HERO Rooting Questions (A Good One to Root!)

[Caught]

I have my handy dandy Sprint Hero with me, and I want to try rooting.

However, I have 5 key questions before I do so.

Key Question #1: What are some of the ROMs available? I would like one that is fast and retains the Sense UI.

Key Question #2: What is the easiest way to root?

Key Question #3: If I root and I (god forbid) brick my phone, will I be able perform a factory reset?

Key Question #4: Similar to Key Question #3, if I have my custom ROM loaded, will I be able to go back to my old ROM?

And last, but certainly not least, Key Question #5.

Will I be able to still receive Sprint updates if I root and have the original ROM loaded?

Thanks for listening.

 

[T 980]

I have my handy dandy Sprint Hero with me, and I want to try rooting.

However, I have 5 key questions before I do so.

Key Question #1: What are some of the ROMs available? I would like one that is fast and retains the Sense UI.

Key Question #2: What is the easiest way to root?

Key Question #3: If I root and I (god forbid) brick my phone, will I be able perform a factory reset?

Key Question #4: Similar to Key Question #3, if I have my custom ROM loaded, will I be able to go back to my old ROM?

And last, but certainly not least, Key Question #5.

Will I be able to still receive Sprint updates if I root and have the original ROM loaded?

Thanks for listening.

1. I think theres a thread that's stickied which will direct you to all available roms.
http://androidforums.com/all-things-root-sprint-hero/31394-latest-custom-roms.html

2. That depends on how much you've updated your phone. Check out the stickys
http://androidforums.com/all-things...2-1-rooted-do-not-install-6-4-ota-update.html

3. From what I've read, as long as you follow directions, this phone is actually pretty hard to brick. There's a few different ways to revert if you do come across a problem.

4. Before each time you load a rom, it's wise to create a nandroid back up which basically makes an image of your phone, like creating a ghost image. If something goes wrong, all you have to do is reload your image and BAM, it's back like nothing happened.

5. From what I've read (and it's really irritating) but Sprint and HTC stopped updating the Hero so any updates you'll get will be placed manually by you.

Now, this is coming from someone who had the exact same questions as you and was somewhat terrified by doing anything modding related to my new phone but once you read the instructions and actually go through with it, it's really nice. As for the roms, you'll have to play around with them and see which one fits you best. I'm sorry I didn't provide any links for ya but basically everything useful is stickied at the top of the forum, lol.

**Edit** There's some links for ya. Good luck with it, you won't regret it.

 

[Caught]

Thanks.


Rooted, and loving it.

 

[robinscrest]

ok I am new to the hero, what is rooting and why would you want to do this?

 

[Sixxx]

Rooting is basically gaining administrative access to your phone "SuperUser" as it were. It allows you to install custom roms and apps that are only usable when rooted such as picme which allows you to take screenshots of your phone.

The biggest reason most people do it is because of the different lag issues associated with their Hero's. To me it just made it feel more like "my phone" by doing it.

Most of the custom ROMs available are alot quicker and run alot smoother than the stock sprint ROM.

 

[robinscrest]

Rooting is basically gaining administrative access to your phone "SuperUser" as it were. It allows you to install custom roms and apps that are only usable when rooted such as picme which allows you to take screenshots of your phone.

The biggest reason most people do it is because of the different lag issues associated with their Hero's. To me it just made it feel more like "my phone" by doing it.

Most of the custom ROMs available are alot quicker and run alot smoother than the stock sprint ROM.

Thanks for the info!!
What is the best way to do this? And easiest way to do? Will it get rid of all the apps already downloaded?

 

[fallonjp]

How to root will depend on which Sprint Update you are running. If you have the patched 2.1 update ending in .6 there are a few additional steps you will have to take to get back to the 2.1 update ending in .5 before you can root. If you have to do this you will have to wipe your phone and will lose all of your apps.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=694572&page=67

My suggestion would be to download AppBrain, go to Manage my Downloads and then click Sync with AppBrain. Once you root (and flash a ROM) you can dowload AppBrain and re-install all your apps. You will lose all your settings, and you will have to approve each new download but AppBrain will at least remember all of them for you.

Once you root be sure to make a nandroid backup, and you can also then use Titanium Backup to backup all your apps and their settings.

If you are still running 1.5 there are a couple different ways you can do it, you'll need to check out XDA Dev's forums as I was on the 2.1 update ending in .6.

Good luck, and be sure to read, read, and then read some more.

I finally took the plunge a few days ago and am not regretting it. I'm tech savvy, but haven't the slightest clue what most of the things I am reading about rooting mean, but if you can follow instructions there are some pretty good and detailed ones out there.

 

[robinscrest]

How to root will depend on which Sprint Update you are running. If you have the patched 2.1 update ending in .6 there are a few additional steps you will have to take to get back to the 2.1 update ending in .5 before you can root. If you have to do this you will have to wipe your phone and will lose all of your apps.
[GUIDE] How to Root Sprint 2.1 Release for CDMA Hero - Page 67 - xda-developers

My suggestion would be to download AppBrain, go to Manage my Downloads and then click Sync with AppBrain. Once you root (and flash a ROM) you can dowload AppBrain and re-install all your apps. You will lose all your settings, and you will have to approve each new download but AppBrain will at least remember all of them for you.

Once you root be sure to make a nandroid backup, and you can also then use Titanium Backup to backup all your apps and their settings.

If you are still running 1.5 there are a couple different ways you can do it, you'll need to check out XDA Dev's forums as I was on the 2.1 update ending in .6.

Good luck, and be sure to read, read, and then read some more.

I finally took the plunge a few days ago and am not regretting it. I'm tech savvy, but haven't the slightest clue what most of the things I am reading about rooting mean, but if you can follow instructions there are some pretty good and detailed ones out there.

I am not that tech savvy either. I am trying to determine which Sprint update I am running and am not sure where to look. Right after I got the phone, Sprint updated it for me. I have found the firmware and it says my version is 2.1-update 1. But that is the only thing I have seen. Is there somewhere else to look?

 

[fallonjp]

Go to menu - settings - about phone - and you should see one of these two #'s (2.27.651.5, or 2.27.651.6) under build #. My guess is if Sprint did it for you it's on .6.

If so follow the instructions in the first and second post of this thread to downgrade to .5.
[GUIDE] How to Root Sprint 2.1 Release for CDMA Hero - xda-developers

You'll need to save the file to your desktop, hook up your phone and then follow the instructions. Doing this will wipe everything off of your phone, so save whatever you can. I unmounted and removed my sd card before running this, but I've heard you may not need to.

Once on .5 you can continue with the root instructions. The hardest part I found was making sure I had the SDK properly installed on my computer.

 

[T 980]

One thing I learned about this just take your time. Read over everything at least twice and make sure you have the right step by step directions. When I rooted my phone, I followed the steps for 1.5 when in reality I should have been following the steps for 2.1. Lucky for us it's semi hard to brick this phone as there are a couple of different ways to bring it back to life.

 

[fallonjp]

Here's an alternative method. It appears to be verified for the Sprint Hero. Seems a heck of a lot easier than the method I used.

Universal 1-Click root - xda-developers

 

[Sixxx]

I dunno, I did the 2.1 root and followed it step by step, to me it was really easy, and I got it perfect the first time.

 

[ginglish]

Lucky for us it's semi hard to brick this phone as there are a couple of different ways to bring it back to life.

For us newbies could you point to those methods? Sure would make me more comfortable.

 

[330D]

For us newbies could you point to those methods? Sure would make me more comfortable.

The only way to truly brick it seems to be flashing a non-cdma radio. Most anything else you do flash to your phone can be reversed, easily. XDA developers has quite a few threads about it... If you look around over there, you can find em.