CommsBlog

Starting the iPod Diagnostic Mode[photopress:nano_1.jpg,full,alignright]

In order to access the inbuilt Diagnostic menu on the Nano, you need to press a combination of keys immediately after restarting it.

1. Toggle the Hold switch to Hold, the off again.
2. Press and hold Menu and Select (the centre button) for at least 6 secs, or until the Apple logo appears! – for iPod 1G to 3G press Menu and Play – hereafter referred to as the ‘Reset Method’
3. As soon as the Apple Logo appears, press and hold |<< and Select – For iPod 1G to 3G press |<<, >>| and Select

Navigating the Diagnostic Menu

Once you are in Diagnostic Mode, use the >>| and |<< buttons to navigate the menus. In most cases Menu will go back one menu, and Select will select the menu option. You can exit the menu at any time by selecting Power, Reset or by pressing Menu and Select (Menu and Play for 1G to 3G) to reset it.

Note: The menu’s shown below are from my iPod Nano 3G, and may vary to the menus you see.

iPod Diagnostics BuildID: d002

SVC Sep 10 2007 v.0072

—————————————————–
>Power
Sleep
Audio
Video
LCD
IO
Memory
TouchWheel
About

Power:

Within here you have;

1. ACC_Identify – Shows ACC = 2.497V
2. BatteryA2D – Shows 4.062V Ref=255
3. HighPower – Puts the screen on full brightness and shows a start time, Voltage (3.982V) and current (100mA)
4. ChargeCurrent – Shows Cur=100mA Battery = 4.046V
5. Reset – Resets the iPod

Sleep:

Sends the iPod to “DeepSleep” – you’ll need to do the Reset method above to restart it.

Audio:

Allows you to test the Headphone detection and play test tone. Interestingly there is an option to record from ‘Line In’ – Watch out for the Test Tone, its *VERY* loud!!

Video:

Has one option “TVPattern” that didn’t seem to do much, and needed me to do the reset method above to get out of it.

LCD:

Within here you have;

1. ColorPattern: Shows a series of patterns on the LCD. |<< turns off the backlight, >>| sets it to dim, Select goes to next pattern. You have to look at all 25 before you can exit.
2. Backlight: This allows you to check the back light, using the |<<, >>|, Play and Action buttons. Menu exits this screen.
3. ReadLCMID: Reads vendor info about the LCD. Mine Shows Vendor ID: 38 PanelID: 55 BuildID: 71 Read ID: OK

IO: (Input Output)

1. ACC_Switchtest: Not sure what this is… Accessories detector?
2. IOStatuses: Mine shows; HP_DETECT: 1 LCD_ID1:0 LCD_ID2:1 USB_DETECT:0 FW_DETECT:0 ACC_DETECT:0 HOLD_SWITCH:1

Memory:

1. SdramQScan: Does a very quick SDRAM Test
2. NANDSPEC: Mine Shows; NandLBA=991232 NAND SIZE:3.819200

Touch Wheel:

1. TouchWheelID: Mine Shows; 0:9045003a, 1:c609013a, 2:8000023a, 3:8000033a, 4:8066043a, 5:8001053a
2. WheelAndKey: Lets you test the touch wheel and all the keys (interesting that this is the only place the wheel works!)

About:

This shows various information and the iPod’s serial number, as show below

About Information

SrNum: 6U73xxxxxx (Obscured on purpose here!)
Mod#: MA978
Regn: 1 0 2 0 37 0 1
Fwld:
01000000
1a1b9639
000a2700
00000000

HwVr: 00140010

vrsn: 1.32.f.2

So that’s it. Hopefully this will of use to someone who has a problem with the 3rd-Gen Nano!

Dear Avid Reader,

Since getting my Eee PC, I’ve been reading about the ability to overclock the FSB (Front Side Bus). This bus has the capability of running at 100mhz (as opposed to the default 70mhz). The net effect of this is that the CPU speed increases to 900 Mhz from the normal 630 Mhz (which is 70% of 900 Mhz of course!). You must if course be running Ubuntu to do this!

Once you have downloaded the scripts from [here], run the following commands from within the unpacked archive:

sudo ./tweak-gnome.sh
sudo ./install.sh all

Then reboot your EeePC

After doing this, Pressing Fn-F6 will automatically enable the FSB increase, and various other fixes for the EeePC will start working, namely;

• Asus Eee kernel modules
• ACPI support (suspend, hotkeys)
• overclocking code
• Wifi support
• Sound
• Boot speed
• Additional software sources
• Skype two way video

All this can be found on the Ubuntu Eee Wiki located here: http://ubuntu-eee.tuxfamily.org/

Now I know that I have already told you how to do a lot of this in my article about installing Ubuntu on an EeePC, but this does take a lot of the hassle out of it, and it definately gets the overclocking working!

Bluetooth [photopress:trust_usb_bt.jpg,full,alignright]

There has been lots of mods popping up lately that allows you to install a Bluetooth dongle inside your EeePC utilising the additional USB connections that are hidden on the motherboard… well you could of course use a tiny USB dongle like this. You can pick these up for £10, and its a lot less hassle than getting the soldering iron out! One supplier is Novatech [link]

Now as you all know, I *love* my Eee PC, and have spent some time making sure I could get Ubuntu working on it

But I have been totally blow away by the hacks that someone else has made to this diminutive laptop.

How about adding; GPS, Bluetooth, Modem, Flash Card Reader, FM Transmitter, 802.11N Wifi and more!

Well someone has done this, and documented it well. You can find all the internal upgrade details here [Link]

I may well be trying some of this myself, and will post an article with step-by-steps if I do.

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---

IMPORTANT NOTICE: It seems that a few users have managed to completely ‘brick’ their i600’s by putting i607 software on them (or visa-versa) – The two flash files are not interchangeable – if you use the wrong flash file on your phone, you may well permanantly ‘brick’ it. Please also note: The information provided here is based on my own experience of upgrading my i600, and any Firmware files I link to are for the i600 European version only. You use this information at your own risk.

Again: The instructions here are for a European i600 **NOT** a USA i607. If you try this on an AT&T i607, you *will* brick your phone.

---

Dearest Fanboys (and girls),

As you know; I am a great fan of my Samsung SGH-i600, but I have a little bad news for you… The *Free* WM6 Upgrade that is supplied on the Samsung Website [link] will not work on the ‘Orange’ branded units, or even those that have been ‘debranded’ ( – I have tested this using the various methods (and wiping my phone on each occasion!) in order to prove that it can’t be done.

Curse you Orange, and curse your nasty branded interfaces….

However…. A look at the MoDaCo Wiki [Link] shows a WM6 Flash (not official) !!! – So… I downloaded the 60Mb File, and lo and behold, WM6 on my Samsung – Wooo Hoooooo.

Here are the instructions in Full:-

Please Note: This is entirely at your own risk, and any damage caused directly or indirectly by this information is entirely your responsibility. If you brick your phone, don’t come crying to me – you have been warned!

• Make sure you have ActiveSync 4.5 or higher installed.
• BACKUP YOUR PHONE -Use ActiveSync to backup the contacts, and browse to the phone for images / mp3’s etc.
  
• Download the Modem Driver (required for ‘Flashing’) [ZIP] and install it.
• Download the i600UXXGG2 WM6 RAR file and unpack [Link to MoDoCo page] [Alternative Link to RapidShare Download of the same file]
• Ensure that you ‘disable‘ the USB Connection in the ActiveSync Connection Settings whilst you attempt this.
• Place phone into ‘Flasher Mode’ (click on image for larger view)
• Run the WM6 upgrader – Ensure that you have a fully charged battery, and that you don’t interrupt the (rather long) upgrade process – it will say complete several times… wait until the ‘Flasher’ screen disappears off the phone. (NOTE: Can take up to 5 mins)
  
• Wait for phone to reboot – it takes about 5 mins to complete the process - be patient whilst its on the Windows Mobile Screen!!!
• Wait for the phone to reboot again… (normal startup speed this time!)
• Restore the USB connection in ActiveSync
• Restore all your images / mp3s and re-sync your contacts.

Once completed, if you should see version CE OS 5.2.1437 – i600UXXGG2

You’ll notice it says 5.2 – well that is the official internal version number for WM6!

Impressions;

Well… you’ll notice that some of the icons have been improved. There is a new ‘Windows Live’ screen (Search and Live login), a Live Messenger icon and it seems a bit faster. I’ll update this as I use it over the next few days….

Some more Blackjack / SGH-i600 goodies for you;

1. Samsung i600 User Guide [PDF]
2. Modem Driver (required for ‘Flashing’) [ZIP]
3. Alternative WM6 Upgrade Instructions (if you haven’t got a UK ‘Orange’ version… Grrr) [Link]
4. Top 10 Applications for Windows Mobile [Link]