable from eBay and did another firmware flashing myself. I don't see why I pay 35 Euros for a firmware upgrade when strictly speaking Nokia should be held responsible due to product liability laws. Certainly, the web pages, when found, say so and the PC Suite's README also list compatible models but everybody knows that "unsupported" that does not mean "does not work". The point is: their very own software does not check that the correct target model is attached, which it should when it is capable of destroying other models, how stupid is that? Where is their Quality Assurance? Seems it was lost somewhere in the competitive battle...

So to summarize: do not use Nokia PC Suite 4.88's Content Copier to restore data backed up from a Nokia 6310i to a Nokia 6310, unless you can restore the firmware yourself. And even that, restore it only step by step, so you can find out which part of the backup is the critical one.

This page last changed:
December 03, 2004