I don't know much about rooting/installing custom ROMs, but I have been told by people to wait until something called "s-off" (I think) comes out. Could someone tell/explain to me if it is a good time to root yet?
If you don't know what s-off is, then you need to do some more reading before you attempt unlock/custom rom.
M.
Related
Could someone explain or point me in the direction of an explanation for how installing a custom rom affected automatic updates, as well as the difference between pre and post ota, and why we can't install a pure clean android 2.2 installation in our phones. I am relatively new to this, but did alot of iPhone hacking before.. I've already rooted, S-OFF and flashed a few different roms having my phone 2 weeks and new to android hope someone can explain, thanks :_)
When you flash a custom ROM, you will no longer get the automatic updates OTA. Either you will have to revert to the stock ROM for the update, or the ROM developer will have to incorporate the OTA update changes into the ROM.
There are a few ROMs that attempt to give you a plain vanilla Android experience. But in my opinion, Cyanogen is one of the best mixes of plain Android with lots of extra features.
Okay that makes sense, I'm currently using a villian rom with no sense, is it worth my while installing cyanogen? and if so will i go with RC4 of wait for the stable release?
jakbjak said:
Could someone explain or point me in the direction of an explanation for how installing a custom rom affected automatic updates, as well as the difference between pre and post ota, and why we can't install a pure clean android 2.2 installation in our phones. I am relatively new to this, but did alot of iPhone hacking before.. I've already rooted, S-OFF and flashed a few different roms having my phone 2 weeks and new to android hope someone can explain, thanks :_)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, the reason for many semi-bricks from trying to downgrade to original stock rom pre- or post-OTA was the fact that hboot was hacked, and not truly "S-OFF." If you search the dev section you will find the S-OFF, SIM unlock, SuperCID guide that will give you true S-OFF. I recommend reading that--it helped elucidate why semi-bricks were showing up. Once this is done, it should be easy to flash a rooted, stock ROM when the OTAs start showing up and get the update that way, or just wait for it appear in the forums (which is usually sooner than the OTA gets pushed out, anyhow).
So the S-OFF I have isn't complete? Not that I need a sim unlock as I bought the phone off contract, but it's worth my while getting the true S-OFF? Thanks for all ye're help, there are so many people talking about these things in every section it's hard to pull a search of a simple explanation,
jakbjak said:
So the S-OFF I have isn't complete? Not that I need a sim unlock as I bought the phone off contract, but it's worth my while getting the true S-OFF? Thanks for all ye're help, there are so many people talking about these things in every section it's hard to pull a search of a simple explanation,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, the previous S-OFF was via an engineering version of HBOOT, which was set to report S-OFF. But the security setting is actually held in the radio, and was still S-ON.
The new, "true" S-OFF (via gfree) is a lot safer than the old method, e.g. much less prone to a brick if you flash the wrong thing (e.g. an older RUU than the ROM you're running).
It is a shame to say that I still use Android 2.2 with Kernel 2.6.32.21, Taiwan version since I bought the phone a year ago.
(Not until recently, I have decided to move on to Gingerbread because
I wanna use the the latest features in the NDK to write some C++ programs for Android.)
Without getting into trouble during/after rooting,
I tried an official OTA upgrade but it doesn't work.
I tried to ask HTC but they said they still don't have any official upgrade for my phone.
I am a newbie here in this forum,
Could anybody please kindly offer your help please?
It will be GREATLY APPRECIATED! I wanna make my App!!!
swimd
If there is no official Gingerbread for your phone (which seems odd ?) then you can flash a different official GB ROM onto your phone. But normally your phone isn't going to let you do this, because it will fail the signature checks.
What you need to do is to de-brand your phone so that it doesn't do these checks any more. I will see if I can dig out a link to a guide and edit it into my post, unless someone else beats me to it.
Sent from my Desire Z running CM7.
Steviewevie,
Thank you for your help in advance!
I can't copy and paste the link right now, but use the Search function in the Android Dev forum to find the thread called "Debranding Bell Desire Z" (it doesn't only apply to Bell phones).
Sent from my Desire Z running CM7.
Thank you for the help!
I have found that thread!
BTW, after a quick look of the thread, it seems that S-off is recommended...
Do I need to get "root" in order to do so?
Should I do that to prevent future trouble?
Always recomend rooting phones right away, if you have a custom recovery and an enginering bootloader you can save tons of headaches in the future when problems arise (as they often do) this of course is outside the fact that a rooted phone is a happy phone and certainly not an apple
Sent from my HTC Vision using xda premium
As demkantor said, getting S-OFF is a lot better because it gives you a lot more options for the future, even if you don't use those options straight away.
IMHO the only reason to use the goldcard method and not full S-OFF is if you are really worried about voiding your warranty or the S-OFF process yourself. But there's no need to worry really, since (a) you can easily reverse the process if you need to, and (b) lots of people here can help you through getting S-OFF (the XDA Wiki explains it very well, though it can look daunting at first).
Sent from my Desire Z running CM7.
+1 to the notion of just rooting the phone. Especially since if are software developer, I would think that you would want full control over your device. And if you have these type of skill, rooting will be easy.
As mentioned, root, S-Off etc. can be removed for warranty purposes, if that is the concern.
The Wiki method is generally accepted as the safest:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/index.php?title=HTC_Vision#Rooting_the_Vision_.28G2.2FDZ.29_and_DHD
demkantor and all,
Thanks!!! ok, I am least I will go for S-OFF!
But, I need to be able to fully recover my OS and Apps,
I need to do some research on stock recovery and/or custom recovery...
Well, I think there is an official update to Gingerbread thou.. But I think dont think that version is in English as it is a Hongkong version.
Hey. I have 2.3.3 installed, and finally have root access, with the help of htcsupertool3. But I do not get S-OFF, so I can not install other ROMs.
I think I've tried most of the guides in here ...
Can anyone come up with advice?
Thank you in advance!
This is the preferred method of obtaining S-OFF and is what most people here will point you towards. be sure to read it carefully as it requires you to downgrade from 2.3.
Do I really have to downgrade to 2.2 to get s-off? Is there an easier way?
Not that I am aware of. That method is the best way to go as it is safe and proven. There might be other ways to do it, but could brick your phone (Visionary comes to mind).
Ok. Thank you. Must read a bit before I try. Will try not to brick my phone...
But after that I can use whatever ROM I want?
Correct. After that method you will have a custom recovery installed and will be able to flash ROMs to your phone. Additionally, you may want to read up on using the Desire Z hboot (if you have a G2) in order to use some of the newer Sense ROMs.
So I just got my HTC One and I have it rooted and unlocked, but I couldn't get S-Off. I thought nothing of it and went on and flashed a few ROMs. Well I want to flash ROMs that need different kernels, so I looked up different ways to get S-Off and found SunShine. Only problem is I need to be on a stock ROM to use it, which I'm not. SO how do I get back to the Stock ROM? And please excuse me, every device I get has new things to learn about, so coming from an Xperia Z I kinda have no idea what I'm doing here. Thank you in advanced.
EDIT: So I found a ROM that works. This ROM here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2716843 But SunShine costs $25 which I'm not willing to pay. So I guess it's S-On for me.
So I have totally been off the scene for quite sometime and now finding the time and interest to be involved in this again, but where to start really? I feel so lost and out of the loop. Read through a lot of the posts and done my research for root and s-off. After reading I see that 4.4.3 has been causing some issues. I have my Verizon M8 running Stock. No root. 4.4.3. Where the heck do i begin?
What do I need to do for root since Weaksauce no longer works?
How do I gain root access and what programs am I needing that are up to date and functioning properly.
S-off? Firewater? Understand I need temp root, but I want permanent root.
Interested in TWRP for sure for custom recovery and flashing.
Can I get some help for a returning lost person? I wanna know exactly what programs I am going to need that are up to date. I want to flash custom roms etc of course (already have one in mind) but would like to know what the best android L themed one would be.
Looking forward to hearing from you guys. Thanks for the help and time you took to read this.
You don't need S-OFF necessarily, but you either have to unlock your bootloader on htcdev site, or use Sunshine to unlock and S-OFF for 25 bucks.
Those are your 2 options.
Then you can flash custom recovery and ROOT.