Over the past couple of months, developer Chris Walsh’s name has morphed into an adjective (and occasionally, a verb).
Some Windows Phone 7 users, frustrated by the slow pace at which Microsoft and its carrier partners were rolling out updates for Windows Phones, used an updater tool created by Walsh, one of the merry ChevronWP7 band. Suddenly, users were “Walshying” their phones and getting the February and “NoDo” copy-and-paste updates without having to wait for the onerous carrier testing and Microsoft notification process.
There was some debate as to whether, once a Windows Phone 7 was “Walshied,” it would be able to get any updates that followed NoDo. When Microsoft began pushing out a security update (the “7392″ OS update) to the phones this week, it was the moment of truth.
According to Microsoft — via a May 4 blog post by Director of Developer Experience for Windows Phone, Brandon Watson — those with Walshied phones were out of luck. From Watson’s post:
“With Windows Phone update build 7392 going out to phones via the official update mechanism, those people who have used the unsupported method of forcing 7390 onto their phones will find that their phones will not update to 7392. With the official update process there is a requirement that the package on the phone also be official in order to update itself.”
I’ve heard from some Walshied phone users that they were able to get the latest update But some were not.
Watson said the team didn’t have time to spend “undoing this specific problem.” Watson blogged that Walshied users who couldn’t get the latest 7392 update would “most likely have to return to a store and submit your phone for a manufacturing return.” He added, “However, because of this known error code, it is up to the mobile operators as to what they want to do with your phone.”
Watson added, though, (without naming them directly) that the Chevron team is working on a fix for those Walshied phones that will, the Chevron team believes, solve the problem. Microsoft plans to “validate” this fix once it’s done before officially letting users know about it.
No one’s saying when Walsh’s fix may be done, but it sounds from folks with whom I’ve spoken that it most likely will be completed either later this week or early next. No word on how long Microsoft will take to vet it once it’s complete. The bottom line: Walshied phone users who are hitting the 7392 roadblock — don’t despair. Help sounds like it’s on its way.
