Step by Step tutorial for unlocking your device and cooking your own ROM!!!

[GaMedic]

This tutorial is based on the ideas and methods used by the people in the ppcgeeks.com and xda-developers.com forums. Please read the entire tutorial before you start any part of the process. I attached a copy of the tutorial in the attachment list at the bottom of this post ( Updated 8/05/2008 ). It is also in the FTP in my folder for easy access. I also have a copy in WPS format on the FTP. Everything will not make sense at first but when you do the process it will all fall into place. I did not discover any of this, therefore I take no credit for the content. I just decided to put it all in one place. I have learned this information from other users and from trial and error. I hope that by putting together a tutorial that the process is simplified enough so that everyone can "get what they pay for" from their device, instead of being limited by cell phone companies who want to decide what part of "our" device we can use and which part they wish to limit. Thanks to the developers here and over at XDA, we can use our devices better and we even get to show off a little cool stuff.

First I will outline the steps you need to do in order to unlock your device. The instructions are for the Titan device only. I do not own any other devices, so you will need to refer to the threads about your specific device to learn how and if they need to be unlocked prior to proceeding. I will then outline the steps used to cook your own ROM with a kitchen. Cooking is not device specific, other than the fact that you must choose the correct base for your device. The rest of the process is the same. A lot of people believe cooking a custom ROM is difficult and beyond there ability, but it is very easy. I am going to attempt to do a step by step guide to the Kitchen process so you can build you own custom ROM and "pimp" your phone just the way you like it. I will give instruction on using the ppckitchen.org kitchen. Other kitchens exist like DCD's Kitchen but I have never used it. I am not a windows mobile guru of any kind so there may be some mistakes in this tutorial. Use these instructions at your own risk because I won't be responsible for you breaking your device. If you have questions do a search or post them in this thread and someone will attempt to help you. If I am wrong on any of this documentation, don’t worry someone will point it out and I will be glad to edit my post.

The first thing you need to do is to setup. You will need to do or have the following items before you flash your device. Some are common sense things but I will list them anyway.

1. A computer running Windows XP or Windows Vista. I run XP so I don’t know how to instruct those of you running Vista, but if someone would post the steps in the same format I am using I will be glad to add it to the tutorial and give you the proper credit. Make sure that your computer has an open USB port. I wouldn’t try flashing with your USB cable attached to a USB hub. No technical reason that I can give you, I just wouldn’t do it personally.
2. You also need to download and install the .net framework Version 2.0.
3. Download and install Active sync version 4.5 or higher. It can be downloaded here as a free download. Make sure you back up your calendar and contacts using Active Sync or another back up program such as PIM backup. If you are running Vista you will not download Active Sync. (Again I am not familiar with Vista)
4. A mini USB cable. One end should fit in the USB port on your PC and one end in the mini USB on your PPC. You may also choose to use a SD card to flash your ROM's. More information will be given on that method later.

Legend: Topics, Threads at ppcgeeks, Files you can download, Screeshots, Links to web sites, Important information, FTP folder, Edits.

[GaMedic]

I will now outline the steps you can use to unlock your phone.

This unlocks the phone so that you can put a different Radio (GPS enabled) and a different ROM on it. You can use Olipro 2.40 or nuespl 2.47 to unlock your Titan device.
To run Olipro 2.40 you need to plug the USB to your PC and PPC and run the file from your desktop. The phone screen will change to a rainbow colored screen (bootloader mode) and should read TITA100 MFG, SPL-2.40. Olipro, CPLD-9. Once you have done that you will be ready to install a GPS enabled Radio. The important thing is to be careful which Olipro spl you run. DO NOT USE THE OLIPRO 1.20
spl. The 1.20 and 2.40 are posted in the same thread and many people have chosen the wrong one inadvertently. (By the way the links are directly to the file you should need. This is the link to the thread in case you need direction from there.)
Your other unlock option is nueSPL 2.47 (Thread link). The nice thing about nuespl 2.47 is that it can be ran using an SD card. The SD method instructions are fairly simple. You download the nuespl 2.47 to your PC. Take an SD card, must be 2gb or less in size, and place it in a card reader. On your PC navigate to the card reader through My Computer. Right click on the drive containing the card reader and select Format from the menu. Select fat32 as the format setting. Once the card is formatted you take the 2.47 spl you downloaded and place it on the card. It cannot be inside a folder it must be on the root of the storage card. Right click on the file and select rename. Rename the file to TITAIMG.nbh. Once the file is renamed place the SD card into the device and put the phone into bootloader mode (Power, camera, reset all pressed at the same time for about 2 seconds) and follow the prompts on the screen to update the spl. After the screen says updated or update complete, press the reset button. While the phone is resetting place the phone back in bootloader mode.

Edit : This information was sent to me by another user, so I am adding it to the Tutorial.
When you unRAR nueSPL, you don't actually rename it and place it in the root. You run the exe from within the device and it automatically checks to make sure all the other requirements are in place, then creates the TITAIMG.nbh file for you in the right location and walks you through putting the phone into the bootloader.


If you get stuck in the bootloader screen at any time (when you reset it goes to bootloader screen and will not boot to splash screen) just go to this post and run the exit-bl. in that thread.

Legend: Topics, Threads at ppcgeeks, Files you can download, Screeshots, Links to web sites, Important information, FTP folder, Edits.

[chevyforlife]

Once the file is renamed place the SD card into the device and put the phone into bootloader mode (Power, camera, reset all pressed at the same time for about 2 seconds) and follow the prompts on the screen to update the spl. After the screen says updated or update complete, press the reset button. While the phone is resetting place the phone back in bootloader mode.


If you get stuck in the bootloader screen at any time (when you reset it goes to bootloader screen and will not boot to splash screen) just go to this post and run the exit-bl. in that thread.

[drewden123]

yes, i got past the update and update complete thing. when i hit reset i put the phone back in bootloader and it went back to the update screen. so whenever i reset without going into bootloader it gets stuck

[dopdahtc]

Originally Posted by GaMedic

I will now outline the steps you can use to unlock your phone.

This unlocks the phone so that you can put a different Radio (GPS enabled) and a different ROM on it. You can use Olipro 2.40 or nuespl 2.47 to unlock your Titan device.
..............

Edit : This information was sent to me by another user, so I am adding it to the Tutorial.
When you unRAR nueSPL, you don't actually rename it and place it in the root. You run the exe from within the device and it automatically checks to make sure all the other requirements are in place, then creates the TITAIMG.nbh file for you in the right location and walks you through putting the phone into the bootloader.

Could you plz tell me whether I have to unlock the phone before I update the low version to a higher one? As mine is a Spanish language phone with the RADIO version 1.67, I really wanna update it. But last time when I did that, the HTC6800 turned to be a brick. This time I dare not update the SPL again when I start the BOOTLOADER......

[puff]

Originally Posted by dopdahtc

Could you plz tell me whether I have to unlock the phone before I update the low version to a higher one? As mine is a Spanish language phone with the RADIO version 1.67, I really wanna update it. But last time when I did that, the HTC6800 turned to be a brick. This time I dare not update the SPL again when I start the BOOTLOADER......

well that's kinda tricky. depending on your carrier if you can flash a stock GPS ROM (look here for stock ROMs) with a full ship exe ROM upgrade (certain carriers only) you can upgrade the radio/bootloader/OS (excluding bootloader if you've unlocked as it has overwrite protection) without unlocking - now with a dump however, you may need to unlock first. Of course there's another method, would be to unlock using Olipro 2.40 (as NueSPL requires GPS 3.X ROM) and then flash GPS radio followed by flashing GPS OS Rom. The easiest method being to flash via SD Card (excluding Olipro 2.40 which must be done via usb cable/RUU)

[cat3rn]

Originally Posted by GaMedic

I will now outline the steps you can use to unlock your phone.
This unlocks the phone so that you can put a different Radio (GPS enabled) and a different ROM on it. You can use Olipro 2.40 or nuespl 2.47 to unlock your Titan device.

Will this work or has anyone tried this on a Verizon XV6850?

[drewcam888]

Originally Posted by cat3rn

Will this work or has anyone tried this on a Verizon XV6850?

No look in the touch pro section.

[GaMedic]

Now that you have the phone unlocked you will need to put a new GPS enabled Radio on the device.

Edit: If you already have a GPS enabled Radio you can skip this step. Radio versions 3.35 and higher are GPS enabled.

You can do it one of several ways. You can use the sprint ROM to update your phone. If you are a Sprint customer this may very well be the best way. (This has not been tested by me with VZW but is said to work) If you have another carrier, you can install the latest Sprint ROM to your phone as well. When the phone reboots to the screen that says "tap here to setup", you need to put the phone back in bootloader. DO NOT PROCEED PAST THIS SCREEN so that customizations do not run. If you proceed and allow the Sprint customizations to run, you will have to search the forum to find the method to reverse the Sprint settings on your device. The reason you as a VZW customer would run the Sprint ROM is that Sprint has released a ROM that has a GPS enabled radio in it. VZW has not done so at this point. So basically you are doing it only to get the radio. That is not your only option to obtain and install a GPS enabled Radio. The following methods are how I did mine. You can download the latest Radio (3.42.30) ( Here is 3.42.40) and place the file (radio) on an SD card, rename that file to TITAIMG.nbh. Place the SD card into the device and put the phone into bootloader mode (Power, camera, reset) and follow the prompts on the screen to update the radio. You can also look for the 3.35 radio on the FTP that is packaged in an installer. All you have to do is plug your phone to your PC and double click the icon, then follow the prompts. I prefer to flash with a SD card. Much easier and you don't have to worry about computer issues. By the way don't worry about the phone failing to boot past the splash screen after you install the radio, because it won't. The radio you just put on is not compatible with the stock ROM.
Once you have unlocked and installed a radio you are ready to load your custom ROM. So at this point you can use one of the Custom ROM's that are posted here at ppcgeeks.com, such as no2chems or DCD's , or you can venture into the world of building your own.

Legend: Topics, Threads at ppcgeeks, Files you can download, Screeshots, Links to web sites, Important information, FTP folder, Edits.

[Gervy]

Originally Posted by Ga. Medic

Now that you have the phone unlocked you will need to put a new GPS enabled Radio on the device.

You can do it one of several ways. You can use the sprint ROM to update your phone. If you are a Sprint customer this may very well be the best way. (This has not been tested by me with VZW but is said to work) If you have another carrier, you can install the latest Sprint ROM to your phone as well. When the phone reboots to the screen that says "tap here to setup", you need to put the phone back in bootloader. DO NOT PROCEED PAST THIS SCREEN so that customizations do not run. If you proceed and allow the Sprint customizations to run, you will have to search the forum to find the method to reverse the Sprint settings on your device. The reason you as a VZW customer would run the Sprint ROM is that Sprint has released a ROM that has a GPS enabled radio in it. VZW has not done so at this point. So basically you are doing it only to get the radio. That is not your only option to obtain and install a GPS enabled Radio. The following methods are how I did mine. You can download the latest Radio (3.42.30) and place the file (radio) on an SD card, rename that file to TITAIMG.nbh. Place the SD card into the device and put the phone into bootloader mode (Power, camera, reset) and follow the prompts on the screen to update the radio. You can also look for the 3.35 radio on the FTP that is packaged in an installer. All you have to do is plug your phone to your PC and double click the icon, then follow the prompts. I prefer to flash with a SD card. Much easier and you don't have to worry about computer issues. By the way don't worry about the phone failing to boot past the splash screen after you install the radio, because it won't. The radio you just put on is not compatible with the stock ROM.
Once you have unlocked and installed a radio you are ready to load your custom ROM. So at this point you can use one of the Custom ROM's that are posted here at ppcgeeks.com, such as no2chems or DCD's , or you can venture into the world of building your own.

Here's my next issue....
I'm runing AOK on 3.35 (exe installed on my PC). However when trying to run the 3.42.40 or 3.42.50 radio from my SD card, as soon as I go to enter bootloader mode, I see some sort of instructions flash REALLY fast, and then the normal bootloader screen pops up. What gives?


GErvy