Related
Here is the easiest method (in my opinion) to root the Hero and load a custom ROM, theme, etc.... there is a video for noobs as well
Thanks to Cyanogen for his recovery image!
Thanks to MoDaCo for his great custom ROM!
Thanks to Zinx for FlashRec APK (thanks Amon Ra for letting me know who made it! http://zenthought.org/content/project/flashrec)
Enjoy!
How to Root the Hero in One Click! -
http://TheUnlockr.com/2009/08/27/how-to-root-your-htc-hero-in-one-click/
How to Load Custom ROM on the Hero -
http://theunlockr.com/2009/08/27/how-to-load-a-custom-rom-on-your-htc-hero/
Cool... theunlockr.com seems an interesting resource.
Has anyone here tried these methods and had no issues ?
And, why do you need to format your SD card ??? Or is this a typo ??
Surely just putting the files at root level on the card is all you need to do as per the video...
Seems a very easy way to root though
Also, lastly, do you need to root to flash new Firmware ? I thought you just needed to install a recovery image permanently as per MoDaCo Paul's instructions.
I WILL get my head around this one day
Hello JoeMax,
1. Works just fine on the out of box Hero, done it to mine multiple times over.
2. Formatting is just a precaution, not necessary, but recommended and only take a few seconds anyway.
3. The Rooting video here is essentially using FlashRec to do MoDaCo's procedure to permanently flash the recovery image (and gives you a back up for your original recovery image). Then on the next video when you load MoDaCo's custom ROM using the newly flashed recovery image is when you will have root access for applications.
The recovery image he provides doesn't give you root access for applications but it does allow us to load a custom ROM with root access for applications. Make sense kinda?
Good luck! Hope it helps!
Ah, yes, I think it makes sense now.
And thanks again for making it easy for us slow people I need not visit Terminal and enter arcane scripture to allow me to keep my Hero up to date.
Hats off to you
OH, and this applies to loading new Radio firmware too - i.e. you substitute the ROM steps with Radio firmware ?
Excellent - nice one for posting this. I have the usual couple of questions.
1) - Will doing this still allow me to update with the official ROM release.
2) What do I need to do to be able to go back to how I have it now ( out of box with my personal data ). Wiping all data is scary.
3) - I've read elsewhere that you need to partition your SD disk - is this true, and if so can I do that on my computer ( and if so what kind of format )
Like Joemax, I'm on a Mac and am not to terminal savy
Great video tutorials - thank you for those.
Please make a video tutorial on how to format your SD card to ext3/ext4, including setting it up for Linux caching, and all that jazz. Thank you!
It just can't get any better or easier than this..
Great tutorial!
Are there any disadvantages to using this method of rooting?
This is what I want to know, are there issues with Market access ? I keep reading of people rooting and then loosing the ability access Market.
Also, if I update ROMS will this remove apps and settings ?
As I understand it, all the firmware and OS are in flash memory whereas apps and user data / settings are in SDRAM and is completely separate.
joemax said:
This is what I want to know, are there issues with Market access ? I keep reading of people rooting and then loosing the ability access Market.
Also, if I update ROMS will this remove apps and settings ?
As I understand it, all the firmware and OS are in flash memory whereas apps and user data / settings are in SDRAM and is completely separate.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No issues with Market access (but you might need to put your APN settings back in of course).
When you update a ROM it is recommended to do a Data Wipe first, and that will erase your apps and settings. But you can get your apps back when you sign into your Google account and just goto My Downloads (then just download them again).
OK, thanks again David
Well, I better get som help with this, and by that I mean my problems.
Yesterday I tried this 'How to' and I as I described at theUnlockr.com, the result was a hero in a looping boot. It keeps rebooting after the screen saying 'htc' and some green doodles (animation) waving.
It keeps doing the loop and stops only when battery is removed. As soon battery is installed it starts op doing the loop thing.
There was no problems or warning doing the 'how to' and that goes for the rooting 'how to' as well.
When I debug the looping allot of errors and warnings are showing, obviously.
SDcard is 8Gb class6, partitioned in fat32, ext3 (533Mb) and swap(77Mb).
So I´m asking for help to unddo or replace the rom or whatever one do in a case like this. What can I do?
This is not a critical view on theunlockr.com - it is my fault somehow, but I need some help or guide line to recover from this situation. And yes, I´m new to Android world but I like it.
Sorry for english, I am not from around 'here'.
Well, I guess I don´t need the help after all.
I came to the assumption that the sd card, the partitions, might be corrupted some how, so I replaced it with the original sd card and before that I copied the content from the fat32 partition on the corrupted card to the original.
I then booted and wiped it and installed the update.zip again, and everything is almost back to normal.
I´m one happy dude now.
not working for me... put the files on the sdcard as mentioned. Run the .apk file and install it, so far so good. After opening it, the "Flash cyanogen Recovery 1.4" is greyed out.. ok, dont need it anyway.. hit "Backup Recovery Image" and wait... hero is working and after some time it says "backup failed". Also after typing "sdcard/cm-hero-recovery.img" the button "Flash Custom RecoveryImage" also remains greyed out...
I have a European black Hero (unbranded).
Can some one answer this simple question for me please,
I'v rooted and installed Modacos newest rom, I havn't got any partitioning tools in the Recovery menu, I realised that I used Recovery image 1.0
The question is, can I use the first video method to root and install Recovery image 1.31 or do I have to unroot and then root it again using Recovery image 1.31?
Hi,
I've got a UK hero on vodafone. I've done the first part of this and done a nandroid backup.
Before I do the custom ROM I have a couple of questions....
I keep seeing mention of a radio.zip - do I need this? what is it?
I assume I will need to make a paper backup of my APN settings?
Thanks for any info. I want to take the next step but I dont want to trash my new shiny thing!!
Cheers
Bryan
would this work for the CDMA Hero. I would like to root the phone and load custom roms that would enable me to save apps to the SD card.
So..I'm pretty noobish at all this, after doing my research I've finally rooted my phone wanting to mess with setCPU, flashing roms, and getting custom themes and boot animations, unfortunately i spent all my time figuring out how to simply root and nothing beyond..
i'd be grateful if anyone could post threads or just help in general with the above topics
Become a flashaholic like the rest of us. BTW once start you can't stop.
Best advice I can give is to read, read, read and then read some more. Trust me the answers to your questions are in the 1000000s of pages.
Myn's ROM is very good. But I like Caulkins ROM the best with netarchy's 4.2.1 kernel. You don't want to use setCPU with 4.2.1 its not needed.
Just my 2 cents.
And then for some real fun start playing with the CM 6.1 RC1. That's were the fun really begins.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
R1pTheJacka said:
So..I'm pretty noobish at all this, after doing my research I've finally rooted my phone wanting to mess with setCPU, flashing roms, and getting custom themes and boot animations, unfortunately i spent all my time figuring out how to simply root and nothing beyond..
i'd be grateful if anyone could post threads or just help in general with the above topics
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The first thing I did was to start flashing custom ROMS. In the early EVO days, there weren't many choices. Now, there are tons of good options out there, so get to flashin'! You'll also get lots of good ideas hanging out in the themes and mods forum. Stroll around in the "post your screens" thread and you'll be blown away by what some folks have accomplished.
Just my thoughts, of course, I suspect you'll get lots of other suggestions.
yea unfortunately lots of these terms are like a foreign langauge to me =\
after looking up the process of installing roms i see lots of people are saying do a nandroid back up and then copying the rom, radio/WIMAX/PRI/NV updates and kernel
the definitions/translations for that?
Different parts of your phone have their own embedded software that can and doses get upgraded. For example, when you get a major update from Sprint, either OTA (over the air) or donwloaded to your PC and run from there, it not only updates your operating system (Android) and all the other little apps, but frequently your cell receiver/transmitter (radio or baseband), 4G receiver/transmitter (WiMAX) get their own software updates as well. Custom ROM creators frequently exclude these from their packages, so you have to update them separately.
Nandroid is a backup functionality you have once the phone is rooted. It is available through RECOVERY. So if you boot your phone into the BOOTLOADER by holding down the VOL DOWN and powering up, you should be able to choose RECOVERY by using VOL UP and VOL DOWN keyes as arrows, and POWER button as SELECT (or ENTER). Once in RECOVERY mode, there are several options, including backup/restore. The backup IS the nandroid backup everyone mentions. It creates an image of your phone's current setup. If you mess things up later on and the phone system is damages, you can recover by restoring this image to your phone.
Hope this helps.
R1pTheJacka said:
So..I'm pretty noobish at all this, after doing my research I've finally rooted my phone wanting to mess with setCPU, flashing roms, and getting custom themes and boot animations, unfortunately i spent all my time figuring out how to simply root and nothing beyond..
i'd be grateful if anyone could post threads or just help in general with the above topics
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is my first time quoting and I am pretty noobish myself...I don't know these terms either even though I spent all that time trying to root...I still haven't found out how to use a custom rom or boot, I'm a little clueless even after reading for quite awhile. :/
Sent from HTC EVO 4G via xda app
jacoballen22 said:
This is my first time quoting and I am pretty noobish myself...I don't know these terms either even though I spent all that time trying to root...I still haven't found out how to use a custom rom or boot, I'm a little clueless even after reading for quite awhile. :/
Sent from HTC EVO 4G via xda app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Using a custom ROM (or kernel) or boot animation is done through "flashing." Flashing is done via Recovery which can be accessed by the steps listed in a post above. I use the Amon Ra recovery and there are directions how to isntall this elsewhere on the site. I copy the ROM (or kernel or boot anim) to the root of my SD Card, boot into recovery, nandroid backup, wipe caches, wipe data, then I can specify an option to boot from zip on sdcard. (don't remember if it's high-level menu item or not) Anyway, find a Recovery you like (Clockwork or Amon Ra) and there will be specific directions on everything you can do on that Recovery's thread.
This is really a condensed version and there's way better and more thorough advice in Development and Q & A forums in stickies. I highly recommend reading those.
Did you know that you can change the whole look of the phone just by changing the system font? And it's real easy too
Sent from my blah blah blah blah
I know how to get to recovery but I don't know which one I have..and wiping data and cache does what exactly (I've wiped my battery stats before because someone said it helps your battery life)
Sent from HTC EVO 4G via xda app
jacoballen22 said:
I know how to get to recovery but I don't know which one I have..and wiping data and cache does what exactly (I've wiped my battery stats before because someone said it helps your battery life)
Sent from HTC EVO 4G via xda app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're using rom manager, it will tell you at the top what recovery is currently installed.
Hopefully you didn't "just" wipe battery stats - there's a process;
It should be done as follows (copied/summarized from the cyanogen wiki found here);
Battery recalibration
1. Charge the phone to full battery; let it keep charging until the battery says it is fully charged. Do not just wait until the light is green, it isn't always fully charged, causing a lot of inaccuracies. (You can check by going to: Settings -> About Phone -> Status -> Battery Level = Full.)
2. Wipe battery stats with Amon_Ra or ClockworkMod recoveries.
NOTE: To have the most accurate of battery stats, reboot the phone immediately after wiping the battery stats and wait for it to boot completely to the desktop. Once your entire boot is done and you have full access to the phone, go ahead and pull the charger and continue with this troubleshooter.
1. Do not charge the phone until after draining the battery completely, resulting in it automatically shutting off.
2. Recharge the phone completely and then use as you normally would.
I am surprised that no one has posted this yet.
Keep in mind, this is reference to the HTC Dream/G1 which is one of, if not the first offered Android Phone. This article explains what root is, how it was established and definition of terms. I hope this helps.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=513061
This is the informative link, which can answer a lot of questions. Just keep in mind the commands/button combos and such are different on the EVO, but in all respects is the same animal.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=543081
And then finally, the wiki with all of the answers for the HTC Subsonic/EVO
http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/index.php?title=HTC_Supersonic&useskin=vector
6uPMAH said:
Different parts of your phone have their own embedded software that can and doses get upgraded. For example, when you get a major update from Sprint, either OTA (over the air) or donwloaded to your PC and run from there, it not only updates your operating system (Android) and all the other little apps, but frequently your cell receiver/transmitter (radio or baseband), 4G receiver/transmitter (WiMAX) get their own software updates as well. Custom ROM creators frequently exclude these from their packages, so you have to update them separately.
Nandroid is a backup functionality you have once the phone is rooted. It is available through RECOVERY. So if you boot your phone into the BOOTLOADER by holding down the VOL DOWN and powering up, you should be able to choose RECOVERY by using VOL UP and VOL DOWN keyes as arrows, and POWER button as SELECT (or ENTER). Once in RECOVERY mode, there are several options, including backup/restore. The backup IS the nandroid backup everyone mentions. It creates an image of your phone's current setup. If you mess things up later on and the phone system is damages, you can recover by restoring this image to your phone.
Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so the primary point of the nandroid backup is to have the ability to go back to the stock ROM if i choose or even if something screw up while installing a new ROM?
Brutal-Force said:
I am surprised that no one has posted this yet.
Keep in mind, this is reference to the HTC Dream/G1 which is one of, if not the first offered Android Phone. This article explains what root is, how it was established and definition of terms. I hope this helps.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=513061
This is the informative link, which can answer a lot of questions. Just keep in mind the commands/button combos and such are different on the EVO, but in all respects is the same animal.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=543081
And then finally, the wiki with all of the answers for the HTC Subsonic/EVO
http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/index.php?title=HTC_Supersonic&useskin=vector
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
good looks! the terms are IMO the most important thing to get a hold of
R1pTheJacka said:
so the primary point of the nandroid backup is to have the ability to go back to the stock ROM if i choose or even if something screw up while installing a new ROM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is Nandroid back up the same that Titanium pro back up does?
fachadick said:
Did you know that you can change the whole look of the phone just by changing the system font? And it's real easy too
Sent from my blah blah blah blah
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do you do this?
fachadick said:
If you're using rom manager, it will tell you at the top what recovery is currently installed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have 2.5.0.1. Is this the recovery that you would have to reboot in if something goes wrong and what does the numbers mean?
TIA!
phillip623 said:
Is Nandroid back up the same that Titanium pro back up does?
How do you do this?
I have 2.5.0.1. Is this the recovery that you would have to reboot in if something goes wrong and what does the numbers mean?
TIA!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nandroid isn't the same thing as titanium, think of nandroid as an image, sort of like a disk image or a windows restore point. Once restored, it will take you back to exactly where you were at the time of the backup.
The numbers that you see in Rom Manager represent the recovery version. You currently have clockworkmod version 2.5.0.1 installed.
It's been spelled out above, and elsewhere through the forums, but I'm bored and I want to clean up this post anyway (I tried that new 8whatever keyboard again - still hate it. And before I cleaned it up, this post was three paragraphs of broken english), so here are some basic steps spelled out on what to do immediately after rooting, along with some terms.
The first thing you want to do once rooted is go into rom manager, and towards the bottom, hit the option that says "Flash Alternate Recovery". Once you do this, you'll notice at the top where it used to say Current Recovery: ClockworkMod 2.5.0.1 it will now say Current Recovery: Ra Recovery 1.8.0.
Now close out Rom Manager, and turn off the phone. Turn it back on while pressing down on the volume. The screen with the skateboarding Andy's will show up - this is the hboot screen. Among other things, this screen will tell you the version of hboot you're running, and whether you're S-ON or S-OFF. There may be a few different options listed here, but we're only interested in the one that says Recovery.
Select Recovery. The phone will reboot, and you should end up on a screen with green text. At the top it will say Android System Recovery, and all the way at the bottom, it will say Build : RA-evo-v1.8.0 From here select Backup/Restore. There are a few options, but note the two important ones - Nand backup, and Nand restore. Select Nand backup. It will ask if you're sure, so say yes. It will take awhile and the bottom of the screen will fill with dots. When it's done select Return then Reboot System Now. Congratulations, You just performed your first Nand Backup using Amon Ra recovery.
When you can, mount your phone as a drive, and go into folder inside the nandroid folder on your sdcard. You'll see a folder with today's date. Copy it somewhere safe on your computer. If you're interested, you can look in that folder and note the wimax.img file - this is where you're backing up the infamous RSA Keys (I'm not explaining what that is here, just know that you REALLY want to have this backed up, and kept somewhere safe). once the copying is done, unmount as a drive, and disconnect from your computer. Congratulations, now it's playtime.
Use either Titaniaum Backup or MyBackup Pro to back up all of your apps and data. Mybackup Pro will also backup call logs and text messages and things like that - I'm pretty sure Titanium does also, but I'm not sure. Your contacts should be backed up to google for easy restoration later.
Head over to the dev section and find a ROM that appeals to you. You can go with completely stock rooted if you want (which is essentially where you are now, but stock rooted would have the latest OTA updates when they come out), or stock with some tweaks to Sense, or non Sense at all (the most popular of these is CM, which rebuilds Froyo from the ground up.) Sense refers the stock launcher called Rosie, as well as some buried functionality in the phone - for example the mail, calendar, and dialer apps look and act different between Fresh and CM roms. Sense is a UI developed by HTC to go over what is commonly referred to as vanilla android/AOSP. AOSP stands for Android Open Source Project and is what google released on the n1, CM is an AOSP rom. Also, you're looking for a Deodexed rom (as opposed to odexed) so you can theme it later if you want.
Once you find a rom you like, download it to the root of your sd card (you may want to download it on your computer and move it to your sdcard). Refer to the above to get back into recovery, but this time instead of selecting Backup/Restore, select Wipe. Select Wipe data/factory Reset and let it do its things, then select Wipe cache, and let it do it's thing, then select Wipe Dalvic-cache, and let it do it's thing. What you've just done is erased all of the personal and superfluous data that was in the phone - you want to make sure that when you load the new rom, you're loading it on an empty slate, and that there's nothing of your old data left that could possibly corrupt something in the new rom. Some people say to wipe all of those options 2 or even 3 times each - I don't buy that though. Also, don't worry about the other wipe options you had there. Not needed now.
So once you've wiped, hit return, and select Flash zip from sdcard. It will pull up a list of .zip files found on the root of your sdcard. select the rom you just downloaded, and let it install. This may take a while. Don't freak. Once it's done, select Reboot system now. This will take a while too, maybe even a few minutes. Don't freak. Once it eventually boots up, restore all of your stuff with either Titanium or MyBackup Pro. Congratulations, You just flashed your first rom.
Now head over to the themes and apps section. Find a theme that interests you. Make sure its compatible with your rom (either sense or cm) and download it. Flash this the same way you flashed your rom, but you may or may not need to wipe first. Always refer to the op of those threads for specific instructions.
Finally and most importantly - head over to the thread in my sig and find a new font you like. All the cool kids are doing it. When you find one you like, copy it to your sdcard and flash it the same way you've been flashing everything else. You don't need to wipe anything for those though.
Tips;
1: never forget to wipe. As a rule, when flashing roms, you'll be wiping what people refer to as all three - that means wipe data/factory reset, wipe cache, and wipe dalvic cache. When flashing kernels or themes, you'll generally just be wiping cache and dalvic cache. Again though, always refer to the instructions in the op in which you found whatever it is your flashing.
2: if you'll be flashing both themes and roms, and possibly kernels, never flash in the same recovery session. So rom first, full reboot, then kernel, full reboot, then theme, full reboot. In that order, wiping and rewiping as needed.
3: give you're rom at least a few days before you give up on it, most need time to settle into your phone so to speak, and need a few battery cycles to get to peak performance, which brings up to
4: You should wipe your battery stats whenever you flash a new rom. Remember you saw that option under Wipe back in recovery? Well now you get to use it. I posed the link and process above in the thread.
5: At this point most people use Amon Ra instead of clockworkmod because there seems to be uncertainty as to weather or not clockworkmod correctly wipes. ONLY Amon Ra backs up the wimax.img, clockwork does not.
6: rom manager is a graphical front end for clockworkmod. A lot of people still use it to flash, becasue it's so easy to use, it can be used to download roms directly in the app, and doesn't require the zip file to be on the root of the sdcard - it van be anywhere on the card. Don't forget though, you can download the rom through the app if you want, but still switch to amon ra to flash it.
7: you cannot restore a nand backup you make with amon ra with clockwork, and you cannot restore a nand backup you make with clockwork with amonra.
8: on the off chance you need to change your hboot version for any reason, you can only restore nand backups with the same hboot version that they were backed up with. NOTE, were talking about hboot here, not recovery.
Damn, that was a lot of of text. Sorry about that.
i would recommend reading this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=790427
i have only been in the android world for about 3 months now, and was able to root and flash custom roms with ease within a few weeks of getting my evo. its really not hard at all once you understand the process.
as far as what rom to flash, that depends on the user. different rom have different features. if i were you, i would recommend reading the specs on each rom before flashing. some may have features missing, such as 4G, full camera support and such. And usually all that info is provided in the thread along with the rom. so, pay attention to that.
as for me, the goal for rooting was to do certain things that was only possible with root. such as, Nandroid backup, ShootMe, Wifi Tether and to disable some of the Sprint apps. so, i am using a stocked rooted rom. it is what it says. the same stock rom as the factory but rooted.
a lot of ppl use various custom roms to get better battery life. battery life on stock roms have improved quiet a bit lately. at least in the past 3 months, i have noticed a big improvement. hope this helps answer some questions.
and remember to always do a nandroid backup. i also use My Backup Pro to backup my Call Logs, SMS & MMS.
few questions about flashing ROMs..
1. i still have to backup all my contacts,apps,etc, i have titanium backup pro and if i back them all up how do i get them back once the new ROM is flashed?
2. I know im supposed to do a nandroid backup but do i need those special recovery images first? (AmonRA/Clockwork)
3. What's the purpose of ROM M...anager in all of this?
ok, so titanium pro will backup everything, even how your homescreen is set up.
the nandroid is for if there is a problem, or if you want to go back. ALWAYS HAVE AT LEAST ONE BACKUP MADE WITH AMON AT ALL TIMES OR YOU COULD PERMANENTLY LOSE 4G (FOREVER, NO FIX EVER)
rom manager can control clockwork recovery while booted up in a touch screen interface. it removes the need to use the annoying volume keys. doesnt work with amon.
i would highly reccomend amon to you. it is just that much better, but doesnt work with rom manager. volume keys arent that hard anyways. use amon.
ONCE AGAIN, ALWAYS HAVE AT LEAST ONE AMON BAKCUP AT ALL TIMES, AND ALWAYS BACKUP BEFORE DOING ANYTHING EVEN SLIGHTLY CONSIDERED MODDING. SERIOUSLY, TAKE 4 MINUTES OUT OF YOUR DAY TO WATCH DOTS APPEAR, AND SAVE YOURSELF 200 DOLLARS OR HOURS OF SETTING STUFF BACK UP. SERIOUSLY. DO IT.
Thanks for the detailed and informative post! This should be in the question and answer thread. I'm finally able to change my font and onto ROMS. I'll reply back once I'm on a normal keyboard.
R1pTheJacka said:
few questions about flashing ROMs..
1. i still have to backup all my contacts,apps,etc, i have titanium backup pro and if i back them all up how do i get them back once the new ROM is flashed?
2. I know im supposed to do a nandroid backup but do i need those special recovery images first? (AmonRA/Clockwork)
3. What's the purpose of ROM M...anager in all of this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. all your contacts are backup-ed on your google account. when you sign on to the google account after you flash a new rom, the contacts will be automatically downloaded to the phone. so, no further work needed to be done there. i use My Backup Pro to backup my SMS/MMS and Call logs. I think it is very similar to Titanium. Basically you use the program to backup the stuff you need onto your SD Card. Then, once you have flashed your new rom, you install Titanium or the My Backup Pro and use the Restore feature to restore what you need. As far as Apps go, I found that it was better to use App Brain, since that keeps a log of all the apps install on the phone, its usually a breeze to re-install all of them through that.
2. Amon RA & Clockwork perform the same function. you use either to flash custom roms, perform nandroid backups, etc. so, once you root your phone, you will need to install one of these.
3. ROM Manager.. does what the name says it does. you can change the rom on your phone using that utility app. But i think the Amon Ra/Clockwork Recovery method is the preferred way of changing out roms.
Hi all!
I have recently joined the forums because I have heard that you guys are the best when it comes to smart phones including rooting and what not. I have scoured the forums looking for direct answers on how to root my EVO 4G and what I need to use for the best and easiest root. I work as a Network Administrator so I am familiar different technologies and different O/S's including many variations of Linux.
So, moving forward, I want to root my EVO. I have installed all of the latest updates released by both Sprint and HTC. But I have seem so many different ways to do this most notably using Unrevoked. But I've read in the forums that Unrevoked may not work well with the Kernel or Software I have?
I found the leaked Gingerbread and Sense 3.0 image (I believe it was an image) on the forums here and thought about using that one but with so many different ways to "root" an EVO I have no idea on where to begin. I know that many have posted about this before and I hate to be "that guy" whom posts it again but I truly need some expert advice here.
First off, which root method should I use? Secondly, which custom ROM should I use or should I use a custom ROM? I backup my data and apps with myBackup Pro by the way.
And here are the exact specs for my phone:
Software Information:
Android Version:
2.2 (Froyo of course)
Baseband Version:
2.15.00.11.19
Kernel Version:
2.6.32.17-gee557fd
htc-kernel"ampersand"and18-2 #15
Build Number:
3.70.651.1
Browser Version:
WebKit 3.1
PRI Version
1.90_003
PRL Version:
60677
If I'm posting in the wrong forum please do not hesitate to move my thread, I will not be offended like some people are. Lol!
Thanks guys!
Use unrevoked, it should root all versions of the Evo. There were compatibility issues at one point, but I believe that has all been fixed.
You will need to uninstall HTC Sync if you have it installed. If you haven't installed it, do so & then uninstall it. You will also need to install the modified hboot drivers if you're using Windows. You can get those from the unrevoked site. Make sure you have usb debugging turned on before you start the root process & that you've uninstalled anything that syncs with your phone - Doubletwist for one example. If you have problems, disable your antivirus as well.
If unrevoked works for you, I would make sure to do a nandroid backup via recovery before you do anything else. Unrevoked flashes Clockworkmod Recovery. I prefer Amon Ra, but whichever you use is up to you. You can switch recoveries through Rom Manager.
Also make sure you've backed up your RSA keys. Clockwork does this automatically with each backup. You can choose to include/exclude with AR, or do a separate backup of only your wimax keys.
The new GingerSense roms, while neat, are probably not a good idea for a first rom... or even a daily driver. They're going to be really buggy.
If you need anything else or another method to root, I'll be around. Good luck & have fun!
Sweet!
Thanks a ton PlainJane!
I won't be able to try this until tomorrow but rest assured I will try and most likely succeed with your advice. Speaking of Nandroid, I haven't been able to find it on the Android Market, unless I'm over looking it. So if you were doing it, which recovery/backup method would you use and where can you find it if not in the Android Market?
Again, thank you so much and I will probably wait until I get Nandroid or one of the others before I proceed. Hopefully that will be tomorrow.
Regards!
PAinguIN
Nandroid is just the name for the backup made in recovery. If I remember right, ClockworkMod doesn't call it that, nor does Rom Manager (the dev that made Clockwork made Rom Manager to go with it). Recovery is where you'll be doing all of your flashing & backing up. Titanium Backup (or MyBackup) will be needed to back up your apps + data so you can restore them after flashing a new Rom. Doing a nandroid backup is needed in case anything goes wrong or you just want to go back to the ROM/setup you had before. Nandroid backups take an image of your phone at that given time. When you restore a nandroid, it looks exactly as it did when you made the backup. Your rom/kernel are restored as well as your homescreens, apps, everything. They really come in handy. I'd suggest keeping at least one, along with your RSA keys if they're done separately, on your computer just in case. You cannot restore backups made with Amon Ra with Clockwork or vice versa, so I would go ahead and decide which recovery you want to use to avoid having to switch around later.
To get to recovery, you need to power down the phone. Hold the volume down button & the power button at the same time until you see a white screen - that's the bootloader. At the top in should say Supersonic something something ship S-off. The s-off means that you're nand unlocked, fully rooted. Use the volume buttons to move up & down through the menu. Hit the volume down button to highlight "recovery" then the power button to select it. You'll see the white Evo splashscreen & then you'll be in recovery. I'm not sure how Clockwork is laid out because I haven't used it in a while, but there should be a backup/restore option in the recovery menu. Choose that & the rest is pretty self-explanatory. In Amon Ra, choose backup/restore then nandroid backup. You'll be given options what to backup (only in AR, not CWM). Leave the first three checked and do your backup. If you want to include wimax keys, just use the volume down button to highlight it & power to select it. You'll see the box next to it checked. I would suggest doing a separate backup of only your wimax keys after doing a full backup. Just uncheck the first three and then check only wimax.
Remember, before flashing a new ROM, wipe everything in recovery but the SD card. When flashing anything else that goes with the rom - kernels, themes, add-ons, etc - just wipe cache & dalvik cache. In Clockworkmod, I think dalvik is under advanced.
Let me know how it goes!
EDIT: I'm not sure of what wipe options are in Clockwork, and I don't want you to accidentally wipe something on your SD or something else that you shouldn't. So if you use CWM, just wipe data, dalvik, and cache. Or you can use a format all zip (King's format all will work with Clockwork) to do it. In Amon Ra, it's safe to do what I said before, even though data & dalvik/cache should be all that's necessary.
plainjane said:
Nandroid is just the name for the backup made in recovery. If I remember right, ClockworkMod doesn't call it that, nor does Rom Manager (the dev that made Clockwork made Rom Manager to go with it). Recovery is where you'll be doing all of your flashing & backing up. Titanium Backup (or MyBackup) will be needed to back up your apps + data so you can restore them after flashing a new Rom. Doing a nandroid backup is needed in case anything goes wrong or you just want to go back to the ROM/setup you had before. Nandroid backups take an image of your phone at that given time. When you restore a nandroid, it looks exactly as it did when you made the backup. Your rom/kernel are restored as well as your homescreens, apps, everything. They really come in handy. I'd suggest keeping at least one, along with your RSA keys if they're done separately, on your computer just in case. You cannot restore backups made with Amon Ra with Clockwork or vice versa, so I would go ahead and decide which recovery you want to use to avoid having to switch around later.
To get to recovery, you need to power down the phone. Hold the volume down button & the power button at the same time until you see a white screen - that's the bootloader. At the top in should say Supersonic something something ship S-off. The s-off means that you're nand unlocked, fully rooted. Use the volume buttons to move up & down through the menu. Hit the volume down button to highlight "recovery" then the power button to select it. You'll see the white Evo splashscreen & then you'll be in recovery. I'm not sure how Clockwork is laid out because I haven't used it in a while, but there should be a backup/restore option in the recovery menu. Choose that & the rest is pretty self-explanatory. In Amon Ra, choose backup/restore then nandroid backup. You'll be given options what to backup (only in AR, not CWM). Leave the first three checked and do your backup. If you want to include wimax keys, just use the volume down button to highlight it & power to select it. You'll see the box next to it checked. I would suggest doing a separate backup of only your wimax keys after doing a full backup. Just uncheck the first three and then check only wimax.
Remember, before flashing a new ROM, wipe everything in recovery but the SD card. When flashing anything else that goes with the rom - kernels, themes, add-ons, etc - just wipe cache & dalvik cache. In Clockworkmod, I think dalvik is under advanced.
Let me know how it goes!
EDIT: I'm not sure of what wipe options are in Clockwork, and I don't want you to accidentally wipe something on your SD or something else that you shouldn't. So if you use CWM, just wipe data, dalvik, and cache. Or you can use a format all zip (King's format all will work with Clockwork) to do it. In Amon Ra, it's safe to do what I said before, even though data & dalvik/cache should be all that's necessary.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
PlainJane,
Thank you again for your advice. So from what I understand this is what I need to do. First, I need to "root" my device using Unrevoked. Once rooted I then boot my phone up in "Recovery Mode" and at that point I will be able to make my Nandroid image via the recovery method I choose. Correct?
But, where and when do I install these mods? For instance, just for an example, if I wanted to use ClockworkMod would it already show up in Recovery since my phone is now rooted or do I have to install it separately?
This gets more and more confusing as time goes by. I would certainly want to make my Nandroid backup before I would root the phone I would imagine but doing so is not possible unless the device is already rooted correct?
I'm going to give this a shot right now starting with the first set of instructions you gave me.
I hope all goes well.
Thanks and please feel free to respond with any additional information I may need or if it sounds like I have confused myself, which I believe I have.... Lol!
PAinguIN
PAinguINx said:
PlainJane,
Thank you again for your advice. So from what I understand this is what I need to do. First, I need to "root" my device using Unrevoked. Once rooted I then boot my phone up in "Recovery Mode" and at that point I will be able to make my Nandroid image via the recovery method I choose. Correct?
But, where and when do I install these mods? For instance, just for an example, if I wanted to use ClockworkMod would it already show up in Recovery since my phone is now rooted or do I have to install it separately?
This gets more and more confusing as time goes by. I would certainly want to make my Nandroid backup before I would root the phone I would imagine but doing so is not possible unless the device is already rooted correct?
I'm going to give this a shot right now starting with the first set of instructions you gave me.
I hope all goes well.
Thanks and please feel free to respond with any additional information I may need or if it sounds like I have confused myself, which I believe I have.... Lol!
PAinguIN
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unrevoked automatically installs ClockworkMod Recovery, so no need to do that. If you want to use Amon Ra - I think it is the more popular, easy to use option - you will have to flash it over CWM. You can do this easily by downloading Rom Manager from the market & choosing "flash alternate recovery". Other functions of Rom Manager won't work without Clockwork, but trust me, learning to do everything manually will really help you out.
Since it seems that you're a little confused on this point - you only have one recovery at a time. For the Evo, there's ClockworkMod & Amon Ra. You have to have one or the other to boot into recovery, otherwise you'll get a black screen with a red triangle in the corner.
If for some reason flashing AR doesn't work from Rom Manager, let me know & I'll walk you through the manual installation. If you just want to learn that method, I'm all for that too. I just don't want to confuse you with that information unless you need it.
You cannot do a nandroid backup until you root the phone. It's just one more limitation of not being rooted. You have to have a custom recovery installed, and I don't think this is possible without being rooted. You can go ahead & do the backup once you've rooted, just be sure to switch recoveries first if that's something you plan on doing. I'm not saying Clockwork is bad, I just recommend AR for multiple reasons... one of them being that Amon Ra supports both edify & amend scripting. With newer versions of ClockworkMod, you can only flash edify scripted zips, older versions are amend only. If you flash enough you'll run into a problem with this one-or-the-other way of doing things.
Any other questions, don't hesitate to ask. I found that watching videos on YouTube helped me feel more at ease before my first time rooting and my first time flashing. Once I saw how easy it was, I felt more comfortable doing it. Read the stickies and any kind of guides you can find in the Evo forums. I've learned a lot just by reading the Evo Q&A section.
If you want to pm me with any more questions, go ahead. You can ask them in the thread too, if you want... either way.
I'd like to hear how everything goes for you. Most people are happy with how easy unrevoked is, but a few do have problems. Anyway, good luck!
PlainJane,
Well, I've installed the modified HBOOT drivers successfully. I have ran UnrEVOked3 and am now in the process of creating my first NANDROID backup. I just stuck with ClockWorkMod because once I actually ran UnrEVOked3 and it finished it reboot my EVO into recovery mode. So rather than rebooting my phone again and flashing Amon Ra (and possibly running into any problems) I just stuck with CWM. I may regret this later but at this point I am just glad that my phone hasn't been "bricked". Lol!
It's still running the NANDROID backup right now. Now I need to clarify what needs to be done when that has finished. I guess I need to flash a custom ROM of my choosing right? Will I do this using ROMmanager or do I need to d/l one from the net somewhere first?
Also, you mention something about wiping the data on my phone aside from the SD Card. I only need to do this just before I flash a "New ROM" correct? Or should I go ahead and do this now?
Anyway, it looks like "so far so good" in my case. Thanks to you that is! ; ) And the backup has completed, I'm going to see if I can boot into my phone now.
Oh, and this is what I am seeing in CWM:
ClockworkMod Recovery v2.6.0.1
- reboot system now
- apply sdcard:update.zip
- wipe data/factory reset
- wipe cache partition
- install zip from sdcard
- backup and restore
- mounts and storage
- advanced
- +++++Go Back+++++
So that's what you see with ClockWorkMod these days.
Now, back to what I was saying. Do I choose a custom ROM now or am I good with what I have? Also, about wiping, that's only done when I flash a new ROM?
Thanks yet again PlainJane!
PAinguIN
I created the attached document for myself when I was learning how to root and what all steps that need to be taken. Its not perfect, but when i root a phone for my friends, i still reference this and make changes when needed.
/*** Follow these steps at your own risk. Like is said, these are the steps that I use and this is NOT an "official" guide.
/*** I take no responsibility for "bricking" during this process
I have to put some sort of disclaimer in here, lol
fikusunc said:
I created the attached document for myself when I was learning how to root and what all steps that need to be taken. Its not perfect, but when i root a phone for my friends, i still reference this and make changes when needed.
/*** Follow these steps at your own risk. Like is said, these are the steps that I use and this is NOT an "official" guide.
/*** I take no responsibility for "bricking" during this process
I have to put some sort of disclaimer in here, lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks!
So what ROM/Kernel is the best or coolest to have these days? I already tried to uninstall some factory installed apps with no luck. I also tried to use the "Root" features in JuiceDefender and when I allowed the app to scan to see if my Kernel/Rom supported CPU controlling it said that it was not supported. So I certainly need to get a new ROM/Kernel.
Perhaps you guide will hold the secret!
Thanks guy!
PAinguIN
yw, check out this site. This person put together a page that makes looking for roms very easy. http://evo4g.roms-db.com/
As far as what is the "best" or "coolest", that just depends on what you want. I basically wanted a rom that that was stable and had hotspot and tethering enabled and working. I think that I have had almost every rom that is on above link and I finally decided on sticking with the Eternal Prophecy rom. I kept going back to it so now im sticking with it until I get more knowledge to build my own.
I dont know enough about Kernals to flash one or make modifications, yet.
to uninstall some apps that come default on a rom, I use "root explorer".
just check out the section of the file called:
######## TO REMOVE BLOATING HTC / SPRINT APPS, FOLLOW THE STEPS HERE OR KEEP READING ########
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I downloaded the Eternal Prophecy v5.7 ROM. Do I place this in the root of my SD card? Also, can I flash this rom using ROM Manager or do I have to do it through ClockWorkMod recovery? Do I have to wipe my phone beforehand if I use ROM Manager?
One other question, how do I choose a Kernel and what is the benefit of using a different Kernel. For instance, if I use this Kernel "Netarchy 4.3.4 CFS HAVS SBC More Aggressive" what will it do for me? And do I have to have a custom kernel for a custom rom?
Thanks!
By the way, your guide was helpful. I like what has been done in the Eternal Prophecy Rom, I haven't installed it yet but based on the change notes I've read it sounds great. Although I don't see why someone would want to remove Adobe Reader. I have to work with PDF files a great deal and I also read e-books in PDF format as well. I guess I'll just install it after I flash the ROM.
Thanks again,
PAinguIN
Wow, I missed a lot overnight apparently, hah.
First off, don't wipe data unless you're about to flash! Otherwise you won't have any data. Sorry for the confusion.
I'm not familiar with the Rom you chose, but I'm sure it'll be fine. The most popular roms are usually on the first couple of pages of the Evo Development forums, but popularity shouldn't be the deciding factor. Run through the thread for the rom & just make sure it's stable & people aren't having a lot of problems. It's usually best to choose a rom that's up to date, but I stuck with CM6 until CM7 nightly 20-something was out because I liked how stable it was & didn't feel the need to jump on the Gingerbread bandwagon.
Okay, since you downloaded the ROM externally, you can't flash through Rom Manager... I think. I've never used it so I'm not sure. But for learning purposes, go ahead and do it manually. Read the thread for the rom - at least the first few posts, not the whole thing - and make sure there isn't anything else that's required before flashing. If you don't need anything else, you can go ahead and flash the rom by itself. You can flash kernels, etc later. Now I'm not exactly sure where things are in Clockwork (thanks for showing me the first level, it sounds odd compared to what I'm used to), but you need to wipe cache, dalvik cache & data. I have heard that dalvik is under advanced, but I don't remember if the rest is under wipe data/factory reset or not.
After you've wiped, choose install zip from sd card. All of the zip files are at the bottom, so it's easiest to hit the volume up button to take you to the bottom unstead of going down from the top. If I remember right, Clockwork makes you choose yes in the middle of a bunch of noes. I think that's what I miss the least about CWM, lol. When it finishes flashing just choose to reboot, and hopefully you'll be done with that ugly boot animation & sound from Sprint :]
Okay, on to kernels. Most likely all you need is a CFS kernel. BFS kernels give you better quadrant scores, but quadrant scores are just a competition for teenage boys. You can use them for testing purposes, but take them with a grain of salt. There's a great kernel starter guide. I have it saved, but just search for kernel starter guide & you should be able to find it. With a havs kernel, you can't change your cpu speed without interfering with the kernel. Havs kernels do a good job of undervolting to save battery when the phone isn't in use, eliminating the need for SetCPU or anything similar. You will still be able to use the app, but doing so will kind of fight the kernel. Make sure you choose an AOSP kernel for AOSP & Sense for Sense. Also take into account if you're on 2.2 or 2.3, but this mostly matters for AOSP right now. You do not need a custom kernel, every rom comes with one. You can choose a different one to suit your needs.
I'm sure I missed something, so if I think of anything else, I'll let you know
Ok, well, I've already bought SetCPU and I've purchase Rom Manager Pro and Bloat Freezer. Problem though, I was going to try and d/l and flash a rom using Rom Manager but when I press download ROM it tells me this: "You must have ClockworkMod Recovery installed before continuing! Install the recovery through ROM Manager first."
But I already have ClockworkMod installed because Unrevoked did it for me. If I click on Reboot into Recovery it works fine. But why does it tell me I need to install ClockworkMod recovery when it's already installed? It gives me the choice to install it but I don't want to reinstall it and cause any problems you know?
What should I do? Should I use Rom Manager at all now or should I just work manually?
Thanks!
PAinguINx said:
Ok, well, I've already bought SetCPU and I've purchase Rom Manager Pro and Bloat Freezer. Problem though, I was going to try and d/l and flash a rom using Rom Manager but when I press download ROM it tells me this: "You must have ClockworkMod Recovery installed before continuing! Install the recovery through ROM Manager first."
But I already have ClockworkMod installed because Unrevoked did it for me. If I click on Reboot into Recovery it works fine. But why does it tell me I need to install ClockworkMod recovery when it's already installed? It gives me the choice to install it but I don't want to reinstall it and cause any problems you know?
What should I do? Should I use Rom Manager at all now or should I just work manually?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This was more of a curiosity question to be honest with you. I have copied the ROM and Calkulin's combo update to the root of my SD card and am performing my NANDROID right now. I decided to try out "Myn’s Warm TwoPointTwo" ROM instead of Eternal Prophecy. I will probably flash a Cyanogen ROM later and perform a NANDROID of that as well so I can switch back and forth.
I really appreciate all of your help PlainJane, oh, and Fikusunc too!
This is truly the best forum for Android/Linux development and modifications. I'll spread the word about XDA to my friends for sure. ; )
Still curious about that Rom Manager thing though...strange....
I bought the Pro key too when I first rooted. I used it to download one ROM that I never flashed and I haven't touched it since. I learned to do everything manually from the get-go... I think I just didn't trust Rom Manager to do its job. As for the error, I got that too with the premium version. I think I downgraded to a previous version & it worked for me. You can also try reflashing the recovery through Rom Manager, that may help. If not, go to settings and clear cache/data for Rom Manager & then try again. I really think you'd benefit from learning to do it manually... it's not hard at all, and if you're in a pinch where your phone won't boot, it'll help to know your way around the recovery. If you can get Rom Manager working and want to use it, go ahead, there's nothing wrong with using it. You've already paid for it.
I think you'll really enjoy Myn's, especially coming from stock. It took me some time to flash a custom rom after I rooted, but once I did I was amazed to see what I'd been missing.
Let me know how you like Myn's, though. I've pretty much settled between CM & MIUI, but I feel it's time for something new. I haven't used Sense in what feels like forever, so I may give it a shot.
Wow! Quick learner! It took me some time to wrap my head around all this stuff! You had good coaches also. Good luck and have fun with your "new" Evo!
New EVO user as well and I'm eager to get rooted and get CM7 flashed. I've read that WiMax isn't working with most custom ROMs. I'm wondering, if I decide to restore back to stock ROM, would WiMax work again? (assuming of course I back up my RSA keys) or am I SOL after flashing a new ROM?
Thanks all! Just upgraded from an HTC Rhodium 400 and am still new to this whole thing.
BTW - thanks for the thread, It's been useful
gm87 said:
New EVO user as well and I'm eager to get rooted and get CM7 flashed. I've read that WiMax isn't working with most custom ROMs. I'm wondering, if I decide to restore back to stock ROM, would WiMax work again? (assuming of course I back up my RSA keys) or am I SOL after flashing a new ROM?
Thanks all! Just upgraded from an HTC Rhodium 400 and am still new to this whole thing.
BTW - thanks for the thread, It's been useful
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this is actually not correct. wimax works with most roms. EVEN CM7 NOW! it took 4 months for 2 guys to reverse engineer closed-source wimax drivers to the evo. so now you have 'MOAR GEES' as we call it, on cm7. even if you flash a rom w/o 4g, you'l still have it when you come back to one that does.
btw, SAVE YOUR RSA KEYS! have at least one nandroid bakcup wiht wimax.img so that if you keys (the way into sprint's 4g network) gets corrupted, you aren't sol.
plainjane said:
I bought the Pro key too when I first rooted. I used it to download one ROM that I never flashed and I haven't touched it since. I learned to do everything manually from the get-go... I think I just didn't trust Rom Manager to do its job. As for the error, I got that too with the premium version. I think I downgraded to a previous version & it worked for me. You can also try reflashing the recovery through Rom Manager, that may help. If not, go to settings and clear cache/data for Rom Manager & then try again. I really think you'd benefit from learning to do it manually... it's not hard at all, and if you're in a pinch where your phone won't boot, it'll help to know your way around the recovery. If you can get Rom Manager working and want to use it, go ahead, there's nothing wrong with using it. You've already paid for it.
I think you'll really enjoy Myn's, especially coming from stock. It took me some time to flash a custom rom after I rooted, but once I did I was amazed to see what I'd been missing.
Let me know how you like Myn's, though. I've pretty much settled between CM & MIUI, but I feel it's time for something new. I haven't used Sense in what feels like forever, so I may give it a shot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Painjane,
Actually I think I'm going to stick with your advice and handle everything manually from now own. While I could probably reflash recovery through ROM Manager and get it working properly recovery does work. So as they say, if it's not broken don't fix it right? Lol!
I'll keep ROM Manager though, since I've paid for it, and possibly try to use it when I flash my next ROM. Just to see what happens.
One of the guys posted in the thread something about how fast I caught on and that I had a good coach. Thanks! I think I did catch on pretty quickly, and yes I had a very good coach. Lol!
I've actually owned my EVO since its day of release. I pre-ordered that device once I heard of it and did my research. I originally wanted the Nexus One but settled on the EVO as the NEXUS One was only available through T-Mobile or something. Nothing against T-Mobile, they just don't offer good service in my area.
Anyway, it took me this long to buildup the courage to finally root my phone. The last thing I wanted was a $600 paper weight you know? Lol! But as smooth as this process went I would recommend this process to anyone.
And PlainJane, Myn's is working great! It has an amazing interface and is just plain (no pun intended) sweet!. Here's something for everyone else out there which I did differently.
Instead of wiping ALL of the data on my phone I only wiped the dalvik and cache instead of doing a complete wipe. This way everything was still setup exactly the way I had it before the flash. i.e. E-Mail, Contacts, SMS logs, music, photos, etc. Moreover, wireless tether works great, Wimaxx still turns on but we don't have 4G around here so I've never been able to use it. Bluetooth, WiFi, GPS work just fine too.
In fact, there is nothing that doesn't work the way it should. So, in my opinion, wiping your device of all of it's data is not necessary but I did not develop the ROMS so check with the devs before doing anything out of the norm.
; )
PAinguIN
Hi there,
So I might be posting this in the wrong place on the forums so sorry if it is! I am wanting to root my desire HD to get a ICS rom, but need to know a few things:
1. I am currently running Unbranded Gingerbread 2.3.5 with Sense 3.0, which root application would be best for me to use.
2. Can I switch back to the factory default rom easy, or do i need to do a reinstall of this from somewhere when I want to. I mean for example can i just backup the factory rom and restart the phone straight back into it without reinstalling.
3. Do I need to backup all files before I install a new rom.
4. Is there a high risk that my phone will stop working completely.
Like I said not sure if this is right place but i just want to find out some things before I root my phone and how would be best to do this. But this is an area I am interested in but want to know a few things so I don't damage my phone!
There is always the risk of bricking/softbricking your phone however slim the chances are. Before you do anything, reading is crucial. Once you are done, read it again and then some more.
The only sure method I know to root is using the ace hack kit (somebody please correct me-it seems I just misplaced the name). That manual was designed in such a way to make new users get acostumed to reading and finding out the answers by themselves. What you just asked has been answered multiple times and almost any other question you have will almost surely have already been answered. Hence, use the search feature.
Once you root your phone you will be S-OFF, your warranty will be voided. You can always revert it, something I have not ventured into, but it is there.
After you root, you ought to download rom manager, 4ext recovery, rom toolbox, thats up to you. 4ext is the prefference of most users here.
You can use any of those to make a backup of your current rom once you have rooted your cell.
Before installing the rom of your choice, read the thread. You should wipe your internal memory - aka, full wipe. You can do it manually through any of the programs mentioned above or search for a full wipe script in the forums.
After the full wipe, install (flash) the rom of your choice. First boot usually takes about five minutes for most roms - just an average. If it takes any longer you may have flashed a bad download or did something wrong. If this happens just erase everything from recovery (to enter recovery while the phone is off press down the volume button while holding the power button). You can also enter the recovery through those programs mentioned while running your cell, some roms have the option after pressing the power button and selecting reboot.
Most ICS roms are still in their beta phase - but thats mainly because there are a few minor bugs or because the videocamara doesn't work. Those issues will be corrected once htc releases ICS for the dhd, or someone manages to hack it.
Happy flashing, it's quite addictive.
Sent from a dream.
I have had my G2 for about 18 months and have been running into a lot of issues recently. I've decided to fix those issues by rooting & getting a new ROM installed. I'm a tech savvy guy, but have not done anything on the phone end due to not wanting to break whats working. I've decided to go with the Mimicry 1.3.2 ROM since the install process uses Aroma and is very straight forward. Before I pull the trigger, I just want to make sure I have all the steps clear so that I don't go "Oh sh**" in the middle because I missed a step. There's also a couple of steps that I'm not clear on. Here's what I researched:
-Root phone using HTC's bootloader unlocker
-Format phone's flash memory to EXT4
--What is the best app to do this with? Will my phone work with Gingerbread after I make this change?
-Download Mimicry 1.3.2 and Google Apps put the zip files on my phone (not SD card)
-Power off phone and then push the volume down and power buttons together and choose to install the ROM
-Answer prompts in Aroma (including installing WiFi calling)
-Flash Google apps
--How exactly is that done?
-Restart phone and start setting up apps again.
Does that look correct and is there anything that I'm missing? Thank you in advance for your help.
Well first off I would stay away from HTC official unlocked bootloader, its worthless and will give you headaches in the future
use the wiki to root, either follow the wiki in cyanogen or here on xda, if you even slightly tech savvy it will be easy
following that guide you will have clockwork recovery, but I suggest moving to 4ext recovery, among many reasons is the ability to format to ext4. Otherwise the next easiest way to format would be to flash a super wipe script with ext4 format written to it (just search xda and you'll find it easier)
Now after you are rooted with an engineering s-off hboot consider flash the .19 radio, not super important but many find this to have the best reception and battery life.
Next make sure your SD card is fat32, I also suggest an ext4 partition there as well (easily done through recovery) but skip the swap
Now feel free to flash mimicry, and may I add this is one other best ICS Roms for the vision, and blk_jck is a very helpful Dev as well.
Good luck, if you run into issues there will be answers all over xda, just search a bit, happy flashing!
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium
Thanks
Thanks for the heads up on the HTC bootloader. I'll check out the Wiki on how to PermRoot my phone.
Mimicry, recovery, soft bricks, and new ROM
Agree with demkantor, the step-by-steps so painstakingly described in cyanwiki are your best bet.
Likewise, using 4ext in place of clockwork is also my recommendation, as I've used both now and
find the latter more polished and stable.
I recently rooted and updated for the first time. Got successfully as far as ICS using cyan's instruction,
then decided to use mimicry after reading about the radio updates etc posted by madmaxx. I think the sequence in which i
carried these out was flawed, because after updating the radio instruction sets, I re-flashed mimicry to take advantage of the
updated radio features and to install the wi-fi telephony; that was my downfall. I got caught in a boot-loop. Oh sh*t, indeed.
I could not, for the life of me, get past the HTC white screen. Being a total noob, I had no
idea where to go to next. I searched this website and cyan's a lot, and realised the term for what I now had was a 'soft
brick' or 'semi brick'. Could not get the device to be recognised via ADB, and could not access the sdcard directory.
I scratched my head for a few days (I had bought another phone prior to playing with the old G2), and came up with the
idea of just accessing the sdcard via my laptop, directly. In the midst of this, I turned on the phone (after taking the card
out), and voila, the phone now cycled into engineering hboot !
I subsequently was able to edit the sdcard directly via the laptop (using an micro sd card adapter), and removed the pc10?.img file
that was left over the radio update. Having recovered to this point, I re-flashed mimicry 1.3.1 (via 4ext) and so was able to get a completely
functional phone again.
The point of all of the is this: 1. To all the previous post-ers, both here and at cyanwiki...You guys rock. Can't say that enough. Even more:
2. A 'soft brick' may be anything but...a little bit of not-very-complicated experimentation afterward can pay off big time. Lastly, I tried
mimicry 1.3.2, but kept getting a heap of error messages. Needless to say, I was a bit spooked by the previous stuff-up, so I quickly reverted
to 1.3.1, which appears to be 100% stable (IMHO).
Cheers
1.3.2 adds few framework level changes and no device level changes. Definitely nothing that should cause errors or problems booting anyway.
Sent from my HTC Vision using xda premium
Good Info
timram said:
Agree with demkantor, the step-by-steps so painstakingly described in cyanwiki are your best bet.
Likewise, using 4ext in place of clockwork is also my recommendation, as I've used both now and
find the latter more polished and stable.
I recently rooted and updated for the first time. Got successfully as far as ICS using cyan's instruction,
then decided to use mimicry after reading about the radio updates etc posted by madmaxx. I think the sequence in which i
carried these out was flawed, because after updating the radio instruction sets, I re-flashed mimicry to take advantage of the
updated radio features and to install the wi-fi telephony; that was my downfall. I got caught in a boot-loop. Oh sh*t, indeed.
I could not, for the life of me, get past the HTC white screen. Being a total noob, I had no
idea where to go to next. I searched this website and cyan's a lot, and realised the term for what I now had was a 'soft
brick' or 'semi brick'. Could not get the device to be recognised via ADB, and could not access the sdcard directory.
I scratched my head for a few days (I had bought another phone prior to playing with the old G2), and came up with the
idea of just accessing the sdcard via my laptop, directly. In the midst of this, I turned on the phone (after taking the card
out), and voila, the phone now cycled into engineering hboot !
I subsequently was able to edit the sdcard directly via the laptop (using an micro sd card adapter), and removed the pc10?.img file
that was left over the radio update. Having recovered to this point, I re-flashed mimicry 1.3.1 (via 4ext) and so was able to get a completely
functional phone again.
The point of all of the is this: 1. To all the previous post-ers, both here and at cyanwiki...You guys rock. Can't say that enough. Even more:
2. A 'soft brick' may be anything but...a little bit of not-very-complicated experimentation afterward can pay off big time. Lastly, I tried
mimicry 1.3.2, but kept getting a heap of error messages. Needless to say, I was a bit spooked by the previous stuff-up, so I quickly reverted
to 1.3.1, which appears to be 100% stable (IMHO).
Cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for that info. I am taking a look at the Cyanogen Wiki and seeing what I have to do. I'm thinking that I will jump directly to Mimicry 1.3.2 instead of installing Cyanogen 9 first. Hopefully that file doesn't hang out there and causes that boot loop to happen to me (thanks for that explanation, BTW).
So do I have to use that ClockworkMod to load the ROM, or does EXT4 do the same thing (as far as loading the rom goes)?
...where thanks is due
many thx, blk jack, I should have specifically mentioned your awesome contributions as well, and
have remedied with thanks meter as i came/come across it.
Will re-try the 1.3.2 shortly. If I run in to the same glitches, I will try and make note of the specific errors
(or any other bugs, for that matter) and let you know.
Use the following guide, it is incredibly simple yet swift. Contains root methods for both the DesireZ and the T-Mobile G2 :
http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/wiki/TMobile_G2:_Rooting
Checking it out now
iamnoobie said:
Use the following guide, it is incredibly simple yet swift. Contains root methods for both the DesireZ and the T-Mobile G2 :
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm actually looking at that wiki right now. I just finished backing up all the contents on my SD card. I can't backup the apps on my phone since it's not rooted, and I can't use a backup app unless I'm root. So it looks like that is a catch 22. Personally, I don't mind wiping everything anyways since I'm going to be making the jump to ICS. I guess I'll have to beat all those levels in cut the rope again :crying:
@deadeye
actually, the only important bits are your contacts, sms's, phone logs, etc (if these matter to you), which i think you can backup via gmail. Additionally, any other (or all) files on the SD card, you should be able to just copy directly onto a folder in your laptop or desktop (see the post I made above). HTH.
timram said:
@deadeye
actually, the only important bits are your contacts, sms's, phone logs, etc (if these matter to you), which i think you can backup via gmail. Additionally, any other (or all) files on the SD card, you should be able to just copy directly onto a folder in your laptop or desktop (see the post I made above). HTH.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for that. I've now downloaded the Android SDK and am now trying to test the connection to my G2 using adb. So far, no connection. Grrrr. I'm looking around now to see how to get my phone detected by adb since it doesn't seem to have anything on the cyanogen wiki.
you downloaded adb.exe from within the sdk right? find the folder it is in (usualy platform tools) hold shift right click within the folder and choose open command here
now type adb devices, you should se some letters and numbers that means you good if not need to trouble shoot some more
alternatively you can change the path within enviromental variables so you can open a cmd anywhere
Sent from my HTC Vision using xda premium
HTC Sync
demkantor said:
you downloaded adb.exe from within the sdk right? find the folder it is in (usualy platform tools) hold shift right click within the folder and choose open command here
now type adb devices, you should se some letters and numbers that means you good if not need to trouble shoot some more
alternatively you can change the path within enviromental variables so you can open a cmd anywhere
Sent from my HTC Vision using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried the adb devices command and it didn't return any connected devices. Looking in the xda wiki, they are saying that I need to have HTC Sync installed. I'm downloading that right now. They probably should put that in the cyanogenmod wiki also.
I got my phone detected by adb! I did some preliminary checking and I think I should be good to go on rooting. I think I will root my phone tomorrow when I have plenty of time to troubleshoot any issues that my come up.
This is just the thread I was looking for. I'm also an old (60) tech-savvy guy who has never rooted his phone, and was nervous about which set of rooting instructions (cyan-wiki or Setherio/Strawmetal?; the latter is more recently updated, seems a bit more detailed, and has newer versions of some utilities) which recovery, ClockworkMod or ext4, and which ROM, Cm9 unofficial or mimicry or even AOKP...
You all seem to feel cyan-wiki instructions better (right?) ext4 and mimicry... Shall I go for it? Last suggestions?
Thanks,
Dave
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using xda app-developers app
prairie-dad said:
You all seem to feel cyan-wiki instructions better (right?) ext4 and mimicry... Shall I go for it? Last suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cyan wiki worked for me! (strawmetal didn't - I blame myself though).
ext4 and mimicry are what I'm running now (after going through CWM, CM 7.2 and CM9 RC1 & RC2) and I'm very happy with both. Mimicry is great!
prairie-dad said:
This is just the thread I was looking for. I'm also an old (60) tech-savvy guy who has never rooted his phone, and was nervous about which set of rooting instructions (cyan-wiki or Setherio/Strawmetal?; the latter is more recently updated, seems a bit more detailed, and has newer versions of some utilities) which recovery, ClockworkMod or ext4, and which ROM, Cm9 unofficial or mimicry or even AOKP...
You all seem to feel cyan-wiki instructions better (right?) ext4 and mimicry... Shall I go for it? Last suggestions?
Thanks,
Dave
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
setherios guide is just for the downgrade process
the cyanogen wiki, xda wiki, and strawmetals pdf guide are all more or less the same guide, just writen a tad differently
as for the recovery 4ext is far superior but feel free to switch recoveries later if it complicates thing, very easy to do
as for a rom choice there are many good ones and it will be hard to recommened one so try a few, make nandroid backups, and see where your prefernce lies. if you like ics then my personal opinions are elitemod ics or mimicry, both are great. don't care much for sense so you will have to explore by yourself on those (you will need the dz hboot if you want any sense roms - easily done)
if you want gingerbread try ilwt or elitemod cm7 (this is still the rom I almost always use, even curently)
have fun, read, read some more, search when stuck... this is should all be easy as you say your tech savvy - happy flashing!
Sent from my HTC Vision using xda premium
minor glitches, but rooted and s-off fine
demkantor said:
setherios guide is just for the downgrade process
the cyanogen wiki, xda wiki, and strawmetals pdf guide are all more or less the same guide, just writen a tad differently
as for the recovery 4ext is far superior but feel free to switch recoveries later if it complicates thing, very easy to do
as for a rom choice there are many good ones and it will be hard to recommened one so try a few, make nandroid backups, and see where your prefernce lies. if you like ics then my personal opinions are elitemod ics or mimicry, both are great. don't care much for sense so you will have to explore by yourself on those (you will need the dz hboot if you want any sense roms - easily done)
if you want gingerbread try ilwt or elitemod cm7 (this is still the rom I almost always use, even curently)
have fun, read, read some more, search when stuck... this is should all be easy as you say your tech savvy - happy flashing!
Sent from my HTC Vision using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
all went well till the very, very, very end. I went to reboot into clockwork recovery, and...nothing doing! holding down the trackball, volume down and power...and waiting and waiting...just got me into the bootloader with no option to go to recovery...just reboot, reboot the boot loader, and power down.
So I thought, maybe I somehow failed to get the recovery img where I wanted it...no big deal. I logged onto the old Market (this is 2.2, after all) and purchased 4ext (which is what seems to be everyone's choice) and installed it. Then I said I wanted to reboot with mimicry and gapps, hit "go," and...it rebooted into ClockworkMod Recovery...where it now sits, I assume backing up the existing system. Mimicry 1.3.2 and gapps images were sitting on my sdcard root, btw.
Very odd, and a little perplexing...I will wait it out a while before powering off and up again.
any thoughts? Must I remove clockwork mod manually (I assume that when I installed 4ext it made itselfthe default recovery method...) or does 4ext just sit atop Clockwork Mod...and what I am seeing now is normal...? I've been waiting a few minutes now, and see nothing but the Clockword Mod icon, the top hat.
Sigh...but pretty clearly almost all the way home.
Thanks to all,
dave
I've never used an app to install a recovery, always used fastboot.
But to answer your question 4ext does replace clockwork, it does not sit on top of it. Just downloading the app well... downloads the app. You must then go into the app and choose to download and install the recovery, after this from within the recovery flash your ROM (and gapps etc. If needed)
I have the 4ext app just for the purpose of supporting the Dev as anything that does me good deserves my money but I really have never bothered much with it so off hand I can't tell you the exact steps to do this but I'm sure it s very straight forward.
Good luck and let us know how all turns out
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium
darn ClockWorkMod/4ext clash!
demkantor said:
I've never used an app to install a recovery, always used fastboot.
But to answer your question 4ext does replace clockwork, it does not sit on top of it. Just downloading the app well... downloads the app. You must then go into the app and choose to download and install the recovery, after this from within the recovery flash your ROM (and gapps etc. If needed)
I have the 4ext app just for the purpose of supporting the Dev as anything that does me good deserves my money but I really have never bothered much with it so off hand I can't tell you the exact steps to do this but I'm sure it s very straight forward.
Good luck and let us know how all turns out
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks...I sat and looked at it for a while, then hit power, and up came the ClockworkMod menu...and did nothing. When I asked _it_ to load a zip from the sdcard...it still sat there stupidly...nice menu but no action. so I rebooted with trackball/volume-down and power...and still can't get to the bootloader menu...the only way is to attach via usb, and do adb reboot bootloader...which gives me a bootloader menu showing no recovery app...just the same options as before. ugh. I wonder what the recovery.img is...? I went through the steps of installing 4ext...and it said it had installed itself.
well, I will poke around a tad more...midnight now...at least I have a working phone on 2.2, rooted, S-OFF, etc.
dave
---------- Post added at 07:33 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:42 AM ----------
prairie-dad said:
Thanks...I sat and looked at it for a while, then hit power, and up came the ClockworkMod menu...and did nothing. When I asked _it_ to load a zip from the sdcard...it still sat there stupidly...nice menu but no action. so I rebooted with trackball/volume-down and power...and still can't get to the bootloader menu...the only way is to attach via usb, and do adb reboot bootloader...which gives me a bootloader menu showing no recovery app...just the same options as before. ugh. I wonder what the recovery.img is...? I went through the steps of installing 4ext...and it said it had installed itself.
well, I will poke around a tad more...midnight now...at least I have a working phone on 2.2, rooted, S-OFF, etc.
dave
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mimicry is booting now. All good. I ended up using the clockwork mod version, 3. something, that I installed when following (too slavishly?) the CM wiki's instructions (otherwise excellent!) Then (and now) I have problems booting into the bootloader, and it doesn't show a recovery option... Running 4ext (which I purchased) seems to be great (looks really useful) until rebooting...when CWM comes up instead.
I kept using volume up or down to pick what I wanted, then pushed the power button to select...wrong! It's the trackball you click, which I only hit upon by accident. Once I got that working, I flashed mimicry and Gapps, and I am off to the races again.
Thanks to all, but I want to figure out what is with recovery for the future.
What buttons do I push to get to bootloader...so far all I have gotten to work is via USB cable and "dab reboot boot loader."
dave