Database Users

ExtROM Cab Files

Hi all,
I've had my S100 for a week now. It came with ROM ver 1.06 (I think) and right on the 1st day I upgraded to 1.11 and finally decided to apply Anansky's Big Storage ROM. All work perfectly even with my Jabra BT800. I've been trying many different 3rd party software. As usual, after installing and deinstalling, my unit became unstable and therefore would like to start from scratch.
In XDA's ftp site there is a Qtek 1.11 Ext ROM zip file. At first I installed all, but I think I could do away with some. Based on the filenames, some are self explanatory but I don't know which ones I can do without. Could someone be kind enough to explain?
Delete_vdisk_shortcut_WWE.sa.CAB What does this do?
Caller_ID_Magician_Generic_WWE_RC13.CAB Selft explanatory
SmartDialing_Magician_Generic_WWE_RC13.CAB I've read in other threads that some don't install this when using sw like MSVoice Commands.
PhonePad_Magician_Generic_WWE_RC12.CAB I think this contains T9 and what else? How can I edit this file to remove unwanted languages other stuff?
CAB-ArcsoftMMS-20022-Magician-Generic-ENU-08Mar05.cab I believe this is essential, right?
CV2.41.386_WWE.CAB No clue. Is it essential?
JMM101257_WWE_1004.CAB No clue. Is it essential?
BTHUSB_PATCH_AKU26.CAB Self explanatory
Version_WWE_111129.sa.CAB What is it for? Is it essential?

And does anyone know of how to delete these .cabs? I hit soft reset before it autoloaded all of those above mentioned .cabs. IS it possible to delete them or at least make them non accessible?

johnannie said:
And does anyone know of how to delete these .cabs? I hit soft reset before it autoloaded all of those above mentioned .cabs. IS it possible to delete them or at least make them non accessible?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you have the Anansky ROM installed I don't think you will have the option to install the extended ROM when you do a hard reset, mine doesn't. You have to install the extended ROM seperately. You should have made a backup of your extended ROM before doing the Anansky hack. If you don't have it, maybe you can download it from the XDA ftp site. Remember only install .cab files, don't execute the autorun or you may wipe out your big storage. Even if you install all of the Ext. ROM files, they don't take up much space in the storage area (maybe 1.5 or 2 meg.) depending on your Ext. ROM.

Thanks for the responses but I would like some information from you experts on the following:
1. Which CAB files can I do away with and why?
2. How can I edit the PhonePad.CAB in order to remove unwanted languages? Any special software needed?
The Qtek 1.11 ExtROM found in this forum's FTP site has 9 CAB files. Some of them like the Caller ID is self explanatory, meaning this must definitely be installed if Caller ID is one of the functions one needs.

XDA2i Guide to cooking the Extended ROM

I finally found a method for backing up and modifying the Extended ROM on an XDA2i device.
http://en.pdamobiz.com/en/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=373&PN=1
Unfortunately, although this method is able to do most of what I want, some of the cab files do not self-extract successfully during the reset process.
Graham. -- Issue resolved. No spaces allowed in Cab file name --
Before you ask, yes the cab files do self-extract successfully if tried manually (i.e. outside of the reset process).
If anyone has any ideas why some cab files work and others do not, please let me know.

I played with the information in the article yesterday.. Some information in the article is incorrect. They state the ext. rom is 24 MB but when following the steps on the website this is incorrect !
Sure, extra drive reports a 24 MB drive but the what's backuped to the SD card doesn't include the whole 24 MB the ext. rom supposedly has !
What I'm typing below is more guess work than knowledge.
"d2s 80000000 3BF0000" probably means "dump to SD card" for a total length of 80000000 hex starting at 3BF0000 hex.
80000000 hex is 2147483648 in decimal. These aren't the amount in bytes that are copied.. I to honest it I have no real idea in what it are but when dividing it by 1024^2/100 you get 20,48. The / 100 is something I made up since that gives me about the amount in MBs I can put in the ext. ROM without having corrupted files. I don't want to experiment with larger values since I haven't studied the tools that are used in the article enough yet.
In short, be sure not to put more than say 20 MB in the ext. ROM and most likely your problems are solved. I personally put an executable sprite backup file in the ext ROM, packaged it in a way it will be copied to storage and run from there. It's the most effective way I could think of to fill an extended ROM. Simply with a fully installed but clean backup of the pocket pc.
Anyhow, that's it for now.

I considered it being a problem with size and reduced the amount of data in the Extended ROM by a huge amount (deleted several of the cab files that I did not need).
This reduced it down to around 13Mb for what it's worth.
All of the files installed to the ROM ok, but when the process which reads the Config.txt file reached the parts regarding two of the cabs I wanted to install, the files failed to self-extract without giving any feedback.
Several other cab files I wanted to install worked fine.
What all this means is that the problem (probably) lies somewhere other than the size of the Extended ROM.
Thanks for the post sparcle and if you find out anything more please let me know.
If anyone else can help here, please feel free to contribute.
Graham.

As above guide:
CE Rom size is 2700000 (hex)
Total backup size is 3BF0000 (hex)
So extended rom size is 3BF0000-2700000 = 14F0000 (hex) or 21,954,560 (dec)
So extended rom size shall not be over than 21,954,560 in total space.
-----------------------
But itsme's document
http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=AlpineRomStructure
82700000-83f00000 extended rom
So backup range shall be 3F00000. (size = 66060288 (dec) which you can not use 64mb card, you have to use 128mb card to backup)
So sorry, I'll ask my friend ruchonburi to recheck again.

Just a quick note on the sizes you gave above:
83,f00,000 - 82,700,000 = 1,800,000 (hex)
= 25,165,824 (dec) (24Mb) for the extended rom.
83,f00,000 - 80,000,000
= 3,f00,000 (hex) = 63Mb for the whole rom
The document given at the site uses:
80,000,000 to 83,bf0,000 which may miss some of the extended ROM, which may explain my problem.
I will try using the numbers from wiki and see if it works.
Cheers,
Graham.

I tried using d2s 80000000 3f00000 to create the SD Card backup initially and I still had the same problem with some CAB files extracting successfully and some not.
Graham.

Looks like the issue may lie with spaces in the CAB filenames.
If it is I will kick myself for not realising it sooner and then post here to let you know.
Graham.

Ouch, ouch, ouch....
I've finished kicking myself.
The problem was indeed the space in the cab filename.
On the plus side it means that the process works fine.
Graham.

i just want to ask......by cooking Ext Rom....how much free space that can be use after that???? does it effect any upgrade in the future????

The Extended ROM is an area that you cannot normally write to and is not considered part of the memory (as far as I am aware) under Settings/Memory.
By cooking the ROM you can alter what applications get installed when the device is hard reset. The installed applications will take up their normal memory allocation so in that respect it will reduce the amount of memory available to further applications.
It is possible to increase the amount of memory available by cooking the ROM as there may be elements of the Extended ROM that came with the device that you do not actually want installed. This is done either by removing the relevant cab file completely or by removing the relevant entry from the Config.txt file (both should be done, but one or the other will have the same effect).
Hope this helps,
Graham.

gbird, thanks very much for that information. im sorry because asking question just about benefit, not about how and why. thanks again!

Hi fellow alpine owners
I'm keen to follow your tips and do some work in the kitchen.
I have downloaded all the relevant articles from the link provided so thankyou for that.
However i'm reluctant to take the first step with the thought of a unrecoverable disaster on my hands. MY NEW XDA2i!! So before i get started i thought i would consult the experts for any tips and traps for young players.
I've bought myself a large enough quality SD card to dump to.
I guess the aim of the exercise is to a remove unwanted programs and install some of the cool features of Special Edition ROM 1.2 including that really excellent anti theft tool.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated, with what to remove/ install and how thanks in advance.
Miket
ROM version 1.11.00
ROM date 01/27/05
Radio version 1.03.00
Protocol Version 1337.42
ExtROM version 1.11.162 WWE

First tip, use the process to back up the ROM of the device and keep it very safe.
Since all you will be playing with is the Extended ROM (and not messing with the OS Rom or Radio Rom) the good news is that if you removed all of the files from the Extended Rom you would still be able to boot the device. This gives you an opportunity to remove files to see what they install. If it goes really wrong, you can restore the Extended Rom from the SD card backup.
The XDA2i device does have a lot of room on it for additional items so you can add in extra Cab files or Exe files if you wish. You need to modify the Config.txt file to make the Extended Rom run these extras.
As for which files do what, there is a lot of info available around this site and others and I am afraid I do not have time to go into it at the moment.
I will see if I get some time over the next few days, but work is a little hectic at the moment.
Hope you have fun,
Graham.

Thanks for the speedy reply Graham
Will endevour to make backup this evening and start chopping up extended ROM.
Any thoughts on the instructions provided by this web site.
http://en.pdamobiz.com/en/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=373&PN=1
Obviously a highly regarded PDA hacker.
I will be working through these. It's a bumber that XDA2i is so arkward.
Thanks for now
Miket

The page is pretty good (that's why I pointed at it)
RomUpdate
The only bit that is a bit short on description is the stuff regarding using the romupdate tool at the top.
If you need a more complete description of this tool then I would take a look at:
http://en.pdamobiz.com/en/forum/PDAforum_posts.asp?TID=62&PN=1&TPN=2
Be aware that the addresses for the d2s command are different for the XDA2 and XDA2i
Rom Structure
The memory address information for the Alpine (XDA2i) is available at this site:
http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=AlpineRomStructure
RomUpdate Commands
There is also a page describing some of the commands available in the romupdate tool:
http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=HimalayaBootloaderCommands
XDA2 Cab Files
This site has a description of some of the XDA2 cab files which may interest you (though the XDA2i uses different cab files, some of which have similar names):
http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=6470
Soft Reset in the Config.txt File
The last bit I'm going to mention here is that the last item in the Config.txt file soft resets the device. If you remove this item for some reason then adding the line "RST: Reset" on the end of the Config.txt file will soft reset the device automatically for you.
Hope these are of use to you, I know they were all of use to me,
Graham.

Absolutely excellent thanks Graham
Have got as far as using the split tool.
Xp is throwing a 16bit error my way, so i will have to resolve that before i can go any further.
Are you suggesting that when i re-build extended ROM to include "RST:Reset" on the last line in config.txt?
Anyway it's time for bed.
Thanks for the great links, will read through these tomorrow.
Miket

With regards to the RST: Reset command, it is sometimes useful to soft reset the device at the end of the configuration.
This is because some of the Cab files will probably modify the registry and most of these changes will not be picked up until the device is soft reset (the device is still usable, just not using the changes).
Most of the builds that you may come across already do this as a last step in one of their Executables so they do not always include the reset line in the config file. Adding this line to the end will ensure that a soft reset always happens so that registry changes will be used.
Be warned, soft resetting the device will halt the configuration build at that point, so anything after the reset command will never happen.
I hope this makes some sense
Graham.

Hi again Graham
Finally sorted 16 bit issues with the PC. Have loaded SPLIT ROM and created the 3 components. Particularly ext.img
I have also created the virtual drive "X" with "ext.img"
File\properties tells me this is a 24MB file. All good until i wish to open. PC asks if i wish to format disk, i'm not able to read contents any ideas.
TA
Mike

I thought i would try downloading the cooked rom off en.pdamobiz.com as a test. The extended rom opened up perfectly in virtual drive creator. Mine however is an exact match size wise but wont open.
HMMM
I guess the next step is work out what i need and dont need in extended ROM. Assuming i can get past this stage.
Any guidance here would be appreciated.
Miket

Hello guys!
I'd like to modify my german extROM too but I have a little problem: when I'm starting the ntrw.exe (it lay in the basement of my HDD, in C:\) it closes itself!
So I mean, I can't use the ntrw.exe from the PDA-Miz guide to write the ROM-image to my HDD!
What can I do?
Thanks in advance
animelover from germany

2.xx ExtendedROM unlocker that work

The guys at :
http://buzzdev.net/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&Itemid=59&func=view&id=19287&catid=45
have this file:
http://buzzdev.net/components/com_simpleboard/uploaded/files/Prophet_ext_rom_unlock.rar
- unpack
- copy it over to your device
- run it
This will make your ExtendedROM writable, NOT visible.
Use TotalCommander CE to display content of your ExtendedROM for now (by entering "\Extended_Rom")
Sometimes, files in ExtendedROM are marked as READONLY and you have to clear that bit.
Does anybody has a good description of each file present in the Extended_Rom and if we can delete it or not?????

After readin that whole thread it seems some say it works some say it does not.
Can anyone confirm it works with the latest Submitter Cingular Rom? I do not want to have to reinstall everything again
I just got things perfect from the last Hard Reset I did.

I tried it on my 2.08 Qtek rom. Does not work (YET as Buzz is still trying!)
This was merely a test version btw.

I flashed my Qtek s200 with the lastest dopod rom (from the ftp page) then did a soft reset just before customisation begins (preventing the extrom files from loading - I don't use MMS or smartdialing).
Copy buzznet's prophet extrom exe onto your device and run it (You should get a little popup saying "success"). I can't view the extrom files and the memory settings are still the same but my system runs a lot faster and I've gone from having to do a soft reset almost twice a day to once every 5 or 6 days!! (I run a large program thats eats up RAM).
It seems so much more stable, reponsive and quicker
Hope this helps......
G

garywiscombe said:
I flashed my Qtek s200
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is why this stuff gets dangerous. The s200 is not the same as the Wizard from what I understand. Folks read things like this in what is a Wizard specific forum and think it's really working. On the buzzdev forums they seem to say it works on Prophet based devices and not on wizards.
That is why I asked here on a wizard specific forum about anyone having success.

From Bootloader / ROM structure perpective the Prophet and Wizard are said to be similar.
Buzz has developed his tool without any of these devices so hes still in a test phase.

Worked For me
with the last RRU Qtek IPL 2.15 Radio 2.30
Thanks
Herc.

XDA II
Hi guys
I tried it but it gives me message that it is not a valied Pocket PC application
the ExtROM version is 2.06 from PDAMobiz.com

ROM upgrade - how to create your own rom-questions ???

hi i have been looking through this formu but cannot really find what i am after. sorry in advance but if it was covered in other threads please give links.
i would like to upgrade my rom (current i am using pre-installed tmobile mda pro rom) to something batter. the problem is there is so many things in this forum that makes me conufused.
Is it possible (probably it is- but how) to upgrade my ROM by creating my own ROM eg take the best radio rom and extended rom with the stuff i want eg some application i am using right now - instead of normal keyboard get resco keyboard and instead of file explorer get resco explorer and so on and on and put them to the extended rom .
is there any soft to do it ? can someone provide me with links where i can find out something more about ROM cos wiki isnt really helpful and seems to be out of date.
any help wanted !
cheers, cudo
ps. or put tomtom to the extRom...rom that would feauture all the good stuff.

what a pity nobady is willing to help me..maybe u vac just point me to some accurate threads within this forum, if ther are some.
cheers, cudo

To put another Radio ROM in is trivial.
Take out the other two (ExtROM and OS) ROM images and just flash in the Radio file. I did this and didn't even need a hard reset.
To put TomTom into your ExtROM is easy too.
Once you have done your hard reset with your new ROM images and the ExtROM has loaded, you have 10MB of space that you can reclaim. There are instructions at the top of this forum for unlocking the ExtROM and making it appear as another memory area.
Please use backup software regularly so that you don't have to reflash the unit until the next OS upgrade.
Creating a ROM image is more hard work, and I don't know for sure that all the information is accurate. This is only my understanding of the process.
Install the programs that you want in your ROM to your PDA and make a note of the locations of all files and registry entries that are installed.
Take a recent ROM image and unpack it to your desktop.
Delete the programs that you don't want to install, and then search through the hives for the entries that relate to those programs. Delete those too.
Put the files and registry entries of the programs you are putting into your ROM into their post-installed locations.
Rebuild the ROM image.
Flash it in.
Hopefully this won't break your PDA if you get it wrong, I'm guessing that this is very much a trial and error process.
I haven't tried this.
Use this information at your own risk, it could break your PDA.

how do i separate the rom images from each other..i mean radio, os and extended roms ? when i unzip the UNI_TMUK_130114_130232_11003_WWE_BL101_Ship i am getting loads of files but cannot see the right ones.
cheers, cudo

Stop Progs from EXtRom to install

Hi
I am a newbie to tweaking PDAs and I am expecting a new P3300 from expansys... question is how do I stop unwanted programs from ExtRom to install?
Thank you

My guess is you can't stop them from being installed in original ROM cause that's how it's built. But unofficial, custom ROM builds tend to modify ExtROM.
What can be done is accessing of ExtROM and removing programs from there, but I haven't read much on this subject. Check this for example http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=285519

I am not sure if it is what you want. To stop all the crap from network provider from installing after hard reset I used to soft reset the device as soon as it finishes startup. There is a message for about 2-3 sec that customization is going to install. I then press the reset button and have clean OS (except some small customizations like internet settings and some icons).

one other way to do it which worked for me. i installed Total Commander CE then in the command line I typed \Extended_ROM and it showed the contents of my ExtROM. i deleted all files from there, did a hard reset, and of course nothing was installed from extROM.
unfortunately, some unneccessary programs are in the ROM, not extROM. and there's just no way to delete them, but to create custom ROM....

hi dim4x4 and Adigital
thanks for replying, what I actually intend to do is stop installation of crap software when hard resetting (like clearvue pdf viewer)that are built in to the extended ROM. I just want to install those ones that are necessary to run the machine. I will be getting the HTC p3300.

In my case ClearView is in the ROM, not ExtROM. Try Dopod custom ROMs, they have Adobe Reader LE instead of ClearView.

dim4x4 said:
In my case ClearView is in the ROM, not ExtROM. Try Dopod custom ROMs, they have Adobe Reader LE instead of ClearView.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I rarely use Acrobat - infact never - is it possible to remove this from the ROM? can save 2MB space !!!