jamespaulritter

Treocentral claims no responsibility for the information given here by me. I am not giving instruction on how you can make a custom ROM. I am just explaining how I made my custom ROM. If you attempt to take information I am giving to make your own ROM you must decide that it is totally fine for you if you permanently ruin your Treo.
Please read shadowmites instructions first and also along with my story to get the utmost clarity.
http://shadowmite.com/romInstruct.html
http://shadowmite.com/roms.html
I am a complete unskilled newbie but after days of reading information I was able to make a perfect ROM for my Sprint Treo 650. I gained 4 megs of RAM since I placed in ROM 4 megs of my 3rd party programs that would usually be in RAM. More importantly I got rid of the junk applications that wasted space and occasionally caused me problems, like versamail.
First off I plugged my treo into the USB charger and synced, I also disabled by anti-virus and firewall software. Just so you know things appear differently depending on what carrier, radio type, PC programs installed and computer OS you have. I have a sprint CDMA Treo 650 and a windows XP home edition desktop computer. Also the files that I downloaded, created, copied or drag and dropped I tried to move or copy as little as possible to prevent corruption. The most important thing I can say is
(1)Premature Treo deaths have occurred during ROM flashing due to palm OS zips having embedded directory. So I made sure that when I got to place my palmos.zip onto my memory card that it didn't contain any folders, just files. This comes later so this step is out of order but it is the most important so it comes first and will be repeated when we cross that bridge.
(2) I went to http://www.palm.com/cgi-bin/cso_eula..._template.html clicked I agree and downloaded the sprint treo 650 ROM update 1.12 since I have a sprint treo 650 and saved it to the desktop, other carrier's ROM updates are listed under support downloads on this page http://www.palm.com/us/support/ .
(3) I unzipped or extracted the sprint update and double clicked the extracted installer, I clicked run, next, next, yes, next. I had already backedup so didn't click next again.
(4) I right clicked the blue desktop screen on my computer and went to new, then folder and I named that folder ROM.
(5) I right clicked the windows start button in the lower right hand corner of my computer, clicked explore, click program files, click palm one, I clicked my name, I clicked the install folder, I selected all the files in that folder and drug them to my newly created "ROM" folder I made on the desktop.
(6) I then clicked cancel on the sprint update that was still waiting to run, then "yes" cancel.
(7) I then went to this page http://shadowmite.com/roms.html on shadowmites site and downloaded the java T3 class, On that page it says "Download the class here". I saved the java T3 file to my “ROM” folder I created on the desktop.
(8 ) Shadowmites site said To use it first off you need to have Sun Java installed on your machine. so I went to http://java.sun.com/ and downloaded the Windows Platform J2SE(TM)RuntimeEnvironment 5.0 Update 5, I clicked Windows Online Installation, clicked run, run.
(9) I clicked the start menu on my computer then clicked "all programs", accessories, command prompt. This brought up a black box with text showing a directory, you know what a directory is right? C:\Documents and Settings\Hello> This is when things got really friggen hard. After 4 hours I figured out that I had to type cd Desktop\ROM then press enter. so it looked like this
C:\Documents and Settings\Hello>cd Desktop\ROM and then it printed C:\Documents and Settings\Hello\Desktop\ROM> And then I typed java T3 That created 13 files and 3 zip files in my "ROM" folder that I had created on my desktop. If it says class not found you may need to set the class path. In this case type
set CLASSPATH=; C:\Documents and Settings\Hello\Desktop\ROM
then hit enter, then type java T3
(10) I right clicked on the blue screen of my desktop again and went "new", "folder" and named it "palm", then I went into this palm folder then right clicked and created a folder and named it launcher.
(11) I went to my folder named ROM and drag and dropped 2 files CDMAFirmwareUpdaterApp_Device and ROMUpdaterApp over to my newly created launcher folder. If you are a GSM user please refer now to Checkmate's Important tips for GSM custom ROM creation Important tips for *GSM* custom rom creation.
(12) I then deleted the original prc and palm database (pdb) files that were in my ROM folder, (I snapped a picture of the screen and highlighted the files to delete in the attachments below named "delete original files" and "Donot delete zips or new files").
(13) I then went to http://shadowmite.com/roms.html and clicked "Get it here PC” to download shadowmites custom ROM tool. I saved it to the desktop and unzipped it. I opened the T650Tool folder (it may open on its own) and double clicked T650Rom, clicked run.
(14) In the left panel I double clicked “desktop“, double clicked my “ROM” folder, then in the middle panel I clicked one time the file named ace-palmos.zip, then I clicked the button on shadowmites tool named Open ROM Zip. It pulls all the files in the ROM into the center panel. I clicked the select all button on the top middle of the panel, that put all the files in the right panel.
(15) I then went to http://www.shadowmite.com/filelist.pdf to view the pdf that tells you what is safe to delete.
(16) For every file that the pdf said was safe to delete I double clicked that file in the right panel to delete it. Except for the blazer font and memo cause I like blazer and memo
(17) I then went to the left panel and went to my back up folder by double clicking in the left panel the C:\ , I then double click program files, double click palmone, double click your hot sync ID, (you know your name), double click backup, that showed the files in my backup folder in the middle panel. If you wish to place applications in ROM from other than the backup folder, I recommend you run the application on the phone first to make sure the application doesnt need to run through an installation process similar to a NutShell Installer. If a prc needs to extract/load itself the first time it is ran then if it were in ROM it would have to run through that process every time it were ran but more likely it would just kill your phone.
(18 ) I double clicked the files in the middle panel that I wished to add to my new custom ROM. I choose applications that were perfect so I wouldn't ever worry about updating them when an update comes out.
*ONLY PRCs CAN GO IN ROM, NOT PDB* (the truth is that "readonly" pdb's can, but read only pdb's can also go on the card so its silly to put them in ROM.
I choose hi-launcher
treo select text
treoguard
splash money
Bugme note pad
megaclock and its pacific ocean prc
spell check
Treo alert manager
Volkeys and a few others, I searched mytreo.net and treocentral for a list of applications that work in ROM.
(19) I then clicked the button on the bottom left of shadowmites tool named Build it, I was lucky my ROM wasnt over 8 megabytes (8000000) the number on the bottom of shadowmites tool said 200000 left. If there were a minus sign -200000 I would then half to double click a file in the right panel to remove it and click build it untill the minus sign went away. When I saw no minus sign I clicked exit which created a folder on my desktop named New ROM or CustomROM. Within this folder was a file named ace-palmos.zip.md5 and a zip folder named ace-palmos. I drug that folder and file to my folder named "ROM". The computer asked me if I wanted to overwrite the existing file, I said yes to all.

So then what I had was a folder named palm which I created and within that folder was a folder named launcher which I created and within that folder were 2 files:
CDMAFirmwareUpdateerApp_device
ROMUpdater App


I my folder named ROM which I created I had 3 zip folders named:
ace-palmos
ace-htc-tpl
ace-palmos-tpl
Along with 13 files named:
ace-ipl-cvt2.md5
ace-ipl-dvt.md5
ace-palmos.zip.md5
ace-palmos-tpl.zip.md5
ace-ipl-cvt2
ace-spl.md5
ace-ipl-cvt1.md5
ace-htc-tpl.zip.md5
ace-ipl-evt.md5
ace-spl
ace-ipl-evt
ace-ipl-dvt
ace-ipl-cvt1
(20) I then took my SD card out of my Treo and put it in my card reader on my computer. I went to the MMC/SD drive and opened the drive to view the contents of my card. I right clicked the palm folder on my SD card, left clicked rename and typed NOT in front of the word palm to rename the folder. I then drag and dropped the ROM folder and the palm folder I created which were on my desktop and dropped them on the SD card. So on my card all in one window a long with the folders that were all ready there I had a palm folder a ROM folder a NOTpalm folder. This is called being on the root, it is the beginning level. However the launcher folder is not on the root because it is inside the palm folder. And the 3 zip folders are also not on the root because they are folders within the ROM folder.
AGAIN IF THERE IS A FOLDER IN THE ACE-PALMOS ZIP FILE THE TREO WILL DIE (but there isnt, because I didnt put one in there).
(21) I then hard reset the Treo and then placed the SD card back in the treo. It went to the card view and I tapped CDMAFirmwareUpdaterApp, it opened and I tapped the big button in the center, update or something to that effect. I took about 5 minutes to run then the treo turned off.
(22) I turned the treo back on and went the card view and tapped the ROMUpdaterApp, it opened and I typed rev cvt2 and then I hit enter on the treo keyboard, it said it would run prl cvt2 Then I typed ace and then hit enter on the keyboard then it went through a check-list to make sure all the needed files were there and not corrupt. If a file is corrupt or missing it wont find the file and it will cancel (pause) the update. Then you take the card out, delete every thing and start all over or try to find the file or folder the treo said was missing. If the checklist finds everything it needs it runs it in like 10 seconds and then tells you to hard reset the treo.
(23) I then took out the card and deleted the palm and ROM folder off the card and renamed my NOTpalm folder back to palm.
(24) I then right clicked my blue desktop and went new, folder and created a new folder named backup.
(25) I then went to the start menu on my desktop computer and right clicked and went to explore, program files, palmone, my name, backup and I selected all the files in the backup folder and drag and dropped them into the new backup folder on the desktop because I didn’t want to sync all the files that were now in ROM back to RAM and now a lot of files were missing (the junk palm files I removed with the shadowmite tool) so I didn’t want to sync any databases, preferences or settings that went with them.
(26) So I double clicked one by one the files that I did want to sync back to my treo. They included my 3rd party applications and their databases and settings that were not now in ROM. Databases and settings to the applications that were now in ROM. Databases, settings and preferences to original ROM applications that I didn’t remove.
I didn’t sync the saved preference file, any java files or other files that are recreated by the system such as address files and MMIDCashe files.
I then re-entered all my registration codes and reconfigured all my applications.

I hope this reading was enjoyable, If so please post a "Thanks".

I wish I could have read something like this before I made my ROM, it would have allowed me to make it in 30 minutes rather than all day

Here's some screen shots to show which files to delete. The highlighted ones are the ones to delete. If the picture is hard to see just save the picture to the desktop and open it up there.

EDIT: Adding a picture.

Attached Images

	donot delete zips or new files.jpg (94.0 KB, 1938 views)
	These are all the files you capture from updater before you drop command prompt.jpg (75.1 KB, 1418 views)
	card.jpg (62.6 KB, 1324 views)
	delete original files.jpg (126.6 KB, 1246 views)

MaxSwank

As a fellow newb, I want to thank you for your tutorial. Glad to know you don't need to be a computer whiz.

Couple questions:

1) Does it make sense to add an application to the rom that requires a pdb file (ala Zlauncher, Ptunes etc...), since pdb files are off-limits to load into rom? Just seems pointless to load a file into rom that requires an additional installation anyways.

2)My phone says Treo650-1.15.CNG, Firmware 1.31. Where it says "Download the Rom", do I want the file called Treo_650_Updater_1_15g.zip? Not quite sure.

3) Are there any performance gains? Does removing unnecessary programs make it more stable?

4) Worth the risk?

Thx

jamespaulritter

[quote=MaxSwank]
1) Does it make sense to add an application to the rom that requires a pdb file (ala Zlauncher, Ptunes etc...), since pdb files are off-limits to load into rom? Just seems pointless to load a file into rom that requires an additional installation anyways.[/qoute]

All prc's create pdb's. Your palm is full of first party applications by palm in ROM which create their pdb's in RAM. Your PDA is also full of 2nd party prc's created by your carrier that create pdb"s in RAM.

If I put my 1 megabyte megaclock prc in ROM and it creates a 50 kilobyte pdb in RAM then I have still saved myself a megabyte of RAM and of course it all works perfectly.

P.S. Ptunes does not like being in ROM.
Yes I guess yours is right here http://www.palm.com/cgi-bin/cso_eula..._template.html

And since your a GSM Cingular user you might want to also read these instructions since they mention GSM users http://mytreo.net/treofaq/Treo650ROMFaq

Any time you remove programs there are fewer programs preset that can conflict with each other. But hacking a ROM by nature sound as if it would cause instability. However my treo is stable before and after. I got sick to death of versamail poping up as my default email app when chatter is suppose to be. I got sick of accidentally launching versamail because it would pop up as the default to the email button. And I hated that I my RAM was down to 5 megs when I knew there were 4 megs of wasted space in ROM.

Since it worked,,,,yes

Just kidding. That is what users have to decide is that they may fry their PDA. I decided before I started that I was 100% going to toast my Treo. But honestly. The updater tells you if a file is out of place, missing or corrupt and it cancels (places on hold) the reimaging (flashing) of the RAM. It tells you what is wrong and then pauses so you can take the card out to try and fix it. The major issue is the zip file (the one in the ROM folder) named ace_palmos.zip cannot contain a folder. But honestly why should it, you never open that zip. I can only guess that users didnt understand the directions and went messing with the files and folders to much.

Any questions, ask away. But again proceed at your own risk

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jamespaulritter

Just an update. Its been a week since I made my ROM and there's been no odd behavior and no resets.

I've:
beamed
backed up
sent picture in text messages
downloaded attachments
soft reset
hard reset
installed/uninstalled new apps
synced
OTA downloaded
taken pic/video

Checked everything out and it is perfect

NRG

Could we have a complete list of what is in your custom ROM?

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- Treo Pro

jamespaulritter

I put in ROM applications that I wouldnt care to update anytime soon and ones that I did not want to run from the card for one reason or another.

treo select text
fatfinger
treo alert manager
treoguard
megaclock and its pacific ocean prc
hi-launcher
bugme notepad
kblights off
ledoff
snap
spellcheck 1.6
splash money
volkeys

Heres more info on apps that work in ROM.
http://mytreo.net/treofaq/Treo650ROMFaq
http://shadowmite.com/forum/viewtopi...=apps+work+rom
Apps That work in ROM????

Otherwise as far as 1st and 2nd party apps in my ROM they are the ones that are listed here http://www.shadowmite.com/filelist.pdf as ones that have to stay in ROM.

cherylb

is there an advantage to having something in rom rather than on the SD card. I see here that they say handzipper works in rom but I do not even have that on my phone it is on the SD card. Since it will not come off my phone I will not be freeing up any memory on my phone (and since I got a 2gb sd card I am not worried about mrmory on my card). SOOO would I gain anything by having it in rom?

jamespaulritter

I am not familure with handzipper so I cannot say if there is decreased functionality running it from the card versus the phone.

cherylb

actually my question was more in general terms. is there anything gained by having something in ROM over having it on a SD card. I imagine it may run faster in ROM and it of course will always be there even if you had to do a hard reset.

cherylb

well I have run into a stumbling block. I load the old rom and than hit the build it button to see h ow this all works and when it compiles it it says run time error 76 path not found
what did I do wrong?

jamespaulritter

A program may be called apon faster in ROM or RAM versus the card but after being brought up the prc runs at the same speed because when you tap a prc on the card it runs on the internal memory and not on the card.

jamespaulritter

As long as no files were moved from the time you opened the ROM tool till the time you hit build it I wouldnt be able to explain the error. I could only suggest deleting what you have and starting over.

Here is the definition of that error
Directory of where the program needs to be copied to or files associated with the program need to be copied to is missing. Try reinstalling the program.
Here is the url of runtime errors http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000380.htm

Just to make sure, I will go ahead and create a ROM start to finish with the steps above following them exactly and doing only what the steps say.

EDIT:Well I went step by step only doing what the steps said and it came out perfect. I changed some wording for clarity, a url to make downloading the java environment easier and added some screen shots. If any one wants to see a particular step as a screen shot or an explanation let me know.

cherylb

ok well I am stuck I guess. Apparently the ace-palmos fille I was trying to load into the utility program was not the correct one.
Here is where I am maybe someone can help me get past my stuck point. I ran the installer copied the files into a new directory and ended the installer. I did the t3 java thing and than loaded the ace-palmos file into the utility. I removed all the junk I do not want and hit build. First off I am doing sprint but when I build it does not report any size (which I thought it was suppose to). than I have some conflicting reports. one instruction set says it is suppose to create a directory called custom rom (which is on my computer but is empty) and another says it it creates a folder named rom which has some file and some zip file. I see none of this

help
thanks

jamespaulritter

Here is a pic of the ace-palmos.zip

After you highlight it you hit the button on the top left "open ROM zip".

Attached Images

pic of ace-palmos.zip.jpg (65.1 KB, 883 views)

jamespaulritter

After you hit build it the size should be here....

Attached Images

pic of ROM size.jpg (130.4 KB, 657 views)

cherylb

yes I see where the size should be but it is just not there. it says it is doing it's stuff but no size is there and it creates the customrom directory but it is empty

jamespaulritter

The new folder will either say CustomROM or NewROM and it will contain a file named ace-palmos.zip.md5 and a zip folder named ace-palmos.zip.

Attached Images

inside new custom ROM folder.jpg (30.0 KB, 536 views)

jamespaulritter

In step 8 did you DL the correct runtime environment? I gave a new url to make it easier.

cherylb

Well I already have java installed so did not do that.
it does the java t3 thing fine as far as I can tell anyways I get into the tool and select all the stuff I want to remove and add and all that is fine but when I hit build it it looks like it is working fine but no size is created and nothing is put in the customrom directoy even though it is created.

jamespaulritter

How bout deleting everything you have. Disableing firewall and antivirus and DL all new. I have had a few medical programs in the past act funny after DL and the developer said it was because my firewall and antivirus scaned everything during DL and blocked stuff. Maybey they were full of it???