Hi all,
I have an ASUS R600 GPS running WinCE 5.0 core. I unlocked it using AsusPocket (ASUS customized version of MioPocket to keep things such as bluetooth) and everything seemed fine.
However I'm running against a "low memory" errors when running certain navi software such as Navigon and iGo. The device has 64 Mb of RAM which should be plenty for these, as my cheap Omnitech has the same amount and has no problems.
With help of MioPocket guys, I traced it down to a massive \Windows in this device's ROM. It is like 25 Mb as they dumped not only every dll they could find there, but also eg a lot of big wav and bmp files. Couple wav files are close to 1Mg each! Since according to these folks \Windows just gets copied from ROM to RAM on startup, I end up with far less free memory to play with than I'd like.
I'm new to ROM cooking but with some help I'm sure I could do it. To keep things very simple I was thinking of just replacing these big wav files with a small one. This way the file count and names wouldn't change and I wouldn't run a risk of ever running into a "file not found" condition. I really don't care if on startup the device plays a simple "ding" as opposed to 20 sec sound. Since soft that I want actually runs and only gets into low memory condition on more complex route recalculation or reality view screens, I think this would be enough to get me over the hurdle. Of course, any checksums will need to be regenerated as needed.
So, at this point I have downloaded upgrade ROM images for this device. Is that something that can be disassembled, modified as described above, and put back together? I tired naively unleashing dumprom on one of these .bin files, but got back "unable to determine loading offsets" error. I guess I shouldn't be surprised as at this point I don't know what I'm doing...
Can anybody offer any help to me? With all the amazing things I read on this site people doing with ROM modifications, it looks like what I'm trying to do should be a walk in the park. Am I right trying to go from upgrade .bin file? Or should I get some tools to read off the device? Please help.
Btw. if anybody'd like to peek at this upgrade bin, it can be downloaded here: hxxp://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx?modelname=R600&SLanguage=en-us, in the firmware section, version 4.3.0 and version 4.8.0 for NA users. Unfortunately no direct link.
Thanks in advance
mamon
Related
Hi all,
I tried searching for an answer to the above but couldn't find a direct answer to it:
Are there any performance benefits of baking a program into a custom ROM vs installing the program into ROM after a "lite" custom ROM is flashed?
Presently my preference is to use a "lite" ROM with very basic programs and maximum available ROM/RAM after install. I'm considering whether its worth the trouble to bake my own ROM with my frequently used custom programs (e.g. phonealarm, wisbar).
The obvious disbenefit of baking a 3rd party program into a custom ROM is that its a little "harder" to upgrade to a newer version of the program -- i'm assuming installing over an older version in ROM takes away any performance benefit which the ROM version would have (pls correct me if i'm wrong here).
thanks for any comments in advance!
Im planning a Custom ROM Bake Guide at some point, im planning on baking in my standard apps such as Coreplayer/Phonealarm and VJay Apps.
AFAIK, the only advantage of cooking in apps is to make them readily available after a hard reset. I believe that cooking in 3rd party apps that get refreshed often is counter-intuitive as the ROM based versions will always take up space. Essentially an upgrade will then take double the space (even if you can actually install it).
There may be something to do with program vs. storage memory utilization though that would make it advantageous. I've never actually played with it.
Sleuth255 said:
AFAIK, the only advantage of cooking in apps is to make them readily available after a hard reset. I believe that cooking in 3rd party apps that get refreshed often is counter-intuitive as the ROM based versions will always take up space. Essentially an upgrade will then take double the space (even if you can actually install it).
There may be something to do with program vs. storage memory utilization though that would make it advantageous. I've never actually played with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your insight.
From what I understand, all programs (WM5/6) needs to be loaded into RAM before execution and cannot be executed in place (XIP). So the only speed advantage i could imagine would be any 'addressing benefits' of programs pre-baked vs post-installed.
A somewhat related question would be whether there's a speed difference in installing a program in Storage ROM or Extended ROM.
cheers!
Just my 2 cents worth. In the Wizard forum, they mentioned that the lite version is much faster and responsive because the device\windows files are less. In the current cooking, everything needs to be in the \windows directory and then move to the different folders. as more files and application gets dump, it will generally move slower and affect the device response.
One way to check is whenever we access the \windows directory, we often has to wait a while before the contents gets display in the file explorer.
Now we are able to maximize the Storage Card space with a lite rom like Tazio . Hence, we can select our own cabs to install into different directory than \windows, oftenly \program files . eg: like JJ's Blacks etc....
However, if the cabs install back into the \windows directory, then there is no benefit as the no files in \windows directory increase slowing down the access.
Hence, most people will see a benefit with clean rom rather than application cooked into the rom.
cheers,
My goal is to reach in too my windows folder and delete all the unnecessary file copied to my windows directory....I was just wondering if I could remove the rom and read only properties of the folder!!!
I guess no one wants to offer me any guidance then......If this is information u wish to not make publicaly available can someone please pm me to point me in the right direction
If the files are in the ROM, there is no way of deleting them. Else, you can try Total Commander to do the job you mentioned.
Your best bet is to edit the ROM before it goes onto your phone.
I'd suggest either Pandora (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=316881) or Core Pro (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=309701&highlight=core+pro) as your best starting points.
Anything with the propery of being 'in ROM' will still be uneditable though, so any files wich you can't avoid having to install will remain 'locked' (although, by definition, any files you absolutely can't avoid having shouldn't be deleted anyway, if you see what I mean).
The whole problem is that even after installing all my programs to my storage it places tons of unneeded file in my windows folder....I Keep a tidy file system but windows folder has 103mb of data in it.....I finally have my device setup the way I like it after flashing a different rom everyother day...What options will total commander give me over resco explorer???
Total Commander won't give you any extra options, it's just that it is free compared to Resco. If you're really deadset on cleaning up your windows folder and want to keep your same setup that you have now, you need to "dump" the ROM and edit it on your PC. Look in the wiki under "Research and Technical Stuff" to find out how to do all that.
okay I guess I can try that even though that seems excessive.....is there anyway that when I cook a rom that I can remove the in rom status????
just watch what u do. some files u think are not needed are. best thing is to take a current rom and figure out what file belongs to what and delete whats not needed or cook a rom without the things u need. again pandora is a great option.
Not really, not as far as I know anyway. I'm pretty sure that anything which is there on first boot at the last moment before the OS starts to set the phone up is unremovable except by flashing.
The only other option I can think of is to unlock the EXTROM in case you've got some unnecessary apps being popped into Windows from it on first boot, cabs like ClearVue or suchlike extraneous stuff. If that's still being used when your hard reset your phone there may be a fair few meg you can prevent being nicked.
Thanks alot guy for the advice!!! I love this place I spend quite a bit of my time at work on here!! I will try the things above and see if they do the trick.....
First of all I apologies because my thread isn't really phone related. But I saw that some members have experience with magellan gps devices, like Roadmate.
Triton are new GPS handled devices from Magellan. They run WINCE 5.0 Core and have custom shell(similar structure like Roadmate devices).
Issue that I have is that during upgrade of firmware power went down on my Desktop PC and flashing process gone bad. Now I can power up device but there is no connectivity to PC(shell uses special drivers to connect to PC, which now are probably corrupted or what so ever).
So what I would like to now is somebody can explain to me is it possible to change somehow startup process, or something similar. I think that word "cooking" is used to describe process of editing OS image to add, replace, modify OS. I tried some of tools for editing but I'm not sure where I'm making mistakes because I can't even get dump of files from OS image. I again say it is WinCE 5.0 CORE. I tried looking with hex editor but I can't find any reference to mgmShell.exe(that is name of shell exe). I would be very thankful if somebody could explain me these things to me because then I would probably be able to copy files back(I would add FileManCE or MortScript and I figured out way of applying OS image from SD Card) from SD card to internal storage and restore my unit.
If there is anybody interested I will put somewhere whole update package from Magellan. It contains OS image in bin format.
Again I apologies but I'm very desperate to restore my unit , and as I can see this only place with enough knowledge to help me. Sorry.
Hey ya'll, I have a simple question.
I want to know if I can flash the ext rom from another HTC device onto my BA ext rom?
I just installed the 142 Tmo Uk rom, and was curious if I can grab the ext rom off of another Tmo USA device, so I have all the right settings and stuff?
TIA!
i wouldn't think so. may be able to do it, i wouldn't attempt it. i stripped my extrom, they don't actually have anything useful in them. just horrible themes and bad software.
you however could probably extract the extended rom from another device and copy the files and manually install them. that'd be easy enough i think.
yeah, flashing a rom from another device is not such a good idea, but since you are using wm2003, you can visit -=this tutorial=- and gain another 16mb of storage space and then just copy cabs that you want to the device or maybe even build you own extrom, to be copied to the sd card and installed automatically. to find out how that is done (actually pretty easy!) just use forum search and look for "cfg.txt" and Chef_Tony. i wrote some pretty long tutorials about that.
basicly it is just making an automated install routine for your most commonly used programs, so whenever you hard reset your device, the programs YOU want are installed, not those ridiculous t-mobile customizations, their pink dialer skin and things like that.
EDIT: btw. you should never take an entire extrom of another device. you never know, if maybe some of the things installed by the extrom are dependant of the display resolution or use device specific interfaces or mess around with device specific hardware buttons or drivers, you should extract the cabs and google their names, if you are not sure, what that actually does, so you can be sure, it will work on your blueangel!
have fun with that.
and @cerjam: don't be offended, your answer is completely right, i agree, just wanted to add a few little things
Perfect answers!
So, chef_tony, your telling me that it's ok to merge my extrom and storage in wm2003se? and then copy my cabs and write a cfg.txt of my own for an sd card?
I realize that I should do all the reading, but I'm the kinda guy who needs a generalized big picture before I start ripping apart all the details, so I'm looking for **** and jane/oversimplified answers.
Thanks, guys (and gals, if you are one)
I tried to upgrade my dopod 900 this morning from WM5 to WM6.1 using a file i downloaded here at xda. Looks like i got things wrong. After following screen instructions, and finally clicking on the FINISH button, my dopod's screen says Not For G4... I tried to hard reset, etc... But to no avail. This is my first time to do an upgrade..... What do i do now ? Could i still fix my dopod?
Welcome to forums
You have to flash a ROM what is compatible with G4 Universal
Have a look on my signature to select one.
Good luck,
thanx orb...
i also read and did the Mamaich method in the sticky... afterwards i got more confident flashing my rom knowing i cud still bring it to life again. hehe
i'll check other rom's and post some comments from a newbie's point of view...thanx! am learning........
No prob mate
We all were noobs sometime
Hi! I am new here. I have the same unit (Dopod 900). It runs in wm5. My question is can I Flash it from wm5 to wm6.5? Thanks!
Welcome to forums
Yes you can, just go to my signature link and follow instructions on how to upgrade your ROM, you can go to WM 6, 6.1 or even 6.5
Here is my device info:
RAM size: 64 MB
Flash size 128 MB
Flash Chip type: G3
Data bus: 32 bits
It is my first time flashing a device. So I am digging all the info available. But I must admit I need help for I don't understand most of the terms and the things needed to be done in order to flash succesfully.
For instance, do I need to update my activesync before getting unto the procedure? Or are there any one who can give me a link for the instructions for newb. Thanks!
Uni 64 Mb - upgrading from MW5 to ???, only looking for more available memory
Hi all,
yep, still happy with my 2006 model Jasjar . Hard to resist a good offer on a used HD2, but am sticking to my Uni !!
As you can see in my signature I am still running the factory ROM. The only thing that I have been missing so far is push email and the security tools that come with that like remote erase etc... . But that was something I could live without.
I am pretty pleased with the software I am running. Only iGo8 is very demanding and freezes when things get to rough. But other then that, happy. Until recently. I installed SPB shell to get a more updated look and feel, and a few new apps that have fingerstyle and scrolling/flipping effects. Now I see my Uni is getting memory problems. With no apps open, only SPB shell running I have :
Storage: Total 43,50, in use: 36,34, Free: 7.16
Program: Total 50,16, in use: 39,71, Free 10:45
I have cleaned out my phone to the max to free Storage. Deleted all sms'es, and moved all pictures and videos to the SD card. Ran 2 programs to free up memory.
Program memory is decreasing to 6 or 7 when launching f.ex. youtubeplay, SPB TV, Opera, or any type of graphics game.
Conclusion is that I like the look and feel of my Uni, but it looks like I need more memory. I could upgrade from 64 to 128, but that is something I consider as a last way out. That is, if I can find a new OS that frees up enough memory on both Storage and Program. I found soem comments on WM6.1 where some say this is the best solution when all you need is more memory. But if true, how much improvement can this bring? Or are there any basic WM6.5 images out there that suite my needs better then WM6.1?
I have been reading about some of the 6.5 ROMs, and it looks like there are still all with a certain risk of failure at a certain point. My curent ROM is working great, no hick ups. so I would like to keep it that way ;-). Please your opinion.
I did some reading up on how to flash. As it is said, I need to have a copy of my ROM with WM5 in case things go wrong. But I have no idea where to find a copy of my working ROM. But I found some info on making a dums:
http://buzzdev.org/how-to/universal-how-to-d2s-dump-the-rom/
Is this what I am looking for? Does this meanthat if I dump the files on my SD, I'm good?
Looking forward to start flashing! I hope somebody can help me getting started. I guess I first need to clarify the ROM backup. Then I need to make sure I know what NOT to do to avoid bricking my Uni, and last but not least, have a working routing to flash back to my old ROM.
Maybe a few more question for now:
- If I flash to a new ROM, do I need to reïnstall all data, contacts, programs etc?
- Are the Scandinavian letters/alphabet included in all new ROMs?
- Not sure if this is a WM5 limitation, but before I had a 2 Gb SD, and could store my pictures directly on SD, as default location in my camera app. But after upgrading to a 16Gb, this is not working (ironicly "not enough memory"). Looks like the camera app is not supporting 16 Gb. Have been reading about a 4 Gb limitation. Will this be better in newer ROMs?
If you want performance and free RAM try going to WM6.1 (I recommend Tomal 8.2 and 8.5), WM6.5 is not causing problems at least for me but is indeed slower than 6.1
- Yes, you need to reinstall all
- Not all, try checking my sig link and read the thread of the desired ROM
- Again, check my sig link to get working SD cards
HarryTheSatman said:
- If I flash to a new ROM, do I need to reïnstall all data, contacts, programs etc?
- Are the Scandinavian letters/alphabet included in all new ROMs?
- Not sure if this is a WM5 limitation, but before I had a 2 Gb SD, and could store my pictures directly on SD, as default location in my camera app. But after upgrading to a 16Gb, this is not working (ironicly "not enough memory"). Looks like the camera app is not supporting 16 Gb. Have been reading about a 4 Gb limitation. Will this be better in newer ROMs?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@orb3000
I have been reading the thread from Things 6.1 ROM. Looks like I am going to give that one a try. To start with anyway.
About my data. SPB backup has a backup of PIM data, emails and documents. I assume I can use the exe file to restore that after I upgraded the ROM, yes?
about the SD card. I think you misunderstood ;-). My 16 Gb is working, no prob. It is only the camera app that does not want to store it there. If I change the path to my SD, I get a memory error. But I can install apps on it, store data on it, transfer data from my PC to it etc. So most likely itis the camera app, that is from 2006 or earlier, that is not capable on dealing with 16 Gb cards. Just wanted to check if somebody else has the same problem.
Thanks for the reply. I will do some reading on the howto ROM section. Just need to figure out how to get a restorable copy of my current ROM, just in case.
Until Now, I'm still afraid to flash my Dopod 900
Hi! Guys it's been quite a while since I read and read about how to flash my device but until now, I can't find the courage to do so.
Is there someone who can tell me that it is ok to flash my dopod 900?
It is ok to do it!
I flashed my Uni one week after I got it back in 2005 and since then have flashed so many times that I´ve lost count, as long as you follow the instructions all should be ok.
On my sig link there is a good tut on how to
Don´t be afraid! you´ll see the goodness of having a cooked ROM from our great Chefs i XDA