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Paul's complete guide to upgrading your Omnia to HH1, and what to do when things go wrong!

Guest PaulOBrien

By Guest PaulOBrien
in i9x0 Omnia - http://Omnia.MoDaCo.com

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Guest Paul (MVP)

Guest Paul (MVP)

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Update: A real HH1 build is now available, see this post for details!

Since there's a bit of confusion out there about how to upgrade to HH1, I figured i'd write a little post about upgrading your Omnia :D

First of all, some background.

At the time of writing, the HH1 ROM is NOT available officially for download from Samsung.

Unfortunate, but hopefully they will release a ROM newer than the current officially available ROM (DXHG4) in the near future. Now, HH1 has a number of benefits over previous ROMs including improved stability, improved speed, improved finger-friendliness and most importantly for many, the return of haptic feedback in the input methods that disappeared from earlier ROMs. For this reason, after seeing that an Omnia user had successfully obtained an upgrade to HH1 from his local service centre, I set about seeing if we could make it more widely available.

In a nutshell, I found the blog of said person, found his mobile number on the blog, texted him asking if he would be willing to help make the ROM available, and it turns out he was already a MoDaCo member! :D I then e-mailed him some instructions on how to dump, provided and FTP login, and he then did the business :angry: At this point user 'chaimd' stepped in, and repacked the raw files from the dump into a flashable format. After he uploaded this to the mediafire file hosting service, we were ready to go!

Flash formats

Omnia updates can contain a number of different parts. They can contain an updated bootloader, a PDA part (the main part you use), and a radio part. The radio part is the part that deals with the interaction with the mobile network... and contrary to popular misunderstanding is not related to the FM radio :P The PDA part and the radio part have seperate version numbers (which you can see in the 'versions' application in Start -> Settings -> System), the format of which is explained here.

While experimenting, we have learned that PDA parts sometimes do not like to co-exist with newer radio parts. For this reason, I would generally recommend that you flash the HH1 update on top of a radio ROM / base that is known to be compatible.

The tools

Omnia updates are generally flashed one of 3 ways. Firstly there is the standard updater that Samsung ship, which flashes with an Activesync'd device as it's starting point. This is all well and good, but if for some reason you have a device that won't fully boot, it won't work. Secondly there is something that looks very similar to the standard updater, but flashes the device from bootloader. The Polish SAHH2 update is an example of this. This is a good recovery tool. Finally, a Samsung internal application called 'Grand Prix' allows you to flash from the bootloader too. This is very clearly an internal engineering tool, and should be used with extreme caution!

The bootloader

I've talked about flashing from bootloader, so i'll say a few quick words on how the bootloader is found. Contrary to HTC devices, where the bootloader is accessed by pressing a key combination, the Omnia seems to enter the bootloader under specific circumstances. When the device is booted (i.e. when the reset pin has just been pressed), it seems to look for an application requesting bootloader access via USB (e.g. either of the second two update methods above). If this is found, it'll stay in bootloader ready to be flashed. If not, it will continue to boot normally. When the device is in bootloader, the 'Samsung Omnia' logo is on screen. This state is also the state the device seems to be getting stuck in when people are having a problem flashing.

How I recommend flashing HH1

For the best chance of success, I strongly recommend flashing HH1 from a Windows XP box. I know that not everybody has access to this, but I personally have had issues using Vista, and in the community there have been reports of this being a problem too.

I recommend first flashing the Portugese HG5 complete flash via 'Grand Prix', then flashing HH1 using chaimd's updater. The reason for this is that it will give you a HG5 radio ROM, but also it will give you a starting point before HH1 that we know will work. It removes the unknowns that I have seen so far causing problems.

IF YOU CONTINUE WITH THESE INSTRUCTIONS, YOU DO SO AT YOUR OWN RISK! I / MODACO TAKES NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANYTHING THAT MAY GO WRONG! YOU RISK BRICKING YOUR DEVICE IF THERE IS A PROBLEM!

Hope I made the above point clear :(

The usual flashing safeguards should be adhered too. Make sure your device has plenty of battery power, if you are flashing from a laptop make sure it is plugged in and has power in the battery and never, ever interrupt the flashing process or turn off either your PC or the device during the flash.

Got it? Good... let's go!

Step by step!

Step by step guides always go down well... so here's my step guide to HH1'ing your Omnia!

1. Ensure Omnia is charged

2. If flashing from a laptop, ensure it has plenty of battery power!

3. Make sure your flashing machine is running Windows XP (duh!)

4. Close down all applications on your flashing machine.

5. Download this file - this is the 'Grand Prix' flashing tool

6. Download this file - this is the HG5 update image

7. Download this file - this is the HH1 flasher

8. Download this file - this is the Samsung XP driver for the radio flash bootloader mode

9. Ensure you have an application installed capable of extracting RAR files, e.g. WinRAR

10. Extract all of these archives to a new directory

11. Switch to the new directory

12. Run the installer for the Samsung XP driver

13. Run USDL_GrandPrix_v1.5.2_XP.exe

14. In 'Step 1', drop down the box and ensure 'GRANDPRIX LV image' is selected (as shown in figure 1)

figure1.jpg

15. In 'Step 2', click 'EBOOT+PDA+PHONE(+CSC)' and browse to the 'Code_i900XCHG5.img' you extracted from the HG5 archive (your application will then appear as shown in figure 2)

figure2.jpg

16. Click 'Detect'

17. Plug your Omnia into a USB port, then press the reset pin...

18. The download will automatically start! Do not touch ANYTHING until it tells you it is done!

19. When the process is done, your device should boot into Portugese Windows Mobile 6.1. Let it boot to the startup wizard... it will automatically reboot one. Wait for the startup wizard to appear again.

20. Exit 'Grand Prix'.

21. Ensure your device is now showing as 'Connected' in ActiveSync.

22. Run 'i900DXHH1_PDA_updater_xp.exe'

23. Click the two checkboxes, and hit 'Verify device'... the flashing process will now begin.

24. When this process is completed, you can exit the updater, boot your device and all being well, you should be at HH1!

:P

IF THINGS GO WRONG!

If something terrible happens, you will likely end up at 1 of 2 scenarios. The first scenario is that you will be stuck at the 'Samsung Omnia' logo, and the device won't boot. If this is the case, restart from step 13... that is reapply the complete HG5 update. You should then be back in business. The second scenario is that something really terrible will happen and you won't even get the bootloader. You will get a blank screen, and XP will identify a device called 'MONAHANS', with no suitable driver. Should this happen, at this time, YOU WILL HAVE TO RETURN YOUR DEVICE TO A SAMSUNG SERVICE CENTRE!

And finally...

I'll try and keep this topic updated as new updates come out, please vote in the poll and indicate whether you have successfully completed the process.

Thanks! :D

P

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Guest Dine SS

Guest Dine SS

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Hi Paul,

I did the upgrade, unfortunatly i got the "MONOHANS". I cannot access any more to my i900. The screen is black; I can no more charge the battery.

Would you please help me?

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Guest Paul (MVP)

Guest Paul (MVP)

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Hi Paul,

I did the upgrade, unfortunatly i got the "MONOHANS". I cannot access any more to my i900. The screen is black; I can no more charge the battery.

Would you please help me?

I'm assuming you didn't upgrade via this guide.

The second scenario is that something really terrible will happen and you won't even get the bootloader. You will get a blank screen, and XP will identify a device called 'MONAHANS', with no suitable driver. Should this happen, at this time, YOU WILL HAVE TO RETURN YOUR DEVICE TO A SAMSUNG SERVICE CENTRE!

:D

P

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Guest Paul (MVP)

Guest Paul (MVP)

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Are you on XP?

You should press the reset pin, your phone should stay at the 'Samsung Omnia' logo, then the button should become enabled.

P

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Guest d4rkr0s3

Guest d4rkr0s3

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yes I'm on xp, I press detect and when it says:

Calculating file parameters(DISKIMAGE)....

Calculating file parameters(DISKIMAGE) Done!!

I connect the phone and press the reset pin.. but the cell starts and the button doesn't became available :/

Are you on XP?

You should press the reset pin, your phone should stay at the 'Samsung Omnia' logo, then the button should become enabled.

P

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Guest Paul (MVP)

Guest Paul (MVP)

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Ummm, it should say 'Calculating file parameters(DISKIMAGE).... Calculating file parameters(DISKIMAGE) Done!!' when you load up the image, not when you hit Detect!

P

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Guest d4rkr0s3

Guest d4rkr0s3

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ok first step is ok, it booted into windows portuguese version... I connected it with activesync and opened sgh-i900 os updater... I checked the 2 checkboxes but it says INCORRECT SOFTWARE VERSION...

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Guest d4rkr0s3

Guest d4rkr0s3

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ok first step is ok, it booted into windows portuguese version... I connected it with activesync and opened sgh-i900 os updater... I checked the 2 checkboxes but it says INCORRECT SOFTWARE VERSION...

:°

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Guest IZIIZI

Guest IZIIZI

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Theoretically I guess so! Maybe someone who has flashed already from Orange UK can say what they did...?

P

I may start a new thread to ask this in a couple hours if no one has replied as people who have already flashed may not look in here.

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Guest blackhorse

Guest blackhorse

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Theoretically I guess so! Maybe someone who has flashed already from Orange UK can say what they did...?

P

My device was Orange UK and i had to change my device to be of Singapore (in that of the stickie) said incorrect sofware version until i made this ammendment

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