Good move. You've got a real computer, unless someone has wrecked it beyond hope.

Conflict only happens during the process of connection, and there are various techniques in these forums (and in the related Bugzilla thread) for getting connected. Once connected you are OK. Maybe you find the physical techniques undignified or you are not adept at getting the knack. There is a software solution that is supposed to work with OS2007HE. Never needed it myself.

There is a kernel patch for this, available from Fanoush. It is built in to the last OS2006 and the HE OS's. Problems in those later OS's are not caused by that particular bug.

Tethering to phone has worked for me the first time and always. It sometimes fails with a Zoom 56k BT modem.

It's beginning to look as if your 770 was badly abused or worn out before you got it. That's an unfortunate possibility with any used gear. I've had some bad stuff too. I was lucky recently to buy a N800 that had been very well cared for. Sometimes it turns out one way, sometimes the other.

Why? 2GB MMC-mobile cards cost about $9 on eBay, including shipping from Hong Kong to anywhere in the world. If you are running out of patience, a fiddly solder job sounds like the worst thing you could do.

Why does it have to be downloaded directly to the device? It comes in a tarball. I have moved Fanoush's tarballs between PC, 770 and N800, copied them, moved them between media card and rootfs, and untarred them wherever they were needed. The kernel flash will fail if the untarred zImage is the wrong size, and then you just try again. Or you could avoid making things difficult for yourself (see above).

[EDIT: Fanoush's 48Mhz kernel improves performance spectacularly, although I don't know what it would do to a device that is already showing unusual instability.]