Develop Bugs

How To - Root Your Hero in One Click And Load Custom ROMs (with Videos)!!

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.

[Q] General rooting and ROM questions

Hi guys, I've had a Bell-branded Desire Z (on AT&T's network) for some time now, but I've never gotten around to rooting / flashing a different ROM on it. Since I have some free time this weekend, I figure I'll finally tackle it. Have a few general questions though:
1) Is the method listed in the guide: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=928160 still the best method for rooting a desire Z? I've heard bad things about visionary, but every rooting method I've read seem to involve it in some way.
2) with S-OFF, am I free to flash any Desire Z / G2 ROM? or will only certain ROMs work with a Bell Desire Z? Any specific recommendation on ROMs? I'm planning on trying out CM7, then going from there
3) What is the best method for backing up my current image + a few other things (mostly contacts and SMS)? Titaniumbackup gets thrown around a lot, but I only have a handful of apps, and really would rather just redownload them then go through the trouble of backing them up
Thanks

http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/index.php?title=TMobile_G2:_Rooting
that is going to be your safest way to root your vision. eventhough this is longer, there is a lot less chance of bricking your phone. the one you listed is very simple to do, but runs a high risk of turning your phone into a paper weight.
when you do have your phone completely s off, you now have every right to flash kernels, roms, and other things. you can find all of the things i just listed over in the development forum on the g2/desire z. download rom manager from the market. that allows you to back up your current rom, flash the latest recovery and so on. it just allows you to not have to manually install everything. it has the popular g2 roms under the "download rom section".
in terms of backing up everything, there are a few different options. every contact to save is linked to your gmail account, so whatever rom you flash and load youll always have those contacts coming with you. thats the beauty of google and gmail on a android device! but with rom manager, you can back up your current rom and image with that app and save it to your sd card. BEFORE YOU FLASH ANY ROM, OR BEGIN TO START TRYING OUT ROMS, BACK UP YOUR STOCK ROM. whenever i got my g2 when it first came out, i made a nandroid backup of my stock rom and i still have it. when i originally backed it up, i just named it "stock" and havent messed with it since. i just know that i have the stock image(it helps me sleep at night). jk, heh. for your text messages and stuff, download sms backup from the market and you can back everything up through that. all of the apps that you download, including the paid ones of course, travel with you between roms, etc.
i hope i helped ya out, and i wish you luck. if you have any other questions, just shoot me a private message!

Thanks for that;
I actually went ahead and used that method in the guide since upon further research, it seems that visonary was only causing issues when it was use for perm root; temp root, which is what that method uses visionary for seems to work fine.
So did that, reboot into the bootloader, confirmed that I had S-OFF on the first line.
Installed ROM manager from the market
Flashed Clockwork recovery
Booted into recovery and did a system backup to SD card
Rebooted and decided to download the Virtuous ROM from ROM manager
Told it to reboot into recovery and flash that image, wiping all data and settings
Got stuck on an bootup loop (HTC logo + start up sound -> black screen -> HTC logo + startup sound ad infinitum)
Rebooted into recovery, and did a restore from the backup (whew)
Phone seems to be working fine now
Now I'm trying to figure out what went wrong... any ideas?

K, I redownloaded virtuous from XDA, checked the MD5, and tried to flash it again.
Same problem, infinite loop on startup screen.
Do i need to flash the engineering hboot? I was under the impression that that wasn't necessary for using custom ROMs.
Still can't figure out what's wrong.

did you debrand? http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=835777

Have you tried flashing through CWM directly? I really don't like ROM Manager for flashing new ROMs and seems to oversimplify the process to allow green users to get on the flashing wagon.
I would boot into CWM (camera + power i think) and do a complete wipe + flash from in there. I have never had an issue with doing things directly from recovery and I have a Bell DZ as well. It's long since lost it's blue and white colours, but that was it's origin
Have fun!

Im new to this stuff here, and i DO want to learn about it as this stuff is very interesting to me! Technology is something i learn very quickly if im directed in the correct direction
The question i have here is about my Desire Z ( Bell Cannada ).
A few months ago we received a OTA update. So its currently running on Android 2.2.1 : Build - 1.84.666.2 CL322105, and its SUPER slow! Is it still possible to root this version?
I want to install the Gingerbread version on my phone, but i cant find instructions to root this OS version to be able to do so.
Or should i wait till the Official gingerbread Os to come out for our phones?
Ive been searching every where's for this info and everything i find is all back dated to last yr and nothing up-to-date after the OTA.
I hope this question is not TOO n00bish as i tried to search every where for it, and ether i could not find it or i did not enter the correct word search to get a result i needed.
Thanks in advance!
Andrew
Edit: NVM my question here.... i have finally found an update post within the wiki ( April 1 2011 )
Sorry for a useless post!
Thank you all for your efforts in posting in this forum! Very informative!

Athrun88 said:
Have you tried flashing through CWM directly? I really don't like ROM Manager for flashing new ROMs and seems to oversimplify the process to allow green users to get on the flashing wagon.
I would boot into CWM (camera + power i think) and do a complete wipe + flash from in there. I have never had an issue with doing things directly from recovery and I have a Bell DZ as well. It's long since lost it's blue and white colours, but that was it's origin
Have fun!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
heh. that actually worked. Flashed directly from CWM recovery and it booted up with no issues.
Guess I know not to flash from ROM manager anymore
Thanks.

deaththeorist said:
did you debrand? http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=835777
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You do not need to debrand to flash custom ROMs to the Bell Canada Desire Z.

makken85 said:
heh. that actually worked. Flashed directly from CWM recovery and it booted up with no issues.
Guess I know not to flash from ROM manager anymore
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting, I've flashed many ROMs from ROM Manager on my Bell Canada DZ, and never had an issue. That said, flashing from recovery is really not any harder, so if it works, it works.

redpoint73 said:
Interesting, I've flashed many ROMs from ROM Manager on my Bell Canada DZ, and never had an issue. That said, flashing from recovery is really not any harder, so if it works, it works.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I assumed that flashing from ROM manager just meant that it rebooted to recovery and flashed it from there. I guess there is a difference.
Either way, been playing with Virtuous 1.0.2 for a few days now, really like this ROM, but I'm itching to try out something different now. Man, I can see this is going to develop into a time consuming hobby.
Plus, I'm going to need a bigger SD card to store all of these ROMs + backup =X
Oh, another noob question; I've come across a few zip files that included a system folder and an META-INF folder. How exactly do I install these?

G2 only works with at&t
alright here it is my t-mobile G2 won't connect to the t-mobile network at all, I've went through 3 SIM cards because this thing use to kill the SIM card from working on other t-mobile phones and it works perfectly fine on at&t network. so I've unlocked so it will work on at&t just to see if it would work. so i gave p and bought a MT 4G, but i still want to know if the G2 is fixable because I'm just about ready to throw in the towel this is what I've tried to resolve the problem called t-mobile they ended up saying just return the phone but i can't since i didn't buy it from them. Called them again got the unlock code. I've flashed the radio a few times. I've also just got the leaked 2.3.3 update and nothing has worked. It find t-mobile network but says your SIM card isn't allowed to connect to this network then after trying again it says unable to connect to network please try again later.
Just so frustrating i don't know what to do just about to say forget it. this thread is my last resort.
also i still have S-OFF

i used this method on my G2 just yesterday and put on CM7.0.3. the only issues i came across were because i restored everything (should have just done apps and app data) using Titanium, which put me in a boot loop. I'm dumb, so i did it twice before i figured out what was the problem. the thread has a comment about how Visionary is dangerous, but the OP responded that since it is only used to gain temp root, there should be no problems.

Revolutionary on new wildfire problem (or extreme muppetry)

Hello everyone.
I enjoyed the noob video and also look forward to being pasted no doubt.
I have a wildfire running 2.2 android which I understand means I am running the latest firmware, which I also understand is going to make it difficult for me to root easily.
Never the less not being one to be beaten I have tried with EVO3, which no matter what I tried would not work, constantly asking if my firmware was too new. I even wiped it but no luck.
So I struck upon revolutionary, which yes I understand is beta.
This is perhaps where my lack of understanding comes in. Would I be right in thinking that custom roms require a specificly rooted device?
The thing is I have apparently been successfull with revolutionary. I can boot into it and I was able to instaly cryongena rom which worked OK until I installed google apps where by it constantaly showed the spinning blue arrow, round and round, rebooting and rebooting.
Thing is all other roms I have tried, everyone, has failed, with either script being old 'error 6' etc etc.
I found I needed a different kind of rom, which a few were offering however these also failed with error 6 which apparent was something to do with not being pure unix or something.
Sorry I am not up on the language, but I think I have tried all the popular ones, puzzle etc and none will install.
When I start up with the volume button pressed it shows the screen then says something about failing to load image, but goes away to quick to read pc4diag.img or something.
Is it possible I have not loaded revolutionary correctly, and have I gained 'root'
Thanks for reading, and please feel free to tear me a new one.

- Yes, I am sure you have Revolutionary installed correctly. You got a bootloop while installing GApps, in which case I would recommend performing a full wipe in Clockworkmod and try to install again. (Install the CM ROM first, then the GAPps Zip. Also, I hope you are using a filename called gapps-gb-2011xxxx.zip)
- If you want to install other ROMs, Sense and Android 2.2.1 ROMs require Clockworkmod 2.x. Attempting to flash them in Clockworkmod 3.x/4.x will give you the "Scripting not supported" error. The workaround to this is to download this attachment:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=662193&d=1311319218
Flash this in your new Clockworkmod Version, which will give you temporary 2.5, then proceed as normal.
- When you boot into the HBoot Mode, it will automatically perform a search for the files PC49IMG.diag and .nbh. It's normal, and theres nothing to worry about. After the search is over, and, it has not found the files, you can navigate properly again.
Oh, and I think you are being too paranoid about the video and everyone here trying to tear you a new one.
Good Luck

Thanks very much for your answer.
Honestly I spent 2 hours on google last night trying to get my head around it.
To be honest all I want is a quick phone, and I am not getting that with stock software on my wildfire, I get very frustrated when trying to scroll but it reads it as me tapping an app icon, and there are loads of them I don't want in here, footsteps and tweets and the likes, I am simply not interested and neither am I allowed to remove them. The cynogenmod looked amazing, but I can see even more processor intensive than the stock software.
I will have a look at what you have suggested and thanks for your help!

In that case, I think you might want to stick with the Stock ROM, and, get an app like 'Root Uninstaller' or 'Titanium Backup' which allows you to uninstall (Or, to be more correct - 'freeze') any apps you wish - Including System Apps.
Not trying to advertise Cyanogenmod here, since I understand ROM preference is a personal thing, but, I would recommend giving it one more try, after a full wipe. Also, go with the latest nightlies rather than the Stables. I have been using it since it was released back in January, and, honestly, I am never going back to Stock / Sense based ROMs.

Don't get me wrong it looks awesome. But the boot up time was just shy of 4 minutes (although I now understand it may have been because of first boot) and two attempts at install failed.
I shall look at how to fully wipe, but to be honest, being very new to hacking my phone I am quite happy having the back up there to revert too.

Well I tried to install anything but nothing works so I shall revert to my original back up and see about these tools for removing unwanted apps.
Thanks for the help, but something is not right. All roms either get as far as the twinkly noise on the HTC screen then do it again and again, and cynogen gets to the rotating arrow, then eventually an android zips across the screen and back to the arrow

Well I don't think I have root on this device. I tried to install busybox and titanium and both tell me my phone is not rooted.
Sigh.

If you are on the Stock ROM, you will have to flash this additionally:
http://bit.ly/su2361ef
This will install Superuser, which is what will give you "root". If you are on Custom ROMs, flashing this additional file is not required, since, they include the Superuser Binary already,. So, flash that, and then try installing Busybox / Ti Backup. (make sure you get a "superuser" icon in your app drawer after flashing that zip)
EDIT:
- Are you on Clockworkmod 3.0.0.6 incidentally? That version has caused bootloops for many users when installing ROM's.
- First boot time is extremely long (Upto 7-8 mins), and its normal.

Hello thanks for the info.
I am not confident I know what mod I am on, I just went to the revolutionary website and downloaded the latest beta.
When you say it can take 7-8mins to load up would this include the boot loops though? Thats all I get on all of them
I shall install the super user bit see if that helps.

No, not including bootloops. BTW, I am referring to the Clockworkmod Version, not Revolutionary,
When you enter the Recovery to flash something, at the bottom, you will "Clockworkmod Version x.x.x.x". It is that version I was asking.

Sadly I am not getting anywhere here, every single rom just goes round in circles in one way or another.
The version say revolutionary CWM v4.0.1.4
I was unable to get the standard revoked installed as I am runnning the latest android firmware and it just kept failing.
Something I am getting rather used to!

I cannot see a clockwork mod number anywhere, although it must be there as I have clockwork folder on the SD card.
Sorry, I am being a muppet here.

Req: Any Stock (Root optional) ROM for troubleshooting

I would like to get a zip of a stock (or very close to stock) rom for troubleshooting. Unfortunately, all the links I found to usermade zips are broken, particularly now after the MU debacle. Could anyone be kind enough to send me one? My desire randomly freezes (particularly when phone is moved around) with pretty much any custom ROM (with some *2SD) I put on it and I'd like to use a stock non *2SD rom to troubleshoot. HTC replaced my AMOLED with a SLCD without my permission, and I'll send it back to them to be fixed if it continues hanging. No SOFF, etc needed since phone is out of warranty - and they fixed the screen with the phone flashed to a custom rom without comment.
Finding and using the .zip from a official RUU didn't work in Recovery - guess there are some changes that need to be made.
Short:
Any stock update zip to flash from recovery, root, etc optional. No *2SD.
Alternatively: Instructions to make update.zip (compatible with recovery) from RUU is fine too.
Thanks.

Is it what you're looking for ?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=695667

Thanks for your response. I did try the GB RUU, but it wasn't finding my phone and I wasn't too inclined on flashing HBOOT, Recovery back to boot. I finally found what I was looking for:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1200261&page=9#429
Phone works much more stable, though I had to delete lots of bloat APKs, resize partitions, delete random junk in /system, to make space for useful apps. Next step is to enable A2SD, possibly manually, and see what happens. Really tempted to backport some new sense, but that's way too premature and will complicate testing way too much.

[Q] Going back to stock or Upgrading ROM

so i tried to flash the OMEGA ROM 7.3 but it said NO SPACE AVAILABLE - i deleted some files and it still says the same, i have no idea how to overwrite the current OMEGA ROM so that i can install the new one, i made a backup but even if i did wouldnt it just back up as OMEGA 6??
my question is :
is there a video on how to update a new ROM whilst keeping EVERYTHING the same - people on here "explain" but it never works like they explain.
and
is there a video on how to go back to stock without losing anything (losing root doesn't matter, i'll just root again)
if no please could somebody do some videos i cant find any and most people can't explain very well