V710 Setting Ringtones Help Required

[undofkirk]

I have a V710 with a transflash card. I was able to load MP3's onto my transflash and then move them to the phone.

I read in a previous post that you should have the option to set them as ringtones. I do not seem to have that option on my phone.

The file size I imported was 160kb's and the biggest MP3 ringtone size that was already on the phone was around 68kb's. Is it maybe because the file is too big for a ringtone?

My carrier is Telus Mobility in Canada.

Thanks in advance for looking and helping.

[Jay2TheRescue]

Welcome to WA! You have to hack the phone's OS to enable that. Most CDMA carriers disable it so you are forced to purchase ringtones from them. If you tried you'd also notice that you probably can't transfer ringtones via bluetooth either. Check out www.motomodders.net I think they should have the information you seek.

-Jay

[Andy]

Were you able to move the ringtone and save them to your phone? I do that the exact same way with my E815 and it works flawless. Once you saved the ringtone to your phone, you should be able to select it.

[undofkirk]

"Were you able to move the ringtone and save them to your phone? I do that the exact same way with my E815 and it works flawless. Once you saved the ringtone to your phone, you should be able to select it."


Yes, I was able to move the MP3 and save them to the phone with no problems. I noticed that some of my tones are .mid files, and some are MP3 files.

When I go to my Contact List and try to select the new file as a ring tone, I can not see it, whereas I can see everything that was preloaded when I bought the phone."

I think I am missing something easy here. If you could do a little walkthrough I would appreciate it.

Thanks for helping.

[Jay2TheRescue]

Were you able to move the ringtone and save them to your phone? I do that the exact same way with my E815 and it works flawless. Once you saved the ringtone to your phone, you should be able to select it.

Yeah, but he has a V710. Remember stuff like that w/ the V710 is why there's a class action against Verizon.

-jay

[Jay2TheRescue]

"Were you able to move the ringtone and save them to your phone? I do that the exact same way with my E815 and it works flawless. Once you saved the ringtone to your phone, you should be able to select it."


Yes, I was able to move the MP3 and save them to the phone with no problems. I noticed that some of my tones are .mid files, and some are MP3 files.

When I go to my Contact List and try to select the new file as a ring tone, I can not see it, whereas I can see everything that was preloaded when I bought the phone."

I think I am missing something easy here. If you could do a little walkthrough I would appreciate it.

Thanks for helping.

If you got that far you may try deleting the two *.db files in your ringtones directory on your phone, then turn it off and back on. You will need a data cable, a computer, and software to read the file system of your phone to try that though, and I'm not 100% sure that will work on a V710. It does on Motorola GSM models.

-Jay

[undofkirk]

Will have to get a data cable to see what else I can do...don't really want to hack into the phone, but will if required.

Thanks for the help/answers.

[Jay2TheRescue]

Will have to get a data cable to see what else I can do...don't really want to hack into the phone, but will if required.

Thanks for the help/answers.

you're welcome. www.motomodders.net has lots of info on hacking the file system if you choose to do that.

-Jay

[bonoriffic]

Yeah, but he has a V710. Remember stuff like that w/ the V710 is why there's a class action against Verizon.

The V710 disabled some bluetooth features and with the second software load also disabled the ability to copy files from the transflash to the phone. However an easy work around is possible to move MP3's from a transflash to the phone without the need to hack your phone.

Save your MP3 in mono at a bit rate of around 96. Call your self and time how long the phone plays the ring noise before voicemail, that is how long your sound should be. There is a max time length of around 30 seconds. Start with a 10 second file to get things working first. Total file size shouldn't exceed about 250k give or take. I haven't actually done this in awhile, so I may be slightly off on the numbers. Load your transflash up with songs. power off your phone before inserting/removing the transflash.

Send an MP3 from the transflash as a message using your own phone number or a fake (555-555-5555) address. You can do this as a menu option when playing the song, or create a text msg and insert the song. You need to switch storage device to transflash if you don't see your files. That is an option using the middle soft key. After a minute or two, go to the outbox and the failed message will have the transflash MP3 as an attachment. Save the attachment to the phone's memory, and then it can be applied as a ringtone.

You can set ringtones for specific callers from the contacts menu, or set just one ringtone for all calls where you normally change ringtone settings. Your new file should be shown in the list of ringtone sounds now. You may have to change your storage device back to the phone's memory if you don't see the default choices plus your new song. Only files on the phone can be ringtones.

I don't remember if you need to save the mp3 as a .mid file. If .mp3 extension doesn't work try with .mid.

If you have a mp3 in the phones memory and can play it using the mp3 player, and it is mono and under the file and size limit, it can be applied as a ringtone.

[Jay2TheRescue]

I thought they had stopped this once they found out people were doing this. I have heard that the "midi hole" was closed up and no longer works.

-Jay

[bonoriffic]

I thought they had stopped this once they found out people were doing this. I have heard that the "midi hole" was closed up and no longer works.

The latest firmware just came out in late November, 2.30.0R. I haven't heard of it disabling this. Also in the first post the user says he can move mp3's from the transflash to the phone, so he clearly has the older firmware.

[Jay2TheRescue]

The latest firmware just came out in late November, 2.30.0R. I haven't heard of it disabling this. Also in the first post the user says he can move mp3's from the transflash to the phone, so he clearly has the older firmware.

So maybe a reflash with the latest frimware may solve his problem? I still think he may have to do a bit of seem editing too though.

-Jay

[bonoriffic]

So maybe a reflash with the latest frimware may solve his problem? I still think he may have to do a bit of seem editing too though.

Jay you seem (pun intended) to have a one track mind. No seem editing of any kind is needed. As I said, the latest firmware is the only one I can't vouch for regarding MP3 transflash usage, although I have not seen any reports about losing that functionality via the work around. As I'm sure using MP3 ringtones is the first thing everyone does with a new phone, we'd have heard about it if it didn't work anymore.

I am basing my comments on Verizon firmware, but the poster is from Canada. It seems unlikely they would delete the ability to do this for Canada only.

We'll have to wait for undofkirk to report back, but I suspect the problem is something like not being a mono MP3, being too big, encoded using too high of a bit rate, or another more simple issue.

[undofkirk]

I hope this will clear up a couple of things on my part here. I can save the MP3s on my phone moving them over from the transflash to the phone. I checked the file size on the MP3s and none are bigger than 250 kb's that Bonoriffic mentioned. I also tried the 555-5555 idea that he had, yet I still could not apply it as a ring tone. The one option I don't seem to have is to apply it as a ring tone.

I went back to telus where I bought the phone and the clerks farted around with the phone for a little bit before calling their tech support. It went up a couple of levels and basically their answer was that it could not be done unless I downloaded the ringtones from them.

I questioned whether this was just a cash grab on their part. Of course they couldn't say yes.

On my way out, I asked if my only two choices were to either download the tones from them, or get a data cable and open the phone myself. I got a nod yes and a warning to be careful. Looks like I will have to be careful as my thrifty nature precludes my from paying money for songs that I already own from previous purchases.

I went to motomodders and downloaded all the programs they had there, looks like a fairly simple explorer type interface. I will find out when my cable gets in.

Wish me luck.

[Jay2TheRescue]

I've put full length MP3's on my V551 before. Its a waste of space, but the phone can still play them. Good luck on your data cable. And yes, I love seem editing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-Jay

[bonoriffic]

I questioned whether this was just a cash grab on their part. Of course they couldn't say yes.

It looks like we found a company more greedy than Verizon! This still doesn't seem right. That means Moto would specifically have to make a version of the software that checks the filename before displaying the menu, so that it can dynamically remove the apply as ringtone choice to non-factory installed sounds. It also means if you download a ringtone from Telus they either have a DRM system in place (which Moto would have to support) or the download application sets a flag somewhere to indicate the sound was purchased and can display apply as ringtone. Why wouldn't they apply this same effort to Verizon who is Moto's #1 CDMA client and who most definately wants this feature?

[Jay2TheRescue]

It looks like we found a company more greedy than Verizon! This still doesn't seem right. That means Moto would specifically have to make a version of the software that checks the filename before displaying the menu, so that it can dynamically remove the apply as ringtone choice to non-factory installed sounds. It also means if you download a ringtone from Telus they either have a DRM system in place (which Moto would have to support) or the download application sets a flag somewhere to indicate the sound was purchased and can display apply as ringtone. Why wouldn't they apply this same effort to Verizon who is Moto's #1 CDMA client and who most definately wants this feature?

There's got to be a flag on the file. On my V551 I have 1 image I downloaded from Cingular. It was a free download - The flag w/ the statue of liberty in the foreground. I can transfer that file w/ a cable all I want, but I am unable to send it via MMS or BT. I have no problems transferring any other files.

-Jay

[Stupiud]

Here's another good source for seem editing (also refered to as 'hacking the OS')

http://www.nuclearelephant.com/papers/v710seem.html

[Jay2TheRescue]

Here's another good source for seem editing (also refered to as 'hacking the OS')

http://www.nuclearelephant.com/papers/v710seem.html

That's some good info. I'll add it to the reference base.

-Jay

[undofkirk]

Jay wrote:

"If you got that far you may try deleting the two *.db files in your ringtones directory on your phone, then turn it off and back on. You will need a data cable, a computer, and software to read the file system of your phone to try that though, and I'm not 100% sure that will work on a V710. It does on Motorola GSM models."

I got my cable and am looking at the phone directory structure. I found two DB files (MyToneDB and TmpTneDB) and was able to open them up using excel. Are these the two files I should delete? Will they automatically rebuild themselves or is it a non issue? I have saved a copy of each of these files on my hard drive, for what its worth.

[Jay2TheRescue]

Jay wrote:

"If you got that far you may try deleting the two *.db files in your ringtones directory on your phone, then turn it off and back on. You will need a data cable, a computer, and software to read the file system of your phone to try that though, and I'm not 100% sure that will work on a V710. It does on Motorola GSM models."

I got my cable and am looking at the phone directory structure. I found two DB files (MyToneDB and TmpTneDB) and was able to open them up using excel. Are these the two files I should delete? Will they automatically rebuild themselves or is it a non issue? I have saved a copy of each of these files on my hard drive, for what its worth.

Yes, delete them. The phone will rebuild the files when it is rebooted. Once the files are rebuilt you should be able to assign those files as ringtones.

-Jay

[undofkirk]

Many thanks to Jay, Bonoriffic and Andy

Your advice worked great. Once I was able to solve my P2K driver issues and actually get in the phone, I was able to blow away those 2 db files.

Upon reboot, just as was said, I was able to apply any of my mp3s that I had on the phone as ringtones.

Hopefully other V10 Telus users will find this thread useful.

[Jay2TheRescue]

Many thanks to Jay, Bonoriffic and Andy

Your advice worked great. Once I was able to solve my P2K driver issues and actually get in the phone, I was able to blow away those 2 db files.

Upon reboot, just as was said, I was able to apply any of my mp3s that I had on the phone as ringtones.

Hopefully other V10 Telus users will find this thread useful.

You're welcome. I'm glad you got everything worked out.
-Jay

[cmw_shinkansen]

hi. i have a v710 and a data cable, but i dont know which software i should use to read the file in the phone. could anyone tell me where i can download the software? thank you

[Jay2TheRescue]

hi. i have a v710 and a data cable, but i dont know which software i should use to read the file in the phone. could anyone tell me where i can download the software? thank you

You may download MPT here:

http://www.bvrp.com/ENG/products/mob...ls/default.asp

[bonoriffic]

If anyone is interested, howardforums has a link to a trial to upgrade your phone tools to version 4.0.