What is flashing and how does it work? - Touch Pro2, Tilt 2 Windows Mobile ROM Development

Hey guys, I am new here and have no idea how all this stuff works. This probably sounds pretty stupid, but could anyone explain all this stuff to me?

You need to start your education here.

we could, buuuut, theres a wiki for that. ;].
A rom, to a phone, is like every thing you know in your brain. It has all the information the phone needs to function. without it, youve got an expensive paper weight, as everyone likes to say. When you change roms, you flash them to your phone. "Flash" is a term synonymous with change or rewrite, if you will. And its fairly quite simple to execute.
Before we start, I'm not responsible if you don't read my directions carefully or mess it up. So read and re-read, then ask if you're still unsure.
First, you need to flash the HardSPL if youve never devirginized your TP2. Maybe someone could help with that step, as i only flash the hardspl when i absolutely need to which has been... 3 times.
After you flash the HardSPL, download a rom from here. now, i know youre gonna ask "which one?".. its trial and error, find one that works for you and then follow that cook and his/her updates. I find that NRGZ Photon rom is very stable for 6.5. Everyone else seems to be in the market for 6.5.1, or Manila 2.5 as featured on the HTC Leo, which isn't completely stable or functional. I'd recommend that you start with a 6.1 or 6.5 rom, and stick with that until you pick up stuff and learn more. So stay away from the 6.5.1, as it is still very beta.
Before you open the file that youve downloaded, you need to download a program that will unpack the RAR file, which should hold the NBH file and the RUU. [ill get to that in a sec.] I find that the best program to use is WinRAR, which can be downloaded for free. Open your file with WinRAR and extract the files. Make sure your NBH file and your RUU are in the same folder, or else you will get an error. For me, I organize all of my downloads. optional: create a folder "roms" > photon, leo, or some other version > and the builds... Every time you extract a file to a folder, itll overwrite the existing file, and thats why i have it all organized.
Whats in the file: NBH file. This is the knowledge needed by your TP2 to function. Connect your phone to the computer and let it sync with activesync. Click on explore and it should bring up a folder with an orange phone, and the path name at the top should read Mobile Device. Drag and drop the NBH file on that page. The files name should be RHODIMG.NBH.
Once you've done that, double click on the RUU [rom update utility]. The name of that should read CustomRUU.exe, double click... once you do that, read all of the directions it displays.
Just a quick note, make sure your battery is at least halfway full, so your phone won't die in the middle of the flash, as it will not charge during this time.
Everything from there on is very, very simple. Once you get through all of the steps, [clicking all the check marks, making sure you've gone through the steps], you're phones screen will display three different colors, red, white and blue, i believe. Don't be alarmed, this is normal. It will start to flash, and a status bar displaying a percentage will display both on your computer and your phone. IMPORTANT: DO NOT DISCONNECT YOUR PHONE DURING THIS PART. If you disconnect your phone, its done, dig it a grave, for the most part. Make sure your cable is of good quality, and that your phone will not fall or get yanked and disconnect.
Once it has finished and the RUU displays a message with "custom rom has finished" or something of that nature, click finish at the bottom right, and your phone should restart and start to configure itself. I wait til it's done configuring to disconnect, just to be safe. And that should be it. :].
i know its hard to understand some of the directions around here, whether it be from lack of definition or complication. I hope this helps a little. Sorry for the length. I had trouble understanding what to do when I first started because there wasn't any clarification.
Happy Flashing,
-josh.
reply if you have questions, or PM me.

What is flashing and how does it work?
You take off all your clothes and put on a long rain coat. You then go down to the park and wait in the bushes for someone to walk by. When they do, jump out and open your coat!

This is real flashing

josh_prayyforplagues said:
we could, buuuut, theres a wiki for that. ;].
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good answer
cjm1979 said:
What is flashing and how does it work?
You take off all your clothes and put on a long rain coat. You then go down to the park and wait in the bushes for someone to walk by. When they do, jump out and open your coat!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Better answer
Don't forget to say got any leaches for this??
sgsdebruijn said:
This is real flashing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Best answer.
But children use this forum too, link removed.
@OP
Have read of the stickies and the wiki. A lot of what you want to know is already explained, you have to read, and find out.
A starter... flashing is the process of updating the phones software (everything, including the OS)

Related

Extended_ROM vs Flash

Ok so im a little confused. And trust me its not that difficult to do. Ive read and reread the brilliant walkthrough provided by Faria and it just WOWs me. If i am understanding this correctly, I package the nk.nbf with the stuff that comes with the package that he included. Now that being said im already confused on how to explain what Im trying to do. What I want is a cingular basic phone installation with none of that customization that takes another 10 minutes after the flash or whatever it is. Now with the extended_rom, what gets changed? is it the whole phone or just something to add specific applications (cabs) to your current installation? I have tried all the versions I could find here and realized that these roms are just like a computer, the best one is the one you build yourself. Any help in pointing me in the right direction would be gratefully appreciated.
Sorry about sounding so newbish.
yoz..
They are basic developing skills. WinCE is not hard to figure out, anyone can make great apps with just Visual Studio. M$ hand feeds most of this stuff with a base rom, porting is intermediate work. I'd be impressed if they were developing an OS (no base provided) for computers.
BA_Flash_GOD said:
They are basic developing skills. WinCE is not hard to figure out, anyone can make great apps with just Visual Studio. M$ hand feeds most of this stuff with a base rom, porting is intermediate work. I'd be impressed if they were developing an OS (no base provided) for computers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Huh?
Ok lets try this again. Remember, im nottoosmart. I basically want to stop the customization from the packaged version of Cingular 8125 from HTC. I want a bland non marked version of Windows Mobile 5. How to i take all the extras out and when i do that to the extended_rom, is it going format the device and reinstall without the extras?
Ok, I think this is what you are trying to do. When you flash your device with the Cingular 2.25 Rom, which is their most current, or T-Mobile has 2.26. Let your device completley flash, once its complete, and you finish aligning your screen and what not, a message will display on your screen saying that your device will customize in 3 seconds - dont let it customize, do a soft reset before this happens. When it says that it's customizing, thats when it is installing your extended rom. Now remember, without that extended rom, you're going to be missing some carrier settings such as GPRS and MMS. Those are available here somewhere though, just search for 'em.
bradsnw said:
Ok, I think this is what you are trying to do. When you flash your device with the Cingular 2.25 Rom, which is their most current, or T-Mobile has 2.26. Let your device completley flash, once its complete, and you finish aligning your screen and what not, a message will display on your screen saying that your device will customize in 3 seconds - dont let it customize, do a soft reset before this happens. When it says that it's customizing, thats when it is installing your extended rom. Now remember, without that extended rom, you're going to be missing some carrier settings such as GPRS and MMS. Those are available here somewhere though, just search for 'em.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, you hit the nail on the head. I do have those settings and I just have to say one thing......... "I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S THAT SIMPLE!!!!"
Beating my head against a wall for 2 days to do this.
nottoosmart said:
Ok, you hit the nail on the head. I do have those settings and I just have to say one thing......... "I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S THAT SIMPLE!!!!"
Beating my head against a wall for 2 days to do this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
basicly its not that simple
Some do a custom extended rom, so after instal you get the page when your pda is customizing for you, your provider or for settings that someone did for you for that specific build of OS... but some change the files in the build of OS, they add stuff, replace version of apps, and that OSs are not clean, thats why you have all this builds and versions... Couse if they change the basic rom, there is no way to get clean build from that, couse after installing there is no need for customizing it from extended rom since all the files have already been changed in the rom...
P.

New user

Hey y'all, I'd just thought I'd introduce myself to the Kaiser world seeing as I'm going to be spending a lot of time here. I'm a freshman at Notre Dame, and needed (..wanted) a smart phone to help me organize this mass of everything happening around me. Being the technology geek I am, I looked quite a bit into it and decided that the "Tilt" was far superior to my dad's heralded and suggested iPhone (plus I kinda loathe Apple. So eh. lol) Anyway, I received my Tilt as a gift last night, and realized that it came bloated with AT&T's crap and didn't look like the same home screen I saw on HTC's website. After spending more than a couple of hours here, I was successful in blindly following different instructions I found in at least 3 different threads to flash the Dutty's HTC ROM to my Kaiser, and I absolutely love it. Problem is though, I have no idea what hell is going on here. I don't know what a .RUU even is, and even though a .CAB was easy to figure out, I have no idea where to put them on phone. And before I get lambasted with the mantra of "use the searchbar" venerated by web forum's loyal users, I'd like to point out that if you take a step back, look at all of this info on here, and pretend you don't understand any of it, it's pretty damn hard to decipher this stuff. So if you guys know of any "Pocket PC New Users" guide written by knowledgable ppl on the web, and any XDA-Beginner guides or anything, please point them in my direction. I'm more than happy to read. However, reading 33 forum pages to figure out how to do 8 lines of instructions for one thing is extremely time consuming, cumbersome, and not that helpful. So again, it's nice to meet you all, and maybe y'all could help point me out in the right direction.
---Holy crap, that's a lot of text. Basically, hey y'all, nice to meet you, and do you think you could help out a newb who's able and willing to learn?
use the search bar!!!! hahahaha jk.....just read the wiki
As well as what's already been suggested, take time to read the manual and play around with the ppc. The importance of experiential learning can't be understated when it comes to these things. Unlike with full sized PCs, performing a hard reset to restore the ppc to an out of the box state is easy work.
So quick question. When I'm copying .CAB files or .EXE files onto my kaiser, where do I put them? I'm installing the iPhone app posted by Grumps, and I don't know where I should put it. Should I just make a file tree for every program I put on there under Program Files?
Hi, a .CAB file is just an executable installer. So best place it in the root of your storage card and delete it after installation of the app. During installation you will be asked where to install the app, PPC memory or storage card. Selecting the storage card will of course save memory, but for some reasons some apps don't work from storage card. You will have to try...
fightin4theirish said:
So quick question. When I'm copying .CAB files or .EXE files onto my kaiser, where do I put them? I'm installing the iPhone app posted by Grumps, and I don't know where I should put it. Should I just make a file tree for every program I put on there under Program Files?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I normally keep all my .cab files on my storage card so when I hard reset or re-flash I know where they are. Doesn't matter where you put them - I created a directory called (unoriginally) My Cabs. When you touch on them they will install to the necessary directory on the ppc, and can be uninstalled from the settings menu.
The .exe files could be a bit different. Some need to be installed from your pc - they will then install to the ppc next time you connect with activesync, and can be uninstalled in the same way as .cab files. Other .exe files can be stored anywhere on your ppc or storage card and will run each time you select them.
Heya. Let me be an opportunist and troll your thread to introduce myself here, too. hey all, homies n gyals, I'm Creiz, yes, it's my real name, pleased to meet y'all.
As for your quick question, If you use windows XP with dotNet framework 2, you can use this niifty utility called CabViaAciveSync to directly install your .cab files from the PC.
Right click the .cab => CabViaActiveSync.
Magic.
;P i´m noob too if you dont mine i'll use this thread to intruduce me too hehe and make a question. if i put a new rom my guarantee expires? and is good to change the default rom? what do you "kaiserians" think is the best rom for kaiser and how it works, if i make hard-reset the default rom appears? sorry but im really a noob in pocket things...
well i'm ricardo o/
fightin4theirish said:
Hey y'all, I'd just thought I'd introduce myself to the Kaiser world seeing as I'm going to be spending a lot of time here. I'm a freshman at Notre Dame, and needed (..wanted) a smart phone to help me organize this mass of everything happening around me. Being the technology geek I am, I looked quite a bit into it and decided that the "Tilt" was far superior to my dad's heralded and suggested iPhone (plus I kinda loathe Apple. So eh. lol) Anyway, I received my Tilt as a gift last night, and realized that it came bloated with AT&T's crap and didn't look like the same home screen I saw on HTC's website. After spending more than a couple of hours here, I was successful in blindly following different instructions I found in at least 3 different threads to flash the Dutty's HTC ROM to my Kaiser, and I absolutely love it. Problem is though, I have no idea what hell is going on here. I don't know what a .RUU even is, and even though a .CAB was easy to figure out, I have no idea where to put them on phone. And before I get lambasted with the mantra of "use the searchbar" venerated by web forum's loyal users, I'd like to point out that if you take a step back, look at all of this info on here, and pretend you don't understand any of it, it's pretty damn hard to decipher this stuff. So if you guys know of any "Pocket PC New Users" guide written by knowledgable ppl on the web, and any XDA-Beginner guides or anything, please point them in my direction. I'm more than happy to read. However, reading 33 forum pages to figure out how to do 8 lines of instructions for one thing is extremely time consuming, cumbersome, and not that helpful. So again, it's nice to meet you all, and maybe y'all could help point me out in the right direction.
---Holy crap, that's a lot of text. Basically, hey y'all, nice to meet you, and do you think you could help out a newb who's able and willing to learn?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi:
I am really a newbie too, only had the Tilt for 2 weeks now. But, I have read hundreds of threads here already, so I'm learning. My suggestion to you is, be sure to install Kaiser Tweaks, it is a great app, which will make it very easy to perform certain registry edits on your phone. The most important of which being, it enables you, with one click to enable hsdpa (faster than 3G internet). For some insane reason AT&T has this disabled on the Tilt. Although, maybe with your new ROM on there you may not need it. I am still using the AT&T ROM, so I'm not sure which features are or aren't on Dutty's ROM.
Anyway, just keep reading, it's amazing how much there is to learn here
My suggestions for best apps for the Tilt are:
Kaiser Tweaks (one click reg edits for many useful items)
SPB Pocket Plus (today screen interface, which looks cool, and is so useful for quick access to programs, files etc.)
All SPB products are pretty cool, and there are several to choose from depending on your needs
S2U2 (slide to unlock program, very useful, although the Tilt seems locked when in suspend mode, it really isn't)
PS: You're right alot of people do just tell you to go search, but believe it or not, there are MANY people here, who are willing to help a newbie, and understand that sometimes searches don't give us the answers we need. I have received tons of help from very nice people here.

disable cab delete

Why doesn't anybody cook this into roms? For that matter, why isn't this toggleable somewhere in Settings by default, huh Microsoft?!
Looks like someone didn't read the sticky...
[UPDATED] >> !! - ALL Important LINKS - !! < > !! Noobs and ALL read carefully !! <<
Before starting to post or even to modify your Device
read all carefully
VERY IMPORTANT - watch carefully
raduque said:
Why doesn't anybody cook this into roms? For that matter, why isn't this toggleable somewhere in Settings by default, huh Microsoft?!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As funny as dooby's reply was, oddly enough, some people do not like having the cabs stay on their device. It wastes space and is a bit annoying to navigate after reflashing a rom. With the advent of the UC capable roms, I would have to say that if you like keeping your cabs around, customize it into your setup. You can read about UC here and here.
phreke
dumpydooby said:
blah
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Click to collapse
You be quiet with that oversized waste of space post.
I was complaining about WM deleting cabs from my storage card. It doesn't bother me to delete them from the device itself. I still think it should be a toggleable setting at least to exclude the SD card.
Its actually kind of helps me to have the cabs delete themselves. I just keep a folder on my PC with all the cabs -- then when I put it on my Storage Card after a Hard Reset or New Rom, I can tell what is installed easy cuz the cabs disappear. I don't want them to stay on the phone. Just my preference.
raduque said:
You be quiet with that oversized waste of space post.
I was complaining about WM deleting cabs from my storage card. It doesn't bother me to delete them from the device itself. I still think it should be a toggleable setting at least to exclude the SD card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know what you were asking. I linked you to the video because "it is always better to reply than to start a new thread" and I think you should have made use of XDA's "best kept secret, the Search button."
The former would allow you to ask specific ROM makers why they don't include. The latter would have given you the answer you seek from the ROM makers themselves (since they've all been asked this question before).
You didn't actually think you were the first to ask this question, did you?
Nope, not that it matters. It was an open question to all, except smart asses like you. I wasn't asking rom makers specifically but everybody and their opinions.
I know how to Search, I do it all the time, except I don't have the time for it as I'm at work right now.
I thank you for wasting time ans space again, though, with a second 100% unhelpful post, my good sir.
Edit: I'm done here.
raduque said:
Nope, not that it matters. It was an open question to all, except smart asses like you. I wasn't asking rom makers specifically but everybody and their opinions.
I know how to Search, I do it all the time, except I don't have the time for it as I'm at work right now.
I thank you for wasting time ans space again, though, with a second 100% unhelpful post, my good sir.
Edit: I'm done here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I for one did wanted to cook it into my past and current releases but never had any luck getting it to work. The only rom I've every used that had it working correctly was pdaviet roms. But I have spent some time with my up coming rom and was able to cook it into it. So my next release Open Touch v4.0 does have it included.
For me it has been a learning process working with the base rom itself and there are many things we want it to do but some times it just will not work the way we want it to.
Regards,
Well a read only cab file stays after installation. I assign all my cab files "read only" attributes, either from desktop PC before I put in on my phone, or use total commander to do that.
I didnt know this was a Debate just why it has access to remove the cabs from our memory cards. I myself hate cab delete because ive used a number of roms lately all of them Crash hard on me. I think i figured out what is going on but i work 12 hour shifts and if it freezes up and i have to hard reset at work i need to get the things i use most back up on the phone.
Try sprite backup...
After hard reset I can get back to the original state in minutes.
Backup folder
Just copy your cabs twice. Once to the phone for install, and once to your PIM backup folder. That way you'll always have a spare. You can copy those and reinstall your important apps anytime.

SOme thoughts on flashing.. And a couple of misc. questions.

Bruce, a very active and extremely helpful user helped me understand the basics of flashing a rom. It finally was sucessful and I now have one of duttys awesome roms installed.
The process helped me grasp some of the general aspects about the phone, and I am very greatful for the help I already got, because I would never have dared to leap into it myself.
What some of you guys might not understand is that the information here can be quite overwhelming despite all the newbie guides. To put it roughly: Flashing a rom appearantly boils down to installing a .cab, placing a exe in a folder together with a spl.nbh and then running the exe. Then you replace the .nbh with your chosen rom-file and run the .exe again.. There you have it.. More or less described in two sentences, but when you read about it here its just... Woah.. Bigtime information overload.
My point is that I have no doubt that you get the same questions over and over and over again, and it must leave the impressions that people are to lazy to look into the things themselves. In some cases that may be true, but I bet that in most cases it aint. It is simply a question about things sounding more complicated than it is when you browse such a comphrensive forum as this.
So despite the newbie-guides, pre-guides and "for dummies guides" you will still get questions that has already been answered. And in most cases it is a sign of unsecurity more than lazyness.... And maybe because that enthusiasts (the polite way of saying nerds) may THINK they explain things as simple as possible, but for a newbie it is still extremely complicated.
Just a little thought after my own first experiences with tampering with my phone.
With that said, my "new" phone left me with some questions:
- Is a cooked ROM a legal piece of software? Not that I care much about it, Im just curious. It looks like a windows with a very comprehensive skin, but afaik it is a whole new OS, and I doubt that the chefs have been building those up from scratch. Does that mean that it is a hacked windows or what? EDIT: Found an interesting read and got it answered: Not legal, but noone cares I guess.. We all paid the software the day we bought the phone. The day we see phones without preinstalled OS the case may be a different I guess
- With my new Dutty ROM I was forced to give up my danish interface. Is it possible to change at least some of the interface back to danish in some way? The ROM itself have no built-in support for danish, but maybe through a language pack of some sort? Also my phonenumbers shows up in this format: (XXX) XXX-XX which is quite annoying for a dane who is used to XXXXXXXX. Is there any way to change this back to the way it were? I have not been able to find the options in anywhere of the settings-menu (99 % sure it isnt there, looked both in regional settings and phone settings). I have brief experiences with tampering with the registry file, but I am reluctant to do so without proper guidance to where to modify it, but I assume that thats where I will do it?
I have already recieved extremely much help here and I WILL take my part in answering my share of inquiries on this board when I have the answers at hand.
Thank you in advance.
Mmmm...
"Also my phonenumbers shows up in this format: (XXX) XXX-XX which is quite annoying for a dane who is used to XXXXXXXX. Is there any way to change this back to the way it were?"
I may be wrong, but you should be able to do this with the 'Regional Settings' - Go to Settings Tab, Locale & Text, Regional and select the country you want from the 'Region' list. I'm not sure if this works for phone numbers though?
It is set to danish but only have impact on the currency and date formats.
If it was THAT easy, I deserved a whooping for asking.

Mr. Personality Robot

Does anyone have one of these, and if so, how far have you gotten in building new personalities? I would love to be able to edit the text files to control the sprites, but don't know how. Last I heard several years ago android78 was working on an editor to do this, but has since disappeared. I know how to change the mp3's, and rebuild the .vivo file, that's not the hard part. Those dang text files are. I am not even sure what they are written in. To me it doesn't even resemble any languages I have come across. Anyone out there? This thing would be bad to the bone with completely new personalities since Wowwee gave up on it too soon!
I just picked one up @ goodwill and agree it would be super cool. Unfortunately, mine has no files on it at all (the drive is blank when I plug in the USB cable) so it stays at "loading" with the progress bar at 0 even with a fresh vivo file in there. Does yours load a personality? If so, do you mind letting me know if there are more files in there besides the vivo?
If I can get mine to work I bet I could get some of the dev's at work to figure out the text file.
Thanks.
The original file was called Max_Simon.vivo. If yours has no files, try getting the Mr. Personality software from the Wowwee website, and then the original file and push it back onto him via USB and the software. I looked and all I could see are the .vivo files. The .vivo files can easily be seen if you rename it to a .zip and extract it. Before loading though it needs to be changed back. That's how I was able to work with the .mp3 files, but it does take the software to push it back onto him and then go into settings to pick a personality to load. If it is the only personality it should load automatically if the file is original and not corrupted. If you need either of the files, let me know and I will post them for you. That would be awesome to get someone to take a look at these files and let us know what we need to do. I know there are a lot of people out there with these sitting in closets because of the great support they threw and it, not. It's up to us now!
acemartini said:
I just picked one up @ goodwill and agree it would be super cool. Unfortunately, mine has no files on it at all (the drive is blank when I plug in the USB cable) so it stays at "loading" with the progress bar at 0 even with a fresh vivo file in there. Does yours load a personality? If so, do you mind letting me know if there are more files in there besides the vivo?
If I can get mine to work I bet I could get some of the dev's at work to figure out the text file.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Holy crap, I thought I was the only one who had this issue! Mine's been down for nearly 5 years by now; I happened to shut Mr. P off in the middle of recording a voice memo, and when I turned him back on he had the exact same symptoms with the loading screen as you mentioned. Now I made a topic on Robocommunity shortly after but all that was suggested in that thread didn't work at all. I don't know if I was doing anything wrong but after all this time it still doesn't work. It really disappoints me because this is actually a really cool robot that I always wanted to load up with my own personalities... and then it conks out.
If anyone could help figure out how to get this guy working, I'd be really grateful.
I know this is an old thread, but would appreciate anybody leading me to the Mr Personality software and the default voices for Max and Simon, as wowwee no longer lists these on their site. Thanks!
I got one and connect to my pc.There are some files of Max and Simon.I try to find some more personality files online,but failed. Is there anyone have them?Thanks.my email is mrmm[email protected]

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