S-Off - Do I go Revolutionary or Alpharev

Paul8944 · October 22nd, 2011, 05:24 PM

Hi

Having flashed various custom roms, I feel it is now time to s-off my desire.

however, the question is do I use alpharev and the USB key method or do I use revolutionary.

Having researched both, revolutionary seems far easier, however, a couple of queries remain.

as I already have root and a custom recovery (amon-ra). I assume I can just say no when revolutionary asked if i want to flash a custom recovery.

Can I still flash roms using my custom recovery or once s-off do i have to use fastboot.

The reason for wanting s-off is to change the h-boot table. and therefore would I be right in saying the best for redux 2 is the oxygen r2 alpharev table.

Thanks in advance.

Paul

Rastaman-FB · October 22nd, 2011, 05:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul Anderson

Hi

Having flashed various custom roms, I feel it is now time to s-off my desire.

however, the question is do I use alpharev and the USB key method or do I use revolutionary.

Having researched both, revolutionary seems far easier, however, a couple of queries remain.

as I already have root and a custom recovery (amon-ra). I assume I can just say no when revolutionary asked if i want to flash a custom recovery.

Can I still flash roms using my custom recovery or once s-off do i have to use fastboot.

The reason for wanting s-off is to change the h-boot table. and therefore would I be right in saying the best for redux 2 is the oxygen r2 alpharev table.

Thanks in advance.

Paul

you can select not to install recovery through revolutionary
you can still flash roms the same way as before (you have to really)
not sure, cant keep up with the tables these days but i would imagine so

Paul8944 · October 22nd, 2011, 05:55 PM

Thanks for the reply rastaman.
Guess I'll go for the revolutionary method as it appears that bit simpler.

Rastaman-FB · October 22nd, 2011, 06:06 PM

well both are pretty simple to be fair

Paul8944 · October 22nd, 2011, 06:12 PM

Must be a personnel perception thing.......or lack of experience and the stories I have read on XDA regarding issues etc . Thanks for your advice

Kouske · October 23rd, 2011, 04:57 AM

i used revolutionary for s-off and im using alpharev hboots with no trouble at all.

DesireMe · October 23rd, 2011, 10:46 AM

I haven't S-Off. Out of interest, why would you want to do it?

Paul8944 · October 23rd, 2011, 11:28 AM

My main reason is to change the size of the h-boot table there by creating more space for apps on internal memory instead of app 2 SD and moving the dalvik cache. Thereby more space for music. Photos and videos

Mattb81 · October 23rd, 2011, 07:55 PM

Surely you put your music and photos on SD card. And if you can fill up a 32gb card then an extra 20mb isn't going to do much?!

Both s-off routes are easy in theory. Alpharev is just download ISO, burn to cd/usb, boot up, connect phone, follow the prompts. Revolutionary will ne load up, plug in phone and watch. However, if either don't go to plan, its confusing.

I am not s-off, Alpharev won't detect my phone as suitable. Haven't tried Revo yet.

Currently I don't really need s-off. A2SD+ has given me lots of room for apps.

Paul8944 · October 24th, 2011, 12:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mattb81

Surely you put your music and photos on SD card. And if you can fill up a 32gb card then an extra 20mb isn't going to do much?!
.

Mattb81 I am a music junkie and use as mp3 player and it is force of habit to have as much as possible the whole time .......

SUroot · October 24th, 2011, 02:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul Anderson

Mattb81 I am a music junkie and use as mp3 player and it is force of habit to have as much as possible the whole time .......

Amen brother

@ Matt. Its not 20MB difference though. Its a 1GB difference.

If you can fit all your apps on NAND, you no longer waste 1GB of space with an EXT partition.

With a2sd+, you dont use what you use. You use what the EXT is, even if the space within it is unused.

Even if it's 512...

dan55 · October 24th, 2011, 07:15 AM

I find a Sony walkman helps ;-)

Rastaman-FB · October 24th, 2011, 08:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dan55

I find a Sony walkman helps ;-)

why carry two pieces equipment when desire+poweramp+decent heaphones = win

poweramp 2 makes it even better

dan55 · October 24th, 2011, 08:45 AM

maybe :-D
but I prefer different kit for different jobs

Mattb81 · October 24th, 2011, 05:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SUroot

Amen brother

@ Matt. Its not 20MB difference though. Its a 1GB difference.

If you can fit all your apps on NAND, you no longer waste 1GB of space with an EXT partition.

With a2sd+, you dont use what you use. You use what the EXT is, even if the space within it is unused.

Even if it's 512...

I see, fair enough.

I have an ipod touch 16gb which has my entire music collection and still has room, so I know i don't need the ext 1gb.

At the mo I only have an 8gb SD card on my desire and no music but my aim is to get a 32gb one and put all my music plus a2sd+ on.

Paul8944 · October 25th, 2011, 03:21 PM

DONE IT.........I'm now s-off ..... thanks for all your advice, guides etc
I used alphrarev and whilst it only took 5mins I was s*%&ting bricks but is was very simple at the end of the day i suppose it was just nerves from doing something new
Thanks again

Hadron · October 25th, 2011, 03:25 PM

Well done

It is nerve wracking when you do things like that the firs time!

Rastaman-FB · October 25th, 2011, 05:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul Anderson

DONE IT.........I'm now s-off ..... thanks for all your advice, guides etc
I used alphrarev and whilst it only took 5mins I was s*%&ting bricks but is was very simple at the end of the day i suppose it was just nerves from doing something new
Thanks again

well done, you now OWN your handset

dan55 · October 26th, 2011, 05:23 PM

nice one Paul. maybe I will be brave enough one day too :-)

Paul8944 · October 27th, 2011, 02:59 AM

@dan55 it was really quite simple ans the most scary bit was actually plugging the USB cable in and knowing it was the point of no return. I would even say it was easier than rooting with unrevoked.
I would recommend it completely. Currently I have all apps on my internal memory and shed load of space on the SD card for music etc........right result

dan55 · October 27th, 2011, 04:34 PM

cool.good result :-) will have to do it you are right :-)

dan55 · November 3rd, 2011, 09:28 AM

so im looking at revolutionary. there doesnt seem to be much info on the guide page,
so im guessing you just plug the phone in and it prompts you for stuff ?

do i then need to flash a custom hboot, or does Rev. do this too?

cheers
dan

Paul8944 · November 3rd, 2011, 10:06 AM

That is what put myth off revolutionary a bit. I went with alpharev, which was as easy as setting up a Linux pen drive with say unbuntu. You then just boot your PC to run the pen drive, have you phone swithched on running normally and plug it in and the PC will do the rest.
You do then need to flash the hboot using something like android flasher whilst the phone is in the fast boot screen
There us a guide on XDA which explains it really well. And give links to all the downloads you need.
But so does suroots signature
Hope this helps
Paul

dan55 · November 3rd, 2011, 10:12 AM

hi Paul.
cool. many thanks. was that following RFB's guide?
that sounds fairly straight forward then.

another thing I'm confused about. fastboot. is that same as hboot or
recovery? or something different that I've not seen yet?

cheers
dan

SUroot · November 3rd, 2011, 10:16 AM

The bootloader (hboot) is basically a boot menu. by default it will boot you into android. If you boot into hboot, you can then decide to boot into recovery or fastboot from there. Or you can boot directly into fastboot by holding back and power from off.

Have you read my adb and fastboot faq? Skipping the adb stuff of course...

dan55 · November 3rd, 2011, 10:37 AM

hi Dan.
thanks. that clears it up for me :-)

I did scan it briefly but I was looking for custom hboot stuff at the time.
soz :-\

cheers
dan

Mattb81 · November 3rd, 2011, 04:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dan55

so im looking at revolutionary. there doesnt seem to be much info on the guide page,
so im guessing you just plug the phone in and it prompts you for stuff ?

do i then need to flash a custom hboot, or does Rev. do this too?

cheers
dan

Hi Dan,

I did s-off through revolutionary, in order to root. It's so easy, easier than unrevoked. Just load it up and folllow the prompts.

It does not add anything other than a pink revolutionary label on your hboot and obviously a s-off hboot.

You can then flash things in fastboot mode using commands in cmd on your PC.

dan55 · November 3rd, 2011, 04:55 PM

hi Matt.
cool. thanks. that does sound easy :-)
cheers
dan

Duv · November 4th, 2011, 03:34 PM

I'm still looking into S-Off, (takes me ages to decide)

If I S-Off using USB method which is revolutionary i believe, once step 3 is completed, do I need to re-flash the current ROM that I'm using (Gingervillain) or is that it and I'll have access to more internal space?

Paul8944 · November 4th, 2011, 03:44 PM

You can use either method with USB. And you wont need to reflash your rom. However to gain more space you will need to flash a new h-boot via fast boot using Android flasher.
Hope this helps

Duv · November 4th, 2011, 04:09 PM

just downloaded android flasher and had a quick look, where do I download the new h-boot?

Paul8944 · November 4th, 2011, 04:14 PM

You can get the h-boots from the alpharev site, but first make sure you get the right one for the rom you are running. As if you get the wrong one your end up in a boot loop

Duv · November 4th, 2011, 05:25 PM

just been on alpharev.nl and noticed that there's quite a few different ones
how do I know which I need for my ROM?

SUroot · November 4th, 2011, 05:48 PM

Which one does your rom fit in?!

dan55 · November 5th, 2011, 04:29 AM

oh right so you just have to figure it out by rom size.
I think it says which one for me on cm7 thread if I recall

cheers

Paul8944 · November 5th, 2011, 04:59 AM

Your right Dan. For example if you look at the redux 2 thread on XDA is says to use oxygen r2 hboot. So would guess that if your running cm7 I would expect it to use the cm7 hboot but don't take my word for it and check the relevant rom website. Have fun

dan55 · November 5th, 2011, 05:05 AM

hi Paul.
cool thanks. yes I'm hoping it is really obvious like that for me.
I find obvious is always good for me in these sort of situations :-D

cheers
dan

Paul8944 · November 5th, 2011, 06:26 AM

Dan
Have a look at this thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=957344

It confirms the h-boot to use for cm 7.1 as the cm7 h-boot.

Just make sure you check md5 sum. And the normal take a nandroid backup etc and then restore you nand backup or reflash the rom once you have glazed the h-boot. And space will be yours
Laters

Hadron · November 5th, 2011, 06:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dan55

oh right so you just have to figure it out by rom size.

As a general rule, if the ROM is already installed you can use Quick System Info: look up System Storage, see how much you have in total, how much free, and the difference is your ROM size.

Hadron · November 5th, 2011, 06:31 AM

For CM7 make sure you use CM7 r2 unless you have edited the ROM down. The original CM7 table was smaller.

Mind you, I used to edit CM7 down to fit in the Oxygen table.

dan55 · November 5th, 2011, 02:02 PM

hi guys.
cool. thanks. good info. should set me up for Monday :-)

digaum2003 · January 30th, 2012, 01:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hadron

As a general rule, if the ROM is already installed you can use Quick System Info: look up System Storage, see how much you have in total, how much free, and the difference is your ROM size.

Well, in my case, it was 231 MB, I'm currently using LeeDroid Froyo Version with A2SD+
Is that correct? If that's so, where could I find the correct file for that size? Should I get 250MB, which is my total ammount?
Thanks!

SUroot · January 30th, 2012, 01:35 PM

250 is default.

The next one down is 180M (Bravo++) so you've got a lot of stripping to do.

Bradden · January 31st, 2012, 03:22 AM

Can you please confirm that you cans-off and change the hboot table without haveing to reinstall everything?

I'm showing 139mb free system storage using mildwild 2.9.5 and I've realised I could claw back some of this space by S-off and keeping my clockworkmod recovers by sdelecting not to install recovery through revolutionary. Once I've done this I can fastboot and
change my hboot table... I think.

SUroot · January 31st, 2012, 03:28 AM

Nandroid Backup, S-OFF and Fastboot flash Hboot table, Nandroid restore.

Bradden · January 31st, 2012, 06:23 AM

Excellent... I know what I'm doing this weeked!

digaum2003 · January 31st, 2012, 07:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SUroot

250 is default.

The next one down is 180M (Bravo++) so you've got a lot of stripping to do.

My system storage is shown like this:
Total: 250MB
Used: 231MB
Free: 18.86MB

I'm using Leedroid and I want to S-OFF to be able to try other ROMs. If I S-OFF, what kind of HBOOT should I get so that Leedroid won't stop working?
Also, I'm gonna try (in the next month probably) another ROM (Runnymede AIO V5.1 Special Edition) so in that case I'd need to change my HBOOT to which one?

Right now I would like to s-off and stay on my current Leedroid ROM and only then change to another ROM.

Thanks for any advice and help you can spare

Hadron · January 31st, 2012, 08:02 AM

The default hboot installed by alpharev or revolutionary (whichever tool you use) will have stock memory partitions, so you'll be fine with that. SUroot already answered this in post #43, by the way.

For other ROMs, see what they say in the ROM thread. Many of these "newer Sense" ROMs have 2 versions, intended for Stock and CM7r2 hboots respectively, in which case you can choose the ROM version for your preferred hboot.

The general rule is find out how much space the ROM requires in /system, then look at the partition sizes on the alpharev.nl site and choose one that the ROM will fit in.

digaum2003 · January 31st, 2012, 11:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hadron

The default hboot installed by alpharev or revolutionary (whichever tool you use) will have stock memory partitions, so you'll be fine with that. SUroot already answered this in post #43, by the way.

For other ROMs, see what they say in the ROM thread. Many of these "newer Sense" ROMs have 2 versions, intended for Stock and CM7r2 hboots respectively, in which case you can choose the ROM version for your preferred hboot.

The general rule is find out how much space the ROM requires in /system, then look at the partition sizes on the alpharev.nl site and choose one that the ROM will fit in.

Thank you very much! At first, I didn't understand what SuRoot said, but now with your explanation, everything is much clearer!

Thank you once again!

Bradden · February 1st, 2012, 05:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dan55

maybe :-D
but I prefer different kit for different jobs

Just re inded me .. I still have my Palmone Tungsten T5 in my desk drawer. I remember having an arument with a colleage how had some fancy new HP Phone/PDA. I told him I couldn't see them taking off.. having a dedicated PDA and Phone was always going to be preferable.

Guess I was wrong!

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