13 replies to this topic

[m700newbie]

HEy all,

Has anyone flashed their SPV M700 to WM6 and if so how easy was it? am pretty handy with computers having BIOS flashed my Core 2 and OC'd it to death but it's my first PDA/smartphone and dont want to fry it as only just got it from Orange!!

Is there any real benefit from upgrading(?) to WM6? Is it faster/better?
What are the realistic chances of frying something on the phone by flashing the ROM from WM5 to 6?? etc etc

Cheers!!
J

[Neil5459]

m700newbie, on Sep 19 2007, 20:10, said:

HEy all,

Has anyone flashed their SPV M700 to WM6 and if so how easy was it? am pretty handy with computers having BIOS flashed my Core 2 and OC'd it to death but it's my first PDA/smartphone and dont want to fry it as only just got it from Orange!!

Is there any real benefit from upgrading(?) to WM6? Is it faster/better?
What are the realistic chances of frying something on the phone by flashing the ROM from WM5 to 6?? etc etc

Cheers!!
J

The advantages of WM6 over WM5 are quite minimal, unless you use Exchange Hosted email, when there are good benefits to be had.

Most of us who upgrade are 'dabblers' who want to be at the forefront of technology   We do it because we can, and because some clever folk have made it possible.

I have an Orange SPV M700 and when I got it, the first thing I did was a hard reset, and aborting the Extended ROM, to get rid of the dross Orange put on it. When WM6 was released, it soon became clear that the UK suppliers were not going to release an offical WM6 ROM; the early WM6 ROMs were based on the Hermes (Tytn) which is nearly identical to the Trinity/M700 apart from the GPS, which is a function of the Radio ROM anyway, not the main ROM.

When Dopod (Asia) released a WM6 build for the Trinity a lot of ROM 'cooks' used it to base their custom ROMs. The current favourite is Indigo by a ROM cook called Mun_Rus. It is extremely fast and stable, and cuts out a lot of the extras most people don't need, leaving the user free to install those he really wants.

There are some excellent guides to the whole process on XDA Developers- you need to register (free) to dwonload or contribute to the forums. Look in the Trinity/WM6 sub forum for all the info, but be aware that there is a massive amount of hype, confusion and general ill-informed comment there, so be selective. There are also a growing number of custom ROMs, many of which have big flaws.

If you follow the directions, you won't brick your device, but if you update the ROM you WILL invalidate the Orange warranty.

My advice is to get used to the M700 and the Windows Mobile system as it stands, then in a few weeks, decide if you want to take the plunge, then ask for more guidance

[OzzMosiz]

I've installed the pdaviet ROM (goto xda-developers.com and search) - its nice and quick, has HTC Home plugin, PIM Backup facility, Office, Pocket Secure, Audio Manager, Core Player all installed into the ROM (bit of a pain if you want to remove them).

I love it! It was easy as pie to install (I was V nervous doing it).

[andythomas1]

Neil5459, on Sep 19 2007, 19:57, said:

I have an Orange SPV M700 and when I got it, the first thing I did was a hard reset, and aborting the Extended ROM, to get rid of the dross Orange put on it. When WM6 was released, it soon became clear that the UK suppliers were not going to release an offical WM6 ROM; the early WM6 ROMs were based on the Hermes (Tytn) which is nearly identical to the Trinity/M700 apart from the GPS, which is a function of the Radio ROM anyway, not the main ROM.

Is this the best way to get rid of the orange extras?

I was thinking of having to re flash the rom to junk the gunk?

if you can just dump the extended rom is it the whole thing or can you pick and choose what you bin?

if so what did tou lose

many thanks in advance?

[jimbouk]

Stopping the extended rom customisation does junk most of the O stuff.

But if you are going to hard reset anyway, then why not try a cooked rom? As long as you upgrade to a safe SPL (more info over at xda-dev) then you should be fine.

I must have flashed about 35 roms onto hermes/trinity/kaisers over the last year and I love the choice.

[andythomas1]

jimbouk, on Jan 11 2008, 15:51, said:

Stopping the extended rom customisation does junk most of the O stuff.

But if you are going to hard reset anyway, then why not try a cooked rom? As long as you upgrade to a safe SPL (more info over at xda-dev) then you should be fine.

I must have flashed about 35 roms onto hermes/trinity/kaisers over the last year and I love the choice.

That is true but i wa thinking that if i did a hard reset  but didnt load the crap and then i had a problem with the phone I could do anoher hard reset - bring it back to "orange state" and then send it back

thanks

[Neil5459]

Andy- In the 1st instance I'd use the devices as supplied, just to see how you get on. In everyday use, the Orange ROM is just fine, though more intense modification such as trying to use 3rd party keyboards may present problems.

If you change to ROM of a new device too soon, you may encounter warranty issues if something goes wrong. The small number reports that have been posted suggest that Orange aren't too fussed, but they could get difficult if they wanted to.

Assuming ou do need more memory of process stack availability the next stage would be to hard reset and abort the Ext_ROM installation. Once done, unhiding the Ext_ROM will allow selective running of the cab files, but remember some need executing in a set order.

The M700 is a great device- I wonder if O are replacing it with something better?

[andythomas1]

Neil5459, on Jan 13 2008, 10:47, said:

Assuming ou do need more memory of process stack availability the next stage would be to hard reset and abort the Ext_ROM installation. Once done, unhiding the Ext_ROM will allow selective running of the cab files, but remember some need executing in a set order.

neil,

Many thanks for this info
am I correct in thinking  that doing hard reset/soft reset dumps the external rom ?
how would i go about unhiding the external rom?

and finally any idea what to keep and in what order?

thanks again

[Neil5459]

andythomas1, on Jan 19 2008, 16:50, said:

neil,

Many thanks for this info
am I correct in thinking  that doing hard reset/soft reset dumps the external rom ?
how would i go about unhiding the external rom?

and finally any idea what to keep and in what order?

thanks again

Yes, do a hard reset, then after the initial setup screen go through, there will be a screen message saying 'Setup complete: Customisation will commence in 3 seconds' (or similar!)  At that point do a soft reset, and the Ext_ROM won't load.

TBH I can't remember what's in the Orange Ext_ROM- I think it was pretty low anywy, so the device may work OK.  You will need to manually configure all the connection settings but there is a file by Rabdo which does all you need (do a search here for rabdo, and you will find a recent thread about Orange World which has links)

To see the Ext_ROM you need to look around XDA-Developers for the registry hack to enable it; otherwise look for a free file manager called Total commander. Entering a path into the 'Open' box can open the Ext-ROM- again you need to do a search for the full instructions.

I can't remember whethet the Orange 'Theme' is part of the main ROM or Ext_ROM, but if it is main ROM you can still turn it off in Settings/Today/Items.

[Paul1965]

i am new to this site and have read your replies. I did upgrade to WM6 and found it works fine, except for one are, GPS, I have now reverted back to a ROM found on XDA website ROM 1.23.405.2 with radio version 1.50.08.11, but still have GPS, can anyone help. I have downloaded cameraware and total commander, i have enabled GPS through the registry settings and then used cameraware to find a fix, however it seems to connect to the gps but cannot find a fix. I have done the usual things like go out side wait an eternity , but still no life from the gps. Can anyone help, i do need a real idiots guide to this as i know nothing about this topic at all so a very detailed sollution would be appreciated before i go out and destroy this device!!! buy the way i have read you need to refresh the intermediate driver whenever you alter the registry, is this my problem and if so again an idiots guide is appreciated.

awaiting your kind remarks

Paul

[Neil5459]

The OS ROM and the Radio ROM are 2 different things. The cooked ROMs don't include a Radio ROM, but the manufacturers ones do.

I assume you unlocked your M700 before flashing the WM6 ROM?  It is this process that kills the GPS because the unlockers work by installing a basic version of the Radio ROM which doesn't have GPS. GPS resides in the Radio ROM, not the OS ROM.

You could therfore have kept the WM6 ROM, and just flashed the Radio V1.50 to restore the GPS. I'd check in your Settings/Device Info just to make sure your Radio ROM is 1.50.

You don't need any registry tweaking or hacking to enable GPS- it just works on demand. All the hack does is to show the GPS Control panel in settings, to allow you to change virtual port settings.

How do you know CamerAware is actually connecting- do you get the 'x satellites out of xx' in the status display?  I suggest you download and install a fully graphical GPS Utility such as Visual GPS CE to see how many satellites are visible and your lock status. Stop any other GPS apps running. Point it to COM9 (the hardware GPS port) and 57600 Baud.  Start it up, and go outside with a clear sky view for at least 20 minutes.

Let us know if this helps!

[Paul1965]

Neil5459, on Mar 11 2008, 12:45, said:

The OS ROM and the Radio ROM are 2 different things. The cooked ROMs don't include a Radio ROM, but the manufacturers ones do.

I assume you unlocked your M700 before flashing the WM6 ROM? It is this process that kills the GPS because the unlockers work by installing a basic version of the Radio ROM which doesn't have GPS. GPS resides in the Radio ROM, not the OS ROM.

You could therfore have kept the WM6 ROM, and just flashed the Radio V1.50 to restore the GPS. I'd check in your Settings/Device Info just to make sure your Radio ROM is 1.50.

You don't need any registry tweaking or hacking to enable GPS- it just works on demand. All the hack does is to show the GPS Control panel in settings, to allow you to change virtual port settings.

How do you know CamerAware is actually connecting- do you get the 'x satellites out of xx' in the status display? I suggest you download and install a fully graphical GPS Utility such as Visual GPS CE to see how many satellites are visible and your lock status. Stop any other GPS apps running. Point it to COM9 (the hardware GPS port) and 57600 Baud. Start it up, and go outside with a clear sky view for at least 20 minutes.

Let us know if this helps!

[Paul1965]

Neil5459, on Mar 11 2008, 12:45, said:

The OS ROM and the Radio ROM are 2 different things. The cooked ROMs don't include a Radio ROM, but the manufacturers ones do.

I assume you unlocked your M700 before flashing the WM6 ROM? It is this process that kills the GPS because the unlockers work by installing a basic version of the Radio ROM which doesn't have GPS. GPS resides in the Radio ROM, not the OS ROM.

You could therfore have kept the WM6 ROM, and just flashed the Radio V1.50 to restore the GPS. I'd check in your Settings/Device Info just to make sure your Radio ROM is 1.50.

You don't need any registry tweaking or hacking to enable GPS- it just works on demand. All the hack does is to show the GPS Control panel in settings, to allow you to change virtual port settings.

How do you know CamerAware is actually connecting- do you get the 'x satellites out of xx' in the status display? I suggest you download and install a fully graphical GPS Utility such as Visual GPS CE to see how many satellites are visible and your lock status. Stop any other GPS apps running. Point it to COM9 (the hardware GPS port) and 57600 Baud. Start it up, and go outside with a clear sky view for at least 20 minutes.

Let us know if this helps!

[mr dancehalll]

AM AFTER THIS DEFAULT ROM WITH NO ORANGE BRANDING ON IT I KNOW SOMEONE SOMEWHERE HAS IT SO PLEASE HELP THANX