Working on temp. version of DMS Tools, v2.13

[VorTechS]

I've been working hard on trying to resolve the issue of overcoming the problems created by advancing PhatHack Media Manager well beyond the scope of the DMS tools ... and the problem of the DMS tools not being usable when having PhatHack Media Manager installed.

I'll be looking to address any other issues people might have found (if I can get a list of them together).
One of the issues I have addressed, which I myself suffered from today, is the random 'Failed to format partitions' when correct information is passed across to mkdosfs.

Turns out this was caused by 'process code' specifying an EXE name for the target application ... and as it has worked in the past, I've added a second attempt at these calls to format the partitions, with the second attempt removing the extension.

I've also added an extra field on the screen, with relevant code, to determine what the previous version of firmware is installed onto a DMS (with auto-selection of that same firmware when switching to DMS Tools mode).

I have yet to validate the results of the latest DMS tools (signature generation, and the hack need testing) but hope to complete this in the next few days.
I have a certain box that needs hacking, so it gets to be the guinea pig for this latest version.

If anyone else is interested in testing this latest version please let me know, and I'll arrange some binaries.
If I can, I will also try and resolve the Vista/Win7 execution level issue too...

[Steveo369]

One thing I noticed when using DMSTools last month was that the 'Refresh' button was usually greyed out and unavailable, and didn't always seem to function properly.  I found that I often had to exit out of DMSTools and re-start the program to get the DMS to show up in the box next to the refresh button.

Not sure if this is solveable, on you list of items, or if it was a 'just me' issue.

Thanks for all of your (collective) hard work on this, it's an amazing piece of software!

[VorTechS]

Well, I just checked the source code for this.  There is no code ever disabling the button, and so it should always be enabled.

I think there is deliberate functionality built into the tools to disable the interface after certain operations, as a deliberate reminder that you should go and check things out before trying another function, for example, running the hack tool disables the interface until you restart the application to make sure you actually go and try the DMS before attempting a firmware update etc.

I've just added in the elevation rights code (runas) - so the tools are now launched from a stub program that invokes a 'runas' dialog on ANY O/S (XP included).  Hopefully this sorts out any potential problems with Vista/Windows 7 not allowing DMS' to be formatted/partitioned by the tools.

[VorTechS]

Ok, still working on this new version, I am sorta hoping we might be able to resolve the issue of 'I have an original DMS and I wiped it, and now it doesn't work' - but I'm not sure that's acutally viable, but I'll spend a few more days looking into it.

I have also added a 'Boot Check' function which checks the status of bootload.log to help identify if the PhatBox is booting or not, and if not, at which point it's failing in the boot process (with the possible cause, and where applicable if the relevant files exist).  I've only just found all the information related to this file, and it might have come in handy a few times for me!