It seems like a lot of people who might not be expert hackers want to try this. I'm one of them, so it probably took me five times longer to figure it all out than it would somebody else. So I thought I'd lay it out clearly, without leaving out anything that someone else might think is obvious. It seems like the same basic procedure should work for any language switch, and with a little modification (maybe the first 32 hex values instead of the first 100?) for the X50/X50V. I did this successfully on my X30, and I'm going to try it on my X50V when that arrives next week.
How to do it!
1. Download and install XVI32 Hex Editor (get the free version).
2. Download and save to your desktop the latest English and Japanese system updaters from Dell USA (
Drivers and Downloads), taking note of which filename is for the English and which for the Japanese (see Dell USA site for other languages, too).
3. Click on the downloaded English .exe file to start it. The installer will create a folder for the new files on your PC--accept the default and make a note of where this folder is (e.g., in mine, it created C:\Dell\Drives\R101483 for the English). Keep clicking OK until you get to DO YOU WANT TO UPDATE ROM. EXTREMELY IMPORTANT: When you get to DO YOU WANT TO UPDATE ROM choose NO. For DO YOU WANT TO BACKUP/RESTORE A ROM choose YES then choose to SAVE a backup. If the Japanese conversion doesn't work or if you ever want to go back to English, you'll need to use the backup you're saving now. In fact, make a safe copy on a CD and keep it someplace safe in case your hard drive ever crashes. Then do Step 3 for the Japanese .exe file.
4. Go into the folder created for the Japanese version (refer to those notes about filenames you took in Step 2 and about folder locations in Step 3), open the ROMS folder, open the Japanese folder, and you'll see two .IMG files. The only difference in their names is that one has a C in the middle and the other an N. Choose the C if you have the combo (Wi-Fi and Bluetooth) version, N if you have the version without Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Right click on the appropriate file, choose "Open with" and, if XVI32 Hex Editor is shown choose it, otherwise click "Choose program" and browse to the location of XVI32 and choose it (it's probably on your desktop). Click OK to open with XVI32 Hex Editor. Size the window to fit in half your monitor and put it in the bottom half of your screen.
Then do the same for the English version and put it in the top half of your screen.
5. This is where you do surgery on your OS. In the Japanese (bottom) version, click on the first square in the upper left of the main window to choose it. The note in the bar at the bottom left of the window should tell you that you're at "Adr Hex 0." From the Edit menu, select "Block <n> chars...", then in the pop-up window enter 100, then click OK. You've just selected the first 100 characters of the code; they should turn red. Then delete them (click the "X" button in the toolbar at the top; should be the fourth from the left). Those red characters should disappear, and the first few squares should now contain "00."
Now, in the English version, click the first square in the upper left in the main window, then from the Edit menu select "Block <n> chars...," and in the pop-up menu enter 100, then click OK. Then, in the toolbar at the top, click the "copy" icon (looks like two pieces of paper; sixth from the left).
Now, click the top blue bar of the window of the Japanese version to go back into that. At the very bottom of the program window, you'll see three boxes, "Adr. Hex:," "char. dec.:," and a third one that says either "overwrite" or "insert"--if it doesn't say "insert," then hit the "insert" key on your keyboard to change it to "insert." Then click on the first square in the top left of the main window and then click the "paste from clipboard" icon (looks like a clipboard; seventh from left). Save and quit.
6. Now, copy down the name of the English .IMG file, then delete it. Change the name of the Japanese .IMG file to the name of the English file you just deleted, and move it into the folder where the English file was.
7. Go back up two folder levels to the folder for the English updater, which should be something like C:\Dell\Drives\R101483. Click on setup.exe, and this time when you get to "DO YOU WANT TO UPDATE ROM" choose "Yes." Make sure your PDA is in its cradle with power and USP cable connected, follow the onscreen directions, and you're all set. Note that there'll be a couple of periods where the thing just sits there for a long time--this is normal. Unless the installer itself tells you to do something, don't touch your computer or PDA until it's all done.
You're done!
Good luck
Peter
Sony Clie TJ25 (Japanese)
Tungsten T3
Axim X30 (converted to Japanese A02)
Axim X50V (on the way)
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