Excuse me for probably asking things that have been asked before, but I have not been active in this forum and I am really inexperienced with both Android and Desire.
I have had an HTC Desire on stock Orange UK ROM since the day the Desire was released. A couple of weeks ago or so, I did the official OTA to 2.2 and everything is fine.
However, I am growing increasingly tired of all the bloatware and crap Orange has installed on the mobile phone, and would do with trying some other non-stock 2.2 ROMs, including Cyanogen ports.
My question is simple:
Do users who have had the 2.2 OTA follow the same procedure as all other users, or do we first have to perform some other steps, such as downgrading to a stock or non-stock 2.1, etc?
Is the root/su process the same for 2.2 users? And finally, is there some 'false-proof'/'fool-proof' recovery image that we can install before we start meddling with our phone (and so that we can possibly restore to it for warranty claims?)
Just follow the guide on here for using unrEVOked 3.21 and you'll hopefully have no issues. Just bare in mind that doing this will mean until an Orange RUU is made available (if at all) you won't be able to send it to Orange under warranty should something go wrong
Can you please elaborate on what you mean by this?
Is there a way to create a NAND dump or some other way to have a back-up of the current image/ROM in the phone so that I can return to it if so desired?
Related
If you're offended by my question, how about instead of replying, just closing the browser? :lol:
Okay, basically my phone is locked to o2. Knowing how slow o2 are I'm not prepared to sit around and wait for them to release froyo to me (they delayed the launch of the phone so many times).
I'm thinking of rooting my phone, installing an official unbranded eclair copy on my phone and then doing a OTA update to FroYo. Long as it may seem, it's the only logical way I can think of upgrading.
My questions are:
1. Will eclair install on a rooted phone?
2. I'm sure that installing an official copy on your phone removes root, is this correct?
3. Will my theory work?
Cheers.
You can debrand without routing, lots of guides online. I would show you but I am on my Desire, not at home..
Debranding is done by flashing a stock ROM to the phone. Many can be found on this very forum.
Once installed, you can check for update but I would strongly recommend using your goldcard when updating (you make this when degrading the phone).
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
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
Newb Alert!
Hi I'm currently running stock android 2.2.1 (build 1.72.405.3) on an unbranded DHD in the UK (I'm on Orange if that matters) I'm getting frustrated with the wait for 2.3 to be released here so I want to install the official RUU that was released a little while back.
I understand that to do this my phone will still be "official" ish, and that the only real difference between this way and OTA is that I'll lose my apps etc. which I can handle.
I want to be able to try some custom roms (in the future) but then be able to return the phone to stock - I believe this is possible? Am I better off downgrading now and doing S-off / eng-off, clockwork recovery, root etc? Or will I be fine to downgrade from 2.3 to 1.32 in the future to do everything I'll need for custom ROMS?
Or am I a muppet and have things totally wrong?
Any help appreciated,
Grim.
Ps. I've read the sticky in the Development forum, and tried searching the forum to find answers but have found it difficult as the terms I'm searching for are really generic - for this forum at least.
grimbola said:
I want to be able to try some custom roms (in the future) but then be able to return the phone to stock - I believe this is possible? Am I better off downgrading now and doing S-off / eng-off, clockwork recovery, root etc? Or will I be fine to downgrade from 2.3 to 1.32 in the future to do everything I'll need for custom ROMS?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Simple answer: Do it NOW!!!
Yes you can always go back to stock.
Much easier to do everything now.
Even if you only do root and S-OFF, you will be protected should the OTA update arrive in the sense that you won't need to downgrade again. But in for a penny and all that, go for the lot now and start exploring the greatness of Android and Sense (if you like that).
grimbola said:
Newb Alert!
Hi I'm currently running stock android 2.2.1 (build 1.72.405.3) on an unbranded DHD in the UK (I'm on Orange if that matters) I'm getting frustrated with the wait for 2.3 to be released here so I want to install the official RUU that was released a little while back.
I understand that to do this my phone will still be "official" ish, and that the only real difference between this way and OTA is that I'll lose my apps etc. which I can handle.
I want to be able to try some custom roms (in the future) but then be able to return the phone to stock - I believe this is possible? Am I better off downgrading now and doing S-off / eng-off, clockwork recovery, root etc? Or will I be fine to downgrade from 2.3 to 1.32 in the future to do everything I'll need for custom ROMS?
Or am I a muppet and have things totally wrong?
Any help appreciated,
Grim.
Ps. I've read the sticky in the Development forum, and tried searching the forum to find answers but have found it difficult as the of yerms I'm searching for are really generic - for this forum at least.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hi grim..
not neccesary you are going to lose your apk´s...
you can install "titanium backup" and do a backup of your apk´s, your system and your data (dialer, missed calls, wifi passwords...on sd-card\titaniumbackup) and then when you has installed your new gingerbread rom you can restore it.
download it from android market..
and finally say to you step by step what should to do:
1ºDOWNGRADE proccess from 1.72xx to 1.32xx wee off. ru
2ºroot with visionary Rxx
3º s-off eng-off+SUPERCID
4ºinstall ROM MANAGER from market and then flash a CWM recovery (lastest)
5ºDOWNLOAD the gingerbread rom, copy, paste to sd card root,
6ºDO FULL WIPE in recovery (factory reset, data, dalvik)
7ºFLASH the new rom and ENJOY
Mr_JMM said:
Simple answer: Do it NOW!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WIN!!!!!!
Hi grimbola
You can do anything, anywhere, and anyhow on your Desire HD (But make sure you know what you are doing. Lol.) It all depends on your risk appetite.
only follow the guides, it sounds more difficult than it is.
I did it as an unexperienced user 3 weeks ago and the master plan was, to read the guides
Hi guys,
Thanks for all the speedy replies! I read them last week, but have only now have the time to reply.
I did it! I downgraded to 1.36 (?) then ran the tool on my pc to do radio S-off then also ran the other tool to Eng S-off - I followed jkoljo's posts (from the sticky roll-up thread over on the development forum). I've now installed the official 2.3. It was a little scary at times, but easy as pie!
The only issue I had was that I don't think I backed up my apps correctly (I used Astro file browser to do it) as they have not all been restored, however this is no great pain!
I'm now thinking that I might try installing a custom ROM, maybe Leedroid? I'm after something that is like the stock rom - i.e. Sense based (at least to start with) but has more bells and whistles - any suggestions are welcome!
Once again many thanks for your replies,
Grim.
First of all thanks in advance for help from all you lovely people.
I'm something of a semi-noob when it comes to Android phones, though I have a fair amount of experience with Windows Mobile HTC devices.
I've had a couple of Android tablets some cheap unbranded chinese crap and and an Advent Vega, both of which I succesfully rooted via different methods.
So I have a little (though I stress a little) familiarity with ADB and clockworkmod recovery.
I'd appreciate if someone could help me understand a few things about the Desire Z though. I have a Desire Z sold retail, with no network lock, with CID HTC__001.
1. If I root this device ( probably via this guide http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1055581 ) would I be able to update to official ROMs in the future or does this always become difficult/impossible after rooting?
2. If i take a Nandroid backup immediately after rooting. Then later restore this backup and follow the guide I have seen for "unrooting" the device, would I then effectively be back to stock (or as close as possible)? If so should official OTA updates work again after this?
3. If 2 is wrong (which it could be since I am a noob!), is there anyway to get back to stock (or close enough for warranty returns/OTA updates) after rooting.
Again thanks for the help from all you knowledgable folk.
1) Rooting (and gfree) doesn't limit the ROMs you can flash, it completely opens it up. Running gfree gives you SuperCID and S-Off, so you can flash any ROM intended for our phone, regardless of what CID the ROM is intended for. But if you flash an official ROM, you will lose root again. Most ROMs have pre-rooted, but otherwise untouched (or at least, minimally modified) versions posted in the Development section. Once you are rooted, you should stick to those.
2 & 3) There are step-by-step instruction on how to unroot and return to stock in the Wiki: http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/index.php?title=HTC_Vision#Returning_to_Stock
Perfect! Thanks for the help.
There's so many warnings and "I'm not reponsible if flashing this ends the world" type lines in the guides and rom threads, that it can make you quite unsure as to what the potential problems are even if you have a little experience.
Hi
I have a Desire on Vodafone which came with 2.2 and it works fine. I've seen 2.3 available on the htc developers site and according to their blurb I understand this would remove a lot of the bloatware. Would it be correct to assume that this would mean more memory for apps that I actually want to run?
I'm afraid I'm not very experienced with reflashing etc and would prefer not to go down that route because of warranty issues etc.
If I were you, i'd steer clear of the update. It's unstable and it's a bit of a task to get back to 2.2 once you'd upgraded (especially as you've mentioned that you've not got much experience with flashing).
It does remove bloatware and may give you a little more room with improved A2SD, but i'd personally install a FROYO 2.2 RUU - this would remove the branding.
As you've currently got a Vodafone branded device, you'll need to make sure that you create a goldcard.
I'd take a read through some of the tutorials on this site to get you started.
Thanks for that Matt, as you may have gathered my real issue is frreing up memory for apps. Can anyone tell me how easy the mod to to enable use some of the sd card is and which yje best ie easiest way to do that might be.
Please use the Q&A Forum for questions Thanks
Moving to Q&A
the warranty issue is well, non existent. let me explain..
If you do decide to root and use a custom ROM, and all of a sudden your Desire develops a hardware glitch, all one has to do is use a RUU (Rom Update Utility) to restore the phone back to stock, and nobody will be none the wiser about what's been done to it before.
So personally, I'd recommend rooting and flashing a custom ROM. Since you're used to HTC Sense I'd try leedroid.
Also, even though it has some removed bloatware, I think that the 2.3 update actually comes with even less space than Froyo.