MORE PHUN WITH THE AUDIOVOX 8900 By TeK-g (Sept. 2004)


This time around we will explore the filesystem of the Audiovox 8900 (AKA LG 
VX6000) using Bitpim and the USB data cable. We will examine the Telus 8900 
compared to other 8900's to gain a better understanding of Telus' frugality.

*********************************************************************
*********** PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING BEFORE CONTINUING.*************
*********************************************************************
From: http://bitpim.sourceforge.net/testhelp/

Audiovox CDM8900
THIS PHONE IS NOT SUPPORTED

The internal software in this phone is far too fragile and shoddy.
There is a very real risk of locking up the phone so badly it won't
reboot and has to be replaced through trivial operations.

Consequently this phone is not supported by BitPim and you should
not use it with BitPim even if it appears to work. You should not
report any issues with this phone and we will not respond to
support requests other than by pointing to this page.
**********************************************************************

To paraphrase: this COULD seriously SCREW UP your phone. You have been 
warned.

NEEDED:

Bitpim: http://bitpim.sourceforge.net

Datacable: http://ebay.com

SETUP:

1) Install the 8900 on your respective OS using the driver disc accompanying 
your cable. Make sure phone is turned on and everything is connected 
correctly.

2) Download and install bitpim.

FIRST STEPS:

Once you have bitpim up and running, you will need to configure the phone so 
as to facilitate communication. This is accomplished by (under win2k3) EDIT 
--> SETTINGS. Once here you will need to modify the PHONE TYPE field to 
VX6000. Next go to BROWSE and select CURITEL PACKET SERVICE. The phone is 
now correctly configured and ready for some data transfer.

Next we will need to view a copy of the filesystem. For this we select the 
FILESYSTEM tab and right click on REFRESH. This will give us the filesystem, 
all readable in HEX.

FURTHER EXAMINATION:

/ch/ <-- call history, readbale plain text.
/nvm/$SYS.INVAR2 <-- ESN stored here. Note this phone was second hand, 
subsequently this is likely different on 1 owner phones.
/nvm/nvm_0002 <--- at address 0000070 we see the security code for the 
phone, again plaintext,
Below, you should see 2 six digit text numbesr, first set of 6 digits is 
your SPC
code the next set of 6 digit should be Telus One time subsidy lock code. The 
SPC code can be used to access the ##TELUS menu referred to in article one. 
Shouts to Steve DM for this tidbit!
/nvm/nvm_0005 <--- at address 00000f0 we see the phone's email address 
phone#@microbrowser.telusmobility.com **
/ams <-- this looks to be the java dir. Some .jar files here.
/photo <-- here is all the photos. You can download them, a nice workaround 
if you are a victim of the story below.
/preload/images <-- all the preloaded images for MMS
/preload/ringer <-- all the preloaded ringers for MMS

That basically does it for the filesystem, only other thing to try is adding 
a wallpaper and attempting to upload. Unfortuneately we get exception. 
Looking closer this is an error relating the BREW, the  program on the phone 
designed to handle this sort of thing (so you dont need to use MMS/WAP). 
Looking where BREW is supposed to be on the phone, we see the directory is 
there /br, but no files. THANKS TELUS. Uploading images manually has had 
negative results for me. Even when I overwrite the old files, every time I 
go to open them, the phone freezes. A hypothesis for this is enclosed below.

** The 8900 is a very buggy phone. The phone is unstable at best and 
inoperable at worst, a combination of poor hardware and modified firmware 
(THANKS AGAIN TELUS) contribute to making this phone pretty unstable. An 
example: Activating a second hand 8900. The activation processes fine, 
however your WAP and MMS will not work. The reason? A memory allocation flaw 
in the filesystem disables this. It also has a tendancy to rename incoming 
calls (you see the last call's name on the current call's incoming number on 
call display). It also affects the numbers of pictures and occaisonally 
causes the phone to lock up all together. This memory allocation error is 
most likely the cause of the uploaded images crashing the device. The 
solution? Telus has a firmware upgrade for the phone for all second hand 
users. At last check my Telus dealer had just received it but were unsure of 
how to use it without permanently damaging my phone so they told me to come 
back.

if you mess up your phone while trying to make your own ring tone for the
phone and send it to it via your computer, don't fret. Delete the directory
file, and it will recreate it after a power cycle. Problem, if you had other
ring tones, you lose them. Possible solution: back up your files first!! 
(THANKS STEVE DM!)

So that is it this time around. If you have anything to contribute, you can 
email me @ fawkyou420@hotmail.com. A BIG SHOUT TO STEVE DM FOR SOME OF THE 
INFO. YOUR HELP IS APPRECIATED AND PROVES YOU DONT HAVE TO BE A UNBERCODER 
TO HAVE A LITTLE PHUN AT THE EXPENSE OF TELUS. BWAHAHA.

-TeK-g


FURTHER READING ON THE 8900:

http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/p_forum.php?p=241

http://www.cellphonehacks.com/viewforum.php?f=21

http://cellphoneforums.net/forumdisplay.php?s=d62ebc60bdf2cc9e03038c55cd542c97&forumid=85

http://www.howardforums.com/archive/forum/166-1.html

http://bitpim.sourceforge.net/testhelp/