This guide was written with the intent that a reader would start out at this page and read through the entire guide to the last page. The instructions I have written build upon each other as you progress farther into the guide. So if you just skip ahead (and have no modding experience) a crucial step or five may be "missing" as far as the reader is concerned.
You should know doing any of this could void your warranty, and I'm not responsible for any damage done to your phone by following anything in this guide. Keep that in mind if you have a problem and decide to email me about it and I reply that I can't help you. I am not technical support for everyone out there in the world. Read my trouble-shooting page, it might help you, otherwise you're on your own if you mess up your phone.
Follow the instructions carefully or you could wind up with a dead phone.
Back up your L7's files (both your personal files and the system files) before you modify them in case you later have a problem. It's very simple to do everything in this guide, you just need to read carefully and have some patience. The easiest way to get in trouble is to not read all the directions in a particular section, or worse, think you know what you are doing and ignore my directions and go off the map.
What you need
You need an L7 phone with a fully charged battery. I can't stress enough the importance of having a fully charged battery prior to performing any modifications with it. Doing this kind of work and using the various modding programs drains the battery quickly when it's connected to a computer via the data cable. It's best if you charge your battery from the wall socket and not the computer. People seem to have many issues because they charge their batteries from the computer. If you insist on using the computer to charge your battery before modding you may need to recondition your battery to attempt to restore its life. You do this by discharging the battery until it's dead, take it out for a few minutes and then plug it back into the wall socket and fully recharge the battery, with the phone shut off, until you receive a "Charge Complete" message.
Data transfer cable (USB A to USB mini B - 5 pin). This cable is also used by many digital cameras so look around your house. This can be found at the local electronics store too.
Windows 98 (not SE, not ME) or a Windows XP computer with service pack 1 installed at a minimum. You could also use a Mac running Virtual PC but it will be slow and many report having USB connectivity issues. All the programs needed are only made for the Windows platform. There is a program called moto4lin, which is for Unix, Linux and Mac OS X platforms. It will only allow you to transfer and delete files, modify attributes, edit seems and manage Java midlets.
Programs: (the must haves)
Flash & Backup 3.0.058. Backs up your phone's system files into one file with your current settings. This is great if your phone is already modded and you want to preserve this state for easy restore later. It's not critical you have this program as you could just restore your phone from a stock monster pack. It has a PDS editor, a patcher and flash interface and a firmware manager. This program is worth the $9.95 registration fee so you should consider buying it, as the trial version will only operate 15 times. There is a link inside the program that will take you to the registration page. Click here to download this trial version program.
Mobile Phone Tools (MPT). Available at the
Motorola store. Motorola sells this is as a direct download or will mail it to you with a data cable. With this you can transfer mp3s, pictures, and backup up your phonebook to your computer. This isn't a critical program as you can reproduce the majority of its functions with other P2K programs, it's just nice to have.
Motorola Handset USB Driver. Used for connecting your Motorola mobile device to a computer running Windows 2000 or Windows XP via a USB cable. NOTE: Installation of Motorola's Mobile Phone Tools may affect the performance of this driver. Re-install this driver after installation of Mobile Phone Tools. You can download this from Motorola.
Click here to download this program
P2K Commander. This program aids greatly in installing skins, or themes, which change the look of your phone's buttons and menus and sounds.
P2K Tools. This program is another file manager, can upload Java programs and skins, but most importantly, it offers one of only a few ways to auto reset all ring details to silent so that access to the ring details menu can be restored.
RSD Lite 3.2. This program will flash and flex your phone. Since this is one of those official internal Motorola programs, you'll have to find it on your own. Search for "RSD Lite 3.2" on Google. I found it in 10 seconds, so I don't want to hear how you have tried and can't find it anywhere. I won't link to it or host it since it is illegal to do so. I will not respond to email requests for this program either.
XVI32. This is the program for editing seems. You can also use other hex editors.
Now that you have the programs you need, ensure your battery is fully charged. If your battery dies you could have an irrecoverable situation on your hands.
Information that would be good to know before you start grabbing flashes and flexes (although there aren't very many out there) and modifying your phone left and right are: what version of bootloader your phone has. Find this by holding down "*" and "#" while holding down the power on button (while your phone is off of course). My L7 had bootloader "08.D0". You can also see my software version is "R4513_G_08.B7.DCR_RB". It is crucial that you only use software that is in the same family as the version on your phone when you bought it. When I say family I am referring to the first few characters of the software version. In my case "R4513". There are several families of software out for the L7 and you cannot mix and match them because it will destroy your phone. Keep that in mind while you read my guide. Some other families out there include: "R4517" and "R44419".
You should also know what flex version you have. To get this information press the key then 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 GSTL7T675DP10A). I didn't have the menu "Other information"; I had to use Flash & Backup 3 to get my flex version. This could be because I have a European phone and haven't put a U.S. monster pack on it yet.
Program installation notes
These instructions are written from the standpoint of never having any Motorola phone software installed on your computer.
I am going to install some programs and drivers, which will allow the computer to communicate with the L7. Go to the Motorola developer site and download the "Motorola Handset USB Driver". Now extract the file "Motorola_EU_Driver_Installation.msi" from the zip you downloaded and double click the file to start the installer. Click "Next >".
Follow the screens and the program will install the drivers and you'll wind up at this screen. Click "Close".
At this point make sure your phone is not connected to the computer via the data cable. Now go to your Windows' "Start" button and click it, then click "All Programs" and you will see a new program folder has been added called "Motorola Driver Installer". Highlight the file called "Motorola Driver Installer.exe". The program will immediately start doing its thing.
When it's finished click the radio button labeled "Clean and Reinstall" in the "Operation Mode" section of the screen and then click "Start". The program will do its thing again. When it finishes click "Exit".
Linear Mode
