Please forgive me but I'm new to the 6500 series as I just got my first one literally 3 days ago... But what is this talk of "ROM Unlocking"?? What does ROM Unlocking do?? Can it brick a 6500?? What are the benefits of Rom Unlocking??
The 6500 comes with 3 distinct system areas (as do most PPC devices made by HTC): The System ROM, the Radio ROM and the Extended ROM. The System ROM contains the OS. Its what comes from Microsoft. Depending on the model, HTC may or may not have made modifications to it. If the device is a PDA Phone, the wireless carrier that sells it may also have made modifictions to it in order to get it on their wireless network.
The Radio ROM contains the software that runs the cellular radio that is in the PDA phone. It may also contain the BlueTooth stack (the software that runs the Bluetooth radio), but doesn't have to. That could be in the System ROM or in the Extended ROM. It may also have been customized by the OEM or the wireless carrier, but likely has not been (excluding carriers like VzW who have historically crippled their Bluetooth stacks...but that's another story entirely...)
The Extended ROM contains the software that customizes the device. Its where the OEM and/or the wireless carrier usually put 99% of the customizations that they want installed on the device. After a hard reset, HTC devices display a dialog box with the message, "It will customize itself in 3 seconds..." with an OK button. The software that installs after that is installing out of the Extended ROM.
The Extended ROM is the only one that "unlocking" exists for. (SIM unlocking is different...) The Extended ROM is really nothing more than a hidden, locked folder that contains CAB files that install after a hard reset. Extended ROM unlockers, unhide and unlock the contents of that folder so that the contents can be customized.
This is the utility that I'm looking for. Its not something that many users want or feel comfortable using, as it can change the way the device functions and runs, and if things get screwed up, you'll have to flash the device with the latest factory System ROM Updating Tool to get it back (unless you've made a copy of the contents before modifying it after unhiding and unlocking it). As I'm a power user, I feel comfortable modifying this special system area, and was looking for the utility that helped make that modification possible.
Hope this helps explain it all!
__________________
Kind Regards,
Christopher Spera
Gear Diary Review Team
Current PDA's: AT&T Tilt L26 v10 ROM, iPhone 3G 2.0.1
Just one more question: I have a factory UNLOCKED and UNCUSTOMIZED 6515 straight from HP. Do I need to "unlock" anything with that ROM Unlocker or is it already unlocked and nothing to worry about "unlocking" or removing that a carrier might have put in there since there is no carrier branding and customization?
The "unlocked" status you're referring to refers to the SIM. A SIM locked device can only be used on the wireless network it was intended for. My 6515 is "locked" to Cingular. If yours is unlocked, it can be used on ANY GSM carrier in the world.
You don't need to do anything. I think you should be all set...
__________________
Kind Regards,
Christopher Spera
Gear Diary Review Team
Current PDA's: AT&T Tilt L26 v10 ROM, iPhone 3G 2.0.1
I tried my cingular hw6515a to update the ROM to 1.21 unlocked ROM, it went successful but when booting it shows the initial setup and it hung on the second step "Pop-up Menus" and it doesnt show up any next button. What should i do now, please help me..Could you please provide me a backup ROM to bring it to original state. Thanks a lot.
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