[JAMin, XDA Neo, S200 ROM Development] YetAnotherForumUser:
Flashed hardSPL to no avail on G4?

There's something strange going on with my (2.10.0001/2.20.0001/radio 02.61.21, rom 2.20.7.30 SVE - Swedish) Qtek S200. The thing works, mind you, nothing went 'wrong' as such but for some reason the hardSPL trick does not seem to stick. I'm using a machine with Windows 2000 as that is the only Windows I happen to have (rest is Linux) but that should work as Activesync (4.5) is supported - right?

I unzipped ProphetSPLTool.zip in C:\ so the ProphetSPLTool.exe executable is in C:\ProphetSPLTool.exe and the Utils directory is in C:\Utils (with the Flash, Hard and Soft subdirectories in it). The phone is connected as guest to Activesync.

I have configured the phone to the lowest backlight setting. This seems to make it possible to recognize when the SPL is executed correctly as the backlight dims when still inside the SPL.

Here's what happens:

Step 1: jump/softSPL

when I try to flash it it goes through the motions, screen goes white. Usually it stays bright white which leads me to believe that the SPL is not executed correctly. When the screen stays bright white the phone does not reconnect to Activesync, no matter how often it is unplugged/replugged.

starting the process from the phone itself (by executing \JumpSPL.exe 0x10000000 \SPL.nb) does not make a difference, it sometimes works, sometimes does not...

Sometimes the screen goes to the lowest brightness setting after a short while which seems to indicate that the SPL IS executed as it should. When it does this the phone DOES reconnect to Activesync. When it does it is time for...

Step 2: HardSPL... or not?

The ROMUpdateUtility_NV_G4.exe recognizes the phone and tells me about the current ROM version (2.20.7.30). It does not mention the current SPL. It gives me the option to update the ROM but it does NOT show the new ROM version - it just shows an empty space where the new version number should be (just like mentioned in this post). It does not matter how I execute the ROMUpdateUtility_NV_G4.exe:

by hand from the C:\ directory (in which case it can not find the required files)

from within explorer in the C:\Utils\Hard\G4 directory (it does not complain but shows an empty 'to' version)

by using the hardspl.bat batch file

It also does not matter which of the many hardSPL bundles I use: ProphetSPLTools.zip, ProphetToolsLight.zip, HardSPL G4.rar, the version included in l3v5y_Prophet_Future_20270_Clean_MMS.zip, etc...

Emboldened by the resilience of this device against *real* bricking (as I can always go into the bootloader) I decided to give it a try anyway, *empty* version or not, and clicked 'Next'. It went on its merry way:

RGB-screen on the phone with RUU in the top right corner of the phone showing that it has started the rom upgrade utility

A progress bar on the PC screen AND on the phone screen (contrary to what is mentioned everywhere the progress bar on the phone DOES show how far along the process is)

The whole process does not take much more than a minute, going from 0% to 100% on the PC and phone screen, the one on the phone going from cyan to red @100% (...? warning?) to green (OK?), phone rebooting nicely...

...into SPL 2.20.0001...

...meaning that it

has not flashed

the SPL at all...

Some key points here seem to be:

Is it expected behaviour for the jumpSPL phase to be so erratic? I have to execute this phase several times before it actually goes through to the next step.

Is it expected behaviour for the ROMUpdateUtility_NV_G4.exe to NOT show the 'to' version when updating the SPL? It shows the original ROM (not SPL) version but an empty line for the version which the hapless user is about to commit to the phone...

Has anyone been successful in flashing a phone using Windows 2000?

By the way, the main reason for me wanting to put WM6.x on this phone is to get rid of the annoying disappearing-SD-card trick. No amount of registry timeout twiddling seems to help in keeping Windows in contact with the SD card. I have only had this Windows phone for a week or two now but must have rebooted it more often than I rebooted my (deceased) Nokia in the previous three years... For you WM6.x users out there: is this annoying Microsoft-bug gone in WM6.x or does the phone still forget it has an SD card after rebooting/coming out of sleep/etc?

TIA for any new insight in this mystery...