Win CE 4.2 .NET device with troubles

Hi all,

I turn to the more knowledgeable people on this forum with a few questions. I own a GPS system, the Packard Bell GPS400. This device runs on Win CE 4.2 .NET
I already managed to unlock Windows and get rid of the Shell installed by PB. So now I have a pure Win CE device in front of me. Resolution is 240x320. I managed to get a lot of applications up and running.

The one thing I don't seem to be able to get running is a database application. I tried several. "Data on the Run", "Access Manager", "Pocket Database",...

I manage to install them on the device, but when executing the program, something goes wrong. Either I get an error message, or else some features do not work properly.

My guess is, from what I have learned already in browsing this forum, that perhaps some dll's are missing? Can somebody shed a light here? From what I have learned until now, this is a HPC vs PPC vs Palmsize whatever thing.

Who can help me?

To help, in the meantime I got a bit further already. By installing a CAB file named msvbppc.armv4.cab I managed to get Pocket Database running, although by startup the program tells me twice that it "failed to register .DLL". Tapping OK twice opens up the program, BUT it fails to recognise a CDB file on my SD card from within the program itself. Opening this CDB file by double clicking on it, opens it fine.

Other smaller inconveniences insie the program are still telling me it is not like it should be. But I'm already on the right track. Or not ???

Edited by Liebaart 2006-11-07 2:39 PM

Nobody to the help? Really ????

If already somebody could tell me if PPC applications can run on a Win CE 4.2 .net device, or at least, what is the difference between a bare-bone win ce 4.2 .net and PPC ??

I think no one responds simply because you are in new territory here...and are all alone in this endeavor...I doubt anyone else here has the model GPS...

I can tell you that on my 900C, a CE.NET 4.2 device, I can run all the HPC software, but have trouble running a lot of the PPC stuff, especially the newer applications.

Rich

Rich

Thanks for the reply.
I'm not looking for users of the same model GPS. I'm simply looking for people who can help me understand why ANY device running Win CE 4.2 .net with a 240x320 screen could be giving trouble if one tries to run software on it.

Is there someone here who could perhaps explain if and what difference there is between a PPC and a HPC, apart from screen resolutions, if they both run on a ARM processor with 4.2 ??

I don't own a CE 4.x .net H/PC (though I do own a CE 4.2 .net Windows Mobile 2003 Pocket PC), but I can tell you that there are lots of differences between a CE 4.2 .net ARM H/PC and a CE 4.2 .net ARM Pocket PC. For one, because of the vast difference between the two platforms, there are several differences in the DLL files required to run specific programs - and of course the programs themselves are compiled differently for the H/PC versus the Pocket PC - sometimes very differently. The folder hierarchy is also a little different between the H/PC and the Pocket PC.

Even within one platform, processor type, and OS version, there can be differences. For example, I have three H/PCs that each run H/PC 2000 and have MIPS processors - yet there are many programs that each one handles a little differently. The fact that there are many different types of MIPS (and ARM) processors is a factor, and what other programs are installed may be a factor too, as some may overwrite some of the DLL files already on the device with different versions. This is the first post I've seen in a year and a half of visiting this site from a user of a Packard Bell H/PC; it may be several days before another user with a similar device will happen upon this thread. (EDIT: Ah, spoke too soon. Here's one right now. This thread may shed a little light: http://www.hpcfactor.com/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=6598&posts=30 )

Please be patient. I've seen plenty of forum sites where questions posted as long as five years ago remain unanswered. That's one thing you'll never experience here.

Edited by CE Geek 2006-11-10 2:48 PM

your device has only the core of cenet 4.2.

pocketpc's have a full implementation of the core 4.2 OS and what's more, they also run a platform on top of it named windows mobile 2003. it isn't called cenet 4.2 on pocketpc's but windows mobile.

about the rest, CE Geek told you.

There is a utility for registering DLL files called RegSvrCE. I don't recall the Web address of the site, though. You should find it with a Google search, though.

Hi!

You seems to be know about WinCE.Net 4.2 Core !
I just experienced the difficulty of playing with service menus...Got a Pioneer Avic S1 GPS with erased OS!
Only the bootloader is availabel with these "Upgrade WinCe by USB" or "Upgrade WinCE by sd/mmc"
My question is: could You (or somebody else reading this) help me with WinCE.Net 4.2 Core flashfile winceimg.bin to restore this tiny machine to work again?
Thanxx

Sandor/sweden

forgot my address: sanco@hotmail.com

doesn't the manufacturer / OEM have an image available?

anyway, a generic 4.2 core image won't work. it would have to be hardware specific, correct bsp, drivers etc... if you can supply all the needed information about the hardware and if PB supports everything of it, then it may be possible to build a working and compatible image. with a lot of work.

OR, you can find another machine of the same model and dump its rom, cut the OS image out of it, find out what format the bootloader is expecting (hopefully it can accept nb0 - plain image without any headers etc - otherwise again extra work and you might want a bootloader dump too then), and flash it.

if the machine has NOR flash it'll be very easy to dump / backup its rom, but if it is NAND, that could pose problems. if it is NAND, you may use pdocread from the rapi tools (itsutils), as long as the machine can use activesync - but even then it might or might not work. of course you can still do a ram dump (again assuming you have activesync - or write the ondevice tool for it based on the available source code. i don't know of any such tool atm), with the uncompressed OS image in it and it could be useful but that'd be a lot of extra work again.

these are the options i can think of.


edit: oh one more thing. your bootloader options sound like the mio a701 bootloader menu. so the flashable OS image format might be the same. - that reminds me, if the OEM doesn't have an image available, then maybe there's another device under another name but with identical hardware that does have OS images available for download.

Edited by cmonex 2006-11-22 8:13 AM

On a working model:

Using SOTI's Pocket Controller on a working model there is a lots of possibilities to discover the system (made an amont of bitmap captures if somebody interesting, putting up here...
There is also information about the bootloader menu and commands!

On the dead device:

It´s possible to install a Navigon pna6000 image I found on the net.
The device is reading the sd card with winceimg.bin and winceimg.cks aswell.
At reset It shows the "Navigon" startlogo but nothing more happens!
No ActiveSync-able, no buttons responding!

More experiences coming later...

Still Pioneer Avic-S1...
I've installed Tascali Registry Editor and it works!!!! Waw! On a Wince.NET 4.2 core device!
The first application I could run on it!
Created at once a backup of registry----->U can find it here!
Also a map of the bootloader commands was made by me. ----->Check it out here!

How can I clone the system???






Edited by sanco 2006-11-24 6:55 AM

very interesting pics!

i replied to your PM! hopefully we can work something out.

U and anybody may use these pictures for publication in case of study or development
I mean there's NO copyright on it!

And don´t forget to download and check out SOTI's Pocket Controller...with lots of usable functions for development and troubleshooting of wice devices.

That´s all Folks!