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Root [HOW TO] manually flash roms

scotty85

Extreme Android User
Jul 25, 2010
11,131
7,412
first and foremost,there are many ways to skin this cat. this guide is not intended to make those who do it differently feel like they are doing something wrong.this is simply how i do it. IMO it is not a bad idea for folks to know in case their favorite root and flashing tools are for some reason not available. a good friend asked me write down some directions,and i figured i might as well put it here :)

read this: this is a guide describing the procedure to manually flash roms. PLEASE NOTE that since roms are now scripted for s-off phones to install the kernel from recovery,you do not really need this procedure. see the following for more info: http://androidforums.com/rezound-all-things-root/587430-s-want-flash-roms-read.html#post5167190

assumptions:
1)that you still have a folder set up from when you unlocked containing adb and fastboot(if not you cans use this file)
2)that you have working drivers for adb and fastboot installed on your pc
3)that you have some basic knowledge of wiping/flashing/making backups with whatever recovery you prefer use
4)you are comfortable moving around/copying files on your computer


the procedure
1)first,figure out what rom you wish to download. seems that alot of roms are now inclusing a PH98IMG file and a script to deposit it onto your sd card,and automatically boot you to "fastboot" after your rom install to flash it. if not,then the rom developer will include a seperate download containing the boot image(usually a PH98IMG) file.

2)open a windows explorer window and navigate to/open the folder containing your unlock code and adb/fastboot tools.

3)open a second windows explorer window and open the folder that contains your downloaded rom,or a folder youve set up to store it.

*a word on this: i have folders for all my different phones,and within each a folder for "whatever phone ROMS" to keep all my different devices downloads and such seperate. since the rezound needs a seperate flash of its boot image,i now make a folder within the "rezound ROMs" folder for each rom to house the roms flashable .zip file,and its boot image. this is just a suggestion,you can organize them in any manner that isnt confusing to you.

4)find your boot image.
-if your rom only had one download,you will likely find your boot image inside a PH98IMG that is inside a folder called "kernel". if you have no kernel folder,you may just find the boot image inside the download,with the rest of the roms install files. (it just depends on how the rom is set up for the kernel to install)
-if you had a seperarte PH98IMG download,then you will find your boot image inside the this seperate file

if you need to,you can unzip or extract your rom or PH98IMG so that you can
get to the boot image. windows 7 will unzip/extract many files without a utility,otherwise use something like 7 zip,especially if youre on an older version of windows. just make sure you dont try and flash this unzipped folder,it wont work ;)

*extra info: if you do find your boot imange to be not inside a "kernel" folder,then likely that rom is set up for recovery to install it. rom developers are moving this direction since there is now an s-off procedure,and s-off phones are able to write boot from recovery. special note: with an s-on phone,you can flash roms and have the kernel install just like you are s-off,as long as you launch your recovery from fastboot,as described here. using the fastboot boot command does let you write to boot from recovery,only disadavantage is having to plug into a PC to do it. (more info)

5)put your boot image into the same folder as your adb/fastboot. put your recovery image into this folder as well. i personally like to drag and drop files,but you can copy/paste them,or any other means youre comfortable with. just make sure you get these images into the folder with adb,fastboot,etc. i leave my recovery image in there all the time,named accordingly. you might want to change the name of your boot image to match your rom,as youll never know which "boot.img" is wich if you accidentally put a couple of em in there.

put your roms flashable .zip file onto the root of your sd card.

6)make sure usb debugging is enabled and plug in your phone. open a command window and change to whatever directory your adb/fastboot files are in,like when you unlocked. in my case its:
cd c:\miniadb_vigor
when your prompt changes,type:
adb devices
if you get your serial# back,then your phone is connected

7)boot into fastboot:
adb reboot bootloader

8)launch your recovery:
fastboot boot <recovery name>.img
where <recovery name> is the exact name of your image.

example:
fastboot boot recovery-ra-vigor-3.13-gnm.img
is what i use,since i use amon recovery.

youll see a nifty green status bar at the top right as it downloads to the phone. youll then see white htc screen,followed by your recoverys main menu,just like youd entered it thru hboot,the quickboot,or rom manager.

9)make a backup using the on screen menus on your phone. i always keep a physical listing of the backup name and what it is,but again,do whatever your comfortable with.

10)wipe and flash your rom with the onscreen menus on your phone. minimally wipe data/factory reset,cache,and dalvik cache. some rom developers are reccomending to also wipe or format /system and /boot.

if youve come from another rooted phone,youre prolly pretty familiar with steps 9 and 10. theyre not any different than what your used to seeing.

once the rom finishes flashing,you would normally be fininished and select "reboot system now" or similar. but on the rezound,you need to install the kernel,as you cant write to the boot partition,wich is where the kernel lives,from recovery.

11)boot back to fastboot: back to the pc,type:
adb devices
you should get back "HTxxxxxxx recovery"
if so,then
adb reboot bootloader

12)flash your kernel(boot image)
fastboot flash boot<boot image name>.img
where <boot image name> is exactly the name of your boot image inside the adb/fastboot folder. note that the command fastboot flashis permanently installing the boot image,unlike fasboot boot,wich is only booting it temporarily into the phones memory.

youll see a very quick blue,then red status bar at the top right of your hboot screen as your pc sends,then flashes your kernel.

wait for the "ok" that your kernel has flashed

13)reboot. just type in your comand window:
fastboot reboot

your phone will now reboot. assuming you flashed the kernel that came with your rom,it will boot back into the OS. dont panic if it takes a few minutes,the first boot will take what seems like forever. i know mine will have sat there so long,id swear its hung,but then on pop the softkey lights and everything is fine. give the first boot a minimum of 20 minutes.

heres what the above commands will look like in your command window.red are my typed inputs,blue are additional comments:

Code:
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

C:\Users\Scott>[COLOR="Red"]cd c:\mini-adb_vigor[/COLOR]

c:\mini-adb_vigor>[COLOR="Red"]adb devices[/COLOR]
List of devices attached
HTxxxxxxxx    device


c:\mini-adb_vigor>[COLOR="red"]adb reboot bootloader[/COLOR]

c:\mini-adb_vigor>[COLOR="red"]fastboot boot recovery-ra-vigor-3.13-gnm.img[/COLOR]
        downloading 'boot.img'... OKAY [  1.665s]
                       booting... OKAY [  0.002s]
finished. total time: 1.668s

[COLOR="Blue"]*here is where turn my attention away from the PC,and i make a 
backup,wipe and flash the new rom on the phone*[/COLOR]

c:\mini-adb_vigor>[COLOR="red"]adb devices[/COLOR]
List of devices attached
HTxxxxxxxxxx    recovery


c:\mini-adb_vigor>[COLOR="red"]adb reboot bootloader[/COLOR]

c:\mini-adb_vigor>[COLOR="red"]fastboot flash boot boot-sense403redeined.img[/COLOR]
      sending 'boot' (3920 KB)... OKAY [  0.950s]
                writing 'boot'... OKAY [  1.770s]
finished. total time: 2.722s

c:\mini-adb_vigor>[COLOR="red"]fastboot reboot[/COLOR]
                     rebooting...
finished. total time: 0.329s

c:\mini-adb_vigor>


it may seem like alot of steps,but its not any slower than letting a PxxxIMG flash,and once you do it a few times its easy.

hope this may help a few folks that would like to at least know how to do it this way :)
 
Im looking for some guidance if possible. I rooted using scottys guide and I have downloaded a rom from scottsroms. I extract it and there are about six seperate items. I guess my question is do I even need to extract it or can I just copy it to the SD card and flash from recovery? Thanks a bunch. Sorry for being such a NOOB.

John
 
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thank you kind sir. to those of us that came from other rooted phones and have a lil experiecne with adb the rezound is no biggie. but for those just entering the rooted android world, and/or not so tech savy, i thot some instructions on the basics couldnt hurt. :D

Even those of us who've done it before have issues and can benefit from these guides. I've never accused myself of being too smart to learn! ;)
 
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first off thank you for this post. I can easily understand what you are saying to do.

A couple of questions from a newb though. To get to Amon Ra(recovery) do you always need to use cmd and flash the recovery img?

Also do you have to install kernels with the roms? Or can you just install the roms with a stock kernel?
 
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A couple of questions from a newb though. To get to Amon Ra(recovery) do you always need to use cmd and flash the recovery img?
thAT is what i personally do,yes. i dont keep a custom recovery on my phone,cause i never mess with it,without it being hooked to a PC.

Also do you have to install kernels with the roms? Or can you just install the roms with a stock kernel?

depends on the rom. some custom roms will prolly be fine with the stock kernel,some may not. that would be a thing to ask the rom/kernel developer.

now if you found a particular developer kernel that you liked(for example incredikernel) and wanted to use that with every rom you flashed,then you could easily just flash roms,leaving that kernel in place,and never flashing a new one. you could flash roms with no kernel via a "booted from fastboot recovery" or a "permanent on the phone" recovery.

in general,gingerbread roms will be ok with GB kernels,and ICS roms will need ICS kernels. the ICS roms prolly will be a lil more finicky when it comes to using different roms with the same kernel. :)
 
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thAT is what i personally do,yes. i dont keep a custom recovery on my phone,cause i never mess with it,without it being hooked to a PC.

Ok I guess my next question is how do you tell if a custom recovery is still on the phone.

When I rooted I went the whole "fastboot boot amonra.img" route and used that recovery to install superuser(aka root). Do you have to manually remove the amon ra img after that?



depends on the rom. some custom roms will prolly be fine with the stock kernel,some may not. that would be a thing to ask the rom/kernel developer.

now if you found a particular developer kernel that you liked(for example incredikernel) and wanted to use that with every rom you flashed,then you could easily just flash roms,leaving that kernel in place,and never flashing a new one. you could flash roms with no kernel via a "booted from fastboot recovery" or a "permanent on the phone" recovery.

in general,gingerbread roms will be ok with GB kernels,and ICS roms will need ICS kernels. the ICS roms prolly will be a lil more finicky when it comes to using different roms with the same kernel. :)

thank you for the reply. :)
 
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Ok I guess my next question is how do you tell if a custom recovery is still on the phone.

When I rooted I went the whole "fastboot boot amonra.img" route and used that recovery to install superuser(aka root). Do you have to manually remove the amon ra img after that?

if you used "fastboot boot" rather than "fastboot flash" then your recovery is(was) temporary. when you boot the phone,it is gone. if you go to hboot,then select recovery with the volume rocker/power button then you can verify you have the stock recovery when you get a screen with a triangle and "!" :)

just follow the directions in the root thread if you want to permanently install recovery with the "fastboot flash" command,just be aware that recovery is then permanent,and you will NOT be able to accept OTAs. :eek:
 
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if you see the update notice and defer it each time,it will do that until you take some course of action. eventually the OTA will promt when your not around,and try and sneek itself in. results could be anything from correctable bootloop,to partially installed software with wifi and other errors. :eek:

will it hard brick your phone beyond fixing? prolly not.

there will be a few different ways that can get you the new software/firmware,but the only one that will preserve your personal data is OTAing. :)
 
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alright I flashed back the stock recovery.img.

However to make sure I worked I told hboot to go into recovery. First symbol that came up was a phone with a green symbol(not exactly sure what that was). Then it changed to a picture of a phone with a red triangle. It hung right there, pulled battery to reboot.

Is that normal?
 
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I created a Nand(sp?) backup with Amon Ra. If I have to do a recovery in the future, and have to boot back into Amon Ra will it be able to find the backup I created or will that backup get deleted when flashing back to stop recovery.

Backups are stored on the sd card,in the nandroid folder. Amon will always be able to find it there.they won't disappear unlesss you delete them purposely.
:)
 
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alright I flashed back the stock recovery.img.

However to make sure I worked I told hboot to go into recovery. First symbol that came up was a phone with a green symbol(not exactly sure what that was). Then it changed to a picture of a phone with a red triangle. It hung right there.

Is that normal?

Yup. Perfectly normal for stock recovery :)
 
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Scotty (or whomever else knows),

Having used the temporary recovery, I just received an OTA, which broke root. As I understand it, I only need to do steps 2 & 3 to restore root. Please remind me -- it's step 1 that purges all my data, right? Or will I have to reload everything after completing steps 2 & 3?

Thanks!
 
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