Make Your rom Your way

Steven855 · 01-18-08, 07:25 PM

Have you ever thought that Dell put some unneeded files or programs in that rom image when they shipped that axim to you? Ever wanted to add or remove programs so they will always be there regardless of a hard reset? Ever wanted to do that but thought it's too hard or you don't know how? Here, I show you how easy it is to do this, so even a non-geek can do it.

DISCLAMER: WARNING! If you flash the nb0 (either the one you found or the one you edited), you risk damage to your hardware and data. Anything you do is of your own doing and I am not reponsible for any damage to hardware or data that might occurr with this.

First you will need some tools. You need Winrar, found at WinRAR download and support. WinRAR is a powerful Windows tool to compress and decompress zip, rar and many other formats: Make Download. You also need the IMGFS tools from Xda-developers, found at xda-developers and crc calculator, found at RapidShare: 1-Click Webhosting. You might need to register to download it.

Note: This only works for the X51(v) roms and the X50(v) WM5 roms.

Step 1: get the tools mentioned above and download them to your hard drive
Step 2: get the nb0 file you will be using. If you have an X50(mid), please see my sticky to get rom images (use A02 or X03 rom image). For X50v and X51(v), you will need to find your rom images elsewhere (X51(v) owners can find a thread on aximsite that will help you get it)
Step 3: extract the IMGFS tools to a folder on your hard drive
Step 3a: extract the crc calculator to a folder on your hard drive
Step 4: move (or copy) the nb0 file to the same folder as the IMGFS tools
Step 5: open up the command line (found under Start-Programs-Accessories) and navigate to the folder with the IMGFS tools (use the "cd" command, cd (path to tools) where path to tools is that folder)
Step 6: type "prepare_imgfs.exe (filename of nb0)" where (filename of nb0) is the name of the nb0 file, some have said that adding the "-nosplit" option helps if you can't get the 1st try to work
Step 7: type "viewimgfs.exe imgfs_raw_data.bin"
Step 7a: wait for a minute or two while everything gets extracted
Step 8: navigate to the folder with the tools in it and you should see a folder named "dump" which you should open
Step 9: add or delete what you want, just be sure to delete everything associated with that file if it's a program
Step 9a: if you add a program, please note that you will have to manually create a start menu shortcut to it
Step 10: when you're done, type "BuildImgfs.exe"
Step 11: type "make_imgfs.exe (filename of nb0)" where (filename of nb0) is the name of the nb0 file
Step 12: run crc calculator and choose the nb0 file
Step 13: copy output to notepad
Step 14: name the file a crc file (for example, you are working with a X50(mid) nb0 named "WM50_K_A02_X50_WM5_EN.nb0", you would name it "WM50_K_A02_X50_WM5_EN_nb0.crc)
Step 15: copy nb0 file and crc file to a SD card
Step 16: use my sticky to flash the nb0 file to your axim for X50 series

Any questions or comments, just post or pm me.

FunkyCowie · 01-19-08, 03:39 AM

My hardware buttons do not work so I can't use nb0 files however is there a way of creating the files that you use through the Dell updating software?

cravaus · 01-21-08, 11:47 AM

Looks great. I want to understnd this.

I have followed the directions and get this error after the dump: Error! ProcessFixups: cannot map dump\afd.dll\s003--Is this a bad thing? I see a afd.dll folder in the dump folder. I am not seeing much in the Dump folder that is familiar to me. I see a bunch of .dsm and .rgu files., I do not think it fully extracted.

When I get this working, I would like to delete out Word, Excel, and PowerPoint and Explorer and replace them with my SoftMaker and Opera products. I would also like to delete Dell's Switcher Bar and Home programs and replace them with WisBar Advanced. I also use FlexMail and would like to get rid of the Mail program but I do not think that is possible. I want to stop all dumplication of programs. Any tips here?

If the MS Office Suite must be on the PDA, any thoughts on how to move it to a storage card instead?

Steven855 · 01-21-08, 05:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cravaus

Looks great. I want to understnd this.

I have followed the directions and get this error after the dump: Error! ProcessFixups: cannot map dump\afd.dll\s003--Is this a bad thing? I see a afd.dll folder in the dump folder. I am not seeing much in the Dump folder that is familiar to me. I see a bunch of .dsm and .rgu files., I do not think it fully extracted.

When I get this working, I would like to delete out Word, Excel, and PowerPoint and Explorer and replace them with my SoftMaker and Opera products. I would also like to delete Dell's Switcher Bar and Home programs and replace them with WisBar Advanced. I also use FlexMail and would like to get rid of the Mail program but I do not think that is possible. I want to stop all dumplication of programs. Any tips here?

If the MS Office Suite must be on the PDA, any thoughts on how to move it to a storage card instead?

Where are you getting your nb0 from? What options are you using for "prepare_imgfs.exe" and "viewimgfs.exe"? This "afd.dll" that is giving you errors is a module and when you run "viewimgfs.exe", there is a program that is used by "viewimgfs.exe" to reconstruct the module. I once had this problem when I was starting out with roms too. It might just be that you have a bad nb0 file. As for messing with MS Office mobile, you could move it to a storage card, but you would have to edit the nb0 file and take the MS Office programs and add them to a cab file and then run the cab file and install to storage card. You can't get rid of the mail program without screwing up the whole pim software. Home and Switcher Bar can be deleted with few or no problems. Opera is best installed via cab because of the registry changes and created folders.

Steven855 · 01-21-08, 05:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FunkyCowie

My hardware buttons do not work so I can't use nb0 files however is there a way of creating the files that you use through the Dell updating software?

Do you mean to change around the nb0 file and then somehow turn that into a .img file for the Updater utility? If yes, I have not found a way to do that yet. There is a program to turn the img file into a nb0 file, but not vice-versa.

nsnsc03 · 01-21-08, 07:33 PM

After I open the dump folder all i see is 2 more folders named .rom and .vm and also a bunch of files that have names containing random numbers and letters ending in .dsm and one ending in .rgu
Where did I go wrong?

FunkyCowie · 01-22-08, 02:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steven855

Do you mean to change around the nb0 file and then somehow turn that into a .img file for the Updater utility? If yes, I have not found a way to do that yet. There is a program to turn the img file into a nb0 file, but not vice-versa.

That is what I meant yes. I have searched every where I can think of but to no avail... oh well...

mirskym · 01-22-08, 08:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nsnsc03

After I open the dump folder all i see is 2 more folders named .rom and .vm and also a bunch of files that have names containing random numbers and letters ending in .dsm and one ending in .rgu
Where did I go wrong?

Same here. Plus the command window has a few blocks of output starting with Header Type: some hex Address: some Hex

but then a slew of errors listed such as:

Cannot Create ??????????????????????
Unhandled Exception in Dump Image Data

Unknown Header type etc.

I was using Football's WM6 A03 ROM.

nsnsc03 · 01-23-08, 07:26 AM

Ya i was using the same rom

mirskym · 01-23-08, 10:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nsnsc03

Ya i was using the same rom

And I tried the A12 WM5 Dell ROM and got same problem

Steven855 · 01-23-08, 04:30 PM

That's weird. Did you use the one thread that deals with reviving a bricked X51(v)? If not, you really should. I will look into that a.s.a.p.

mirskym · 01-23-08, 05:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steven855

That's weird. Did you use the one thread that deals with reviving a bricked X51(v)? If not, you really should. I will look into that a.s.a.p.

Sorry, I don't follow. Which thread is it and what should I look for in the thread?

Steven855 · 01-24-08, 03:46 PM

Use this thread http://www.aximsite.com/boards/x50-x...-tutorial.html to make the nb0 for X51 series.

mirskym · 01-24-08, 09:22 PM

I already had the .nb0 file. But just in case I took the .IMG file from Dell for the A12, ran it through the app in the thread you mention to convert it to .nb0. Then ran the imgfs apps and still get the same error message on execution and the same gobbledygook in the Dump folder for the most part. (I did get a few folders that seemed to work, one called iexplore.exe that seemed to have the iexplore executable and a few other folders like actsyncc.dll which also had files. But also a whole lot of files with weird name ending in .dsm or .rgu

Steven855 · 01-25-08, 07:51 AM

Don't worry about the dsm files or the rgu files. Are you using the "-nosplit" option with "prepare_imgfs.exe"? If I have some time today, I will test out Dell's A12 rom. Folders that have names like "actsyncc.dll" are actually modules and you shouldn't mess with those unless you know what you are doing.