Hi altogether,
I need to softreset/hardreset a WinCE/PocketPC/Windows Mobile based device using a CabFile (one for Soft- one for hardreset). Does anyone know, how to do this?
Thanks in advance.
P.S.: I already searched the forum, but found nothing between thousands of threads with Softreset,... in it.
Well the first of all can you program in C / C++?
If the answer is yes then you will have to write a setup.dll for the cab that will do the reset.
Here is an article for soft reset that will work on any WM device and on many CE devices (it is OEM choice to implement this part, so some CE devices like PNDs do not have it).
For Windows Mobile 5 and up it is recommended to use the ExitWindowsEx API instead.
As for hard reset there is a problem: this article works for pre WM 5 devices, but because of the flash storage on WM 5 and up the implementation of hard reset was left to the OEM so there is no generic way to do it by software.
Tools like Tweaks2K2 and SKTools provide this feature as a standard.
Cheers
hrb
yeah with persistent storage hardreset changed
good thing too if it was easy to program a hardreset
it could cause alot of problems when / if more virus's
will come to pda's
I don't mean to scare you Rudegar, but there is a very simple way of forcing the user to do a hard reset himself, on any WM device. I am not going to publish it here, but lets just say if someone wanted to make a virus, lack of programmatic hard reset would not be a consideration at all.
well after wm5 a hardreset at least dont cost people all their nonbackupd data
I know this is getting the thread off track and I apologize, but the whole point of "hard reset" is to lose all data. Unless you keep is on SD in which case it doesn't matter what OS you are using.
You are probably thinking of power loss and not HR.
Thanks for the info. I'll check your hints.
Related
is it true that xda2 has very strict restrictions on wat is allowed to be installed on it?
if so is it then possible to unlock that feature so i can write my own c programs for it?
maybe even write a new browser that has jvm say ?
Dave
No. You can write and install whatever you like. Where did you hear that rumour?
Surur
Dave,
So youre a programmer.
I am still looking for someone who can contribute the following software to this community:
Today pluging that makes ot possible to toggle Bluetooth & TomTom GPS being switched on / off. If youre interested, let me know, I can supply you with more exact specs. It seeems to me quite simple: just reading / updating some registry values.
programming
sure ill give it a go.
email me with specs and sourcecode
[email protected]
this would be my first xda2 programming experience tho, so it ight take me a little while to get fammiliar with xda2 programming first. im mostly a pc proammer good in c++ and opengl graphics, however im fast learner.
there are enoug forums for PPC programmers where u can read how to modify registry:
www.devbuzz.com
www.pocketpcdn.com
amd of course www.msdn.com
etc
flashing the phone rom what does that do for u practicaly?
flashing the phone rom what does that do for u practicaly?
flashing means to upgrade the s/w (firmware) that is stored in (flash) "rom".
Normally you only flash the device when
- You suffer from bugs in the old'rom
- The new rom has specific benefits
There are 3 types of rom on the device that can be flashed:
OS- the operating system
Phone (aka Radio)- the gsm/gprs radio functionality
ExtendedROM- add-on and customisation s/w (usually put together by the service operator)
Flashing the rom on the xda 1 since the developers got their hands on it is a whole new ball game, they discovered that the autoconfig program was taking up acres of space and wasnt really needed, there was also some unused space. They devised a way of writing complete programs to this space and my xda has numerous programs in rom that would normally be taking up precious ram when installed. These guys are brilliant in adding value and funcionality to a brilliant device.
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
I've spent a good while looking and i cannot find a file recovery/raw disk access program that's available for mobile devices, could be a nice opportunity for someone!!!
I'd do it myself if i'd got the time lol
No offence but form the title it looks almost like your offering a paying job. Maybe something a little less flashy next time?
Any way have you checked out an app called pocket mechanic?
http://www.pocketgear.com/software_detail.asp?id=12178&associateid=373
It comes pretty close to what you want.
The problem with file recovery is the fact that these devices use RAM or FLASH memory and not hard disks. If it's RAM (WM2002 / 2003) there is no way to recover the file once it has been deleted.
With flash, from what I understand it still might be possible but a lot trickier than with HD.
ooops
No not quite offering a paid job to someone lol
Hmm as for the recovery option obviously i need to learn a lot more about the management of storage on these devices, i'd assumed they followed the usual method of FAT/NTFS rules regarding storage and deletion ?
So once a file is deleted the system automatically defragements the allocated space to reclaim it?
Could use a lot more input on this, as i assumed it was just going to be a case of dumping the content on the device onto a card or via usb to comp using a basic read from location xxxxx write to location yyyyy
Any others care to comment ?
oh and device in question is an 02 XDA Mini-S !
Re: ooops
wp4054 said:
So once a file is deleted the system automatically defragements the allocated space to reclaim it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, because flash "wears out". M$ have written WM5 to spread out the reading/writing randomly (kind of) across the whole of the memory to minimize "wear" and maximize the life of the flash. Defragmenting would negate this by concentrating read/writes to specific areas and because flash is solid state defraging is not needed anyway.
Right now i'm starting to understand, so i guess my question should be when something is deleted can it be recovered?
How long before the data is 'nuked' ?
The device in question has not been used since the deletion occured but i would still like to try and dump the contents of the internal 'drive' to see what if anything remains, is this feasible?
Thanks for all your assistance guys i'm on a learning curve here!
First, you have to tell us exactly what device it is and what OS it is currently running.
Like I said before, if it is a WM2003 device your data was probably in RAM and is lost forever.
Apologies i did state in my previous post that it an 02 XDA Mini-s or magician as it's known on here running windows mobile 5
Ideally all i want to do is read all the raw data from the machine either onto PC or onto a card so that it can then be analysed using a full screen hex editor/ data recoverer, i suspect the messages/data are still there but just with truncated headers/file markers
Actually, I should be the one to apologize, I missed that line.
Unfortunately, as I stated in previous posts, since your device has the WM 2003 OS and its main memory is RAM if the file was in the main memory, once it was deleted it is gone for good.
I think itsme has some tool for dumping memory (check the WiKi for itsutils or look for his posts) but I doubt they will help you.
Sorry.
Thanks will try using those as a start, i suspect that all may not be lost but i won't know till i can dump the affected memory/storage. The unit has not been powered down or used since and i'm hoping that the information i seek is still lurking there somewhere lol
Made me get me C++ hat back on anyway if nothing else !
Daresay i will be needing a lot more help on this one yet, i suspect the SMS raw data is still about somwehere and i'm gonna try find it lol
Moral of the story?
Don't lend your PDA to a friend that hasn't got a clue what they're doing!! (even if they are desperate!!)
wp4054 - investigate Buzz's grabit program on here. This may not be grabbing the memory you need, but it'll give you a good headstart on how to use the memory read/write functions.
You probably want to be reading other partitions, but the idea should still hold.
Frankly, it's likely to be a lot of work for a very small chance of success.
If the memory works like standard FAT, and they were files, it wouldn't be so bad. But the SMS data is stored in a database that is likely to be shuffled around quite a lot for efficiency, and so unlikely to be highly recoverable.
But let us know how you get on.
V
wp4054 said:
Apologies i did state in my previous post that it an 02 XDA Mini-s or magician as it's known on here running windows mobile 5
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's not a Magician, it's a Wizard.
O2 XDA Mini = Magician - runs WM2003SE
O2 XDA Mini S = Wizard - runs WM5
Cheers Vijay i guess i won't know till i try!
I was just thinking that the memory behaved like a disk in that storage was not reallocated immediatley, will let all know what if anything my findings are, i wouldn't normally be bothererd if it was just the odd message but it was everything that was deleted, read messages which i wanted /needed to keep not just the ones in the deleted folder!
Thanks for the help it's appreciated
Glenn (who just realised he's not put a name to any of his previous posts! , oops)
That's not a Magician, it's a Wizard.
O2 XDA Mini = Magician - runs WM2003SE
O2 XDA Mini S = Wizard - runs WM5
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So does that mean i have a better chance of data recovery on this device??
Can anybody advise to the best program for anti-theft solution for the TyTN working on WM5?
My requirement are:
1, It launches from ext-rom sothat it survives hard resets. Please note that if it's not certified it will not install from ext-rom on WM5.
2, It will send a sms to a predefined number without letting the thief know. This will be done: A, when a new sim is inserted. B, If the device owners identity is changed or deleted.
try IIWPO with the "unsigned Hack" before (read it somewhere here on the board)
I'll try to use the same @ my next Hardreset - will report here when done...
found the link
put Default_Signed_DisableSecurity.CAB from this thread in ext_Rom to be installed first of all
Lio said:
Can anybody advise to the best program for anti-theft solution for the TyTN working on WM5?
My requirement are:
1, It launches from ext-rom sothat it survives hard resets. Please note that if it's not certified it will not install from ext-rom on WM5.
2, It will send a sms to a predefined number without letting the thief know. This will be done: A, when a new sim is inserted. B, If the device owners identity is changed or deleted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The anti-theft app can only go so far as much as how well the thief knows about WM devices, as far as WM devices is concern, a flash of a ROM will wipe everything, I mean EVERYTHING!
So it doesn't matter where you put the anti-theft app start-up, the best bet is only that wishing the thief doesn't really know anything about WM devices.
My opinion goes like this after a number of tries on different brands of these anti-theft app with or without GPS functionality, as long as the pick-up / thief swap the SIM, the device should simply lock and with some info for the pick-up / thief to return to (basically you), any attempts of breaching that level should be a total wipe-out of the whole thing including the SD card itself.
However, as I said, if the pick-up / thief deliberately flash your device with a ROM before using it, nothing will work, because if the pick-up / thief knows about hard-resetting your device to get away from anything, he / she might as well know about flashing a ROM is the best way afterall, as there are so many info about this skill posted on this forum, I do not see it as any kind of high-level skill set at all.
Due to synchronization problems and not being able to "hard reset" my X7500 I need to find out if I can return to the WM 5 I originally had on it. Does anyone have an idea if this problem can be solved in any way?
My device is an X7500 with WM 6 on it. When I try to reinstall / reset the device I still have certain items on it. (For example my internet connection settings). When I try to synchronize, the device does briefly display the number of items it processes, but after finishing, there are no items on the device.
Thanks in advance for any advise.
Greetings
Fred
Hard reset
Hi there,
Are you serious you cant hard reset? Thats no good!!....You can't push the volume slider down and then press your stylus into the hole at the back? Is your Volume slider broken? Maybe another soft way to initiate the bootloader restore screen......
The best thing to do with this device is to get it up to Mitchy Windows Mobile 6.1 - doesnt really matter which one. Even if its working perfectly with standard mobile 6 or 5.
The increase in simply useability is rather large and rather worth it. Docx and XLSX support etc... much faster - proper real VGA built in.