Did I got everything right about rooting and flashing ROMs?

[Guest Nazgulled]

Hi,

Let me start by saying that I'm no computer illiterate, but I'm getting really confused about rooting, flashing, recovery images, ROMs, etc, regarding the Android scene. I just want to make sure I'm understanding everything correctly before doing anything into my phone that will brick it or something worse, so please, bear with me...

I've recently bought an HTC Hero from T-Mobile off eBay and the first thing I want to do is get rid of all the branding. Not just because it's branded but because T-Mobile doesn't seem to launch updates very often as HTC does. I like to keep myself updated and most importantly, I'm eagerly waiting for Android 2.0 + Sense UI. I'm not very interested in custom ROMs (for the moment at least) but this forum, to my eyes, seemed the best one to post all my questions.

NOTE: Please read all points before starting to answer, some questions may be cross-referenced as I'm trying to consolidate all my newbie questions into one big post. It may also be helpful for newer members in the future to have such information all consolidated into one place, like a FAQ.

1) So, the idea is to get rid of T-Mobile and install the official HTC ROM. I have come across the HOWTO: Create a GoldCard - Bypassing the RUU/SPL CID check to Root/Downgrade and my first question is, do I really need to follow that procedure if I want to use any ROM other than T-Mobile's or can I just skip it? I don't know if it matters or if has anything to do with it, but my phone is unlocked.

2) Let's say the procedure above is really needed and I've already performed it and let's also assume my phone is ready for the next step. All I need now is to download the file RUU_Hero_HTC_WWE_2.73.405.38_WWE_release_signed_No Driver.exe (or similar) and since it's an official HTC ROM update (also known as just RUU, I believe), I simply need to execute it and follow the steps on the screen. Correct?

2.1) After these two steps (if the first one was indeed really needed), I know have an unbranded HTC Hero with the latest HTC ROM and Radio. Correct?

2.2) Suppose I need to send my phone to warranty, I'll be wanting to downgrade to RUU_Hero_T-Mobile_UK_2.73.110.26_release_signed_NoDriver.exe. Or maybe there is an updated HTC ROM and I want to upgrade. Would I need to recreate the GoldCard (step 1) or I only need to perform that step one single time and then I'll be able to just use official HTC or official T-Mobile ROMs to upgrade/downgrade my phone? Are there any other situations where I might need to create the GoldCard once again?

3) So far, I only wanted to update to the latest official HTC update, which is not rooted. Let's say that I ignored step 2 all together and went straight to the latest official HTC ROM update which is already rooted. My searching and reading tells me that first, I need to follow the [GSM/CDMA] 09/11 - Installing the patched recovery image on your device topic so that I can have "(...)custom ROM installs and all sorts of cool stuff(...)". Correct?

3.1) The, let's assume I install the patched recovery image. Now, to update my phone to the latest official HTC ROM which is already rooted: I simply need to use the HTC Generic 2.73.405.38 Rooted ROM file, place it in the root of my SD card as "update.zip", turn off the phone, turn it back on by pressing Home + Power at the same time, the recovery image shows up, wipe data, install update.zip and it's done. I now have a rooted HTC Hero with the latest official HTC ROM which is already rooted. Is this simple procedure good enough?

3.2) Now, if I wanted to install a custom ROM like MoDaCo's (or any other for that matter), the procedure would be exactly the same as in point 3.1. After flashing the patched recovery image of course. Is this correct?

3.3) What about the Radio? I couldn't find much information about flashing radios as I find for ROMs... Since these custom ROMs don't come with the Radios, how would I go to update the radio after updating the ROM? Is it a similar procedure as in 3.1? Only maybe with a small change? Where?

3.3.1) Also, what exactly are "radios" and what are they good for?

3.3.2) Should we update the radio every time we update the ROM? As long as an updated radio was released at the same time an updated ROM was, of course.

3.4) Suppose now that HTC launched an update with Android 2.0 or even just a minor update, doesn't really matter. To follow the same procedure, I would need to wait for someone to package that update as rooted ROM so that I could use as "update.zip". Correct?

3.5) What if the rooted updated Android 2.0 "update.zip" takes a while to be released. But I want to update to the official and untouched HTC update, in other words, install with RUU. Would I need to perform any of the steps above (maybe step 1, or maybe it's not needed at all?) to be able to do it or could I simply execute the RUU exe file and follow the steps on screen as usual?

3.6) And let's say that I now indeed updated to the official and untouched HTC update. I suppose the patched recovery image is gone and I've also got a new hboot (whatever that is) as some topics seem to point out. This also happened if I didn't ignore step 2, meaning I updated to the latest official HTC update. And only now I decided to go to step 3 (because I wanted a custom ROM, or just a rooted device, etc). All this disabled the possibility to "fastboot" the recovery image. Correct?

3.6.1) So, the step to take now is to follow this simple [HOWTO] If you flashed the original RUU_Hero_HTC_WWE_2.73.* and got the new hboot. And then we can do whatever we want just like we did before. Correct?

I think that's it... Please try to enumerate the answers just as I did for the questions just so I don't get more confused than I already am. And try to be as concise as possible if the question doesn't demand to fix some stupidity I might have said on the question it self... Also, if I forgot to ask something important or there's anything really important to know, feel free to let me know.

P.S: Sorry for posting such a big testament but like I said, I don't want to brick or do anything worse to my phone. I also think that I was able to consolidate a good amount of interesting information (as long as there are answers lol) for newbies in the Android scene like me that have some difficulty to understand all these things since there isn't a FAQ or a Wiki consolidating this information, I think this post may be a start.

Edited November 23, 2009 by Nazgulled

[Guest kendon]

1. idk about the goldcard story since i didn't need to go through it, but i think you are right. we would need information about your rom and (iirc) hboot version to answer this.

2. afaik yes, though i did not do that either. if i am correct you should not do this if not necessary, as it can update your hboot and rom to a level where it is not rootable/possible to install the custom recovery image. this is the point where the goldcard kicks in. again, i didn't do this, my knowledge comes from reading here.

2.1 (again afair) this is correct, not sure whether the particular rom contains the latest radio.

2.2 this also should be correct, though i don't see the need to downgrade, as long as you use only the unrooted official htc roms. you can use the custom recovery image without flashing it permanently to your device, just makes using it a bit of a PITA, but you usually only need it when you want to mess with your phone (i.e. installing custom roms and other freaky s*** :) )

3. correct. you can leave out the last step (install-recovery-gsm-windows.bat if you are on windows), the step "fastboot-windows boot recovery-RA-hero-v1.2.3.img" boots the recovery image without actually writing it to your device. after a reboot it's gone.

3.1 yes.

3.2 yes, that's the beauty of having the recovery image flashed permanently.

3.3 same as updating a rom, place as update in root and select it menu in recovery image. you also choose a particular zipfile in the newest recovery image, no need to rename to update.zip (but maybe renaming increases safety a bit, eliminating the possibility to choose the wrong file while in recovery).

3.3.1 the radio deals with all the wireless stuff like gsm, 3g, wifi, bluetooth and gps. it is kinda like the "firmware".

3.3.2 it has proven so far that it is best to always use the latest radio, as the reception & all has continously improved so far with every update. afaik this can be done indepently of the rom version, anyway you can always go back to an older radio if you have problems.

3.4 correct. i am pretty sure we won't have to wait too long around here, at least it will be here way earlier than it will appear as official updates with the carriers.

3.5 afaik you can do the ruu thing at any point, with any rom in your phone as it is kinda hardcore-overwriting the complete phone (hboot, recovery and rom). also afaik there is no need for any "hacking" if you want the ruu update.

3.6 yes, as described before.

3.6.1 basically yes, but i think for now nobody can know whether this particular method will work for an official ruu of android 2.0. i might be totally wrong here, but imho the possibility is high that htc will not only update the rom for 2.0, but also hboot and recovery. again, i have no idea how the goldcard works at all, so it might still work even if htc updates everything.

i hope this helps, also this might really help answer some other newbie's questions.

oh yeah, final tip: boot (not flash!) the custom recovery image, then first thing make a nandroid backup, with that you can restore the original (as in at the point when you got the phone) radio, rom and recovery image. afaik it should not possible to prove that you ever modded the phone in the first place, but then i am not an expert on this. anyway, make a nandroid first, won't harm you but might come in handy. now have fun modding the hero, it is just awesome thanks to paul, amon_ra and teknologist (and many more, but these are imho the main developers responsible for what we can do with the hero now).

[Guest drowsy0106]

Bookmarked! Thanks a lot for this awesome Q&A! :)

[Guest Nazgulled]

First of all, thank you for taking your time answering all my questions... :)

The ones I haven't quoted and replied, it's because I got them or I had nothing to say.

1. idk about the goldcard story since i didn't need to go through it, but i think you are right. we would need information about your rom and (iirc) hboot version to answer this.

2. afaik yes, though i did not do that either. if i am correct you should not do this if not necessary, as it can update your hboot and rom to a level where it is not rootable/possible to install the custom recovery image. this is the point where the goldcard kicks in. again, i didn't do this, my knowledge comes from reading here.

I can let you know about that info as soon as I get my hands on my Hero. But I guess that I'll try to avoid the official updates then and just hope that when HTC launches the update with Android 2.0, someone will root it for us quickly :D

2.1 (again afair) this is correct, not sure whether the particular rom contains the latest radio.

Well, I'm assuming that because in the downloads topic, every update that doesn't contain the radio is noted with that fact, where the official ones from HTC are noted. So I'm assuming they include the radio. But since it's the official update, it would be weird if they didn't have the radio update too, no?

2.2 this also should be correct, though i don't see the need to downgrade, as long as you use only the unrooted official htc roms. you can use the custom recovery image without flashing it permanently to your device, just makes using it a bit of a PITA, but you usually only need it when you want to mess with your phone (i.e. installing custom roms and other freaky s*** :D )

I don't know... I mean, the phone is supposedly T-Mobile branded, they are the only ones that are black and T-Mobile is written on the front of the phone. If the official RUU updates from HTC are supposed to not work on branded phones, then I think that the warranty guys wouldn't be to happy to know that I've been flashing different ROMs. But this is just speculation on my part...

3. correct. you can leave out the last step (install-recovery-gsm-windows.bat if you are on windows), the step "fastboot-windows boot recovery-RA-hero-v1.2.3.img" boots the recovery image without actually writing it to your device. after a reboot it's gone.

3.1 yes.

3.2 yes, that's the beauty of having the recovery image flashed permanently.

So, you're saying that if I don't execute that batch file, the recovery image won't be written and every time I want to update the ROM and stuff, I'll need to "fastboot" it? But if I don't leave out the install-recovery-gsm-windows.bat step, all I need to install new ROMs in the future is to turn off the device, turn it back on by pressing Home + Power. Correct?

3.3 same as updating a rom, place as update in root and select it menu in recovery image. you also choose a particular zipfile in the newest recovery image, no need to rename to update.zip (but maybe renaming increases safety a bit, eliminating the possibility to choose the wrong file while in recovery).

So, to make every thing in "one step", could I rename the ROM file "update.zip" and the radio "update-radio.zip", place them both on the root of the SD card, fastboot the recovery image and install one after the other with the appropriate menu entries? Or must I rename both "update.zip" and install each one individually by fastbooting twice?

3.5 afaik you can do the ruu thing at any point, with any rom in your phone as it is kinda hardcore-overwriting the complete phone (hboot, recovery and rom). also afaik there is no need for any "hacking" if you want the ruu update.

Well, I really thought that it wasn't so simple, not for branded phones at least. I'm saying this because the GoldCard topic starts with this: "If you are stuck on a ROM you don't like (t-mobile/asian carrier etc.) you can use this howto to create a goldcard to bypass the CID checks so you can downgrade and root your Hero." And since I have T-Mobile phone, I thought I couldn't just grab the latest official HTC RUU and install it in my phone, I thought the phone would block such attempt.

oh yeah, final tip: boot (not flash!) the custom recovery image, then first thing make a nandroid backup, with that you can restore the original (as in at the point when you got the phone) radio, rom and recovery image.(...)

A few questions about this... 3.7.1) That "nandroid" thing, does it come with the recovery image or should I install it somehow? 3.7.2) Does it backup apps, apps settings, sms, etc etc or just the important things for the phone to work properly, like you said, radio, rom and recovery image? 3.7.3) After the nandroid backup, I can and probably should flash the recovery image so I don't have to go to the hassle of manual booting it every time I need it, right? 3.7.4) To finish, to restore a nandroid backup, I suppose the recovery image as also the means to do that?

I also thank all those guys for making this whole thing possible :D

[Guest kendon]

Well, I'm assuming that because in the downloads topic, every update that doesn't contain the radio is noted with that fact, where the official ones from HTC are noted. So I'm assuming they include the radio. But since it's the official update, it would be weird if they didn't have the radio update too, no?

yes, but i don't if it is the LATEST radio update. might be an older one.

So, you're saying that if I don't execute that batch file, the recovery image won't be written and every time I want to update the ROM and stuff, I'll need to "fastboot" it? But if I don't leave out the install-recovery-gsm-windows.bat step, all I need to install new ROMs in the future is to turn off the device, turn it back on by pressing Home + Power. Correct?

yes

So, to make every thing in "one step", could I rename the ROM file "update.zip" and the radio "update-radio.zip", place them both on the root of the SD card, fastboot the recovery image and install one after the other with the appropriate menu entries? Or must I rename both "update.zip" and install each one individually by fastbooting twice?

you can do it in one step, though i don't know whether a reboot between the steps is advised.

Well, I really thought that it wasn't so simple, not for branded phones at least. I'm saying this because the GoldCard topic starts with this: "If you are stuck on a ROM you don't like (t-mobile/asian carrier etc.) you can use this howto to create a goldcard to bypass the CID checks so you can downgrade and root your Hero." And since I have T-Mobile phone, I thought I couldn't just grab the latest official HTC RUU and install it in my phone, I thought the phone would block such attempt.

you might be right, not sure about this. i think the bigger problem for most people is that the ruu allows only upgrades, not downgrades.

A few questions about this... 3.7.1) That "nandroid" thing, does it come with the recovery image or should I install it somehow? 3.7.2) Does it backup apps, apps settings, sms, etc etc or just the important things for the phone to work properly, like you said, radio, rom and recovery image? 3.7.3) After the nandroid backup, I can and probably should flash the recovery image so I don't have to go to the hassle of manual booting it every time I need it, right? 3.7.4) To finish, to restore a nandroid backup, I suppose the recovery image as also the means to do that?

3.7.1 comes with recovery

3.7.2 it backups everything stored in the internal phone memory, so it includes apps if you are not using apps2sd, which you most probably will. for apps and settings and stuff use backup (formerly backup for root users, included in mcr from 2.9). sms, contacts, emails etc are included in the nandroid backup, however it won't do harm if you make a backup (with the app "backup") from time to time, advantage is you can use it if you had to wipe because of some problem. i had to this this weekend, i f*ed up my ext partition on my sdcard, and other stuff, so i had to wipe. with backup i was able to restore my sms, contacts, call logs etc.

3.7.3 that's what i did.

3.7.4 correct.

[Guest Nazgulled]

you might be right, not sure about this. i think the bigger problem for most people is that the ruu allows only upgrades, not downgrades.

Well, I think I'll just ignore this and just install the rooted ROM. That way I don't have a problem if it's T-Mobile branded or not...

3.7.2 it backups everything stored in the internal phone memory, so it includes apps if you are not using apps2sd, which you most probably will.

Is there any benefit in using apps2sd? I mean, besides the logical one, more space = more apps. Are they not going to be slower than the internal phone memory, running from the sd card?

[Guest kendon]

Well, I think I'll just ignore this and just install the rooted ROM. That way I don't have a problem if it's T-Mobile branded or not...

Is there any benefit in using apps2sd? I mean, besides the logical one, more space = more apps. Are they not going to be slower than the internal phone memory, running from the sd card?

hm not sure, but if it does it is only for the first start, and there is still the dalvik-cache which remains in the flash... i don't really have a clue of how applications are started and handled in android. just try it and see for yourself.

[Guest Nazgulled]

hm not sure, but if it does it is only for the first start, and there is still the dalvik-cache which remains in the flash... i don't really have a clue of how applications are started and handled in android. just try it and see for yourself.

Ok, thanks :D

[Guest Nazgulled]

Ok, I still have one more question (about this subject-- for now anyways) that I forgot on the first post:

4) Most ROM flashing guides I read, everyone recommends to wipe before flashing the "update.zip". Is that really needed in every update or is there any situation I don't need to wipe my data? For instance, let's say I'm running the latest generic HTC ROM and I have everything configure to my liking, a bunch of apps installed, etc etc... HTC now releases a new (minor) update, should I wipe the data or can I just flash the "update.zip"? If I wipe, I'll lose every configuration, every app, etc and I didn't want that. Am I missing something?

4.1) What if the HTC update is not a minor one, but Android 2.0 + SenseUI, for instance. This is considered a major update, must I wipe the data in this case for everything to work properly or isn't there a need too (in case there wasn't a need for a minor upgrade)?

4.2) Currently, I have the RA-hero-v1.3.2 recovery image installed and it's a bit different from the one I used before. Now, the wipe option has a submenu and there's a bunch of wipe options, where before there was only 1 (or 2? I just remembered I selected the first). There's a) wipe data partition, :D wipe cache partition, c) wipe dalvik-cache, d) wipe SD:ext partition, e) wipe battery stats and f) wipe rotate settings. Which one of these (or maybe all or even none?) should I do before upgrading to:

4.2.1) Minor ROM update?

4.2.2) Major ROM update?

[Guest kendon]

a wipe is in general needed when updating from an older rom version, e.g. from 1.76 to 2.73. whether minor updates work with a wipe is hard to tell in generous. usually a wipe is a sure thing to solve problems, especially bootloops. nevertheless most of the problems can probably figured out without wiping, it is always the ratio of effort <-> use...

as long as 2.0 isn't out nobody can tell whether a wipe is mandatory or not. i would assume that it will be necessary to wipe, especially when using a "hacked" rom, but we will see when the time has come.

there are several backup tools out there, just make a nandroid backup and try which fits your needs the best. that way you can backup settings, messages, contacts (though i would just sync them with google contacts, that way they are safe).

as for wiping: data is your settings, mails, messages, contacts etc, dalvik-cache wiping can help when having problems with apps and should be done first thing if there are problems after an upgrade, also the cache, the ext partition is the part where apps2sd apps are saved (all gone when wiped), and for the last two i am not sure what they do exactly, never used them.

hope that helps :D

Edited November 28, 2009 by kendon

[Guest Nazgulled]

So, basically, I should wipe (mostly data, and dalvik-cache) whenever I'm doing a major update, sort of like it's better to do a clean install of Windows when upgrading from one major version to the other, right? And hopefully, it's not needed when upgrading to a minor version... In case there are problems, well, it's best to wipe everything and start clean.

Ok then...

The part that bothers me much is loosing my stuff like settings, mails, messages, contacts, apps, apps settings, etc etc, I mean, everything. I just want to be able to install a new version and get everything like it was before (who doesn't?). Yes, I know contacts, calendar and mail are synced with Google, I use that and I like it so far (minor some quirks). But as for everything else, I don't use anything... I'm still not using my phone as everyday I use, I'm still exploring it a bit and then start clean.

But I just have to use a backup app, backup everything, wipe everything, install major update and then restore it back? And hopefully, most stuff will be restored. That's it?

I know mentioned some app named just "backup", do you recommend that one? I can't find it on the market...

I almost forgot one thing... You also mentioned nandroid, but if I use that to backup before upgrading and then restore after upgrading, won't everything be restored? Like the whole ROM and then I'll be downgraded instead of upgraded? Or am I missing something?

Edited November 28, 2009 by Nazgulled

[Guest kendon]

So, basically, I should wipe (mostly data, and dalvik-cache) whenever I'm doing a major update, sort of like it's better to do a clean install of Windows when upgrading from one major version to the other, right? And hopefully, it's not needed when upgrading to a minor version... In case there are problems, well, it's best to wipe everything and start clean.

that is my understanding, would be nice if someone could confirm this...

Ok then...

The part that bothers me much is loosing my stuff like settings, mails, messages, contacts, apps, apps settings, etc etc, I mean, everything. I just want to be able to install a new version and get everything like it was before (who doesn't?). Yes, I know contacts, calendar and mail are synced with Google, I use that and I like it so far (minor some quirks). But as for everything else, I don't use anything... I'm still not using my phone as everyday I use, I'm still exploring it a bit and then start clean.

But I just have to use a backup app, backup everything, wipe everything, install major update and then restore it back? And hopefully, most stuff will be restored. That's it?

hopefully that is how it works :D

I know mentioned some app named just "backup", do you recommend that one? I can't find it on the market...

I almost forgot one thing... You also mentioned nandroid, but if I use that to backup before upgrading and then restore after upgrading, won't everything be restored? Like the whole ROM and then I'll be downgraded instead of upgraded? Or am I missing something?

it is still called backup for root users on the market. it was renamed backup for modaco, and is included in his rom by this name. it worked fine for me when i needed it last week, just had to delete one thread from my sms folder, as the sms app would always force close when i tried to open it (largest thread with 30 messages).

nandroid will restore everything, that is correct. but it prevents you also from losing everything, in case something goes wrong. you can go back and start over, i.e. try another backup tool or whatever. many problems are solved in the first day after a new rom comes out, check out the 2.x.1 versions of mcr for example. if you're an early adaptor or experimentor yourself (like me :( ) you will need it some time, and it is easier if you are able to just go back one step and try it with minor modifications.

[Guest Nazgulled]

Yes, I know that about nandroid, I've already used to test some custom ROM I did, to see if it worked (which it did) and then restored the nandroid backup to get everything back as it was, which is very nice :D

I was just looking for the best backup app for everything else, without restoring the whole system, so that I can upgrade from one version to the other but restore my stuff.

Thanks a lot kendon, you've been very helpful :(

[Guest D_2]

So just to clarify, when replacing the current ROM (which is already modified) with a rooted ROM, do I need to go through the goldcard step?

[Guest dadjadja]

I have htc hero tmobile uk 2.73.110.26

so no way to install image recovery or success with goldcard

is there any way to change flash I want french language into

thanx for help

[Guest Nazgulled]

So just to clarify, when replacing the current ROM (which is already modified) with a rooted ROM, do I need to go through the goldcard step?

What do you mean by "already modified"? Which ROM are you currently using and which version?

[Guest D_2]

This is my current ROM, is it safe to flash?

Kernel Version

2.6 27-8dd6deee

[email protected] )

Build number

1.79.482.3 146733 Cl#49365 release-keys

Software version

www.HiAPK.com 1.0_g3_sense

[Guest Nazgulled]

I believe so, you're using a very old version (like I was), so, if you boot the recovery image, do an initial nandroid backup (to safeguard yourself in case you want to to restore everything back the way it was before), and then flash the latest rooted ROM + radio (if you want) and you'll be fine :D

After making the backup, flash the recovery image if you want, to easily boot it without using adb.

No need to use the goldcard thing, I didn't need it and I had a similar old version.