Root Failed to flash mod - now completely lost

[teleute]

My apologies - this is the first time I've tried to do this and I really made a mess, apparently.

I'm trying to flash Android Revolution. Months ago, I ran unrevoked on my phone and so had root access, etc...so I thought I was fine to proceed. I booted into recovery and ran the .zip file to update the radio, then the script and the mod .zips. Rebooted, and it was stuck on the boot screen. Tried to wipe the settings, etc... and no luck.

However, when I went to boot into recovery again, I noticed the radio version was still showing as the old one. Tried the radio .zip again, and it looks like it works, but still seeing the old version. Weirdest of all, it's showing S-ON on the first screen, not S-OFF (like I'd swear it did before, after I originally ran unrevoked).

So I'm lost - where do I go from here? I assume that the radio update isn't working (despite the lack of error message) since it's set to S-ON, and therefore the ROM isn't working because it's not compatible with the old version. So how do I set S-OFF without the phone being able to boot? Unrevoked just doesn't see it...

Thank you!

 

[Hadron]

Can you tell us about your phone. In particular, what else does it say on the HBOOT screen as well as S-On. Do not attempt to flash the radio again until you have answered this question.

The main reason I ask is that unrevoked only does S-Off on CDMA phones, and you do not want to try flashing a radio on one of those. If you have a custom hboot then flashing radio through recovery can also be dangerous (though you should be S-Off if you have one of those). In fact unless you have an android 2.1 radio you don't actually need to update that for any ROM. I'm a bit cautious about a misbehaving radio flash, as they can destroy the phone, and I don't know why it isn't working at the moment (S-On should not stop you flashing a radio via recovery).

Most probably the problem you have with the ROM is your SD card. Have you put a 1GB or larger ext4 partition on it, as described in the root memory faq (from the All Things Root Guide sticky post)? If not that ROM won't work - it's too big to fit in the Desire's memory, so part of it is on an extra partition on the card. This is true of all Sense 2 or Sense 3 ROMs.

 

[teleute]

Unrevoked only does CDMA? Okay, I'm definitely confused. *sigh*

Here's what I get on the HBOOT screen:
BRAVO PVT3 SHIP S-ON
HBOOT-0.93.0001
MICROP-051d
TOUCH PANEL-SYNT0101
RADIO-5.11.05.27
Aug 10 2010, 17:52:10

I followed the guides listed by Android Revolution (and looked at a couple of others), but they didn't mention anything about the partition on the SD card. I'll review the guide you mention and try again, but I'm still concerned about the radio version as well since it's quite old.

Thanks!

 

[Hadron]

Can you give me a link to the ROM thread or site? Want to make sure I'm talking about the same ROM.

No, unrevoked roots GSM and CDMA, but only gives S-Off on CDMA. There should be no problem flashing a radio on that phone, but the one you have should be fine. Which radio were you trying to flash?

 

[Hadron]

The reason I asked those questions is that I'd assumed you'd meant one of the RevolutioN ROMs. However, I've discovered that there are ROMs called "Android Revolution" for the Desire HD, but that is a different device. And I met one tutorial site that just talked about updating the "Desire" until the last page of their tutorial, when they meant the DHD all along!

So I wanted to be sure that you weren't trying to flash the DHD ROM, because that certainly won't work.

 

[Hadron]

Your radio should be fine, but if you want to update visit the toolbox thread here. 5.17.05.23 is the most recent, and there is also an md5 code available for it. That's important, because you don't want to risk flashing a corrupt radio (you'll have a dead phone if you do!). If you aren't familiar with checking md5 codes, see this thread.

The toolbox thread links require a username and password. Searching the thread for the word "password" should show you these. The most recent password is right at the end of the thread at the moment, IIRC. These are there to stop people linking directly from their blogs and leaching Rastaman's bandwidth.

The thing to note with a radio update is that the flashing is reasonably quick, but that's also mainly copying the img to the /cache partition. The actual install occurs when you reboot the phone - you'll get a little installing icon on the screen, then the phone will reboot itself a couple of times. I'm telling you this so that you don't panic and assume the phone is in a bootloop. Do not interrupt this process - flash the zip, reboot from recovery (don't do anything else after the radio flash, just reboot) and just leave it until it finally boots into android.

 

[teleute]

Bah - yeah, I was following guides and links marked HTC Desire, but you're right - it does seem to be for the HD only. The terms are just often used interchangeably when they're not. *sigh*

Okay, so I've got the radio updated now, from your link (thanks for that)! Guess I'll just have to find a different ROM and start the whole thing over. There are just so many guides, and they're all over the place in terms of the steps and recommendations they give....it's a bit overwhelming to try to figure out the best way to go.

 

[Hadron]

Flashing a ROM isn't too bad. In most cases the steps are just as described in the rooting faq here: back up user apps and data, copy ROM zip to sd card, boot into recovery, take a backup from recovery ("nandroid"), wipe phone, install ROM from zip, reboot, restore user apps/data. Some have fancier installers, but even then the only such I've used was still the same procedure (it just asked me a few questions during the install).

The main gotcha is to read the ROM's requirements before installing. The first post of a ROM thread at XDA usually tell you whether there are any special requirements. An ext format partition of some minimum size is the commonest. Some ROMs are optimised for particular custom hboots, so it's worth checking that as well (e.g. if it says there are "stock" and "CM7" versions that's what it's referring to).

It seems a lot of stuff, and can be a bit overwhelming the first time you do it, but when you've done it a couple of times it actually becomes routine! The single most important part of those instructions was "take a backup from recovery". If you do that then if anything goes wrong, or you forget a step, you can rewind and try again.

 

[teleute]

Sadly, the guide I read to do this didn't have the nandroid backup step, so I don't really have anything to revert to. Ah well - just have to keep forging ahead until this works. I'm working off of your guide now, so hopefully I can keep it all straight this time. Just doing the repartitioning in GParted now, and trying to decide what ROM to use.

ETA: Went with MildWild for now, and it seems to be up and running. Haven't restored any of my apps or anything yet, but at least I have a working phone again. Thanks!

 

[Hadron]

There's a sticky thread here about what ROMs (or ROM types) people use. May give you some impressions.

Really depends what you like. Some go for ROMs based on the latest HTC software that can be ported to the Desire. Others (like me) go for something stripped-down and minimalist.

 

[teleute]

There's a sticky thread here about what ROMs (or ROM types) people use. May give you some impressions.

Really depends what you like. Some go for ROMs based on the latest HTC software that can be ported to the Desire. Others (like me) go for something stripped-down and minimalist.

Yeah, I read through a bunch and basically just got the impression that everyone likes something different. Honestly, the only thing I really care about is being able to use the SD card for apps (better than Froyo's minimal implementation), so I can stop juggling and running out of internal space. The phone was nearly unable. Preferences really come second to it being able to function. I'll try MildWild out for a while, anyway...at least it installed smoothly, which is a start.

 

[dan55]

hi,
yeah MW is one of my faves - currently one 4.1.3 ox version which is smoooth
also like dGB - very small and smooth too
latest one ive got is zm oxygen - also very nice and smooth

these are all good imo

btw: ive not got apps to sd setup - just using cm7r2 hboot - and find i have 100mb+ free all the time - depending on which rom ive got on at the time

good luck

cheers
dan