Blank Extended Rom for Apache

verizonguy · #1 (**permalink**) 11-01-2007, 10:25 PM

I've made an empty extended rom for the apache for those who have a use for it. After flashing this you will have an empty extended rom. It persists through a hard reset so you don't have to delete your carrier's files everytime.

If you want it, download it here, unzip it, and when you flash your next rom to your apache, put the file in the same folder as the rom you're flashing and you'll have an empty extended rom after you flash.

You can flash this with a rom or by itself. The RUU utility we use to flash roms to the apache can flash the extended rom by itself too.

This won't be helpful for everyone as some people use the carrier customizations on their extended rom.

This download is is for people who don't use their extended rom from their carrier and just want extra storage without having to manually delete everything everytime you hard reset.

Download here

nickm · #2 (**permalink**) 11-01-2007, 10:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by verizonguy

I've made an empty extended rom for the apache for those who have a use for it. After flashing this you will have an empty extended rom. It persists through a hard reset so you don't have to delete your carrier's files everytime.

If you want it, download it here, unzip it, and when you flash your next rom to your apache, put the file in the same folder as the rom you're flashing and you'll have an empty extended rom after you flash.

You can flash this with a rom or by itself. The RUU utility we use to flash roms to the apache can flash the extended rom by itself too.

This won't be helpful for everyone as some people use the carrier customizations on their extended rom.

This download is is for people who don't use their extended rom from their carrier and just want extra storage without having to manually delete everything everytime you hard reset.

Download here

Can you shoe horn this into the finished version of the kitchen?
Thanks Boss
_nick

TMB_XV6700 · #3 (**permalink**) 11-02-2007, 09:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by verizonguy

....It persists through a hard reset so you don't have to delete your carrier's files everytime....

VG,
Excellent work as always. This statement had me confused:
- "It persists through a hard reset...." I use my extended rom for program installations, and they remain untouched through a hard reset - kind of useless because I have to reinstall them anyway to make them function. Does your zip file automatically clear out the extended rom at every hard reset (not just at flashing time)?
- "...everytime..." If I delete the carrier's files even once, I shouldn't have to do it ever again unless I reflash a carrier upgrade (which includes the extended rom), should I?

Although as a kitchen user I don't have a personal need for this, I can see its usefulness especially for distributed roms that have carrier customizations built in.

verizonguy · #4 (**permalink**) 11-02-2007, 01:38 PM

Well you learn something new everyday

I don't personally use the ext rom at all so just assumed that partition was restored to the ext rom image on hard reset. good to know.

spyderr911 · #5 (**permalink**) 11-02-2007, 03:22 PM

Verizonguy,

I have your WM6 kitchen installed and love it. I was wondering what exactly is the Ext Rom for? Is/was it a secret partition that Verizon put in the phone for their customization, updates, and things?

In my Ext Rom there are a lot of files that I assume were put there with the kitchen ROM flash. Can I delete the files in there? Are they needed in there to make the phone function properly? If I can clear them out, is the Ext Rom like a small storage card now, where I can put programs and files? Are there any drawbacks or potential problems that can happen if I use the empty space in the Ext Rom? What do you use yours for?

Thanks ahead of time.

verizonguy · #6 (**permalink**) 11-02-2007, 04:00 PM

When you flash your apache with an official release from your carrier, there are 3 files that get flashed to the phone. The radio, which is what allows you to use the device as a phone, the windows ce rom that includes the operating system from microsoft and some of the manufacturer and carrier's files for the device including device specific drivers and add-on applications not included in windows. The third file is the extended rom. This is written to a partition on the phone's memory which includes "execute-after-installation" type files that customize the device once the os has been installed.

Typically these carrier customizations include both important stuff that make things like picture messaging work, and unimportant things that the carrier may add to limit you or make you pay for something you could otherwise get for free. Often when using a kitchen to make your own rom, people opt to disable the extended rom from starting at startup automatically, and instead use this area for storage space. This is fine as long as you include the important parts of the customizations in your base rom...so yeah, in many cases you don't need to use your extended rom as it was intended, and can instead use it for storage.

TMB_XV6700 · #7 (**permalink**) 11-02-2007, 05:11 PM

VG, I hope you don't mind if I extend your excellent description just a little bit:

Yes once you unhide, unlock it, and clean it out, you can use the extended rom as a small (9.9MB) storage card - with the advantage of faster speed and quicker wake-up time than your mini SD card is likely to have. This makes it useful for today plug-ins etc - I use it to install almost every app that's not in the rom.

Your point on including the customizations in the base rom is an excellent one - unfortunately, I don't think any of the kitchens [or roms] really document which customizations are actually incorporated, given that some of them (especially in the Sprint rom) are really undesirable. I've copied the full contents of the Verizon extended roms over to my SD card just in case I want to run individual cabs - of course I never do.

Finally - the big drawback to using the extended rom as extra storage like this - it can cause problems if you routinely save email attachments to the storage card. If the extrom is visible, then pocket outlook can't see your storage card at all and wants to sync the attachments to the extended rom instead. Many people have encountered out-of-memory errors in this situation since 9.9 MB is just not big enough for their attachments. The workaround is to use the "mounthidden" registry tweak to rehide the extrom. Although re-hiding it can make it a pain to get to, programs you've installed there will still run.
http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=8535

spyderr911 · #8 (**permalink**) 11-02-2007, 08:09 PM

Wow between you guys I learned a lot about this whole Ext Rom thing.

Going along with what you guys are saying then, is I should be able to delete the files that are currently in there. I cooked a Rom with Verizonguy's kitchen and noticed there are a few cab files and other things in there. Was this just used for temp storage when installing the rom to the phone perhaps?

Also, would this be a good place for the HTC home customizer program? Or perhaps some small ringtones?

Thanks for all your help.

nickm · #9 (**permalink**) 11-02-2007, 09:01 PM

I use my exrom storage for small cabs. But I flash my phone so ofter it would be nice to not have to go through and MT the EXROM every time.

TMB_XV6700 · #10 (**permalink**) 11-02-2007, 10:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spyderr911

....I cooked a Rom with Verizonguy's kitchen and noticed there are a few cab files and other things in there. Was this just used for temp storage when installing the rom to the phone perhaps?....

Spyder,
Not really, as I understand it (and since I'm just another student here I may be wrong) - the Extended Rom is one of the three Read-only images that are typically flashed to the phone (the other two being the "ROM" and the "Radio"). It is designed to be locked (read-only) memory of around 10MB that includes the carrier customizations - essentially a batch file that loads a bunch of cabs in a particular sequence. If it exists, that batch file gets called automatically by the operating system after a hard reset. The rom you flashed with Verizonguy's kitchen probably "unhid" the pre-existing Extended Rom (making it visible) and may have even unlocked it (making it writeable). That's why you saw some cab files and a few other things.
In the OP of this thread, VG offers an extended rom image (i.e. an ms_.nbf file) that, when included in an RUU flash, overwrites whatever is there with a ~10MB image of pure emptiness . Of course, including NO ms_.nbf file in the RUU flash - as most of us do - will leave the extended rom alone. (Finally this is all based on having the same bootloader, but let's not go there.)

Nick, I suppose if you actually want to erase all your small cabs at every flash, this would be a sure way to do it. I just didn't see an obvious reason to erase the extended rom more than once.