probably a n00b question :)

[samstar]

hello, i am kinda new to this scene, but i mean no harm :)

I don't know everything but am eager to learn.

so i gonna ask some newbee questions and maybe i didn't read everything but hell, there is no harm asking :)

i just bought the diamond (in the dutch language, i've seen a couple more dutch ppl so if there is some one that knows alot, please add me @ msn : Deleted for Users Privacy You don't know Which Creep will add you, Use the Safe PM Method)

now i have some questions

- how can i extract my current rom? and can i use that extracted rom as a backup when i accidentily flash the wrong rom, or just want to have it back to the old way

- what is hard spl, i know it has something to do with the signing of other roms than the original rom, what are the dangers about flashing the spl, can it do any harm to my diamond? and can i go back to the original settings (and also, how about warranty?)

- before i had the Diamond, i had the Herald (P4350) and i bricked it twice, can this also happen with the diamond? or isn't that possible couze the SPL can be flashed (it wasn't possible with my p4350, thats why it was bricked ;))

i ask this questions becouse i want to get the maximum from my diamond, but i also have a contract on my provider and can't get a new phone in 2 years, don't want to waste my diamond on a stupid accident ;)


if you think i am a noob, i am. but don't reply if you don't have any thing intresting to tell.

please don't tell me to use the search, becouse there are verry much topics and i can't get an hold of it, that's why i am asking it here.

Thank you verry much,

regards,

Sam

[mrvanx]

Im not ENORMOUSLY qualified to answer the SPL questions in depth but the General purpose of using HardSPL is that your device is freed up to use ANY ROM you wish (it has to be a diamond rom though). Hence your device is not limited to ROMs by your carrier:

Originally if you bought a Tmobile handset it is usually CID locked to only allow tmobile ROMS, with HArdSPL it allows any diamond ROM, so you could use on by HTC...or a cooked ROM found on this forum! :)

Also HardSPL has had a tradition of safeguarding against some of the types of brick possible, this may be the case with the version for the diamond but id probably let cmonex or olipro comment on that as im not too sure.

By adding the signing of ROMS and radios etc...this has removed the possibility of ROMs being flashed which are known to brick devices, wether it is intentional or just an accident by a ROM chef. Only allowing signed images to be flashed makes it alot safer for the majority of users.

[chribruu]

Just a note: I would not advise to post your e-mail in a public forum, unless you dig spam.

[samstar]

Just a note: I would not advise to post your e-mail in a public forum, unless you dig spam.

yeah i know, but hell, it's only my gmail accout. got a lots of those ;)

[sfjuocekr]

Maybe that is his allowed to have spam address ;)

Anyway these questions are the same resting on my shoulders .... sadly my thread got closed.


All we want to know is how we .... backup the ROM before flashing and restoring it.

I figured the phone consists of the following:

IPL (Initial Program Loader) ... this is like a BIOS for your phone.
SPL (Secondary Program Loader) ... this will boot the actual OS.
ROM ... this is the part where WM61 etc all is?
Ext_ROM ... this is the part where HTC has put all its customizations like TF3D?

So when we use this HardSPL, we only flash the SPL ... ROM stays intact? And how do we make a backup of all this?

Also why is a hard-reset needed if only the SPL is being flashed? It would just startup and boot your ROM, or am I mistaken?

Maybe once Ive gained more knowledge about these nifty phones, I can contribute to the community too like you all do. Maybe I'll just start a "Total noob guide to the HTC Diamond" ... all I need is a start, I want to flash this thing ASAP .... but I first want to get a few simple answers which arent 100% answered by the wiki or forums (mainly how to backup ROM, radio etc etc etc BEFORE flashing).

Meh my posts tend to get longer than expected on new forums :p

[pof]

@sfjuocekr:

- Diamond does not have an extrom.

- read kaiser/polaris/niki/etc.. (msm7xxx devices) forums and wiki, 95% of what is said there applies for the diamond too. Apply common sense to decide what is device specific or not.

Hope that serves you as a start, for example, to answer your question about rom dumping, compare these two threads:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=382609
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=334680

And apply common sense, so you'll se it's the same for diamond.

[cmonex]

Maybe that is his allowed to have spam address ;)

I figured the phone consists of the following:

IPL (Initial Program Loader) ... this is like a BIOS for your phone.


no IPL for diamond, the radio bootloader does that job.

the rest was said by pof very nicely :)

btw note: when you try to apply shift/kaiser commands to dump the rom, make sure you change the sizes in the commands, to match the pdocread -l info.

[demonizator]

Originally if you bought a Tmobile handset it is usually CID locked to only allow tmobile ROMS, with HArdSPL it allows any diamond ROM, so you could use on by HTC...or a cooked ROM found on this forum!

Also HardSPL has had a tradition of safeguarding against some of the types of brick possible, this may be the case with the version for the diamond but id probably let cmonex or olipro comment on that as im not too sure.
Does this mean that HardSPL is not necessary (but advisable) if your device is not CID locked to any carrier but bought directly from HTC?

Apologies for the next noob question...

:(

[mrvanx]

Does this mean that HardSPL is not necessary (but advisable) if your device is not CID locked to any carrier but bought directly from HTC?

Apologies for the next noob question...

:(

HTC devices are still CID locked....to HTC ROMs, no device you can buy is SuperCID afaik.

[sfjuocekr]

@sfjuocekr:

- Diamond does not have an extrom.

- read kaiser/polaris/niki/etc.. (msm7xxx devices) forums and wiki, 95% of what is said there applies for the diamond too. Apply common sense to decide what is device specific or not.

Hope that serves you as a start, for example, to answer your question about rom dumping, compare these two threads:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=382609
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=334680

And apply common sense, so you'll se it's the same for diamond.

This is the reply on which Ive been waiting :)

As soon as I'm home Ill read more about it and maybe post my finding is a uniform Diamond thread ...

Also the sketch from the layout ... I made up from information I found all over the forums and wiki, I do apply common sense but I still have limited knowhow about how these phones work.

Anyway thanks alot, Ill be trying to backup my phone asap when I arrive home from work (I work for Tele2/Versatel ... dont be scared I wont do any harm ;))

[demonizator]

HTC devices are still CID locked....to HTC ROMs, no device you can buy is SuperCID afaik.
Got you... :D

[sfjuocekr]

Seems, after reading while working, these dumps are not the biggest helpers. As in we can't yet use them to rebuild the original ROM? I might have overlooked something, will investigate further this evening after work.

My question now still is, does this also update radio and SPL?

So the HTC Diamond basicly consists of a radio ROM, then the SPL and then goes into HTC ROM with WM61 etc ...?

So upgrading to HardSPL ... doesnt touch your current ROM and allows it to boot into it fine or does it need to be signed? Why is the hardreset needed then?

Anyway Im probably asking the same questions found on other parts of the forum, sorry for that if it annoys people around here. I just want to get started with a full backup, that is restorable ... as in that I can restore my phone to factory defaults ... if needed ;)

I have alot of coding and hardware experience, which might help the community some day when I gain more knowledge. My age was the homemade EEPROM programmers and big ZIF-sockets business, you probably know what Im aiming for ;)

[demonizator]

I just want to get started with a full backup, that is restorable ... as in that I can restore my phone to factory defaults ... if needed
I second that. Is there a way to do a full backup and restore to factory defaults after using hardspl and cooked roms?

[pof]

SPL: you can take it from an official rom (nbhextract), if its the same version that you have, or you can dump it from the device before HardSPL'ing it. (see one of the previous threads I linked on how to pmemdump the SPL).

Radio:you can take it from an official rom (nbhextract), if its the same version that you have.

OS: Search how to reconstruct a dumped ROM, again, apply common sense :)

[cmonex]

Why is the hardreset needed then?


that's just standard RUU procedure. you can hack the RUU exe to not send task 28 to cause the SPL to hard reset.

[athanaso77]

you can hack the RUU exe to not send task 28 to cause the SPL to hard reset.

I guess that you will do that soon too, right?

Perfect job you guys!!! ;)