Database Info

Reinstall windows mobile and what is the ROM all about?

Hello,
I'm newbie, so plz don't get mad, in case I have a question that has been answered earlier. I did use the search function of this forum intensively, but couldn't figure out how to do what I'd like to do.
What I know so far (plz correct me if I am wrong):
1. The ROM consists of two sections. First the extendedRom and secondly the storage section. While the storage section is writeable, the extendedRom is read-only.
2. It is possible to transfer the extendedRom memory area to the storage area, so that we have more space to store applications and data (bigStorage).
The questions that I have:
a) There is a ROM version and a ROM date. I guess the ROM date depends on the ROM-version. If that's the case, I think it's useless to indicate the date if one already knows the version, isn't it?
b) What does the radio-version tell me about a system? I did search for "radio-version". But it's hard to get the appropriate information, if every third's signature contains the 'radio-version' of a user..
c) What is the protocol version about?
d) On desktops or NBs my core system is mainly determined by my 'c:\windows' folder and the registry entries. How does it work for PPC? I still have the O2 Active User Interface and I don't like it very much. But before installing any apps, skins and plugins I would like to format my XDA mini and reinstall the core windows mobile from the scratch. Just like reinstalling a new desktop system. Is that possible? What do u think?
Thx for all coming answers,
moses3k - yet another magician lover

Hi,
For details on the rom-layout you can consult the wiki.
The dates & version numbers are apperently not from the same scheme eg radio 1.13 appeared months before rom 1.13 which came with a 1.12 radio.
Reinstallation of your magician is a hard-reset camera&power&soft-reset pressed at the time. To skip O2's 'extra's' you'll need to soft-reset just before customization starts. That's right after you get the default WM background after finishing the init.procedure.
Cheers, M

Where to get device lock application available on Wizard

Hi All,
My friend has just bought a Wizard and I noticed that it has a nice little device lock application on the home screen. Does anyone know where I can get this little app
for my XDA II running WM 2003 SE?
Cheers,
Richard.

Is it possible to rip this app from the WM 2005 Wizard ROM somehow?
I checked one of the EXT_ROM images I found but couldn't see anything obvious
in there. Could it be built into the main ROM perhaps?
cheers,
Richard.

We tried before to find the file responsible for this utility, so we could be able to bind it to a hardbutton and take it off the todayscreen, but no luck. No-one knows what file is responsible for this app. sorry guys.

the registry points to "shutil.dll" - I suppose this is a fairly generic shell utilities DLL, but as there is no further 'entry point' data in the registry, just hooking that up as a Today item should automatically provide the required data ? Unless it polls an additional DLL, of course, but a resource explorer check of that DLL (if you can copy it) should be able to point any of that out?

Upgrading to bigstorage for the first time

When uograding to bigstorage for the first time the process can look daunting but fear not, even if, as mine did, it doesnt go as per the screen shots / directions it may still work. Mine did and with the following installed here is what i have ended up with.
SPV M500 / Magician with bigstorage
running are
intellidialier, voice id (extra from extended rom)
Installed are : --
Tomtom 5, Calligrapher, pocket breeze, pocket contact, avantgo, pocket music, and several other small aps not worth mentioning.
I the process went ok using my 1gb card until: ---
As the how-to says the rom size created relfects the size of your card so the rom i was working with was 1gb, I could not use the recommended hex editor with that file due to system resources, let me tell you when you are that far into the process and you cant open the rom it is very annoying. Thankfully there are several other hex editors out there that let you load files up to 4gb allowing for resources but unfortuntely neither my old xp laptop nor my media centre could still open it. I ended up using my powerbook G4 with HexEdit 1.1 which loaded the rom just fine for editing. All the rest went OK until the end of the flsh back to the phone where i got a failed message, after a soft reset it booted into the new rom with no problem.
I have to stress to you guys thinking about trying this, it IS worth it. I am so pleased with the results. After updating and setting up BT Activesync, mms, pop3 etc and with all aps running I have the following: -
Allocated 17.7MB Allocated: 29.70 MB
to use: 11.16MB to use : 14.75MB
Free: 6.55MB Free: 24.95MB
And that is in a running state with no restrictions.
Well done to the community for such good documentation and their desire to share information and allow us newbies to get the most out of these wonderful units.

Hello,
I hope I dont sound like an idiot, but what is a big storage rom?
I have heard it mentioned quite a few times in the forum. I have a Krome Spy ( analog of M500) from australia.
Thanks.
rohseq

Nice to know that you were successful in upgrading to BigStorage. I've done it since the very beginning. My next step would be "nonentity's" File System Tweak.
@rohsek: please search this forum and you will find the answers you need.

rohseq said:
Hello,
I hope I dont sound like an idiot, but what is a big storage rom?
I have heard it mentioned quite a few times in the forum. I have a Krome Spy ( analog of M500) from australia.
Thanks.
rohseq
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With BIG Storage you convert your EXT-rom with operator brandings into extra internal Storage. You actually append about 20MB to the default 7MB Storage folder. Very nice hack.
Regards, M

COuld somebody tell me where I can find the HOW-TO described above??
Aren't there any standard ROMs?? It seems to me that when someone creates a specific ROM for a specific model, this ROM can be used in multiple devices or am I making you :lol: ROFLYAO :lol: by asking this question??
I've also got an Orange SPV M500 (with a huge memory shortage )...
Could someone please help me out??
Thanks in advance!!
Kind regards,
Maarten

Hi Maarten,
Still in English: visit this link for a complete description http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=MagicianRomUpgrade. For an already patched nk.nbf you can download this one ftp://xda:[email protected]_NK.nbf/BIG_Storage_nk_for_rom_1.13WWE.zip
Success, M

MDA compact II Games

Hi guys,
(I have searched for this and similar topics so my apologies if I'm duplicating)
Bought my Compact about a month ago with T-mobile UK and am only just opening my eyes to its possibilities!
Thanks for all the information on web n walk etc.... i'll be signing up tomorrow!
I have just been on pocketgear.com and have seen all the games a pocket PC can use..... so I downloaded a trial version of a poker game (as is fashionable these days it seems!), but once transferred to my phone it wouldn't work.
Got the error message '[game] is not a valid pocket PC application'
So I tried Bookworm... and got the same message.
Am I doing something wrong, or is it because I downloaded it from an American Website to an English phone?
Any (and I do mean any) help you can give me would be greatly appreciated. I haven't tweaked my phone in any way or improved it at all, so any further hints and tips would be appreciated too!
Cheers
J

When you DL software for your device, make sure that you DL software that is designed for your device. If you DL Pocket PC 2003 Software, and you are using a Windows Mobile 5.0 device, the software may NOT work on your device - also, if you are using a older device, you need to be aware that some software is designed for certain types of processors - so if you are using a PDA with an ARM processor, you have to DL software that will run on an ARM processor - not software that is designed for a MIPS processor. The newest devices all use the same processor (as far as I know) - but if you DL older software to run on the newer device, you will have to use software that was originally designed for anARM procesor. This may seem a little complicated, but the best way to find out how this works, is to go to a software distro site (like Handango), and download the different versions of the same software, and then install them. Hope that helps!
Black-wolf

Well, I think it is just plain bad luck. I've downloaded and install.. quite a large amount of software/games to test on my MDACompact2 and most of the software that said to be meant for WinCE, WM2003, SE, etc works well with WM5. I can say, in my experience, the chances of getting one not working in WM5 is like. 20% or less. So, keep trying

Hi onemanfloats!
Did you download an exe file an copied it directly to the device?
If the download is an exe that means it is an installer and needs to be run on you PC while the device is synchronized. Most PPC programs are distributed this way.
Also programs for PPC some times come as cab files. Those you have to copy to your device and tap on them in the explorer so they will install.
As for processor type - don't worry, all devices sold today come with ARM, or ARM compatible (like OMAP) processors, and most of the new software supports only that type.
As for OS, I'm not sure if your device is running Windows Mobile 5 or Windows Mobile 2003, but as far as games and ordinary programs go, if it works on 2003 it usually works on 5 (2005).
The only problem is with some utilities which are very OS dependent.
Finally let me recommend you this site:
http://www.pocketpcfreeware.com
Tons of free stuff for you device.
Good luck.

ms should make pda's error msg
tell the user that it's a pc application they are trying to
run on the pda
tons of ppl get confused but this

The "not designed for" message on WM2003 only meant that the application perhaps didn't support screen rotation, and other resolutions than 240x320

It's a bit off topic, but the warning "This program may not display correctly..." pops up on every program whose installation cab supports OS lower the 4.21 (that's WM 2003se in plain English ).
According to MSDN that's because the OS assumes the program inside can't support VGA, screen rotation and square.
It's pretty stupid design since a lot of programs try to be backwards compatible, at least to WM 2003, and the message just scares users.
It's a good thing they got rid of it in WM5.

cheers guys,
just got back from a tiring weekend in snowdon and read your replies.
Will digest in the morning and see what I can do!
Thanks again for your help!

O2 xdaII mini

Dear friends ,
thanks for accepting me to be a part of this forum.
i have just been given a o2 min xdaii.
this is a upgrade to what i was using before ,and belive me i am lost with the jargon cab ,arm ect.
what i would like to know that other Pockect pc hp,bell ect use similar software application if so how can i use them,what are the parameter i should see to use before i download and apply so that they can be used by me.i would not like to be locked up and not be able to nothing about it.
so before i can try i would be much OBLIGED if you can brief me as to what critera i should adhere to.
it would be of great help to me
thanks

Hi rmelco1!
First, welcome to the forum!
Now a couple of basic terms:
CAB - a file which contains a program installation and can be run on the device by clicking it from file explorer. Usually apps will come with desktop installer that will transfer the cab automatically.
ARM - The standard of the processor. Once there were others (MIPS, SHA) but today only ARM is left, so any app from recent years would likely to have only ARM version.
Now here is what you need to check for compatibility:
1) That the app is for ARM processor.
2) That it is for Windows Mobile 2003SE or earlier. (WM 2002 apps will run on your device, but WM5 apps won't)
3) How much storage and program memory the app requires. You can go to Start->Setting->System->Memory to see how much you have.
4) Processor speed. Some apps like Skype are dependent on high processor speeds and if I am not mistaken your device has 195MHz processor. It will run the 'slow' Skype version though.
Well that's about it.
Good luck.

thanks a lot i am much at ease now.i am forwarding to u the details what should i make out it .and what can be done to enhance it
windows mobile 2003 Second edition
version 4.21.1008
romversion.1.11.00wwe
rom date.3.4.05
radio versio 1.11.00
ext rom versio 1.11.922
speed 416 MHZ
ram size 64mb
flash size 64mb
i am using a opera 8.6 bowser for web surfing.
my phone a times become dead slow and hangs up .and then i have to soft reset it .the sound is not to good but ok .the camera bad and no radio .but i still nice using it after nokia phones .
thanks once again
much obliged
rmelco
levenum said:
Hi rmelco1!
First, welcome to the forum!
Now a couple of basic terms:
CAB - a file which contains a program installation and can be run on the device by clicking it from file explorer. Usually apps will come with desktop installer that will transfer the cab automatically.
ARM - The standard of the processor. Once there were others (MIPS, SHA) but today only ARM is left, so any app from recent years would likely to have only ARM version.
Now here is what you need to check for compatibility:
1) That the app is for ARM processor.
2) That it is for Windows Mobile 2003SE or earlier. (WM 2002 apps will run on your device, but WM5 apps won't)
3) How much storage and program memory the app requires. You can go to Start->Setting->System->Memory to see how much you have.
4) Processor speed. Some apps like Skype are dependent on high processor speeds and if I am not mistaken your device has 195MHz processor. It will run the 'slow' Skype version though.
Well that's about it.
Good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Here are a couple more tips for you:
1) You should put your device type and ROM version in your signature (see this post for example). That way when you have a question you won't have to retype the info.
romversion.1.11.00wwe
rom date.3.4.05
radio versio 1.11.00
ext rom versio 1.11.922
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
2) Check out the Magician forum, you'll find a lot of stuff specific to your device, and of course there is a link to the wiki on the main page.
3) Note that when you click on the X you don't actually close the app, but minimize it. I suspect that is why your device becomes slow after a while (memory is all used up). To really close the program go to Start->Settings->System-Memory->Running programs. You can also get a program like SK Menu or MagicButton that let you close apps directly.
And finally check out this site: www.pocketpcfreeware.com
Good luck!

[
thanks a lot pal i will do as nessary . will be in touch with you if u dont mind
thanks
regards
raaj
quote="levenum"]Here are a couple more tips for you:
1) You should put your device type and ROM version in your signature (see this post for example). That way when you have a question you won't have to retype the info.
romversion.1.11.00wwe
rom date.3.4.05
radio versio 1.11.00
ext rom versio 1.11.922
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
2) Check out the Magician forum, you'll find a lot of stuff specific to your device, and of course there is a link to the wiki on the main page.
3) Note that when you click on the X you don't actually close the app, but minimize it. I suspect that is why your device becomes slow after a while (memory is all used up). To really close the program go to Start->Settings->System-Memory->Running programs. You can also get a program like SK Menu or MagicButton that let you close apps directly.
And finally check out this site: www.pocketpcfreeware.com
Good luck![/quote]