Trying to update Windows Phone 7 (HTC HD7)

A few weeks ago I read that Microsoft is now sending out the first update of the Windows Phone 7. And together with it came the news that a few phones were already "bricked", that is turned into functionless bricks. See also this article Ars Technica.

A few days ago I got the notification on my HTC HD7 phone that an update is available, and that I would need to connect it to the computer and run ZUNE to install the update. This is actually a pre-update, which corrects some bugs in the general update process.

First I had to update ZUNE itself. Then I connected the phone, went into "settings > update". The "searching for update" took quite long... then I got prompted not to disconnect the phone, and then I waited patiently with this screen:


The phone rebooted, then showed a different screen, with a black/white graphic of a mobile connected to a laptop computer. It appears that this symbol indicated I should connect the phone to the computer - which it already was... After a while the phone rebooted again, this time with the regular screen. Then ZUNE showed "Your device wasn't updated". Error code: 801812C1

I googled this error code and found several entries in various forums. One recommended to stop the device recognition process after the first reboot. I was only able to do that by stopping the process "update.exe" through the Windows Task Manager. But that did not help... the error still remained, no update happened.

Another forum advice was to unplug the USB cable for 2 seconds, then plug it back in. Well, the message on the screen says that exactly this must not be done. However, I gave it a try - but it did not help.

There is another "update" announced to be available shortly: The "No-Donuts" update, with copy-and-past. But first I have to manage getting this first update onto the phone...

During my update trials, the phone so far has always booted properly the 2nd time, when it returned to its regular state. I keep trying - maybe I will get lucky, and the phone will finally "brick"; then I will bring it back to the O2 store and swap it for an HTC Desire with Android.