"Busted" w850i - complicated, need advice

Heya all,

I bought a w850i two weeks back, and at first I was delighted! But then it went bust. Now, I don't know the exact reason why, but I definitely did not drop it in water or on the ground or anything. Anyway, let me describe some of its symptoms:

- First thing I noticed was that it started to slow down... I mean REALLY crawl. The walkman 2.0 player would take a full three minutes to come up after I pressed the walkman button, then another 2-3 minutes to load up a song.
- Then the phone started to get totally unresponsive, to the point that I had to turn it off with the "10 second power-button emergency function" (?)
- Finally, when I started it up again, I got the good ol' WSOD.

Now, having looked through many forums, at this point I'm sure most of you will already have one answer on your mind.... "Flash the phone".

Thing is, that's the first thing I wanted to do. I downloaded XS++ and checked the CID and Firmware, this is what I had:

DBID: db2020
OTP CID: 49
EROM CID: 49
EROM color: Red
Operator: M_EAST_N_AFR
Firmware: R1ED001
EROM: R3A016

Anyway, at this point I chickened out and decided to take advantage of my warranty, so I sent it in for repairs. They took a whole week on the phone, and when it got back, initially it looked fixed. But within two hours the phone started to go unresponsive again, and the same set of symptoms as before cropped up....leading once again to that annoying WSOD.

So once again I started up XS++, thinking that the stupid repair center did absolutely NOTHING but waste my time, but see for yourself:

DBID: db2020
OTP CID: 49
EROM CID: 52
EROM color: Red
Operator: M_EAST_N_AFR
Firmware: R1KG001
EROM: R3A016

So I'm guessing they flashed my phone? In any case, I'm sending it back to them today...

Anyway, here are some of my questions:
- Is it possible that this is a hardware problem? Have any of you encountered a prob like this? I think it might have something to do with overheating...after all, I live in a country where 45^C is normal summer temp...
- If its a software prob, and I have to flash it myself, will I be able to? CID52 DB2020 won't cause any problems? I read that its impossible tocustomize a CID52, but i just want to repair the firmware....
- What are the most common causes of WSOD? Is there something I could be doing that is causing my problem?

Hope you can help me out!

Upgrade the firmware, with the R1kG001, or debrand it if is branded

Judging from the case, his firmware already upgraded with R1kG001...it shouldnt be a firmware problem

try loading w/o attaching the memory stick pro duo ... it might be the card ? ( well i used to have this problem with the card w/ older models)

Its a new set .. i suggest you demand a replacement set ... because this might be a hardware problem ...

gl

UPDATE AUGUST 28 2007:
Hey, thanks for replying. For a while it seemed no one was gonna help me out. Anyway, here's more food for thought...

I took my mobile to the dealer for service again, but this time I went straight to the service centre (rather than send it in via shop I bought it from). Guess what? It took them 10 minutes to repair it this time. 10 minutes!! As opposed to the whole week I waited last time. Anyway, they flashed my phone again, apparently...

But guess what else...

It's busted again! YAY! WSOD for the third time. And this time I was very careful not to bring my phone anywhere near my memory card! The guys at the service centre told me I (probably) had a virus in the memory card, though when I asked them to check it themselves they said they couldn't. Anyway, this time all it took for the phone to die were two pictures saved to phone memory. The first one took around 3 minutes to save, but got saved in the end. The second one took more than 10 minutes, then the phone became unresponsive, then VOILA! WSOD. And no, the phone memory was nowhere near full, as I didn't put anything inside anyway. Now I have three theories, and I'm hoping you guys can pitch in here:

1. The phone memory is corrupted or damaged, due to overheating or internal component failure or something like that. As a result, anytime I try to write to phone memory (e.g. saving pic to memory) it wipes everything out.
2. There really was a virus on my memory card, which somehow spread into my phone memory and somehow damaged it so bad that even after flashing the phone memory can't handle anything. Has anyone heard of a virus that attacks sony ericsson phones? Correct me if I'm wrong, but viruses attack only Windows mobile and Symbian phones, right?
3. The only other thing I did (other than take that pic) was download my contacts from the sim card to the phone. Could this be a cause of WSOD? Has anyone experienced something like this before?

Once again, I'd appreciate any and all help!

this problem is not becaz of a virus, thers no harm done by a virus to a J2ME platform based phones. This is probably a hardware fault, the best thing u can do is get ur phone replaced since it is still under warranty.

i would go for a new one under warranty too.
se seems to be a little bit on the low side of product quality with that phone.
new phone new chance for things getting better...