Root Flashing!

[dogbertus]

Finally mustered up the courage to try flashing a new ROM to my HTC Inspire. I'm trying out Cyanogenmod. Hope it works -- we're still on the loading screen, so I guess I'll have to see. I backed everything up beforehand -- hopefully didn't forget anything.

I realize this post goes absolutely nowhere but I'm excited/nervous, so whatever.

 

[John Redcorn]

Have fun, cyanogenmod is amazing and is going to be a giant factor in choosing my next phone come upgrade time in Oct.

I'm not even going to daily-use any ICS rom until CM9, CM is THAT GOOD.

It also runs perfect on inspire, only a tiny little google navigation bug.

 

[dogbertus]

Everything seems to be running smoothly. Only thing is -- anyone know where Android Market went?

I'm sure this is a neophyte question, but it doesn't seem to be in the normal place with the rest of the apps.

 

[Yeahha]

You have to flash gapps on CM7

 

[dogbertus]

Right, I'll do some work to see if I can figure out how to flash Gapps.

Going back to the stock Rom for the moment because I forgot to back up my contacts, like a complete doofus. Should have prepared more. Loving what I saw of CM7, though, so I'll probably go back to it once I figure out the Gapps thing and get my contacts straight.

 

[Yeahha]

Contacts should be synced with google once you get gapps flashed. It is just like flashing a rom but without wiping

 

[dogbertus]

Well, I just reverted to Sense and copied my contacts as a .vcf file (whatever that is) to my SDcard, so I presume that will work. I backed them up with google, too.

 

[dogbertus]

I have to say, I'm astonished at how fast you can go back and forth between Roms. My phone restored from backup in about five minutes flat, and the original time to flash CM7 was like ten minutes, including backup.

Any thoughts on battery life with CM7? I've heard reports of as much as 30 hours, and I want to get in on that.

 

[Yeahha]

Moved to the Inspire All Things Root forum

Yeah, nandroid backups can be very useful when needed.

I think someone here should be able to link gapps for you

 

[T.M.M.L]

Greetings dogbertus,

I'm a light to medium user, and I've gotten a day + put of it. I will have to admit that I'm not using the default kernel that ships with CM7.

I'm also running it on a Droid Incredible 2. Non over clocked.

 

[dogbertus]

Okay, done a bit more digging.

I actually didn't realize I could flash CM7 from the ROM manager directly -- I downloaded the file itself and flashed it that way. Stupid, stupid. Glad to see Gapps on there, though. This should be easy.

I have Titanium backup doing its thing and then it's back to CM7!

 

[dogbertus]

Phooey. Now ROM manager is giving me problems. Says I need to upgrade -- which I can't, because I haven't got App Market yet.

Any thoughts, let me know -- otherwise I'll just keep wrestling with it.

 

[andrews317]

Hello guy. I might need some help here. I rooted a few months ago but never flashed. Now I want to flash a ROM to try it out and I was reading some stuff in XDA Developers but I think I still don't get some things completely.

1. I did the One-Click root, which says includes a Radio S-OFF. On the ROMS instructions they always say I need Radio S-OFF and ENG S-OFF. What are them and what's the difference?
2. What is ClockworkMod Recovery? I read it is a requirement, so I downloaded and I read the instruccions of how to install it, but I dont want to try it before I know what's that for.
3. I want to install Android Revolution ROM ([ROM] Android Revolution HD

 

[danaj]

download the latest gapps file, and put it on your sd card. Then flash cm7 like you did the first time, then instead of restarting your phone choose to flash gapps just like you did the rom. choose zip from sd card....ect...good luck then reboot, you are in business,

 

[dogbertus]

Good news! Got everything up and running -- all the Google stuff, market, etc. I flashed Gapps as advised and after I logged into my google account everything was ready to go. I demolished my battery doing all this, so I have to wait til I get home to really play with CM7, but the phone does seem to be running in a stable manner.

Thanks to everyone for their help!

 

[dogbertus]

Andrews, I've only just done this so I can't claim to be an expert, but I'll take a shot at some of your questions if you like. I'm going to give you my best answer, so I stand (preemptively) corrected if someone more knowledgeable wants to weigh in on the subject.

1: I'm honestly not sure. I used Ace Hack Kit to root, and that had everything set up for me already.

2: It basically just allows you to boot to a screen that gives you various options on flashing roms, etc. It seems to do more or less the same thing that Rom Manager does, but works if you can't get to Rom Manager. It will not damage or do anything weird to your phone, and it is required to complete the process of flashing a new Rom.

3: I don't know if somehow Android Revolution does this. I suspect it doesn't. If I were you, I would install Titanium Backup (free from the market) and back up all of your apps with that. It's a simple process and only takes a few minutes. All of my apps + app data are up and running flawlessly after flashing my new Rom.

4: It should keep the contacts in your Google account but not the ones on your phone, unless they are stored in your SD card. Backing up your contacts to your SD card is a simple and quick process and can be done right from the "People" app. When I did it, I backed up my contacts to Google AND to my SD card, just in case.

And last but not least, before you flash the new Rom, make sure you back up your current one through Rom manager. I had to flash back and then forward twice before I had everything figured out with mine, and, if you're like me, you always want to keep the ability to flash back to the phone's original state just in case something goes wrong with your new Rom.

 

[T.M.M.L]

Greetings andrews,

I applaud your "Look before your leap" attitude. With 1-click solutions and such, people tend to root and rummage around in their devices, without understanding whats going on and just how easily things can get mucked up.

I'm no expert on the matter, so anyone who see any incorrect info, feel free to call me out on it. that beings said..

1. I think the Eng-s off deals with your boot loader. This allows you phone to run unsigned firmwares. The official firmwares from manufacturers come signed.

1b. I think the Radio-s off allows you to install other roms.

2. Clockwork recovery is an enhanced version of the default phone recovery system. Clockwork allows you to make a total backup copy of your device. The backup will return you device to the exact status that it was when you made the copy. You will also gain access to other phone operations that you normally wouldn't have.

3. I'm not familiar with this Rom, but I think that what you might be reading only pertains to installing an updated version of this Rom on top of itself. When you install a new Rom for the first time, you will usually have to do a total wipe of your phone. Any apps or information that your have will be erased.

4. I have all my contacts synced to Google. In case of a factory reset, or if I change my Rom, my contacts are automatically restored when I reconnect to my Google account. You can also make a physical copy on you SD card. Inside of your contacts menu, there should be an option to export your contacts. They will be save to your memory card.

Here is a link to the sub forums fro your phone.

HTC Inspire 4G - Android Forums

Hope this helps

 

[sharksfan7]

Hello guy. I might need some help here. I rooted a few months ago but never flashed. Now I want to flash a ROM to try it out and I was reading some stuff in XDA Developers but I think I still don't get some things completely.
...

1. As far as I understand it, ENG-Off is needed to install a radio using a command prompt and adb on your desktop. It also opens you up to make other modifications that, if you don't know exactly what you're doing, can really mess up your phone (permabrick). There is an easier and safer way to flash a radio that does not require ENG-Off. Read this thread and understand it before attempting to flash a radio.

[RADIO][ADV]Inspire Radio how to without ENG S-OFF

You don't NEED to flash the recommended radio when using a custom ROM. However you may get better performance because the RIL for the recommended radio is cooked into the ROM by the dev. Supposedly an unmatched Radio/RIL combination can cause some performance issues, including faster battery drain. You may want to try running the ROM w/ the radio you currently have for a while and see how it performs. Or just flash the RIL for the radio you currently have. That's what I did. I'm still running the stock radio, flashed its RIL into my ROM and it runs great. If you're not happy with the performance with that, then try flashing the recommended radio. However, if you flashed an RIL, you would then need to flash the RIL of the recommended radio as well.

2. ClockworkMod Recovery (or some other recovery application) is required to flash custom ROMs and mods. It also allows you to backup your existing ROM (a nandroid) and to restore your ROM backups.It's easy to install using the ROM Manager app. I recommend reading this article to get a deeper understanding of what CWM is and how to use it.

What Is ClockworkMod Recovery And How To Use It On Android

3. If you get all your apps from the Android Market they should all still be available to you. They may not all immediately be pushed to the phone when you install a new ROM. But you can go to the Market website and install them from there. If you have paid apps those will also still be available. If you got any apps from Amazon you would need to first install the Amazon App Store app. Then log in and it will give you the list of apps you've purchased and you can install each from there, including any FAOTD that your got.

You can use Titanium Backup to back up and restore your apps and data. However I would refrain from restoring system apps and data. Sometimes they are not compatible with the custom ROM. You could end up getting a lot of force closes.

You can also use ES File Explorer, Root Explorer or Astro File Manager to backup the apks of the apps you currently have installed. It will save the apk to your sd card and you would use the file manager app to reinstall those. However that doesn't restore any user data (eg. game progress).

As for ARHD, it's a great ROM. I've been running it for a few weeks and love it. Make sure you download and run the Super Wipe script before you flash the ROM. When you do, it will replace CWM with 4EXT Recovery. Don't worry about that. 4EXT works great as does its Control app. I actually like it better than CWM/ROM Manager....The ARHD dev just released a new version yesterday, 6.2.0. So you may want to wait a few days to see if any bug issues are reported.

4. You should also make sure your contacts are sync'd to Google. Once you install the ROM and sign in to Google it will automatically sync your contacts/calendar/mail. If you have any contacts stored on the phone, you will want to back up those to your sd card. Also be aware that you'll most likely lose all your SMS & MMS unless you use an app to back those up. GO SMS allows B&R of SMS but not MMS. I'm sure there are others. You can also try using TiBackup to backup [SMS/MMS/APN] Dialer Storage, which would back up everything, however since ARHD uses a different base than the stock ROM, it may not restore.

I know there is a lot to figure out the first time you do it, but once you do, you'll realize it's not as daunting as it sounds. Just read until you understand as much as you can and then go for it. And ALWAYS backup your current ROM.

 

[andrews317]

Thanks for your help guys. All this information was very useful.

After reading this I took the risk and flashed my phone. I installed the Android Revolution with Sense 3.0 a few minutes ago. I did made the backup of my contactos, but I think I skipped the backup of my stock ROM. I'm downloading apps again from market and I had most of the third party apps' apks so I'm installing. At the beggining ROM was sort of laggy, but now it's working great. Sense looks pretty nice. I'll test a few days with the stock radio to see if I should change it.

 

[sharksfan7]

Thanks for your help guys. All this information was very useful.

After reading this I took the risk and flashed my phone. I installed the Android Revolution with Sense 3.0 a few minutes ago. I did made the backup of my contactos, but I think I skipped the backup of my stock ROM. I'm downloading apps again from market and I had most of the third party apps' apks so I'm installing. At the beggining ROM was sort of laggy, but now it's working great. Sense looks pretty nice. I'll test a few days with the stock radio to see if I should change it.

After you boot the first time and sign in to google, it does a lot of the sync stuff automatically, which can take a while. That's why it seems to lag at first. Once you get it set up the way you want, you probably should make a backup just to have on the sd card in case something goes weird later. It'll at least save you from having to do all the setup from scratch again. It only takes a few minutes to do a backup or restore.