Need to send my hero back - but I have rooted it...

[Guest simoran]

The bottom part of the touch screen on my hero has failed and i need to send the phone off to be repaired. I have rooted the phone and am currently running a modaco rom - will this cause my warranty to become invalid? If so is there any way of un-rooting the phone and making it appear as if it was never messed with?

Any help you guys can give is greatly appreciated!!

[Guest pulser]

Well, technically at the moment your warranty would probably be void.

So, what you need to do is get the latest RUU for your phone (from htc's own website) and run it to install on the phone.

Beforehand though, you might want to get a goldcard set up, so that when you get the phone back, you can just downgrade back to something that is rootable, then install your MCR and patched recovery again.

So,

Step 1) Take a Nandroid Backup of your phone as it is just now from the patched recovery utility. Save it to a folder on your PC, and take the SD card out the phone (don't send them your card with the phone, just in case there's any update.zip files/Nandroid backups on it)

Step 2) Get your RUU and follow any instructions to install HTC software etc. Then do the actual 'update'. This should overwrite your System, Data, Recovery partitions.

Step 3) Boot into recovery and check it is the stock one (no options for nandroid, no mention of AmonRA etc.)

Step 4) That should be you ready to send it back.

When you get it returned, you will either need to use FlashRec to get the patched recovery onto the phone, or make a goldcard and downgrade to the oldest stock HTC RUU (usually 1.73...) and then flash recovery and install modaco from there. When you get to that point, if you need more help, just post again and tell us the versions of software on the phone when it returns.

[Guest simoran]

Well, technically at the moment your warranty would probably be void.

So, what you need to do is get the latest RUU for your phone (from htc's own website) and run it to install on the phone.

Beforehand though, you might want to get a goldcard set up, so that when you get the phone back, you can just downgrade back to something that is rootable, then install your MCR and patched recovery again.

So,

Step 1) Take a Nandroid Backup of your phone as it is just now from the patched recovery utility. Save it to a folder on your PC, and take the SD card out the phone (don't send them your card with the phone, just in case there's any update.zip files/Nandroid backups on it)

Step 2) Get your RUU and follow any instructions to install HTC software etc. Then do the actual 'update'. This should overwrite your System, Data, Recovery partitions.

Step 3) Boot into recovery and check it is the stock one (no options for nandroid, no mention of AmonRA etc.)

Step 4) That should be you ready to send it back.

When you get it returned, you will either need to use FlashRec to get the patched recovery onto the phone, or make a goldcard and downgrade to the oldest stock HTC RUU (usually 1.73...) and then flash recovery and install modaco from there. When you get to that point, if you need more help, just post again and tell us the versions of software on the phone when it returns.

Wow - you have pretty much nailed it in that post - thats why these forums are so excellent, people really keen to help!

Two questions -

1) Whats a gold card and how do i set one up?

2) Whats a RUU - im guessing its the software specific to my carrier? Assuming I install the latest RUU from HTC would I not just be able to re-root the phone when I get it back?

Again thanks for your help, really appreciate it!

[Guest blackcoffee85]

Wow - you have pretty much nailed it in that post - thats why these forums are so excellent, people really keen to help!

Two questions -

1) Whats a gold card and how do i set one up?

2) Whats a RUU - im guessing its the software specific to my carrier? Assuming I install the latest RUU from HTC would I not just be able to re-root the phone when I get it back?

Again thanks for your help, really appreciate it!

Check the guide at http://android.modaco.com/content/htc-hero...e-how-to-guide/ it should explain the gold card and RUU stuff. You don't need to prepare the gold card before you send the phone off, by the way.

[Guest pulser]

Wow - you have pretty much nailed it in that post - thats why these forums are so excellent, people really keen to help!

Two questions -

1) Whats a gold card and how do i set one up?

2) Whats a RUU - im guessing its the software specific to my carrier? Assuming I install the latest RUU from HTC would I not just be able to re-root the phone when I get it back?

Again thanks for your help, really appreciate it!

No bother. I've got so used to answering these questions that I can pre-empt what you're going to answer next.

Ans 1)

A goldcard is just your MicroSD card, but with a little modification made to it, allowing you to install an older or different version of an HTC RUU (see Ans 2) to your phone. For example, in the UK you can get

-a plain, unlocked, unbranded HTC Hero

-the T-Mobile G2 (what I have)- a T-Mobile branded version of the phone, that is programmed to only accept T-Mobile software

-the Orange UK Hero- a plain HTC Hero, but with a bit of Orange branding, again only accepts Orange software

-the Hutchison 3G Hero- again, only accepts 3's own software

If you had an Orange Hero, and tried to install plain 'unbranded HTC' software, it would be rejected, as the Carrier-ID in the software you are trying to install is not the same as that on the phone.

Similarly, you are also prevented from installing an older version of the software back onto the phone (as doing so would allow you to easily root the phone using an old, easy method)

To get round this, see http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=572683

You do a couple of things with the phone, and change your MicroSD card using a card reader connected to your PC. Your phone then accepts all updates, whether they are for your branding of phone or not, as well as accepting older versions of the software.

Ans 2) An RUU is a Rom Upgrade Utility, which is the .exe file you download direct from HTC. It is the 'official' means to update the software on your phone, and does things like check you are entitled to load that version of the software onto the phone. You plug the phone into the PC and run the exe file, and it guides you through the process of updating, doing it through the USB cable.

As for your situation, you want to go to HTC's support website and download the correct software for your phone (ie. correct for its branding). Then install it to the phone, and this will erase all traces of modified recovery/software etc.

You'll need the goldcard after the phone comes back, if you can't root using other means such as FlashRec, hence why I suggest making it now to save time when it returns.