A couple of months back, I wrote about the steps you should undertake when doing a ROM upgrade. It gave you a 3 step procedure, that when followed, will provide you with a smooth ROM upgrade process. However, it seems that a lot of people are having some problems with their ROM upgrades which bricks their device in the process. Bricking is when your device becomes unusable. Anyways, to cut the long story short, I decided to do a revision of the ROM upgrade. It’s going to be long and technical (read dry) but I will try to make it as easy to follow to spare you the boredom.

Step 1: Check Blogs & Forums For Problems

The first thing you want to do first is to find out if the ROM you are upgrading to is posing any problem to users who have already done the upgrade. Eten Blog tries to document as many of these issues as possible but you should also check our Forum as well as Eten Users Forum to see if there are any that we missed or just surfaced.

Step 2: Download All The Files You Need

So you did the reading and found out that the ROM is a worth upgrade. The next step would be to download the ROM and all required files. I prefer to save them all into one directory so that I know the files that I need to run.

Another piece of advice is to check the file sizes of the files you have downloaded. Sometimes, the download is incomplete and you do not realize this until you are running the upgrade and you get an error. By then it is too late. So to prevent it, make sure the file size is the same as the one the one on the server. There are other ways to check for file integrity but I think this is the easiest.

Step 3: Backup Your Text Messages

Now that you have all the files you need, the next thing to do is to backup your stuff. The first thing I want to backup are my text messages. Because there is no generic solution for this, you will need download a software, like Jeyo Mobile Companion, to help you do the backup. If you do not want to backup your text messages, feel free to skip this step.

Step 4: Backup Your Personal Data

So you’ve backed up your text messages (or decided to skip it). Well the next thing is to backup your personal data like you contacts, appointments and tasks. If you constantly use ActiveSync to sync between your PC and Pocket PC, then this would be a simple step for you. Just do another syn before you upgrade so that your data is backed up on the PC. After, the upgrade, you can just run the sync again to copy the data back.

Step 5: Backup Anything Else You Need

This last step is also optional but it might just save you a lot of time. If there are applications that you commonly use that have a huge amount of settings like SBSH’s iLauncher and WebIs’s Pocket Informant, then you should back up these settings as well. The way to do so varies from software to software so it would be best to look at the manual to see how you can go about doing it. You will be glad you did when you do the restoration later on.

Note: There are a few backup and restore applications out there that allows you to backup your files and data and restore over a ROM upgrade. While many users have claimed that this process works flawlessly, I prefer the methods outlined above as it gives me more control. Plus, you never know when such a process might fail on you.

Step 6: Make Sure Your Device Is Fully Charged And Connected To A Power Supply

The quick reason is that so that your device will not suffer from any power failure that may brick it later on. Is there a better reason than this?

Step 7: Remove Your Storage and SIM Card

So you’re all set to run the ROM upgrade. Well before you do so, make sure to remove your storage and SIM card. This is so that the ROM upgrade will go ahead smoothly. Any incoming call or message during upgrade can cause your device to fail later on. Besides, don’t you want to get through the whole process uninterrupted?

Step 8: Format Your Storage Card

So the ROM Upgrade went ahead smoothly. What’s next? Well before you start the restoration process, I would recommend you format your storage card first before you place it back into the device. This is because the storage card may contain files that may corrupt your device. So what do you do?

For me, I would first transfer all the files from the card to my PC before I do a format. This is so that if I need any files from the card, like Word documents or MP3s, I can easily copy it over.

Step 9: Start The Restoration Process

So now that it’s all good to go, you can now start the process of restoring data and installing applications to get it back to the state you want it to.

So there you have it. My step by step guide on how to do a ROM upgrade. It’s very straightforward and easy to follow, albeit troublesome. Thankfully you don’t have to do it very often though. However, here are some bonus tips that you might want to consider. They’re bonus because it’s not a must to follow them but I do and it’s saved me a lot of time.

*Bonus Tip 1*

Get CAB files of all the applications you are going to install. This will make it so much easier when doing the restoration later on because you have all the applications you need in one area.

*Bonus Tip 2*

Use a card reader. If you don’t have one, I would highly recommend you invest in one. It’s less than $10 and it allows you to transfer large amount of files between your Pocket PC and PC very quickly.

*Bonus Tip 3*

Allocate enough time. The last thing you want to do is to rush through the upgrade process as it will just increase the chances of fouling up. How much time is enough? Well I would say about 2 hours because the ROM upgrade process alone will take you around 30 minutes. Having set aside extra time is also great because you know you don’t have to rush through it.

So there you have it. Hopefully this will prevent your devices from getting bricked when you do your next ROM upgrade. And that the bonus tips will make you feel more comfortable doing it. Good luck with your next ROM upgrade!

Did I miss anything?

Tags: guide