Hi,
Please forgive me for my ignorance, I am new to the 'flashing' field and PPC's in general, and I won't ever know unless I ask.
What is the point of the extended ROM, and what is the point of 'unhiding' it? Like why should one do it? What's the benefit? What can one do with it?
Thanks
The extended ROM is about 10Mb of memory used by the carriers for configuration / customisation information. It is usually programmed to autorun after a hard reset so that the customisation files in there can be processed first. For example, with O2 UK, the customisation puts in the GPRS/3G/locale settings, makes the Uni look pretty (if you don't use corporate mode) at the expense of it being very slow indeed!
If you empty the extended ROM, you then have 10Mb which you can use for storage / running progs. I run TomTom 6 and various other key apps from there with no difficulties.
The only downsides are if for some reason you need some particular form of customisation installed by your carrier. I have happily dispensed with all of the O2 customisation and all I have to do when I hard reset (after a new ROM) is to reinstall the O2 GPRS/MMS settings, which takes about thirty seconds.
If you do empty the extended ROM, bear in mind that it will be re-locked whenever you change the main ROM so you will need to unlock it again. Also, one of the unlocking progs around also wipes the Extended ROM - there is another (which you will find somewhere on this site) which only unlocks it.
Hope that helps. I think that pretty much covers it! Ask if there's anything else.
ahhhh I c...ok...great...thanks
apd said:
The extended ROM is about 10Mb of memory used by the carriers for configuration / customisation information. It is usually programmed to autorun after a hard reset so that the customisation files in there can be processed first. For example, with O2 UK, the customisation puts in the GPRS/3G/locale settings, makes the Uni look pretty (if you don't use corporate mode) at the expense of it being very slow indeed!
If you empty the extended ROM, you then have 10Mb which you can use for storage / running progs. I run TomTom 6 and various other key apps from there with no difficulties.
The only downsides are if for some reason you need some particular form of customisation installed by your carrier. I have happily dispensed with all of the O2 customisation and all I have to do when I hard reset (after a new ROM) is to reinstall the O2 GPRS/MMS settings, which takes about thirty seconds.
If you do empty the extended ROM, bear in mind that it will be re-locked whenever you change the main ROM so you will need to unlock it again. Also, one of the unlocking progs around also wipes the Extended ROM - there is another (which you will find somewhere on this site) which only unlocks it.
Hope that helps. I think that pretty much covers it! Ask if there's anything else.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nicely explained. You can also use the extended rom to save your internet cache. if you browse the net often you will find the cache file keeps increasing in size and occupies useful device storage space. If you relocate the cache file to storage card, browsing slows down so Extended rom is indeed the prefered location for PIE cache.
Related
THE CABS IN HERE A FOR O2 (IF SOMEONE CAN CHNGE THIS AND PUT THE UPLOADS IN WIKI AND REPLACE WITH LINK THAT WOULD BE GREAT)
Ok so I bought an XDa Exec.. and like most thought it was going to be great when in truth it sucked..
With the help of all those on here (far to many to mention I now have by far the fastest most stable pDA I have ever had) This got me to thinking that to have all the info and files in one place would maybe help other O2 users so here goes..
What to do..
Firstly If your device has already been running then Hard reset and perform vanilla install.
Press the two -- keys on the keyboard at the same time and reset (yes that the one to the left of the red phone button and the one to the right of the green phone button)
once set up begins go through the screen set up and the device will give you a three second warning when this appears soft reset.
when it boots up you now have vanila install. ie its running but without all the O2 crap but also without your settings.
Next you need to get certain files.
UNI_ext_rom unlocker frem here http://buzzdev.net/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&Itemid=59&func=view&catid=40&id=7869#7869
regedit (trial here) http://www.pocketgear.com/software_detail.asp?id=17108
O2 connections only cab at bottom of post
This extended Rom at bottom of post
Pocket Mechanic: Download (www.antontomov.com) and install this essential app. You have a few days on trial, and it's necessary for some steps
Ok now using active sync connect to your device and place the following in my documents (anywhere realy I just find I remember that)
*UNI_ext_rom unlocker
*regedit
*O2 connections only cab
*Pocket Mechanic
run both before resetting and also open regedit and change the following
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\StorageManager\AutoLoad\TRUEFFS_DOC1]
"Bootphase"=dword:00000002
"Order"=dword:00000001
"LoadFlags"=dword:00000001
"DriverPath"="Drivers\\BuiltIn\\TrueFFS_G31"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\StorageManager\Profiles\TRUEFFS_DOC1]
"MountHidden"=dword:00000000
"Folder"="Extended_ROM"
"PartitionDriver"=""
"Name"=""
"DefaultFileSystem"="FATFS"
RESTART EXEC.
ONCE RESTARTED CONNECT VIA ACTIVE SYNC
you should now be able to see and edit the extended rom. delete all files then unzip the extended rom you downloaded from here and copy all the files across into the folder.
Now hard reset the device
This time allow the extended rom to install ie do not stop at the 3 seconds bit.
NOW browse to my documents and run pocket mechanic.
then run O2 connections only cab
this will then ask you to choose installation choose the bottom one and it will restart your device.
now browse to programs pocket mechanic and follow below
Notification Queue: This can be done later, but it's nice to get familiar with this process whilst your queue is small. Using PM, open the notification queue. You may already (yes!) find some duplicate (yellow icon) sddeamon entries. These seem to replicate during an ActiveSync. You can/must delete all duplicates from time to time. You will also, in future, find some "\.\\Notification.....SCRIPT..." entries. Keep an eye out for these. Most mature within minutes of you finding them, so let them expire. Many are future-dated and tightly back-to-back. These can nearly always (I've never had a regret) be deleted without repercussions. If you don't manage these, they tend to breed, and anyone with XDA experience knows what happens when your queue fills up (failed alarms etc). I'm unclear as to where these come from - undoutedly an app that is not behaving elegantly (regular registration checks etc), and if you follow the steps on this post you should NOT find any - ie the apps here do not seem to be culprits. But, keep an eye open...
Registry cleanup: Again, this can be done later, however you'll soon see the beenfit of doing it now. Using PM, run registry cleaner. You'll get around 6 entries, all of which can safely be deleted. If you did not follow step 1, you may have to examine eahc entry to see if the O2 ROM is messier. The beauty of this step is that from now on, you can safely clean everything that PM finds in the knowledge that it's a leave-behind from an app you installed, and now you can install, de-install, and provided you clean up the directories (easy) you KNOW for sure that you've completely gotten rid of the failed app. Winner!
OK now you can install all the apps you need. I have copied the cab files to the storage card that way if I ever have to hard reset I have everthing, please note I also copied the O2 connections only cab to there.
WELL I am open to comments about this and must stress you do this at your own risk but hell it worked for me and I have as I said the fastest PDA I have ever had.
so over to you guys.. PLEASE note this is in no way my own work it is all thanks to other people on here but hopefully I have put it all in one place..
all comments welcome accept the one that sais Magpies a knob
Hi many people are looking
and a few downloading comments would be good..
does it work any ideas of additions into it etc etc etc
I like it, but for a new Pocket PC user such as myself. It might be hard to follow some of your instructions. But I like the idea of putting Pocket Mechanic in the ExtROM. I was considering of doing this too, but I want to add MemMaid and HandyMenu with Pocket Mechanic.
This would be a temporary use for the ExtROM for now before Buzzzzzz releases the partition hack. Then, I would rather use the ExtROM as part of my internal memory.
I think you need to WARN PEOPLE CLEARLY THAT DELETING FILES FROM ORIGINAL EXT ROM IS NOT GOOD.
And then let them make up their own mind.
I thought about doing what you posted but tbh its too much bother.
It runs OK as it is. All I use this thing for is phone, streaming radio and anime.
In corporate with no crap OEM stuff I havent tested and normal o2 ext rom it works fine.
I wanna say thanks, had some spare time todaylooking after the sick missus and carried out the procedure, dont know if its running much better than my corp install before but it was good fun and easy to follow
Hi,
I am new to PDA world and I was reading about unlocking the extended rom recently.
1. What good will that do to me? I have a 512MB miniSD, isn't that enough?
2. Isn't that dangerous? What if I accidentaly delete something on it, is it fatal?
10x
Cant answer your question as im new to the Wizard also ( do have some ppc experience ). All I would say is that unless your device isnt doing something you want it to, I would leave it be.
My device is coping with my demands at the moment so I havent even thought about rom changing, or extended rom unlocking.
Would be gutted if I broke it when I was doing something just for the sake of it
real + is being able to install apps to new ROM thus being able to install more and/or leaving more working storage, you can also play with registry and move things like ringtones to this area and not be worried about space. I am still relatively new to all this but I have done this twice now (old ROM version and latest from TMobile) and as long as follow instructions on this site then all should go fine. Just be sure to make backup of current ROM and Operator extended rom (this contains all apps,updates,fixes,customizations) so you should always be able to recover.
As you say, 512mb card is enuff to play with, but you wouldnt be reading this site if you werent a little adventurous.
Read all you can, other sites have similar forums as below, then take the plung 8) Links below are all the ones I read before performing.
http://pocketpcdubai.infopop.cc/groupee/forums/a/tpc/f/582600994/m/170105659/p/1
http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=BackupExistingRom
http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=23391&highlight=ring+tones
On previous HTC phones, there was an area of ROM which was in fact 'locked'. Cleverer people than me worked out how to 'unlock' it and use the space for whatever they wanted to put there rather than HTC, O2 etc.
The extended ROM on the Wizard isn't locked (at least not on my Qtek one), just hidden. File Explorer can't see it, but Total Commander can.
Why dabble? Well, if you hard reset, after initial boot, stuff in ext-rom can be made to auto install. So, if you like Total Commander or PocketInformant, you could have them install after any hard reset. Maybe you'd do it with TomTom so if your device needs a reset, you'd still get home.
One neat option on other devices is a util to text you with the phone's number if your device is stolen and somebody tries to use a different SIM in it.
On the i-mate version, you might decide you're never going to run the anti-virus s/w, so you mod the ext-rom to prevent it being installed each reset.
Altenatively you could forget you'd ever heard of it and be no worse off ;-)
Dox
Apologies if this has been posted before but cant find it in the search...
1) On soft reset, I loose sms messages, even if I have closed "Text Messages" with any of the 3rd party "close" button programs.
2) On soft reset, I lose BT338 GPS connectivity, have to remove the device and port then re add - have read on here that you need to uncheck secure connection, I've tried it with both checked, and unchecked and still fails
3) On soft reset, whatever background image I have dissapears, but a portion is left behind in the drop down window.
4) Im with Orange, which of the cabs in the Extended ROM can I delete and still be able to use the phone.
5) When using Sprite Backup It does not back up either calendar or contacts, even though I have Personal Databases checked (or if it does, it doesnt restore them)
I dont want a load of Orange bloatware using up the memory, just enough for phone, gprs connection and WiFi to work.
Getting quite used to doing hard resets now, had issue over the weekend with one app causing Picture viewer to lock up!
Many thanks from a grateful Newbie!
jedi23mi9 said:
4) Im with Orange, which of the cabs in the Extended ROM can I delete and still be able to use the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Once you have flashed your phone and done the reset afterwards, letting the customisations install they are no longer of any use to you until you do a hard reset, at which point the ROM will reload and the customisations with it.
If you use backup software after you delete the entire contents of your ExtendedROM you won't lose a thing.
Have you got the right version of Sprite? I think the latest is 5.1?
If you have no luck with it, give SPB a try. I've used it on my Alpine and Uni with great success.
Have you tried flashing with the latest ROM for the other problems? I'm on the latest Orange ROM and so far things seem to be working fine with SMS, desktop and BT pairing.
Thanks,
Sprite is 5.1.0 Build 1417 - downloaded last friday
ROM version seem to be same as yours, 1.30.90WWE 02/24/06 so I guess thats most upto date Orange ROM (had device just under 3 weeks)
Grr @ self for not reading sig !
Another thing to try is the Qtek ROMs? Assuming you're unlocked of course.
Good Luck with it =)
Im not brave enough to unlock it
I absolutley adore the beast, and its spot on for what i need, just wish I could resolve the minor issues that whilst not spoil the use of it, nevertheless are annoying. BT338 gets hot fix in seconds, but takes me 5 mins to un pair then reapir the blasted BT connection
Going back to the extended ROM, what I meant was do I need all the cab files that are in there to use the phone, as in can I remove some, then Hard reset and have a smaller number actually load up.
I dont use the Orange today screen for one, and given that there is only 25Mb of usable program memory out of 50, I'm wondering how much of that is caused by TSR orange code that can be removed at build
EDIT: had a look at http://forum.xda-developers.com/vie...0&postorder=asc&highlight=reg+tweaks&start=25 but still non the wiser (someone listed the Orange FR cabs)
There is an easy way to do this that doesn't require unlocking the ExtROM, which you have to do to be able to delete anything in there.
When you hard reset, tap the screen, sync the touchscreen, cut and paste, then Windows loads up.
Right after that it will give you 3 seconds before loading the contents of the ExtROM. If you hit the reset pin during that three seconds it won't load anything in there.
You can then browse to it with a decent file manager and install the .CABs by hand.
But, don't be afraid of unlocking, it takes one program and two registry edits. Gives you 10MB of space to play with too.
Ah, my fault, read som much about unlocking that I thought you meant the sim card.
Yip, I've run the ExtRom unlocker and found out how to look inside
Not really that bothered about storage on the device, more about having a nice trim OS so that i have more program space as the kernel is smaller
Thanks again
As most of you probably know, the ROM of our PDA devices has a limited number of times it can be written to. This theoretical limit is roughly <1 million times. With Windows Mobile 5.0, the ROM of our devices is not only used to store the OS but also some of the more permanent information so that it doesn't get deleted should the battery run out.
I have read that this limit can be reached if the device is used intensely on a daily basis (http://www.eten-users.net/topic70 ) especially for web browsing.
My question is simple : in order to not use up the ROM capital of my Qtek ROM which to my knowledge can't really be changed, can I tell WM5 to use my SD card instead? Is there a program that allows you to do systematically do this? Is there a way of estimating the miles/kilometers of usage left the ROM?
Thanks
D.D.
I haven't really heard about this but there might be an option to store the browser's cache on SD. This would reduce considerably the amount of data that is written in the inbuilt Flash RAM (not ROM).
I read on a M$ blog that they "spread out" the read/writes to avoid this problem. The WM5 code is written to not keep using the same area of memory so that it does not "wear out" too soon. This way your device memory should last for years.
Found the blog entry - it's here: http://blogs.msdn.com/windowsmobile/archive/2006/06/07/621132.aspx
you can put anything related to the browser onto the SD
no option I'm afraid, you have to edit the registry. Search the forum for the keys.
See the wizard thread for a list of keys to change. I used the Mobile registry editor http://www.breaksoft.com/Blog/Utilities/2005/1/Mobile_Registry_Editor.aspx as it does it via Activesync, nothing to install on either device or PC.
There is also a util which will change the path to the SD card for you. I did it manually as I wanted to select the path on my SD card, all done and working lovely.
Strange Issue - Device does not show "free space left" when installing apps. - help?
Bit of a strange one this, but can anyone shed any light.
With my other WM5 devices, a Vario, and a MDA Pro (Wizard and Universal), whenever I install applications to the device via the .cab file, I am asked where I want to install to, Device or Storage Card, and it shows the amount of memory required for this install, and the free storage remaining for that location, which obviously changes as you press the relevant radio button for Device or Storage Card.
However, as best I recall since day one of owning it, on my T Mobile Vario 2, whenever I install applications, it never shows me the free memory remaining bit, so I simply have to make a guess as to where to store it.
Is this a known bug for the Hermes with the standard T-Mobile ROM... or can other normal T- Mobile ROM users state that this behaviour does NOT occur for them, adn that it DOES show all the necessary information whilst installing...?
Thanks in advance.
Ok, let me put it another way...
Can ANYONE tell me if on their Hermes based device, they DO get an indication how much free space is remaining, when they install an application...?
If so, what ROM/Operator...
Almost this entire forum has a Hermes, if you are reading this, likely...
If so, can you do me a quick favour and try this by going through the motions of installing an application, and see.
You don't even need to install the application (any application cab file will do to test this). Simply CANCEL the install, once you ascertain whether it does or doesn't show you how much free space you have, whilst it tells you how much room it will need.
Come on, help me out here - you all have Hermes' - is this just me with this issue...?
Well, just for you I re-syncd my pda and no, it doesn't tell me on my Vario II how much space I have left, only how much space the app will take up.
I don't think it ever has told me.
Hope that helps
On mine it shows spaced required and space available.
I think my sig shows what else I have.
Thanks both...
It sounds to me like it's a ROM issue then... Marissa, is yours T-Mobile or what?
Curious that the AKU 3.3 and thus possibly cooked rom (or the beta one that got released semi-officially), DOES work properly in showing the space required AND space remaining...
That's what makes me think it's a ROM issue...
So can anyone else contribute...?
marisa4755 said:
Well, just for you I re-syncd my pda and no, it doesn't tell me on my Vario II how much space I have left, only how much space the app will take up.
I don't think it ever has told me.
Hope that helps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Er Marisa, having re-read your message, I'm now a bit confused...
Not sure what you mean by "having re-synced my pda"...
Can I clarify, this has nothing to doing with a sync...
I merely mean that if you go to install software on your PDA, usually by way of clicking on a cab file using File Explorer on the device, the device will then sometimes prompt you with a warning, do you wish to install untrusted source etc etc.
If you say yes, the next thing that will happen, is that you will be asked by the pda, where you want to install, if you have a storage card inserted, and have a radio button choice of Device, or Storage Card.
And as you tick one or the other, the text below this will tell you how much space is REQUIRED, and the killer>>> on all previous devices, also how much is REMAINING on whichever storage type you tick - device or card.
But on my Vario 2, it DOESN'T show any info at all about how much is left remaining...
On a vario 1, and a universal, and all my previous windows smartphones, it DID tell you this.
So were you meaning something else, as this is what I was referring to. Or did you just mean you installed an application initially via a PC .exe file, with your device connected, so it then triggered a normal install as above, on the pda...
Just not clear where the bit about PC sync came in.
This has got me a little frustrated, as all I am doing now is banging everything on card, as I now have no indication of how much free memory is on my device, while I install.
(I can go in to check via System Tools from time to time, but this is not the solution...)
Cheers all.
S.
Hi I always install software if possible through an exe file through activesync, most people do.
It does just the same thing, and you get the same messages when you install, and on my install message, it asks on the pda where I want to install the app, main memory or storage card, and how large the app is. But nothing about how much space is left.
It's a T-mobile with the original rom, radio etc etc.
Hope this helps.
I Found That It Doesn't Show How Much Room You've Got Out Of The Box, But When I Unlock My ExtRom Or I Must Enable Some Other Tweak Using HTweakC, Then The Amount Of Free Space Gets Shown.
Cheers
When I install cabs directly from the phone (not activesync), it always shows the required space / remaining space for each medium. I haven't done any ExtROM or CID unlocking, just SIM. Sounds like a rom thing...see sig for details.
marisa4755 said:
Hi I always install software if possible through an exe file through activesync, most people do.
It does just the same thing, and you get the same messages when you install, and on my install message, it asks on the pda where I want to install the app, main memory or storage card, and how large the app is. But nothing about how much space is left.
It's a T-mobile with the original rom, radio etc etc.
Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Marisa - yes that's great thanks, as what you describe is just another way to trigger the installation - using activesync etc - it just copies the cab across and triggers the install itself, as I do manually.
So you have confirmed that T-Mobile ROM has this problem. Cheers.
mousey_ said:
I Found That It Doesn't Show How Much Room You've Got Out Of The Box, But When I Unlock My ExtRom Or I Must Enable Some Other Tweak Using HTweakC, Then The Amount Of Free Space Gets Shown.
Cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cheers mate - so it sounds like the base Orange ROM also has this issue too.
Unless you do some magic -jiggery pokery...
Don't suppose you can have a better think what it was you did to fix it...?
But cheers - another confirmed issue.
Toleraen said:
When I install cabs directly from the phone (not activesync), it always shows the required space / remaining space for each medium. I haven't done any ExtROM or CID unlocking, just SIM. Sounds like a rom thing...see sig for details.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Again, another Cingular user with an updated ROM, that is NOT having this issue.
So it's more and more sounding like an early ROM issue...
Cheers mate.