FLASHER V7 (Virgin Mobile) TUTORIAL

Uploading MP3 Ringtones to Flasher V7                                              (By: Addaone)

Flasher V7It takes a little work to put custom ringtones on your Flasher V7. It can be done, but you must be warned:


THE FILESYSTEM OF THE FLASHER V7 IS VERY FRAGILE. YOU MAY RENDER YOUR PHONE INOPERABLE AFTER FOLLOWING THESE STEPS, EVEN IF YOU FOLLOW THEM EXACTLY. THE PHONE MALL OR THE AUTHOR OF THIS TUTORIAL TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY HARM
, DAMAGES, OR LOSS TO YOUR PHONE, PHONE DATA, OR BRAIN CELLS.
 

 

Alright, enough of that. Here's what you'll need.

1. Audacity (open-source audio editor)
2. CMX Studio (creates PMD file from WAV)
3. An Audiovox data cable (http://store.thephonemall.net). If you buy the cable elsewhere make sure it's not a charging cable (no box in the middle)...they don't work with the Flasher and can cause harm to the phone.
4. BitPim (displays the filesystem of your phone) oh.. and first install drivers.

GETTING BITPIM WORKING:
1. Connect your phone to the cable and plug it in to a USB port.
2. Open BitPim. Under "Phone Type", select "Other CDMA phone."



3. Click the Browse... button next to COM port. Select the manufacturer of your phone's cable and press OK. Most likely it will say "Curitel Packet Service." If it doesn't you'll have to try each port until you get a connection.


4. Press OK. Select View | View filesystem. Click the plus (+) sign in the window you now see. In a few moments, the filelist of your phone will be displayed. Tah dahhh!

5. IMPORTANT: Right click the / at the top of the directory structure and select "Backup entire tree..." This will make a zip file out of the guts of your phone, and will be handy if you should happen to screw things up while doing this. Save the zip file in a convenient location. Make sure you do this EVERY TIME BEFORE YOU EDIT A RINGTONE!
6. Decide what ringtone you want to overwrite now. The ringtones are PMD files, named in increments of 8 (8.pmd, 16.pmd, 24.pmd) in reverse order of how they are listed in "My ringtones" on your phone. Here's how they're listed:

40.pmd -- Virgin Tone 2.0
32.pmd -- Techno
24.pmd -- Sea World
16.pmd -- Puppy
8.pmd -- Jingle

I'll be working with overwriting puppy (16.pmd) in this tutorial, but if you decide to overwrite something else, it's important to replace 16.pmd with the filename of the tone you want to overwrite. Minimize BitPim.

CONVERTING MP3 TO RINGTONE FORMAT:
1. Open an MP3 file with Audacity.


2. If the MP3 is a stereo file (there will be two waveforms in the window), then click the name of the track in the bar on the left side and select "Split Stereo Track."


 Click the X in the left bar on the bottom (Right channel) track. Then click the name of the track on the remaining (Left channel) track and select "Mono." You should have something like this:


 

3. Select a 20-second section of audio by dragging the mouse in the waveform.


Go to File | Export Selection as WAV. Save it and close Audacity.

4. Open CMX Studio. Select CMX 3.0 as the working file type. Go to File | PMD File Properties. Under Waveform Audio Format, select ADPCM IMA/DVI. (otherwise your audio will sound like crap. =) ) Click Update.



 

5. Go to Insert | Wave. Select the audio file you created. You may get a message about resampling the audio. Press OK. You will then see your file in the wave box. Drag it into the pink box under "Layout."
 

6. Drag the waveform all the way to the left to ensure the ringtone starts playing as soon as your phone rings.


7. Click the PLAY icon in the toolbar at the top to make sure your ringtone sounds OK so far.


8. Click the "Loops" tab under "Resources." Drag an "Infinite Loop" down to your waveform. Select the loop and uncheck the "Lock Length" box under Properties. Type how long your ringtone lasts in the Length box for the loop. Now your tone will loop infinitely. Hit PLAY again to see how it sounds.


9. Go to File | Export CMX file. Name it 16.pmd and press OK.

THE MOMENT OF TRUTH:
1. Open BitPim again. Click the + next to MYRINGTONES, and then again next to the 16.


2. Right-click on the 16.pmd and select overwrite. Find the 16.pmd you just created and press OK. The file will transfer to your phone.

3. You're done! Test it on your phone.

WHAT TO DO IF YOUR PHONE GETS STUCK IN A REBOOTING CYCLE:
Oh crap. You get about two seconds of connectivity before your phone reboots on you. Overwrite your new ringtone with the backup of the original file that you made. (You did make a backup, right?) Odds are, the next time your phone reboots, everything will be OK. It may take a couple of reboots before you can access the directory and successfully upload the phone. If not...hope where ever you got the phone has a good return policy. =)

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