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Root [CDMA] HBOOT 1.5 Firmware Upgrade / RUU Flash / Unbricking Guide

jerofld

Fixing stuff is not easy
May 10, 2011
7,683
4,269
Over there <points>
Note that you should do a backup with Titanium Backup or MyBackupPro before starting. This will wipe your device of all settings, apps, etc. Basically, anything that isn't backed up onto your SD card! This is also for CDMA ONLY! If there is a need for a GSM version, PM me and I'll make a copy for you guys, as well. It is also overkill for bootloop issues (unless you were directed here by someone after trying other steps).

Step 1) How to install and configure the Android SDK

First, you need to download all of the following software:

Note that if you followed my rooting guide, this is the same setup, except the RUU. If you still have all of this installed, you just need to download the RUU, everything else (SDK, HTC Sync, ROM and TWRP) are exactly the same.

1) HTC Sync is needed to link your phone to your computer with the proper drivers. On XDA they link the HTC drivers by themselves. These are fine, but I can't find a direct link on the HTC site, so I'm linking HTC Sync.

2) Mini-SDK is a multiple platform set of fastboot and ADB so that you do not have to download the full Android SDK. It is easier to use, too. Just download sdk-tools.zip and extract it to your hard drive. I'll assume that most of you are using Windows, and for this tutorial, I'll extract Mini SDK to C:\sdk-tools. But Mini-SDK has Mac and Linux versions included in the zip file, so all are supported here.

Alternatively, if you want to install the full Android SDK, you can do so by following this guide.

3) A rooted ROM based off the current version (current version is 2.17.651.5). Optionally, you can use any ROM based off of the current version. Here is the stock ROM: Shooter_S_Sprint_WWE_2.17.651.5_odex.zip - Mirror (use if first link does not work). Place this on your SD card. I recommend making a new folder called /ROMs and putting it in there.

4) TeamWin Recovery Project (TWRP) version 1.1.1 - Get the IMG version and rename to 'recovery.img', put it in your C:\SDK-tools folder.

5) The current RUU, which is here.

Step 2) Lock the bootloader

Note: If you came from Step 4 from my rooting guide because you were having trouble with flashing the unlock token, you do not have to do this step. You can proceed to Step 3 of this guide. If your bootloader is UNLOCKED (as in, it says UNLOCKED at the top) then you have to do this step.

1) Plug your phone into your computer with the data cable.

2) Power the phone down. Reboot phone into hboot mode by holding volume down and then press power. Keep volume down held until you boot into hboot mode.

3) You should already be in fastboot if you connected your phone to your computer through your USB cable. If not, select the Fastboot option. Fastboot should be highlighted and be in bold red. Set the phone down and concentrate on your computer.

4) Now, click Start and either open Run, or click in the text box in your start menu. Then type 'cmd'. You get a command prompt. Now we need to go to the Mini SDK folder. If you installed it in the same directory I did, you can copy (or type):

Code:
cd C:\sdk-tools

Now go back into your command prompt and right click on it. Click paste and then push enter. You should now be in the mini SDK directory. If you have Windows 7, you can go to your mini SDK folder and hold shift and right click on the folder and click "Open command window here" as an alternative means than copying and pasting (thanks to mteezey for the tip). To check that you are in the right folder, you can type 'fastboot' then enter, you should get this:

Code:
C:\sdk-tools>fastboot
usage: fastboot [ <option> ] <command>
commands:
update <filename> reflash device from update.zip
flashall flash boot + recovery + system
flash <partition> [ <filename> ] write a file to a flash partition
erase <partition> erase a flash partition
getvar <variable> display a bootloader variable
boot <kernel> [ <ramdisk> ] download and boot kernel
flash:raw boot <kernel> [ <ramdisk> ] create bootimage and flash it
devices list all connected devices
continue continue with autoboot
reboot reboot device normally
reboot-bootloader reboot device into bootloader
help show this help message
options:
-w erase userdata and cache
-s <serial number> specify device serial number
-p <product> specify product name
-c <cmdline> override kernel commandline
-i <vendor id> specify a custom USB vendor id
-b <base_addr> specify a custom kernel base address
-n <page size> specify the nand page size. default:2048

C:\sdk-tools>

If you see this, fastboot is running correctly. :)

5) Now in the command prompt you need to send the oem lock command to the phone to lock the bootloader.

Type this in the command prompt and hit enter:

Code:
fastboot oem lock

6) Pick up your phone and scroll down in hboot and select reboot bootloader. If sucessful, you should now see LOCKED at the top. :)

Step 3) Run the RUU

First off make sure your phone is at least 50% charged prior to starting this step, but full charged is preferred. ;)

1) Make sure the HTC drivers you downloaded earlier are installed and working. Do this by connecting your phone to your computer. If your computer detects it, your drivers are working.

2) Run the RUU.exe on your computer. It takes a few minutes to boot up, so don't be alarmed if it doesn't appear immediately.

3) Follow the prompts. It should ask you to ensure your phone is plugged into the computer and that ADB debugging is on. If you're still in FASTBOOT USB from Step 4 of my rooting guide, that's fine, the RUU.exe will detect that and be able to work from fastboot.

4) The RUU should recognise the phone and start running. Be patient, do not unplug the phone under any circumstances!!

Alternative method to flashing a RUU

If RUU.exe does not work for you, you can manually extract the RUU.zip from the RUU.exe.

1) Go to Start > Run > type "%temp%" and push enter, this is your temp directory. I recommend you clear out as much as you can.

2) Run RUU.exe with this folder open. You'll see a few new directories, in one of them, there is a file called rom.zip. Copy that file to your SD card and rename it to "PG86IMG.zip".

3) Reboot your phone into bootloader mode. This file should flash.

Thanks to EddyOS for his post here: RUU as .zip ... possible?

5) Reboot your phone (I believe it does it automatically) to make sure everything is loaded correctly. Go to Settings > About Phone and check to see that your firmware is updated. For 2.17.651.5, the values should say: Software version 2.17.651.5, baseband should be 1.06.00.1216. If you see those values, you are good!

Step 4) Re-unlock your bootloader

1) Now that we're back in Android, connect your computer to the phone again, open a CMD window and get back to C:\sdk-tools by typing:

Code:
cd c:\sdk-tools

2) Let's reboot back to the bootloader. Do this by typing:

Code:
adb reboot bootloader

And verify that it says FASTBOOT USB in red. If it says HBOOT in blue, push power to switch to FASTBOOT and ensure your USB is connected. Once it says FASTBOOT USB, proceed.

You are going to need your Unlock_code.bin from HTC dev. If you have it, proceed to step 3. If you deleted it, read the following:
1) Check your Email, it might still be there.

2) If not, you can get the token again. Type the following command in the command prompt:

Code:
fastboot oem get_identifier_token

A long text boxes will come up. Right mouse button click on the screen and click mark.

Then highlight the token from <<<< Identifier Token Start >>>> to <<<<< Identifier Token End >>>>>, like shown:

bootloaderimage.png

infoimage.png

Do not highlight info or bootloader or any extra spaces or text. Once you have done that, right click again and hit copy.

Now go to HTCdev - Unlock Bootloader and fill out the forms and paste the code into the device identifier token box and submit. You'll get an email (check your spam folder) with your unlock_code.bin. Once your receive it, transfer that file into your C:\sdk-tools\ folder.

3) Flash the Unlock_code.bin file.

Code:
fastboot flash unlocktoken Unlock_code.bin

It will prompt you that asks you if you want to unlock, you do.

4) The phone should reboot. You are unlocked again!

Step 5) Flashing the recovery, again

Now we need to get back into the bootloader. Here's how to do it, if you don't remember how to do it (and so you don't have to go back to a previous step):
We need to turn off one of HTC's defaulted on features. It is the very frustratingly named 'Fast Boot' in Settings > Power. No, this is not 'fastboot' in the Android SDK. This is a feature that is like Hibernate in Windows but for HTC devices. I really hate how HTC calls it this, but that's what they decided to call it.

Next, go to Settings > Applications > Development and check USB Debugging. You'll need this enabled for the adb reboot command. Plus a number of rooting apps require it. Give the computer a few minutes to recognize your phone, install drivers, and so on, if it needs to.

Connect your phone to your computer. From now until you're done flashing your ROM, you will not disconnect the USB cable. So don't even think about it!

Quick tip: Do NOT connect to a USB 3.0 port. For some reason, fastboot will not detect your device if you're connected through a USB 3.0 port. If you're unsure if you have a USB 3.0 port, don't worry about it unless your fastboot commands say that they're waiting for device when the device is hooked up.

Now, in the command prompt, type (or copy and paste):

Code:
adb reboot bootloader

You should now be in your bootloader. It should say "FASTBOOT USB" in red highlight. If so, this is good! If not, make sure HBOOT in the menu is highlighted and push the power button. This will change it to FASTBOOT and it'll detect that it's connected to USB and change in a few seconds.

Now we will reflash TWRP 1.1.1. If you don't have the TWRP recovery as 'recovery.img' in your C:\SDK-Tools folder, you're going to have to download it again (make sure to get the IMG file and not the ZIP!) and rename it to 'recovery.img' and make sure you copy it to C:\SDK-tools! Now you can type (or copy):

Code:
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img

This now flashes TWRP 1.1.1. A vertical green progress bar will be displayed on the right. If it returns a command like 'file not found'. Make sure you renamed the recovery-twrp-shooter-1.1.1.img to recovery.img. If it still doesn't work, make sure the recovery file is in the C:\sdk-tools\ folder. Can you just change the command to read "fastboot flash recovery recovery-twrp-shooter-1.1.1.img"? Yes, but it makes the next command tougher to type every time you want to flash something. So renaming it once before you flash is easier than typing it every single time you want to access the recovery through fastboot.

Now type (or copy/paste):

Code:
fastboot boot recovery.img

Step 6) Flashing the ROM

To flash a ROM/Kernel, do the following:

1) Go to Wipe Menu

A) Wipe Cache
B) Wipe Dalvik Cache
OPTIONAL) Wipe Everything (Data Factory Reset) - This is useful if you have problems with flashing certain ROMS. Some ROMs require this before flashing. For the stock ROM, this isn't necessary. But you already wiped the device twice already, another time won't hurt.

2) Go back and now go to Install Zip.

A) Choose Zip
B) Go to the folder ROMs/
C) Select the ROM you want to flash (Shooter_S_Sprint_WWE_2.17.651.5_odex.zip for example)
D) If you're flashing another kernel, you would find your kernel and by selecting Choose Zip and finding the kernel file. The kernel must be selected AFTER the ROM is selected, or else the kernel built into the ROM will overwrite the kernel you want to flash.
E) Check 'Reboot After Successful Flash' - this is just a nice feature of TWRP that makes it so you don't have to pay attention to the flashing process.
F) Flash Zips Now

3) Sit back and relax. The flash is going to take 3 or so minutes. Then it'll reboot. The reboot will take 5 minutes or so and will always take 5 minutes or so every time you clear out the cache and dalvik cache. It is normal. So let it do it's thing. If 10 minutes goes by, check for bootlooping. Every boot animation has a start animation and then a repeat animation. If you see the start animation a second time in a boot cycle, you may have a bootloop problem. If so, pull out the battery (or push vol up + down + power) then push vol down + power to get into the bootloader. Your USB cable should be connected still, so make sure it shows 'FASTBOOT USB' again. If so, type 'fastboot boot recovery.img' in the command prompt to go back into recovery. Wipe everything again (data, dalvik and cache) and try a reflash.

If successful, congradulations! You updated your firmware, kernel and ROM!

(Optional) Installing 4EXT - Highly Recommended!

There is a recovery that makes it really easy for HBOOT 1.5 people to flash ROMs and kernels. It's called 4EXT Touch Recovery. If you're familiar with ROM Manager, you'll love this app/recovery. You can control every aspect of your phone's recovery from an app. Best of all, even with S-ON Unlocked, you can flash kernels without using fastboot. Just go to their website to get the free version that comes with a 3 day trial of the full version, or get the full version. After you're done with the trial, I'm sure most of you will want the full version. It makes everything easy. I use it, too, and I'm on HBOOT 1.4 :p

To install, download/install the app (free or paid) and open it. Give it SuperUser permissions and then click through all the pop up dialogs. Push the install button at the top. Indicate if you are S-ON or not (if you had to unlock with HTC, then you click yes). And it installs. And after 5 minutes of running the free version, your trial for the full version starts. So come back in 5 minutes and reload the app (by pushing the back button until you get back to the desktop and relaunch). If you're on the paid version, you can just start using the app immediately.

Now go to recovery and you can do everything you would normally do in recovery, but it's fully automated once you click start after selecting all your options. Including making backups, wiping caches, and installing ROMs. Remember to support the developers if it makes things a lot easier for you!

Thanks to Granite1 for laying the groundwork for unrooting instructions (http://androidforums.com/evo-3d-all-things-root/539403-3vo-unroot-guide.html) and everyone else that I cited in my rooting guide for some of the commands. :)
 
Hohoho, this is great..!!

Downloading the RUU now, and once my kid is asleep I'm gonna play around with it.. :D

One question, when running the RUU file, is it like installing a new software on your computer? I mean, is it just pressing yes / next button on the prompt window?

Thanks!

If you run the RUU.EXE, then yes. It walks you through everything you need to do. Then you sit and wait as it performs the update. It can take about 10 minutes and the first boot will be slow. It's not unheard of that the first reboot after installing a RUU can take another 10 minutes.
 
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So I'm trying to unbrick my Evo 3D and don't seem to be getting it done, even with the method outlined in this thread.

I was running the stock ROM rooted. A few days ago I swapped batteries and when I tried to restart the phone, it got caught in a boot loop. I had gotten a couple boot loops in the past, but restoring a Nandroid backup resolved the issue. This time, even restoring my Nandroid backup still left me in a boot loop. I tried flashing Scott's CleanROM and still was left in a boot loop.

I just ran through this entire method. The only hiccup I had in going through the process was that I was unable to install TWRP 1.1.1. When I tried, the command prompt gave me "OK" messages, but trying to launch TWRP recovery sent me into a boot loop. So I tried installing TWRP 1.0.3 and that was successful. I then tried flashing the current stock ROM (linked in step 1), which seemed to be successful, but upon restart I once again got the boot loop.

Not sure what other info I should include here or if anyone has any ideas of what I could try from here, but any help would be much appreciated.
 
Upvote 0
i used this to bring my phone out of bootloop...but now its as if my phone is not rooted anymore. i was not able to install the ROM and i can't use root apps like titanium backup or anything. whats did i do wrong?

This guide reinstalls everything to be stock. Including recovery and the ROM. Did you follow the steps that re-unlocked your phone, flashed the recovery, and flashed the new stock ROM?
 
Upvote 0
So I'm trying to unbrick my Evo 3D and don't seem to be getting it done, even with the method outlined in this thread.

I was running the stock ROM rooted. A few days ago I swapped batteries and when I tried to restart the phone, it got caught in a boot loop. I had gotten a couple boot loops in the past, but restoring a Nandroid backup resolved the issue. This time, even restoring my Nandroid backup still left me in a boot loop. I tried flashing Scott's CleanROM and still was left in a boot loop.

I just ran through this entire method. The only hiccup I had in going through the process was that I was unable to install TWRP 1.1.1. When I tried, the command prompt gave me "OK" messages, but trying to launch TWRP recovery sent me into a boot loop. So I tried installing TWRP 1.0.3 and that was successful. I then tried flashing the current stock ROM (linked in step 1), which seemed to be successful, but upon restart I once again got the boot loop.

Not sure what other info I should include here or if anyone has any ideas of what I could try from here, but any help would be much appreciated.

Are you wiping the cache, dalvik cache, and doing a factory reset / data wipe before flashing that stock rooted ROM? And you're leaving the USB cable plugged in when running recovery, correct? I would also suggest you pull out the battery and leave it sit for a few minutes to make sure it's not something in RAM causing it.

Also, give Clockwork Recovery a try: http://download.clockworkmod.com/recoveries/recovery-clockwork-4.0.1.5-shooter.img
 
Upvote 0
Are you wiping the cache, dalvik cache, and doing a factory reset / data wipe before flashing that stock rooted ROM? And you're leaving the USB cable plugged in when running recovery, correct? I would also suggest you pull out the battery and leave it sit for a few minutes to make sure it's not something in RAM causing it.

Also, give Clockwork Recovery a try: http://download.clockworkmod.com/recoveries/recovery-clockwork-4.0.1.5-shooter.img

Thanks for the reply and sorry for the delayed response. I did wipe all cache/data do factory resets when trying to reflash, left the USB cable in, and the battery was pulled and left out for quite some time several times.

I will give installing Clockwork a try as soon as I have some time and will let you all know if that saves the day!
 
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none of this seems to work. got error code 155. for the ruu. tried 3 other ways. my hboot is 1.58.. software is 2.89. using htc dev didnt work as it wont keep me logged in. any help would be great been readin for days. just not gettin to the right place. not my 1st phone moddin by far just seem ta b havin trouble with this
 
Upvote 0
:thinking:Question, where do I find the lastest RUU ?my phone says HBOOT 1.58.0000
May 17th 2012 and when it checks the PG86IMG.ZIP after it runs it says Main version is older! Update fail! press <power> to reboot and then goes right back into bootloop........HELP !!!!



Note that you should do a backup with Titanium Backup or MyBackupPro before starting. This will wipe your device of all settings, apps, etc. Basically, anything that isn't backed up onto your SD card! This is also for CDMA ONLY! If there is a need for a GSM version, PM me and I'll make a copy for you guys, as well. It is also overkill for bootloop issues (unless you were directed here by someone after trying other steps).

Step 1) How to install and configure the Android SDK

First, you need to download all of the following software:

Note that if you followed my rooting guide, this is the same setup, except the RUU. If you still have all of this installed, you just need to download the RUU, everything else (SDK, HTC Sync, ROM and TWRP) are exactly the same.

1) HTC Sync is needed to link your phone to your computer with the proper drivers. On XDA they link the HTC drivers by themselves. These are fine, but I can't find a direct link on the HTC site, so I'm linking HTC Sync.

2) Mini-SDK is a multiple platform set of fastboot and ADB so that you do not have to download the full Android SDK. It is easier to use, too. Just download sdk-tools.zip and extract it to your hard drive. I'll assume that most of you are using Windows, and for this tutorial, I'll extract Mini SDK to C:\sdk-tools. But Mini-SDK has Mac and Linux versions included in the zip file, so all are supported here.

Alternatively, if you want to install the full Android SDK, you can do so by following this guide.

3) A rooted ROM based off the current version (current version is 2.17.651.5). Optionally, you can use any ROM based off of the current version. Here is the stock ROM: Shooter_S_Sprint_WWE_2.17.651.5_odex.zip - Mirror (use if first link does not work). Place this on your SD card. I recommend making a new folder called /ROMs and putting it in there.

4) TeamWin Recovery Project (TWRP) version 1.1.1 - Get the IMG version and rename to 'recovery.img', put it in your C:\SDK-tools folder.

5) The current RUU, which is here.

Step 2) Lock the bootloader

Note: If you came from Step 4 from my rooting guide because you were having trouble with flashing the unlock token, you do not have to do this step. You can proceed to Step 3 of this guide. If your bootloader is UNLOCKED (as in, it says UNLOCKED at the top) then you have to do this step.

1) Plug your phone into your computer with the data cable.

2) Power the phone down. Reboot phone into hboot mode by holding volume down and then press power. Keep volume down held until you boot into hboot mode.

3) You should already be in fastboot if you connected your phone to your computer through your USB cable. If not, select the Fastboot option. Fastboot should be highlighted and be in bold red. Set the phone down and concentrate on your computer.

4) Now, click Start and either open Run, or click in the text box in your start menu. Then type 'cmd'. You get a command prompt. Now we need to go to the Mini SDK folder. If you installed it in the same directory I did, you can copy (or type):

Code:
cd C:\sdk-tools
Now go back into your command prompt and right click on it. Click paste and then push enter. You should now be in the mini SDK directory. If you have Windows 7, you can go to your mini SDK folder and hold shift and right click on the folder and click "Open command window here" as an alternative means than copying and pasting (thanks to mteezey for the tip). To check that you are in the right folder, you can type 'fastboot' then enter, you should get this:

Code:
C:\sdk-tools>fastboot
usage: fastboot [ <option> ] <command>
commands:
update <filename> reflash device from update.zip
flashall flash boot + recovery + system
flash <partition> [ <filename> ] write a file to a flash partition
erase <partition> erase a flash partition
getvar <variable> display a bootloader variable
boot <kernel> [ <ramdisk> ] download and boot kernel
flash:raw boot <kernel> [ <ramdisk> ] create bootimage and flash it
devices list all connected devices
continue continue with autoboot
reboot reboot device normally
reboot-bootloader reboot device into bootloader
help show this help message
options:
-w erase userdata and cache
-s <serial number> specify device serial number
-p <product> specify product name
-c <cmdline> override kernel commandline
-i <vendor id> specify a custom USB vendor id
-b <base_addr> specify a custom kernel base address
-n <page size> specify the nand page size. default:2048

C:\sdk-tools>
If you see this, fastboot is running correctly. :)

5) Now in the command prompt you need to send the oem lock command to the phone to lock the bootloader.

Type this in the command prompt and hit enter:

Code:
fastboot oem lock
6) Pick up your phone and scroll down in hboot and select reboot bootloader. If sucessful, you should now see LOCKED at the top. :)

Step 3) Run the RUU

First off make sure your phone is at least 50% charged prior to starting this step, but full charged is preferred. ;)

1) Make sure the HTC drivers you downloaded earlier are installed and working. Do this by connecting your phone to your computer. If your computer detects it, your drivers are working.

2) Run the RUU.exe on your computer. It takes a few minutes to boot up, so don't be alarmed if it doesn't appear immediately.

3) Follow the prompts. It should ask you to ensure your phone is plugged into the computer and that ADB debugging is on. If you're still in FASTBOOT USB from Step 4 of my rooting guide, that's fine, the RUU.exe will detect that and be able to work from fastboot.

4) The RUU should recognise the phone and start running. Be patient, do not unplug the phone under any circumstances!!

Alternative method to flashing a RUU

If RUU.exe does not work for you, you can manually extract the RUU.zip from the RUU.exe.

1) Go to Start > Run > type "%temp%" and push enter, this is your temp directory. I recommend you clear out as much as you can.

2) Run RUU.exe with this folder open. You'll see a few new directories, in one of them, there is a file called rom.zip. Copy that file to your SD card and rename it to "PG86IMG.zip".

3) Reboot your phone into bootloader mode. This file should flash.

Thanks to EddyOS for his post here: RUU as .zip ... possible?

5) Reboot your phone (I believe it does it automatically) to make sure everything is loaded correctly. Go to Settings > About Phone and check to see that your firmware is updated. For 2.17.651.5, the values should say: Software version 2.17.651.5, baseband should be 1.06.00.1216. If you see those values, you are good!

Step 4) Re-unlock your bootloader

1) Now that we're back in Android, connect your computer to the phone again, open a CMD window and get back to C:\sdk-tools by typing:

Code:
cd c:\sdk-tools
2) Let's reboot back to the bootloader. Do this by typing:

Code:
adb reboot bootloader
And verify that it says FASTBOOT USB in red. If it says HBOOT in blue, push power to switch to FASTBOOT and ensure your USB is connected. Once it says FASTBOOT USB, proceed.

You are going to need your Unlock_code.bin from HTC dev. If you have it, proceed to step 3. If you deleted it, read the following:
1) Check your Email, it might still be there.

2) If not, you can get the token again. Type the following command in the command prompt:

Code:
fastboot oem get_identifier_token
A long text boxes will come up. Right mouse button click on the screen and click mark.

Then highlight the token from <<<< Identifier Token Start >>>> to <<<<< Identifier Token End >>>>>, like shown:

bootloaderimage.png

infoimage.png

Do not highlight info or bootloader or any extra spaces or text. Once you have done that, right click again and hit copy.

Now go to HTCdev - Unlock Bootloader and fill out the forms and paste the code into the device identifier token box and submit. You'll get an email (check your spam folder) with your unlock_code.bin. Once your receive it, transfer that file into your C:\sdk-tools\ folder.

3) Flash the Unlock_code.bin file.

Code:
fastboot flash unlocktoken Unlock_code.bin
It will prompt you that asks you if you want to unlock, you do.

4) The phone should reboot. You are unlocked again!

Step 5) Flashing the recovery, again

Now we need to get back into the bootloader. Here's how to do it, if you don't remember how to do it (and so you don't have to go back to a previous step):
We need to turn off one of HTC's defaulted on features. It is the very frustratingly named 'Fast Boot' in Settings > Power. No, this is not 'fastboot' in the Android SDK. This is a feature that is like Hibernate in Windows but for HTC devices. I really hate how HTC calls it this, but that's what they decided to call it.

Next, go to Settings > Applications > Development and check USB Debugging. You'll need this enabled for the adb reboot command. Plus a number of rooting apps require it. Give the computer a few minutes to recognize your phone, install drivers, and so on, if it needs to.

Connect your phone to your computer. From now until you're done flashing your ROM, you will not disconnect the USB cable. So don't even think about it!

Quick tip: Do NOT connect to a USB 3.0 port. For some reason, fastboot will not detect your device if you're connected through a USB 3.0 port. If you're unsure if you have a USB 3.0 port, don't worry about it unless your fastboot commands say that they're waiting for device when the device is hooked up.

Now, in the command prompt, type (or copy and paste):

Code:
adb reboot bootloader

You should now be in your bootloader. It should say "FASTBOOT USB" in red highlight. If so, this is good! If not, make sure HBOOT in the menu is highlighted and push the power button. This will change it to FASTBOOT and it'll detect that it's connected to USB and change in a few seconds.

Now we will reflash TWRP 1.1.1. If you don't have the TWRP recovery as 'recovery.img' in your C:\SDK-Tools folder, you're going to have to download it again (make sure to get the IMG file and not the ZIP!) and rename it to 'recovery.img' and make sure you copy it to C:\SDK-tools! Now you can type (or copy):

Code:
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
This now flashes TWRP 1.1.1. A vertical green progress bar will be displayed on the right. If it returns a command like 'file not found'. Make sure you renamed the recovery-twrp-shooter-1.1.1.img to recovery.img. If it still doesn't work, make sure the recovery file is in the C:\sdk-tools\ folder. Can you just change the command to read "fastboot flash recovery recovery-twrp-shooter-1.1.1.img"? Yes, but it makes the next command tougher to type every time you want to flash something. So renaming it once before you flash is easier than typing it every single time you want to access the recovery through fastboot.

Now type (or copy/paste):

Code:
fastboot boot recovery.img

Step 6) Flashing the ROM

To flash a ROM/Kernel, do the following:

1) Go to Wipe Menu

A) Wipe Cache
B) Wipe Dalvik Cache
OPTIONAL) Wipe Everything (Data Factory Reset) - This is useful if you have problems with flashing certain ROMS. Some ROMs require this before flashing. For the stock ROM, this isn't necessary. But you already wiped the device twice already, another time won't hurt.

2) Go back and now go to Install Zip.

A) Choose Zip
B) Go to the folder ROMs/
C) Select the ROM you want to flash (Shooter_S_Sprint_WWE_2.17.651.5_odex.zip for example)
D) If you're flashing another kernel, you would find your kernel and by selecting Choose Zip and finding the kernel file. The kernel must be selected AFTER the ROM is selected, or else the kernel built into the ROM will overwrite the kernel you want to flash.
E) Check 'Reboot After Successful Flash' - this is just a nice feature of TWRP that makes it so you don't have to pay attention to the flashing process.
F) Flash Zips Now

3) Sit back and relax. The flash is going to take 3 or so minutes. Then it'll reboot. The reboot will take 5 minutes or so and will always take 5 minutes or so every time you clear out the cache and dalvik cache. It is normal. So let it do it's thing. If 10 minutes goes by, check for bootlooping. Every boot animation has a start animation and then a repeat animation. If you see the start animation a second time in a boot cycle, you may have a bootloop problem. If so, pull out the battery (or push vol up + down + power) then push vol down + power to get into the bootloader. Your USB cable should be connected still, so make sure it shows 'FASTBOOT USB' again. If so, type 'fastboot boot recovery.img' in the command prompt to go back into recovery. Wipe everything again (data, dalvik and cache) and try a reflash.

If successful, congradulations! You updated your firmware, kernel and ROM!

(Optional) Installing 4EXT - Highly Recommended!

There is a recovery that makes it really easy for HBOOT 1.5 people to flash ROMs and kernels. It's called 4EXT Touch Recovery. If you're familiar with ROM Manager, you'll love this app/recovery. You can control every aspect of your phone's recovery from an app. Best of all, even with S-ON Unlocked, you can flash kernels without using fastboot. Just go to their website to get the free version that comes with a 3 day trial of the full version, or get the full version. After you're done with the trial, I'm sure most of you will want the full version. It makes everything easy. I use it, too, and I'm on HBOOT 1.4 :p

To install, download/install the app (free or paid) and open it. Give it SuperUser permissions and then click through all the pop up dialogs. Push the install button at the top. Indicate if you are S-ON or not (if you had to unlock with HTC, then you click yes). And it installs. And after 5 minutes of running the free version, your trial for the full version starts. So come back in 5 minutes and reload the app (by pushing the back button until you get back to the desktop and relaunch). If you're on the paid version, you can just start using the app immediately.

Now go to recovery and you can do everything you would normally do in recovery, but it's fully automated once you click start after selecting all your options. Including making backups, wiping caches, and installing ROMs. Remember to support the developers if it makes things a lot easier for you!

Thanks to Granite1 for laying the groundwork for unrooting instructions (http://androidforums.com/evo-3d-all-things-root/539403-3vo-unroot-guide.html) and everyone else that I cited in my rooting guide for some of the commands. :)
 
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is there anyway you could post a gsm version, as my htc evo 3d(gsm, s-on) is stuck in a boot loop, i think i forgot to flash a recovery. is it bricked? or could you help me, because if i cant get it fixed then im probably getting a phone that can only produce two colours and recieve/make calls


There are a ton of GSM RUU's Here and Here! You just need the correct RUU for your device. You can see the carrier and country info in the title. If you need help finding the right one just let us know where you are located and what carrier your phone is on.

The rest of the steps are the same :)
 
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thanks so much! I wish there was a way to do this from my macbook but I guess I'll have to borrow my husbands laptop once he leaves for work in an hour. lol


You're welcome! :)

Haha yeah. That download takes awhile too. If your phone has s-off then you could use the PG86IMG version of the RUU instead of the exe. This means you could run it directly on the phone without the need for a computer.
 
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