BlackJack ROM Update Released from Samsung

[Mike Temporale]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://erms.samsungusa.com/customer/sea/jsp/faqs/faqs_view.jsp?SITE_ID=22&PG_ID=557&PROD_SUB_ID=558&PROD_ID=751&AT_ID=83176' target='_blank'>http://erms.samsungusa.com/customer/sea/jsp/faqs/faqs_view.jsp?SITE_ID=22&PG_ID=557&PROD_SUB_ID=558&PROD_ID=751&AT_ID=83176</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Samsung has recently released a software update for the BlackJack, which is recommended to be installed. This update should enhance roaming capabilities, especially Internationally. In addition, there are cosmetic user interface changes (several icons have been changed) contained within the update. The update will take about 10 minutes to complete if the system is already set up."</i> <br /><br />Don't get too excited - It's not Windows Mobile 6. But it does address some roaming issues along with some new icons for apps. The download is 51MB and you'll need to turn off pop-up blockers or else you won't see the EULA window that takes you to the download. I have downloaded my copy and will be flashing my device this afternoon. Please post back here and let us know how it goes for you.<br /><br /><b>Caution:</b> Doing this update will remove all your personal data and settings from the device. It will reset the device to factory settings. If you have SIM unlocked the device, it will remain SIM unlocked.

[onlydarksets]

That has to be the record for most complicated update ever. The instructions are several pages long! Good luck!

[rdecker]

Update went very smoothly; no issues.

The only changes are the Cingular Splash Screen is changed to at&amp;t, the dialer screen has an at&amp;t logo on it and some of the application icons have been changed to at&amp;t.

I can't speak to the roaming issue since I have not had any problems in that area; every time I traveled to Europe it worked like a champ.....

I sure hope this 'minor' update does not mean we won't be getting a more major bug-fix related patch. I would think that if they were planning on a more significant update they would have incorporated these minor updates with that..... :?

[amg212]

Still no Bluetooth fixes??

[Jerry Raia]

Of course Vista and the fantastic WMDC won't let me connect my BlackJack, I'll have to pass on this one.

[LarryKeith]

I have completed the update and like rdecker said, the icons are now at&amp;t. Cingular Video has become Cellular Video (They just changed the name to match the icon of CV).

It also looks like they did not include the DST patch. I would have thought this would be included. Once the update was complete, the time was an hour behind.

[amg212]

It also looks like they did not include the DST patch. I would have thought this would be included. Once the update was complete, the time was an hour behind.

That is absurd! It is bad enough that devices have been sold after the new DST law was signed that didn't have the patch - but do distribute ROM upgrades that don't address the issue after we're already in the affected date range? Unreal!!!

[davidwsica]

Of course Vista and the fantastic WMDC won't let me connect my BlackJack, I'll have to pass on this one.

Do you mean you can't even sync your Blackjack to Vista via WMDC or that you can't apply the update? I'm able to sync my Blackjack to Vista via WMDC but haven't tried to apply the update yet.

Thanks,
David

[SPPassion]

Looking for some help here. I did install the modem file as per instructions and it installed fine, Downloaded the upgrade rom file, connected the device in flashing mode but..my active sync does not recognize the device, therefore can't complete the flashing process.
Any suggestions? Just want to make sure that under Settings>connections>USB, USB should be set to Active Sync and NOT to modem setting? I'll appreciate any help/suggestions?
Thanks

[Jerry Raia]

Of course Vista and the fantastic WMDC won't let me connect my BlackJack, I'll have to pass on this one.

Do you mean you can't even sync your Blackjack to Vista via WMDC or that you can't apply the update? I'm able to sync my Blackjack to Vista via WMDC but haven't tried to apply the update yet.

Thanks,
David

I can't do either!

[Foxbat121]

Looking for some help here. I did install the modem file as per instructions and it installed fine, Downloaded the upgrade rom file, connected the device in flashing mode but..my active sync does not recognize the device, therefore can't complete the flashing process.
Any suggestions? Just want to make sure that under Settings>connections>USB, USB should be set to Active Sync and NOT to modem setting? I'll appreciate any help/suggestions?
Thanks

Correct. But make sure you UNCHECKED 'Allow USB connections' on PC's ActiveSync connection settings.

[SPPassion]

Looking for some help here. I did install the modem file as per instructions and it installed fine, Downloaded the upgrade rom file, connected the device in flashing mode but..my active sync does not recognize the device, therefore can't complete the flashing process.
Any suggestions? Just want to make sure that under Settings>connections>USB, USB should be set to Active Sync and NOT to modem setting? I'll appreciate any help/suggestions?
Thanks

Correct. But make sure you UNCHECKED 'Allow USB connections' on PC's ActiveSync connection settings.
Thanks. This solved the problem :D

[nutzareus]

Nothing of value in this upgrade to report except references to Cingular replaced with the "new" AT&amp;T. Also found it annoying that DST patch had to be re-installed, you would think that would be a mandatory rollup fix for everyone.

Cooked ROMS anyone? :lol: I may have to hack into this ROM and do customization like the XDA guys did for the HTC phones...

[Mike Temporale]

The DST patch shouldn't be required on the Blackjack. Anything with AKU3 or greater already has it baked in. If you're not seeing the correct time, it would be my guess that you have the auto update feature turned on and your cell towers are incorrect. Which means the time will be wrong when we pass over the original DST date.

[runbuh]

The DST patch shouldn't be required on the Blackjack. Anything with AKU3 or greater already has it baked in. If you're not seeing the correct time, it would be my guess that you have the auto update feature turned on and your cell towers are incorrect. Which means the time will be wrong when we pass over the original DST date.

Sadly, if you do not install the DST patch on a BlackJack, your clock will be off one hour, and appointments on the calendar will also be off one hour. Despite what Cingular was telling us about this update not being needed, it is. I have even hard reset my phone twice since March 11th for testing, and the time and calendar entries are wrong until I install the DST patch.

[Rocco Augusto]

i was going to do this last night but i cant justify reinstslling all of my apps or resetting up all of my email settings and exchange settings for just sme new icons.

polus, i was having dst troubles until i installed the patch so i wouldnt want to do that again either :)

[Foxbat121]

The DST patch shouldn't be required on the Blackjack. Anything with AKU3 or greater already has it baked in. If you're not seeing the correct time, it would be my guess that you have the auto update feature turned on and your cell towers are incorrect. Which means the time will be wrong when we pass over the original DST date.

Obviously, that has been proven wrong two weeks ago. AKU3.3, maybe. BlackJack is AKU3.0.2 which is affected (supprise) and Cingular now changed its advisery and ask all BJ customers to install the patch. Even Microsoft doesn't mention which version of WM5 doesn't need the patch. I'll put the blame on Microsoft. The law passed in 2005. WM5 released in later 2005. AKU3 released late 2006. There is no excuse not fixing the DST issue.

[Mike Temporale]

Guys, you're not following what I'm saying. I understand that you had to install the patch to get your clocks to line up. What I'm saying is that you shouldn't have to do that because the device is AKU3. The reason why you had to do it is because your carrier - Cingular, hasn't updated their cell towers. The BlackJack comes with an Auto Update feature for the time zone. It works by reading the time settings from the local cell tower. Then it adjusts your phones time zone and time to match. So, if Cingular didn't update their towers correctly or even at all, then your device would not adjust the time as expected.

This is why some people say a 2 hour jump and others didn't see anything at all. Chances are very good that when we hit the weekend when DST would have happened, you will find that your device is off again.

Remember this post (http://www.smartphonethoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=13145) I made about how my time was always changing on the blackjack. That's exactly the reason why yours didn't change.

[Foxbat121]

This issue with cell tower is mostly limited to GSM towers. I found the 3G towers (that used WCDMA) is rather accurate.

[rdecker]

[quote="Mike Temporale"]Guys, you're not following what I'm saying. I understand that you had to install the patch to get your clocks to line up. What I'm saying is that you shouldn't have to do that because the device is AKU3. The reason why you had to do it is because your carrier - Cingular, hasn't updated their cell towers. "

If that was the cause - then my Wife's V505 phone would not have adjusted to DST; it did. That would imply Cingular did update their towers..???

[Mike Temporale]

Arne Hess from The::Unwired has just pinged me to say that his contact at Samsung has confirmed that the patch is needed for the BlackJack.

However, I still can't figure out why it would matter if your phone synced time from the cell tower. :? Oh well. The answer is Yes, you have to reinstall the patch.

What a freakin' mess this whole moving DST has become. I've said it before, and I guess it's worth saying again; Microsoft really screwed up on this.

[Foxbat121]

Here is the Cingular's official account for this mess:

To help clarify some of the discussions/comments on this issue, let me add the following:

1) It appears that we hit a "perfect storm" with the DST change, as there was some confusion on the parts of Microsoft, carriers, device vendors, PC makers and even users on what to do with which devices or apps. There was a lot of info posted ahead of time, but as with all big changes in technology-land, not all goes as smoothly as planned. I think Y2K went better than this for all of us.

2) Contrary to the comments/opinions/flames of some of the posters on this thread, Cingular did in fact think and plan for the DST change ahead of time. The information Cingular had up through Sunday from Microsoft was that the Blackjack, as the latest Windows Mobile device we had launched, was based on a WM 5.0 software version that didn't need the DST patch. This is why we had the info on our website and the Answer Center that Blackjack didn't need the update.

3) On Sunday and Monday, Microsoft was as surprised as those of us with Blackjacks that the DST update didn't occur properly. Cingular immediately applied the DST patch that was provided for other Smartphones and PDAs, and verified that it would update correctly. We then communicated this change out to our retail and support channels, and made sure Microsoft was engaged to investigate what went wrong in their WM5.0 AKU 3.x software patch.

In addition, we also got our website and support folks updated to provide the correct info. I'm not sure why Samsung support gave out some of the info they did, but likely they didn't have the updated info yet, plus their support reps have so many products to track that I can see where some reps may not always give the right answer the first time. I've found this to be true for many different companies.

4) Several posters on this thread have provided info on what to do, but let me summarize here.
On the Cingular site, you can get info on the Blackjack at:
https://www.cingular.com/support/setDevice.do?universe=cingular&amp;make=Samsung&amp;model=Blackjack&amp;x=9&amp;y=2
You can also get general DST update info at:
https://www.cingular.com/support/knowledgeBase.do?content=KB77065.html.
On the Microsoft site, the WM5.0 info is at:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/daylightsaving/default.mspx.
Note that this procedure indicates you must have ActiveSync 4.5 for the patch to work properly if you sync it to the device. You can also directly download the patch to the device by going to http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/.

5) For some of the appointment time issues, there were also some steps that had to be taken in Outlook to adjust recurring meetings or other appointments made for the 3 week "in-between" period of new DST start vs. old DST start. For other calendar apps and syncing, I don't have much info, but there may be similar issues with those.

6) Our network sends out a standard date/time signal with a timezone indicator and DST indicator. Phones read these and based on the user's settings for timezone and auto-update, second timezone display, etc., will then display a date/time.

I hope this will help to clarify what happened. I'll apologize for any confusion or difficulty users had as they worked this out -- I was one of you as well. If some are still having problems, please call our care line or post here, and we'll try to help.

Regards,
Mike Hlavaty-LaPosa
Director, Advanced Devices
Cingular (now the new AT&amp;T)

Read the original thread here http://forums.cingular.com/cng/board/message?board.id=samsung&amp;thread.id=26638&amp;page=5

[Foxbat121]

While we're on it, how about this post:
From: Michael Bardeau
Sent: Wednesday, March 21, 2007 8:06 AM
To: Jeff Hoster
Subject: Windows 6.0 update

Hi Jeff

Here is the latest information regarding windows mobile 6.0 and the BlackJack. Samsung and Microsoft are submitting 6.0 software version to Cingular on May 26th. At that time Cingular has 8 weeks to review the OS and give approval. Given the approval all BlackJack from late July time frame going forward will come from the factory with the new 6.0 OS. Also at that time there will be a download for existing BlackJack users who want to upgrade via an Cingular/AT&amp;T hosted website. So yes , given Cingular approval the BlackJack will support windows 6.0 OS.

Hope this helps

Michael Bardeau
Samsung Telecommunications America
National Accounts Manager

[Mike Temporale]

While we're on it, how about this post:
From: Michael Bardeau
Sent: Wednesday, March 21, 2007 8:06 AM
To: Jeff Hoster
Subject: Windows 6.0 update

Hi Jeff

Here is the latest information regarding windows mobile 6.0 and the BlackJack. Samsung and Microsoft are submitting 6.0 software version to Cingular on May 26th. At that time Cingular has 8 weeks to review the OS and give approval. Given the approval all BlackJack from late July time frame going forward will come from the factory with the new 6.0 OS. Also at that time there will be a download for existing BlackJack users who want to upgrade via an Cingular/AT&amp;T hosted website. So yes , given Cingular approval the BlackJack will support windows 6.0 OS.

Hope this helps

Michael Bardeau
Samsung Telecommunications America
National Accounts Manager


8O Dude.... That's huge. I've just posted it to the front page. Anyone looking to talk about this news, please do it over in this thread. (http://www.smartphonethoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=86368#86368) This current thread is to talk about the AT&amp;T ROM update.

[bystander]

Thank you Mike. Hopefully a variety of AT&amp;T (Cingular) ROM will be treated to upgrades in the future....

[ctmagnus]

I've said it before, and I guess it's worth saying again; Microsoft really screwed up on this.

Yeah, but whose fault is it that Microsoft even had to do it in the first place? ;)

[Lomius]

Ok I am not by any means PC illiterate. But this is the most COMPLICATED install I have ever encountered. I have disabled all firewalls, blocks, blah blah blah. Done everything according to the instructions, but I still do not get the download for SGH_i607_GB4_Rebranding_EMR.exe to show up, and even with the Activesync USB unchecked nothing happens, my device counts down from 4 to 1 then reads failed. WTF. I have done everything correct. Why is this so damn complicated? Anyone put this into english or have a real DOWNLOAD LINK to use?

[LeonardR]

:?: If you apply the upgrade and then to a do a restore with Sprite will the Blackjack loose the upgrade?

[Jerry Raia]

:?: If you apply the upgrade and then to a do a restore with Sprite will the Blackjack loose the upgrade?

No but the restore will probably only work if you use Sprite's method for restoring the backup to a new ROM. If you just tried a straight restore, it probably won't work. No matter what though, it won't undo the upgrade.

[LeonardR]

:D My Blackjack is loaded with extra programs, Exchange Server Settings, Custom Profiles, 40 Speed Dials, etc. Did the upgrade which went fine and took my phone back to like new but AT&amp;T branded. Prior to doing the upgrade I followed Sprite's instructions to use the "Get Upgrade Data Utility" Restored the phone using Sprite's protocol and my phone is back to exactly how it was except it is also upgraded!

[Jerry Raia]

Excellent!

[webe2623]

I don't know if anyone else has discovered this, but there is at least one bug with this update regarding the built in shortcut functions. The shortcut Fn-m is still looking for Cingular Music, which was re-named AT&amp;T Music. Does anyone know how to edit these functions to correct this and any other shortcut bugs?

[Lomius]

Nevermind. Got it to work. Had to disable NIS too...

[Lomius]

Nevermind again. THIS UPGRADE BRICKED MY BLACKJACK. I am returning to cingular today, but just letting yall know. i finished the install as stated in the guide. then I did the check, yes everything branded at&amp;t and the version number checked out. Then it just suddenly shut down and will not come back up again. WTF?

[Mike Temporale]

Then it just suddenly shut down and will not come back up again. WTF?

8O I don't like to hear stories like that. I hope it's just a fluke or something.

[Lomius]

well the good news is Cingular is sending me a free replacement. I just ate the 7.50 overnight shipping cost and it was here at 9am. So thats good on them. Hopefully I dont recreat the problem.

[Jerry Raia]

well the good news is Cingular is sending me a free replacement. I just ate the 7.50 overnight shipping cost and it was here at 9am. So thats good on them. Hopefully I dont recreat the problem.

Are you going to try it again?

[Lomius]

Well I was able to get it successfully updated. However Cingular replaced my NEWER Blackjack HW V7.0 with the refurbished HW V6 which I was pretty pissed about. But then I sold it on ebay and got a 7 for cheaper LOL then reupgraded and worked. So in the end I made a lil bit o money and got the upgrade working. So as I said Bittersweet.

Id recommend DEMANDING the EXACT hardware version if you use Cingular's RMA replacement (which is a good service btw but the should have replaced with an exact blackjack imo).

[jserlin]

Hoping someone has a clue on this one. I followed all of the instructions on modem installation and downloading of the upgrader exactly.

When I launch the upgrade utility I get the following message "Load binary Update Fail!!"

Has anyone experienced this? I have redownloaded this updater from Samsung multiple times, restarted the Laptop multiple times, to no avail. ActiveSync is set right.... this update program simply won't load and run.

And yes, I have XP not Vista!

Any help would be appreciated!!!!!! Thanks in advance.