Help Updating to 2.1 in VirtualBox... (Pissed Mac user)

[Vienna]

I'm sure I'm not the only angry Mac owner around. Seriously, how long would it take to code a "Mac companion"? After all, a significant percentage of home users use macs nowadays, someone tell those folks at SE.

Anyway, I'm wanting to get this update over with as soon as I can, feel that not being able to update to the newest firmware means I'm not getting my money's worth.

"Thankfully", I have win7 installed in VirtualBox on my MBP (Snow Leopard). Booted into it, came as far as installing the PC companion, did the whole installing backup software and creating a backup of my data thing, before things went bad.
I came to the stage in the installation where PC companion told me to disconnect the USB cable, turn off the phone, then turn it on, whilst pressing the back key and inserting the USB cable at the same time. Tried it, didn't work. (Screen remained black, PC companion didn't respond to my compliance). I figured it has something to do with the fact that when you connect a device in VirtualBox, it takes longer than usual to get the virtual machine to register it (I have to go to a menu, and select the device, before it shows up in the virtual OS).. anyway, the whole process didn't work. Any suggestions? Is there a manual workaround somehow?

And no, I don't know anyone who owns a PC, that I could "pop by" to update my phone. Don't think I'm allowed to download and install things in internet cafes. So, what to do? Wanting to get with 2.1 already...

p.s. I'm in Vienna, Austria. This whole "over the air" installation thing isn't available where I am.


Update: (For all those with a similar problem hoping to find a solution) - No solution regarding updating to the new firmware on the mac operating system was found, so I updated the phone on a friend's Win7. It has been mentioned that, apparently, updating through a certain VM running Windows (VMWare Fusion) works, though. It does *not* in VirtualBox.

 

[X10iUser]

Hi.

Try SEUS instead.

 

[Vienna]

Hi.

Try SEUS instead.

Hey,
Do you mean access the US version of the site on the phone (m.sonyericsson.com, I believe?), or on the computer? That's one of the first things I did on my phone, couldn't access the update page, neither on my phone nor on the internet (at least right now). If there's a mac client on the US website, I didn't find it. If I've just been blind, feel free to provide a download link here.

The only SE mac software I could find (on any regional SE site) for my phone was iSync, something I really don't need.

 

[X10iUser]

Hey,
Do you mean access the US version of the site on the phone (m.sonyericsson.com, I believe?), or on the computer?

In the VM. SEUS

 

[KTP]

it seems there is no Mac version:

Requirements

• Internet connection (preferably broadband)
• USB cable
• Intel

 

[Vienna]

In the VM. SEUS

Ah. Thought you meant SEUS as in Sony Ericsson US. Shall try that, thanks in advance.

@KTP: I know there's no software for mac, hence this thread ;]

 

[Vienna]

Still not working, the update service is asking for the same procedure (the switch phone off, re-insert USB etc) as the PC companion, hence I'm having the same problem, it's just not working at all that way.

I'll have to get someone from the store to update it for me, think one of my friends at least has a dual boot, might try that out tomorrow. A frustrating experience.

 

[Hunted]

I feel your pain, i have bitched on many occasions about this travesty, i ended up making an xp bootcamp partition, long especially the drivers bit...
but i really shouldn't have to go to such lengths just to update a phone ggrrr lol
some networks will do the updates in the shop on one of their machines but policy varies from net to net

 

[beau420]

Still not working, the update service is asking for the same procedure (the switch phone off, re-insert USB etc) as the PC companion, hence I'm having the same problem, it's just not working at all that way.

I'll have to get someone from the store to update it for me, think one of my friends at least has a dual boot, might try that out tomorrow. A frustrating experience.

Sucks...I highly suggest using that SEUS and not the PC Companion that is on the phone. Try different USB ports...but yeah...it sucks.

My home desktop and laptop run Linux and I had to install Windows 7 on my laptop to upgrade my Blackberry...had to install Windows twice after finding out that the Blackberry upgrade didn't work with 64 bit Windows at the time.

Would be nice...but I don't see Sony releasing any Mac software anytime soon....fact is that most people who strictly own Macs usually get an iPhone....I am afraid you are probably in the minority.

Hope they do....but doubt they will.

 

[bacon]

I don't know if this is of any help to the OP at this point. But other Mac users might benefit from this little info re updating their firmware on a Mac.

I was able to update through SEUS on Windows XP via VMWare Fusion. I have Fusion installed on a 27" iMac. After the whole business of turning the phone off and reinserting the USB cable, I was alerted with a pop-up window asking me whether I wanted to connect the device to my Mac or Windows machine. After choosing "connect to Windows", everything went smoothly with my upgrade.

 

[Vienna]

A (final) update; updated the firmware at a friend's place today on his windows partition, everything went smoothly. For some reason I did lose an app I'd paid for, though (the free apps I'd downloaded showed up just fine after the restore), and something went wrong with my contacts list, though it's not a biggie at this point, and I'm generally happy with the outcome.

@bacon: Would that work on the free evaluation version, or do they cut certain features in the trial version that might hamper the installation of firmware? I doubt people will want to spend 50$ on a program only to update their phone ;] But thanks, would have tried it on the trial version, had the problem not already been taken care of.

@Hunted: I agree, it's frustrating. Creating a partition and installing an entire OS just for an update sounds like an immense amount of work. I purchased win7 because I needed the win native SLSK client, all the shootoffs for mac are utter rubbish. Don't think I'd have bothered with any partition for even that, though, so hey, chapeau.

@beau420: I can well imagine the frustration of attempting update services and similar when using Linux. Used Ubuntu as my chief operating system for a while, couldn't handle the incompatibility, and the searching around for drivers into all eternity for the most mainstream devices, though. I'm probably just too stupid for Linux ;]

I suppose most mac users would go for the iphone. I personally am sick of it. Don't like the *you must sync me through iTunes and on your computer only* thing it's got going on, got sick of the mediocre hardware (albeit, in nice packaging), and of the fact that you need to jailbreak it if you want non Steve-approved apps. I'm a lot happier with the Android market, and with the concept of the OS, as well as the hardware, the Xperia x10 is a fine phone, with very sound hardware and a solid battery (that I hope I'll be able to take more advantage of now that I'm on 2.1). After owning three generations of iPhones I decided the competition had improved, if not outdone the iPhone in the mean time, and so decided to opt for a non-Apple option for the first time in 4 years. Couldn't be happier, by the way.

Updating first post now. I guess there still is no way a mac user can install this firmware update without a windows OS. Not liking the virtualization solutions, personally. Even if it works, it's a damn hassle.

 

[beau420]

A (final) update; updated the firmware at a friend's place today on his windows partition, everything went smoothly. For some reason I did lose an app I'd paid for, though (the free apps I'd downloaded showed up just fine after the restore), and something went wrong with my contacts list, though it's not a biggie at this point, and I'm generally happy with the outcome.

@bacon: Would that work on the free evaluation version, or do they cut certain features in the trial version that might hamper the installation of firmware? I doubt people will want to spend 50$ on a program only to update their phone ;] But thanks, would have tried it on the trial version, had the problem not already been taken care of.

@Hunted: I agree, it's frustrating. Creating a partition and installing an entire OS just for an update sounds like an immense amount of work. I purchased win7 because I needed the win native SLSK client, all the shootoffs for mac are utter rubbish. Don't think I'd have bothered with any partition for even that, though, so hey, chapeau.

@beau420: I can well imagine the frustration of attempting update services and similar when using Linux. Used Ubuntu as my chief operating system for a while, couldn't handle the incompatibility, and the searching around for drivers into all eternity for the most mainstream devices, though. I'm probably just too stupid for Linux ;]

I suppose most mac users would go for the iphone. I personally am sick of it. Don't like the *you must sync me through iTunes and on your computer only* thing it's got going on, got sick of the mediocre hardware (albeit, in nice packaging), and of the fact that you need to jailbreak it if you want non Steve-approved apps. I'm a lot happier with the Android market, and with the concept of the OS, as well as the hardware, the Xperia x10 is a fine phone, with very sound hardware and a solid battery (that I hope I'll be able to take more advantage of now that I'm on 2.1). After owning three generations of iPhones I decided the competition had improved, if not outdone the iPhone in the mean time, and so decided to opt for a non-Apple option for the first time in 4 years. Couldn't be happier, by the way.

Updating first post now. I guess there still is no way a mac user can install this firmware update without a windows OS. Not liking the virtualization solutions, personally. Even if it works, it's a damn hassle.

If you were to root the phone and install the xRecovery bootloader you could just copy new images onto the phone to update.

Like I just did a backup of my current setup on the phone itself and I copied the x10 Eminence image onto the phone....booted up the phone and chose to restore this Eminence image....now I have that custom image on my phone.

I hope that in the future it will be that easy to upgrade. So if there is ever a Android 2.2 or higher for the x10...I hope it is going to be that easy to upgrade.

Just need to copy a big file onto the SD card....boot phone and select new image.....I hope that's how it works in the future. Then I won't have to worry about keeping a computer with Windows on it.

PS. Glad it worked and glad to hear that there are other people out there like the x10 hardware.

 

[bacon]

@VIENNA
Good to hear that everything panned out well for you...finally. SE just has no love for us Mac users.
I wouldn't know how the trial version of VMWare Fusion would've affected the firmware upgrade. I've had Fusion installed on my Mac for some time now since my daughter's 3rd grade computer course requires her to learn Windows and MS Office for Windows. I simply downloaded SEUS sometime last year on Windows and have been using it once in a while to check for updates.

 

[Wisenos]

ever though of bootcamp?

 

[UntitledNo4]

On Linux, I was able to upgrade to 2.1 using WinXP in VirtualBox, so I can tell you it is possible, using both SEUS and PC Companion.

The trick with SEUS is to do things fast. I had the mouse pointer hovering on the Devices menu in VB, had the USB cable connected to the computer and then connected the USB cable to the phone while holding the right button on the phone all with one hand, while with the other I quickly clicked Devices -> USB -> SonyEricsson phone (or whatever came up there). It doesn't work every time though. I think it might depend on the USB port you use on your computer and how heavily loaded your host OS (Mac, in your case) is.

PC Companion was easier since, for me at least. All I needed to do is connect the phone, attach it to the guest OS and then mount it and PC Companion saw it. No rebooting while holding the right key needed at all.

 

[Vienna]

@Wisenos: Obviously I'd have done that, had the option of updating on a friend's partitioned drive not come up. Partitioning my drive (which has preciously little free space on it as it is, even though I already moved something like 80% of my stuff onto an external..), and going through the process of installing Win7 again was an option I really wanted to leave as a last resort, for the obvious reason of it being a total pain in the ass, and a timesink.

@UntitledNo4: Glad you managed in Linux. I remember back when I was trying the update in VB, I practically did what it told me to do with one hand, while keeping me other on the USB devices menu. However, the only option that ever came up, (until the phone eventually turned itself on, hence failing the install) was the SE xperia flash device, or something of the sort. Clicking on it did absolutely nothing, it *never* showed the phone, until the phone had turned on, at which point, quite obviously, it was already too late.

 

[UntitledNo4]

@Vienna

This sometimes happened to me too with SEUS, but not with PC Companion which, for me, didn't require restarting the phone.
The "good" news are that apparently the phone is not going to get anymore Android upgrades so maybe all future updates will be over the air.