How Hack Motorola V3

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How to Hack Motorola V3

There are lots of resources out there and frankly there's a slough of information on how to do this. I had to read lots and lots of threads on a couple web site forums. Many step-by-step guides are out there, but they left out some areas and expected you to pick up the additional steps at yet another guide they linked to. There were threads with lists of links to other threads with even more links. I was worried I was going to miss some detail because I missed a thread out there... somewhere... There is also some incorrect information out there as far as the actual steps to do these modifications I found as I was performing them myself! This was aggravating to me. I wanted one guide that had it all. Or at least, all I needed to know. So I searched and studied and have come up with a simple, but very detailed set of instructions that people in general should have an easier time following. I then programmed eighteen V3s (silver and black and Cingular and T Mobile) using these same instructions.

You should know doing any of this could void your warranty. Follow the instructions carefully especially when doing more advanced things like editing seems. You could wind up with a dead phone if you don't watch what you type and where you type it in the various programs or if you delete something by mistake. It's very simple to do these modifications; It's just a lot of reading.

The best places to learn more are: MotoModders (especially, "Magic Tom's Official RAZR V3 Getting Started Guide" and, "Lord Farkward's somewhat 'detailed' n00b guide"). Also be sure to check out www.Motox.us for more tutorials and Monster Packs, flashes, flexes and Language Packs. For seem editing info go to www.xlr8.us/hofo. You can also try Howard Forums. These are all absolutely outstanding and first-rate websites with some extremely helpful people who can get you out of a jam.

Items needed:

V3 Phone with a fully-charged battery.

Data transfer cable (USB A to USB mini B - 5 pin). I'm using one with the ferrite core (box) toward the mini B end of the cord. Some say this causes data transfer throughput problems; I've had no problems though.

Windows 98 (not SE) / XP computer.

Programs:

Mobile Phone Tools (MPT) BVRP software. This is the program Motorola sells to the public to transfer mp3s, pictures, and to backup their phonebooks. It contains essential drivers for other programs. You can also get the data cable with this program.

Motorola Product Support Tool (PST) comes with Multi Flash Flex (MFF) program. These programs are used to flash/flex phones. It also contains essential drivers for other programs. Search Google for "PST_6.7_general.zip" and for the patch file "PST 6.7". Then copy the patch file contents into the PST folder and overwrite the duplicate files. You must have the patch files! My program wouldn't connect to my phone without them installed.

MotoSkin. This program removes date/clock/operator display on the main screen. It also allows you to tweak the interface soft menu buttons and some other features. Get this at www.motox.us.

P2kmanager (p2kman). This is the program to delete stock/locked files, download/upload seems, download/upload system files such as "cl.gif", "mma_ucp/dcp", "gain_table.bin" etc. Get this at MotoModders in the downloads section.

P2KmenuEditor. This program allows more advanced menu editing and remapping of keys. The menu editing features could possibly break Cingular code as far as internet connectivity is concerned. Use with caution. Get this at MotoModders in the downloads section.

XIV32. This is the program for editing seems. Get this at MotoModders in the downloads section. You can use other hex editors.

OpEdit. This is used for changing the operator's name to your custom text on the main LCD. You will have to Google around for this.

My Cingular phone was locked when I bought it. I found out buy putting my old SIM from another carrier in it. When I turned it on it gave me the message "Enter subsidy password." If you have an unlocked phone and use a locked update, your phone will be locked and possibly to another carrier! So watch out for this if it matters to you. Also us Cingular users must watch out that updates we use don't interfere with out ENS. This allows our phones to seamlessly switch between the AT&T towers (which Cingular owns now) and Cingular towers. If you use something that breaks ENS, your calls will get dropped if you need to switch towers in the middle of the call. There are instructions later on where you can verify if ENS is enabled.

Ensure your battery is fully charged. Modifying it with these programs drains the battery quickly. If your battery dies or you disconnect the cable from the phone by accident you could have an irrecoverable situation on your hands.

Information that would be good to know ahead of time are things like what version of boot loader your phone uses. Find this by holding down "*" and "#" while turning on your phone (mine was 07.E0). To get the rest of your information press the menu key, press "Settings" press "Select" scroll down to "Phone Status" press "Select" scroll down to "Other Information" and press "Select". Now you can check the "Flex Version" (mine was GSMV3xxCIN02NA088) and the "S/W Version" (mine was R374_G_0E.40.57R_A1).

Installation

Install the programs in this order: MPT, PST, p2kman, then make sure the phone works with all three of these programs. Mine worked right away with MPT and p2kman.

Only PST took a few extra steps to connect to the phone. If during the installation of PST the computer asks you for drivers, unzip the p2kman zip file and direct the computer to look for drivers in p2kman's driver folder.

Launch PST with the phone connected. It is at "C:\ProgramFiles\Motorola\PST\pst.exe". The "New Hardware Wizard" popped up on me looking for drivers. I told it to install them automatically and it found them at, "p2k_drivers_winxp\newest complete set\p2k.inf". It did this three times. I then closed the program and copied the PST 6.7 patch files into the directory and overwrote everything. I then relaunched PST and it connected to the phone.

If you have problems getting the various programs to work on your computer take a look at this thread at MotoModders.

Don't forget to install MotoSkin, P2KmenuEditor and XIV32.

Backing up the phone

Launch MPT. Among many other great features, it allows you to synchronize your phonebooks and calendars and load, create and modify ring tones.

Looking at the phone interface screen on the computer, click on the menu key and select "Organizer" then "Mobile Phone" then "Backup/Restore".

When I did this I selected to backup contacts and phonebooks. This does not back up flexes or software versions when doing this.

This will take a minute to do and it will save a ".cvs" file to your computer. Keep that file safe! For flashing you do not need to reload this file, but for flexing you would.

Flashing

The easiest way to modify your phone's software is to use what is known as a Monster Pack. This file contains a flash file and a flex file and updates both at once. You would follow these flashing instructions to install it. Otherwise you can perform a flash and a flex independently.

Launch MFF. This is found at: "C:\ProgramFiles\Motorola\PST\MultiFlashFlex.exe". You will use the same steps for flashing your phone with Monster Pack, flash (reflash) file, and Language Pack. It takes about ten minutes to flash with the Monster Pack. It takes about five minutes to flash a reflash. It will take about one minute to flash the Language Pack. Make sure that your phone is properly connected and in an area where it can't possibly be disconnected by accident from the computer. Look in the "Device" column in the lower window. You should see, "Motorola Phone [V3]". The "Status" column will show your phone as, "Connected...."

In the "Flash Setup" section, check the "Enable Flash" box and press the "Browse" button to locate the flash file you want to use. In my case I located the "R374_G_0E.41.C0R_reflash.shx". You may have to extract it from a ".rar".

In the "Preferences" section, make sure to check the "Override existing phone software even if it is newer than the superfile software", "Master Clear phones after flexing" and "Master Reset phones after flexing" boxes. For reflashing with a reflash file and Language Pack, "Master Clear..." and "Master Reset..." don't need to be checked. However, leaving them checked still won't touch the flex part of your phone.

Now you're ready to start. Once you click the "Start" button, you will see the progress status in the "Status" section. Your phone will go into a flashing mode. Don't touch anything from this point! Wait until you see the "Successful Flash!" message.

After I hit the "Start" button the "Found New Hardware Wizard" popped up looking for the "Motorola Flash Interface." Once again I told it to install the drivers automatically. It found the files and finished. In the mean time this caused MFF to abort and not flash correctly.

Hit the "Start" button and do it again. In the "Status" column several messages are displayed one after the other like: "creating image", "file status changed", "RAM downloads", "erasing flash memory", "flashing code group 1...up to 18", "verifying checksums" and then finally, "Successful FLASH !"

This is what the phone displays during a flash.

At this point it's safe to close the program and disconnect your phone. You will find your phone already turned off. Restart your phone. Now you have a new firmware and/or Language Pack installed on your phone. Turn your phone on and press the menu key, press "Settings" press "Select" scroll down to "Phone Status" press "Select" scroll down to "Other Information" press "Select" and now you can view your "S/W Version" which should have upgraded to "R374_G_0E.41.C0R". The next step is flashing the boot loader to "08.23". Go to www.motox.us and download the file "RAZR V3 R374 NEW BOOT LOADER 08.23" and then follow the same flashing procedure. Select "Browse" and load the boot loader flash.

Flexing

Since I already had a Cingular flex on my phone there was no need to reflex it. I was happy with my version "GSMV3xxCIN02NA088". I'm not going to update it until I have to. You can ignore the below listed instructions for flexing. You can always flex later if you decide you need to.

Launch MFF. Go to the "Flex Setup" window and check the "Enable Flex" box press the "Browse" button to locate the flex file you want to use. The flexing process will take about twenty minutes.

Make sure to check the "Override existing phone software even if it is newer than the superfile software", "Master Clear phones after flexing" and "Master Reset phones after flexing" boxes in the "Preferences" section.

When you're flexing your phone with a custom flex, perform "Master Clear" and "Master Reset" on your phone before flexing. Leave "Master Clear phones after flexing" and "Master Reset phones after flexing" options unchecked in the "Preferences" section of the MFF program. I wound up doing the exact opposite and everything still worked out when I flexed later on.

If you notice any problems with internet connectivity, then you may need to upload a "websessions" file to your "/a" directory. These can be downloaded for Cingular and T Mobile phones at MotoModders. The Cingular file has the standard settings for MMS and MEdia Net. The T Mobile file has the standard settings for e-mail, MMS, SMS and T-Zones.

--Your First Steps--

Changing the Cingular logo that shows on the outer LCD

By using p2kman to replace the "cl.gif", it'll change the outer LCD's image when the phone is open. The image should be 96 pixels wide by 80 pixels high. One important thing to note is that the file has to be named "cl.gif" (small letters, that's not an "eye" or a "one" it's a lower case "L").

Launch p2kman, then navigate to "/a/mobile/system/" and you'll see a "cl.gif". It's best if you first delete the old file, then upload the new one. Replace the old "cl.gif" with the new one by going to the "Files" area and clicking on "PC >>> Phone" and selecting the new "cl.gif". Next change the attribute back to "70044". Do this by entering "68" in the "Attributes" box and then click on "cl.gif" in the "File" window, then press the "Change" button back in the attributes area. Then "Restart" the phone through p2kman. This is the easiest modification there is.

Personally I'd rather have anything in place of that Cingular logo. The above images are not the correct size so don't download them. They are merely eye candy.

Modifying the operator, date and clock display

On the main screen of the V3 the operator (network) you are using, is displayed below the signal strength meter with the date under it. The clock is in the lower right corner. I wanted to remove the operator "Cingular" and the date. You should be aware, if you remove the operator name you will not see the names of any other carrier display should you change networks. If you remove the date entirely you will not get confirmation of your battery charging. Charging status will only show when turning on the phone and then only briefly. These modifications can be done easily using p2kman and MotoSkin.

Make sure to backup your files before you attempt any modifications. That way if something goes wrong, you can always go back to the original settings.

Launch p2kman. Look for the "Files" area and click "Update List". This will take a minute to read the directory structure of your phone and then you can navigate the directory like you would your own computer. Go to the top left area where it says "V3 (/a)". Click the + next to the word "mobile" to expand the directory. Now click the + next to the word "skins". In my case I have only three skins: "Moto", "Scarlet" and "Silver". Click on "Moto" then go to the file window and CTRL + click on all the files so they are highlighted. Then under the "Files" area click "Phone >>> PC". A screen will pop up and ask you where you want to save all the files. You might want to back these files up first then modify a second set on your computer. Repeat the process for "Scarlet" and "Silver". You will want to save these to separate folders. You also need to navigate to the "/a/mobile/mms/picture" folder on the phone and grab the wall papers for these three skins. This will help you to see what your modifications will look like before loading them back on to your phone. Once in the "picture" directory copy "Moto","Silver" and the "Passion" ".jpg" files to your computer. Put these individual files into their corresponding skin folders. I don't know why "Passion" isn't called "Scarlet" when it's wallpaper.

Launch the MotoSkin program. Open the first ".ski" file you want to modify. MotoSkin will say it can't find the wallpaper so click the "..." button in the "Wallpaper" section to "browse image". Load the picture you downloaded. Now you can see what your phone's main screen will look like while you edit it. You may find it helpful to click "Options" and then select "Text rect". This will give you an outline of the area that the operator, clock or date will take up on screen. You should not attempt to put two items at the same Y1 and Y2 settings. The phone tends to act erratically. I find even when you align things correctly in the program, the phone displays something different when the files have been uploaded to it. I tried to have the date on the lower left and the time on the lower right the same distance from the bottom of the screen and even though my coordinates didn't overlap, it always caused problems. In fact I started tweaking so much to get it just right that I completely locked up my phone to the point where the keypad wouldn't respond and the keypad light remained on constantly. I had to use the "57R_GSMV3xxCIN01NA065" flexlash file and then flex with "GSMV3xxCIN02NA088.hs" to get my phone to work. Then my greeting had a value stored that said "Flex Error: Phone Subsidy Locked". You get rid of this message by launching p2kman and deleting the file "secure_pds_init" in the "a/mobile/system" folder. Then go back to the phone and personalize the greeting to say whatever you want and it will stay that way.

I would either leave this particular setting all on or all off. Not worth the headache.

Remember, you'll have to repeat these steps for each skin that you want to modify. I will modify the "Scarlet" theme.

Click "Operator text" in the middle window. In the window beside that, change the value of "Opacity" to "255", "Outline count" to "0" and set "X1" to "3", "Y1" to "17", "X2" to "0" and "Y2" to "40". Some of your fields may already have these numbers in them.

You'll see on the image that the operator's name is now gone. In my example, the date is already gone too. I took the screenshot after tweaking all three items. Your date will still show.

Let's modify the date next.

Click on "Date text" in the middle window. In the window beside that, change the value of "Opacity" to "255", "Outline count" to "0" and set "X1" to "3", "Y1" to "41", "X2" to "0" and "Y2" to "64". You'll see on your image that the date is now gone.

I also tweaked my time, I felt it was too close to the edge of the screen.

Click on the "Clock" check box to get to "Digital Clock" in the middle window. In the window beside that, change the value of "Opacity" to "255", "Outline count" to "2" and set "X1" to "107", "Y1" to "173", "X2" to "175" and "Y2" to "196".

Next, save the ".ski" file, and upload it back to your phone using p2kman. You only need to upload ".ski" files, not the ".dat" files. Go to the "Attributes" box and enter "4" and then click on "Scarlet.ski" in the "File" window then press the "Change" button back in the attributes area (this actually sets the attribute to "70004" as you will see when doing a file update) . This makes it a system file. Now in case you perform a "Master Clear" on your phone, this file won't be affected.

In the "Phone control" area click "Restart phone". You can then disconnect your phone. Make sure to set your clock as "Digital" if you haven't already done so.

Remapping keys

Since I didn't want our phones connecting to the internet and being charged extra fees for this, I remapped two buttons on the keypad.

Launch P2KmenuEditor. Click the "Phone key mapping" tab at the bottom of the screen. Click "Open SEEM" then scroll down to "Open from phone". If you want to back up the seem you are editing first, then click on "Save SEEM" and scroll down to "Save as...".

Go to the phone image and click on the key you want to remap to another function. In my case, I wanted the blue globe, officially known as the "left extended soft key" to be remapped to raise the volume. Due to a bug somewhere, I actually had to program it to lower the volume to get it to raise the volume in the program. Now go to the "Select new key value..." pull down menu and choose your new feature. For the blue envelope button, I had to remap the opposite again to get it to lower the volume. Click on "Save SEEM" then scroll down to "Save to phone". Click on "Close" when you are all done.

Seem editing

Use XVI32 to edit your seems and p2kman to transfer them between the computer and phone. Once you decide to modify your phone I suggest the following steps in this order:

Flash the phone. Download new seems from the new flash, and do new seem edits, one by one on the new seem. Do not simply upload edited seems from an older flash. Different flashes will react differently with different seem edits. Upload edited seems. Delete unwanted files. Upload pictures, mp3s and your phonebook. Use MPT to do this. I'm a Macintosh user, so I just Bluetooth all this in.

Restart your phone and check if there are any problems after you get done deleting files, especially with the ring tone styles. Make sure that you can go into "Loud Detail" without getting sent to the main menu on the phone. Get there by pressing the menu key, go to "Settings" press "Select", scroll down to "Audio" and press "Select", scroll to "Loud Detail" and press "Change".

First I'll cover how to edit a seem. Then I'll list the seems that I modified in my phone. There are many more things to edit out there than what I'll cover here. If you want more, then investigate the sites I linked to at the top of this guide. Seems control the basic function of the flex by activating and deactivating features on the phone. Seem "0032_0001" is used as an example. It is also one of the most edited seems you'll come across. Launch p2kman. To download seem "0032_0001" from your phone, type in the first four digits of the seem, in this case "0032" in the "Seem" area "From" and "to" box as shown. Then click the "Download seem button.

A "Save As" window pops up. Leave the value "xxxx_yyyy" in the "File name" box as is and click the "Save" button.

Launch XVI32. Open the seem "0032_0001" that you just saved. In this screenshot, you see the value in the left panel that's highlighted. This is offset "1D" (that is a number one, not an "eye" or a lower case L). It is also called "Adr. Hex" at the bottom of the screen.

Go to the tool bar menu. Click "Tools" and then "Bit manipulation...".

The "Bit manipulation" window pops up. Each value from "0" to "7" is called a bit. Depending on the seem you are editing, you will either check or uncheck the corresponding box next to the bit. After that, click the "Set" button and save the edited seem "0032_0001". If you get seem editing instructions like: "004a_0001 > offset 22 [Set 01]" somewhere outside of this guide, then all you have to do is find the offset and then manually type "01" in its two-digit box. You do not go into the bit manipulator to do this. Verify everything you do.

Now upload the saved seem "0032_0001" using p2kman. Go to the "Seem" area. This time use the lower two boxes where it says "Upload seem". Type in "0032" in the "Seem" box and "0001" in the "rec" box as shown. Then click the "Upload seem" button.

In the "Open" window choose the seem "0032_0001" and click the "Open" button.

You will see "uploading seem N 0032record N 0001 ok." In the "Phone control" area click "Restart phone" and you're done.

Adjusting volume settings

Launch p2kman and download "gain_table.bin" from the "/a" directory. Now open "gain_table.bin" in XVI32. To adjust the earpiece gain, go to offset "0D" (in Adr. Hex, you'll only see "D"). The default value is "01" and you can adjust the settings from "00" to "08." "00" is silent and "08" is as loud as possible. Just type the number directly into the offset's two-digit box. I changed my earpiece gain to "04". Save the file, upload it to the phone and reset its attribute to "70004" by entering "4" in the "Attribute" box and then click on the file to highlight it and click "Change" then click "Restart phone".

There are several more settings you can make here as well.

Offset "19" controls the inner keypad volume. Default value is "01". This affects sounds coming out of the earpiece when not on a call (touchtones, button press beeps).

Offset "31" controls the speaker phone volume. Default value is "01". This affects sounds coming out of the external speaker when on a call with speakerphone activated.

Offset "49" controls the ringtone and video volume. Default value is "01". This affects multimedia, mp3, and midi sounds coming out of the external speaker (includes midi/mp3 ringtones, video playback).

Offset "4E" controls the system tone volume. Default value is "08". This affects audio coming out of the external speaker such as reminder tones, style/volume change tones, Continental, Siren, Attention, Classic ringtones, low batt tones, service tone, autoredial ring and roaming ringtones.

Substituting custom text for the operator's name

This modification works on Cingular phones with a couple quirks. Every time you call voice mail to retrieve a message you will always get a new, empty text message from the system. Additionally, you will see an icon on your main screen at all times indicating that you have a voice mail message. For you T Mobile users out there, you are lucky, this modification works flawlessly.

Before you do anything first find out what number your phone dials when you call voicemail. Do this by pressing the menu button and then press "Messages" and press "Select", scroll down to "Voicemail" then press the menu button, scroll down to "Voicemail Setup" and press "Select". Write the number displayed down. This modification will erase this number from memory.

Launch p2kman and go to the "a/" folder and download "plmn_text_table.bin" file to your computer. Now download seem "0032_0001".

Launch OpEdit. Open "plmn_text_table.bin". Look in the column which is labelled "Operator name". Scroll down to find your operator. Click on the first instance of your operator's name and it will become editable. Change the text to whatever you want. You should do this for all the entries in your country's area. When you are done, click the button labelled "Save file". Use p2kman to upload your modified file.

Launch XVI32. Open seem "0032_0001". Go to offset "2" and make sure bit "1" is checked (Cingular users uncheck this bit). Now go to offset "4B" and uncheck bit "6". Cingular users only: go to offset "1F" and uncheck bit "4".Click the "Set" button and save the file. Upload the seem to your phone and restart.

Press and hold "1" to dial voicemail. Do you get an error saying there is no number stored? Enter your number that your wrote down earlier and store it.

Custom startup/shutdown animation and sounds

Here is my start up animation:

Pretty simple, huh? This isn't so hard to do after all. This gif is 92k.

My shutdown animation:

This gif is 88kb.

If you want to simply remove this animation, the files you need to modify are called "custwakeup.gif" and "custgoodbye.gif". They are 176 pixels in width and 220 pixels in height. They are in the "/a" folder. You could simply make a black gif and upload it to the phone with those file names and that is what you would see in its place. This is very easy to do.

If this does not work for you, these are alternate instructions for changing out the startup and shutdown animation:
Go to seem "0032_0001" at offset "1D" uncheck bit "3" and at offset "31" uncheck bit "0". Now activate the custom startup animation. Go to seem "004a_0001" at offset "23" set it to "01" to turn it on.

If you are more adventuresome, make your own animated gif and upload it. I would recommend that the files not be too complex or too lengthy, as I'm not sure what the maximum file sizes are.

You should note that the attributes for both the "custwakeup.gif" and "custgoodbye.gif" are "70002". When you upload yours, you will need to change the attribute which will be "70000" after uploading. So go to the "Attributes" box and enter "2", click on the file to highlight it and then click on "Change".

If you want a custom sound at startup and shutdown you need to create an mp3 and put it in the "a/mobile/audio" folder. The file names are "Cust_Start~up.mp3", (T Mobile calls this file "Start~up.mp3") and "Power~down.mp3". Both these files have attributes of "70002" make sure yours do too.

If this does not work for you, these are alternate instructions for changing out the startup and shutdown sound:
To activate the sound go to seem "004a_0001" at offset "22" set it to "01" and at offset "24" set it to "01". At seem "0032_0001" go to offset "24" and check bit "3".

My custom audio file was encoded at 96Kbps and was 48K in size. This same file encoded at 128Kbps wouldn't play indicating a size limitation. I did not use a custom power down audio file.

For the Motorola splash screen, which is the first image displayed when turning on the phone, (the default image is on the left), there is an alternate image (on the right) which can be used by going to seem "004a_0001" at offset "1C0" and setting it to "01". The default splash screen offset is set at "00". One of these splash screens must display.

Installing games

I've Bluetoothed many games (.jar files) to the phone and had them work while some did not. You could also use JAD Creator in the downloads section of MotoModders. This converts the .jar file to a .jad file. You can also use p2kman to transfer them to the "/a/kjava" folder, not to be confused with the "/509/kjava" folder.

--Finish modifing the phone--

Video camera recording

If you are a Cingular customer then do not use p2kMenuEditor to do this modification. It will corrupt the Cingular flex and key features like "MEdia Mall" "MEdia Net" and "My Account" won't work! Currently, the easiest way to enable video recording is to use a Monster Pack (which contains both the flash and a flex) by the name of, "R374_G_0E.41.C0R_ICEMAN_MOTOX.shx", this comes with flex version, "GSMV3xxCIN02NA0A5_VIDEO". This is at www.motox.us. Otherwise, just follow the steps below if you'd rather do it manually.

Launch p2kman and download seems "0032_0001" and "004a_0001". Edit them in XVI32.

Seem "0032_0001" changes:

Offset "6E" check bit "2" and bit "3".
Offset "6F" check bit "7" (video quality menu selection).
Offset "70" check bit "0" and bit "6" (video lighting condition on dial).
Offset "7D" check bit "7"
Offset "7E" check bit "0" and bit "1" (video zoom on dial).
Offset "7F" check bit "0"
Offset "82" check bit "0"and bit "1" (video brightness on dial).

There is talk of this video recording feature disabling ENS, which we need for seamless tower transitioning. Check offset "4B" to see if bit "6" is checked. If you are running a Cingular flex this shouldn't be an issue but you can check. You can save this seem now.

Seem "004a_0001" changes:

Offset "1D0" enter "01" into the two-digit box (high resolution video default).

Offset "1D1" to record in 3gp video format check bit "1", to record in mp4 video format check bit "0".

Offset "1D3" enter "01" into the two-digit box.

Upload both seems.

You have to edit the mma menu files to activate the "Video Camera" menu under "Multimedia". If you are using a Cingular flex you must do the following:

Launch p2kman and go to the "/a/system" folder and download "mma_dcp" and "mma_ucp" to your computer. Since most people don't use "MotoMixer" anyway let's replace it with "VideoCamera".

Launch XVI32. Edit both files you just downloaded in turn. Find "MotoMixer". It is in the 200 address area. I found I needed to expand the window on XVI32 to get more line numbers to display on the left. Don't worry about overwriting one of the squares when you type in "VideoCamera". The image below has been cropped.

Now save this file and repeat the same steps for the other file. Save and upload to phone.

The file "mma_ucp" had an attribute of "270000". This value can not be reassigned after uploading the edited file. This attribute comes from the initialization the phone goes through when Cingular gets it from Motorola. The "mma_dcp" file had an attribute of "70004" originally but now has "7000", entering "4" in "Attributes" and pressing "Change" corrects it. Restart the phone.

Before and after swapping out MotoMixer for something
more useful.

This is how you set the limit to "None" for video recording: press the menu button, then press "Messages" and press "Select", go to "Message Inbox" press the menu button, go to "Inbox Setup" and press "Select", at "MMS Message Setup" press "Change", go to "Size Limit", press "Select" and set to "None". Try recording a video.

There it is, the panel for recording
video. Note the zoom, darken
and brighten buttons activated
with the navigational control
button on the keypad. Zoom
only works before you start
recording, not during a recording.

You can also change the resolution setting from your phone directly. Press the menu key, go to "My MEdia", press "Select", go to "Videos" press "Select", press the menu key, scroll down to "Videos Setup" and press "Select" and go to "Resolution". Also note the other important settings in this menu.

Changing menu items

I wasn't going to stop at just remapping a couple buttons to keep my phone from going online; there were other ways to get on the internet. On the main menu there are three Cingular added features called: "MEdia Mall", "MEdia Net" and "My Account". These just had to go too.

Launch P2KmenuEditor. Warning: once you delete these three menu items you will not be able to see your main menu in the standard 3x3 grid of icons. The menu will revert to list view with one of two solutions: add 3 icons (anything you want) back to the menu (it may still not work), or reload your original saved back up files and forget this modification. I chose to put "Address Book", "Calculator" and "Video Camera" into this menu. Just use the "Insert item" button to add new things and the up and down arrow keys to reorder your list.

Click on the "Phone menu tree" tab toward the bottom of the screen. Click on "Open menu" and then "Open from phone". Once it has loaded you might want to back up this file that you are editing by clicking "Save menu" and then scrolling down to "Save".

Once you've done that, go to the phone menu tree and choose whatever item you want to remove. "MEdia Net" is called "Browser" here. Click "Delete item", confirm your selection, click on "Save menu" and then "Save to phone". I next went to the "Settings", "Office Tools" directory and deleted "IM" and "Chat". Then I deleted the entire "WebAccess" directory. Disconnect your phone and verify the changes.

Main menu with 9 items, less than 9 items and the new menu.

Deleting unwanted files

Always make backups of every file that you're going to delete. Take note of the attributes of those files too by using p2kman. Let's go folder by folder starting with the root:

/a/
custgoodbye.gif (Cingular shutdown animation)
custwakeup.gif (Cingular startup animation)
DL_DB_INET_RECORDS (provider shop links)
moto.tcf (only delete this if you don't want Moto listed in your themes)
Scarlet.tcf
Silver.tcf
Silver Screen Saver 176x220~~.gif
Silver Skin Wallpaper 176x2~~.jpg
ss_moto_a_176x220_c~~.gif
ss_scarlet_176x220~~.gif

/a/mobile/mms/mmstemplate/
Everything (if you want this directory to remain then leave one file)

/a/mobile/picture/
All .emp and wv*.* and wp*.* files
Caribbean.jpg
Food.jpg
Higher Plane.jpg
Luminescence.jpg
Metal.gif
Moto.gif
Moto.jpg
Nocturne.gif
Pacific.jpg
Passion.jpg
Sapphire.gif
Silver.gif
Silver.jpg
Streaks.gif

/a/mobile/skins/
Delete the Scarlet and Silver directories. Do not delete the Moto directory.

/a/mobile/system/
secure_pds_init (fixes the error message after flash)

/a/mobile/video/
HELLOMOTO.3gp

If your phone goes down in flames

So you made a mistake seem editing, and now your phone turns on, but crashes immediately and you can't maintain a connection to p2kman long enough to restore your backup seems and files?

Take a deep breath. It can be fixed. There are a few options, which have varying degrees of success. I hope you made backups of your seem files before you edited them.

Option 1: Remove SIM. Turn off your phone, open the back cover, take out the battery, and remove your SIM card. Place the battery back in the phone and turn the phone on. Hopefully your phone won't crash before getting to the screen that says, "Insert SIM". If it gets there, you can connect your USB cable and upload your backup seems using p2kman.

Option 2: Phone off but charging. This option requires a USB cable with the side port that allows the charger to be connected at the same time the USB cable is connected. Motorola Cable SKN6311B. Turn your phone off, plug your charger into the side of the USB cable, and then plug the USB cable into the phone. After a couple of seconds, your phone will turn on and say, "Charging". If it gets there, you can upload your backup seems using p2kman.

Option 3: Flash/Flex with a Monster File. This option is the most drastic. You'll lose everything in your phone, but at least your phone won't be a paperweight any more. You are going to need to flash and flex your phone with a Monster File. Be sure to choose a Monster File that won't lock your phone to a specific network. Turn your phone on in boot loader mode. You do this by holding the "*" and "#" buttons while turning on the phone. The phone can be Flash/Flexed in this mode. When you plug your phone into the USB cable in boot loader mode, it will be recognized as an, "S Flash Neptune", device. This is normal. You may need to point the driver installation to the p2k.sys file that came with p2kman.

Unlocking the V3

I recently unlocked my V3s with a black box called the "Smart Unlocker". For more information on where to buy this device go here. The grammar is atrocious and the instructions are sparse to non-existent, but it does work on the V3. A simple test with another SIM on a different network will confirm that. Before you unlock the phone and try to use a different SIM the phone will ask for a password to override the subsidy lock. Once you use the unlocker the phone won't ask for the password. It will just log on to the new network. Make sure you only buy this device from an authorized reseller, as the company that makes this device will not support it without proof you bought it from a reseller.

Thanks to http://www.razrmods.com/page3.html for this how to. Please take note that by doing this how-to, you may be voiding the warranty, so do it with care.