Hey; I've decided that at some point I will end up rooting my phone, but I have a couple of questions if someone wouldn't mind answering them.
Firstly, does the bootloader change with every official update? If so, am I right in assuming it's better to stick with 0.75 / 0.8 - or will all future versions be usable once they're figured out?
Secondly, after debranding the phone, will all generic OTA updates be fine to use; or does it become a guinea pig situation where someone has to go first to see if anything has broken?
I ask because for the time being I just want to debrand my phone, but I don't want to get to a situation where it's impossible to root in the future.
Thanks!
Edit: Also, I hope this is in the right section. I would've posted it in development, but I assumed since I have nothing to add and only questions, it would be better suited here.
Some believe it's better to stay on HBOOT 0.75, I don't see why though. I'm using HBOOT 0.80 after upgrading the the stock 1.21.405.2 ROM (I've got an unbranded Desire) but you can still root it if you so wish - I've done so and am running an MCRr3 ROM currently...
As for the OTA updates, people have reported the recent update from 1.15.405.4 to 1.21.405.2 had stopped their WiFi working but there is now a fix in that you do the update with your Goldcard in your phone.
Related
Hi everyone,
as can be seen in the title I got a branded Desire although i bought it as unbranded.
Long story short: I am now undecided what to do and it depends on the following:
So after hours of reading I am still not sure if it is possible and safe to completely remove the branding and have a permanently unbranded desire with official european rom and radio with which I can receive further updates from google/htc OTA at no risk AS IF I HAD BOUGHT AN UNBRANDED ONE. (I am not interested in custom roms etc since I have that with an earlier htc winmo device and ended up with backupping, restoring, flashing every second day and it costs me a lot of time)
The warranty is not so much an issue. But as far as I know I can completely revert the debranding process through nandroid... (?)
I would really appreciate any answers to wether it is possible to turn my desire into a "official/original" unbranded one.
Thx
touchhdizzel
Yes. Root & apply a stock (rooted) ROM. Problem solved. But if you accept any OTA update, you lose root.
You don't have to root but then you'll not be able to go back unless you can find the ROM that's on your device. Just make a goldcard and flash with a WWE or Europe ROM.
Thx for the answers.
A few more questions came up for both methods though.
in general:
where can i find a pure stock rom? in the wiki there is only a link to a 1.15 one.
for johnstevedoe's method:
loosing root is no problem since i dont need it. as i said i want to use it like a stock one and be able to recieve updates without having to wipe the phone.
i cant remember where but i read that ppl who had branded desires (i think orange) and used the ota update got further problems with their wifi etc. so it seems that there is still provider specific software (or hardware??) in the phone and it is therefore not behaving like a unbranded one. i guess if i dont encounter problems with the 2.2 update i might get some with future updates.
for steve228uk method:
do ihave to leave the gold card in the phone?
do i have to put it in for the ota updates?
and lastly, is there any resource for the original shipped branded roms? the xda wiki only links to one unbranded stock rom.
Thx for ur help
Dizzel
There was shippedroms.com but HTC asked the guy not to release the ROMs. You only need the one update: WWE 1.21 or 1.15 and then OTA up to 2.2 Froyo. You don't have to leave the goldcard in there but it's definitely safer if you shove it in for OTA updates as some people have had issues when they hadn't used it.
steve228uk said:
There was shippedroms.com but HTC asked the guy not to release the ROMs. You only need the one update: WWE 1.21 or 1.15 and then OTA up to 2.2 Froyo. You don't have to leave the goldcard in there but it's definitely safer if you shove it in for OTA updates as some people have had issues when they hadn't used it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so that means that it is not possible to fully debrand with this method in some cases?
do you know anything about the method using unrevoked? is this capable of turning the desire into a unbranded one since it replaces the whole rom and parts of the boot etc. how can there still occur problems with ota when all branded software was replaced?
cheers
Could someone explain or point me in the direction of an explanation for how installing a custom rom affected automatic updates, as well as the difference between pre and post ota, and why we can't install a pure clean android 2.2 installation in our phones. I am relatively new to this, but did alot of iPhone hacking before.. I've already rooted, S-OFF and flashed a few different roms having my phone 2 weeks and new to android hope someone can explain, thanks :_)
When you flash a custom ROM, you will no longer get the automatic updates OTA. Either you will have to revert to the stock ROM for the update, or the ROM developer will have to incorporate the OTA update changes into the ROM.
There are a few ROMs that attempt to give you a plain vanilla Android experience. But in my opinion, Cyanogen is one of the best mixes of plain Android with lots of extra features.
Okay that makes sense, I'm currently using a villian rom with no sense, is it worth my while installing cyanogen? and if so will i go with RC4 of wait for the stable release?
jakbjak said:
Could someone explain or point me in the direction of an explanation for how installing a custom rom affected automatic updates, as well as the difference between pre and post ota, and why we can't install a pure clean android 2.2 installation in our phones. I am relatively new to this, but did alot of iPhone hacking before.. I've already rooted, S-OFF and flashed a few different roms having my phone 2 weeks and new to android hope someone can explain, thanks :_)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, the reason for many semi-bricks from trying to downgrade to original stock rom pre- or post-OTA was the fact that hboot was hacked, and not truly "S-OFF." If you search the dev section you will find the S-OFF, SIM unlock, SuperCID guide that will give you true S-OFF. I recommend reading that--it helped elucidate why semi-bricks were showing up. Once this is done, it should be easy to flash a rooted, stock ROM when the OTAs start showing up and get the update that way, or just wait for it appear in the forums (which is usually sooner than the OTA gets pushed out, anyhow).
So the S-OFF I have isn't complete? Not that I need a sim unlock as I bought the phone off contract, but it's worth my while getting the true S-OFF? Thanks for all ye're help, there are so many people talking about these things in every section it's hard to pull a search of a simple explanation,
jakbjak said:
So the S-OFF I have isn't complete? Not that I need a sim unlock as I bought the phone off contract, but it's worth my while getting the true S-OFF? Thanks for all ye're help, there are so many people talking about these things in every section it's hard to pull a search of a simple explanation,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, the previous S-OFF was via an engineering version of HBOOT, which was set to report S-OFF. But the security setting is actually held in the radio, and was still S-ON.
The new, "true" S-OFF (via gfree) is a lot safer than the old method, e.g. much less prone to a brick if you flash the wrong thing (e.g. an older RUU than the ROM you're running).
I've used the search but frankly, the vBulletin search still sucks after all these years.
I rooted the phone following this guide. Now my phone says a system update is available.
Since I would like to install it (my phone is still 1.34, I think. The latest version should be 1.72, right?) and installing a stock update onto a S-OFF phone is highly inadvisable (I've read), how do I go about this?
I have Visionary installed but it says the phone does not appear rooted, even though it is (just checked).
I'm sure there have been others with similar questions and I just couldn't find the right thread. If so, please point me in the right direction.
Regards and thank you,
Kokuyo said:
I've used the search but frankly, the vBulletin search still sucks after all these years.
I rooted the phone following this guide. Now my phone says a system update is available.
Since I would like to install it (my phone is still 1.34, I think. The latest version should be 1.72, right?) and installing a stock update onto a S-OFF phone is highly inadvisable (I've read), how do I go about this?
I have Visionary installed but it says the phone does not appear rooted, even though it is (just checked).
I'm sure there have been others with similar questions and I just couldn't find the right thread. If so, please point me in the right direction.
Regards and thank you,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why did you root your phone? There is no need to update your phone to the latest OTA update if you are wanting to install custom ROMs.
Because I was testing custom mods and wanted to go back to stock?
Kokuyo said:
Because I was testing custom mods and wanted to go back to stock?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ahhh, I thought you had just rooted it. I updated the day after I received my new phone. I had problems with bluetooth (music wouldn't resume after ending phone calls) and wound up here on the XDA forums looking for answers. I ended up rooting my phone, installing CM6 and now CM7 and never looked back. There is no bluetooth switching problems using CM builds so I'm happy.
Found this:
http://www.thinkthinkdo.com/trac/project1/wiki/back_to_stock
Thanks, that looks interesting. Now the only question: Do I need my original CID? And if so, how do I find it now that the CID has been changed by gfree?
That link is about a procedure to restore the stock G2 ROM. Since you seem to have a DZ ROM, I'm not sure if you want to flash a G2 ROM (though the other bits might be useful).
The 1.72 OTA update has been rootable for some time now, so you can safely accept the update if you want. But it might be easier just to flash the 1.72 ROM in its entireity (you can get it from the dev forum).
With SuperCID and S-OFF you should have no problems flashing 1.72.
steviewevie said:
With SuperCID and S-OFF you should have no problems flashing 1.72.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really? Then I don't quite understand the stickied warning thread that says to never, ever attempt that.
Anyhow, I gave the Virtuous mod another go. Since it has sense and 1.72 I'm thinking of testing this one out a bit more, before I go flashing stock.
Thanks for the replies, though.
Hi I would like to know if there would be a problem if I flash the official rue of an Asian desire z with a european version or vice versa?
I bought my phone second hand and I decided to flash the 1.34.707.1 version into my originally 1.72 desire z. Now my phone cannot find updates. It keeps telling me that there is no update even if check manually.
I know that I can flash a higher version by downloading a higher rue version but what I wanted to find out if I can no longer receive ota updates because of what I did.
Since when I was in 1.72 my phone did not notify me of the 1.82 update too...
I don't know what's wrong.. Please help. Thank you.
I think if you are SuperCID and S-Off, it would work. Otherwise, it won't let you flash the ROM from another region.
Also, if you flash an official ROM, you will lose root, and you can't get it back on any ROM version higher than 1.34. For this reason, if you downgraded to 1.34 for purposes of rooting, you don't want the OTA updates, anyway.
If you're rooted and S-Off, and you want a more updated ROM version, just flash the Virtuous custom ROM. Its mostly stock 1.85, but rooted, and with a few cool added features and some optimizations.
Hi, the thing is I'm not very knowledgeable when it comes to rooting. I read the posts here specifically in the wii section and I don't think I have the skills to pull it off and risk bricking my phone.
I think my phone is not rooted or it was before but not anymore, since as mentioned I flashed an official ruu.
So basically, I should still be able to receive OTA's from HTC right? I was wondering why my phone keeps telling me there's no update when the software number is 1.34 stock and not rooted. Shouldn't it notify me that there's an update at least regardless of whether I want to or not?
If you are not rooted, why did you downgrade to 1.34?
I also don't understand why you want to flash the RUU from a different region. If you aren't SuperCID and S-Off it won't work. Why not just flash the latest official RUU for your phone versions/region if you want to be updated and don't care about root?
I'm not sure why your OTA's don't work. I'm still on 1.34 (well, back to it), and I still get notifications to update.
redpoint73 said:
If you are not rooted, why did you downgrade to 1.34?
I also don't understand why you want to flash the RUU from a different region. If you aren't SuperCID and S-Off it won't work. Why not just flash the latest official RUU for your phone versions/region if you want to be updated and don't care about root?
I'm not sure why your OTA's don't work. I'm still on 1.34 (well, back to it), and I still get notifications to update.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@redpoint73
I bought the phone from a friend of mine. I noticed that it had eng hboot and had s-off.
I have zero knowledge about rooting. When the gingerbread test rom for the desire z came out, I flashed the pc10img.zip via the bootloader, however since it was very buggy and laggy, I decided to flash stock desire z rom.
Having no knowledge about rooting I read some of the threads in this forum and learned that flashing an official rom i.e. the RUU would be the easiest way to return back to stock.
It worked, I am using stock rom. I experimented and found out that I can flash any of the RUU, so I chose any of the WWE release. I decided to flash an older firmware version specifically, the 1.34.707.1.
Now the problem is my phone doesn't prompt me with an update, even after checking in about phone > check for update.
I still have s-off but eng hboot is gone. To clarify I was not the one who rooted the phone, so I have no idea what to do.
Is it possible that the previous owner tweaked something in the phone that would absolutely prevent it from receiving OTA?
I am just worried since I have a feeling that the gingerbread OTA will be released in a few weeks since the update for the Desire HD is already out.
Please help and thank you again. I extremely as a NOOB!
qtlestat said:
I am just worried since I have a feeling that the gingerbread OTA will be released in a few weeks since the update for the Desire HD is already out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wouldn't worry about getting the official Gingerbread ROM OTA. It will probably be posted here or at shipped-roms.com long before you would get it OTA.
Hi
I have a desire hd and it won't upgrade to Gingerbread. I have it nearly a year and everytime I try the Software update, it says there's no updates found. It is still on version 2.2. I've sent it back to HTC for another hardware issue and they didn't upgrade it either even though I asked them too.
So could someone recommend how I can do this myself? My phone isn't rooted, and I'm a bit of a noob so any advice would be appreciated.
Also, I'm not sure what ROM I need?
Thanks,
jondom
I'd suggest you to root your phone. then you can upgrade it as often as you want to
furthermore you can use CyanogenMod 7, which is stock android 2.3, if you want to
you said, that you are still on android 2.2. I assume that you have the 1.32.x.x firmware? if so, it's quite easy to root and put a custom rom on it, because you don't have to downgrade.
No one no matter what version needs to downgrade any longer. I really cant believe how many people are still advising people to downgrade. Most of the downgrade methods don't work or are unsupported.
Click here. AAHK does everything you need to start installing custom roms. Its 1 click and if it stuffs up attn1 and the rest of the guys at #liberatedAria are always there to help. They've saved my ass afew times.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1259821
And, In future post your questions in the Q&A section. You don't want to piss the mods off