ROM Update Tool - v1.0 Officially Released!

mmastrac · 04/14/2006, 06:30 PM

I figured I should start a new thread to let people know that the ROM tool is now officially out of beta and is now version 1.0!

You can grab the latest version of the ROM tool from:

http://grack.com/romtool

Before starting, you should read james' excellent HOWTO and make a backup of your original ROM

Please note that ROM customization with this tool is far safer than using the SD card method. The chance of perma-bricking your phone via the SD card method is significantly higher. Note that most problems with the tool are due to shoddy USB cables (like the official Palm hotsync cable), poor USB ports (try another one) or Hotsync/ActiveSync software interfering with the connection.

If you upload a ROM to your phone and end up in a reset loop, DON'T PANIC. Just upload your original ROM (or find a clean ROM if you didn't make a backup), making sure your USB connections is secure.

Software requirements:

- Windows 2000/XP (32-bit edition only)
- .NET Framework 2.0 (download, thanks rlynn)

Hardware requirements:

- USB Hotsync cable

Sorry - the tool is only for Windows right now. I'll likely be working on a Java port in a little while, but for now this is unfortunately the limitation. You can always use it as a ROM conversion tool in VMware or VirtualPC to go from ROM directories to ZIP files on an SD card using the old methods for now, but I know this isn't ideal.

If you have any trouble, please post here or drop by Shadowmite's IRC channel at: irc://shadowmite.com:3399, channel #shadowmite. There should be people around at either place to help people get started.

Also, before customizing your first ROMs, you might want to check out my previous article on ROM size and how stuffing everything into your ROM might not always be the best idea:

http://www.grack.com/blog/articles/2...e-and-rom-size

Note that the old thread also might contain some useful information:

ROM update tool - Open Beta for all!

ixtab1970 · 04/14/2006, 07:13 PM

Congrats! what an amazing tool.

Kev1000000 · 04/14/2006, 07:19 PM

whats the diff between this and the beta?

jamesgangut · 04/14/2006, 07:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kev1000000

whats the diff between this and the beta?

http://discussion.treocentral.com/sh...&postcount=479

berdinkerdickle · 04/14/2006, 09:32 PM

yippie! horay!

johncc · 04/14/2006, 10:08 PM

Probably time for a ROM UPDATE TOOL sub-forum with this as a STICKY

Camel · 04/15/2006, 03:57 AM

great!
excellent work.

thanks

Tonylmiller · 04/15/2006, 10:00 AM

You know, a ROM update subforum sounds like a good idea.

navyyang · 04/15/2006, 02:25 PM

Thanks ..Great software

patord · 04/16/2006, 12:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tonylmiller

You know, a ROM update subforum sounds like a good idea.

I second this...

Drizzt · 04/16/2006, 03:13 AM

this is awsome software. I bought a 4gb sd card and haven't been able to use it yet because I wanted to play with the treo for a few days first. I decided today to change my rom to the fat32, latter I will remove things like language and versamail but for now I just wanted to keep it simple. It took 2 hours to do this for the first time. keep in mind this included installing the oem hotsync software, reading the pdf for the romtool software, downloading the romtool with the fat32 file, setup the folders so that I have the original rom in one and the custom rom in another, Re-read the pdf to make sure I know what I'm doing, figure out how to get the rainbow screen ( I haven't done a soft reset until now), become familiar with the romtool, do the rom download/modify/upload, check my sd to see if phone recognizes the 4gb ( it does

), then use my Pc to copy mp3 files to the sd so I can check for ease of file transfering.

After all this everything worked perfect, never had a snag, of course I kept my first mod simple, but the romtool was an awsome interface for this. I am totally impressed.

thanks again to everyone who answered my questions about this type of thing even before I bought the phone.

JAndrews · 04/16/2006, 11:24 PM

Well, I've been watching the postings on this tool and the FAT32 hack, and when I saw the great deals on the 4GB SD Cards (about $110 after rebate and including tax) I decided to finally dive in.

My initial attempt (after extensive reading of these posts) went flawlessly. I removed some apps I didn't want, added FAT32.prc, removed FATFS.prc, uploaded to ROM and was told the upload was successful. Inserted my 4GB SD card and all looked good.

I then played around a bit more, adding a couple of key utilities I use that I wanted to move into ROM. This also worked fine, but one of them (KeyCaps) didn't appear to be in ROM...I still only saw the version in RAM.

After copying some files to my 4GB card, I decided to update the ROM one more time after removing KeyCaps. However, this is when I started to have some prolems.

The first attempt resulted in the ROM Update Tool freezing after the upload (I think the dialog was stuck at something like "Downloading..." (something related to the memory map). I saw similar postings and thought this problem was fixed prior to the 1.0.0 release of the Tool. I reset my Treo anyway and it seemed to be fine.

Just to be sure, I restarted my PC and attempted the upload a second time. I got past the previous status message, but froze again with a status of "Completed" (but not the final confirmation I had seen on the successful attempts). I reset my Treo and again, everything seemed fine.

I haven't tried another time, but after having these two problems, I'm a bit cautious about trying any more changes until there is a new release.

BTW: The only difference I can think of between my successful and unsuccessful attempts was that during the successful attempts I had my 2GB SD card inserted and on the unsuccessful attempts I didn't have an SD card inserted. Would that make a difference?

Overall, I just want to extend my thanks to all of you that have helped create these tools and educate others such as myself on their use. This is truly an awesome community composed of some awesome individuals.

trim81 · 04/16/2006, 11:33 PM

thanks! love this prog

mmastrac · 04/17/2006, 12:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JAndrews

The first attempt resulted in the ROM Update Tool freezing after the upload (I think the dialog was stuck at something like "Downloading..." (something related to the memory map). I saw similar postings and thought this problem was fixed prior to the 1.0.0 release of the Tool. I reset my Treo anyway and it seemed to be fine.

99% of the time this means that you have a flakey USB cable, a flakey USB port or a bad connection with the phone and the cable. Replug it with a good solid push (wiggle it side to side too) and use an elastic band to make sure the connection is solid.

As long as the tool makes it past the upload stage, however, the information is guaranteed to be stored on the phone. The stuff it does after is upload is just refreshing the ROM information to make sure you have the latest data.

Matt.

RickLaw · 04/17/2006, 12:20 PM

This is indeed a very useful tool. I tried 0.92 and 0.97, they both worked very nicely.

Thanks for sharing your great work.

aldamon · 04/20/2006, 02:59 PM

Now you need a flashier name than ROM Update Tool. LOL.

Great work!

jrd · 04/20/2006, 03:16 PM

I took the plunge as well - with a 4Gb card costing $110. With this tool, it took me less than 15 minutes to remove all unwanted apps and add FAT32. Couldn't have been any easier... Great job - much appreciated!

firedog341 · 04/23/2006, 06:35 PM

I keep getting a reset loop when I upload a custom ROM. First, I downloaded my existing Verizon 1.04 ROM and made a backup. 2nd, I deleted the several sets of files according shadowmite's list. Then, I uploaded the new ROM. On reset, loop after loop. I tried again with the original ROM several different times deleting less and less. On the last attempt, I only deleted the esES language files to take spanish off. On good upload, reset after reset. Each time after the bad loops, I would upload the original ROM and reset, the phone would be normal, no loops. I followed the instructions for the ROM Tool. Never froze or locked up. Completed each upload successful. Am I missing something?

jamesgangut · 04/23/2006, 06:45 PM

Did you ever try a hard reset first then load a custom ROM just to make sure it wasn't some preference or file causing the issue?

firedog341 · 04/23/2006, 06:47 PM

Tried again with original ROM and deleting Tutorial app. Reset Loop. Now I will try the hard reset like you suggest to see. Thanks for the quick reply.