HP iPAQ hx4700 users, here’s something you will LOVE – YES, a REAL, GREAT WM5 AKU 3.5 (!!!) upgrade!!!!

It seems Russia can’t be beaten when it comes to hobbyist programmers & hackers (in the good meaning of the word, of course). It was just a few days ago that I’ve reviewed the best Sinclair Spectrum emulator ever written, UnrealSpeccyPPC, of Russian origin, and, now, a brand new ROM version has been released for the HP iPAQ hx4700, with all the additional goodies WM5 AKU 3.5 has (much faster IEM, Messaging no longer having IMAP outbox storage issues etc.) - and, of course, GREATLY enhanced performance.

The previous, official hx4700 WM5 upgrades are both slow (because of REALLY lengthy compaction sessions), unreliable (in many occasions, they require a lengthy soft reset to resume) and outdated (being the heavily outdated AKU1.1 only). Fortunately, some Russian coders / hackers have saved us and given us a REALLY good, fast and up-to-date (AKU3.5) upgrade.

Indeed this ROM version is a BIG step ahead of the original AKU 1.1 coming with the last (and, unfortunately, final), 2.01 (2.03) ROM upgrade officially released by HP.

I’ve dedicated SEVERAL, well-known articles to the WM5 upgrade of the HP iPAQ hx4700 (see for example THIS) and I know pretty much everything about WM5 running on the model. Therefore, I was anxious to flash my hx4700 (for which I’d like to thank Hal Goldstein of Smartphone & PPC Mag again) to start testing.

First, let me elaborate on the (dis)advantages of the new version compared to the official (2.01/03) one. Note that the current, tested upgrade version is dated at 24-06-2007. If you have an older version, you WILL want to upgrade.

Advantages

The new version just can’t be compared to the old, 2.01 (2.03) ROM version. It’s far superior in EVERY respect:

1. when, in the main storage, no write operations take place, there is absolutely NO compaction, not even with completely filled-in storage memory!!!

   As usual, I've made some VERY thorough tests so that we can see some objective benchmark results of filesys compactions, the biggest enemy of all WM5 upgrade users. As usual, I've used the excellent acbTaskMan to find out whether there are any compactions.

   When I've only put some 1 Mbytes of files in the main storage, over a 12-hour test, there were not any compactions. Seeing these GREAT results, I've decided to run another test; now, with heavily filled-in central memory. After mass-copying some 62 Mbytes of files to the main storage (so that only some 16 Mbytes remained free), I encountered no additional compactions either during the 12-hour test - after the initial compaction, which took about 20 minutes (for, again, 62 Mbytes). A screenshot of this test is HERE. Make sure you compare it to the 2.00 / 2.01 charts - the difference is staggering! Indeed, the new version is WAY better, compaction-wise, than the old one.

2. when there are writing operations, the accompanying compaction takes definitely less time than with 2.01 (albeit still takes SOME time)
3. the goodies of AKU3 (far faster IEM, AKU2 enhancements, reintroduced old ActiveSync connection model etc.) are all worth upgrading (albeit they aren’t as important as with a PPC Phone Edition model)
4. a soft reset only takes about 25s, which is WAY better than was before (45s; see THIS)

Every old, hx4700-specific app is included (as opposed to earlier versions of the hack) and working OK; for example, in THIS screenshot, Navpoint and HP Image Zone (but NOT Dockware!) is present (and is also Pocket Office, which is missing from the Lite version, should you not need it).

Disadvantages

1. no A2DP support as of yet – connection attempts will just not work as can also be seen in HERE. This means you will NOT want to upgrade if you absolutely need A2DP. I’ll report on when a working solution is found – the hackers are already working on it.
2. The folder icon is pretty badly flashing with the built-in TodayPanel. If you don’t like this, just disable the latter (after all, it’s pretty bad-looking). Of course, this is a VERY minor problem - unlike the lack of A2DP support.

OK, let’s move on to installing the upgrade.

Installing

First, get the upgrade HERE. (Should it not work, I’ve also made it available HERE.)

Note that there is an alternative, “lite” version HERE. It lacks Pocket Office and is considerably older than the above-linked, full version; therefore, I recommend going for the former.

The RAR file (unpack it WinRAR) only contains one file, CEOS_AKU3_52.nbf, which you’ll need later. First, however, you’ll need to run the old, official 2.01 upgrade utility, even if your hx4700 already has WM5 2.01 on it.

Should you not have the official 2.01 upgrade, sp33318.exe, on your desktop PC, download it HERE.

Run it and, after it has decompressed itself to c:\iPAQ\SP33318\, the installer will auto-run hpRUU.exe in there (if it doesn’t, run it by hand).

In the first dialog, check in the checkbox and click Next. Go straight on UNTIL you see the Update button at the bottom. Do NOT click it: it’s now that you must overwrite the old file CEOS_UPD.nbf in c:\iPAQ\SP33318\ with the new, "hacked" CEOS_AKU3_52.nbf, renaming the latter to the former as can be seen for example in HERE (Total Commander screenshot). Only after this will you need to click the Update button.

Note that if the above doesn’t work, you will need to use the boot loader approach with Solnyshok’s hx4700 flash utility (also available HERE). See the XDA-Dev thread for more info on using it. You’ll also need this utility should you want to switch back to ROM version 2.01 – then, using sp33318 won’t be possible any more.

After the upgrade has finished and the first boot screen appears (without going further), you’ll need to clean reset the handheld by holding down Contacts and Messaging buttons and resetting the device at the same time. Make sure you press Calendar when asked about clean resetting the device.

Is the NavPointService bug fixed?

(See Question 4 in the New HP iPAQ hx4700 WM5 upgrade: Questions & Answers)

No. Make sure you follow my tutorial on fixing it.

Real VGA

You’ll need to download THIS file and just install it – as was the case with version 2.01 (see tutorial HERE). Note that no Connectivity icon will be shown and, therefore, you’ll always need to click its placeholder to see the current state of your connection (screenshot). The Wi-Fi icon does work, though.

Note that for example THIS file (recommended for example HERE) doesn’t add more icons either.

I’ll let you know when a better RealVGA hack is released.

Legality issues

Now that the excellent folks at MoDaCo have also decided to let for some non-hardcore ROM hacking / cooking, I’ve also reconsidered my stance regarding “cooked” ROM’s. As the update makes a, because of compaction and other major bugs, pretty much useless platform into a perfectly usable one, I don’t think you need to have any headache concerning the legality of this upgrade.

Other screenshots

About screen showing the AKU version

USB to PC icon (this icon, being introduced in AKU2, was missing from the previous version)

Acknowledgements

A BIG thanks to Solnyshok for pointing my attention to the update.

Discussions of interest

XDA-Developers - this is THE most important thread for English speakers

4PDA (Russian) original thread (note that there is another thread also linked from XDA-Dev; it’s just some non-relevant personal stuff)

Brighthand

PxDxA (part in Chinese)

Here’s the FAQ (English “translation” HERE)

Note that you won’t need the BUG clock FIX link (still linked from the 4pda thread) any more.

In HERE, you will find some additional, useful, generic AKU2+ registry hacks (usable on all WM5 PPC's, not just hx4700's).

Verdict

Go and install the upgrade - unless you really need A2DP, you will REALLY like it. A must.

UPDATE (later the same day): if you overwrite the contents of the already installed OzVGA (see above) in \Windows with the contents of THIS file, you’ll get all the taskbar icons. (Thanks to XDA-Developers forum member xktygfhnbb for the link). Note that, during copying (in standard SE VGA mode - do NOT do it in real VGA!!), you will see some original files not overwritable. This is NOT a problem - leaving them alone (that is, leaving the old versions) won't cause any problems.

UPDATE (06/28/2007): some answers to questions I've received:

1. unfortunately, there's still no WPA-2 support and, given that cooked ROM's for, say, the Wizard also had problematic WPA-2 support, I don't think it'll work either
2. it seems you don't need to do apply the fake server hack either, unlike in the previous, 2.01 version
3. CF handling seems to be OK (it was fixed in 2.01)
4. Bluetooth seems to be pretty stable upon resumings. So far, I haven't encountered out of (driver) memory errors (which plagues most other Widcomm BT stack-based devices / OS versions) when resuming the device with Bluetooth enabled. This is definitely good news. (I only wish A2DP were supported.)

UPDATE (06/30/2007):: Do NOT try to upgrade your device under Windows Vista, only under Win XP! See for example THIS for more info.

UPDATE (07/01/2007): follow Jon's remarks HERE, in the comment section, to unbrick a Vista-bricked device. BTW, THIS is the thread he's linking.

UPDATE (07/02/2007):

1. You can fix the above-mentioned flashing folder problem by just disabling "Wireless" in Settings / Today / Items
2. The A2DP problem has been fixed. Just download THIS file and install it. Original (Russian language) post HERE. It's working just GREAT with my Plantronics 590A: GREAT sound quality (as always with the Widcomm BT stack), no distortion, absolutely no problems at all (for example, excessive CPU usage). This all means that, now, the upgrade is highly recommended for A2DP users too.

UPDATE (07/03/2007):: a related thread at BrightHand with another tutorial (cross-posted HERE too); worth checking out. Also worth checking out THIS Axim/MobilitySite and THIS PPCT thread.

UPDATE (08/17/2007): There is a brand new AKU3.5.2 version in the first post of the XDA-Dev thread. It's discussed starting with THIS page.

UPDATE (08/29/2007): chrismrulz, in addition to publishing a great, very thorough tutorial on upgrading the iPAQ to WM6, has released a brand new BootLoader tool. It makes it MUCH easier to flash your .NBF upgrade files and is vastly superior to the original HP tool because it also allows you to flash any .nbf file to your iPAQ.