[Tutorial] How to back up your ROM - A comprehensive guide.

--- Foreword ---

This guide is designed for those who find it hard to (or are too lazy to) search the forum for information on how to dump a ROM. This is specifically for the X1.
Some common sense and knowledge of computers and pocket pc's is required. I followed below steps myself to dump a ROM and dumping it worked flawlessly.
Update: The ROM I dumped has been tested and reported working perfectly!
EDIT: For those looking only for a stock ROm to dump with: Rapidshare

--- Special thanks to ---

Fards - Much of the below tutorial.
hungarian - The registry fix in step 2.
m@rco - UK generic ROM link.
Itje - Kovskykitchen.
And the guys who made XDA Utils!


--- Guide ---

1) Download and preparation of files

A good preparation makes it much easier, download the following files:

XDA Tools/Utils
X1 (Kovsky) Kitchen
Stock UK ROM
Sdkcerts.cab
Fdcsoft Taskmanager

- Extract Kovskykitchen to C:\KovskyKitchen and in Vista make sure that buildos+package_tools is able to run as administrator.
- Extract the XDA tools to an easy to access folder, for instance c:\Xdatools


2) Preparing your phone:

Before your X1 will allow the dumping to be done, the following Sdkcerts.cab file must be installed.

- Copy Sdkcerts.cab to your phone or storage card and install it to the device.

Also, your phone must accept changes that pdocread makes. You can do this with the regedit function of the FdcSoft Taskmanager.

- Set the following registry keys to "1":
* HKLM\Security\Policies\Policies "00001001"
* HKLM\Security\Policies\Policies "0000101a"

- Connect your phone to your pc with activesync.


3) pdocread

- Open up a command line and navigate to the folder where you extracted the XDAtools.
- Enter the following command: "pdocread.exe -l"

You'll get something like this:

| 3.12M (0x31f000) Part00
| 3.50M (0x380000) Part01
| 69.38M (0x4560000) Part02
| 134.38M (0x8660000) Part03

The bits in brackets are the important ones as you need to use what it says on YOUR device in the next step.


4) Extraction

Run the following commands one at a time. Replace the codes (.e.g 0x31f000) with the codes you get in step 3.
Extracting these files can take some time, do not disconnect your device until the command line sais it's done.

pdocread -w -d FLASHDR -b 0x800 -p Part00 0 0x31f000 Part00.raw
pdocread -w -d FLASHDR -b 0x800 -p Part01 0 0x380000 Part01.raw
pdocread -w -d FLASHDR -b 0x800 -p Part02 0 0x4560000 Part02.raw
pdocread -w -d FLASHDR -b 0x800 -p Part03 0 0x8660000 Part03.raw

The files will end up in the XDAtools folder.


5) Kovksy kitchen

- Open your Kovskykitchen folder.
- Copy your 4 raw files to the "baserom" folder.
- From the stock UK ROM extract the RUU_signed.nbh to Baserom folder as well.

There are decent walkthroughs for cooking roms, this kitchen is built on the Kaiser Kitchen.
If you want more info, search for "kaiser kitchen" on XDA.

- Start kovskykitchen.cmd
- Select (e) extract a rom, then (b) and let it work through.

When it's finshed it'll go back to the main menu.

- Now select (c) cook a rom, then (b)

It'll start up the buildOS + Package tools program.

- Select the buildos tab.
- Select "load rom" and navigate to your kovskykitchen folder.
- Press ok.

After a couple of seconds the green "go" arrow will light up press it.
It'll do lots and may come back with an imgfs error, but this doesn't seem to matter.

- When it's done close the window.

Back in the CMD window it'll be waiting for a keypress.
When pressed a lot of files will be processed.
Finally it'll popup with some info for the HTC rom tool.

- Click BUILD!
- Select Kovsky from the dropdown box.
- Press the 3 little dots ... next to the box that says OS.
- Select the OS-NEW.nb in the main kovsky kitchen folder.

Press BUILD! at the bottom, and give the file a sensible name, RUU_signed.nbh if you want to flash it from windows, Kovsimg.nbh if you want to flash it from microSD card.

- Close the htc_rom_tool when it's done.

It'll popup a hexeditor to change the Pagepool.
An error might occur that it can't find the nbh file.

- Close the hexeditor.

The command line will clean up the temporary files and allows you to flash your ROM.
If you just want to back up the rom of your device then close this window.

Enjoy!

liamhere said:

i hope this helps

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Thanks! I just hope this answers this question - being asked so much!

wursta said:

Has anybody dumped an Austrian T-Mobile Stock Rom??
Does anybody know where i can get this?

If i dump my Rom by myself will there also be the actual installed Applications (e.g. Inesoft, Google Maps, Tf3D for Xperia,...) in the dumped Rom-File?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Yes, this will dump the ROM as it is right now. So it will still automatically install the programs just like it did when you first booted it.

bmwkalyan said:

ok great work you guys especially Angelusz

But i have two questions
1.Do i have to do any thing else after i go through your guide to backup my rom, what i mean is do i have to cook my rom or i can flash it directly after backing up my rom when ever i want and do i have to remove the radio and stuff.

2.Do i have to hard spl every time i what to flash a new rom, like now i have a Orange UK rom in my x1, i want to try itjes rom and then i want to use generic uk rom

Thank you in Advance,

Regards bmwkalyan.

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

1) No, the guide includes cooking it into a working .nbh file. The .nbh file can then be flashed via Activesync or directly from a microSD - check this forum for guides.
2) No, hardSPL is needed only the first time you want to flash a ROM. It is however required to flash any ROM at all.

bmwkalyan said:

I am sorry to ask you so many times but i am new to wm ,

1.What do you mean by this could you be more specific (It is however required to flash any ROM at all.)

2.One more thing, in general why do we need to remove the radio part, why can't we rip and use both the os and the radio parts, i am asking this because i read some in the forum that these needed to be separated and why.

3.I also read in the forum that after flashing the rom the person could not use the track pad any more and it was working only as a D-pad and the 4 lights ( i don't remember what they call them) around the cell which light up when a call or sms or something like that comes(hope you are getting what i am trying to say)
did you face any of these problems, will flashing a generic uk rom make my x1 stock like or am i going to loose any features, can i update my x1 with sony ericsson's update manager if there is a update.

4.I see that you are using itje's Touch-IT Xperience v2.1 are the lights and track pad working in itje's rom

Thank you Angelusz in Advance ,
Regards bmwkalyan.

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

That's alright. Do try and search for answers to your questions before you ask them. If you keep asking first, people with answers will get annoyed - for they have to answer every single new user's question, over and over.

1) I meant that to flash any ROM - generic or cooked - you need hardSPL flashed first.

2) The Radio and ROM are not stored in the same place on the phone itself. Flashing a ROM does not influence your radio. The ROM and radio do different things and in general you don't need to tinker with your radio. An updated radio can however improve reception with your phone. With the method described in this thread, you will dump only your ROM. I do not yet know how to dump/flash a radio.

3) If a feature stops working, the cause lies in the installed ROM. Generic ROM's will - if flashed properly - work as the default ROM your phone came with, as all drivers etc. are installed as normal. If a cook makes some mistakes while cooking the ROM, forgetting drivers or what ever else, some things might not work properly. So, if the ROM is good, everything will work as intended. If a ROM does not meet your expectations, you can always flash another one.

4) Yes, the d-pad and lights work perfectly. There's some other issues, but you had best keep track of the respective topic for more information on that.