Hey, I am a complete and utter brain donor when it comes to this whole geek-speak rooting malarky.
Up until last week, the craziest thing I had done to my phone was changed the wallpaper and set a new ringtone from the Zedge app. I've had the phone for a good eight months or so!!
Been wanting to put a custom ROM on my phone for a while and I managed to root my desire last week and got the little Superuser App on my phone. I've been working through the Noobs guide
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1016084
and I've gotten to the S-off part. And here I really come unstuck. I have attempted to go onto the alpharev website and I have no idea which out of Sense, Oxygen, Data++, Stock, etc I download.
The website itself, I dont even understand how to find out which one I am meant to download. Although, I understand that once I get the right one, its a fairly straightforward process of rejigging something on my laptop to read CDs before the hard drive, and plugging my phone in.
But anyway...is there anyone who can talk slowly and in complete base English so that I can attempt to s-off my phone? Cause I am completely useless.
Cheers!
Download this;
http://alpharev.nl/alpharev.iso
What your looking at is the type of partition table that comes after you have s-off, what u do now is flash the above file to a usb stick using this tutorial;
http://www.miui-au.com/installation/extras/alpharev/
Make sure u have a rooted stock Rom before beginning alpharev does not like data++ or d2w roms this one should be fine;
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=833310
Anything u don't understand just reply to thread
Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk
After u have done that u will have s-off, if u want to go further u can flash the cm7 partition table.
Personally I just have s-off stock partition with reflex 2.0.2 with d2w script giving me 1gb of internal storage
Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk
Also, you don't even NEED to s-off and tbh if you're a n00b I wouldn't bother until you actually need it
True u only need it for the new gingerbread roms
Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk
Jonnibravo said:
Download this;
http://alpharev.nl/alpharev.iso
What your looking at is the type of partition table that comes after you have s-off, what u do now is flash the above file to a usb stick using this tutorial;
http://www.miui-au.com/installation/extras/alpharev/
Make sure u have a rooted stock Rom before beginning alpharev does not like data++ or d2w roms this one should be fine;
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=833310
Anything u don't understand just reply to thread
Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you mean on my phone currently I am running my standard stock sense Rom that was on my phone when I got it.
The only thing its been done is rooted it with Unrevoked as per that previous link.
Will get back to you about the rest when I attempt it!
Jonnibravo said:
After u have done that u will have s-off, if u want to go further u can flash the cm7 partition table.
Personally I just have s-off stock partition with reflex 2.0.2 with d2w script giving me 1gb of internal storage
Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Genuinely don't have a clue about what one bit of that means.. :/
EddyOS said:
Also, you don't even NEED to s-off and tbh if you're a n00b I wouldn't bother until you actually need it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So what DO I need s-off for? And if I don't need it why is that guide tellin me to do it?
And chances are il prob want a gingerbread Rom at some point if that's the latest thing..
S-Off would be mostly to give you more internal storage, for apps, since you can change the size of the memory allocated to data
it's not necessary if you only want to use a new ROM
if you're going one step at a time, try a ROM or two before s-off
when you're feeling more confident, and settled on a rom, s-off and get a new partition table (because the table you choose now may not be the best for the rom you decide on in the future...)
in short; skip the s-off part for now
But you can just use A2SD or Data2SD, S-OFF isn't needed for that
Why, let him do it as process itself is as straightforward as it gets.
Later on, changing hboot are three simple commands in command prompt he can do whenever he feels to.
EddyOS said:
But you can just use A2SD or Data2SD, S-OFF isn't needed for that
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True, but a2sd with dalvik on internal provided with hboot table manipulation is more efficient than a2sd+ and data2sd scripts.
monkeon said:
S-Off would be mostly to give you more internal storage, for apps, since you can change the size of the memory allocated to data
it's not necessary if you only want to use a new ROM
if you're going one step at a time, try a ROM or two before s-off
when you're feeling more confident, and settled on a rom, s-off and get a new partition table (because the table you choose now may not be the best for the rom you decide on in the future...)
in short; skip the s-off part for now
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And what is a partition table? Another new one on me..
Ideally I want to do some cool stuff with my phone, maybe put new splash screens on it that other people have made of course , new roms, get free apps n stuff, n make use of my 16gb SD card..
Its more just I don't properly understand the whole s-off business in that guide, although the rest of t seems straightforwardish
monkeon said:
S-Off would be mostly to give you more internal storage, for apps, since you can change the size of the memory allocated to data
it's not necessary if you only want to use a new ROM
if you're going one step at a time, try a ROM or two before s-off
when you're feeling more confident, and settled on a rom, s-off and get a new partition table (because the table you choose now may not be the best for the rom you decide on in the future...)
in short; skip the s-off part for now
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can also change splash screens and flash unsigned zips through
fastboot - useful if your phone gets screwed up and won't boot to rom or recovery!
I'm in agreement though, I did s-off a few weeks after root.
UberNoobster said:
And what is a partition table? Another new one on me..
Ideally I want to do some cool stuff with my phone, maybe put new splash screens on it that other people have made of course , new roms, get free apps n stuff, n make use of my 16gb SD card..
Its more just I don't properly understand the whole s-off business in that guide, although the rest of t seems straightforwardish
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the internal memory of the phone is 437mb
this memory is divided into different parts: system(for rom etc), cache and data(apps etc)
this is basically the partition table; how much is allocated to what.
some roms need more space than others. some roms handle the cache differently (use sd card for it). people generally want to have more memory for data.
the way the desire is when you buy it gives 250mb to the system and 40 to the cache, leaving 147mb for data
if you use the cm7 table for example (found on alpharev site) you will have 302mb for data and apps. about twice as much as a desire straight out of the box
ok, if you want to change the splash screen you will have to s-off.
free apps can be installed without even rooting i think. making use of the sd card -> put music and movies on there!
on the alpharev site, you dont need to get any of the "data++" "oxygen" etc partition tables to do the s-off part. but you need to s-off to use them!
at the top, the "alpharev 1.8 hboot reflash utility" is what you need at this point
it will be a disc image. when you've downloaded it, burn it as per the guide and follow the video (which i havent watched.. so i cant say if it will be clear). you should now be s-off'ed
if you later want to go for a new partition table, find out what would work best for your rom... Though i think it's best at this point to find out which rom you are going to want for the long term, since wiping the phone and changing the tables and all that sh*t is very tedious.
monkeon said:
the internal memory of the phone is 437mb
this memory is divided into different parts: system(for rom etc), cache and data(apps etc)
this is basically the partition table; how much is allocated to what.
some roms need more space than others. some roms handle the cache differently (use sd card for it). people generally want to have more memory for data.
the way the desire is when you buy it gives 250mb to the system and 40 to the cache, leaving 147mb for data
if you use the cm7 table for example (found on alpharev site) you will have 302mb for data and apps. about twice as much as a desire straight out of the box
ok, if you want to change the splash screen you will have to s-off.
free apps can be installed without even rooting i think. making use of the sd card -> put music and movies on there!
on the alpharev site, you dont need to get any of the "data++" "oxygen" etc partition tables to do the s-off part. but you need to s-off to use them!
at the top, the "alpharev 1.8 hboot reflash utility" is what you need at this point
it will be a disc image. when you've downloaded it, burn it as per the guide and follow the video (which i havent watched.. so i cant say if it will be clear). you should now be s-off'ed
if you later want to go for a new partition table, find out what would work best for your rom... Though i think it's best at this point to find out which rom you are going to want for the long term, since wiping the phone and changing the tables and all that sh*t is very tedious.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right, so basically the different partition tables on alpharev site like data++, oxygen, all just mean they will allocate a different amount of mem to your phone depending on what you want?
I've burnt it to the USB but I don't know if its done properly, there's an ALPHA zip file and some other stuff on my USB stick now so how will I know if its right n good to plug my phone in and s-off betc etc?
Btw thanks to all of you for your patience!!
UberNoobster said:
Right, so basically the different partition tables on alpharev site like data++, oxygen, all just mean they will allocate a different amount of mem to your phone depending on what you want?
!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, to an extent...
Oxygen is a very small rom and uses the SD for cache(?), so you can have the large /data. But using the oxygen partition table for any other rom will result in the rom being too big for /system -> it wont work.
What you should have downloaded and burned will be something.ISO
Its not totally clear on the site, but there is large text near the top; " AlphaRev 1.8 HBOOT reflash utility" click that to get the ISO
The zip files (data++ , cm7 etc) come into play after you've followed the video about s-off
What roms are you looking to try?
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
monkeon said:
Well, to an extent...
Oxygen is a very small rom and uses the SD for cache(?), so you can have the large /data. But using the oxygen partition table for any other rom will result in the rom being too big for /system -> it wont work.
What you should have downloaded and burned will be something.ISO
Its not totally clear on the site, but there is large text near the top; " AlphaRev 1.8 HBOOT reflash utility" click that to get the ISO
The zip files (data++ , cm7 etc) come into play after you've followed the video about s-off
What roms are you looking to try?
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I downloaded a ISO file and burnt it to USB stick as per the tutorial earlier. What I've now got is am ALPHA file and a couple other files here n there so is that it good to s-off?
Haven't decided on a ROM yet, not looked properly as I thought I could s-off first then pick my ROM whenever I got round to it as the phone would still work normally though it s-offed.
Why don't you listen to more experienced members like EddyOS and just leave it well alone for the time being. Root is more than enough to try different roms and customization/modding.
It is easy to do it once you know what you are doing. BUT, if i was you, i'd just wait a bit till you get more confident with all the custom stuff.
Again, s-off is not a MUST!
What you are asking here is near enough step by step guide of how to do it, which is a clear indicator that you are not ready to do it.
erklat said:
Why, let him do it as process itself is as straightforward as it gets.
Later on, changing hboot are three simple commands in command prompt he can do whenever he feels to.
True, but a2sd with dalvik on internal provided with hboot table manipulation is more efficient than a2sd+ and data2sd scripts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because, if something goes wrong, it's your fault, as you didn't mention something. He obviously couldn't sue you for that, but who needs the blame they don't deserve?
UberNoobster, i'm not saying that you are going to blame anyone if something goes wrong, but to me, if person recommends something, he is vouching for it hence takes responsibility.
I've had my phone rooted for like 8 months and I have yet to S-Off my device.
I really wouldn't recommend it for you if you have no idea what you are doing. Root is a good place to begin and right now you have the ability to customize your phone in many many ways.
Try out a new rom (may I suggest leedroid as a place to start.) Once you have a solid knowledge of the basics, then, and only then, should you make the choice if you should S-off.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
Ok thanks guys, and thank tinky and shaboola.
I see what you guys are saying, only reason I was gonna try to s-off was to get it done and dusted and out the road. But maybe I should leave it..
Do I still need to partition my SD card and take a nandroid back up and all that jazz when putting on a custom Rom, or do I need s-off for those things?
Cheers
My Desire has been rooted using unRevoked method, and now it is running Reflex S 2.1.7, which is a good rom.
The issue is that the Desire is still S-ON. I wonder what more benefits I would get if I managed to do the S-OFF procedures.
1) S-OFF procedures changes the hboot? providing more internal space?
2) Change recovery system?
3) Root again?
4) format sdcard again?
Just a few seconds for the search:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=8796987&postcount=2
among other benefits, s-off is also required for flashing splash screens too!...
StuMcBill said:
It also allows you write access to system while android is booted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be more specific, this allows you to:
Remove crapware that came with your ROM (which is rare for custom ROMS but you can also replace bundled apps with their market versions to ensure you get updates as soon as they are released).
Conversely you may make a user app a system app for whatever reason.
Place custom ringtones on your internal memory so that they are not disabled when you mount the sdcard or restart.
Make init scripts (for advanced users).
And other things I have not thought of...
As per what I have understand .. . .with S-OFF.. you can use root previlage while you are fully booted... with only root and S-ON.. you need to be in fastboot .. to access system or root.. and some other things guys mentioned
Flash Hboot
Flash Radio
Flash Splash Screen .. . are the major benefits.
Why not read up on it and then asked questions based on what you don't understand?
Hy guys, i got one question regarding my brothers desire. he has unrooted desire and the main problem is low memory. he doesn't want me to unroot him and s-off and put some other rom so he can get better things out of his phone but it is what it is
My question is, if i format his sdcard,and put for example 512 or 768 mb of ext3 partition, should phone recognize by it self that external partion the next time card is pluged in phone, or i need to format sdcard and make hard reset to make thing work? or maybe neither option will work? So i need your suggestion and help with this one.
Best regards
To answer your question in a nutshell, no. He'll still be able to only move the apps that allow external storage, regardless of partition or size.
This is why I rooted my phone in the first place and after a lot of reading went for the safest option, due to a lack at the time of Linux knowledge. I rooted but left S-On and used a series of Sense ROM's that allow any app (apart from System apps obv.) to be moved to the ext 3 partition. Eventually settled on LeeDroid's - my favourite sense rom.
Andrewawright said:
To answer your question in a nutshell, no. He'll still be able to only move the apps that allow external storage, regardless of partition or size.
This is why I rooted my phone in the first place and after a lot of reading went for the safest option, due to a lack at the time of Linux knowledge. I rooted but left S-On and used a series of Sense ROM's that allow any app (apart from System apps obv.) to be moved to the ext 3 partition. Eventually settled on LeeDroid's - my favourite sense rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if i just root him with unrevoked metod, and left s-ON, will i still have recovery such as amom ra or cw recovery?
ok to reformulate my question, i can use unrevoked and unroot phone. And then i don't need to s-off or anything.
I would do the following and i would like if you can tell me that's the right way.
1. get the drivers that are needed for unrevoked method and root
2. do the rooting stuff
3. from there on, i can format my sdcard trueout Cwrecovery which camed with unrevoked method
4. put wanted rom on root of sd card and make backup first
5. wipe all and flash a new rom
Is that the right way?
Sounds right to me.. use the search though mate you will find your answers there. Especially look at the stickies under Desire Q&A
Sent from my CM7.1 Desire using XDA App
I have a HTC Desire, (PVT4 SLCD, Erasesize 40000)
I have rooted my phone for almost 4 months. I already know a lot about flashing etc, but never researched s-off. It seems kind of risky to me, as i have the latest desire. Correct me if i'm wrong. I have a few questions.
1.Is it worth to s-off my device
2.If so why?
3.How big is the chance of bricking my phone
4.If i s-off which rom should i be on, as i saw that heavy sense 3.0 roms can make it difficult, AOSP like oxygen or just stock 2.2
Thanks in advance.
1. Yes
2. you can modify system files while booted, not just via ADB. Also you can change HBOOT partitions - so you can use the NAND memory efficiently.
3. If you follow all instructions for the procedure, then there is 1% chance of bricking it. just stick to the info/guide.
4. Some of those ROMs do have problems with s-off. I managed to S-OFF mine on insertcoin's Froyo data++ ROM (2.0.1). But literally most of the ROMs should work. I'd go with something lighter with - e.g. CM7/MIUI/Redux/GV/Oxygen
I'm going to try it today, i think..
Wish me luck
TopGear63z said:
I have a HTC Desire, (PVT4 SLCD, Erasesize 40000)
I have rooted my phone for almost 4 months. I already know a lot about flashing etc, but never researched s-off. It seems kind of risky to me, as i have the latest desire. Correct me if i'm wrong. I have a few questions.
1.Is it worth to s-off my device
2.If so why?
3.How big is the chance of bricking my phone
4.If i s-off which rom should i be on, as i saw that heavy sense 3.0 roms can make it difficult, AOSP like oxygen or just stock 2.2
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
re 4.
after you're done with S-OFF you can run your favourite ROM again, it is just that while you're doing this, you need a "simple ROM". what I did:
* nandroid backup (so you keep your favorite ROM, settings etc)
* flash pre-rooted stock ROM
* S-OFF your device
* nandroid restore (restore the backup you made before).
hope this helps.
With revolutionary one will get rooted and s-off in step.
Swyped from Oxygen with Transparent XDA App
You can follow this guide at http://wiki.rootzwiki.com/index.php/HTC_Desire for S-OFFing with Revolutionary. It's better detailed than Revolutionary's own wiki.
You may not have to do the Installing Superuser and su step if you're rooted already, mine stayed rooted when I S-OFF'd today.
Big advantage of S-OFFing is I could start using the Oxygen r2 HBOOT from Alpharev.nl site, making the system partition drastically smaller (250mb is wasted space for custom roms that aren't bloated Sense) that way I could use more of /Data for apps. It's apparently better for battery life not having apps load off the sdcard with the various apps2sd and dalvik2sd workarounds when using an sd-ext partition.
I did need to move fastboot.exe to the folder adb.exe is in in order to flash a new partition image (instructions on alpharev.nl; scroll down to "modified partition tables") as I got an error about AdbWinApi.dll being missing. They've changed things around in the Android SDK installer so adb.exe needs an additional download via SDK Manager.
p.s. Also I restored my backup of Sense before S-OFFing, just to be on the safe side, Alpharev.nl recommended this but the other guides made no mention of it. It was probably best as my current ROM, Oxygen, has apps2sd implemented and apparently this can interfere with the flashing process.
Another thing, i don't have time this week because of a wedding, but is it crucial to make a nandroid as i can't restore one(amonra 2.0.0), i'll try revolutionary when i do it.
Hello,
I would like to root a friend's HTC Wildfire and custom Rom it, which in the old days required deactivating S-ON feature but now people say it is no longer needed.
For my personal knowledge, how is this possible. I mean as I understand it, s-on restricts us /system to write permissions only, so how can you install ROMs which need to modify the /system when installing, or how can you obtain root since the "su" binary also needs to be placed into the system partition.
Thanks.
goguvarra said:
Hello,
I would like to root a friend's HTC Wildfire and custom Rom it, which in the old days required deactivating S-ON feature but now people say it is no longer needed.
For my personal knowledge, how is this possible. I mean as I understand it, s-on restricts us /system to write permissions only, so how can you install ROMs which need to modify the /system when installing, or how can you obtain root since the "su" binary also needs to be placed into the system partition.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What happened was that under the gnu(?) License that android runs on is open source, and as such it is illegal to make copys of it that are locked down, as that breaks the license laws agreed by using the software. So by law htc were required to provide unlocked bootloader. This is true of every android manufacture. Htc were not very pleased when people started pulling them up on it so after much pressure they started to offer "htcdev". This is a bootloader unlock program that allows certain parts of the phone to be Accessed and edited. But this is not full s-off. The bootloader and radio still remain locked down, but the recovery, system, data and cache are "unlocked" so you can flash custom recovery, root, roms, all the stuff most people want to use. The problem starts when people want to start flashing kernels and boot.IMG edits. The boot partition with htcdev unlock does not play nice, so people have had to create ways around the issues. For example the "htc dumlock" and "smart flash for 4ext recovery"
These hacks Allow custom boot.imgs to be flashed with the htcdev unlocked bootloader.
As far as the buzz (wildfire) is concerned people have always just used s-off via revolutionary since it came out, and before that unrevoked. These came before htcdev and as such not many users here will ever use htcdev. For this device s-off is both preferable and attainable thanks to the hard work of others but for devices that don't have such luxurys htcdev will have to do
Tapped out from my sexy nexus 7