[JAM, MDA Compact, S100 Software Upgrading] KevinL:
I’ve recently embarked on another round of ROM upgrading. :shock:

Having tackled an upgrade involving an incorrect hardware version (see > > here < <) and been happy with fixing my XDA II mini, I thought I’d try something a little more complicated.

Available at xdaforums.com is a HTC Magician (known more locally as the O2 XDA II mini, i-Mate JAM and a variety of names) image which removes the Extended ROM (ExtROM).

This is more important to us "Magician" users compared with other PDA owners, as the Magician class of devices don’t have a software utility to make the ExtROM viewable and writeable.

Other HTC models do have utilities to read the ExtROM space and delete the files within it, and make the space raw storage space. On the other models this memory gain isn’t a big issue, but with the limited memory on the mini, any extra memory space is a real godsend.

The procedure is documented at xda-dev, but [rant] I find that site incredibly difficult to understand at times, a personal opinion based on the fractured English that people use because of culture, proficiency, age of contributors, ebonic growth of language and excessive use of contracted words. [/rant] Ahem.

As such, I have decided to outline what I did to get my Magician (mini) to use the “bigstorage” upgraded ROM.

Prior to Installing

It’s the rule of the 6 “P”s – Prior Preparation Prevents P*** Poor Performance. I’d recommend NOT installing this until you have the following:

* A Windows PC

* An SD Card reader. I used > > this < < one, available at a VERY low price from regular Mtekk poster, Mr Gadget

* A spare 128Mb (or bigger) SD Card. You can reuse the card later, so copying the files off of the card for restoration after the ROM upgrade is fine

* A full backup (this is actually NOT necessary if things go well, but essential if things go WRONG)

* Installation files for all your programs. If you restore from a previous backup you have taken, you actually re-install the ExtROM files and the installed programs they generate, making the upgrade useless. The aim is to clear everything out and start from scratch, putting only what programs you want back on

* A well lit room to conduct the upgrade

* A decent amount of time before you need to use the device again

* About 700Mb of free hard drive space

* A copy of all the software you will use. This includes:

--> the new BigStorage ROM (BigStorage ROM)

--> the utility to copy ROMs to and from your SD card reader (NTRW, file to be stored in C: or somewhere you can remember and have write permission to)

--> a Hex Editor

--> the program to copy your ROM initially (ROMupdate)

--> and a copy of an existing WORKING ROM (see my .sig for how to do THAT whole procedure.)

Phew. With all that prepared, you’re only just almost ready to go. But one last time – are you SURE you want to do this?

Just had to ask :wink:

Procedure

First things first – DO NOT CONNECT YOUR MAGICIAN FROM NOW UNTIL YOU ARE READY TO UPGRADE

Ahem. Now, the procedure.

1. Back up your Magician. I know I’ve said it before, but do it anyway. Ensure that your SD Card files are copied as well, and that the SD Card is in the Magician

2. Disable the USB listener of ActiveSync. Right click the AS icon in the taskbar, select “Connection Settings…” and uncheck the checkbox “Allow

U

SB connections”

3. Install the Hex Editor you have already downloaded

4. Kiss goodbye to your SD Card and Magician’s current OS for at least ½ an hour :wink:

5. Put the Magician in to bootloader mode, by holding the Camera and Power buttons while pressing the soft-reset switch in the base of the PDA. Your Magician’s backlight will go out, and the words “Serial v1.00” or similar will come up. If it says “USB v1.00” then you haven’t followed my warning of not connecting and you should await the Black Ops agents bursting through your windows any second now

6. Connect your Magician via USB to the PC. Your PC should recognise it as a new device and try to install drivers for it. If you’ve ever installed Active Sync, your PC will have them. Wait for the new hardware bubble to say it is finished. If it reports an error, GIVE UP NOW. Fix the problem first, then come back. If Active Sync runs and synchronises your files, pack the phon back in to it’s box and send it back to the retailer, with a note saying “I am too stupid/foolhardy/impatient to read and follow step-by-step instructions”

7. Run the ROMupdate utility you have already downloaded

8. In the Port: dropdown combo box, select the entry that isn’t a serial port – it should be something like /.//blah blah blah and hit OK

9. In the terminal window that comes up, type “d2s” (without the quote) and wait until it finishes copying the file, and then wait some more until it calculates the checksum. BE PATIENT. Close the program

10. Unplug your Magician and leave it ON, and in bootloader mode. Seriously, I mean it. Connect up your SD Card reader. Let the individual drives be installed (if not already)

11. Take the SD card from your Magician and put it in the appropriate SD card reading slot. Your PC may complain that the card is unreadable and needs to be formatted – DO NOT LET IT DO THIS

12. Run a command prompt (Start -> Run -> “cmd” -> Ok) and change to where NTRW is (cd c:\ most likely)

13. Type “ntrw read OriginalROM.nb1 x:” (without quotes) where x: is the drive letter of the SD card reader. Mine was g:

14. Wait for the program to finish. This can take a few minutes, and will create a file (in the directory with NTRW) with a size up to the SD Card’s capacity (256Mb on mine). Ignore any error messages

15. Copy/burn that file somewhere safe – this is your original ROM and if copied on to an SD Card, can restore your Magician at a later point

16. Copy the file AGAIN, to work off just in case

17. Run the Hex Editor and open the copy of your original ROM

18. The top of the BIG file will start with “MAGICIAN” and have a block of weird text characters at the top. Copy the first 420 or so bytes (there will be a block of “00”s that show you when to stop copying) and in a new file, save those in a file with a descriptive name like “top420.hex”. This file, when applied to a .nb1 file, makes the file able to be installed on YOUR device ONLY. Without it, your device won’t attempt to upgrade itself from an SD card .nb1 file

19. Unzip the BigStorage ROM. Using the Hex Editor, open the BigStorage ROM .nb1 file

20. You’ll notice it is fairly similar to your original ROM. We need to overwrite the header 420 or so bytes, so open up the top420.hex file, select all, copy, and switch back to the BigStorage ROM and paste over the top. The linked hex editor will show modified text as RED, and thus only the first section will be red. If it doesn’t cover all of the BigStorage top section, you’re in trouble that I can’t fix

21. “Save As...” the edited file to the same directory as NTRW with a better name (like “modifiedROM.nb1”) Make sure the file extension is .nb1

22. Close all active programs and run a command prompt. Change to the NTRW directory

23. Type “ntrw write modifiedROM.nb1 x: (again, where x: is the SD card drive, and where modifiedROM.nb1 is the filename of your modified BigStorage ROM. Wait for the file to write. If you don’t get the number of bytes written, repeat from step 12 (I had to do it 3 times for some reason)

24. Remove the SD Card from the reader, unplug the reader and close all programs

25. Put the SD Card in to the Magician and wait 5 whole minutes. If you are lucky, you will get a prompt to “Press power to upgrade” or similar, on the bootloader screen. If so, jump to step 29. If not, read step 26

26. This is a bit hazy. If after 5 minutes no prompt to upgrade appears, you may need to hook the Magician up to USB to get the prompt. Connect up, and wait 5 minutes. If you get the prompt, jump to step 29. If not, read step 27

27. If you haven’t got the prompt after a further 5 minutes of USB connectivity, leave the USB cable plugged in and restart your PC. Do not reset using the button, reset using Start -> Shut Down -> Restart. Wait 5 minutes (your PC will be rebooted by now, right?). If so, jump to step 29. If not, read step 28

28. You’re in trouble. Like me, you’ll have to try different combinations of steps 25, 26, and 27 until you get the prompt to upgrade. Try plugging USB in, out, restarting your PC, USB in again, all waiting 5 minutes just to be sure. EVENTUALLY you will get it. It took me 40 minutes until it worked for me, but work it will

29. You did it! Press the power button and sit back while the file upgrade hits 100%, and then the Checksum hits 100%. Wait 5 minutes just to be sure, then remove the USB cable and move on

30. Soft reset your phone by the recessed reset button. Your newly-flashed ROM, with “HTC Magician” splash screen complete with volcano (no, really!) will greet you. You’ve succeeded in upgrading!

31. Set up your device with a new Device ID name, set your clock etc etc, just as if you’d just bought your first PowerPC (ahh the memories)

32. Re-enable USB connections to Active Sync (reverse of step 2)

33. Connect the USB cable. Create a new standard partnership (NOT guest) and take a new backup for BigStorage restoration. DO NOT RESTORE FROM A BACKUP OF YOUR OLD NON-BIGSTORAGE BACKUP

34. Reinstall programs from their install files

35. Format the SD Card (either in the Magician or in the PC SD card reader) and copy your SD card files back on to it

36. You’re done!

Wow. A lot of work! I did warn you. Really I did. But now, you should see some BIG differences...

* You will have fewer programs. ClearVue PDF viewer is gone, as are the files required to install it. Smart dialling, phone pad text entry will be gone. Most importantly, the Autoconfig program will be gone. Your phone will still work, but GPRS will need to be set up – ring your telco helpdesk and ask for the manual configuration settings (or ask the Mtekk users for their settings!). If you want the programs back you will need to download and install them. The files ARE available from the xda-dev FTP site

* You will have more memory. I went from around 20Mb free after a soft reset to around 41Mb free. Ahhh, the power!

So what changes? Well I went from

ROM version: 1.11.00 WWE

ROM date: 14/03/05

Radio version: 1.11.00

Protocol version: 1337.42

ExtROM version: 1.03.166 WWE

Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition Version 4.21.1088 (15045.2.0.0)

to:

ROM version: 1.11.00 WWE

ROM date: 14/03/05

Radio version: 1.11.00

Protocol version: 1337.42

ExtROM version: (Yes, BLANK!)

Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition Version 4.21.1088 (Build 15045.2.6.0)

Enjoy!