How To Add Ringtones To The Samsung VGA1000 / SPH-A620

This article explains how to add ringtones to your Samsung VGA1000 / SPH-A620 phone without using the Vision service from Sprint. All it requires is some software (such as BitPim and GCDCreator), and the USB cable for your phone.

Major Update! – The previous method on this site would only let you add new ringtones by replacing ones you already had on your phone. This means you would have to use the vision service at least once to get some uploaded. The solution has finally been discovered, and now you can upload new ringtones without having to replace old ones! This means you can upload ringtones without having to have any already on the phone!

Page Contents

• Introduction – What does this tutorial explain?
• Tools Needed – Programs you will need to upload your ringtones
• USB Drivers – NEW! USB drivers for Samsung phones
• Creating a ringtone from a MIDI file using GCDCreator
• Creating a ringtone from a WAV or MP3 file
• Uploading the ringtone to your phone
• Comments – Questions? Comments? Ask!

Introduction

This document describes the process of adding ringtones to your Samsung VGA1000 / SPH-A620 phone without using the Spring Vision service. These instructions will allow you to add new ringtones, instead of having to replace ones you already have (as in the previous versions of this tutorial). And unlike the previous method, this will also show the correct song name in your phone.

Tools needed

• BitPim – http://bitpim.sourceforge.net/
  Bitpim is a great open-source program which allows you to transfer files between your phone and computer. It actually has a built-in ringtone transfer feature, but it (like the rest of the features) does not work on every phone. Currently it does not support the VGA1000 / SPH-A620 which is why you are reading this! Luckily, the program does allow you to view and edit the file system of this phone. You also must have the appropriate cable to communicate with your phone. For BitPim related questions, check out their web site.
• phaZed’s GCDCreator v1.1.0 – http://www.sprintusers.com/downloads/gcdcreator/
  GCDCreator has a couple of useful features. First, it allows you to generate GCD files which are sort of like description files for objects on your phone. It lets the phone know what kind of file it has. The other notable feature of GCDCreator is its ability to convert a (properly formatted) WAV file into a QCP. The VGA1000 / SPH-A620 supports two types of ringtones. MIDI files (the same that your computer will play), and QCP, which is a low quality WAV. You can experiment with different songs to find ones that work well on your phone.
• Hexplorer – http://artemis.wszib.edu.pl/~mdudek/
  Any hex-editor will work, but I personally like this one.
• Winamp and/or a sound editor
  You only need these if you plan to create a ringtone from a WAV, MP3, or other audio file besides MIDI.

USB Drivers

The following file contains the drivers for the Samsung A310, A530, A600, A620, A660, and a few other models, but this tutorial only covers the A620/VGA1000. You will need this driver so Windows will recognize your phone as a USB device, although most cables come with drivers already.

Download Samsung_USB_Drivers.rar

Creating a ringtone from a MIDI file using GCDCreator

First, open GCDCreator. You will notice that the interface is broken down into steps.

Step 1

Click the “New GCD” button and select your MIDI file

Step2

‘MIDI’ should already be selected. If not, select it.

Step 3

Choose your output directory. Then fill in the information for the GCD file. Below is an example. It is best to keep the Content-Name and URL unique. If you are using the latest version of GCDCreator, it will automatically give you a unique URL. You will notice below, it is just the file name, with a forward slash.

Content-Name: The Cure – Fascination Street
Content-Version: 1.0
Content-Vendor: Dagon Design
Content-URL: /the cure – fascination street.mid

Step 4

Click the “Make GCD ” button. That’s it! You are left with the MIDI and GCD files.

Creating a ringtone from a WAV or MP3 file

If you want to create a ringtone from a WAV or MP3, or any other kind of audio file, there are a few more steps. Using your favorite sound editor, you need to convert your file to a 8000hz 16bit MONO PCM WAV. I recommend cropping your sound file as well, or it might end up being too big for your phone. For best results, use a section that sounds good repeated.

For this example. I used an MP3 I had laying around. After converting it to a WAV with Winamp’s “disk writer” feature (which can also create the correct WAV format for you), I crop the first few seconds from it with Sound Forge (a sound file editor).

Now you need to convert the WAV to QCP.

Step 1

Click the “WAV to QCP” button. Select your WAV file and click “Convert WAV”. You now have a QCP file. You can delete the WAV if you want since we are through with it.

Step 2

Now you just have to create the GCD file for your new QCP file. This process is already explained in the above section, “Creating a ringtone from a MIDI file using GCDCreator”. The only difference is that you do not select “MIDI” in the second step, but rather the “QCELP Clips” option.

You should now have a QCP and GCD file.

Uploading the ringtone to your phone

Below are the steps you must take to add your new ringtones. Please follow them in order.

Checking the current ringtones

Before you know what to name your new ringtone files, you need to look in the /ams/Ringers/ directory of your phone. Here is an example listing:

cnts1
cnts1.gcd
cnts2
cnts2.gcd

This means the next one will be number 3, so here is how you name your files:

For MIDI

rename midi_file.mid to cnts3 (no extension!)
rename midi_file.gcd to cnts3.gcd

For QCP (converted from WAV/MP3)

rename qcp_file.qcp to cnts3 (no extension!)
rename qcp_file.gcd to cnts3.gcd

We will upload them in a moment. There are a few steps first.

Saving the registry

Using the filesystem view in BitPim, browse to the /ams/ directory and find the AmsRegistry file. Right-click the file and save it to your computer. I recommend keeping a backup copy of it somewhere safe in case something goes wrong.

Editing the registry

Using Hexplorer (or your favorite hex-editor), go to address 9230. In Hexplorer you can do this from the menu at “View -> Go To Address”. You will see a two digit hex character. This represents how many applications, games, and ringers you have on your phone.

A new phone contains 2 sample applications, 3 sample games, and 0 ringers. This means the number should be 05. If you are adding two ringtones, this number should be set at 07, etc. For each ringtone you add, increase this number.

It is important to mention that this value is displayed in hexadecimal.

In hex, instead of 0 to 9, it is: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, F (which equals 0-15)

So in other words: 0-15 is 00-0F … 16-31 is 10-1F … 32-47 is 20-2F …etc… Easy enough!

Once you have made the required change, save the file and exit your hex editor.

Uploading files

Once again, always perform the steps as they are listed:

• Upload the ringtone files into /ams/Ringers/
• Upload the new AmsRegistry file into /ams/ overwriting the old copy
• Delete the EndTransaction file from /ams/

Finishing

Disconnect your phone, and do a full power cycle. To do this, hold down your END button until the phone turns off. Then turn it back on. Check your Downloads section to see if your new ringers are there! If so, congratulations!

Troubleshooting

If you get a message stating that your AmsRegistry file is “locked” when trying to overwrite it, simply cycle the phones power and try again. You do not have to re-upload the ringtones if you already did this, but make sure the EndTransaction file is still gone.

If you cannot get this working, the first step is to make sure your ringtone files were created properly. This is the number one cause of problems!

Important information about deleting ringtones

If you want to delete a ringtone, do it through the phone, not through BitPim! This can cause serious problems.