Friday 28 September 2012

How To Flash with custom Firmware..!!

Flashing a phone with a custom firmware is always a risky job. No sooner do you hack your mobile device, or install a third party firmware on it than you lose the warranty provided by your device’s manufacturer. It is our duty to warn you that if you commit a mistake, you might brick your phone. So, please be careful.
One question that is often asked is: “Why should I flash a custom firmware on my Nokia Symbian phone?” Well, the answer is rather simple one. A CFW is can give you more freedom, faster user interface, better battery life, the features of a better and newer firmware that is not provided to you by your device’s manufacturer due to hardware resevations. For example, you can enjoy the features of a Symbian^3 phone on your very Symbian^1 device. A custom firmware cooker tries to amalgamate various such features in one CFW.
To flash a custom firmware on your Symbian/Nokia touch device, you require the following tools:

Preparations Before Flashing CFW

First of all, you need to install Nokia Ovi Suite on your PC, so that your device connects well with PC. If you do not install the Ovi Suite, the JAF tool would not detect your device.
Then it’s always better to backup the settings and data like messages, contacts, images, etc. before you proceed. You could create a backup in two ways, either via the Ovi Suite or the file manager on your phone.
Our next step towards the procedure is to format your phone. It will delete all data and apps from your device. Since most of CFWs shift some of the system files on the memory card to give you more space on phone’s internal memory, it will be a good thing to format your memory card too. You can do this using your phone or using a memory card reader. I personally prefer to format my memory card using my own phone. Go to: File Manager / E: Memory Card / Click on Options button / Memory card option / Format.
In the next step, you will have to hard reset your phone. You can do this using two methods: The first one is by typing *#7370# (the default security code is 12345). The second method, which is better, is as follows:
  • Switch off your phone.
  • Then press and hold 3 hardware keys (Green + Red + Camera) of your device simultaneously.
  • While the three keys still pressed, press the Power button.
  • Keep holding these 3 keys until you see Nokia’s standard hand shake animation on screen.
  • Now release the 3 keys. Your phone should execute hard reset process.
On the completion of this process, you phone would be as it was when you bought it.

Download the Custom Firmware

We presume that you have already downloaded the desired CFW for your device. If not, download and save it to your desktop. Keep it in mind that the firmware version you want to flash is greater than the current one. Downgrading the firmware will make your phone unusable. For example, if the current software version of your phone is RM504 -39.0.003_001, it should be something like RM504 -40.0.003_001.  To check the software version of your device, dial *#0000# on your phone’s keypad.

Setting Up the JAF Emulator and P_KEY

  • Having checked the firmware version, install the JAF Emulator.
  • Now it’s time to extract the CFW zip file you downloaded earlier. Inside the extracted folder, you will find a folder like RM-XXX. (Do not forget to ensure that the RM number of the downloaded CFW matches your phone’s RM.)
  • Copy the RM-XXX folder to C:\ Program Files\ Nokia\ Pheonix\ Products. If you do not find these folders path, create yourself.
  • You will now have to run the JAF_PKEY_Emulator_v5.exe  and click on GO. Remember that this program runs only on Windows XP or Vista. If you are using Windows 7, right click on the .exe file and change compatibility mode. If the program gives an Error pop-up just ignore it and click on OK/Yes.
  • In the window that appears select the tab BB5 and uncheck the Normal Mode and CRT 308. Then tick these options: Manual Flash, Dead USB, and Use INI. Checking the last box  will show up a pop-up window where you have to select your phone model and its corresponding MRI.
  • If your phone’s model does not show in the list of devices exit  the JAF and go to C: \ Program Files \ Odeon \ jaf where you will find a file ” jaf_nok4models.ini “. Right click on the file and select Edit from the options and add your device’s model at the end of list and save changes. Here is an example:
  • If you have done everything correctly, your JAF will look like the screenshot below. Ensure that all four green circles are green (MCU, PPM, CNT, APE Variant) and the path for the firmware (as in the marked red square) is right. Now look for Phone Mode and select Normal from the list and wait for a few seconds.

Flashing CFW on Nokia Phones

Please, exit the Ovi Suite program if it is open or running in background (right click the Ovi Suite icon in the tray and chose exit). Next, switch off your phone and connect it to PC via USB.
Click on Flash button and click Yes on the dialogue box that pops up. The program will ask you to turn the phone on. What exactly you need to do is just press the power button for 1 second and release it. Remember, 1 second means just 1 second! You have not to start the phone. This is only an action that helps the JAF to detect your device and start flashing the firmware.
The flashing process will start and finish in a few minutes. When you get the Done message, restart the phone. Bingo! your phone should now be running on the newly installed custom firmware.
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3 Files Flashing Method:

Here is a short tutorial/guide to give you an idea of flashing custom firmwares with only three files. In fact, most CFWs come with only 3 files: one core file, and two files that come with the CFW. If the CFW files do not contain the core file, you will have to download it and rename it accordingly. Here is an example for the Nokia 5800:
Again, if you are using 5800, you have to use the PNHT CORE of 113mb and also rename the UDA and ROFS2 from v52 to v60 accordingly.
For example,  if you have ROFS2 named ‘RM-625_50.0.002_prd.rofs2.V21‘, and you downloaded the V51 core for 5233, you need to rename it as ‘RM-625_51.1.002_prd.rofs2.V21′. 
Same applies for All RMS. For appropriate core files, see see the links provided above.
  1. Open JAF, go to BB5 tab.
  2. Tick two items there: i) Manual Flash, and ii) Dead USB.
  3. Make sure that all other boxes are unticked.
  4. Rename your Core file from .C00 to .C0r
  5. Click MCU and select the .C0r file (the renamed core file)
  6. Click PPM and select the ROFS2 file
  7. Click APE and select the uda.fpsx file.
  8. Now flash. Done!!!

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