So I've been getting quite few DSOD in the past week (also I cannot get EXTROM to show up no matter what I tried). therefore, I got pissed and took the courage to HARD RESET and reinstall everything fresh. The EXTROM was my first concern or attempt. Did a hard reset and then found a different set of instruction on HowardForums that goes like this.

1. Run the apache unlocker.exe
2. Install the apache wizard cab file (add some stuff to registry)
3. Turn off the phone (this is what i missed)
4. Soft reset.

After that the thing showed up, and I was so happy. Then I backed everything from the EXT ROM to SD card just in case. Now I have extra 9MB to install my apps on there and it doesn't seem to give DSOD anymore since EXTROM is not like SD card, it's built in.

Just FYI so people will know.

So completely cleared out the EXTROM? Isn't that dangerous? What if your phone goes FUBAR and you have to hard reset without being able to restore the original contents of the EXTROM?

What I've done is unlock the EXTROM - and I'm only using the extra 4.5 megs that Verizon had left empty. I've left the CABS and verizon files intact. I don't know how much safer that process is.

if that happens you can always reflash with current software and it puts all the extended rom back

I agree with KEWL, if somen' went wrong you can always grab the original firmware from UTStarcom or saved copy to flash back and that'll put everything back to normal. I didn't find any problems without installing the the CABs in EXTROM so far (3 months in). I did some reg tweak manually after the hard reset and phone is working great.

Also without the stuff in EXTROM, the Hard reset process went much faster, it's like 1 or 2 min at almost including the align screen process.

I have a few questions about what you did then.

I figured you had only recently done this by your title. You've actually done this for the last 3 months? Are all the cabs that Verizon put in there useless? I find that hard to believe. No one could confirm if there was any Verizon junkware in there - the last couple times I've asked.

Also - what do you mean by "flash". I was assuming the only way you could replace the firmware was by using the autosync process. So what happens if your phone is so FUBAR it can't autosync for you to replace those entries? Do you use alternate software?

This sounds awesome - and I'd be excited if I could get an extra 5 megs of fast memory. I just like to research everything before I do it.

1. I've been running my XV6700 without any of the verizon customizations for months and there are no adverse effects. You lose the ability to turn on Bluetooth DUN on the new ROM (on the old ROM it was actually possible, but now you have to do one of the VZW customizations to get it working again). I eventually caved and installed the ringtones they added and the MMS app, but nothing else. A lot of people here are doing this (the hard reset-soft reset trick).

2. I think by "flash" he means running the ROM update process with the file you get from UTStarcom's web site. I don't believe sync (as in ActiveSync) has anything to do with flashing, though I could be wrong. I don't remember the flash process even though I did it myself a couple of months ago. I don't think it used activesync, I think it's a proprietary USB connection in the flash update software itself.

I didn't realize you could erase (and then re-use) the ExtRom area. Then ROM is a misnomer, since ROM by definition shouldn't be write-able! But if it can be erased and used for installing programs, you could presumably back up all the Verizon files to your miniSD (or your PC, or anywhere you wanted) and then use ExtRom for anything. This sounds very interesting, since iGuidance takes up a lot of space and I don't like installing apps on the card. Does ExtRom then show up as a destination during program installs, like:

Install to:

\device

\extrom

\storage card

?

Which files are those? There's nothing named "unlocker" in my ExtRom, nor is there anything with "wizard" in it. Are these files you get from somewhere else?

You can get those files from this post. The cab file is located at the thread in the end of the thread I think.

http://buzzdev.net/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&Itemid=59&func=view&catid=59&id=9459

I've been trying about 30 times occasionally in the past few months to unlock the EXTROM but not success, I'm guessing because some registry disable it? (I don't know) but finally I did clear it out and start fresh. Anyway, if you run this unlocker, obviously it'll unlock the EXTROM and let you write to it. The cab file in the link posted above will make it visible under File Explorer, or else you have to use the tool called Total Commander for PPC to view files inside of it. But after running that cab file and install on your device, it'll make it visible everywhere and you can actually install programs onto it. Very cool way to get 9MB. Thanks to the developers that made this possible.

See I thought this could be helpful to somebody!!

@HAUS: YES IT WILL!!

Thanks - I should have taken my own advice, which I did finally, and searched...I found it, but the problem is that using these utils seems to break P Outlook's ability to store attachments on the card. Thank goodness I use SPB backup, because all of my attachments became unreadable no matter what I did (including uninstalling the extrom visibility hack), so finally I had to hard reset and restore my backup. I guess I'll be leaving extrom alone!

Hey guys, one last question if you don't mind. It sounds like I could wipe out, if not most of the Verizon software on the EXTROM.

I have already installed everything, I'm on the new ROM, the EXTROM is currently untouched except for some extra stuff I crammed in there. Can I safely remove EVERYTHING in the verizon EXTROM now - assuming that all the files were only used during the initial install? Or are some EXTROM files actively being used by the phone?

If you remove them completely, next hard reset they won't be available if you want to run the VZW customizations. You should back them up somewhere (preferably on your SD card and also on your PC) so that if you need to hard reset, you can do that, then run the customizations yourself (or put them back in extrom and hard reset again, and they will install). I don't believe anything in extrom is actively used, though it would be pretty simple to try what you're doing and find out.

Just remember, backup, backup, backup, and backup.

Erasing all the stuff from the EXTROM won't do no harm while using the PDA, because like others had said, it's just for the initial setup after a hard reset. What I did was backup all those stuff and email it to my account in YAHOO (i got plus account) and then also keep a copy on my SD card. Everything runs so smoothly now.

Only one thing I wanna complain about is that I can't get outlook to store files onto the SD card. It always stores stuff on EXT_ROM2 folder because EXT_ROM2 appears first on the "storage" list. I also tried to use Tweak2k.NET but it crashes when I try to change the location to store attachments to "Storage Card". THat's no big deal since I have a little more space in the PDA memory.

Thanks a lot guys! I've already backed up my EXTROM on my home computer - so I'll go ahead and delete everything that was in there. It'll be sweet to be able to install a few more programs in there. That will help me out a lot.

Next time, I have to figure out which of those cabs i would actually want to prevent from installing. I haven't seen any definitive listing based on the new ROM.