Force Zune to Sync Lumia - WORKS!

Lost the original data cable of my Nokia Lumia 610 and replacement cable I bought only charges the battery! At first there seems to be no way to force Zune to sync to my Lumia. You have to connect to AC power and wait 10 minutes! What a hassle. And sometimes it simply doesn't sync.

Now, I've discovered a real working way to force the sync.

1. Make sure your computer recognizes the active network as a Home Network. The sync will not work on Work or Public networks.
2. Plug in your phone to AC power and make sure it is connected to the same (home) network as your computer.
3. Close Zune (if already open) and start it again.
4. Eureka! It zyncs immediately!

=)

Force update from Windows 7.5 to 7.8 on Nokia Lumia 610

Since I'm in the Philippines, I thought I'd probably have to wait a while as the Windows 7.8 update rolls out to other regions. WRONG! You can update your Windows Phone right now! Even if Zune keeps saying your phone is updated, when you're sure you're still on Windows 7.5.

Try this:

1. Enable Airplane mode
2. Connect your phone to your computer and go to the update tab in Zune
3. Wait a certain period while it says "checking for updates" (I counted 25 seconds since my internet is rather slow) then disconect your internet by disabling wifi on your computer or removing the network cable
4. Zune should say an update is available for your phone. If it displays something else, repeat steps 2 and 3 but experiment with the waiting time. This is the tricky part.
5. Re-enable your internet and proceed with the update.
6. You might have to go through steps 2-5 about three times as you install a series of updates eventually leading to Windows 7.8.

My steps 1-6 are similar to what you will find elsewhere in the internet about force update to Windows 7.8. But for Philippine users, I just want to assure you that it works for us here too. You just need to adjust a longer waiting time (Step 3) if your internet is slow, and shorter if your connections is fast.

Now excuse me, I need to experiment with my resizable live tiles! Yey!

Note: I'm using a Lumia 610 that's not locked to either Smart, Globe, or Sun. I think the network doesn't really matter with this method.