GUIDE: Using the US Cellular V9M firmware on your Verizon V9M and VZW network...

[Mark_Venture]

UPDATED POST....


NOW... as written... this guide is exactly what KBMAN and I did to get the phone working...

SO consider the guide READY!!

There are some additional seem edits that KBMAN and I are still discussing that may be added... they will NOT impact the ability to complete this proces, and can be done later... its just some extra things like enabling some menu options, along with a replacement MMA_UCP..

I may add pre-edited BREW, ERI, Browser and MMS Setting (you would still have to edit the MMS and Browser for your phone number before writing) for those who have troubles backing up.. or editing theirs...

NOTE: Because writing the 275A seem back to the phone requires you specify the exact byte count... And since P2KSeem doesn't work with the V9M... and the "Seem Manager" in P2KCommader doesn't allow you to specify the byte count to write...

You MUST use Radiocomm to manually edit these values...

This makes editing the 275a seem TRICKY!!! and very dangerous!! Yet editing the 275A seem is REQUIRED at least ONCE for this process to work!!!


I'm looking for Feed Back on sections that may NOT be clear....

I can go "nuts" making it fully illustrated... but there are some sections that having pictures would be over kill (like section 3A) and make the guide HUGE!! My V9M see edit guide is a perfect example of how big something can become if pictures are included...

IF people want pictures... I'll do it.. BUT it will take more time... and I'll probably break the sections off into their own pages...

I need others to try it and validate its accuracy... After all, KBMAN and I have expereinced enough inconsistencies figuring this all out that I would feel a whole lot better if others were able to post successes using this process...

Also keep in mind... some have experienced the problem of Flashing from Verizon to USC back to Verizon... then being unable to go to USC again...

We have not been able to determine the cause of this.. or how to fix it!! or work around it. So even though the Verizon V9M monster exists.. and you can flash back to it... you may only get ONE SHOT trying to use the US Cellular firmware.....

Then again.. Some of us have been successfuly flashing between the US Cellular and Verizon firmware MANY MANY times... without getting "stuck"...

If you are considering using this guide to flash... please pay attention to the EXACT SOFTWARE VERSIONS and FLASH FILE being used...

I also want to point people to the following...
Cross Flashing... A Primer...
HOT HOT HOT!!! V9M US Cellular Monster Flash!!!!!
Getting RSD General working...
http://mark.cdmaforums.com/V9M-P2KC.htm
http://mark.cdmaforums.com/V9M-Seem.htm

Ok. that is enough... here is the link....

http://mark.cdmaforums.com/USC-V9M-Monster1.htm

So... start looking at it.. and lets have some feed back!!

[kbman]

Nice job!

[lorddaddy84]

Very nice, and thanks.

[mmorgan08852]

You guys are awsome... Can't wait to flash my phone, I feel like a kid on xmas eve. lol Keep up the great work, your efforts are very much appreciated.

[ShadowdogMU]

OMG. I've been waiting forever! You guys are amazing. I'm still going to wait though, I'm a noob, and I'll admit it. Besides, I want to see how the results are for this on the mainstream, and I'm interested in Vista support.

[cellgod101]

im a noob too...wondering if u could put pictures in?

[Mark_Venture]

I changed things a little bit...

the part about editing the 275A seem in section 3.F is now its own section....

3g. Edit seem 275a to fix using First M.IP via RadioComm Per Goldmembr

and I've added pictures which should help make it easier to understand...

How does it read/look?? is it ok? or does it need to be further clarified?


As for the second 275A edit (for MMS fix), section 4... I've re-written it using section 3.F as the base.. (since its the same process, just a different value for Length, and what to change the last character to...) I'll add pictures to it later....

I also added detailed steps into section 3B (creating the /DMU folder, and adding the 10.key to the file system)

That leaves...

• detailing/illustrating locating your MIN/MDN when backing up the NAM using RSD CDMA General
• Illustrating the section on using QPST EFS to create the /DMU folder, and adding the 10.KEY file to the file system (ONLY IF people really think pictures are necessary for this section)
• detailing how to use use RSD to save the settings files back to the phone
• Fix section 6 to reflect using RSD insteado of PST.. as such detailing using RSD to edit/save the BROWSER file, along with the menu setting to make sure the session is used for MMS

EDIT: If you know how to do these things... the guide is ready.

[citanul]

First off, huge thanks to Mark for all his work.

I spent a good chunk of yesterday downloading, installing, uninstalling, etc files yesterday and trying to get the USC flash on to my v9.

I hit a few snags but it appears the most important one is the one I haven't been able to fix by myself yet: I can't write the backed up information back to the phone after flashing it. I get an "unrecognized file format" error (I think that's what it says exactly) when I try bringing back the Brew/etc.

Also, I don't know if this is standard or strange, but when I went to make the folder for the 10.key, it was already there, with a 41.key in it.

Thanks for any help!

[Mark_Venture]

...I can't write the backed up information back to the phone after flashing it. I get an "unrecognized file format" error (I think that's what it says exactly) when I try bringing back the Brew/etc.

Exactly what does it say?
Exactly waht are you doing when it says that?

...Also, I don't know if this is standard or strange, but when I went to make the folder for the 10.key, it was already there, with a 41.key in it.

its Standard for the US Cellular V9M firmware... its ok for that file to stay there.

[UclaBob]

Thanks for all the effort Mark.

You are a machine!

[Aixelsyd]

You guys rock. Quick thx to all you gentlemen who have been involved and worked out the Draft process of flashing this phone.

One quick question/thought Mark_V if I might. Personally I don't think pics are needed in the least bit but it's always nice for new people. I think you have all of the details in other locations anyways for them to learn it tho. I know this is a draft guide/process but curious if you thought about it or not for a final guide down the road when time permits for you. I read threw the guide this am and I understand everything fine, but my question to you would be on seem edits. In the guide we are doing seem edits 2 different ways. Curious if you were going to leave the guide that way or write it up to a degree so we just get use to doing the seem edits using Radiocomm like you have shown for editing the 275a seem file per Goldmembr's find. Either way works I was just curious if this is a must because of the way all this new software works or what not.

Can we do the seem edits via Radiocomm only? Instead of having to use p2kcommander to back them up, then use p2kseem to edit them, and then back to p2kcommander to write them back to the phone. Just a thought and any input would be great as time permits. Peace

[timothyjay2004]

Wow, that is short, but in a good way. The only thing I noticed is that humpa's site and ryfiles do not contain the v9m file needed, nor a v9m file period (yet at least). One can get it through the USC v9m thread though, within the first page I believe.

[Mark_Venture]

...Personally I don't think pics are needed in the least bit but it's always nice for new people. I think you have all of the details in other locations anyways for them to learn it tho.

Sections 3g, 4 and 5 were the important screen shots... so I added them...

We've not used Radiocomm that way before... (ok, a few of us have, but the vast majority have not)

You're right about the rest.. I don't think I'll be adding any other screen shots, except maybe to the section about editing the Brower file for RSD Gen...

.....but my question to you would be on seem edits. In the guide we are doing seem edits 2 different ways. Curious if you were going to leave the guide that way or write it up to a degree so we just get use to doing the seem edits using Radiocomm like you have shown for editing the 275a seem file per Goldmembr's find. Either way works I was just curious if this is a must because of the way all this new software works or what not.

Funny you should ask that... Kbman and I were just talking about this on the phone...

The problem stems from... for the 275A seem, you must write it back to the phone specifying the number of bytes to write... Unlike 2742 which reads/writes with bytes 0000...

Unfortunately... P2KSeem which we used for seem edits and allowed specifying this but doesn't work with the V9m. And P2kCommander can read/write seems, BUT it doesn't allow you to specify the number of Bytes to read when doing so, and of course can't edit them...

That means for the 275A seem, we can't use the traditional tools...

Now, Radicomm can read/write seems while specifying Bytes (h)... so we can properly read/write ANY seem with it.. BUT it reads it as an entire HEX string...

Kbman's suggestion was to use radiocomm for everything... and host a pre-edited 2742 seem...

My concern... you'd have to copy/paste that entire hex string into the box in Radiocomm to write it.. or add it to YOUR backup seem table file before writing the table.

You have to specify the Bytes (h) value in RadioComm, and it must match the string you are trying to write... So miss a byte on the copy/paste operation... and the Radiocomm will error out. (this is true when using the STELEM/RDELEM section, or when working with the .NVM table file)...

...Can we do the seem edits via Radiocomm only? Instead of having to use p2kcommander to back them up, then use p2kseem to edit them, and then back to p2kcommander to write them back to the phone. Just a thought and any input would be great as time permits. Peace

Using Radiocomm to edit a seem is more complex and difficult...

Radiocomm can see/edit only the HEX BYTE Values in a long "string"... to find an offset... you have to COUNT CHARACTERS...

Want to change something... you have to change the entire BYTE at that offset... not individual bits... This means Bin to HEX conversions if you need to only edit 1 bit at a particular offset.

P2KSeem gets more precise... It can allow you to find/change individual BIT values at a particular offset, and it is more "user friendly" to make the actual edits, and see what you are doing... Too bad we have to use P2KComander to write the seem back, since P2KC isnt the best with CDMA phones, and doesn't give any feed back that it worked.

[kbman]

Yes, all the seem edits can be done with RadioComm STELEM/RDELEM but you need to use a hex editor which copies as hex text and doesn't include the spaces between bytes in the hex string.

I use WinHex which does this fine but Mark_V didn't have a copy of it and 010 Editor and the other one he tried included the spaces in the string and therefore wouldn't work without manually removing them.
Mark_V prefers to use the P2K Commander for seem loading despite the lack of feedback in the GUI of a successful write.
I prefer to use RadioComm because there is no room for error when writing.

I need to repeat this process with the versions of software on my machine and using RadioComm for all seem edits to be certain that it works as expected with those variables introduced.
Then we need to try it with the .12 firmware to see if everything works as desired under that firmware and if there are any other differences in behavior or performance that would make one the clear choice over the other.

Then we can call the guide official after it has been repeated successfully by other users such that it seem consistent.

[citanul]

Exactly what does it say?
Exactly waht are you doing when it says that?

Having freshly rebooted my computer and phone, I start RSD General.

I wait for it to boot, then attach the phone.

It brings up the standard screen.

I click the phone provisioning icon.

The provisioning menu comes up.
It says "No Phone Connected" but fills in all the data for the phone.
I click the BREW tab.
I click "Open File."
I click the back up I made, called Untitled.brw. I click open.
It says:

"Provisioning operation failed.
Unrecognized file format: C:\Documents and Settings\Dan\Desktop\Phone Flashing\backups\RSD\Untitled.brw (BREW) to the phone"

The same error comes up for my eri2 file.

MMS appears to work though.

Thanks for the speedy reply, Mark.