I am a serious Android Noob and reading through all this is proving quite difficult. I have a couple of questions:
1. Will rooting reset my phone to factory settings with the exception of my now having root access i.e. Will I have to do my scenes over and redo all settings, app DLs etc.
2. Is there a video or simple step by step posting for dummies of this anywhere? For example:
Step 1: Blah, blah, blah
Step 2: Blah, blah, blah
Step 3: etc.
3. Will this allow me to save apps to memory card?
I am a serious Android Noob and reading through all this is proving quite difficult. I have a couple of questions:
1. Will rooting reset my phone to factory settings with the exception of my now having root access i.e. Will I have to do my scenes over and redo all settings, app DLs etc.
2. Is there a video or simple step by step posting for dummies of this anywhere? For example:
Step 1: Blah, blah, blah
Step 2: Blah, blah, blah
Step 3: etc.
3. Will this allow me to save apps to memory card?
This how to is the one that I used as it was pretty simple step by step. I think I was one that was a little more to the point. The only thing this one and the one posted before this one are missing are the instructions on flashing the recovery image which is like the bootloader. That is what you use to backup/restore/flash roms to and from your phone. I have included that at the bottom...
Now that your phone is officially rooted after the instructions in the link above, but we arent done yet though. Now you need to flash the recovery image. If you are still in adb shell type in exit until you are out. You should be in the directory where you extracted the recovery image. If not go there. Type in the following:
adb push recovery-RA-heroc-v1.2.3.img /sdcard/
Once that is done, type in adb shell (or sudo ./adb shell in ubuntu). If your command prompt is a dollar sign then type in su and press enter. If it is a pound sign you are good. Then type in the following:
Once that is finished you are done. To reboot into recovery type in adb shell reboot recovery. You should reboot into recovery mode.
I had a little trouble on this last part so if you run into some issues check out the thread on xda and look for the section where people had problems installing the recovery image. How to root the CDMA Hero - xda-developers
Once that is done, type in adb shell (or sudo ./adb shell in ubuntu). If your command prompt is a dollar sign then type in su and press enter. If it is a pound sign you are good. Then type in the following:
Quick clarification on that - if you're already in the shell (after typing ./adb shell), you do not need to prepend 'adb shell' to further commands. The progress should look something like this:
./adb push recovery-RA-heroc-v.1.2.3.img /sdcard/
./adb shell (<-- this connects you to your phone's shell)
$ su
# cd /sdcard
# flash_image recovery recovery-RA-heroc-v1.2.3.img
#
At that point the recovery image should be loaded. Power down your phone, power it up while holding the volume-down and power buttons, you should be at a screen showing you the little Android mascot on a skateboard.
From there hit the Home button to enter the recovery image you just loaded. (screenshot above)
Last edited by pking; November 8th, 2009 at 10:32 PM.
@imneveral0ne: I haven't tried the MoDaCo ROM actually - by the time the ROM was released I'd already made most of the changes manually, and I'm pretty happy with my current setup.
I'm more excited to see some of the OS replacement ROMs like Cyanogen's, and even more excited for someone to rom-up a 2.0 build
The next couple of weeks are going to be pretty exciting in phone geekland, at least for this phone geek.
Quick clarification on that - if you're already in the shell (after typing ./adb shell), you do not need to prepend 'adb shell' to further commands. The progress should look something like this:
./adb push recovery-RA-heroc-v.1.2.3.img /sdcard/
./adb shell (<-- this connects you to your phone's shell)
$ su
# cd /sdcard
# flash_image recovery recovery-RA-heroc-v1.2.3.img
#
At that point the recovery image should be loaded. Power down your phone, power it up while holding the volume-down and power buttons, you should be at a screen showing you the little Android mascot on a skateboard.
From there hit the Home button to enter the recovery image you just loaded. (screenshot above)
Thanks... that #cd /sdcard step missing is a life saver!!! I couldn't figure out why it kept saying not found.
someone suggested installing pdanet because it has all the drivers you need. I actually used this method not htc sync which i never downloaded ever. Make sure you have usb debugging on in your phone.
This how to is the one that I used as it was pretty simple step by step. I think I was one that was a little more to the point. The only thing this one and the one posted before this one are missing are the instructions on flashing the recovery image which is like the bootloader. That is what you use to backup/restore/flash roms to and from your phone. I have included that at the bottom...
Now that your phone is officially rooted after the instructions in the link above, but we arent done yet though. Now you need to flash the recovery image. If you are still in adb shell type in exit until you are out. You should be in the directory where you extracted the recovery image. If not go there. Type in the following:
adb push recovery-RA-heroc-v1.2.3.img /sdcard/
Once that is done, type in adb shell (or sudo ./adb shell in ubuntu). If your command prompt is a dollar sign then type in su and press enter. If it is a pound sign you are good. Then type in the following:
Once that is finished you are done. To reboot into recovery type in adb shell reboot recovery. You should reboot into recovery mode.
I had a little trouble on this last part so if you run into some issues check out the thread on xda and look for the section where people had problems installing the recovery image. How to root the CDMA Hero - xda-developers
WOW! Thanks a lot for this. Confident and ready to go now.Couple quick questions:
1. Will I lose my scenes, settings and current apps?
2. What does flashing the ROM mean? Is that saving everything I currently have, Installing new firmware or both?
3. Upon completion can I save and run apps from the SD card?
WOW! Thanks a lot for this. Confident and ready to go now.Couple quick questions:
1. Will I lose my scenes, settings and current apps?
No, that's the great thing about this ROM, it keeps all your current settings/apps/contacts. It's like it installs it right over your current one.
2. What does flashing the ROM mean? Is that saving everything I currently have, Installing new firmware or both?
Before you do ANYTHING as far as changing anything on your phone after you root you should do a backup of your current ROM, so in case you mess anything up you can just restore it back as it was from your backup. Then you can Flash modaco's custom ROM and play with it. As stated above, it's like it installs right over your old rom but with a few added apps/features/tweeks.
3. Upon completion can I save and run apps from the SD card?
Yes, but I haven't done this part yet but will today. From what I understand, this ROM is basically already setup to allow you to do this. All you really have to do is install Apps2sd and it'll partition the SD for you or you can use the partition tool built into the recovery image aka bootloader to do it as well.Don't forget to backup the contents of your SD card if you don't want to lose anything since it'll wipe you SD card clean.
Hope this helps.
Last edited by QuiQNeZZ; November 9th, 2009 at 09:45 AM.
someone suggested installing pdanet because it has all the drivers you need. I actually used this method not htc sync which i never downloaded ever. Make sure you have usb debugging on in your phone.
Flashing your ROM means overwriting the software on the phone with custom software. Doing this will usually erase all of your personal data and applications.
I think there's a lot of confusion floating around because there's really two flashing steps involved - flashing the 'recovery' software, and flashing the 'main' phone ROM. The Hero (as with other Android phones) actually has several partitions (sections) of ROM memory -
1) The recovery image (this is what the Anon_RA image overwrites) installs software which allows you to easily load in other ROMs, backup your current phone (Nandroid), or restore from backups. There are also other tools here for setting up your SD card to work with some of the custom ROMs more easily. Overwriting the recovery image does not erase your personal data or apps.
2) 'Main' phone ROM - ie, the software you see when your phone boots up normally. This is what the MoDaCo ROM and other custom software overwrites. Usually, overwriting this ROM memory will erase your data. This is why it's imperitive that you create a backup before flashing one of these images.
The MoDaCo ROM is 'special' in that it's a no-wipe ROM - which means theoretically it should not overwrite your apps or personal data. This ROM installs custom software over the top of the /system partition (where the operating system files are stored) without touching your /data partition (where all your apps are stored)
You can safely follow all the steps through flashing the 'recovery' image without harming your phone (in most cases, there is no guarantee). Once that is in place, you'll have the ability to create a backup image of your phone. This is the 'Nandroid v2.2 backup' option in the screenshot earlier in this thread. This will create a 'nandroid' folder on your SD card with images of the entire phone memory, including all your apps and preferences.
Im looking forward to sitting down & doing this. I know a lot of people like Sense, but I consider it bloatware & just want my Hero to run as smooth as possible.
Edit: Started working on this prior to previous post. Will leave here in case anybody needs it.
Success for fellow Dummy!!!
WARNING DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!!
#1
First you need to download the Android SDK execute and copy the file it produces to your C: drive. It should be named similar to:android-sdk-windows-1.1_r1 You should download any android sdk I downloaded 2.0 but to make things easy rename the directory you copied to your c drive to: android-sdk-windows-1.1_r1
This way you can copy paste commands. If you don't do this please change your commands as appropriate!!!
#2
Then you need to install adb driver, I did this by installing pdanet, installs it for you automatically. Follow instructions.
Copy asroot file to your file to the tools directory:
C:\android-sdk-windows-1.1_r1\tools directory
#4
Then change your environment variables:
To do this right-click on "My Computer" and select Properties. Next select the Advanced tab(Advanced Settings in Vista) then select Environment Variables.
Click "New" under System Variables and add the following:
You should have seen the following lines progressively as you typed the previous commands:
$ /data/local/asroot2 /system/bin/sh
[+] Using newer pipe_inode_info layout
Opening: /proc/857/fd/3
SUCCESS: Enjoy the shell.
#
# should indicate a successful root. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. Now copy paste the following lines individually:
copy paste:
mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
copy paste:
cd /system/bin
copy paste:
cat sh > su
copy paste:
chmod 4755 su
Close command prompt window.
#8
You should be fully rooted! If you'd like now google search for wifi tether. Download the HTC Version!!!
Start and test. It should work like a charm!!!!!!!!!
Flashing your ROM means overwriting the software on the phone with custom software. Doing this will usually erase all of your personal data and applications.
I think there's a lot of confusion floating around because there's really two flashing steps involved - flashing the 'recovery' software, and flashing the 'main' phone ROM. The Hero (as with other Android phones) actually has several partitions (sections) of ROM memory -
1) The recovery image (this is what the Anon_RA image overwrites) installs software which allows you to easily load in other ROMs, backup your current phone (Nandroid), or restore from backups. There are also other tools here for setting up your SD card to work with some of the custom ROMs more easily. Overwriting the recovery image does not erase your personal data or apps.
2) 'Main' phone ROM - ie, the software you see when your phone boots up normally. This is what the MoDaCo ROM and other custom software overwrites. Usually, overwriting this ROM memory will erase your data. This is why it's imperitive that you create a backup before flashing one of these images.
The MoDaCo ROM is 'special' in that it's a no-wipe ROM - which means theoretically it should not overwrite your apps or personal data. This ROM installs custom software over the top of the /system partition (where the operating system files are stored) without touching your /data partition (where all your apps are stored)
You can safely follow all the steps through flashing the 'recovery' image without harming your phone (in most cases, there is no guarantee). Once that is in place, you'll have the ability to create a backup image of your phone. This is the 'Nandroid v2.2 backup' option in the screenshot earlier in this thread. This will create a 'nandroid' folder on your SD card with images of the entire phone memory, including all your apps and preferences.
thank you elguapo76 I got my phone rooted thanks to your how to and im a total noob to this! I also installed the teather app but cannot get online also.
Ok, I rooted. It appeared to be successful. I did everything but Flash recovery image. I want to do that but I am unsure of how to do the backup before doing so, please assist.
Ok, I rooted. It appeared to be successful. I did everything but Flash recovery image. I want to do that but I am unsure of how to do the backup before doing so, please assist.
Additionally, how do I delete stock apps?
You'll want to install the recovery image, you'll be able to do a Nandroid backup after that. The recovery image will not remove any data on your phone. Note that I'm *not* talking about the MoDaCo ROM, but specifically the recovery image that QuiQNeZZ linked a couple of posts up.
Deleting stock apps basically consists of removing the .apk and .odex files for those applications. There are several guides on xda-developers that outline how to do this. You definitely want to make a backup *before* doing so, as it's easy to freak out your phone (or possibly brick it) by removing the wrong apps or files.
Once you've got the recovery image flashed and you've made a backup, see this XDA thread for how to remove stock apps:
You'll want to install the recovery image, you'll be able to do a Nandroid backup after that. The recovery image will not remove any data on your phone. Note that I'm *not* talking about the MoDaCo ROM, but specifically the recovery image that QuiQNeZZ linked a couple of posts up.
Deleting stock apps basically consists of removing the .apk and .odex files for those applications. There are several guides on xda-developers that outline how to do this. You definitely want to make a backup *before* doing so, as it's easy to freak out your phone (or possibly brick it) by removing the wrong apps or files.
Once you've got the recovery image flashed and you've made a backup, see this XDA thread for how to remove stock apps:
Thank you Pking and QuiQNeZZ for all your help !!! Can't wait to get those stock apps removed.
I'm almost there. I did flash but I am unable to do a Nandroid backup. I get an message that says "Backup not performed" or something to that effect. I have 96MB remaining on a 2GB micro SD card. Could it be a space issue? Also, once I've done a succesful backup. How do I get the MoDaCo ROM on my phone?
Thank you Pking and QuiQNeZZ for all your help !!! Can't wait to get those stock apps removed.
I'm almost there. I did flash but I am unable to do a Nandroid backup. I get an message that says "Backup not performed" or something to that effect. I have 96MB remaining on a 2GB micro SD card. Could it be a space issue? Also, once I've done a succesful backup. How do I get the MoDaCo ROM on my phone?
Yes it is a space issue . It need let say 150mb free to be safe
My nandroid backups are closer to ~215mb, but I had a few apps installed. The /system image is about 150mb alone, so I'd say at least 250mb is a safer bet.
Probably the easiest thing to do is move all your SD card data off to a folder on your PC, do a Nandroid backup on the empty card, copy that to your PC and then copy back everything that was on the card originally when you're done playing.
Last edited by pking; November 9th, 2009 at 06:30 PM.
Device(s): NS4G, Nook Tablet.
Nothing exceeds like excess.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pking
I got this flashing my girlfriend's hero as well - a few others at teh XDA forum also ran into this.
The fix so far has been to power-down your phone, power it back up and try again. Worked fine for me on the second attempt.
Interesting... I powered down and brought it back up, then tried to proceed from the step I was stuck at... I kept getting a "device not found" error.
Frustrated, I powered down. On a whim, I powered back up, holding vol down and power... I got the skating android screen and chose to back up... BACKUP COMPLETE!
Thanks, Android Forum! BOCK BOCK!!
Last edited by nathanotis; November 9th, 2009 at 11:14 PM.
Device(s): NS4G, Nook Tablet.
Nothing exceeds like excess.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pking
Interesting - perhaps the memory register error messages are something somewhat unrelated and it's actually flashing normally? Anyway, congrats
I may have started to celebrate too early. I'm trying to uninstall some apps following the "How To" in links above and my PC is saying the device is not found.
It might not help as I'm using linux (debian) on my laptop, but I generally need to hit the 'HTC Sync' option in the phone's notification menu to get the PC talking to it. Once at the start of every session.
Also, make sure USB debugging is enabled on your phone ( Menu -> Settings -> Applications )
Device(s): NS4G, Nook Tablet.
Nothing exceeds like excess.
Thanks: 16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pking
It might not help as I'm using linux (debian) on my laptop, but I generally need to hit the 'HTC Sync' option in the phone's notification menu to get the PC talking to it. Once at the start of every session.
Also, make sure USB debugging is enabled on your phone ( Menu -> Settings -> Applications )
HA! I just tried that... It fails to find HTC Sync and prompts me to download (even though it's installed), but windows sees the device now. Thanks.
Wait... if I redo all this with that download, I'll have eclair? Just trying to clarify.
Wish it were that simple. I believe it's just the 2.0 APIs. Even so when you download the SDK it's just to utilize the adb shell to communicate with your phone. It's just a tool that comes with the SDK.
Device(s): NS4G, Nook Tablet.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pking
You can safely follow all the steps through flashing the 'recovery' image without harming your phone (in most cases, there is no guarantee). Once that is in place, you'll have the ability to create a backup image of your phone. This is the 'Nandroid v2.2 backup' option in the screenshot earlier in this thread. This will create a 'nandroid' folder on your SD card with images of the entire phone memory, including all your apps and preferences.
Do I understand correctly that the Nandroid backup is taking up space on the SD card? After a couple days of problem free operation, would it be ok to remove it (storing it on my pc) to reclaim that space?
Check that... I read your post detailing moving the backup off the SD... Makes sense.
Thank you.
Last edited by nathanotis; November 10th, 2009 at 12:53 AM.
If these have been answered, I apologize. I have read every post on this thread, and if the answers were posted, I probably didn't understand them
1. Can I root my phone primarily to get rid of Sprint apps and keep running Sense?
ANSWER: Yes you can root just to get rid of the sprint apps. But please flash the recoery image just to use the nandroid backup
2. If I brick my phone, am I just screwed? Is there no way to repair or replace it other than just to buy a new one out of pocket?
ANSWER: Really hard to brick it unless you don't read carefully the how to root instructions. Also Nandroid will backup your stock rom that you have now just in case you mess up while deleting the sprint apps you can always restore.
Pow
Last edited by Aldo Junior Ao2; November 10th, 2009 at 01:49 AM.
Wow, I probably shouldn't be doing this, considering I have been trying to just set up ADB drivers for over an hour. I think it is a problem with my computer, though. It doesn't want to recognize anything, and when I disable drivers, it re-enables them. If this last try doesn't work, I may just wait for Eclair before I try to do this again, although that still won't get rid of Nascar and NFL apps.
Try installing pdanet since it will have the drivers to connect to your pc this is what i did and also did you check usb debugging on your phone is checked.
After gaining root and uninstalling several programs, I'm not seeing the huge space and performance gains I was hoping for.
What have I missed?
Well for me flashing the Madaco rom and then removing the sprint apps especially sprint navigator which i have a garmin already helped. The theme for madaco also helped. We have to wait for our rom to really be tweaked before we see a real significant boost in speed but for now atleast them ugly sprint apps are gone.
Device(s): NS4G, Nook Tablet.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Aldo Junior Ao2
We have to wait for our rom to really be tweaked before we see a real significant boost in speed but for now atleast them ugly sprint apps are gone.
I should clarify... I'm not so concerned about the boost to performance (which I suspected was "seat-of-the-pants"). What I really wanted to see after all this was the extra space... Where should I be looking? Menu > Settings > SD Card & phone storage? If so, I'm actually down a couple meg as compared to my pre-root numbers.
Bottom line here. If you root your phone, will lose any chance at warranty? From what I understand you are backing up the phone so you can essentially put it back to factory...correct? Is there anyway for them to detect that you rooted the phone?
OH CRAP. Everything worked fine, I did the recovery reboot, got the the skateboarding droid screen, clicked the home button, and it took me to a black screen with a picture of a phone and a triangle with a "!" in it. My computer pulled up a window that said it was searching for drivers, but nothing ever happened. My phone will not power down and will not respond to anything. What now?
Pull the battery, wait a few seconds, and power back up.
The screen you got to is the HTC default recovery image - the 'searching for drivers' you saw was Windows seeing the phone in a different state than normal - namely, the phone wanted to connect to the HTC updater program to load a flash ROM from your PC.
This probably means that the recovery image did not get flashed to your phone properly, I'd try that step again once you've got the phone back up and running.
Bottom line here. If you root your phone, will lose any chance at warranty?
That's a question better asked to your Sprint rep or whomever you have phone insurance through (if any).
Theoretically, a hardware defect is a hardware defect, and would've been a problem regardless of what you've done to the software. IMO, that should be covered no questions asked, but I don't get to create their policy
If you happen to really, permanently, 'brick' your phone somehow - it's unlikely they're going to be able to tell without some serious investigation, which isn't really worth the time except for exploratory purposes.
I work tech support for a firewall appliance, and every once in a while we'll get a return where someone 'hacked around' - we basically laugh and go 'wow, did they really try to do that?', but it generally ends there.
Thank you! Ok, tried to flash recovery image again and, after entering "adb shell flash_image recovery recovery-RA-heroc-v1.2.3.img" now am getting this:
Are you doing this from inside the phone's shell? (ie. after typing 'adb shell' and getting the '#' prompt) If so, you don't need to type the 'adb shell' part again.
_\oo/
