Database Users

History file on device memory!

Hello,
i have a file called History in the main device memory and it keeps going larger and larger every day! it seems like it is a log file for every time i soft reset my JasJar. i can't delete it or rename it and the only way to open it is to copy and paste in other folder and then i can open the copy.
can anyone advise how can i delete it or disable logging events?
Regards.

Internet Explorer history perhaps? You periodically need to clear the history cache from IE if you don't want your memory to fill up. I haven't found a way to put a limit on it. It just keeps growing till the whole friggin memory is full.

hi,
thanks for your reply but this is not the case! it is stand alone file which keeps recordings a log file of each time the device reset.
i had all kinds of i-mates before but this is the first time i see this file!

Hi,
I have raised this question many months ago. I had it on my old ROM and since upgrading to the latest Orange ROM i still have it.
The answer to my old post was that it was a debugging flag that was left enabled by the ROM - so far I have been unable to find it in the registry.
The only option might be to backup your device, hard reset and when you restore from the backup see if there is an option to ignore restoring the history.txt file.
Its very annoying and before I upgraded my ROM the file was at about 750K - now its at 55k, and thats within about 2 months.
Let me know if you find anything else about it.
Matt

Hi,
i have also tried to find it in the reg but no luck! so what backup software are you using?
many thanks.

ammar said:
Hi,
i have also tried to find it in the reg but no luck! so what backup software are you using?
many thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have only used Sprite Backup and this does now allow selective file restoration in the root directory.
Might be worth seeing if SPB backup will give the option to be more selective.
Matt

Automating Program Installs

Hey all,
I have a question.
I have been playing with my 8125 a lot lately and am constantly resetting my device. What I want to know is I have one main machine that I do all my application installs via active sync that way when I hard reset my device I just have to go to add remove programs in active sync and re-check all the programs I want to put back on my phone.
Here is what I want.
I don’t want to have to tell the phone where to install the applications (I want it to default to storage card without any prompts.) and.. I don’t want any confirmation prompts ie: security unsigned, approve this application to be installed, this application was installed properly… etc.. I want to streamline the process so I can just tick the check boxes for my apps, let them download and that’s it. Currently after refreshing I have to spend quite a bit of time clicking “ok” … storage card…. Ok… storage card… ok… I think you get it.
Thanks much!

I've seen a lot of different reg keys out there that may accomplis this. Is there a way to disable the notifications and pre-set the install path peramaters?

sledwrecker said:
I've seen a lot of different reg keys out there that may accomplis this. Is there a way to disable the notifications and pre-set the install path peramaters?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can do this with WinCE Cab manager

If you really reset your device that often why don't you use SPB BACKUP? A reinstallation of all your apps wouldn't be necessary - just load your backup and you're ready to go!

Ya I did think of that but here is my issue.
the reason I am constantly hard reseting is because I am changing and playing with roms pretty much on a daily basis. I've been cooking my own roms trying to come up with what works best for me and what is closest to RTM. Thus why I am always re-installing apps.
So if I use SPB backup (which I have) it saves system settings and such right? So if I am switching roms all the time will it break my device?
Thanks guys! I'm new to the forum here I just got my first PPC phone a couple weeks ago but I've been an avid windows mobile (smartphone) user for years and have worked on WM platforms as beta tester.
Gotta love this stuff!!!

sledwrecker said:
So if I use SPB backup (which I have) it saves system settings and such right? So if I am switching roms all the time will it break my device?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes you are exactly right, and so many people seem to miss this... Spb Backup, Sprite Backup, etc are full backups that backup and restore the registry and all. If you restore this from one rom to a different rom you are likely to break something (may not be obvious at first, but you have a very good chance of things being broken inside the registry that you will trip up on at some point).
So yeah, the only way around this (without building your own extended rom and such) is to create a folder (or set of folders) on your SD card with all the cabs, files, and settings that you need for when your flash a new rom. Then run through that to set things up. You can also use ActiveSync to reinstall apps (just check them all and it will put them all back on) but you have to remember which ones (if any) require a reset of your device as that can cause probs with the others that are installing (if all done together).

Yep,
but at least you can import contacts, email and pim data that way quite easy!
Since you continiously flash your device: there will be no other solution but reinstalling your applications again and again. You might want to look around for a CAB extractor and then create your own CABs with all the progs you would like to have in one large CAB ???
One such CAB Installer Creator is: WinCE CAB Manager
Take a closer look at MolskiBiz_DevPack and you will find a utility to extract CAB files. It will be a bit work to add all the registry values to the Installer you're going to create but finally you might save a lot of time since you only run 1 installation instead of xxx ...

This is good, I have been playing with wince cab and it is a solution.
Now I'm going to work on making my extended roms.. will this work? I did a full recover of my apps through active sync just an hour or two ago and it reported total size of all cabs as just over 112megs. That means I'd be flashing a MONSTER rom and would it even be possible?
2gig mini SD card.
thanks

I tried before to add some apps (cab installers) to a personalized extended rom but it never worked the way I wanted it to. You might have seen that you always have to give some inputs when ever you install programs, sometimes you get ask if you really want to install the app, sometimes you need to choose a location. So, if you add CAB installers UNCHANGED to the extended ROM it just won't install because during extended rom installation you have no way of providing that information.

Strange Crash

I　ｈａｖｅ　ｂｅｅｎ　ｒｕｎｎｉｎｇ　ｄ－ｔｗｏ＇ｓ rom for a while now and it is working great for me. Last night I tried to connect to live messenger and it went a bit crazy. Now it will only get to the today screen and then it hangs. I am looking around the site for a solution but I just wanted to ask here as well..
I know a hard reset will get me going again, problem is some text messages from last night that I really really dont want to lose.
I think it may be relatedto xpuscaler, but I dont really know. Activesync will not connect
The ideas I think may help me are:
1. can i use something like tty to get into the machine and either take the sms and contacts file or remove xpuscaler from the startup?
2. Can i use the clean registry without the format storage option from the hard reset menu? would this destroy my contacts and sms?
Please help

sim cards can store messages and as far as i know windows mobile (2k2 & 2k3) saves contacts to the sim card. check it in another phone if the stuff is stored there and if it is HR or reflash your unit.

1. as far as i know, there is no way to access files or folders remotely unless the device is fully booted, so, no mtty, no accessing in bootloader mode
2. yes you can use that option, that is a pretty good idea actually, because while the registry might contain startup information, it does not contain your sms or contacts.
another thing is, always keep your contacts synced, so they can never be the issue, and for sms, i recommend either to sync them too, or regularly make a backup with pimbackup, of course, this advise does not help you right now, but it might avoid issues like this in the future. since we are not carrying around normal phones like nokia, SE, ... and play around with custom roms, we must always be ready to perform a hard reset.
but back to the topic, unfortunately, the BA offers no "Safe Mode", as known of windows pcs, so avoiding the startup. you can try tricking the BA to do something else first, if the registry clearing does not work, you could put an extrom to your SD card and maybe the extrom startup will be first. maybe an extrom containing the same or a newer version of xcpuscalar will uninstall the current version and install the new version with the standard settings, and since the extrom shuts down everything else, it might just work.
and kind as i am, i actually built an extrom for you, just unzip and copy to the sd card, if it does not work, rename the folder from EXTROM to 2577 and it will work.
here you have the download link, it's pretty small: http://rapidshare.com/files/335389705/EXTROM.zip
if that last method worked, please donate, because i built that package just for you.

Thanks Chef,
I am having a go with your extrom now..
In the time since last post I have been able to get it working at the today screen but nothing will load.. maybe 520mhz made the processor die? have been running at full speed for a few weeks now..
You are right about the backup, I usually have pimbackup automated to backup to my sd everyday, but I hadnt got around to it since I installed this ROM. Typical luck! I wouldnt really care but I have some important sms that I need to recover..
@ares93 unfortunatly I dont save to my sim card as I have too many contacts to do that. And I dont think my sim could store my four years of sms that I seem to still have...
Will post more as it goes...

Well unfortunately the extrom didnt help so I bit the bullet and did a registry clean from the hard reset menu. It now boots and I have removed lots of apps to try to get rid of any clashes.. at the moment It appears to be completely normal until you try to run anything. mshome is working smoothly, the start menu is working, some settings panels will load, but I cant get it to run anything..
anyone seen this before?
Does anyone know if i can take a complete image of the device at this state and restore it later after i start really messing with things
Does anyone know if i can take a copy of the files on it and just restore the entire sms database after a hard reset?
I will think about how I can donate, its about time i did...

In the end a hard reset didnt work, so I reflashed and its all running smooth, lost some important documents, but it was all i could do.
lesson learned, remember to schedule back ups for everyday to sd

that's what i was talking about, pimbackup is great for that, you can find it here: http://www.dotfred.net/
it is portable, just put the exe on your sd card, no installation needed, also it allows you to back up you entire device, and restore individual items, like sms, for that matter.
if you want to make a full backup that would completely restore your device after a hard reset, with all settings, programs...
you should try SPB backup. there is a trial version at http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/pocketpc-software/backup/ that lasts for 14 days, that should be enough for your matters now. the only thing you need to know about spb backup is: you cannot restore a backup on another rom because it also saves the entire windows folder and that varies from rom to rom.
pimbackup, however can make universal backups that can be restored on other roms, other windows mobile versions from wm2003 to wm6.5.3, even other windows mobile based devices.

Backup my HD2 for official ROM upgrade

So i've searched the forum for how to backup my phone as i want to install the official 1.6 rom which i got from the HTC site yesterday.
Now, after reading tons of threads i must say i'm still confused. I'm surprised there is not a simple stickied guide for noobs on how to simply backup your phone, upgrade and restore.
I was good at this malarky on symbian but this is like starting over gain, i'm clueless. I know the apps SPB, Sprite & pimbackup as well as microsoft my phone are all options for backing up but i need to get this staright in my nooby nut before i start it. So...
What i want:
1). a programme that will back up my contacts and most importantly my SETTINGS, no one seems to mention backing up the settings
2). then, should i hard reset before the upgrade? hard reset after? both? not at all?
3). I'm not bothered about registry tweaks i can redo the ones i want and i've got all my cabs on my pc ready to re-install.
Sorry if i'm being thick but i want to get this right, i don't want to lose all my settings and have to go through the entire phone to make it mine again..
If the above 3 questions can be simply answered i would be eternaly grateful

The reason backup.restire isn't really mentioned much is that restoring settings after can be a little hit and miss. I hear spb backup can restore settings after a new rom, but also there are several threads where people say the phone fails to boot after the restore and they must hard reset.
The reason is that flashing a new rom is like completely wiping and reinstalling your pc operating system. Its a whole new system, so if you restore for example some registry settings, there is no guarantee that something in the new rom isn't changed from the old one.
Personally, i just re do everything manually. (Flashed a new rom not 30 minutes ago actually, and all i have left to set up is the email accounts. Takes no more than 20 minutes all in to get ot back to how i had it before)
You should hard reset after you flash a new rom. No point doing it before. Do teh flash, let it set itself up, then hard reset, let it set itself up again, start using.
You have cabs and reg tweaks saved, (as do i) so i'd say bite the bullet and do the settings manually.

Hell Jonbaker,
Appreciate you have taken some time to search which is what a lot of new users DON'T do so lets help you out here.
I suggest you do this:
Go to the SPB Mobile website, download a trial version of SPB Backup. When you run it the software backs up the following:
- PIM Data including text messages
- Email
- Documents and files
- System files and settings.
Once you have done this, ie made the backup onto a dedicated sub directory on the SD card on your device, do the following: as a further backup, make a copy of the SPB backup file and transfer it to your PC. This way if anything goes wrong you have 2 copies of this valuable file in 2 different locations.
Next upgrade your ROM from the HTC site, which seems to be your preferred option.
Once the ROM is installed and the phone boots back up ok AND you are happy that there are no problems with the ROM then do the following:
- Use file explorer to navigate to the sub directory on your SD card where you kept the original SPB backup file from before.
- Tap on the file and it will eventually load up. Note that it is a self executable file but it sometimes takes a little while to load up
- This bit is important: once the file is loaded up, walk carefully through the screens until you see the options for Full Restore or Customized Restore
- Choose Cutomized Restore. If you don't you WILL screw up your new installation
- At the next screen you will see that ALL the options are already ticked. Untick System Data . This bit is very important. Leave all other options ticked
- Walk through the rest of the screens then let the software do its thing
- Once done the device will reboot itself and all your data, PIM, emails, etc will have been restored.
Job Done.
By the way, you will have to restore your software packages manually but at least your PIM data is already restored automatically. Afraid there is no other way out if you are changing ROMS.
If you get stuck come back and we can see what we can do. If you take your time and think logically you will be fine.
Cheers
WB
PS: Whatever you do, DO NOT DELETE the SPB Backup file as you may need it again at a later date. Also get into the habit of making regular automated backups which this software allows you to do.
I backup every day, 7 days a week, for peace of mind.
WB

samsamuel said:
You have cabs and reg tweaks saved, (as do i) so i'd say bite the bullet and do the settings manually.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
mmmm, pain in the arse, i've had this phone a week and i've spent hours and hours learning it and getting it how i want it and now i learn of the new rom and i got to start from scratch again.
After coming from the N96 where an over the air upgrade could be done and not losing a single file or setting without backing up, this is taking a huge step back for me. However, that was the only advantage i could tell you that the n96 has over this phone!
I might try the spb backup, if it fails on my settings i can hard reset no loss yeah?
Thanks for the info again mate, very helpful member

wacky.banana said:
Hell Jonbaker,
Appreciate you have taken some time to search which is what a lot of new users DON'T do so lets help you out here.
I suggest you do this:
Go to the SPB Mobile website, download a trial version of SPB Backup. When you run it the software backs up the following:
- PIM Data including text messages
- Email
- Documents and files
- System files and settings.
Once you have done this, ie made the backup onto a dedicated sub directory on the SD card on your device, do the following: as a further backup, make a copy of the SPB backup file and transfer it to your PC. This way if anything goes wrong you have 2 copies of this valuable file in 2 different locations.
Next upgrade your ROM from the HTC site, which seems to be your preferred option.
Once the ROM is installed and the phone boots back up ok AND you are happy that there are no problems with the ROM then do the following:
- Use file explorer to navigate to the sub directory on your SD card where you kept the original SPB backup file from before.
- Tap on the file and it will eventually load up. Note that it is a self executable file but it sometimes takes a little while to load up
- This bit is important: once the file is loaded up, walk carefully through the screens until you see the options for Full Restore or Customized Restore
- Choose Cutomized Restore. If you don't you WILL screw up your new installation
- At the next screen you will see that ALL the options are already ticked. Untick System Data . This bit is very important. Leave all other options ticked
- Walk through the rest of the screens then let the software do its thing
- Once done the device will reboot itself and all your data, PIM, emails, etc will have been restored.
Job Done.
By the way, you will have to restore your software packages manually but at least your PIM data is already restored automatically. Afraid there is no other way out if you are changing ROMS.
If you get stuck come back and we can see what we can do. If you take your time and think logically you will be fine.
Cheers
WB
PS: Whatever you do, DO NOT DELETE the SPB Backup file as you may need it again at a later date. Also get into the habit of making regular automated backups which this software allows you to do.
I backup every day, 7 days a week, for peace of mind.
WB
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Excellent advice, i will try this, i appreciatte you taking the time to write all that out in detail. I shall follow the steps you gave and report back with how i got on
one last thing, at what point should i hard reset? i'm guessing straight after i'm happy the rom has been installed correctly. Then restore?

wacky.banana said:
... - This bit is important: once the file is loaded up, walk carefully through the screens until you see the options for Full Restore or Customized Restore
- Choose Cutomized Restore. If you don't you WILL screw up your new installation
- At the next screen you will see that ALL the options are already ticked. Untick System Data . This bit is very important. Leave all other options ticked
...
By the way, you will have to restore your software packages manually but at least your PIM data is already restored automatically. Afraid there is no other way out if you are changing ROMS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great post WB.
However... your statement i quoted above is not 100% correct. Its sort of dependant upon what ROM you are upgrading to and whether a system restore using SPB Backup will cause problems or not. The only way to tell is to actually try it out!
For info here... i have used SPB Backup for years. Recently though i used SPB Backup to backup my entire system,... applications, registry etc (not PIM data as i use MS Exchange to simply sync).
I then upgraded my ROM from 1.43 stock to 1.66 stock and restored using my backup file.... everything was back... all of my apps and registry tweaks were present and working with no hiccups AT ALL. The restored system was complete and included system integrated stuff like SPB Mobile Shell, S2u2 and even my manila home screen edits and tweaks.
It was then a simple matter of synching with exchange to get my contacts back.
When you run the restore on your newly flashed device... definately do a custom restore and if you are doing system data also, SPB Backup should prompt you with the fact that it has recognised your ROM has changed. You should then run the restore in ROM upgrade mode.

hmmm, system data.. would that mean registry tweaks and installed apps? does that also include settings or is that covered else where in the restore?

jonbaker76 said:
hmmm, system data.. would that mean registry tweaks and installed apps? does that also include settings or is that covered else where in the restore?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
system data is indeed ALL of your apps and registry tweaks.
WB's post will only backup and restore your PIM data.
What i am saying is that you can indeed backup and restore EVERYTHING!
If i were you i would do two backups... one for just your PIM data,... and the other one for PIM AND system data.
Then when you do a full restore with ALL of your apps, settings, registry tweaks (system data) and get any issues... at least you have your PIM data backed up seperately.

@ Audio Oblivion,
I know where you are coming from; however I wanted to ensure that the OP had a 100% safe route back to a new working system hence me posting the intructions the way I did.
No offence to the OP but I gather at the moment that the simpler things are for him the better the end result!
To the OP, take my route (honest, I'm not precious about it) and you will be fine.
WB

ok cool, i have 2 last questions:
1). where do i install spb, i take it on the storage card as it would get removed from the phone memory.
2). What backup setting takes care of the actual phone SETTINGS is that in PIM or system data?
oh and this: one last thing, at what point should i hard reset? i'm guessing straight after i'm happy the rom has been installed correctly. Then restore?

wacky.banana said:
@ Audio Oblivion,
I know where you are coming from; however I wanted to ensure that the OP had a 100% safe route back to a new working system hence me posting the intructions the way I did.
No offence to the OP but I gather at the moment that the simpler things are for him the better the end result!
To the OP, take my route (honest, I'm not precious about it) and you will be fine.
WB
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yep... im sure he appreciates it and you are 100% correct your method is safe.
Im just expanding his horizons a little ...

I've flashed about 20 times, and each time SPB restored reliably. Worst case scenario if it doesn't work: reinstall everything by hand. Shouldn't take too long.
Suggestion: keep a folder on your SD card of all cabs you'd want reinstalled. Handy regardless of outcome.

ok cool, i have 3 last questions:
1). where do i install spb, i take it on the storage card as it would get removed from the phone memory.
2). What backup setting takes care of the actual phone SETTINGS is that in PIM or system data?
3). At what point should i hard reset? i'm guessing straight after i'm happy the rom has been installed correctly. Then restore?
I'm ready to roll, just need to know the above , many thanks

UncleBeer said:
I've flashed about 20 times, and each time SPB restored reliably. Worst case scenario if it doesn't work: reinstall everything by hand. Shouldn't take too long.
Suggestion: keep a folder on your SD card of all cabs you'd want reinstalled. Handy regardless of outcome.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
3 rules for anyone with a winmo device:
1. Keep a folder with all of your cabs, reg entries, tweak files etc on your sd card.
2. Backup PIM data (i use MS exchange.. you can use PIM Backup, SPB Backup... whatever...)
3. When you have all of your core apps installed and the phone is completely setup... Do a system data backup (i use SPB Backup).
You can now wipe your device and restore completely within minutes at any given time.

jonbaker76 said:
ok cool, i have 3 last questions:
1). where do i install spb, i take it on the storage card as it would get removed from the phone memory.
2). What backup setting takes care of the actual phone SETTINGS is that in PIM or system data?
3). At what point should i hard reset? i'm guessing straight after i'm happy the rom has been installed correctly. Then restore?
I'm ready to roll, just need to know the above , many thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) card. Pretty sure you don't have a choice.
2) as I said, I do a complete backup and a complete restore, so in my case, the question is moot.
3) right after the new ROM boots completely.

jonbaker76 said:
ok cool, i have 3 last questions:
1). where do i install spb, i take it on the storage card as it would get removed from the phone memory.
2). What backup setting takes care of the actual phone SETTINGS is that in PIM or system data?
3). At what point should i hard reset? i'm guessing straight after i'm happy the rom has been installed correctly. Then restore?
I'm ready to roll, just need to know the above , many thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Install SPB Backup wherever you like... i install all of my apps on SD unless there is a specific reason to install them on device memory (functionality issues etc). The Backup file that SPB creates is a self extracting exe file so you dont need to actually install SPB backup to run it.
2. Depends exactly which settings you are referring to but if you want what i think then the answer is system data.
3. After the rom has installed correctly and you have run through the initial device setup. Hard reset the device and run through device setup once more.

Just to clarify here:
PIM data is contacts, emails, texts and their associated accounts.
System data is EVERYTHING ELSE!

Just thought i might mention in this backup thread that there are certain apps that dont need re-installing on fresh device builds (after rom flash or wipe) if they have already been installed to removal media such as SD cards.
SPB Backup is one of them, Tom Tom is another... there are loads actually... most of my apps dont need re-installing.
The basic rule is... if you can install it to your SD card.... after a rom flash/wipe try to run it straight from the program files folder on your sd card without running the install first. If it works... simply copy a shortcut for it into the windows start menu.

Yeah the settings i'm referring to Audio Oblivion are like ringtones, backlight options etc, so that is system data.
I'm good to go now, big thanks to all that have helped me in this thread
I'm sure other WM noobs will find this thread useful if found

Let us know how you get on. Think logically and DON'T panic.
Worse comes to the worse you can always repeat your steps provided you keep hold of that SPB Backup file like your life depended on it.
WB

\windows\startup\*.* What can go?

I know that HTC and carriers put stuff in startup that may have no benefit to the normal user. I have removed the following, and wondering if I am missing anything, since all seems to be working fine.
Instant Forward
PKG
POUTLOOK
SyncManager
What are each of these "supposed" to do?
Thanks
Edit: just flashed new TMO US ROM 2.13. two new processes are running:
siHome.exe
siwatcher.exe
they have something to do with the new Tmo app "MyAccount" which gives you direct access to your online account info; minutes used, etc. I killed both with no problems. MyAccount will not load, but this is ok for me. I can't find how the processes are initially loaded, and have to kill them each time I restart.
Anybody know where these are loaded; registry?

would like to know too...

I too would like to know what is safe to kill off

i was also wondering about this so what i did was create a folder in the windows directory called "startupbackup"
\\windows\startupbackup\
and moved everything from the \\windows\startup folder into the folder i created. everything is working as normal and so far i havent had any problems or missing anything when i bootup. the only file i left in the original startup folder was HTCStartUp because i think maybe its what starts up HTC Sence or something? either way its safe to clear everything from the folder and not worry about your phone not starting up. i just did made the backup for those "just incase" times...
rlee

rlee008 said:
i was also wondering about this so what i did was create a folder in the windows directory called "startupbackup"
\\windows\startupbackup\
and moved everything from the \\windows\startup folder into the folder i created. everything is working as normal and so far i havent had any problems or missing anything when i bootup. the only file i left in the original startup folder was HTCStartUp because i think maybe its what starts up HTC Sence or something? either way its safe to clear everything from the folder and not worry about your phone not starting up. i just did made the backup for those "just incase" times...
rlee
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope! Don't need that one either. I read somewhere that HTCStartup runs some file hat dosen't exist. May have been there for carrier to start some process?? I took it out a long time ago, and no problems.
I did however find that bluetooth will not work if I took out BTTrayCE.lnk which runs \windows\BTTray.exe