Randy,

I am trying to use your method but am not having any luck. I have no problem getting my device to create the Normal.prof.xml file and I have no problem copying it to my computer using activesync. I also have no problem editing the file. However, once I copy the file back to the device the Normal profile is rendered useless. I can't switch to it nor edit it. I even tried simply copying the file to my PC, deleting the file from my device, then copying the file from my PC to my device (I never even opened the file on my PC). This too made the Normal profile useless. I am using Windows XP with ActiveSyn 4.5. Please help me as this is still a deal breaker for WM6.

Regards,
Aaron J. Wood

Problem solved! I was not able to get it to work the way it was described. For some reason the copy and paste make the file unusable by my device. I was, however, able to edit the file directly on the device using Total Commander and that did the trick. I have not tested with reboots and the like, but the hold "#" does now work.

--Aaron

w00t :)

Randy, You're a HERO! I love WM6 on my Dash and this was the only big problem I hadn't solved by searching through posts on other blogs and tech sites. Your fix worked great the first time out!

Thanks! ~~Cindy

I'm having the same issue as Aaron...where the Normal profile gets rendered useless after editing it to put in the entries. I even tried using Total Commander to edit, and still had the same issues.

Is there a particular editor or way I should be putting in the edits into the Normal.prof.xml file?

Got me... I used notepad to edit the XML file and I was on Vista which has more security hoops to jump through than XP does - I'd think XP would be even easier. The only think I can think of is making resetting the attrib settings to +r +s +h and then copying the file back over again... or maybe leaving the attrib files as something else. No idea - I only described what worked for me.

The good news is that you should be able to delete Normal.prof.xml from the \Application Data\Profiles directory and it should snap back to the default profile settings without having to hard reset the phone.

Got it to work somehow (not sure how exactly). I used Total Commander to edit the file, and then just did a hard reset. And it's there now.

Thanks for the original post!

Got me - it's sounding like it works OK on Vista via WMDC but not so easily on XP/2003 via ActiveSync...

So, my readers, looks like there's an additional step for the older OS's!

Randy, thanks for the writeup, I found this on XDA, but I cannot get this to work at all, and have tried everything I can. I have a dash with WM6 on it and working fine, and now I cannot go to my normal profile at all anymore. Any way I can get a copy of the untouched copy of the file from you, and maybe some ideas on how to do this properly? Hell, maybe even a copy of the normal.prof.xml file already finished? Thanks my man, I just need to at least get my phone back to what it was before I tried this.

This is the part that falls under "at your own risk"... if you delete the normal.prof.xml and reboot the phone you should be back to "normal". If that doesn't work, you may have to hard reset the phone. I did that twice when I was working on other solutions (that edited the normal.def.prof.xml files in the ROM - not when working with normal.prof.xml).

One thing you should try before hard reseting is setting the System flag on the XML file on your PC and then copying it over to the phone... In fact, I should add that to the post. I've heard that if the system flag isn't set (attrib +s normal.prof.xml) the phone can't see the file at all.

No problem my man, I finally got it to work last night. I couldn't get it to delete, then suddenly, it did. I can't, for the life of me, figure out how to make it flagged as a system file. XP doesn't show that checkbox, and you can't adjust it once on the dash. Here's how I got everything to work though.

http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=1164524

Here's what you need to do, if you have XP.

1. Download and install Total Commander if you don't already have it.
2. On your Dash, go to settings, profiles, highlight the NORMAL profile, hit menu and EDIT. Change ANY of the settings, and hit DONE.
3. Open Total Commander, navigate to the ApplicationData\Profiles area, highlight the Normal.prof.xml file and hit FILE and EDIT.
4. Right below the line that says "Sound Categories", enter in the above code, word for word, letter for letter. I actually took out a few spare spaces in the code above, but I don't know if it's necessary or not, just the spaces after the " at the end of the PARM NAME lines. I also tabbed everything over so it was even with the other fields below and above.
5. When finished, hit "FILE", and save, then restart your device.
6. When restarted, go back into your profiles, highlight NORMAL, and hit Menu and EDIT. All the new fields are there, and you can adjust them as you see fit now!

Enjoy!

I'm honestly not sure if the code needs those spaces removed, but this has worked ever since I did it via Total Commander. After trying it the other way, the only thing I couldn't fix was the System file setting, and I'll be darned if I can figure out how to do it.

Thanks for the help Randy.

No worries :) I'm still not sure that the system attribute would matter - I just know that someone else pinged me privately about it, so I thought I'd throw it on there. Something about how if the system flag is missing the entire profile become unusable because WM6 can't see it. And going in via Total Commander would keep that flag set on the device... I should get an XP VM and try it... maybe!

Hey Randy,

Excellent find about the "System" attribute!!!

To help make it easier for users, I created the attached CAB file that simply installs a default Normal.prof.xml that has the reminder section already in it and has the "system" attribute already set.

Can someone please test and install this CAB file to see if it fixes the "No Reminder" issue that Randy solved?

http://www.omnisoft.com/downloads/OMNISOFT_Dash_WM6_ReminderFix.CAB

Thanks to all for the quick fix.
After updating the Dash, I was wondering what happened to all of my reminder sounds, great fix.

John, I installed the CAB just fine and it worked great.

Thanks!

Randy, all,

I've been very interested in this thread since it details how to mess around with WM6 system files - I am trying desperately to change that stupid sliding in/out sound for the keyboard of my HTC s710 - I finally located the wavs; they're in the windows directory - 0_in.wav, 0_out.wav, and 0.wav - repeated for 1 & 2 - the stupid "wind chimes" "xylophone" and that other one...
anyways - here's where you might be able to shed some light on this for me -
Total commander won't install on the phone - I have no way of deleting, renaming or otherwise changing any of those files on the phone... If I could get those deleted, I can copy new files into that folder... Pull the switcheroo, so to speak... but I simply can't delete through the crappy activesync (I tried changing the attributes - can't see the phone through command prompt, and I can't click on the checkboxes through windows).
Any ideas???

Thanks in advance,

Basil

Neither of these methods works for me. both leave the Normal mode completely inaccessible to me.

I'm running XP Pro with Active Sync 4.5 and my Dash has WM6.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Got me. Have you tried the CAB file from http://www.omnisoft.com/downloads/OMNISOFT_Dash_WM6_ReminderFix.CAB (from higher up in the comments?)

I could not get any of these methods to work. If I edited the normal file on my PC and copied it over using the active sync explorer it would lose the system flag. If I tried to use Total Commander on my Dash to edit the attributes it would not do the changes. If I edited the file using Total Commander it would give me an error when I tried to save it and I was unable to save. I have no idea why it would not work. Finally I came upon a method that worked.

I copied down my settings for the normal profile. I then use active sync explorer to delete the normal file. I then copied the vibrate file and pasted it. The name became "Copy of vibrate.prof.xml". I then renamed this normal.prof.xml. I then edited the reminder setting in the new normal file. This worked. I can set it to vibrate and set it back to normal and it works as I wish it to.

The solutions discussed here are correct, but not complete.

Point #1: WM6 has 4 profiles: Normal, Silent, Vibrate (Meeting), and Outdoor (Loud). Three of these profiles are missing the Reminder section. In other words, if you switch from Vibrate to Outdoor, your reminders won't play (same problem as Normal). And once you fix the Normal profile and switch to Silent, the reminders will play loudly and risk your embarassment.

Point #2: The order of sections in XML file defines the order of UI entries. If you put the Reminder section at the top, you get
Ring Type:...
Reminder Type:...
Reminder Volume:...
Ring Volume:...
You probably want to group Ring Type/Volume together. Therefore, the Reminder section should be below Ring section. Better even, put it below Alarm section, to get them in the same order as in the Vibrate profile.

Point #3: You think Vibrate profile is OK? It's also broken: the default Alarm type is "Increasing" with volume 4. Change it to Vibrate to avoid public embarassment.

I found that editing the files on Vista (with Notepad) and copying them back worked for me. Not everbody have Vista, through, and I hope somebody will encapsulate these fixes into a nice CAB file.

WOW! I'm impressed with this fix. Your instructions worked like a charm for me this morning. I noticed the bug early this morning after I had to "vibrate" my Dash yesterday and so I googled the problem to find this solution. Amazing. I'm running VISTA with WMDC and my DASH with WM6. Thank you sooooo much Randy :)

Yer welcome :) And props to everyone else helping out with this!

Randy, thanks so much

I tried the original fix with no success, as I run on XP. Then used your CAB file and voila, after rebooting the reminder volume works.

Can you explain where the cab file needs to be installed?

CAB files don't get "installed" anywhere particular... they can be put anywhere on your device and then you have to run the CAB file to install what's in the CAB file (using a file manager on the device itself). After the on-device install is done, you can delete the CAB file from the phone.

Thanks! I am a little slow here, I guess.

Can you please explain how do I run them (using a file manager on the device)?

If you have a Dash, there should be a File Explorer app somewhere on your Start Menu.

With CAB's that are on web sites, you can also point IE on it with your device and [download and] launch it right from there...

I just tried that and added the _setup.xml file and other 3 files to the profiles.

It didn't work. Do I need to delete Normal.prof.xml before adding these files and running the setup file?

Is there anything else I can do?

Got it to work...Works like a Charm!

Thanks :)

Randy, that CAB file worked perfectly .. this has been driving me crazy since it happened. Thanks!

If you can solve our Arizona time zone changing every day (switching to Mountain), causing my calendar reminders to move ahead by an hour .. I'll send you a case of beer!!

Great fix we this on our site as well as a bunch of other dash tips & tricks.

AskTheAdmiN

Bill-- Go to Settings, then Clock & Alarm (5), then Date and Time (1), and turn "Automatic Time/Time Zone" update to Disable. That should stop the time changes, although you will most likely have to set your clock from time to time (at least untill the end of DST in November, when you can safely Enable it again)...

Do I get the case of beer?

No that does not fix the problem, it is specific to Arizona and Indiana with the way the towers are broadcasting the time zone info.

Chris is right, I think. It keeps changing on me. For some separate reason, ActiveSync is no longer working on my Dash ... the sync part ... and related to that, I can no longer install CAB files, or edit some of my phone settings. Yay!

I followed your steps and it works great.

What I would like to do is remove the vibration for reminders when the phone is on silent. I set the reminder to ring and the ring volume at 0 but it still vibrates and that drives me crazy. Do you have a line to insert that will control vibration?

Thnaks.

I am having this problem on the TyTn II that I just got. Have used wm devices for ever but have never had this happen. No alerts for any of the calendar reminders. Alarm works fine. Any suggestions?

I've installed Total Commander on my Dash and tried to edit the profile files (in my case, I want to change the silent profile so that it doesn't vibrate). However, Total Commander says that it cannot save the file when I try to save the changes? It also won't let me delete the file. Any clues about what might be getting in my way? Do I have to change attributes of the file? If so, how do I do it?

I have tried this but it will not copy back as a system file. I did the attrib but when I look at the properties of the file through exploring the phone it shows System unchecked. How do I get it checked because when I go to edit the Normal profile it will not even open now.
Help.

Thanks! I was able to fix the problem, but like others I had to jump through hoops. You have to unhide the files, show system files from the control panel, copy the file to your hard drive, right click and select open with notepad, make the edits, then save back to the hard drive to copy to the device. Yikes! I got it to work, though...

I tried using your cab file on my wm6 HTC 621 but it says it doesnt have privileges to be installed!!!

WORKS GREAT!!

Thanks for archive.CAB

Thanks a lot Randy and Jhon Cody!!

Regards!!

Thanks guys! The CAB file works great with XP. I just wish I had read the post fully instead of resetting the phone after Randy's steps didn't solve it with XP.

Used the TotalCommander and editted directly method. Power cycled and it works!!! Thanks you guys saved my derrier, since I need my reminder to get to meetings on time. If not for that feature I wouldn't even need a smart phone.

Thanks Randy and John Cody! Works great!

For anyone having this issue with a Verizon Samsung i760, install the Windows Mobile 6.1 update from Samsung and this issue is at least partially fixed. I keep my phone on vibrate mode all the time and now when I accidentally switch to normal or silent and then back to vibrate, my settings are still applied.