Yikes!!!

[dcdivenut]

Okay,
I have had my wizard for about a year now and in that time have flashed countless ROMs without any major problems, but yesterday I came as close as I ever have to bricking my device, and the crazy thing is that I have no idea why. I am hoping that the "real men of genius" here can help me figure out what the freak happened, or specifically what I probably did wrong :)

Before anyone asks, yes my phone is SIM and CID unlocked and it is a G3.

I recently moved from Core 2.0n to mfrazzz XDA Mobile 6. I really liked it but with mattr_k's easy kitchen and stripped down base I figured I could play with it a little to get some more of the apps and settings I like in it from the get go, and save the space without the ones I don't. I had been playing around with the core kitchen and the first kitchen mattk_r upped so I had a pretty good idea of what to do.

here is what happened as best as I can remember ( I should have taken notes as it was happening but I was too freaked out!)
I created the OEM directory and copied the reg tweaks and packages that I wanted from Pandora's Box (v2). I ran Build OS and selected all and it completed without problem. I ran createROM.bat and no problems there. I went into flashing, built the nbf and flashed. The flash went fine with no hang ups.

When the device restarted after flashing it went to the first splash screen and then stayed white. I left it this way for 10 minutes and then it was still like this I tried a soft reset. It reset fine but stayed white. I then tried flashing back to the original mfrazzz ROM but when it got to 95% the flash tool errored out and closed. The phone was stuck with the progress bar at 95%.
I freaked out a little and then rembered that I still had a copy of wizard love on this computer so I put it in bootloader mode and then flashed that. That got the phone back up. I then tried reflashing my "cooked" ROM. It loaded this time, but the today screen was a white background and some of the today plugins were extremely distorted and it just wasn't right.

I reflashed wizard love, and then reflashed the mfrazzz's original XDA Mobile. My phone is now fine.

Any ideas on what the heck happened.

[anichillus]

Just guessing here....did you messed with the splash screens ?

[dcdivenut]

Just guessing here....did you messed with the splash screens ?

Not on purpose, followed the steps above as far as I can recall.

[boto]

You almost wrote a book about this ;P

The day when my device amost brick by dcdivenut

"..Was raining on this night and my device stop to work.."

hehe only joking

[mfrazzz]

When you built the nk.nbf file, did you build in a splash screen or htc_logo? Or did you only build the OS into the file? If you built a splash screen, you have to verify the file sizes. htc_logo has to be exactly 64K, and the splash screen has to be 196608 bytes in size. If these are off, you will have hangs and stuff.

If you only did the OS, what is the size of your nk.nbf? If its too big it wouldn't have flashed.

BTW: Welcome to the world of rom cooking... I've scared myself a few times ;)

[mattk_r]

ouch - been there a few times myself - but usually 'cause I was really hacking the OS components, like compressing the files in the XIP or OS directory.

If you mixed a Pandora kitchen with another OEM folder (or visa-vera), you might have left out critical components from the OEMAPPS/OEMDRIVERS, etc, Default and Langdb folders. I moved them to the SYS folder to allow more "generic" OEM package contents.

You might start with a complete base kitchen and work from there. Be wary of mixing - until you're very comfortable moving OS components - and can recognize critical pieces!

[dcdivenut]

When you built the nk.nbf file, did you build in a splash screen or htc_logo? Or did you only build the OS into the file? If you built a splash screen, you have to verify the file sizes. htc_logo has to be exactly 64K, and the splash screen has to be 196608 bytes in size. If these are off, you will have hangs and stuff.

I didn't touch splash or anything like that.

ouch - been there a few times myself - but usually 'cause I was really hacking the OS components, like compressing the files in the XIP or OS directory.

If you mixed a Pandora kitchen with another OEM folder (or visa-vera), you might have left out critical components from the OEMAPPS/OEMDRIVERS, etc, Default and Langdb folders. I moved them to the SYS folder to allow more "generic" OEM package contents.

You might start with a complete base kitchen and work from there. Be wary of mixing - until you're very comfortable moving OS components - and can recognize critical pieces!

I did use only your base kitchen from the "stripped thread" and actually redownloaded the OEM package from the same post as well so I wouldn't mix packages. I guess I will give it another shot when I have the time to rescue it from the dead if need be!

[dcdivenut]

You almost wrote a book about this ;P

The day when my device amost brick by dcdivenut

"..Was raining on this night and my device stop to work.."

hehe only joking

well it would definitely be a tragicomedy!! or perhaps a nail biting thriller! I wanted to give as much detail as possible since I hate it when someone posts, "I bricked my device, what happened?!?!?! PLEASE HELP!!!!"

[mattk_r]

When you built the nk.nbf file, did you build in a splash screen or htc_logo? Or did you only build the OS into the file? If you built a splash screen, you have to verify the file sizes. htc_logo has to be exactly 64K, and the splash screen has to be 196608 bytes in size. If these are off, you will have hangs and stuff.

I didn't touch splash or anything like that.



I did use only your base kitchen from the "stripped thread" and actually redownloaded the OEM package from the same post as well so I wouldn't mix packages. I guess I will give it another shot when I have the time to rescue it from the dead if need be!

If you're using the whole thing, just be sure to only enter WWE for language, and check only OS line box, point to the ../temp folder for the ...-OS.nb file, select OS from the drop down on the same line, and click the mouse in the address box so it will auto-fill, but don't change it.

I have added splash screens and extended roms in, but not in the kitchen, or any roms I post. I figure it adds too much completixy and liability for users.

[dcdivenut]

If you're using the whole thing, just be sure to only enter WWE for language, and check only OS line box, point to the ../temp folder for the ...-OS.nb file, select OS from the drop down on the same line, and click the mouse in the address box so it will auto-fill, but don't change it.

I have added splash screens and extended roms in, but not in the kitchen, or any roms I post. I figure it adds too much completixy and liability for users.

I don't think I entered WWE for language, but I did everything else, and didn't do anything extra. That is something to try...

[dcdivenut]

I am not sure that something as simple as typing WWE in the language field is what made the difference but I did and it worked. On my home computer I redownloaded the kitchen, base and OEM packages.

I first flashed it with nothing added to the OEM folder and it worked
Then I added to the OEM folder and that worked.
Then I got cocky, redownloaded mfrazzz's original XDA Mobile 6, used Corekitchen to dump, extracted the x-mfrazzz and x-faria settings, combined parts from both and that...............

WORKED!!! :) YAY! doing a jig (quielty so as not to wake the fiance at 1AM!)

Now all I need to do to really get this to what I want is to make make packages for the following
1. Live search (not live, just search)
2. CloseAll (I just like it!)
3. Softkey from mfrazz's (I prefer it to the Sharkey 48 I have)
4. Get working package of Photodialer today plugin
5. Time sync package from XDA Mobile 6

Any help from the pros in getting this up woudl be awesome! Hopefully others will be able to use them as well.

[mfrazzz]

Then I got cocky, redownloaded mfrazzz's original XDA Mobile 6, used Corekitchen to dump, extracted the x-mfrazzz and x-faria settings, combined parts from both and that...............

WORKED!!! :) YAY! doing a jig (quielty so as not to wake the fiance at 1AM!)

Now all I need to do to really get this to what I want is to make make packages for the following
1. Live search (not live, just search)
2. CloseAll (I just like it!)
3. Softkey from mfrazz's (I prefer it to the Sharkey 48 I have)
4. Get working package of Photodialer today plugin
5. Time sync package from XDA Mobile 6

IF you used Core Kitchen to dump my rom then you have the OEM folders I used and that has SoftKeyEx, TimeSync and you'll find Windows Live and Windows Live search are actually there in the OEM and not in SYS. So I think you have most of what you need now ;).

[dcdivenut]

IF you used Core Kitchen to dump my rom then you have the OEM folders I used and that has SoftKeyEx, TimeSync and you'll find Windows Live and Windows Live search are actually there in the OEM and not in SYS. So I think you have most of what you need now ;).

SWEET!

Soft key - Check
Time Sync - Check

I found this in the .rgu file in the x-mfrazzz apps. is this for the softkey app or something else?
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Services\Stk_service]
"Dll"="\\windows\\STK_Service.dll"
"Description"="STK Service"
"DisplayName"="STK Service"
"Context"=dword:00000001
"Keep"=dword:00000001
"Order"=dword:00000005
"Index"=dword:00000005

Windows Live search - In your OEM folder there are two folders, WindowsLive and WindowsLive_DPI_96. These are both currently also in the SYS folder of mattr_k's base so wouldn't this throw an error? I know I am missing something stupid here.

Ring tones - Is there anyway I can build mp3's into the ROM? I tried placing them in the x-mfrazzz settings folder in my SYS but that didn't work, even though they get built into the windows directory. I looked in the .rgu and there doesn;t seem to be anything about where to place these

PHMReg Edit - I thought I remembered you saying something about being able to export reg settings in the correct format. I was playing around with this and the closest thing I could find was backup. That created a .rbk file but I get gibberish in notepad when I try to open it. My thought process here was to use get all the reg setting the way I want, export them, get them into a .rgu file and then build them in. Any ideas?

How do I get it so that ini_tray.lnk is not automatically in startup?.

[dcdivenut]

Has anyone seen an error message when starting buildOS that just says there was a bug and the app is shutting down?

[mfrazzz]

Has anyone seen an error message when starting buildOS that just says there was a bug and the app is shutting down?

Yes... If I remember right that was when I had a options.xml that wasn't saved in Unicode (or maybe it was the .rgu or .dsm). Pull packages out and you can figure out which one is teh offending package. Then look at the xml, rgu, and dsm (but I'm pretty sure it was a bad options.xml)

[dcdivenut]

Yes... If I remember right that was when I had a options.xml that wasn't saved in Unicode (or maybe it was the .rgu or .dsm). Pull packages out and you can figure out which one is teh offending package. Then look at the xml, rgu, and dsm (but I'm pretty sure it was a bad options.xml)

Cool, will check when I get home, any thought on post above?

[Dr Puttingham]

Seems to me your mind was on your woman and not your Wizard... just a thought,ehehe!

Congrats bro!

[Madcap180]

My woman gets mad because my mind is usually on my Wizard and my Hermes.. lol .. and not on her.. go figure...

[Dr Puttingham]

My woman gets mad because my mind is usually on my Wizard and my Hermes.. lol .. and not on her.. go figure...dc just got engaged..... :)

[Madcap180]

Congrats DC ... if you ever need someone to pick the lock on that ball and chain, let me know...j/k

[mfrazzz]

I found this in the .rgu file in the x-mfrazzz apps. is this for the softkey app or something else?
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Services\Stk_service]
"Dll"="\\windows\\STK_Service.dll"
"Description"="STK Service"
"DisplayName"="STK Service"
"Context"=dword:00000001
"Keep"=dword:00000001
"Order"=dword:00000005
"Index"=dword:00000005
Its for the SIM Tool Kit or something like that. Definetly not for SoftKeyEx.

Windows Live search - In your OEM folder there are two folders, WindowsLive and WindowsLive_DPI_96. These are both currently also in the SYS folder of mattr_k's base so wouldn't this throw an error? I know I am missing something stupid here.
Yeah if you'll look at my rom, there is no WindowsLive stuff in the SYS area. Faria moved it out in his Vanilla, so when I pulled aparte teh Ingenetics one, I did the same so I could use the newer (I think) WIndows Live that he had. So you can either drop the one in my OEM or drop the one in the base rom from that kitchen.

Ring tones - Is there anyway I can build mp3's into the ROM? I really haven't done much with mp3 ringtones yet, but I believe I read that the MP3 ones are only valid in the My Documents (or My Rings or somesuch) directory and not in \Windows. So if you built it into your rom, you'd need to move them with initflashfile to a place out of \Windows. But you also have to have WMP in your rom for MP3 ringtones to work too.

PHMReg Edit - I thought I remembered you saying something about being able to export reg settings in the correct format. I was playing around with this and the closest thing I could find was backup. That created a .rbk file but I get gibberish in notepad when I try to open it. My thought process here was to use get all the reg setting the way I want, export them, get them into a .rgu file and then build them in. Any ideas?
In PHMReg Edit, go to the key you want to export (or the very top) and click and hold on it. Then choose Export and write this to a file. Now move that file to your PC and you have nicely formated file to use in a .rgu. You just have to put REGEDIT4 at the top and make sure there is a blank line at the bottom and then save it as Unicode...

FWIW: I now use the Registry Editor built into dotFred's TaskManager app. The export it does (.reg file) can be used right on your phone to import settings back in. So I have like my owner information saved out as a .reg file that I import back in after a rom flash (I hated typing that in each time). ALso .reg files for TodayAgenda, and other apps (Wisbar stores your registration code in the registry so you import that and don't have to mess with doing the registration screen).

How do I get it so that ini_tray.lnk is not automatically in startup?.
I would assume thats in the main initflashfile.dat (not the .txt ones). I need to look at doing that one myself but just never have. Remember if you edit the .dat one, you have to use a hex editor to remove the first two bytes (or somethig like that. Never done that so don't remember the process offhand).

[dcdivenut]

[QUOTE=mfrazzz;1312816]Its for the SIM Tool Kit or something like that. Definetly not for SoftKeyEx.


You are the best.. thanks!

[dcdivenut]

Yes... If I remember right that was when I had a options.xml that wasn't saved in Unicode (or maybe it was the .rgu or .dsm). Pull packages out and you can figure out which one is teh offending package. Then look at the xml, rgu, and dsm (but I'm pretty sure it was a bad options.xml)

fixed it...