Flashing

[swifty]

=Be sure your battery is fully loaded before start flashing=

Flashing is a way of changing the firmware in the phone, very much like reformatting your computer and reinstalling the O/S.

Depending on your handphone, different handsets have different firmwares to flash to.

german instruction


==Flashing with PST==

=== Requirements ===

1. PST 7.2.3. 7.1.1 will do. Program used to flash the firmware.
2. The latest firmware. (The file's extention is *.shx).
3. latest UNBRANDED firmware is C5.AAP
4. latest BRANDED(China Mobile) firmware is C5.AEP
5. [Optional] e.g CG33, CG35, etc (These are actually parts of the firmware that are hacked which will give you extra features)
6. Motorola E680/E680i. Visit your nearest Motorola dealer if you don't have it.
7. Usb cable. Comes with phone.
8. Loads of guts

=== Procedure ===

1. Install PST into its default folder.
2. Copy the patch file, crack.exe, into PST installation folder and run it.
3. There are more than 1 files to patch, so keep clicking next until done.
4. Extract the firmware, making sure you have a *.shx.
5. Put phone to USB modem mode and connect to pc.
6. Run Multiflashflex.exe located PST installation folder.
7. A bunch of drivers will be installed.
8. Select manually install driver and point to PST installation folders. All drivers will then be installed.(Don't hurry, keep clicking next, there are many drivers needed to be installed.)
9. You should now see your phone in the Device list.
10. In Flash setup, browse to the extracted E680i .shx file.
11. Click start.
12. While flashing, it may try to install more drivers. just point to PST installation folder.
13. At some moment of time, it may look hanged or dead. IT IS NOT! just wait.
14. Optional step: When it says erasing flash, copy the extracted CG33 and CG35 files into the same folder where your original .shx is located. There will be a series of files there created by PST. Just overwrite the 2 files there. This must be done before erasing flash ends.
15. Depending on whether you choose to use the 2 CG files, it will show flash passed or failed in the status.
16. In any case, dont worry. Just exit multiflashflex and plug out cable.
17. Phone will still be in blue screen. just restart it, then master reset and clear just to be sure. default security codes 000000.
18. Enjoy your new firmware.

==Flashing without PST==

(Flashing from any platform)

Name of procedure: cyph's Flashkit

What is cyph's Flashkit?

cyph is the nickname of a developer in MotoFans. I don't know why he is called cyph though.
Flashkit is the codename of his program which is used to flash your Motorola Linux phone without using PST.
The original forum thread is here. If theres any problems, just refer to the thread.

===Things you need:===


1. SD/MMC Card
2. Linloader
3. Prepared cramfs image for rootfs or setup on your SD/MMC. (You can start by experimenting with flashing /usr/setup, much faster and less risk)
4. Telnet access to phone
5. Lots of pluck
6. and of course cyph´s flashkit packed by aleksei

===Procedures===

1. Unzip flashkit.zip and copy flashkit/ into the root of your MMC/SD card.
2. Unplug phone from USB or charger.
3. Run rwflash.lin. This will load rwflash.o
4. Leave the phone alone and wait. When the screen blanks out wait 30secs longer, there's a good chance the phone entered low power mode.
5. Connect the phone back to the USB. Don't worry, it will not wake out of the low power mode. Telnet to the phone and type "cat /proc/rwflash_status" and press enter. If it shows "unlocked", your flash is writable!! If not, unplug phone and go to step 4
6. Type "cd /mmc/mmca1/flashkit" and press enter
7. Type "./start.sh" and press enter
8. The script will start killing the phone's apps and mount the miniroot. After which, your telnet connection will be terminated.
9. Telnet back to the phone at port 10000 (telnet 169.254.142.2 10000) and login as root. You are now in the miniroot. All phone applications should be killed by now.
10. cat /proc/mtd to see what partitions you have. You should be able to flash the "R/W" partitions:
mtd4: 000e0000 00020000 "R/W Kernel"
mtd5: 018e0000 00020000 "R/W RootFS"
mtd6: 00020000 00020000 "R/W Setup"
mtd7: 00020000 00020000 "R/W Logo"

11. Now, there are a few ways you can do this:
flashcp -v modified_root.cramfs /dev/mtd5

OR
flash_erase /dev/mtd5 0 199
dd if=modified_root.cramfs of=/dev/mtd5 bs=4096

OR
dd if=modified_root.cramfs of=/dev/mtdblock5 bs=4096

12. Pull out battery. Reboot.

===Note===

1. you need your own .cramfs.
2. do not use modified_root.cramfs. It is just an example. (If you don't know what it is for, don't bother, I don't bother to explain too)
3. flashcp will verify the image after writing, but for some reason it fails to verify when you are flashing the rootfs. Its a bug in the verification code I think. dd back from /dev/mtd5 and use md5sum to verify.
4. ignore the verification if it fails
5. do not access files in /oldroot when flashing the rootfs.
6. using this miniroot, you can also backup/restore /diska and /ezxlocal as they are unmounted while miniroot is active.