Database Info

M500 n00b

hi,
Having just purchased my M500 today im a noob to all things magician and m500!
Looking around this interesting site i notice a lot of talk about big storage. Sorry if this question has been asked before, but what is big storage?
Lets say i di the big storage thing......would i then loose my current orange rom on my device?
Is it easy to do? I've updated the rom on my c500 and that was straight fwd, can sombody explaain to m500 noob, but is willing to learn!
luvin the site.

I have a m500, and i have changed the original rom (as suplied with the m500) to bigstorage.
It wipes out the hidden partion that is used to brand the phone and increases the "storage" partion (which as default is around 7mb) to 27mb, the only downside is that the branding apps that are hidden are no longer on your device.
This means that when you hard reset the device you will have to manualy choose the files to install.
Imp

Thats a great explanation, thanks.
I've been messing around so far, and i think i understand the whole process. Coudl you just confirm this for me?
I have downloaded the big storage rom WWE.111 from the ftp and swapped the first 416bytes in hex editor with the first 416bytes from my rom which i've got from my ohone. i then load the edited WWE.111 big storage rom back into my m500 using the sd card method. An that will give me a bigstorage rom?

could somebody post the extrom of the m500 please ?
thanks

M500 Rom upgrade
I have been trying to upgrade it to 1.12 ROM, however when I used ntrw to write it onto my SD card, it said parameter incorrect, then when I flash my M500, it said Check Sum error. Any remedy? Also has anyone tried the Radio 1.13?

EggZenBeanz, thats right. should give you bigstorage....remember to ignore the error messages on your phone after you copy the rom from your sd card.
Dutty, there is already the orange m500 ext rom on the ftp site.
vz7, they are the same errors that i got when i big rom'ed mine (even tho i am still on rom 1.06 (not worried in upgrading the rom as yet)
as i said in the other post, i upgraded to 1.13 radio rom last night with no problem.
EDIT
if anyone wants my desciption of the orange ext rom (what each cab files do) give us a shout. i went though them one by one and isntalled them, to see if i wanted them or not.
Imp

Thankyou for clearing these things up. As the post suggested im a noob to all this, so i wanted to get it clear in my mind on top of reading all the tuts i could find.
So, when the rom hack has been applied and is working. i get 25mb extra storage, and i should loose all the clearview stuff etc.. Thats cool cheers.

Impossible said:
EDIT
if anyone wants my desciption of the orange ext rom (what each cab files do) give us a shout. i went though them one by one and isntalled them, to see if i wanted them or not.
Imp
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wouldn't mind a discription of the cabs on the rom as im just about to "Go large".

I wouldn't mind a list of what each file does either - I'd thought about doing a big storage hack on my m500, but there wasn't anything available last time I checked.
Presumably I can copy all the files for the storage area onto my SD card, and save them for later?
Where abouts is the ROM on the ftp site? I couldn't see anything that specifically mentions the m500...
Edit - OK, I think I understand now...I found a useful guide that I followed.
The only problem is, I've only got a 1gb sd card, so the hex editor won't open the rom image after I've dumped it! Is there any way around this, or do I need to get 128mb card?

The file of the descriptions is a bit scruffy atm, i will tidy it up and post it again soon here. (scruffy file attached to this post, you need to be logged into the forums to dl'ed it)
the path to the m500 ext rom is ..... i cant connect to the ftp atm.
I backed up the ext rom on my desktop pc, and put the vital cabs on a sd card that i have spare and keep in my wallet, just incase the rom resets.
I had a similar problem to dan13l when i dumped the rom, the ntrw.exe app is a bit of a pig, as it dumps a image of the sd card, and not of the actual rom.... i used a 256mb card, i suppose you could partion the 1gig card to around 256mb then try it out?
something that i didnt read was, when performing the rom dump, is that the sd card will be fully erased during dump. So back it up if you need the data on it.
one word about one of the cabs in the ext rom, OrangeUK_ActionE_Connection.cab is a odd one. It encloses some apps that i didnt like installed on my m500 but it has the gprs settings inside it, i have managed to pull these out and put them in there own cab. This helps prevent installing the annoying "action" programs
Imp

Thanks for that Impossible.
I noticed you've mentioned another MMS version in that text file, is there an updated mms app somewhere?
I found the ext rom on the ftp - that'll come in handy I'm sure.
There appears to be three ways of applying the big storage hack:
1) Apply a rom with Big Storage already hacked into it. This involves copying the first chunk of the standard rom using a hex editor and pasting it over the new rom. Correct?
2) Manually edit two bits of hex on a dumped rom, and reflash using the modified version.
3) Run a tool against a dumped rom to make the changes for you.
Now, I was working towards 2 until I had my sd card problem. I'm going to buy a 256mb card on my way home tonight and try with that. Am I right in thinking that if I dump my m500's rom, then apply the hex changes, that rom could be used for all m500's? As I understand it, option 1 is only relevent if you're applying a rom from one device to another (so a Jam to an M500, for example)?
So, in theory, once one of us has managed to modify the m500 rom (as you've done already, Impossible) then that rom image could be uploaded and used on all m500's? Also, if someone uploads an unmodified m500 rom, that could be used to revert back later if needs be...
Is all this correct? I think I'm starting to get my head around things.

the comments in the cab file description are a bit funny, its my own personal scrall that i found out over the test i did on the cabs, i think i found newer vesions on the ftp and installed these apps instead of the ones that orange comes with, and the "about" on the app confirmed this.
I will revisit the file soon and tidy it up making it more helpful.
i dumped my m500 rom (with the intention of keeping the 1.06 version that came with my m500) then i used mksBigStoragerENG.exe to patch it to bigstorage.
If anyones intrested in me uploading the 1.06 rom with big storage i will, but you have to remember that this has not got any orange branding on. the next step if you did use this rom would be to apply the choosen cab files to apply the settings/apps you want.
Also, i dont mind uploading the original rom (complete with the ext rom) but i think that was on there when i last looked at the ftp.
dan13l, i did just realise, even if you formated your 1gig card to a smaller size, the dump will clear that out
prehaps you could find a different hex editor? or even use the mksBigStoragerENG.exe app that I used to patch mine, instead of a editor (which reverts the rom file from your storage card size, back down to its original size of around 62mb)
Imp

Yay! It worked
Now I just need to reinstall everything.
I'll post everything I did later, got to go and eat something now!
Impossible - thanks for your help. Do you have the GPRS settings you extracted? I don't want to have to install the whole action engine thing...
Thanks again all.

All sorted - I managed to extract the gprs settings myself and create a cab.
FYI - the latest MMS app I found was dated May, and doesn't appear to work on the m500. I've not tried the March version yet.

GPRS settings etc are available on buymobilephones.net
V

Noob alert
Is there a nice HTML guide which tells a muppet how to do this? How to keep any Orange apps copied somewhere else and re-install after the hack IF wanted? A list of the additional Orange apps and what they do?
Thanks.
Meth

can someone post the link to the orange extrom - i can't find the ftp....
cheers
al

ftp://ftp.xda-developers.com/Magician/Extended_Roms/M500_WWE1.06.175/

Methanoid said:
Noob alert
Is there a nice HTML guide which tells a muppet how to do this? How to keep any Orange apps copied somewhere else and re-install after the hack IF wanted? A list of the additional Orange apps and what they do?
Thanks.
Meth
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go to the link posted by sporkguy and download everything - that's the contents of your extended rom.
Next, go here: http://tinyurl.com/dhgoc
That's about the best guide I've found (although there are a couple of good ones on this site). Follow the steps on there to use the mksBigStorager executable to patch your rom.
I think it would be possible to upload a pre-patched rom image for the m500 to the ftp, and simply write that to an sd card (using the last section of the guide linked to above).

Please can you take a loo at this screen grab. What do i stand to gain from the storage hack? This piccy is pre storage hack.

Help: My German O2 Mini dead

Dear all expert,
While trying to flash my German Black O2 mini from Ger to ENG. (Using MAupgrade_noID)
After some steps, the o2 mini turn black and display
"Serial V1.02"
At this time, even though I softreset or hardreset the device,
the same wording also appear and can't further boot.
I even use SD card method but the same wording still appear again.
Can any expert teach me how to rescure my device?
Thanks

Are you sure you did the SD-method right?
At OS 1.13.01 GER Radio 1.13.00 BigStorage you will find the latest german BigStorage ROM image available. Now do the following:
Get ntrw from this site
Get a 512 MB SD-card (maybe a 128 MB one will work, too, but I am unsure about this).
Put ntrw into C:\
Extract the RAR into C:\, which should produce C:\11301bs.nb1
Enter the following into the command line at C:\:
Code:
ntrw write 11301bs.nb1 [your SD-card drive letter, e.g. I:]
, ignore error messages
Fully load your Magician!
Disconnect your Magician from anything, especially USB
Shutdown your Magician (press power button)
Put the SD-card into the Magician
Put Magician into Bootloader-Mode (Camera+Power+Reset at once, until you have the "Serial 1.02" screen w/o backlight)
Wait some seconds for "Press power to flash" to show on screen. Do just that.
This might just work.

Thanks KK.
What's wrong is that, it seem the bootloader is dead.
WHile I input the SD card while enter into the bootloader.
The screen still display "serial V1.02" and hold it.
No further wording like "Press power to flash it" etc.
Is it the bootloader is dead?

I do not think so. Make sure you shut down the Magician before placing the SD-card with a fresh ROM-image written to it into your device. Power on into Bootloader-Mode afterwards.
Another option to check your loader is the following:
Shutdown the Magician
Go into Bootloader-Mode
Wait for "Serial 1.02" to be displayed
Connect to PC via USB. The Bootloader should display "USB" shortly after connecting. If it does not: Maybe really you managed to kill your loader.
What exactly did you do? I used the NOID-Tool too, and had absolutely no problems with it. Besides: I also have a bootloader version 1.02.

kk
While plugging the usb cable to the device , yes, it show "USB" on the screen then.
However, when I use the romupdate.exe and try extract the rom into SD card at this time. After pressing "d2s" , the device shut down at once. No words appear on the screen.
Do you know what does it mean?
Besides, can you tell me what is "NOID-Tool" ?
thanks

The NOID-Tool would be MAupgrade_noID, which you used.
I am not sure about it, but as your device does not boot into the OS anymore, it seems reasonable to assume, that the ROM in your device is not valid anymore, due to errors while flashing it in the first place.
So - if there is no valid ROM, there is nothing, which the bootloader can write onto the SD-card.
Please try the method suggested in previous postings before anything else. If all this fails, I have no further suggestions - your device might really be dead.

You can try regular upgrade insted of doing it through SD card.
Danload shipROM, extract it and use MAupgradeNOID to run ROM and that is all you should do.

kk said:
At OS 1.13.01 GER Radio 1.13.00 BigStorage you will find the latest german BigStorage ROM image available
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
Can you upload the rom again pls? Someone removed it from the ftp site. Like to give it a try, but can't find a prepared BS-rom anywhere.
Thnx, M

kk said:
At OS 1.13.01 GER Radio 1.13.00 BigStorage you will find the latest german BigStorage ROM image available
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
Can you upload the rom again pls? Someone removed it from the ftp site. Like to give it a try, but can't find a prepared BS-rom anywhere.
Thnx, M

Hi there!
The FTP-master kindly converted the file to ZIP format. It is now available here: ftp://xda:[email protected]/Magician/BigStorage_ROMs/DE_T-Mobile_1.13.01.zip.
Remember: I used a 512 MB SD-card to create it, so maybe it won't work with smaller ones (but I think it should, since the ROM stored within this SD-card-image is no more than 64 MB in size).

Hi KK,
I found it along with the other BS roms and feel ashamed I couldn't find them. I tried it first with my 512MB card, but the cardreader won't write the file (no question about formatting whatsoever). Tomorrow I'm going to try with my 256MB mini SD card, which I know will be written by NTRW. I'll let you if I succeeded.
Regards, M

It works for sure with my 512 MB Kingston SD-card!
Don't bother about an error at the end of the ntrw-writing process. That's absolutely normal, since it would like to make the SD-card-drive the current drive, which is not possible after the writing process, as the SD-card now contains a ROM-image instead of a valid filesystem.

Hi KK,
Didn't manage to get it flashing. I used both cards but my magician doesn't accept the image somehow. No sign of any message like 'press power to load', not on serial nor on usb connection in the bootloader. It did work before with my own dumped rom, but lost the storage than, but it did accept the rom. Now it keeps awful quiet, I copied the first bytes and all, so maybe I'll give it a try with another rom. I want to sort this problem out.
Cheers, M

nbfdec made my big storage
Hello KK,
Yesterday I tried with the steps from hlt, out of the radio 1.13 upgrade thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=32274. It doesn't involve any rom dumping or sd-card action whatsoever and it worked first time.Just one tool: nbfdec and a shipped rom. It is fast and simple. Thanks for your advices, hope others will try this method as well, because it is much easier than bigstorager and bytecopy etc.
M

The "no SD-card required"-method in this thread only works for shipped ROMs. The ROM i prepared is a combination of the latest german OS & Radio versions plus BigStorage, which is to my knowledge _not_ available in this combination elsewhere, and should therefore be the most up-to-date ROM usable for any german magician user with very few simple steps.
Since you require a non-german version, my ROM will not be appropriate for you, but this thread started out with a cry for help with a non-booting magician, and I thought, that my ROM-modification would be of some help here due to the simplicity in applying it and its actuality.
But be it as it may.

KK,
I had the same problem as Netmon, only bootloader and I couldn't make the sd flash. That's why I was looking for a decent rom. With the tooling found on this site I probably could turn my magacian from German to English again. Since all my storage was gone I could take the risc.
I solved my problem with the upgrade 1.13 thread and that method would have worked for Netmon to I guess, just put the magacian in bootloader connect to usb and flash with a German shipped rom or an altered version.
Anyway thanks for your time, M

Dear rilazi and all
The device has been proofed for dead by the manufacturer.
The symptom is
1) romupdate.exe can't detect the device
2) press softreset button can't reboot the device to normal screen, only display "Serial V1.02" on the screen
3) Use SD card method doesn't got any respone from the device, keep displaying "Serial V1.02"
4) Use shipped rom (with MaupgradeNo_id.exe) also can't detect the device.
I don't know whether it the V1.02 version of bootloader problem or not.
Before, I try to flash many time which it V1.01 with no problem.
So, all of the V1.02 German device (Black color Mini) should pay attention to it.

I have a bootloader v1.02, too. Absolutely no problems with flashing on my side.

How to handle ExtROM apps after BigROM flashing

Hello,
I read a lot about the big ROM flashing and did this on my XDA mini. Anything seems to work so I'm quite happy until now. One point of concern is still there... what about the apps from the ExtROM that I copied for backup on my harddisk? Using an XDA on the O2 network, we are talking about apps like Homezone and O2 settings.
If I understood the BigROM thing right, I deleted the ExtROM that was executed on a hard reset before. Therefore, after BigROM,
- no O2 app will be loaded after hard reset
- no autostarter, like in the O2 ExtROM, is necessary any more since nothing is loaded after hard reset
- after hard reset, all apps have to be installed once again
- best way to keep the apps secure and appropriate is install all apps once and frequently backup the whole setup
Is this the right way to look at the changes?
Another question about the O2 files: Besides the homezone control, are there alternative programs for the rest (Java, Today screen) or do I need the special O2 apps due to the settings coming with them?
Any help appreciated!

Yes you got it all right! After the Big Storage ROM the Extended ROM bit was deleted from the ROM. The space consumed by the Extended ROM is now available for you to use under the /Storarge folder.
Now, to install the required extended ROM programs just copy them to any folder on the PPC and click on them from the file explorer.
However I would suggest to install a program called CABINSTL. This allows you to run CAB files and install them in the folder of your choice instead of the default folder that consumes some of your precious RAM. I would install these CAB files in the /Storage folder, thus making benefit of the Big Storage ROM
The same applies to any other program you install. Always install it in /Storage. If you don't, after the Big Storage upgrade the only benefit would be of having some extra storage space. If you have an SD Card you don't need this space so might as well use it to install programs and free up the RAM.

If I use the cabinstl programme to manually install my Orange ExtRom files after a BigStorage install - even when I choose a different install location (eg. /Storage) the utility is still installed into the default location (usually somewhere in /Windows/).

I have the same problem. Also i pushed the option not to delete the cab file, but after install they are deleted I know i can make them read only, but i cannot do this trough explore of activesync.

It appears that some CAB files have their install location 'hard coded' into the file so it cannot or should not be changed.
I guess that this is to ensure that the utility works correctly so I don't suppose that there is much that we can do.

You can edit the CAB on your PC and define your own folder. However this is not recommended as the code for these programs may have some paths that are hard coded as well.
Anyway these couple of CAB files will not impact your overall RAM situation at all. On mine I only installed JAVA, MMS, Bluetooth and Camera patches from the Extended ROM. I don't need the rest.

Thanks for your help! So is it okay to install anything in the storage that goes there without complaining? As I installed PocketPlus there, Windows looked at it like on the memory card and displayed a message that installing apps there could become a problem during startup.
Thanks again and bye!

Lost Storage

Hello ppl
The other day i made my first bigstorage using rom 1.12.05PTB from i-mate, it run perfectly... no boot delays, random cold boots... nothing...
Yesterday i felt the need to test the new 1.13 rom and radio WWE, everything ok... no problem. but then i felt the need to go back to my language... and updated to 1.12.05PTB again but now without bigstorage...
Now the problem is that my storage simpy disapeard... how can i get it back?
Help please?

Goes back to BigStorage and fill up your /storage with 8-10MB (exceed 7MB) then put your wanted rom. New Rom will format your /storage and u it will come back without BigStorage.

Thanks. I will try it asap and post the result.

Thanks pmquan. it worked just fine

Mine is not formating.
I copied the same file more than once on the storage and had 9,7 MB usage.
Then i flashed with a official update and storage was back again.
But some of the files are also there, and i cant delete. i will try another time with one big file tommorow.

So, it seem that this solution not working.
After my last post i tried with one 12 mb file. Storage was missing.
Back to Big Storage and did it again with a 9 MB File. Storage was missing.
Last try was with 9 1MB files. Storage was missing.
Any suggestions?

Try to use 2 files 3MB don't fill over the 7MB... It worked for me hope it works for you to.

I fixed it!
Seems that the issue was that i did the bigstorage with an wwe rom upgrade, and than revert to tmde rom.
This morning i created a new bigstorage with a tmde rom, put all files from extrom in the storage ( i wanted to check if autorun would work if i put it in there - no success ). After that i flashed it again with the orig tmde rom, and during ce rom upgrade ther was a failure. Hard Reset, still in bootloader and started the upgrade again. After successfull upgrade i now have back my storage, with no files in it, and i can write and delete.
Now it could be that it was because of the:
- wwe<->tmde differences
- the failure during the upgrade ( whatever this could have done )
- just a little help from my guardian angel ( i only borrowed it from a colleague for a project where i needed this device, and i think he would bo not very happy without storage )
Maybe i will try it again if a can get my hands on an magician when one of my colleagues orders a new device... But for now i´m finished. Thanks.

Help: Ext Rom

Need help guys! How can i delete the files contained in my phone's storage or ext rom? I tried deleting the files but as soon as I soft reset my device, all of the files keep coming back... It really drains my battery big time and I want to get rid of it. How can I permanently delete the files contained in my phone's storage? Hope someone could help me here, thank you in advance!

Sukir420,
Not quite understand the question. Sorry, but you are referring to too many things without much details.. ExtROM, files in it and 'Storage' are two different things , The files in ExtROM are used by the device to install additional applications which are there in it, when you Hard Reset your device, and otherwise they just lie there eating that space.
It would help if you post more details about your device and current versions of Radio/ROM/ExtROM and whether your device is SupeCID unlocked etc.,
Anyway, act any of the below at your own risk.
a) If you would like to delete files in ExtROM first unlock (search this forum to get the extrom unlocker) it and make it visible then use a tool like TC (type /Extended_Rom folder) or Resco Explorer and delete filesfrom it. Alternatively you can pick up one of the empty ext ROMs floating around and flash that then unlock it to use that space as storage.
b) Do not understand or comment on whether files in ExtROM could significantly impact the battery drain!! , to my knowledge files in ExtROM may not impact battery too much.

rbalu72 said:
Sukir420,
Not quite understand the question. Sorry, but you are referring to too many things without much details.. ExtROM, files in it and 'Storage' are two different things , The files in ExtROM are used by the device to install additional applications which are there in it, when you Hard Reset your device, and otherwise they just lie there eating that space.
It would help if you post more details about your device and current versions of Radio/ROM/ExtROM and whether your device is SupeCID unlocked etc.,
Anyway, act any of the below at your own risk.
a) If you would like to delete files in ExtROM first unlock (search this forum to get the extrom unlocker) it and make it visible then use a tool like TC (type /Extended_Rom folder) or Resco Explorer and delete filesfrom it. Alternatively you can pick up one of the empty ext ROMs floating around and flash that then unlock it to use that space as storage.
b) Do not understand or comment on whether files in ExtROM could significantly impact the battery drain!! , to my knowledge files in ExtROM may not impact battery too much.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, okay sorry for that. I am then referring to Ext Rom. Yes, sir I would like to flash an empty ext ROM for my uni but I can't seem to find one. If you could please help me with this I would definitely appreciate it Sir. The files located in my ext Rom has an autorun file with it and again, sorry for implying that about my uni's battery getting burned too quick.
My Uni is superCID unlocked and I am using Tomal's WM6.1 Rom right now. I had this problem since I flashed my Uni with the "WM5 faster than WM6 ROM" for its video calling feature but I was too hooked to WM6 that's why I flashed back to Tomal's.
So, if anybody can help me with an empty ext rom to flash, I would really appreciate it.
Thanks guys!

Here you go
You can find Empty Ext Rom here
Surprised to note taht when you are on Tomal wm 6.1 (hopefully 8.2) you should not have ext rom as is unless it is 'NOT UNLOCKED'.
Tomal's Rom makes the ExtRom as 'Storage' which is visible and uable for storing files.
Ensure that your Extended Rom is unlocked and Visible before flashing this empty one. Other alternative is, use the unlocker tool and reflash your current Tomal version, if you can manage to reinstall the applications you got post Hard Reset as that would for sure make ExtRom as 'Storage'.
Attached is a working Ext Rom unlocker(at least it worked for me)
All the best !

The link for the empty extension rom states "Page not found", if you could please provide a mirror for this file, thank you very much sir for your big help.

Uploaded the ms_.nbf file which is Ext Rom for you to rapidshare.. Hope this helps
http://rapidshare.com/files/147183731/ms_.zip.html