[HOW TO] an easier way to flash PH98IMG files

scotty85 · April 22nd, 2012, 07:29 AM

with s-off here,more folks may be attempting to install things a PH98IMG files,wich can cause certain fustrations. i personally have quit alltogether installing any PxxxIMG files on the sd card,on ANY of my htc devices. what follows is a guide ive placed in other forums,and decided to include here as well:

all htc phones utilize a PxxxIMG file system to flash RUUs and such in hboot. having guides up here,the TB,the inc,and merge forums, and being active on the board i see alot of folks have trouble getting PxxxIMG(PH98IMG in case of the rezound) to work. the prollem usually has simple fix,but sometimes causes folks an extreme amount of confusion.

but there is an easier way

i mess with my various htc devices alot,and have found using fastboot is a much faster,easier way to flash PxxxIMG files. you dont need to transfer files to your SD,or boot to change files if youve got a couple to do.

in a nutshell,youre going to place your file into the folder where adb and fastboot live(prolly platform tools or tools if youre an advanced user that has the sdk installed),place the phone in fastboot,put it in RUU mode and flash the file with this command: fastboot flash zip <filename>.zip

if you rooted with revolutionary,and have no idea what fastboot or adb even are,heres a step by step:

1)set up adb and fastboot download this file,wich contains adb and fastboot.
http://www.mediafire.com/?hzf1u4bowjewhdq
md5 sum: 9d1c0e2a98f09bb65521889870334b65

extract it,and place the extracted(not zipped) mini-adb folder on the root of the C drive of your PC. in windows 7,you should be able to just right click,then extract files. if not,you may need a utility such as 7 zip

re-install revolutionarys drivers,if you dont still have them on your PC from when you rooted.

open a command window. in windows 7,just click the start bubble,then type "command" in the search box. this should open a small black window.

change to your mini-adb directory(folder) by the entering the following command at the prompt in your command window: cd c:\mini-adb this should change your prompt to "mini-adb>" indicating that youve changed to that directory.

*note if you unlocked with my guide,you can use your mini-adb_vigor file. just cd to that directory( cd c:\mini-adb_vigor)

2)flash your file put the file that you want to flash into the mini adb-folder. you can copy/paste,drag/drop or move it however you are comfortable moving files.

plug in your phone. enable usb debugging,if its not allready.

enter the following commands. from here on,commands will be bold and italics,comments will be blue. each line is one command,enter them one at a time. you can copy/paste or type them in.

md5sums <filename> this will output the md5 sum of the file you will flash. make sure it matches that listed for your download

adb devices should output your phones serial number

adb reboot bootloader will boot you into the fastboot screen(white with colored letters)

fastboot devices will again output serial number

fastboot erase cache

fastboot oem rebootRUU

fastboot flash zip <filename>.zip

you will see a green line on your phone as the file flashes.youll see outut in your cmd window. sometimes when flashing a complete RUU you will get an error that says "failed,reflush immediately". dont panic,just run the above line again to reflash your file

after you get a "finished" message:

at this point,ycould actually flashe more files if you wanted. for example,a radio and a recovery. just repeat the "fastboot flash zip" command untill youve flashed all your files. then:

fastboot reboot-bootloader this will take you back to the white fastboot screen

fastboot reboot your phone should reboot

and of course,heres what the outputs will look like in the command window. red are my inputs. in this example,im installing twrp recovery on my thunderbolt,with a .zip file called: twrp111rbox1_PG05IMG

Code:

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

C:\Users\Scott>cd c:\mini-adb

c:\mini-adb>md5sums twrp111rbox1_PG05IMG.zip

MD5sums 1.2 freeware for Win9x/ME/NT/2000/XP+
Copyright (C) 2001-2005 Jem Berkes - http://www.pc-tools.net/
Type md5sums -h for help

[Path] / filename                              MD5 sum
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[c:\mini-adb\]
twrp111rbox1_PG05IMG.zip                       31ae566360d4729ff1be2a5a67952777

c:\mini-adb>adb devices
* daemon not running. starting it now *
* daemon started successfully *
List of devices attached
HT12CS012936    device


c:\mini-adb>adb reboot bootloader

c:\mini-adb>fastboot devices
HT12CS012936    fastboot

c:\mini-adb>fastboot erase cache
               erasing 'cache'... OKAY [  0.262s]
finished. total time: 0.263s

c:\mini-adb>fastboot oem rebootRUU
                              ... OKAY [  0.222s]
finished. total time: 0.223s

c:\mini-adb>fastboot flash zip twrp111rbox1_PG05IMG.zip
       sending 'zip' (5573 KB)... OKAY [  0.907s]
                 writing 'zip'... INFOzip header checking...
INFOzip info parsing...
INFOchecking model ID...
INFOchecking custom ID...
INFOstart image[recovery] unzipping & flushing...
INFO[RUU]UZ,recovery,0
INFO[RUU]UZ,recovery,15
INFO[RUU]UZ,recovery,27
INFO[RUU]UZ,recovery,37
INFO[RUU]UZ,recovery,47
INFO[RUU]UZ,recovery,60
INFO[RUU]UZ,recovery,70
INFO[RUU]UZ,recovery,82
INFO[RUU]UZ,recovery,98
INFO[RUU]UZ,recovery,100
INFO[RUU]WP,recovery,0
INFO[RUU]WP,recovery,100
OKAY [  7.010s]
finished. total time: 7.918s

c:\mini-adb>fastboot reboot-bootloader
     rebooting into bootloader... OKAY [  0.151s]
finished. total time: 0.151s

c:\mini-adb>fastboot reboot
                     rebooting...
finished. total time: 0.150s

c:\mini-adb>

seems a lil complicated,but once you do it a couple times,its quick and easy.

this method will work for s-on,or s-off phones. it will me more of a PITA with an s-on device,as the android info document inside the PH98IMG file will need to have the correct info.

to get any PH98IMG to flash on an unlocked s on phone,you will need to:
1)make sure the file only contains changeable images-i.e. boot,system,or recovery
2)make sure the android info document contains the same or higher main version than what is on your phone currently.

see Scottys noob friendly root guide-start to finish for some tips on dealing with main version errors

thornev · May 16th, 2012, 12:01 AM

I want to note that I followed this procedure and ran into a snag when executing "fastboot flash zip <filename>.zip". The command did fail as mentioned above, but re-executing the command resulted in "waiting for device." I waited a minute or so and nothing happened.

What Scotty has suggested to do in this case is (after waiting at least 10 minutes for the "waiting for device" message to clear):

1. pull battery
2. boot to HBOOT (vol down + power)
3. select FASTBOOT on HBOOT screen
4. restart at the step: fastboot oem rebootRUU

dassh · May 19th, 2012, 12:01 AM

How would this work if you have to flash the old firmware patch? I'm still s-on, with the GB firmware.

Thanks

scotty85 · May 19th, 2012, 05:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dassh

How would this work if you have to flash the old firmware patch? I'm still s-on, with the GB firmware.

Thanks

im not sure what youre asking... the firmware patch is flashed in recovery,not in hboot.

this is for flashing any file that you would normally rename PH98IMG and then flash in hboot

dassh · May 19th, 2012, 09:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scotty85

im not sure what youre asking... the firmware patch is flashed in recovery,not in hboot.

this is for flashing any file that you would normally rename PH98IMG and then flash in hboot

Ugh! I wasn't thinking the whole process thru. Thanks!

vforvendetta68 · August 21st, 2012, 03:41 AM

I'm stuck in 1.02.605.6. I've been trying to flash 2.01.605.11 ruu for over a week now. I have a mac computer that doesn't have bootsrap. S-on and unlocked. Every f'n time I try flashing from hboot it loads for awhile but says parsing and diverts back to hboot start screen.

scotty85 · August 21st, 2012, 06:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vforvendetta68

I'm stuck in 1.02.605.6. I've been trying to flash 2.01.605.11 ruu for over a week now. I have a mac computer that doesn't have bootsrap. S-on and unlocked. Every f'n time I try flashing from hboot it loads for awhile but says parsing and diverts back to hboot start screen.

your bootloader needs to be relocked if you wish to flash a full,signed by htc ruu. you can only flash things in the unlocked bootloader that are system,recovery,or boot images.

if you relock,and make sure your sd card is FAT32,and that the PH98IMG is on the root of the sd,it should flash.

biggest issue folks have is incorrect name(phone must see PH98IMG.zip using wondows its easy to accidentaly name it PH98IMG.zip.zip. far less often,the file is named just PH98IMG),or the sd card format

windows hides the file ext,so renaming "PH98IMG" with windows should result in the correct file for the phone "PH98IMG.zip"

hope that helps