[ROM] {NAND} AOSP-GBX | < Kernel: 2.6.27 > | 2013.01.20

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chan.sk

Senior Member
Dec 22, 2012
306
129
Singapore
. . . identical phone . . .in working condition, but the touchscreen isn't very responsive. . . transplant the motherboard from that phone over and start fresh. But all this will happen after the holidays. . . Enjoy your holidays (if any)

Happy Holidays!

As for the newly-acquired phone, I recommend you try out the ROM installation first and then if the touchscreen is still quirky, then venture on the hardware transplant. Sometimes the poor touchscreen response could be caused by the existing OS.
 
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mad_ady

Senior Member
May 8, 2008
434
262
I got the replacement phone today, but the touchscreen is completely dead. I'll need to do the transplant anyway. I got hold of a service manual (marked confidential) which details the assembly/disassembly process. All I need now is some free time (prefferably at work) and a steady hand.
The older phone is completely stock, running WM6.1.
I was worried I might have issues with the IMEI being changed, but I don't think it will change because the sim is on a different board...
Will let you know of further developments.
 

deepvision

New member
Sep 7, 2008
1
0
Thank you very much Fagyi for a wonderful ROM!
I have been trying to find a working Android solution for Blackstone for so long when finally found your thread.
It is working great so far!
 

mad_ady

Senior Member
May 8, 2008
434
262
Hardware transplant was successful! I now have a working phone once more. Need to update the bootloader, radio and test out the hardware before I proceed again with flashing. :)
The internals of the phone make changing components easy (lots of clip-on connectors). However, removing the bottom cover is the trickiest part...
 

mad_ady

Senior Member
May 8, 2008
434
262
Hello all,

Thank you for your suggestions... very helpful!!

Any news about the development?

Thanks
R.

No development has been going on for the past year. Fyiagi is currently missing. chan.sk is filling in and providing excellent support.
@chan.sk: I flashed HardSPL (1.56) and the latest radio but I'm stuck again on performing Task 29. It keeps saying it can't convert Byte to Byte[]. I smell foul play so I tracked down the original thread for the BlackstoneAdvancedRUU tool: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=943851. It lists the same version of the tool (v.1.0.5, Asusmobile Team).

I did an md5sum on the BlackstoneAdvancedRUU.exe I was using in windows XP and I got this checksum:
bd92b521cb93ce2f510f177e82662d95.

A checksum on the BlackstoneAdvancedRUU.exe from the link above gives me a different value: 5adf3b90acba70ca8fca6d36c93b64b3.

I suspect something in my system (maybe even a virus) changed the executable and this causes my failure.
Before I go ahead and try Task29 from the xda-version of BlackstoneAdvancedRUU, can you tell me what md5sum you have for yours? I wouldn't want to break another motherboard so I am developing my patience... :)

Thanks
 

chan.sk

Senior Member
Dec 22, 2012
306
129
Singapore
No development has been going on for the past year. . . .

I did an md5sum on the BlackstoneAdvancedRUU.exe I was using in windows XP and I got this checksum:
bd92b521cb93ce2f510f177e82662d95.

A checksum on the BlackstoneAdvancedRUU.exe from the link above gives me a different value: 5adf3b90acba70ca8fca6d36c93b64b3.

Hi, I think fagyi is busy and has less time to attend to this thread. As no one else had responded, I thought I can contribute by helping others who might encounter problems with the installation because I had been through the process a few times before.

md5 checksum. Here is what I got from the BlackstoneAdvancedRUU.exe that I had originally downloaded from fagyi link in Post #1.
5adf3b90acba70ca8fca6d36c93b64b3

The screen capture is attached.

Edit:
I find that it is best use an Windows Admin-group account when doing all this processes.

Also, check that the USB cable is the thicker, shielded data cable or one that comes with a filter. A USB cable that is not shielded also be used for data but their data transfer can be sometimes be unreliable.

Just to be sure, I downloaded the BlackstoneAdvancedRUU.exe from the link you mentioned:
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=943851
I put the file in a separate folder and verified the md5 checksum. Reads the same as fagyi's:
5adf3b90acba70ca8fca6d36c93b64b3
 

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mad_ady

Senior Member
May 8, 2008
434
262
I'm happy to report that I managed to install android in the end! :highfive:
I ran into another error during the process, while flashing the ROM zip:
Code:
Write boot...
assert failed: package_extract_file("boot.img"."/tmp/boot.img")
E:Error in /sdcard/FagyiDROID-V1-ODEXED.zip
(Status 7)
Installation aborted

Turns out the SD card filesystem had some errors and I had to run fsck on it to fix those errors. After that the install worked just fine.

What can I say? I'm really impressed with what I got! The ROM looks and feels great considering the device it's running on! I'm playing around slowly learning its limitations and thinking of what I can do with it (I have several needs of an android device that can do some automated tasks).

I plan on trying out playing mp4 files (as a backup video player for a tablet I have); I will also try to install tasker and start to automate things around (turning it into a virtual webcam); also using it as an mp3 player...

So far, I've noticed that the google play store app showed up on first boot, but shows a broken icon on subsequent boots. I'll have to look into it (maybe there are problems with the apk permissions).

Also, the "Home" button works as menu and "Call End" works as home - I assume this is normal?

Does anybody know if the front camera works? I couldn't quite switch the camera in the camera app.

As I said, I'm just starting to play and I feel great for having a new toy :D (the feeling is better since I've converted and old, obsolete WM6.1 phone into a shiny toy) :)
 

mad_ady

Senior Member
May 8, 2008
434
262
b. After installing the ROM, you can boot to recovery by pressing and hold Power button during the blue fastboot screen.

I am unable to enter recovery by holding power pressed during the fastboot screen. It always boots normally. Should I be pressing any other key?
Also, how do you boot to fastboot (or how do you interrupt the boot process)?

I'm currently trying to do a reset to factory defaults and a reflash of the rom to get the play store back (it's currently broken).

P.S. Never mind - I figured out how to get to fastboot. Just boot with the USB cable connected and the startup sequence stops there. (USB is online and this is a cold boot. Forcing Fastboot.)

P.S.2 Never mind #2. I figured out booting to recovery. I tried the 10th time again, and this time the fastboot screen said "POWER button pressed" (or something similar) and took me to recovery.

---------- Post added at 03:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:14 PM ----------

Ok, I managed to wipe /data and /cache and got back USB mass storage support and Play Store, but they are broken once more when I first reboot.

I'll try to play around and see what I can manage, but it seems the first reboot screws things up...
 
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chan.sk

Senior Member
Dec 22, 2012
306
129
Singapore
For the broken GooglePlay, I think you will need to create the Google account on Blackstone after installation and turn on wi-fi or data for the app to the website and register the Blackstone to your Google account.
 
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atypwho

Member
Jan 10, 2009
22
0
If the phone cannot detect the sim card, it might be a problem with the physical contact between sim card and the phone connector. Clean the contacts and re-try. Sometimes, slotting the sim card in-and-out a few times will help.

Flashing radio. It looks your version is the latest radio file there is. I am using it in Singapore with no problems. Anyway, if you wish, you can download from this link:
http://www.mediafire.com/?l3423nds4v00s
Go to the folder name "Radio.Zip"

The radio file is independent of the OS you are using, I had used this ROM and WM 6.5 with no change of radio file. Flashing the Radio file will not upset your existing phone setup.

To flash, copy the nbh file to your phone microSD, re-name it as "BLACIMG.NBH".
Switch off the phone.
Press Volume Down + Power buttons to come to the 3-color screen
Shortly, it will detect the NBH file and come to next screen for updating.
Press Power button to update.

Since my phone cannot detect the sim card, i want to switch back to wm6.5.3 to check if it is the hardware problem. Please direct me the procedure.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
 

mad_ady

Senior Member
May 8, 2008
434
262
@atypwho: you will need to download your favourite WM Rom, copy the BLACIMG.NBH file to the root of your sd card and boot to bootloader (power + volume down). The tri-color screen will appear and after detecting the nbh file you will be prompted to flash it.
 
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ibeqa

Senior Member
Mar 17, 2005
472
45
Prishtina
I tried this Android ROM but it was too buggy for me plus it was draining juices from the battery like hell. Could not keep my device of AC for 2 hours. Just touching something on device would remove 10% of battery. Now I'm back to WM6.5.3 and device is like new. Very responsive and battery like new.
I hope the work on Android for Blackstone continues but for now I'm back to the roots.

Cheers
 
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mad_ady

Senior Member
May 8, 2008
434
262
Since I'm not going to use the blackstone as a phone, I can say that I'll be sticking with the ROM.

I had the chance to play with it for a while, and yes, it has its bugs, but it also amazed me. The ROM is pretty fluent even on this aging hardware, and you can run most apps (apart from games). I was surprised that it ran TuneIn Radio without stuttering (though the UI often freezed, the music played back without issues).

What I've tested and doesn't work:
* battery reporting is flaky at best. The battery gauge can jump up and down without apparent reason, and the phone can power off even when the gauge shows it still has 50%. So, battery reporting is unreliable. In terms of battery life - in airplane mode it can go for a day without issues (mostly sleeping). Anyway, battery is not important, since I'll be using it tethered to the power adapter
* SD Card is corrupted often. I'm not sure what causes it, but I seem to get frequent corruption on my SD card. Maybe because of the frequent reboots I perform. A fsck/scandisk should clear away the problems anyway.
* front camera doesn't work (I was planning on using it)
* Video playback doesn't work. I've tested quite a few video players - mxplayer, bsplayer, qqplayer, mobo video player, gallery, quickpic. The symptoms are as follows: the video starts to play, but only displays a black frame and audio can be heard in the background. I've managed to get image with qqplayer, but I have only about 1fps and audio gets out of sync with video. Can be barely useful for low-animation cartoons...
* frequent hangs in sleep mode. The phone would sometimes not turn on after sleep. Need to pull battery to restart it.
* play store works only with a SD card plugged in (the play store needs to cache some files to the SD card)
* time drifts pretty quickly (30m/day) if not connected to a data network.

What works:
* Successfuly installed Tasker, Titanium Backup, Rocket Player, TuneIn Radio, ES File Explorer and Elixir widgets. I have about 90-70MB of free RAM (out of 134M) on startup. You'll need a task killer to free up RAM, otherwise you'll get a lot of "Out of memory errors". Also, removing some apps from startup increased the available RAM.

Troubleshooting: if you get problems, apps force-closing, etc, it really helps to have a logcat running through ADB. That's how I managed to solve my playstore issues and other crashes. For me playstore only worked immediately after first install and I lost it after first reboot. I installed some apps without rebooting first, and "it stuck" ever since.

Regarding the video playback problems, I suppose most players don't work (even with arm v6 codecs) because 3d acceleration is disabled in the ROM. Once that would work, I expect it could be used as a low-end video player (for 360p content anyway).

I do hope that fagyi will return to this ROM and iron out the final bugs, but since the hardware is old, I'm not holding my breath... Unfortunately I have no kernel development knowledge, so I can't poke around, but who knows what the future will bring?

All in all I think this is a good ROM if you're planning on giving the device a dedicated purpose (I plan on using it as a baby monitor camera - snapping pictures every 5 minutes and uploading them via Wifi to my NAS - it can be easily done through tasker. Also, another purpose can be an online radio player through tunein for the kitchen... or mp3 player). It will give a new life for your old hardware and allow you to use some Android apps that you couldn't use on Windows Mobile.

Things I still need to sort out:
* testing some more video playback methods for mp4 media
* finding a program to remap my keys - specifically to wake the device up with a volume key instead of the power button (since my power button is pretty hard to press)
* finding a way to keep the device always on while on power (I'm guessing it can be done through Development options - need to check it out).
* since the front camera doesn't work, need to find a way to snap pictures with the back camera to monitor a room and have the front part still user accesible (a mirror perhaps?)

Many thanks to fagyi for developing this ROM (otherwise the blackstone would have ended up in a drawer) and to chan.sk for his help (without whom the blackstone would have ended in the garbage bin). :good:
 
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mad_ady

Senior Member
May 8, 2008
434
262
Just a quick tip - if users want to use the blackstone as an internet radio player, I don't recommend TuneIn because it is too slow. Use instead Radio Player from the Play Store. Also, instead of Rocket player I'm using Folder Player instead for better performance.
I also tried a couple of programs to turn my blackstone into a remote microphone (streaming as rtsp with spydroid or streaming to a local icecast server with Broadcast me now). Unfortunatelly these apps didn't work as expected mostly because the blackstone can't encode mp3 in real time (it takes about 4s to encode 1s) and the end result is badly clipped and distorted beyond comprehension (it sounds as if demons are talking :)). I need to find some program (or program one) to stream wave format.
So far I am happy with my blackstone, but I'm looking for new uses for it :)

It's also nice to see that fagyi is still around :)
 
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girdap

Member
Dec 2, 2009
48
22
Malaga
I ve tried this rom but its not usable. Draining battery life like vampire. If battery usage is optimized by in any way, i can try again.
 

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  • 74
    Hello everyone!

    Perhaps you know me, I'm trying to revive the NANDROID on our beloved HTC Thouch HD, aka Blackstone.

    I want to thank to XDAndroid developers team & detule, they create & make it possible/available with pathes on gitorious or others site for the SD kernel source and a GBX tree!
    Thank to Arganis31 for the great work on Blackstone LK!!! { LK source, soon on the git from Arganis31 }
    Of course deepest of respect to [ACL] for everythings!

    And everyone who i forget!!!

    Please note :

    - I don’t take any responsibility for any damage to your device! So use at your own risk!!!
    - My kernel source is here: https://gitorious.org/linux-msm-blac-nand/linux-msm-blac-nand
    - Change Log – 2 post ; Install – 3 post
    - This is not an official GBX release, rather something I compiled from the current GBX tree.
    - This is work in progress, so there may be minor or major problems
    - Please attach your getlogs if you have some problem, thank you

    Main problem is:

    - Shutdown / reboot { just hang on } not working need reset or battery pull out.
    - 3D not really good so if i enabled HW3D than i get a blank screen :/ { gralloc or kernel pmem issue??? }
    - Any others are working, like SD version or just better.

    I am a only who are working on the Blac Nand Kernel & setup the ROM right, Im updating g3rm0 git source with some good stuff, I can say that now i got it a lot of better funkcionality on nand. Nearly everythings updated on source. For example new acoustic code working on nand and audio fully working, with BT audio too!!!

    Any help are welcome and thanked If you think that's right.
    Downloads: http://code.google.com/p/nandroid-for-htc-blackstone/downloads/list

    Necessary files and older downloads : http://www.mediafire.com/?85m45naii6dpk

    Big Thank to all my donators: ( included SD/NAND too )

    - uberto.costanzo
    - wanpaopao
    - Drifft Art
    - Osiris
    - Roland
    - Philippe
    - Etoxus
    - Nick Brown
    - Disaster
    - William Botteldoorn
    - FazZ
    - adamph

    if i forget anyone from the list, please send a pm me! Thanks


    Good luck!

    Best regards,
    fagyi

    43
    Install

    You need charging your battery minimum to 70% in Windows Mobile before starting everythings !!!
    do not play with less value if you dont know what do you do!!!

    * All files ready which you need on downloads place.

    Installation guide from Windows Mobile to the Android:
    Thanks to FazZ & Nick Brown! Great work!

    1. Flash the latest HardSPL from OliNex
    2. Extract the 'adb files & fastboot.exe' files to a folder and grab the latest recovery-XY.img from Necessary files and older downloads. Place it in the same older and rename it to recovery.img
    3. Format the microSD card fully as FAT32
    4. Copy the 'BlacIMG.NBH' file and your selected ROM (zip) you wish to use to the root of the microSD
    5. Boot in TriColour mode (Power button and Volume down button)
    6. Whilst in the TriColour mode, connect the Blackstone to a USB port ('Serial' should now say 'USB')
    7. Run 'BlackstoneRUUAdvanced' and select the 'Task 29' which is full wipe of the Blackstone
    8. Once completed, insert the microSD card and reboot into the TriColour mode again
    9. The Blackstone will auto-flash-install (after key confirmation) the 'BlacIMG.NBH' on the microSD card
    10. The 'BlacIMG.NBH' must NOT be flashed via Windows using the RUU tool (it will only fail)
    11. Once flashed with the 'BlacIMG.NBH' it will reboot to a new Fastboot screen (blue background)
    Note: the phone won't automatically reboot, you have to reboot it manually
    12. After a short time the Blackstone in Fastboot mode with enter a USB connect ready state
    13. Now connect the Blackstone to your Windows OS and open a CLi/Command prompt
    14. Within CLi go to the directory where you place the 'adb files & fastboot.exe' files (from step 2)
    15. Type: fastboot flash recovery recovery.img (this will flash install the custom CWR)
    Note: The "recovery.img" file has to be in the same directory as fastboot.exe. It is in the "Necessary Files" download folder of the 1st post.
    16. Then type: fastboot boot recovery.img (this will reboot your Blackstone into CWR)
    17. In CWR use the Volume keys to move up and down, and the Power button to select
    18. First thing to do in the recovery screen is press Volume-Up, Volume-Down, Volume-Up, then you will see a message at the bottom of the screen that says
    'Back menu button enabled' , after power button using for the selecting in the menu!
    19. You are now finally ready to install your chosen ROM that is on your microSD
    20. Once installed, let it reboot into Android OS which takes about 5 minutes on the first run
    21. Once the Blackstone has settled within the OS (you can see the typical Android home screen), reboot
    22. This time round, it should only take about a minute to start and you can now start using you NAND ROM


    Installation guide from before versions or another Android to the New Android:

    1. You need make one reboot and pressing power key on fastboot screen - this will booting your Blackstone into CWR)
    2. In CWR use the Volume keys to move up and down, and the Power button to select
    3. First thing to do in the recovery screen is press Volume-Up, Volume-Down, Volume-Up, then you will see a message at the bottom of the screen that says
    'Back menu button enabled' , after power button using for the selecting in the menu!
    4. You are now go to mounts & storage option and format boot and system partitions
    5. Back to the Main options in CWR and make one wipe data/factory reset!
    6. You are now finally ready to install your chosen ROM that is on your microSD
    7. Once installed, let it reboot into Android OS which takes about 5 minutes on the first run
    8. Once the Blackstone has settled within the OS (you can see the typical Android home screen), reboot
    9. This time round, it should only take about a minute to start and you can now start using you NAND ROM
    39
    Change Log



    2013-01-20 Change log

    - Synced with the latest source 2013.01.13.
    - ICS wallpaper
    - JellyBean animations
    - JellyBean Clock widget backported
    - Videocamera support
    - Speed improved
    - Battery life improved!
    - Tweaked framework-res with some ics stuff ( res tweaks )
    - Tweaked system apps with some ics sfuff ( smali & res tweaks )
    - Statusbar its transparent. ( smali tweak )
    - MBB - MegaBassBeats support - Thank you DeHuMaNiZeD all credit goes to him!
    - Haptic feedback disabled by default.
    - Enabled non-market app install by default.
    - Youtube LQ mode working
    - PlayStore fixes | /cache/download linked to /mnt/sdcard/cache-download
    - Latest PlayStore and Gmail merged

    2012-11-30 Change log from the release

    - Synced with the latest source 2012.11.29
    - Custom wallpaper
    - Custom bootanimation - Thank you Sandmann, all credit goes to him for this.
    - Light gapps it was preinstalled, note your market its PlayStore and not updating automatically ( marketupdater removed ) | showed up in the menu when you enable the internet connection & synced with google.
    - Some tweak
    - Zipaligned
    - Native App 2 SD support - Now you really can moving app to the sdcard
    - Wifi support - need trick with Sdcard!
    - Best speed on NAND

    -Wifi FIX with SDCARD inserted-

    Confirmed, not only for me worked!

    badzed said: ↑
    I found a way how to enable wifi with scdard inserted.

    1. Remove SD card.
    2. Reset your phone.
    3. When phone begin boot insert SD card.
    -IMPORTANT. Insert SD card BEFORE begin android boot.
    -Try insert when you see blue fastboot screen.
    4. Turn on WiFi.

    Thank you badzed, nice found!!!

    Kernel

    - Native App 2 SD support
    - Wifi support
    - Battery update
    - Netflix support - ( need for Droidwall, iptable )

    2012-10-02

    - Synced with the latest google source 2012.09.25.
    - Stock Theme
    - Gsensor working now
    - Battery usage : 9 hr 17 min -> 18 % lost -> sleep mode
    - Incoming ringtone working on default. Cyantone ported from ICS and setting up to the default ringtone. I just love this ringtone.
    - Audio rebuild to the latest htc-acoustic_wince
    - Audio fully working on nand, you need forget the trick / Fixed on kernel with new audio routing!
    - Build.prop setup
    - Boot.img configurations updated ( big )
    - Better overall speed.
    - Hardware key vibrating
    - Htc One X bootanimation
    - Launcher changed to the latest free launcherPro version
    - Stripped Gapps
    - Zipaligned
    - Camera support ( Just photo, no video so far )
    - Bluetooth support ( fully working )
    - Native a2sd support. - Removed from the Build because with this camera not work.
    - Darktremor Apps2SD support ( need ext2 partition on your sdcard )

    Kernel

    - h2w support ( new headset )
    - New acoustic_wince code base and neccessary modification for blackstone - Fully working
    - Shutter in music? not anymore
    - Added camera support and neccessary drivers - Fully working
    - Battery changes for the better life
    - Config updated
    - BT updates - Fully working
    - Clock-wince changes
    - Improved shutdown and reboot funkcion. - seems to be need fixes

    2012-09-28 – Testing release { got some fixes from the before list but not at all }
    9
    Reserved for the future

    --------- Reserved ---------​
    9
    Hey folks.

    Great news!

    I just want to say that I could operate the WIFI !!! :cool:

    Lot of work but now its here.

    Kernel updated too for wifi!

    Battery it will be better on kernel now, update its coming a few days ;)

    :good::good::good:

    Oh, really happy man here :D