Database Users

What is the difference between .nb1 and .nbf

after I cooked ROM from Jeff Summer's Kitchen, it has the option to choose whether you want it .nb1 or .nbf
.nb1 is for SD card flashing
while .nbf is for advanced users...
so what is exactly the difference between this 2 extensions??

Good Q - I was finkin that 2
Keen to always b learning more. Would appreciate a response to add 2 d knowledge for which without this site I would be stuffed wit an XDA still stuck on d update screen

an nbf file contains some information about what kind of device the os image
is intended for, and a bootloader and the os image.
a nb1 file contains only an os image.
nbf's can be flashed with Programme A.
see http://www.xs4all.nl/~itsme/projects/xda/wince-flashfile-formats.html
osimagetool understands both nb1 and nbf files.

XDA developer Itsme said:
an nbf file contains some information about what kind of device the os image
is intended for, and a bootloader and the os image.
a nb1 file contains only an os image.
nbf's can be flashed with Programme A.
see http://www.xs4all.nl/~itsme/projects/xda/wince-flashfile-formats.html
osimagetool understands both nb1 and nbf files.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you mean if I flash the phone with .nbf via osimagetool ( Programme A) , it could be over-write bootloader ?

yes, it could. but osimagetool will not take the bootloader from the nbf,
it always puts the 5.15 bootloader in the file that is flashed with "Programme A"
for a reason I don't yet understand, the bootloader is not always updated.
I am quite sure that "programme a" used to update bootloaders, but I have not seen it do this for some time. - maybe it has to do with the rom version?

Remove files from ROM

How can I remove from the original ROM some files like T-Mobile, AIM ... etc. ?
I cooked up a 4.00.10 T-Mobile with GPRS monitor and batterypack but i want some more addons.
Can someone tell me what steps are required to remove from the ROM some files ?
Thanks,
Decebal

ROM = Read Only Memory.

But, i've we're able to add Programs to the ROM in the ROMkitchen, i think we're also able to remove programs.
Regards
Stefan

cruisin-thru said:
ROM = Read Only Memory.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
obviously i do not deserve that
i was talking about the ROM image and since i've already succeded in putting into the ROM two apps i want to try something else.
so if anyone know how to remove at least T-mobile and AIM files from the image i'll be happy.
thanks,
Decebal

I believe they are in an area not able to be modified.

I was just quoting from that site, it does state that it cannot be erased, modified etc, no offence meant here. :roll:

The mkrom tools will allow you to 'unpack' a rom, i.e. extract all the files that are in it.
A rom, to the best of my understanding, has a 'native' or stock part to it, and then a series of XIP chains -- programs that are added into the free spaces of the rom.
I dont know what happens if you try to remove files from a rom that are part of the standard build...
Maybe the TMobile stuff is in a 'removeable' section of the ROM... there is also the 'operator' section... I am assuming that is a location that will give the 'operator' or creator of the rom space to put specialized programs, such as TMobiles phone apps, etc.
So, it seems that your best bet is to get the mkrom tools and read about how to extract/remove files/rebuild a rom.
Hey, it may even work!
J

You can rebuild a rom image from extracted files and leave some files out but Mkrom does not use compression and therefore the rom you end up with will probably be bigger than the rom you started with.
Richard

If I am correct, an eeprom is something else than a flash-rom.
so the article at least states it incorrectly.
if it is flash, you should be able to modify it.

XDA developer Itsme said:
If I am correct, an eeprom is something else than a flash-rom.
so the article at least states it incorrectly.
if it is flash, you should be able to modify it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now, I do think that the real question is "How do we unlock the 'ROM' so that it can be modified being that it is an eeprom?"
Misterdollymaker

you need backup the ROM to *.nb1 or *.nbf file, than using tools to add/delete file to *.nb1 , write the new file back to XDA ROM. it is fun to add/delete file to your personized ROM!

cgigate said:
you need backup the ROM to *.nb1 or *.nbf file, than using tools to add/delete file to *.nb1 , write the new file back to XDA ROM. it is fun to add/delete file to your personized ROM!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this is quite interesting...can you elaborate further?? I wish to learn more...

cgigate said:
you need backup the ROM to *.nb1 or *.nbf file, than using tools to add/delete file to *.nb1 , write the new file back to XDA ROM. it is fun to add/delete file to your personized ROM!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, please! I wish to learn more too! I am looking to remove the standard sounds and replace them with my own (using same names) as well as the boot image and desktop.

yea, no kiddin, i'd like to know how too!
im sure its not impossible, 'they' did it the first time arround.
why not hacking it? and since its all at no charge (no profit) are we realy breaking any patents?

I wanted to know if there is an easy :wink: way around, to put our own programs in the rom. xda-developers certainly can't put ezwap2.5, and the total commander appears to be older version, while new version is much better. There are some more freeware application I'd love to put in there

xda-developers already posted some tools to do job, such as MKROM ...

cgigate said:
you need backup the ROM to *.nb1 or *.nbf file, than using tools to add/delete file to *.nb1 , write the new file back to XDA ROM. it is fun to add/delete file to your personized ROM!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm interested too
How can i add/delete file from nb1 file?
Thanks
Fabio

I've used mkrom suite to do this (even for Smartphone2002). This are great tools.
Unfortunately it's not as easy as you might think. It's nearly impossible to build a ZERO-KNOWLEDGE ROM file explorer which can add or delete files "on the fly".
You will still have to look for valid gap's in the original rom where you can add a new XIP block.
All .exe and .dll files are "fixed up" that means they MUST run at THE fixed ROM position where they have been initially placed (execute in place). If you dump an exe or dll file you can't use it for other than disassembly to see how things work.
Removing files is a very hard task (they are splitted over the whole rom). And the resulting gap's are mostly not more than 10-16 kB. All you can do is to "hide" files (simply patch the directory entry).
So you see compression is not the real problem (see programers corner for a .bib file which can be used with romimage.exe - a Microsoft Tool to build XIP blocks, this tool supports compression)
John Smith

only the kernel actually runs in the virtual memory area mapped to rom,
all the other XIP stuff runs from a virtual memory area mapped somewhere
in the top of each processes memory space.
( look at the 'real=' values in the output of dumprom )
so for all the other modules it should be possible to move them around
in rom a bit, I think you only need to keep the pagealignment the same.

Hi,
The virtual memory address is also fixed in the module. (That's why I've to rebuild all the stuff I want to copy from other roms).
Since all relocation info is gone the module can't run from another memory position. So the only thing you can do is to move it in it's own XIP section...
John

nk.nbf

Is is possible to extract files from an NK.NBF file? I am interested in just pulling all the CAB files from within. If so, how?
Thanx.

Another semi-related question...
Is there any way to install a phone rom WITHOUT the extended_rom section so as to have more memory available on the phone? Seems kinda useless to have all that stuff in extended_rom that is only used on install.
Thanx again.

Okay...need only four CAB files...can ne1 help me out here?
T-Mobile HotSpot Login Utility
OZ Communications OZ IM
DAT MailTrigger
Winwap Technologies Oy WinWAP
Thanx.

stmasi said:
Is is possible to extract files from an NK.NBF file? I am interested in just pulling all the CAB files from within. If so, how?
Thanx.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
stmasi said:
Another semi-related question...
Is there any way to install a phone rom WITHOUT the extended_rom section so as to have more memory available on the phone? Seems kinda useless to have all that stuff in extended_rom that is only used on install.
Thanx again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The answer to the first question is yes. You have to: use typho5 tool (search the forum for it) to extract the extrom from the nk.nbf file; use winimage (windows xp shareware) to open the extrom .nb file.
The answer to the second question is no, you cannot join the extrom partition to the main one. It was possible with Magicians (the phones!) but no one has been able to do the same in wizards.
bye

Samsung i718 (i710, i718+) ROM Kitchen

Hello!
Thanks to ppl from this forum I've managed to assemble from various sources files required to dump, build and flash back to device WM6 English ROM. It is not a "plug & play" style kitchen yet, so I call it "ROM Kitchen essentials"
Most of files are made by other people. Mine part was converter and flasher hacking. As for now, you have to edit dumped ROM absolutely manually. There are no support for initflashes.dat automatisation. You may want to use rgucomp to make changes to default.hv and user.hv.
Thanks goes to (not in any order )
trinca
mamaich
bepe
itsme
faria
double_ofour
yhauwang
and many others...
Actual version is 0.1 and RAR archive is about 50Mb.
All required files (including WM6 Eng ROM distribution and flasher) can be downloaded from:
h**p://www.r*pidshare.com/files/47189318/Juggler_Samsung_WM6_Eng_ROM_Kitchen_0.1.rar.html
You also may want to download original WM6 English ROM from here:
h**p://r*pidshare.com/files/45439904/Juggler_WM6_i718ZMGF4_PDA_Eng.rar.html
And radio firmware (required for some i71x to work with WM6):
h**p://r*pidshare.com/files/45950071/Juggler_WM6_i718ZMGF4_Phone_Eng.rar.html
In case somebody don't know how to flash Samsungs i71x:
Make backup!
Have your your firmware at hand so in case of troubles you can flash your original firmware back!
Turn off device.
Disable all ActiveSync connectivity (usb, comm, etc).
Run flasher and click start.
Hold "down" button on device and turn it on while holding "down".
Flasher recongnize it and start to flash.
After flashing make a hard reset.
If GPRS/EDGE do not work your radio firmware is not compatible with new WM6. You have to go back to your original firmware or flash new radio!
To flash new radio firmware you should have SPECIAL FLASHING CABLE for samsung phones! It is not the one that comes with device!
Now you have options to buy such cable, build one yourself, flash your original fimware back or continue using WM6 without GPRS/EDGE - it is your choice.
So - to flash WM6 you need usual usb cable. New WM6 probably work with your radio. If not - you should flash radio!
Special flashing cable is the cable with USB-Serial adapter or plain serial cable:
h**p://www.fonefunshop.co.uk/datacables/samsung.htm
Search for UNLOCK / FLASH CABLES and you'll see
"Samsung D800 - T809 - E900 - D900 USB Cable
This cable is needed to unlock / flash the Samsung D800 - T809 - E900 - D900 etc."
Notice the difference with the usual USB cable supplied with device!

Have you read my thread on the Samsung i60x?
Hello, there,
Please refer to this thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=316647
It seems very familiar to the i600. I will download your image just for the sake of taking a look... The ROM with header B000FF is prepared with the Romimage tool from the MS WCE IDE and is named the Run-time image, the nb0 ROM (that works with the WM5 kitchen) is prepared by Romimage by splitting the nb0 ROM in 128 KB records, a header is added containing start address, record length and Checksum 32. Then all this chunks are added together and compressed with another tool named compbin, the "encryption" you are seeing is no other than the aftermath of this compbin tool.
If you read myu thread you will find I was able to extract the flat image using cvrtbin (also another MS tool that comes with visual studio) you may grab a copy from here:
http://www.toradex.com/colibri_downloads/Linux/linux_to_wince/?D=D
Then you will be able to use the common tools from xda-developers such as prepare_imgfs (with the switch -acer) and so on.
Making the ROM back to the B000FF format is going to be the trouble. Again, read the thread.
There is also an excellent article on Mobilepro BIN roms made by cmonex, you can get a copy of that tutorial inside his Romtool packege, get it from here:
http://hpcmonex.net/nec900/files/releases/romtoolpack.zip
Be informed the Mobilepro ROM is very different in the way the Runtime file is organized, however is the best resource I have seen so far.
Besides, there are some really good tools inside that package
Best regards and start cooking!
trinca

Thanks trinca, at least I have something to read to start with. But the first thing a can't figure out how correctly RIP rom image from EXE file and then after modifing it PUT it back to flasher. There s.b. some proprietary tools for samsung phones or pdas.

Extracting the i718 ROM image: a suggestion
JugglerLKR said:
Thanks trinca, at least I have something to read ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My friend, we are all navigating uncharted waters..., this requires some research, and the courage to flash the phone with the outcome of your research.
Please read my post:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=1371344#post1371344
It will give you a hint on how I found out how to extract the O/S payloads for the i60x, pretty sure it may work for your model as well. A quick look to your executable shows the arrangement may be similar, I would say for the i718, the O/S ROM is located last as it is on the i60x, starting at address 0x01620000 now, just by looking for the end indicator (following the string B000F, 0x0A, 0x00000000 which is the ROM start address, 0x00CA5F03 which should be the offset -little endian-, actually would be 035FCA00), however be noticed the runtime image is compressed using compbin during preparation, therefore I would guess is a little more beyond. You may have to do some research here.
Start by cutting the area surrounding such an offset and use viewbin to determine the offset length and cvrtbin to find if your cut was successful.
BTW it would be nice to find a tool to just decompress B000FF Runtime ROMS. (differently of what it does cvrtbin converting and decompressing Runtime images)
One other thing you may do is to use xdautils, you may find those here:
http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=XdaUtils.
This collection of utilities has pdocread allowing you to extract the contents of raw partitions in the pda. Make sure to use the handle to extract each raw partition.
Regards,
Trinca

I had no success with cvrtbin. How to decompress image after compbin? I've found pdocread and put it to phone, but it won't work :-( Are there any tools to dump ROM to flash card or something like that?

JugglerLKR said:
I had no success with cvrtbin. How to decompress image after compbin? I've found pdocread and put it to phone, but it won't work :-( Are there any tools to dump ROM to flash card or something like that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To decompress the image:
Get a tool named viewbin, also part of the MS PE, run it on your file and will tell you the start address and the offset of the img files. THen use this information with cvrtbin. If viewbin reports the start address is 0, then use 1 in cvrtbin, otherwise the extraction will fail.
To use PDOCREAD, you run it from your computer, it will install itsutils.dll in your phone and you must accept this in the smartphone. Your phone must be unlocked to do that and the policies set to allow unsigned applications to be installed in your phone. TO accomplish the above you need to modify the registry on the phone. See how it is done here:
http://www.modaco.com/index.php?showtopic=244205
TO dump the ROM with PDOCREAD, see a detailed procedure here:
http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=Hermes_HowtoDumpRom
Be informed some phones like the i607 require the disk kernel handle, reported with pdocread -l, if you follow the procedure in the above link with no results, then add the disk handle.
Wish you good luck....

CAn Anybody help PLEASE????
I have a i718 but was bought in China and the OS is in Chinese. The blur me can only read English. Is the ROM in English? If I were to download it (still struggling now with the russian words), how can I change it? All I need is the phone to be in English. I do not need to improve anything as WM5 is good enough. I know I am a newbie and I might not be in the right thread. Can anybody please help? Any links to show "how-to-change the ROM" would be most appreciated. Thank you in advance

Your phone is also known as i710
Your phone Samsung i718 is the chinese version of the Samsung i710, all you have to do is to install the phone serial/modem drivers from the companion CD and place the phone in bootloader mode. If you get the ROM package cited above in the first post of this thread by JugglerLKR you will find complete instructions on how to download the ROM into your phone.
Good Luck!

Thank you
Thank you very much for the quick response sir! Really appreciate it. I finally managed to download the ROM and will give it a go this weekend. Wish me luck. I will be reading more to make sure I am doing the right thing as I am definitely a nOObie. First time flashing a phone .
I looked at the CD that came with my phone and the only thing I see is the ActiveSync 4.2. Worse of all, everthing seems to be in Chinese. Guess I have to do more research to see where I can get the drivers you mentioned. There are also alot of things I do not understand like bootloader, how to do a hard reset, etc. I will continue searching and reading and will post the development of my virgin "flash" as I move along.
Thank you once again.

Trinca - so I dumped my ROM from device to .raw files. What can I do with them now? viewbin shows only zeros on b000f .bin image extracted using winhex from .exe

Use Mamaich's ROM Kitchen
You can find instructions to do some cooking and tools here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=249836
This is self-explanatory, tell me if this is enough or you need some extra info. Once finished, the trouble would be to put that back in B000FF format for flashing, as there is no tool to do that yet, and you can't just download a raw image back into the phone. The Runtime image is formed as follows:
Byte---->--1--2--3--4---5--6--7--8---9--10--11--12--<----------- 128KB------------>
Record 0> 42-30-30-30-46-46-06 <Start add> <lenght of ROM> -----------------(42-30-30-30-46-46 = B000FF in ASCII ; 06 = end of header B000FF)
Record 1>--<Address> < length > < CHKSUM32 > <----Chunk of Raw image-->
Record 2>--<Address> < length > < CHKSUM32 > <----Chunk of Raw image-->
" "
" "
V V
Last Rec>-00-00-00-00--00-00-00-00--00-00-00-00
I am doing some crazy splitting and Hex scripts to achieve that, but it is a pain in the neck. So I have decided to make a proggie to help me out with that. Please see the thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=316647
on the 2nd post you will see what I am talking about.
Regards,
trinca

Tried viewbin on my extracted from .exe bin file - Image Start = 0x00000000, length = 0x02C1D3E0
Start address = 0x00000000
Done.
Looks like something is missing. Also cvrtbin is not working also, as it cannot accept 0x00000 as start adress

JugglerLKR said:
Tried viewbin on my extracted from .exe bin file - Image Start = 0x00000000, length = 0x02C1D3E0
Start address = 0x00000000
Done.
Looks like something is missing. Also cvrtbin is not working also, as it cannot accept 0x00000 as start adress
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Start address = 0001ffe0

So, How to convert dumped LZX packed rom to B000F format for flashing to device?

How to convert dumped LZX packed rom to B000F format
Please refer to my thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=1392761#post1392761

I am unable to download your file (can you post it on rapidshare ou megaupload?). I am in the same situation as well but I appiled the english patch from asukal and Buzzlightyear and it worked .. I now have a device in english ... I am waiting for the firmware in english.. I have wm6 roms in chinese that I have not tested it ...
I also have a i710 rom but it's also a .bin file dumped from a i710 device ...
Hope this helps,
-Hau

I have uploaded several files... Can you tell me which one you have trouble with?
trinca

Oops ... My message was intended for Juggler uploading his ROM ...
Thanks,
-Hau

Thanks to trinca and bepe, mamich and many others i've managed rom kitchen essentials - look at first page.

i downloaded your flasher but why when i run i718ZMGF4_PDA_Eng, i click detect but nothing detected....
phone is on and connected via active sync

[Q] Tips on building images for the WM 6.5 emulator

I did some searching because i need a sense rom for the WM emulator to help me test a program i'm working on and i came up with nothing. So i figured it would be a good idea to try and cook one but i need some tips coz i've only ever cooked one rom before and it didn't really go well.
So thoughts and suggestions below please. I'm looking for kitchen suggestions etc.
Thanks guys.

try this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=774430 I find it easy to create a self customized rom.

poyensa said:
try this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=774430 I find it easy to create a self customized rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cool, thanks, but i don't see how i'm gonna make this compatible with the emulator in the windows mobile SDK? have you got any more pointers on how to do that?

My kitchen is designed to allow you to build the rom the way you want it. It then outputs the rom as a .nbh file that allows you to flash to the phone. Your emulator sounds interesting.
You may be able to use the .nbh file and then read that into your emulator.

GhostXSeries said:
My kitchen is designed to allow you to build the rom the way you want it. It then outputs the rom as a .nbh file that allows you to flash to the phone. Your emulator sounds interesting.
You may be able to use the .nbh file and then read that into your emulator.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, can't do that. i tried it with a copy of NRGZ28's energy rom. It has to be a .bin or .nb0 file.
Now i did some reading while i was writing this and it turns out a .nb0 file is the same as the old school .nb rom dump files i just need to figure out how to convert an nbh to a nb0 file
Thoughts?
*edit*
found a tool called nbhtool by dutty that should do it
*edit 2*
dutty's tool didn't do it but i did find this tool by Da_G. The problem is i still get invalid image errors from the sdk emulator. I have searched but not found any answers so i'm a little lost.
Any ideas, guys?

Hi,
Can you post here an nb0 that works on the emulator?
we can try to import on our kitchens and check if we can rebuild it with sense.
If we can make it works, we can save a lot of time of 'flashing' when testing changes.

ypsmav said:
Hi,
Can you post here an nb0 that works on the emulator?
we can try to import on our kitchens and check if we can rebuild it with sense.
If we can make it works, we can save a lot of time of 'flashing' when testing changes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The files in the emulator are actually .bin files but i gather that internally they are the same format. They are also 96mb in size so it's gonna take a while to upload to hotfile. I'll post back when i have a link for you.
Thanks for all the effort btw. I really do appreciated it.
link as promise: http://hotfile.com/dl/129295626/a4324d3/PPC_USA_GSM_WVGA_VR.BIN.html

M3PH, OsBuilder makes rom either in nbh, or in nb0 format. It's a professional tool - not just a "kitchen to cook".

HTCRIE (htc rom image editor) can extract the OS.nb from a .NBH file..
can you just rename the .nb to .nb0 if they are the same?

Ok i've got osbuilder. Had a quick read of the manual. Now what? do i need the sys/xip for a build? i am a complete noob at this so lots of help would be appreciated.

I've just tried to open an emulator image from the windows mobile 6 sdk with HTCRIE and got an invalid file format error. This is starting to become extremely frustrating. Especially as i can find any information on the actual format of the emulator bin files.
Did any of you guys get any luck with the file i provided? Coz i'm really stuck!