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ROM Manager woes

xevious

Well-Known Member
Jun 12, 2010
188
11
Near NYC
I thoroughly researched the procedures for flashing a custom ROM, creating my own documents and collecting all the necessarily programs into various folders. I then embarked on the project.

Everything was fine until I hit a snag with ROM Manager.

After backing up everything (Titanium Backup) and running ROM Manager to make a CWM backup Flash Recovery, I then selected to Install ROM. I did this according to a video I watched and a write-up I'd found among the myriad of instructions. Well, apparently what I should have done was to reboot into the Flash Recovery and proceed from there. But the interface allows you to select "Install ROM" and then presents you with making a backup and wiping the cache.

After this, my phone rebooted and hung. Over 10 minutes and the white HTC screen remained staring at me. I rebooted and was able to select "recovery", which somehow managed to bring me back... to my previous ROM but empty of all my programs and data. I then installed a newer version of ROM Manager. But that only made matters worse, as apparently not all versions are backward compatible. I then uninstalled ROM Manager and re-installed the same version I had before. But, it was too late. Any attempt to boot into CWM Recovery Mode results in a hang.

What can I do about this? I'm starting to look into alternative ROM manager software. Otherwise, I'm guessing I'd have to install a base OEM ROM and start all over as if it were a new phone. A real tedious pain in the butt... all because of one major usability issue.


Oh and another thing, I had upgraded Titanium Backup as well and guess what? After restoring just a few apps, I now find that I can't restore the rest of my backups. Titanium Backup finds the directory and files, but does not present them in the menu for restoration... only the handful of apps I restored as a preliminary measure. Real nice...
 
Haven't touched ROM Manager in forever. I like to do all my flashing within recovery itself whether it's Clockwork (my N7) or TWRP (my GNex, much preferred).
ROM Manager can also be dangerous for certain phones (mostly just Samsungs). You can download RM just to flash CWM recovery and never used it again. Or, you can download goo.manager and flash TWRP which I prefer (can't guarantee the Hero is supported).
From there, simply boot in recovery, make a back up and proceed from there on flashing your ROM.
 
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^ Thanks for the tip, dreadnatty. ROM Manager has been reported as successful for the Hero in quite a few testimonies I've read. It's just that it can go wrong at times. The polished Complete Guide for How to Flash a ROM shows selecting "Install ROM from SD Card". However, the kicker is about how the reboot can take 10-20 minutes the first time. I somehow overlooked this, because other write-ups and videos I checked out didn't mention this. At about the 15 minute mark, I figured my phone was locked... I probably should have just left well alone.

Anyway, I got the original ROM back in place and performed a restore of my user data. I'm now back to square one, except that ROM Manager still won't boot into recovery mode. I'll have to search around on Goo Manager and see if there's any mention of compatibility with the Hero. Thanks. :)
 
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I ended up using QuickBoot after I uninstalled ROM Manager. This allowed me to get to the Recovery screen where I could do a Nandroid backup, clear the dalvik cache, and then apply the CM7 image. Worked like a charm. From here, I'm going to load TWRP and never look back on ROM Manager. Also, it appears that CyanogenMod now has it's own support for updates, which is cool.
 
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^ Thanks, LBP. :) QuickBoot basically acts as a simple direct access method to ClockworkMod Recovery menu, so you don't have to use ROM Manager. Also, CM7 provides a menu when you reboot, so that you can opt to reboot into recovery mode.

I'm running CM7 on my HTC Hero and so far it's great. The biggest difference I'm seeing is that I can install more apps than I ever could on the OEM ROM. However, I am finding that some 3rd party apps don't always play nice.... some get rather laggy, taxing the poor anemic HTC Hero processor. Overall, I'm very glad I rooted and loaded CM7. It is giving the Hero a little longer lease on life. I was really tempted to ditch it, because I had this screwy Menu button problem (it acted like the Home button). But thankfully it resolved itself. It must have been some debris inside mucking around with the contacts.

I really miss Sense. There's something so wonderfully integrated about it. But I bought Fancy Widgets Pro and at least I have a Sense-like clock/weather widget for what warm and fuzzy feeling. ;) My only gripes right now is that the default calendar widget is terrible and the virtual keyboard buttons are a bit small.
 
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I've been using aCalendar in place of any stock calendar for a good while now. I really like it. Check it out, you might like it too.

Kitsap, thanks a lot for this. :thumbup:

I'd been looking at so many different calendars. Some looked good with limited functionality, while others were too complex and cumbersome to use. There are so many calendar widgets out there, making the good ones hard to find (only the most well known ones bubble to the surface). This particular calendar widget has a lot going for it. I especially like how it is integrated with contact information for birthdays. It has rather versatile functionality. The UI theme can't be customized, but I suspect this can be done with the Plus version. I'll see how it works out and I may pay for the upgrade if I find it grows on me. :)
 
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^ Thanks, LBP. :) QuickBoot basically acts as a simple direct access method to ClockworkMod Recovery menu, so you don't have to use ROM Manager. Also, CM7 provides a menu when you reboot, so that you can opt to reboot into recovery mode.

I'm running CM7 on my HTC Hero and so far it's great. The biggest difference I'm seeing is that I can install more apps than I ever could on the OEM ROM. However, I am finding that some 3rd party apps don't always play nice.... some get rather laggy, taxing the poor anemic HTC Hero processor. Overall, I'm very glad I rooted and loaded CM7. It is giving the Hero a little longer lease on life. I was really tempted to ditch it, because I had this screwy Menu button problem (it acted like the Home button). But thankfully it resolved itself. It must have been some debris inside mucking around with the contacts.

I really miss Sense. There's something so wonderfully integrated about it. But I bought Fancy Widgets Pro and at least I have a Sense-like clock/weather widget for what warm and fuzzy feeling. ;) My only gripes right now is that the default calendar widget is terrible and the virtual keyboard buttons are a bit small.

Yeah, I rarely ever used ROM Manager to actually boot into ClockworkMod Recovery, but only to flash it initially. Oftentimes, I would then just uninstall ROM Manager. I usually go into ClockworkMod Recovery via the volume button and power button press before turning the handset on. Also, CyanogenMod 7.2 ROMs have a boot to recovery option built in.

That is also something I loved about CyanogenMod 7.2 on my Sprint HTC Hero. The fact that I had a lot more storage space available to install apps and that apps could be moved to the microSD card without issue usually. The lag, unfortunately, is just a byproduct of using an older handset. The Sprint HTC Hero uses an ARMv6 architecture, and all modern smartphones have long moved to the ARMv7 architecture, and a lot of the apps take bettery advantage of that architecture. Also, despite hearing the contrary from many people, the Sprint HTC Hero does have a decent GPU called the Adreno 130. It is just that it is so old now, in the face of today's modern games and apps, that it can not always keep up.
 
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I really miss Sense. There's something so wonderfully integrated about it. But I bought Fancy Widgets Pro and at least I have a Sense-like clock/weather widget for what warm and fuzzy feeling. ;) My only gripes right now is that the default calendar widget is terrible and the virtual keyboard buttons are a bit small.

Oops. Double post. :)

Anyway, I use Calendar Pad for my calendar widget needs. I absolutely love it and the developer is constantly improving it and fixing any minor issues that may arise. You can grab it here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.ne.gate.calpad&hl=en . ;)
 
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CyanogenMod 7.2 ROMs have a boot to recovery option built in.
Yep, I finally realized that as well... no need to use QuickBoot any longer. :)

That is also something I loved about CyanogenMod 7.2 on my Sprint HTC Hero. The fact that I had a lot more storage space available to install apps and that apps could be moved to the microSD card without issue usually. The lag, unfortunately, is just a byproduct of using an older handset. The Sprint HTC Hero uses an ARMv6 architecture, and all modern smartphones have long moved to the ARMv7 architecture, and a lot of the apps take bettery advantage of that architecture. Also, despite hearing the contrary from many people, the Sprint HTC Hero does have a decent GPU called the Adreno 130. It is just that it is so old now, in the face of today's modern games and apps, that it can not always keep up.

The fact that the Hero has had so much aftermarket support just goes to show you how great a phone it was (and still is). Despite its anemic processor, it really is a viable phone... IF you're not into gaming (which requires a much faster processor). But, I have to believe that as more and more impressive phones push their way into the market (the HTC Evo 4G LTE is terrific), the old Hero is definitely heading to sunset. I'm just thankful we've got some terrific ROMs available that are plenty capable to be content with.

What I like so much about the Hero is the user interface and form factor. To me, the phone is "just right" to be functionally viable as a smart phone while still feeling comfortable in the pocket. These larger phones just can't ride in your pocket comfortably. Plus, there's something to be said for tactile buttons and even the trackball is useful at times (just don't overuse it, as they tend to develop problems over time). The first succeeding phone that came close to this form factor was the EVO Shift, which was a failure IMHO. They just didn't think that phone through, making for a dirge of problems and usability issues. The HTC Arrive seems to be a bit better, but then it's not Android... as well as a paltry 512Mb ROM (compared to 16Gb ROM on the 4G LTE) and of course no 4G capability. While Microsoft is making great inroads with its cellular operating system, I just prefer the Android approach with an open source foundation.

I loaded up aCalendar and I like it so far, but I'll give Calendar Pad a try. Thanks for the tip. :)


FWIW, if you're still intending to use your Hero for the long haul, consider getting an Otterbox case. The "commuter" version (slimmest of their offering) is now only $4 on Amazon. Not only is the case terrific quality, it comes with the best screen protector I've seen yet. It's thick, smooth, and scratch resistant. I've used plenty of cheaper screen protectors only to be disappointed in having to replace them every few months. To get one as good as the Otterbox requires shelling out $15 for a Zagg protector. So, the Otterbox sale price is a seriously great deal.
 
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Yep, I finally realized that as well... no need to use QuickBoot any longer. :)



The fact that the Hero has had so much aftermarket support just goes to show you how great a phone it was (and still is). Despite its anemic processor, it really is a viable phone... IF you're not into gaming (which requires a much faster processor). But, I have to believe that as more and more impressive phones push their way into the market (the HTC Evo 4G LTE is terrific), the old Hero is definitely heading to sunset. I'm just thankful we've got some terrific ROMs available that are plenty capable to be content with.

What I like so much about the Hero is the user interface and form factor. To me, the phone is "just right" to be functionally viable as a smart phone while still feeling comfortable in the pocket. These larger phones just can't ride in your pocket comfortably. Plus, there's something to be said for tactile buttons and even the trackball is useful at times (just don't overuse it, as they tend to develop problems over time). The first succeeding phone that came close to this form factor was the EVO Shift, which was a failure IMHO. They just didn't think that phone through, making for a dirge of problems and usability issues. The HTC Arrive seems to be a bit better, but then it's not Android... as well as a paltry 512Mb ROM (compared to 16Gb ROM on the 4G LTE) and of course no 4G capability. While Microsoft is making great inroads with its cellular operating system, I just prefer the Android approach with an open source foundation.

I loaded up aCalendar and I like it so far, but I'll give Calendar Pad a try. Thanks for the tip. :)


FWIW, if you're still intending to use your Hero for the long haul, consider getting an Otterbox case. The "commuter" version (slimmest of their offering) is now only $4 on Amazon. Not only is the case terrific quality, it comes with the best screen protector I've seen yet. It's thick, smooth, and scratch resistant. I've used plenty of cheaper screen protectors only to be disappointed in having to replace them every few months. To get one as good as the Otterbox requires shelling out $15 for a Zagg protector. So, the Otterbox sale price is a seriously great deal.

From my experience, any handset running at least 512MB of RAM and a single-core 1Ghz CPU is going to be able to play MOST of today's modern games. My wife's Sprint HTC EVO 4G running CyanogenMod 7.2, a 2010 handset, falls into that category and there has not been much it has not handled well in the gaming department. The Sprint HTC Hero mainly lacks the RAM and ROM space, as well as a capable GPU to play most of today's modern mobile games. Simple games still run just fine though, even some 3D ones on that old Adreno 130 GPU run well.

My Sprint HTC Hero has been retired for over a year now. Yes, I need to update my devices under my avatar and in my signature. It is still used as an Wi-Fi enabled Internet device though. If the spirit moves me, I will flash a new ROM on it. I mainly use it for MP3 streaming to Bluetooth speakers now. I also use it occasionally for web related things like the weather or quickly checking something online if my newer handset is charging.
 
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^ I tried Angry Birds and Temple Run on a 512Mb ROM phone and they seriously lagged. 1Gb ROM seems to have no trouble. But then, I wasn't up to date on the GPU specs so that may have been an issue as well.

I find the external speaker of the Hero to be very good, still quite competitive with the latest HTC phones and even better than the iPhone. And as an MP3 player, it certainly fills the bill. I just need to find a better MP3 player app for it (the default Android one in CM7 is rather weak). But yeah, as a wireless desktop device that can show the time and weather, it's also very useful. I think I'll be using mine until it completely fails. :)

What wireless speakers are you using with your Hero?
 
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Oh. I was talking about RAM, not ROM.

The Sprint HTC Hero has 512MB of ROM space for ROMs, but it has 288MB of RAM. The Sprint HTC EVO 4G has 1GB of ROM space and 512MB of RAM, which is more than adequate for a lot of today's games. My wife just downloaded Angry Birds Star Wars and it runs perfectly. I use a cheap Bluetooth speaker that kind of looks like a salt shaker. It was only $20, but it is pretty good for my purposes. It is made by a company called SoundLogic.
 
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^ Yeah, these newer HTC phones are so much more capable.

I've tried 3 different ROMs on my phone at this point, and OEM still has the least lag in terms of contacts and dialer. I used the default android dialer and several custom ones... all of them exhibit some kind of lag, worst of all when I want to make a call quickly, and I'm standing there staring at a busy screen for 20+ seconds.

I hadn't heard of SoundLogic before. I'll have to check them out. Thanks. :)
 
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CyanogenMod 6 and CyanogenMod 7.x ROMs were the speediest for me on the Sprint HTC Hero. Followed by the stock OEM HTC Sense ROM.

Dialer lag was a major problem with earlier versions of HTC Sense on the Sprint HTC Hero. They eventually fixed that with an OTA update though. But, like I said above, for speed and battery efficiency, CyanogenMod ROMs were tops for me. I never had a complaint with that using the HTC Sense ROM, but once I tried CyanogenMod, it was a whole new level for me. My wife has actually gone on record in saying that she prefers CyanogenMod 7.2 over stock HTC Sense. She only ever tried stock HTC Sense 1.0 on her Sprint HTC EVO 4G, but she said the AOSP experience was just speedier, and she had more battery life to use.
 
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The relatively lowly Triumph can still play most games without lagging, 1 Ghz, 512 MB ram and still stuck on FroYo.

The Virgin Mobile Motorola Triumph actually has really decent specifications for a pre-paid carrier handset from well over a year go. It has a Snapdragon S2 CPU and 512MB of RAM, which is PLENTY for most modern apps and games. I remember actually being fairly impressed by that back then. Heh.

My friend had one for a while until something happened with the charging port, I believe. It's not a multi-core powerhouse by any stretch of the imagination, but it can definitely keep up with today's handsets, especially if flashed to a more modern ROM.
 
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CM7.2 is actually quite good, as long as you have a lean launcher hooked up to it. Zeam is the most efficient I've found thus far.

As for the lag I noted earlier, I've gotten past that. I'm running LiGux and Zeam, with some V6 SuperCharger configuration enhancements, and the phone is better than it was when stock. It's good enough that it has me dragging my feet on an upgrade. ;)

ROM Manager is a good tool, but I prefer TWRP. You have to be on Android 2.3 or higher in order to get it installed.
 
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