Simple Industries, Inc.

 

As much as I want to switch over to the Nokia N8 for the awesome camera and Symbian ^3. There is no keyboard on the device, plus the purple tint issues with the screen. Not spending $400 dollars for that. The E7 provides a keyboard but a crappy fixed-focus camera that ended up being the deal breaker. What is one to do? Well while I wait for either of those phones to drop in price, I’ll further squeeze out the usability out of my broken N97-3.  Looking around on the internet I found out how to use JAF to use a custom firmware and change the language pack. I’ll show you the steps I took and you can try, if you dare.

WARNING! USE THE INFORMATION AT YOUR OWN RISK! IT IS FOR INFORMATION AND EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. YOU WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY AND WORSE YOU MAY BRICK YOUR DEVICE!! This only deals with the N97-3 RM-507 so using different firmware will cripple your device.

First and foremost make sure you know what you’re doing and if you don’t then I advise that you turn away now. You’ll have to gather the tools on your own, the only file I will provide is the updated .ini file that contains Nokia devices. You can download that here.

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The tools you will need:

Custom RM-507 firmware
OVI SUITE – installed for proper the USB drivers
Navifirm Custom firmware – to download firmware
J.A.F. 1.98.62 – the actual  flashing program
Updated JAF Nokia models – jaf_nok4models.ini [download]
A working internet connection – how else are you downloading the files?

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Its a good idea to watch the video tutorial by SymbianHackers to give you an idea of how the process works. The video tutorial is for a Nokia 5800 but the concept is the same.

At first the task seemed a bit difficult, once through though it went easier. First you install OVI Suite or NSU if you arleady haven’t. That will make sure you have the proper USB drivers. As of now there is a beta version of the Nokia Software Updater by Nokia Beta Labs.

Download your favorite customized firmware. I went with [CFW] N97 RM-507 V22.2.110 Customize Firmware available on the mobiletalk forums – RM-507_22.2.110_C01_prd.rofs3.fpsx

Very important, before proceeding YOU MUST type *#0000# to find out your CURRENT firmware. Downgrading firmwares will cripple your device.

Navifirm downloads firmware

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RM-507_22.2.110_prd.core.C00
RM-507_22.2.110_prd.rofs2.V28
RM-507_22.2.110_C01_prd.rofs3.fpsx
RM505_507_22.0.110_uda_9_001.uda.fpsx
RM505_APE_ONLY_ENO_09w23_v0.072.fpsx
RM507_0576111_22.2.110_001.dcp
RM507_0576111_22.2.110_001_signature.bin
RM507_0576111_22.2.110_001.vpl

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Using Navifirm download the RM-507 firmware for your product code. Mine happened to be 0576111 with the 22.2.110 firmware (I believe only four files are needed, but I went ahead and downloaded all of them just to be on the safe side). You select where to download the firmware, there are two options. One on a location of your choice or two in C:\Program Files\Nokia\Phoenix\Products\RM-507 (you may have to create the folders if they do not exist). The former allows you to select the files one-by-one while the latter is the easier method where JAF already “knows” where to grab the firmware files from. I tried both.

Navifirm again to download language pack

This is completely optional but since I wanted to display and input Chinese characters I went ahead and downloaded the RM-505 APAC Hong Kong Language pack RM-505_22.0.110_prd.rofs2.V26 it seems that language packs are interchangeable but core rom is NOT. You may want to include a different language, that’s up to you. The custom firmware supports it.You’ll want to rename RM-505_22.0.110_prd.rofs2.V26 –> RM-507_22.2.110_prd.rofs2.V28 (this way it matches the language pack naming convention of the RM-507 firmware) move the renamed file to C:\Program Files\Nokia\Phoenix\Products\RM-507. At this point it may ask you to overwrite the existing file from the set you downloaded earlier. Go head and overwrite or rename the old file so you have a copy of the original. Its up to you. Also overwrite RM-507_22.2.110_C01_prd.rofs3.fpsx with the custom firmware file you downloaded earlier.

Time to flash

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MCU Flash file:  RM-507_22.2.110_prd.core.C00
PPM Flash file:  RM-507_22.2.110_prd.rofs2.V28
CNT Flash file:  RM-507\RM-507_22.2.110_C01_prd.rofs3.fpsx
APE Variant file:  RM505_507_22.0.110_uda_9_001.uda.fpsx

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Now that you have your files, its time to get flashy! Run JAF by clicking on the OGM_JAF_PKEY_Emulator which pops up the following. Then click on “GO.”

Once you run JAF, you’ll notice that you get an error message that reads “NO BOX DRIVER INSTALLED” disregard this and click on “ok.” This loads JAF, the next steps are very important so pay attention.

 

You are now in JAF and should see USB Cable Driver version 7.1.36.0 (at least). Almost there. You must make sure the boxes Manual Flash, Factory Set, Normal Mode are checked. Also UNCHECK CRT 308. Finally check the box Use INI which loads the many variant devices. Earlier you downloaded the updated jaf_nok4models.ini file and since you copied the firmware files to the C:\Program Files\Nokia\Phoenix\Products\RM-507 directory you should see something like this.

Now all you have to do is connect your device via the USB cable under PC Suit mode and click on the FLASH button. According to the SymbianHackers tutorial video, they recommend checking the Dead USB option. This did not work for me so I left it unchecked. I believe this is for the times when you’re phone is bricked.

There you have it, if everything went well you should now be using a customized N97 firmware!

*** Remember, I assume no responsibility for the information provided in this post, if you break your phone its your fault!***

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