Help with ROM and OS please?

[85jas]

Hi all,

I've been having the wifi problems "Unable to Scan for Networks" issue and would like to send the phone back to the carrier... but I've gone and rooted it haven't I! Now of course I know the perils etc. but was hoping someone would be able to help me to restore it back to it's original state. Could someone point me towards a download for the original ROM and a non-superuser OS image please? If at all possible? I've got revolutionary CWM ROM in at the moment.

I've got an HTC sensation XE. And I'm a complete newbie.

EDIT: btw I'm in the UK and my carrier is Orange, if that helps.

Ta,
Jason

 

[EarlyMon]

Pretty important to unroot properly, specific to your model, trouble is your phone is very new, so not a lot of info out there.

[Q] Unrooting HTC sensation XE - xda-developers

This thread looked the most helpful to me.

[Guide] to Installing S-off, Unlocking, ClockWork, Root, SuperCID & S-on - xda-developers

It really may depend on the rooting method.

Best I could do, hope this helps.

Welcome to the forums!

 

[85jas]

Thanks for your speedy reply EarlyMon! I figured I've probably done a wrong-un, like the plonker which I am I managed to delete my <i>original</i> backup from my SD card (during factory reset, d'oh!) so now I've got no non-super user backup! Argh!

Thankyou so much for those links, I will do some serious reading and head-scratching on this. I suppose the best way to learn is the deep end...

EDIT: I used the revolutionary tool to S-off, then installed the revolutionary CWM using the newly s-off'ed bootloader. Finally I used CWM to install the superuser'd binary (kernel? OS? patch?)

Once again many thanks,
Jason

 

[EarlyMon]

Then I think I lucked out and those may be the right links for you.

You know the deal, proceed with caution, and I can't make guarantees.

But let me know if you get it sorted out!

 

[85jas]

Hi! Just a quick update, getting there. Before wiping the CWM backups form my SD card (dozy fart!) I copied the non-rooted backup to my computer. When I attempted to copy it back to the blank SD card CWM kept giving me CRC errors... Fortunately I'd copied them under linux and retained the file attributes, copying them back with the "cp -pv" (preserve attributes / ownership + verbose) worked beautifully, now I'm back on non-rooted stock. Now I just need to replace the recovery software with the stock, S-on, then back to the carrier...fingers crossed!

Terminology question here: What is what?
- HBOOT is on firmware, cannot be written to (apart from the S-on S-off flags)?
- The recovery software is separate to the HBOOT and is on NVRAM somwhere? or is the HBOOT and recovery software all one and the same?
- The "ROM" which people refer to, what is it's postion in the grand scheme of things?
- The superuser-2.3.4...etc.zip file, where does this fit in?

I'm trying to get the hang of smartphone architecture and compare it to what I know about computers already

Earlymon, that 2nd link is great - was trying to find a guide to s-on everywhere!

Again, Ta
Jason

 

[EarlyMon]

HBOOT is your bootloader software and partition, the term is unique to HTC. The bootloader points to where to boot and includes a recovery capable of manual reset, and manual flash, for service personnel to recover a phone, and automated flash on boot, common to an over the air update.

CWM just extended the stock recovery's capabilities.

HBOOT can be replaced with engineering copies leaked out of HTC, and that was the S-OFF exploit for the HTC Evo 4G in mid-2010. Otherwise, there's little or no reason to replace HBOOT.

Android = Linux + Dalvik Virtual Machine (VM) + apps

All Android apps run in the VM, and get library services from the Linux host.

In the feature-phone days, the operating system lived in read only memory. Everything on your phone is nand-logic flash memory, but by popular convention, a full Android package as defined above is colloquially called a ROM, even though it's a software package and not a read only hardware device.

That last paragraph also clues where we get the expressions flash and nandroid.

As you are Linux savvy, you know that best practices dictate running as a user and then using su or sudo when you need to be root. Essentially, Superuser.apk handles sudo access for the root apps you allowed it to manage. The Superuser zip file is a payload delivery package so you can flash Superuser into Android.

Hope that helps!

PS - If you're not familiar with sudo, but have used a gui in Linux to manage your system, and have worked through a dialog pop-up asking for the root password, that's essentially starting a sudo process. (su means set user, without a qualifier it sets user to superuser, aka root - sudo is pronounced Sue doo and always refers to the superuser)

 

[85jas]

Aah I see - was getting very confused about the "ROM" terminology - so NVRAM in fact I suppose it's a hark from the old days, aah brings me back to SNES hacking... So it's pretty much the same as my PC then, bar the VM. I suppose the 'bricking' effect happens when you crap up the bootloader, then the phone is a no-go... but once the new HBOOT is porperly installed (with a recovery mod) then you're pretty much brick protected. I'm very familiar with the PC-linux equivalent so the sudo access makes sense.

EarlyMon, thank you for your help sir! I have now managed to load back on the pyramid HBOOT which came with my phone (PG58IMG-RUU_Pyramid_HTC_Europe_1.50.401.1-HBOOT_1.18.0000) and, following the guide you posted, managed to S-ON using adb. POW! So, for the record, the guide (clicky) works for a sensation XE

Feel like a pro when I'm actually a newb

One more query - ADB looks incredibly powerful, was it also written using code leaked from HTC?

 

[EarlyMon]

Just a caution - custom recovery can't save everything. Flash a ROM intended for another phone and you can hit the point where recovery can't save you.

adb is the Android debug bridge. It's part of the Android SDK (software developers kit) and is available freely, as Android itself is open source.

Android Developers

Glad I could help, but more happy you're squared away.

 

[85jas]

That's good to know re. flashing the wrong ROM. My new phone is winging its way to me as we speak, so the happy, hacky times will start again so much to learn...

Many thanks for your help!