Switching rom language...success!

It was kinda late, but I found out that the English A04 rom is actually been released for a while, so I decided to do some meddling with my rom and update my A03 device to A04, wondering how the "power efficiency" it stated actually worked.

So i went to the dell website, browsing through the Drivers section, and found out that an A02 rom of the Japanese ROM is actually released. Myself, being a student learning japanese, really wanted to somehow mod my ppc to make it run a japanese OS...just for the heck of it. I actually made it work for an older dvevice (x3 and x30, namely) to run a different language version by editing the rom file; for the x50v it's actually kinda difficult.

The actual "modifying" process was quite tiresome, because it involves hex editors, rom rollback and "modified" version of the Aximupdate.exe utility.

you need the following:

A00-A01 English Rom Backup
A02 Japanese Rom
A04 English Rom

Do a rollback to A01 rom, then,

open up a hex editor, modify the address from the following (of the A02 Japanese ROM):

7f 0f af 9f aa 22 c4 6a 43 1e 8e b9 9f e5 52 dd 3c c4 17 98 7b 84 73 ae 7b 0e 3d b2 3a 5f d3 92 ff b6 07 1b 8a 63 dc 01 2e 3e d6 0c 7f 0f af

to the following (A04 English ROM)

7f 0f af 9f aa 22 c4 6a 43 1e 8e b9 9f e5 52 dd 3c c4 11 98 7b 84 73 ae 74 10 34 b2 3a 5f d3 92 ee 0c 07 37 8a 63 9c 01 2e 3e d6 0c 7f 0f af

namely, the address from 00000000 to 0000002F. (This trick also works for any other language rom)

Save the modified Japanese rom, then, rename it to AximX50v_A04EN.IMG, and place it in your C:\Dell\Drivers\R101809\ROM\English Folder (overwriting the old English rom)

then, download the modified A03 aximupdate.exe program (i'll put a link here, it's been posted before);

put that aximupdate.exe into C:\Dell\Drivers\R101809

then, with your device running A01 rom (make sure you already passed the introduction screen and actually in the today screen), run the update utility (aximupdate.exe)

the process takes about the same time as the normal ROM update.

after that here is a really important part, after the hard reset prompt, your device will run VERY, VERY SLOW ( and i mean, VERY slow ) for about 10 minutes or less, during the process your device is trying to format the BIS (because japanese rom actually uses more rom storage, thus, it needs to reformat your internal ROM) during the time, you can use the device, but i strongly recommend to have the unit plugged in the cradle and on adapter power. after about 10 minutes, go though the welcome screen, and voila, here's your fresh new rom version of x50v :)

if you need any help, feel free to pm me about this.... I don't know how "legal" this topic is, but nonetheless, msg me :P

p.s.1 the modified a03 update utility aximupdate.exe is here:

linkie

p.s.2 : a picture of the rom edited:



p.s.3 : screen caps of the new OS:

Hmm... Just wonder... I really want to follow your instructions because I am also studying Japanese, too... But if I want to flash back to English ROM later (when WM5 is released), will it be a problem to me? Or can I simply download the English ROM and just flash it without modifying the ROM image?

Thanks in Advance!

I simply download the English ROM and just flash it without modifying the ROM image

that, is your answer :D

[TheStang]

What 'skin' do you have on your desktop (WinXP?) That looks sweet.

What 'skin' do you have on your desktop (WinXP?) That looks sweet.

it's a windowblinds skin called souLuna :)

[cold]

i want to change an axim x30 from spanish to english, can you help me with that??

[axim_wannabe]

if you guys just want to study japanese, there are safer ways to do it rather than meddling with your ROM (basically you could end up with a very expensive paperweight)...

try searching at the Brighthand forums for methods to invoke Japanese input/output on an english device...

of course, but this is for people who actually wanna hack around the system , as I said ;P just like people from xda-developers that hacks the xda/O2 phones. They even have romkitchen, and mkrom (utilties to customize, modify and mess around with the rom)

[Kaician]

Boo to you Kazuni, stealing my thunder... Very nice post though, very good guide...

It'd be great if anyone does work wtih this update and actually had their device running post something about the process :P

[joelbean]

This is THE POST that I've been searching for. I've read ALL of the other ones and ALL come short of the solution. I would really like to see this thread continue about Japanese input (Kanji et.al.) and the Japanese language learners software, like E/J,J/E dictionaries and study aid software that will run in this new, NEAT, JOS configuration. Can someone tell us what software you've loaded/tried/used for learning Japanese after 'flipping' the ROM?

Desparate because of too much information... Looking for a simple solution to my Kanji study and Japanese reading endeavors:)

MUCH appreciated if this thread can continue or point me to a different thread...

[yass]

Anyone got the A00-A01 English RIS backup? If so, could you upload it at rapidshare.de?

I am looking for the same too

I'll upload the original A01 ris file later today i guess...

[Enragin_Angel]

The non-scary solution is installing the jappack which lets you input Japanese text, but the drawback is that it has an annoying floating window that screws up other programs when in qvga mode. Search for jappack on brighthand forums.