34 replies to this topic

[hylton]

Just to update anyone that might be interested in this, but I finally got around to messing w/ this and did some image replacing in the DLL.  

Since the 8500 dll resolved the goofy voicemail character that displayed when running the 3125 dll, I took the 8500 DLL, changed the BT icon to a blue one, imported the block style EDGE images from the 3125 DLL to overlay the plain text versions in the 8500 dll, resigned it using the signtool utility in Visual Studio (used the priv developer cert and private key), and boom, works perfectly.

One other thing I discovered, while you can't copy over the DLL while it's running, you can rename it.  So rather than have to make those registry entries that ateece mentioned, you can simply name your new DLL something like SubDisplayDLL.dll.new, copy it to the phone, rename the existing SubDisplayDLL.dll to something like SubDisplayDLL.dll.original, then rename your new dll back to the main filename, SubDisplayDLL.dll...then reboot.  No registry editing necessary.

From what I can tell, this DLL is not .NET managed code, so the only editing that's really possible (at least w/ my skills) is to change the resource stuff.  I guess if you know enough to decipher hex code, you can edit other parts of the file, but that's not a skill in my toolbox, nor will it be.

I also extended ateece's research to the GenTimer application I purchased recently.  I never liked the background images that were stock on that app, and they were 'embedded' in the EXE.  I edited those to things I liked, resigned, copied to the phone, works fine.  So, I can now 're-skin' that app the way I want it.

Next stop, CommManager.exe, to make that screen totally black, w/ white buttons.

A big THANKS to ateece for figuring this out...lot's of possibilities here...

Chris

[hylton]

forgot to mention, i did have a problem w/ my initial attempt at signing my DLL, it signed but it wouldn't run, blank external display after a reboot.  i resigned the same DLL again, making sure I used the cert and key mentioned above and it worked the second time.

only thing I did was to install the SdkCert.cab found in the smartphone SDK.  So, it was either that (having all those certs on the phone) or i could have chosen the wrong cert/key combination the first time out.

Chris

[kingbear2]

Can you please give us some way to download this DLL along with exact instructions on how to load it onto our smartphone?

Thank so much.

[hylton]

Sure...

http://members.cox.n...layDll.dll.3125
http://members.cox.n...layDll.dll.8500
http://members.cox.n...Dll.dll.8500MOD
http://members.cox.n...on/SdkCerts.cab

Regarding the three dll files above, .3125 is the original DLL found on the 3125, .8500 is the original DLL found on the 8500, .8500MOD is the modified DLL that I made.  .8500MOD includes a 'blue' bluetooth icon and replaced the text based EDGE and GPRS icons in the original 8500 file w/ those found in the 3125 file (the 3125 EDGE and GPRS icons are white squares w/ an E or G inside).  The .8500MOD file has been signed w/ a Microsoft SDK cert and key found in the WM5 Smartphone SDK.

So, the first thing you need to do is install the SdkCert.cab on your phone.  A word of WARNING here...use these at your own risk.  They will not impact your device, they are valid certs from MS meant for development.  But, in theory, if a destructive program or virus were written and executed on your phone, and it had been signed w/ one of these certs, it would run w/o warning.  I personally didn't have a problem w/ this, but it's up to you.

Once the SdkCert.cab is installd, to install the DLL on your phone...

1.  Connect via ActiveSync, navigate to the \Windows directory.

2.  Copy the file you want to run (from above) to the \Windows directory.

3.  Find the original file, named SubDisplayDll.dll on your phone and rename it to SubDisplayDll.dll

4.  Find the file you just copied to the phone, and remove the .8500 or .8500MOD portion of the filename so that it is then named as the production file SubDisplayDll.dll.

5.  Soft reset your phone.

If you get a blank/black external display after restarting, then the certs didn't install or you didn't name the files correctly.

Basically, if you just want to get rid of the strange 'A' character when voicemails are left, run the .8500 file, if you want the other changes I describe above in the .8500MOD version, run that one.

If anyone has any suggestions of other things they'd like to see changed, I can play around over the holiday's w/ it...week after Christmas, just post back.

Have fun...

Chris

Edited by hylton, 14 December 2006 - 02:42 PM.

[BrumBrum74]

Can't get the file SdkCerts.cab to work. Says file is corrupted.

[hylton]

BrumBrum74, on Jan 10 2007, 08:59, said:

Can't get the file SdkCerts.cab to work. Says file is corrupted.

Sorry for just now responding, don't get over to Modaco but about once a week.

Anyway, that's odd that it's corrupted, I can click it and it downloads fine but I haven't tried to use it to install on the phone.

If you can PM me w/ an email address, I'll email it to you tonight.  I'll also try to re-upload it.

Chris

[My_Immortal]

hylton, on Jan 12 2007, 22:50, said:

Sorry for just now responding, don't get over to Modaco but about once a week.

Anyway, that's odd that it's corrupted, I can click it and it downloads fine but I haven't tried to use it to install on the phone.

If you can PM me w/ an email address, I'll email it to you tonight.  I'll also try to re-upload it.

Chris

It downloads just fine but when trying to install it on the phone, it ends up with a message about unsuccessful installation. And when I try to open it on my PC, it says it's a corrupted file.
So, it is indeed corrupted for some strange reason...
I PMed you with my mail address.
Thank you in advance.

[My_Immortal]

Chris the news are not good...
The file is still corrupted and it won't install on the phone or open on my PC.

[hylton]

My_Immortal, on Jan 17 2007, 04:29, said:

Chris the news are not good...
The file is still corrupted and it won't install on the phone or open on my PC.

Sorry for the delay again, just noticed your message this afternoon.

I'll have to pull the CAB fill out of the SDK again, I'll re-email it to you this weekend.  The one I emailed you is right out the working directory where I have my edited DLL files and the CAB.  I even copied it to my phone from there before I sent it to you and it installed fine.

BTW...have you app unlocked your phone, that could be the problem...dunno, but if it's not app unlocked, you might not be able to install that CAB on there.

Chris

[My_Immortal]

hylton, on Jan 19 2007, 20:03, said:

Sorry for the delay again, just noticed your message this afternoon.

I'll have to pull the CAB fill out of the SDK again, I'll re-email it to you this weekend.  The one I emailed you is right out the working directory where I have my edited DLL files and the CAB.  I even copied it to my phone from there before I sent it to you and it installed fine.

BTW...have you app unlocked your phone, that could be the problem...dunno, but if it's not app unlocked, you might not be able to install that CAB on there.

Chris

Thank you very much for your effort, I totally appreciate it!  

I have application unlocked my phone actually.
The weird thing about the CAB is that when I open it on my PC using Winrar and I try to
open the _setup.xml file or even extract it, I get a WinRAR pop up saying: The archive is corrupt.
That's why I thought it has something to do with the cab itself, since it's not functioning whether
on the SP nor the PC.
Anyway, take your time! You've already done much!  

Iris

[hylton]

Just emailed you another copy, maybe it got corrupted in the upload process.  I'll check into that, but in the meantime, try the last one I emailed you.  I pulled it right out of the SDK tool directory today when I was at work.  I just tried to open it on my laptop tonight and successfully extracted the setup.xml file that was inside it...seems fine.

Let me know how it goes.

I've grown tired of the 'blue' bluetooth icon, so I'm probably gonna be editing again soon to replace that image w/ a plain white BT icon again...and may work up another version w/ a different clock, just for grins.

Chris

[My_Immortal]

hylton, on Jan 20 2007, 05:36, said:

Just emailed you another copy, maybe it got corrupted in the upload process.  I'll check into that, but in the meantime, try the last one I emailed you.  I pulled it right out of the SDK tool directory today when I was at work.  I just tried to open it on my laptop tonight and successfully extracted the setup.xml file that was inside it...seems fine.

Let me know how it goes.

I've grown tired of the 'blue' bluetooth icon, so I'm probably gonna be editing again soon to replace that image w/ a plain white BT icon again...and may work up another version w/ a different clock, just for grins.

Chris

I just tried it and it works!!!
Thank you so much!  
I will be looking forward to your new achievements!  

[hylton]

My_Immortal, on Jan 21 2007, 17:31, said:

I just tried it and it works!!!
Thank you so much!  
I will be looking forward to your new achievements!  

Cool, glad that worked.  I must have corrupted the CAB in the FTP upload, maybe it went up ASCII or BINARY and it needs to be the other.  If anybody else needs it, yell, and I'll email it.  I'll try to get it re-uploaded when I have time.

Didn't get to mess w/ the clock and stuff last weekend, maybe be awhile, I have a few home projects to complete before I'll have time to get back to messin' w/ my phone.

Chris

[kingbear2]

hylton, on Jan 23 2007, 09:17, said:

Cool, glad that worked.  I must have corrupted the CAB in the FTP upload, maybe it went up ASCII or BINARY and it needs to be the other.  If anybody else needs it, yell, and I'll email it.  I'll try to get it re-uploaded when I have time.

Didn't get to mess w/ the clock and stuff last weekend, maybe be awhile, I have a few home projects to complete before I'll have time to get back to messin' w/ my phone.

Chris

I know this thread's been dead for a while, but I was just browsing through and got my phone to work fine with the Mod'd DLL file. Firstly, the download you post for the cab file of the cert is corrupt, so I found a place to download here: http://www.navizon.c...ds/SdkCerts.cab

Also, I got sick of the blue BT icon but more importantly, the VoiceMail display on the external screen is gone, so when I get a new VM the only way to know about it is to open my phone. I would rather see a weird A charachter than nothing at all. What would be amazing would be if you can get it to display the VM icon with a normal word underneath like "New VoiceMail". If you could post a DLL like that, together with the original BT icon and Cingular E icons, I would really appreciate it.

[hylton]

kingbear2, on Mar 7 2007, 21:20, said:

I know this thread's been dead for a while, but I was just browsing through and got my phone to work fine with the Mod'd DLL file. Firstly, the download you post for the cab file of the cert is corrupt, so I found a place to download here: http://www.navizon.c...ds/SdkCerts.cab

Also, I got sick of the blue BT icon but more importantly, the VoiceMail display on the external screen is gone, so when I get a new VM the only way to know about it is to open my phone. I would rather see a weird A charachter than nothing at all. What would be amazing would be if you can get it to display the VM icon with a normal word underneath like "New VoiceMail". If you could post a DLL like that, together with the original BT icon and Cingular E icons, I would really appreciate it.

Hey, sorry, don't get over here much.  But, that'd be nice if I could find a way to do it.  But beyond swapping out the resource images, I can't do much else w/ the DLL.  The resource images are easy to swap out.  But, the code inside the DLL that makes it all work is stuff I can't edit, or at least I don't begin to understand it.  I guess anything is possible, but editing anything beyond the images is out of my league at this point.  When voicemails are left, there isn't even any resource 'text' w/in the DLL for that, it's coming from the network or further in the DLL (hardcoded) and my best guess is that there is a bug w/ the ROM and the network here in the states, w/ the Cingular ROM or something.

My blue icon was just a 'proof-of-concept' that it could be done, I've since switched it back out for the standard one as well...it was annoying, agreed :-)

I'm basically running the 8500 DLL w/ the E/G icons replaced w/the E/G icons from the 3125 DLL.

I personally don't care about the VM notification on there, but yes, the 8500 DLL doesn't have that image, maybe if I added it (the VM icon) at the right place in the resource section of the DLL, it'd just work.

I'll try that.

FWIW, I run Dont Forget to notify me I have a missed VM, Email, etc...so I don't even look at my ext screen for that...my phone just beeps every 30 seconds until I clear it.

Also, the new BETA rom that is floating out there doesn't fix it either, a few other things are better in the BETA cingular ROM, but this goofy character is still there.

Chris