Root Thinking of rooting for the 1st time

[pharaon]

Hi guys!

Yes, this is the first time i'm really thinking of doing it. I'm using official GB update since it came out on the htcdev site, and i'm loving it, there are just 3 things wrong:

1. it switches off my wifi when the signal is low, which is really annoying, froyo didn't do this, it kept working with low signal with no problems...

2. i can't use different color led anymore, on froyo i had blue light for sms, purple for email etc...

3. i still don't have enough space for apps

These 3 things have finally got me to search for solutions by rooting. I haven't done that so far, because i'm scared of voiding warranty. I still have it valid for 1,5 year, because i had it on repair 6 months ago, when they replaced the motherboard and gave me a new 2 year warranty. Anyway, i wan't to root it now.

I've read the rooting FAQ on this forum, so i know some basics on what rooting really is.
My questions now are:

1. Will the nandroid backup, which i have to do after doing S-off and installing custom recovery, also backup my existing apps and their data/settings, which are installed on SD card? I have all angry birds levels made in 3 stars and don't wan't to go from start If something goes wrong and wan't to go back to my present ROM and settings, backed up by nandroid, will it be fully functional as now?

2. I'm looking for various ROMs which would fit my desires, but it's not that easy..could you recomend me a good ROM, i wan't it to be a sense ROM, that hasn't got the 3 problems i mentioned early in the post. I'm quite fond of sense, tried also other roms on samsung, nexus...didn't like it.

3. If my phone needs to go to repair once again in the future, can i revert everything to stock, also the stock hboot and recovery?

If I go down the "root" path, i wan't to be sure I don't mess it up or something. I know there are topics already opened about this questions, i just want to have it all in one topic, which i intend to use when i'll need help on further questions during rooting.

Thanks guys!

 

[Tyseyh]

Did you read the rooting faq? This should be in the root sub forum too.

Nandroid is a complete back up of everything.
Think of it like a system restore on a pc, just better.

Almost all rooted roms allow full a2sd but you need to partition your sd card using Gparted.

Please read the faqs through and again if need be.
You don't need to be S-off either.

Also, if it's a sense rom you want take a look at Teppics or Leedroid.
You won't need to touch your hboot then.

Restoring back to stock is done via a RUU.
That will replace everything back as far as I'm aware.

There are too many threads on this now with this subject.

 

[SUroot]

You don't need to be S-off either.

He is on the GB 2.3.3 official ROM. He HAS to S-off in order to get recovery / root.

 

[Tyseyh]

He is on the GB 2.3.3 official ROM. He HAS to S-off in order to get recovery / root.

I wasn't aware, apologies.

 

[SUroot]

No problem, babe.

 

[rtr86]

What exactly ls soff, i think i know but just want to make sure. Thanks

 

[MAF66]

I rooted and installed a custom rom on my missus's HTC Desire over the weekend. I recommend Cyanogenmod7 as a custom rom. You can default all new installations to install directly to SD Card, thus saving space.

Do read the FAQs in the Rooting forum. There's a lot of mis-information, and lack of information on other sites. These are the best I've seen, and solved all my problems.

 

[rtr86]

I rooted and installed a custom rom on my missus's HTC Desire over the weekend. I recommend Cyanogenmod7 as a custom rom. You can default all new installations to install directly to SD Card, thus saving space.

.

How are you doing that Maf? Is your main source the market? If so, after you select 'download' do you get a popup asking where to install? I don't think I get that with DGB.

 

[SUroot]

How are you doing that Maf? Is your main source the market? If so, after you select 'download' do you get a popup asking where to install? I don't think I get that with DGB.

That default install location is just a setting. Its the same as "Move to SD" but for all apps. Its not relly a good rooted solution as there are much better solutions that that.

 

[MAF66]

That default install location is just a setting. Its the same as "Move to SD" but for all apps. Its not relly a good rooted solution as there are much better solutions that that.

Yes it is just a setting, and everything I download is saved to SD by default. I just set it because I'm lazy, but App2SD is an alternative way of moving apps.

The only downside with my method is that if you install a widget, you have to move it back to the phone memory in order to select it on your homescreen.

 

[SUroot]

Yes it is just a setting, and everything I download is saved to SD by default. I just set it because I'm lazy, but App2SD is an alternative way of moving apps.

The only downside with my method is that if you install a widget, you have to move it back to the phone memory in order to select it on your homescreen.

Yep, thats true. a2sd+ uses an ext partition and isn't affected by the widget issue

 

[pharaon]

Ok, i've read some more guides on rooting and choosing the right ROM, now i've decided to go with InsertCoin Sense 2.1 1.1.3. But there are 2 versions, A2SD+ and CM7. It says that the first one puts the dalvik cache on the SD card, which may be resulting in slower writing/reading to SD card. The other version is with dalvik cache on the phone, which should be faster. Which one should i choose?
I have official GB installed, so i must first S-off with revolutionary and then install custom recovery, recommended is AmonRa. Does this matter somehow when chosing version of insertcoin rom? What about my SD card, i have 16gb class10, which i intend to partition 1gb ext3, the rest is fat32. I've read somewhere that not all SD cards are supported for custom recoveries...how do i check if my SD card is good for the job?

 

[Hadron]

Do not use the CM7 version unless you have changed hboots to the alpharev CM7r2 hboot.

To be honest I think the impact of moving the dalvik cache to sd-ext is greatly overstated. I've moved it between phone and card when running the same ROM in both cases and the difference was negligible, and that was with a class 2 card. So unless you fancy learning about hboot flashing I'd try the a2sd+ version first and see how you get on.

Of course hboot flashing isn't difficult, but you do want to make sure you understand everything involved before you do it, as it's a deeper modification than flashing a ROM.

 

[Hadron]

I've not heard about some cards not being supported for some recoveries. Some recoveries do not support ext4 though.

Any recovery that works with your phone should be good for flashing the ROM. Since you say Amon Ra I'm guessing you have an erase size 40,000 device? A lot of us are using 4EXT Touch these days, so that would be another option.

 

[pharaon]

edit: i didn't understand it right, so i tried once again to see the error. it says:
e:/ wrong digest :
system/app/com.htc.fmradiowidget.apk
e: verification failed

What should i do?

Hey guys.

I'm now S-off and rooted, did nandroid backup and backed up all my apps with titanium backup. Then i went to flash new ROM, InsertCoin_GB_Sense2.1_A2SD+_1.1.3.
It failed saying that i don't have the right version of radio. If i remember correctly it should work with my version of radio, which is 5.17.05.23. This is stock radio, which came with official GB update.

What radio version should i choose to install? I've read that installing radio is very risky. What should I check before doing this?

Luckily I did nandroid backup, which i restored now...

 

[Hadron]

The radio you have should work with any GB ROM. Seems odd that it should complain. Does the ROM's XDA thread recommend a particular radio?

 

[pharaon]

Is it still problem with the radio then, it says FMRadioWidget.apk?

On xda i found this in the thread of insertcoin:


upon install i get e:/ wrong digest :
system/app/com.htc.fmradiowidget.apk
e: verification failed

use 20-Jul-2011 (v4.0.1.4.110720)recovery:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1112658

Does that mean i must use different recovery? Will the nandroid restore/backup still work if use this? I'm already root and S-off.
Anyone here had the same error?

 

[pharaon]

I'm googling this error, it says i must disable signature verification. What does that mean? Where can i do that, in the recovery mode?

 

[SUroot]

Yes in recovery. In clockwork mod it's under the install menu, before you choose a zip. Advanced in amon ra think

 

[pharaon]

Success!
It worked, now i have insertcoin installed. Looks great, but one major problem - why does it still say i have 147mb internal memory, i have 1gb ext3 partition on my sd card along with ~14gb fat32. Both partitions are primary, first is fat32 and second is ext3.

 

[Hadron]

You do still have 147MB internal memory - hopefully with the a2sd stuff in addition

To check that the ext storage is being used, look at the "front page" of Ti Backup (near the bottom) or install Quick System Info. They should show you the size of your ext partition and how much is used (or available). If it's filling up then it's working. If Ti doesn't show it at all then it isn't.

 

[pharaon]

Oh, i see
It shows:
System ROM: 262 mb (38.5mb free)
Internal: 154 mb (138mb free)
SD Card: 14,8 gb (5.5gb free)
SD Card (a2sd): 1.13 gb (698mb free)

Why is ext3 partition almost 400mb used? With what? I just installed ROM, no other apps installed, beside Titanium Backup and ES File Explorer.

 

[Hadron]

A lot of these "more advanced Sense" ROMs don't fit in the Desire's internal memory, so keep part of the ROM on the ext partition. That would be my guess.