How to create a GoldCard

This guide explains how to create a GoldCard. A GoldCard is a special SD card which, when inserted into your device, allows you to flash RUU files with a different CID to your own device. For example, if you own a T-Mobile branded device, this will allow you to flash a generic ROM.

Requirements

• Spare microSD card
• Windows PC (recommended)
• ADB (part of the tools folder of the SDK, available for download here
• HxD Hex Editor, available for download here

Step by step instructions

• Format the microSD card to FAT32 format.
• Put the microSD card in your device and boot it.
• Ensure you have unzipped the SDK, then open a command prompt to the extract location. Change to the 'tools directory.
• Enter 'adb shell cat /sys/class/mmc_host/mmc1/mmc1:*/cid' and press enter. You should get a very long number which looks like this: 532600bd227d9c0347329407514d5402.
• Visit this page, paste in your number and reverse it. In our example the result would be 00544d5107943247039c7d22bd002653.
• Visit this page, enter your reversed number and create your goldcard image, which will be e-mailed to you.
• Open the HxD hex editor. If you are using Windows Vista or Windows 7, you must run the application as administrator.
• Go to the 'Extra' menu and select 'Open Disk'. Under physical disk, select Removable Disk (your microSD card), uncheck 'Open as Readonly' and click OK. Note that you should select physical disk NOT the logical disk. This is important!
• Go to the 'Extra' menu again and select 'Open Disk Image'. Open the goldcard image that you received by email.
• You should now have two tabs - one is your removable disk, the other is your goldcard image. Press OK when prompted for 'Sector Size' (selecting 512 (Hard disks/Floppy disks)) and click OK.
• Click on the goldcard image tab. Go to the 'Edit' menu, choose 'Select All' then select the 'Edit' menu again and select 'Copy'.
• Click on the 'Removable Disk' tab. Highlight offset (line) 00000000 to offset (line) 00000170 (including the 00000170 line), then click on the 'Edit' menu and select 'Paste Write'.
• Click on the 'File' menu and select 'Save', accepting the warning.

You now have a goldcard!

P

Thanks to MiSSigNNo!

Does size of the card matter?

No...

P

Ok Finally figured it out. Thanks

Hi, I've got some terrible problems when I flash the Rom. It appears "ERROR [131]: CUSTOMER ID ERROR" and then my phone restarts to the original rom. the phone is a T-Mo contract phone.

I've read the instruction, noticed all the points, tried different microSD cards, use Admin to run the HxD, select physical disk etc.

However, I find that when I get the .img file from the web, it appears that it only has contents between line $000 to $100(incl.), so when I copy and overwrite the disk file, it only covers line $000 to $100. Not sure if that's the reason.

Please can anyone help...

Hi, thanks for the great guide but i have a problem when I try the first bit in the C: prompt it just pops up device not found, I have formatted the card and have it open when i try it

please help need to get all this orange horriblness off my desire !

I am having the same problem.

I have the Desire connected to the pc via USB with the connection type set to 'Disk drive'.
The SD card in the device is formatted as FAT32.
I have unpacked the archive and have a CMD prompt open in the 'tools folder'

But... I get 'device not found' on running the command. What am I doing wrong please......??!!

Ditto

I didn't have a spare micro sd card so I backed up the one which I got with my orange desire formatted it to FAT32, unzipped the sdk and did what you said in CMD prompt only to get this message:

adb server is out of date. Killing...
* daemon started successfully*
error: device not found

am pretty new to all this and totally lost in trying to find a way round it so any advice will be great

OK I have it working now. I used a similar guide here:

http://theunlockr.com/2010/03/10/how-to-create-a-goldcard/

It includes a couple of extra steps that us Android Newbies probably didn't realise we needed.

I have been through the whole procedure twice. The first card I tried didn't work. The 2nd one did (They were both Kingston 2GB cards). Now I just need to take a deep breath and summon up the courage to run the RUU on my brand-new phone......

Thanks for the link! Got my Goldcard working first time and didn't use an adaptor for my micro SD.

So you all know, I eventually did mine, the secret, which isnt in the instructions is that you have to have the sync software installed on the pc and have the phone set into sync mode, not usb mode

Sorry to say I couldn't get it to work with either the 4gb SanDisk micro sd card that came with the Desire or a 1gb Nokia micro sd card I also had.

Tried in Sync mode too and no go. All seems fine but get the "ERROR [131]: CUSTOMER ID ERROR" at end of running the RUU file.

Ordered a Kingston 2GB so will give that a whirl.

ok, yes i realise this is an Android forum, but does the Gold card work in WinMo HTC's as well? If so, that would make my days at work a whole hell of a lot easier!!

type "adb shell "
press enter
next type "cat /sys/class/mmc_host/mmc1/mmc1:*/cid'"

thank you, I realised what was happening, then tried to edit my post before anyone else noticed! typical, you try to do what the instructions say, many times, yet right after you post asking for help, you figure it out, damnit!

Not sure how many others this may be of use to, but I was having some troubles running the command:


I was getting a directory not found error, so decided to try and manually traverse the directories and spot the problem.

Looks as though on the Legend (or maybe just my phone, I don't know) I didn't have an mmc1 folder, but an mmc0 one instead.

By substituting mmc1 with mmc0 I managed to get my gold card apparently up and running.

Hope that's helpful to at least one other person out there...

How do I check if Goldcard was successfully made?
It works fine in sdcard reader but is there any way to check on my phone
THANKS

Just a useful website for getting your reversed number:

http://www.string-functions.com/reverse.aspx

I would like to know this also .

I've followed the steps & card is recognized but Im not sure if it has worked ?