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Hey guys,
Was having too many issues with GNex so I traded in for a rezound but hate all the bloat on it. Decided I'd finally stick my neck out there and try my noob hand at rooting and customizing it.
So, got my rezound unlocked and rooted and before i try anything, how do I ensure I don't brick the phone?
Searched around for a real dumbed down guide to backup and recovery but I'm at a kindergarten level with this stuff. For example, it took me about 4 hours to figure out how to unlock and root the phone and HTC gives you directions on unlocking.
Have titanium backup, and rom manager. I read there's 2 ways to create a recovery file - cwm and amon-ra, read about nandroid backup but don't know what these things mean or how they function.
Can anyone give me a quick tutorial in backing up the phone in case I eff it up?
Any help would be much appreciated, I apologize if this is too basic a question.
Thanks
No apologies! You have to start somewhere so it's all good. I would start with these two very helpful threads:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1418653
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1418659
I would recommend using the Amon_Ra recovery from THIS post.
Since you are coming from a Gnex...is it safe to assume you know how to flash a custom recovery with the boot.img?
It's not safe to say I know how to do anything yet haha. I liked the non cluttered feel of the gnex so I didn't mess with it and I never did anything with my og Droid. Never flashed anything so I'm about as noob as they come. I unlocked and rooted this phone and that's my experience to this point. Again all help is good
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using XDA App
Thanks for the links btw. Slowly figuring this stuff out. Got amon ra recovery now... What does that do exactly? Just trying to ensure I can get back to where.I am in case I mess up my phone. Should I do a nandroid backup? Not sure what that means either but I see some threads about how to do it.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using XDA App
biond said:
Thanks for the links btw. Slowly figuring this stuff out. Got amon ra recovery now... What does that do exactly? Just trying to ensure I can get back to where.I am in case I mess up my phone. Should I do a nandroid backup? Not sure what that means either but I see some threads about how to do it.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A nandroid is an image of your phone in its current state. So yes, you should do a nandroid back up now before you flash a ROM so if something goes wrong you can restore it back to how it is now.
Then if you're going to flash a kernel after you flash a ROM you should probably make one before flashing the kernel as well in case something goes wrong.
Then when you have the phone the way you like it with a custom ROM/kernel you can make a nandroid at that point as well so you have that handy in case of anything going wrong somewhere down the line or if you just want to get back to that setup after trying out a different ROM. Then you just restore that instead of having to flash the other ROM/kernel again. If you want you can make nandroids of all your custom ROM configurations so you can switch them whenever you want. Of course you should keep an eye out in the threads of the ROMs in case of updates, and sometimes you need to wipe and flash the new version if there is an update.
Here's a few links with some good info:
Beginner's Guide to Rooting Android Devices
Quick INTRO TO ROOTING for those new to rooting
[HOW-TO] ADB for Dummies(How-To Learner's Guide)
If you've never flashed anything before and are planning on customizing this thing; welcome to the family of rezound.
welcome! The ReZound in my opinion is a great phone.
Alright, got myself some good information from you all. Nandroid backup done and saved on my PC so now I'm good to ROM? Eager to rid myself of the enormous amount of bloat the rezound comes with.
One more thing to add for you to know about your original backup, or subsequent ones- that wasn't brought up here.. (smarter folks shoot this down if I'm wrong).. Someone stated above that once you have your nandroid you're always ready to go back to that original backup with a simple flash. This is not the case if he's gone to another rom that uses a different kernel right? It seems some devs have found ways to work the kernel install into the rom install/flash, and others haven't.. Until there's a standard- there's never a guarantee that restoring that original nandroid will bring you back to your original kernel correct? You may have to d/l and install the boot.img after the restore.
That's part of my issue now. I keep ready about flashing roms and kernels but they all assume some level of proficiency when it's something I've never tried. I'm thinking of starting with clean Rom 1.5 but I want to keep some apps like nfl. I just can't find the bare bones explanation of what to do with the file and how to get my data back after i flash that Rom (a process I am foreign to). I download the zip to my PC.... Then what?
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using XDA App
You may also want to get the stock rooted kernel, and keep it with the nandroid. If, and when you want to restore, place your nandroid, and kernel on your sd card. Boot into Amon ra, and restore, then flash the kernel in fastboot. Not the best description, but I hope that helps....
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk
I'm running ineffabalis with their stock rooted kernel right now mainly because I want to wait until the kernel update process is a little more streamlined and the kernels themselves are a little more ironed out. That said, the complete newb sticky guide over in the dev section has a process that seems easy enough.. Basically involves a simple fastboot command from dos. It's written for ziggys but should translate to other kernels as well.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk
Okay I finally got around to putting some new ROMs on my 3D. I tried Supra 2.2 then Olympus Trinity Titan HD then Wtsb 2.0. Well I decided I wanted to go back to supra. Now I did nandroid backups of the system before I did anything, I also did one after trying the supra. Nothing will restore. When I try, a couple lines of green text flash too quickly to read then the screen goes blank and never comes back. I have to pull the battery to reboot. I have tried complete wipe and re-installing supra, but the market keeps FC right away. So i can't even get titanium backup on there.
Please help.
Follow up, I have market running on supra now and will probably stick with it for a while, but I am afraid to do anymore messing around because I don't trust nandriod now.
ParrSt said:
Okay I finally got around to putting some new ROMs on my 3D. I tried Supra 2.2 then Olympus Trinity Titan HD then Wtsb 2.0. Well I decided I wanted to go back to supra. Now I did nandroid backups of the system before I did anything, I also did one after trying the supra. Nothing will restore. When I try, a couple lines of green text flash too quickly to read then the screen goes blank and never comes back. I have to pull the battery to reboot. I have tried complete wipe and re-installing supra, but the market keeps FC right away. So i can't even get titanium backup on there.
Please help.
Follow up, I have market running on supra now and will probably stick with it for a while, but I am afraid to do anymore messing around because I don't trust nandriod now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sounds like a bad flash or bad d/l. I would re-d/l the recovery and try one of your previous backups. (ofcourse same recovery as previous) or might not work)
If that doesn't work, since a bad load/flash went through your nan could have been goofed up as well. I would try not really another rom, but make a back up of the one that you have now, then wait about 10 min and do somn diff, then restore the one from 10 min ago... Not sure what else to say unless we knew all..
what hboot, backup, etc... anything else that can help...
Just to clarify, nandriod does not copy the kernal. So if you restore an older backup after loading a rom with a different kernel, you might have to re-install the old kernal too. right?
By default I am pretty sure it backs up the boot partition which has the kernel in it
respectagain said:
By default I am pretty sure it backs up the boot partition which has the kernel in it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
even with hboot 1.5?
Maybe that is why my restores kept crashing... I was using recovery, but had not launched recovery from fastboot, whish as I understand is how you flash kernels if you are not using flash image.
I cannot for the life of me coax my Rezound into creating a nandroid backup. I kind of a n00b, so I'll give you my info and how I rooted.
ROOT
I rooted by following Scotty's noob friendly root guide: http://androidforums.com/rezound-al...ys-noob-friendly-root-guide-start-finish.html
I followed his instructions for "temporary recovery" which installed Amon RA 3.14
MY CURRENT SOFTWARE
Android version 2.3.4
HTC Sense version 3.5
Software number 2.01.605.11
FIRST ATTEMPT
I went into Amon.
I selected "Nand backup".
There were several options on the next screen. It looked like this:
- [X] boot
- [X] system
- [X] data
- [X] cache
- [] recovery
- [] sd-ext
- [] .android_secure
- [] .android_secure_internalsd
- [] compress_backup
- Perform Backup
- Return
I left the selections as they were.
I selected "Perform Backup".
Before confirming my selection, it said:
Use Other\recoverylog2sd for errors.
I confirmed my selection.
It gave me the following messages:
Performing backup : ..
Oops... something went wrong!
Please check the recovery log!
SECOND ATTEMPT
I installed ROM Manager.
I selected "Flash ClockworkMod Recovery" ... not realizing exactly what I was doing. None the less ...
I booted into CWM.
CWM freezes while making a nandroid backup. Every time. Battery pull. Every time.
THIRD ATTEMPT
I followed Scotty's "temporary recovery" instructions to install Anon RA 3.15 (different version this time)
The md5 in the command window did not match the md5 at download site (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=23781936)
Seeing no alternatives, I flashed it anyway ... Nothing catastrophic happened.
Did same thing I did in the first attempt, and it gave me the same message.
Anyone have any other ideas?
Why are you using temporary recovery? Why not just flash AmonRa "fastboot flash recovery <whatever_your_amonra_image_file.img>" ? It works perfectly fine as the recovery partition for almost everyone else.
Well, the reason was that I didn't want to lose the ability to receive OTA updates. This is why Scotty provided instructions for both the temporary flash, which allows OTA updates, and the permanent flash, which breaks OTA updates.
Does it matter, as far as nand backups are concerned?
bloodymurderlive said:
Well, the reason was that I didn't want to lose the ability to receive OTA updates. This is why Scotty provided instructions for both the temporary flash, which allows OTA updates, and the permanent flash, which breaks OTA updates.
Does it matter, as far as nand backups are concerned?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You realize that after the OTA your backup won't work right? If you're just trying to cover yourself between now and then, maybe just copy your whole system and data partitions manually??
bloodymurderlive said:
Well, the reason was that I didn't want to lose the ability to receive OTA updates. This is why Scotty provided instructions for both the temporary flash, which allows OTA updates, and the permanent flash, which breaks OTA updates.
Does it matter, as far as nand backups are concerned?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why would you even want to flash a temporary to make nandroid backups? If you are getting the OTA then your best bet would be to backup everything with MyBackup, then copy and paste it from your sdcard to computer.
MrSmith
Couldn't I flash Amon RA after OTA (rooted, of course), and then restore the nandroid? I thought nand backups work independently of whatever ROM you're running ...
uToTMeH8
But I want to keep my current stock ROM backed up, not just my apps and data. And why not flash a temporary to make nandroid backups?
Maybe I need to explain better ...
I want to be rooted.
I like Sense.
I like that OTA updates are automatically pushed to my phone.
I don't understad why I can't enjoy these things and create a nandroid backup of my current ROM in case I decide to try other ROMs.
Are you saying that a permanent recovery is the difference between it working and not working?
Ok, maybe someone can just answer that last question for me:
Are you saying that a permanent recovery is the difference between it working and not working?
bloodymurderlive said:
Ok, maybe someone can just answer that last question for me:
Are you saying that a permanent recovery is the difference between it working and not working?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't say for certain because I've never gone through that situation before, but if you want to be stock...Why not just let the OTA update you to ICS stock and keep it as it is? Do you really like Gingerbread Stock that much? I guess I just don't understand your reasoning behind all of this. If you were flashing a new ROM after wiping everything in a recovery I would understand your need to nandroid...
---------- Post added at 12:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:13 PM ----------
bloodymurderlive said:
MrSmith
Couldn't I flash Amon RA after OTA (rooted, of course), and then restore the nandroid? I thought nand backups work independently of whatever ROM you're running ...
uToTMeH8
But I want to keep my current stock ROM backed up, not just my apps and data. And why not flash a temporary to make nandroid backups?
Maybe I need to explain better ...
I want to be rooted.
I like Sense.
I like that OTA updates are automatically pushed to my phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The firmware that is updated with an OTA update will most likely break Gingerbread compatibility if you try to restore a temporary nandroid backup.
With S-Off none of this would be a problem because we would just flash old radios and kernels right from recovery. HTC makes it difficult to downgrade
uToTMeH8
I want to have the option to return to whatever ROM I want.
If I OTA-update to ICS, I want the option to return to GB (especially given how notoriously buggy OTAs are).
If I install a custom ROM, I want the option to return to stock if I don't like it.
So you're saying that I can't just backup any ROM and switch between them at will? That kinda sucks ...
I might just try a permanent recovery anyway, it seems to be the only thing anyone can think of to try to get Amon RA nandroid working ...
bloodymurderlive said:
So you're saying that I can't just backup any ROM and switch between them at will? That kinda sucks ...
I might just try a permanent recovery anyway, it seems to be the only thing anyone can think of to try to get Amon RA nandroid working ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is why everyone is going mental about s-off in this thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1578449
Honestly unlocking your bootloader, flashing Amon-Ra and backing up your stock is the way to go. I've had my phone unlocked for 3 months with no problems and the devs on this site are amazing! You're going to want to try every gingerbread ROM once you get really good at backups and flashing. I was getting around 6-8 hours on the stock ROM for battery life. I flashed NilsP's Business Ginger Sense and I hit 30 hours. It's ridiculous how much better battery life is after stripping the ROM down and adding tweaks.
This Toolkit really makes it very easy...Good Luck!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1504824
The error is commonly not enuff space on the SD,or insufficient battery charge.
It has nothing to do with leaving the stock recovery in place.
The only reason you won't be able to restore your gb backup after ics is the fact that it takes a different hboot and.radio,and until the s off method is released,there is no way to revert those. With htcdev,you can only go fwd,not back.
MrSmith317 said:
Why are you using temporary recovery? Why not just flash AmonRa "fastboot flash recovery <whatever_your_amonra_image_file.img>" ? It works perfectly fine as the recovery partition for almost everyone else.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
uToTMeH8 said:
Why would you even want to flash a temporary to make nandroid backups? If you are getting the OTA then your best bet would be to backup everything with MyBackup, then copy and paste it from your sdcard to computer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the reason for leaving the stock recovery is simple: a custom recovery will not install an OTA.
if you leave the stock recovery in place,the OTA will happen,quite naturally,and without isrupting your personal data. sure,it will break root,and anything youve frozen will pop back up,so you do have the minor inconvenience of re-freezing some bloat,and re-launching the temp recovery to flash root files. not a big deal,IMO. remember,htcdev is more like s-off in that you will always be able to root,or re-root. its not an exploit that will disapear.
even if a person wishes to permanently install a recovery,i strongly recomend to get into the habit of launching recovery from fastboot when messing with your phone. as we know,htcdev only unlocks boot,recovery,and system,and we cannot write 'boot' from 'recovery'.
however,launching recovery from fastboot(what ive been calling a 'temporary' recovery) does allow recovery to write to boot. it doesnt do much good(yet) for flashing,as rom devs are still not including the neccessary scripts to install the kernel,but it does allow you to restore nandroids without a seperate kernel flash,making them quicker and easier.
until you switch to ICS firmware(i.e.,install the leaked ruu,or take an OTA) you can flash,backup,and restore any gingerbread roms,and GB firmware based ICS roms,as you desire.
again,what the guys were trying to say when the said you cant restore the GB backups after ICS is simply because the hboot and radio are different. sure,you can physically power up your recovery and restore a GB backup with ICS hboot and radio(firmware),and it will restore,and even boot. you will just have issues due to the incompatible firmware,such as the disapearance of your SD card
hope that helps clear a few things up for you. sorry the above reply was short,i was trying to reply on my phone at work
edit:
one last thing: since youve downlooaded rom manager and used it to flash clockwork recovery,you now have a permanently installed clockwork recovery. you can still temp launch amon with cw in place,but you now are missing the stock recovery,and as such will not be recieving OTAs. if this is important to you,you need to download the stock recovery,and permanently install it(fastboot flash recovery recoveryname.img)
http://www.mediafire.com/?wb21d2gdurui2c6
Thanks Scotty!
First, I'm a complete moron and assumed that my 32GB microSD had enough space. I deleted a movie and made my backup.
One question though about the CWM recovery ... I was concerned that it was permanently installed. However, I attempted to boot into recovery from my phone (power + volume down), and it booted into what looked like the stock recovery ... No dark Amon or CWM recoveries ... Is it possible that CWM didn't permanently flash after all? I know that I have been in both Amon and CWM, and CWM was installed from within the ROM Manager app ...
Are you sure you were in recovery, because power and volume down boots to the bootloader, called boot, which is entirely different.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using xda premium
Yup, you're right ... I even experienced the won't-charge-or-boot-if-battery-is-low issue with CWM. Fortunately, my wife has the Thunderbolt which was able to charge my battery for me.
So ... Even though I can't receive OTA updates, I can still manually install them, right?
bloodymurderlive said:
Yup, you're right ... I even experienced the won't-charge-or-boot-if-battery-is-low issue with CWM. Fortunately, my wife has the Thunderbolt which was able to charge my battery for me.
So ... Even though I can't receive OTA updates, I can still manually install them, right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, Once and OTA is released it should not be long till someone posts here the zip install of the same OTA. Give it another day and I say you will see a cleaned up debloated, rooted etc... zip of the same OTA. These days there is really no need to rush for the OTA downloads, let the Dev's do their magic and offer you something better than Big Red will offer.
Hey guys,
Wanted to get a sure answer.
Whats the safest way to restore back to the stock firmware fro CM10 (or any rom in general).
There are two answers that i seem to have come across.
Answer 1:
Just download the stock firmware. Extract tar. Load onto PDA, check auto reset the flash reset and then start. Boom done! Everything reverts to stock, modem, firmware, kernel, etc.
Answer 2:
YOU MUST first flash stock kernel. So flash that first via odin then open odin again and flash the rom. If you don't flash the stock kernel first and then just flash the stock firmware, you'll have some issues.
As you can see, both are a bit contradicting. Whats the right method?
You missed one.
Make a nandroid of your stock ROM. then once you're done checking out CM or whatever else, just restore that. A lot less headache.
Docavelli said:
You missed one.
Make a nandroid of your stock ROM. then once you're done checking out CM or whatever else, just restore that. A lot less headache.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, nandroid is much much faster. In fact I went to lunch today and restored my CM10 nandroid to show a friend. 10 minutes later I was back to my Samsung ROM. Its much easier than flashing stock, then re-rooting, then loading all your apps and data back on.
I had heard that nandroid restores between stock/CM9/CM10 were causing bugs, or something of the sort.
If it really is working that easily, I might have to give these CM9/CM10 builds a try. I just didn't want to play around with it for a bit and then be forced to set up my stock configuration all again, because I do have a need for a certain level of stability.
Edit: Ah, I was thinking of our Verizon version however. I think it might require an Odin flash back to stock, then you can restore a stock nandroid backup.
While I can't guarantee you won't have problems, I can say that I haven't had any issues while restoring nandroids.
*your experience may differ.
XDA Mobile
What version of CWM or TWRP is working fine for nandroid backup and restore, specially for Tmo version?
Sent from my SGH-T999
Let me start off by saying I have been reading these forums for a couple days and I am just getting more confused.
Currently I have root, S-On, and no other mods or ROMs. I am getting the popup notification to update literally every time I turn on the screen. I can select defer and set a date about a week in the future from whatever day it is, but the popup comes back within the hour. A few times it even began downloading on its own (while on 4G as well, ~100 mb of data used up every time).
All I would like to do is somehow get my phone to be as if I were complete stock and accepted the OTA, keep root, and not have to wipe any data (or be able to restore a full nandroid). I am getting very frustrated with everything and once I think I understand it, someone throws out something new to me.
If anyone is willing to take some time to help me with this I would gladly make a donation, either to them or another party of their choosing
Spaded21 said:
Let me start off by saying I have been reading these forums for a couple days and I am just getting more confused.
Currently I have root, S-On, and no other mods or ROMs. I am getting the popup notification to update literally every time I turn on the screen. I can select defer and set a date about a week in the future from whatever day it is, but the popup comes back within the hour. A few times it even began downloading on its own (while on 4G as well, ~100 mb of data used up every time).
All I would like to do is somehow get my phone to be as if I were complete stock and accepted the OTA, keep root, and not have to wipe any data (or be able to restore a full nandroid). I am getting very frustrated with everything and once I think I understand it, someone throws out something new to me.
If anyone is willing to take some time to help me with this I would gladly make a donation, either to them or another party of their choosing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can simply flash a stock rom that has the update & flash the newer stock kernel that goes with it but you wont be able to update the radios. You wont lose any info this way unless something goes wrong.(always backup everything just in case something goes wrong).
As for backup, you will only be able to backup aps & data with titanium backup or some sort of program like that because If you do a nandroid backup and then restore after applying the update, you would be restoring your old rom basically over the new one and lose most update enhancements.
You should just follow the thread here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2155069 and go S-Off. I know you will have to restore everything because you will wipe your phone when you do this but its only gonna make things easier for you in the future.
Do a nan backup and save it in case you want to use it in the future and go back to what you had. Once you have S-Off, you can flash kernals, radios, & roms and put in any version you want.
Thanks for your response Jrocker,
So it looks like the best way to do this would be to backup my apps with Titanium, get S-off, install a stock ROM with the update, flash the kernel and radio, then restore from Titanium.
Step 1. Make nandroid
Step 2. Backup apps with Titanium, copy backup along with pics and video to PC
Step 3. Get S-off
Step 4. Flash Stock ROM - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2149095
Step 5. While still in recovery, flash stock kernel http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2149951
Step 6. Flash stock radio http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2155915
Step 7. Restore apps and pics.
Does that look correct? Do I have to worry about flashing a boot.img or modules(don't know what those are)?
Spaded21 said:
Thanks for your response Jrocker,
So it looks like the best way to do this would be to backup my apps with Titanium, get S-off, install a stock ROM with the update, flash the kernel and radio, then restore from Titanium.
Step 1. Make nandroid
Step 2. Backup apps with Titanium, copy backup along with pics and video to PC
Step 3. Get S-off
Step 4. Flash Stock ROM - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2149095
Step 5. While still in recovery, flash stock kernel http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2149951
Step 6. Flash stock radio http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2155915
Step 7. Restore apps and pics.
Does that look correct? Do I have to worry about flashing a boot.img or modules(don't know what those are)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you unlocked the bootloader? (this step is usually done in connection with rooting the phone at the htcdev.com website). If you have an ulocked bootloader, then you can flash an alternate recovery (eithe cwr or twrp) and do a nandroid backup.
Then follow the steps to get s-off. Note: the step where you have your data wiped is unlocking the bootloader, not obtaining s-off. If you already have an alternate recovery, and root, then s-off generally will not wipe your phone. But do an nandroid backup in cwr or twrp just in case Although a nandroid won't backup pictures etc.
Once you have s-off, flash the stock (but rooted) rom you linked to in step 4. This step SHOULD flash the stock kernel if the .zip file was prepared properly. If you boot into the rom and have flickering or wifi issues, then you will need to flash the stock 2.04 kernel (in fastboot). You can also verify if the new kernel was installed when the rom is booted by looking at the Settings:About:Software Information:More (baseband, kernel etc). You should see there kernel version 3.4.10. The baseband (radio) should be 1.01.01.0110 once you have updated the radio (see the step below). The kernel file is the boot.img file you were asking about. The modules will already be built into the stock rom.
While in fastboot (not recovery) you can flash the updated radio files (that will make the baseband referred to above be 1.01.01.0110.
The time when you need to worry about flashing a kernel (boot.img) and modules is if you are s-on, or if you are s-off and the zip file was prepared as you were s-on. When you flash a "kernel", it consists of a boot.img file, along with some extraneous files (the module). When you are s-off, these can both be flashed together while in recovery. When you are s-on, the boot.img file must be flashed from fastboot (or else an alternate method using an app like Flash Image GUI). Because until recently, most DNA's were s-on, the kernel developers prepared their files for s-on devices, with instructions for s-on devices.
When you flash a rom that uses a different kernel than the one you are using, if the .zip file is prepared for a s-off device, then there are no additional steps necessary.
You may want to do a factory reset when you flash the updated 2.04 rom. I think it would be wise. As I said earlier, you shouldn't lose your /sdcard partition UNLESS you haven't already unlocked your bootloader. s-off doesn't reset your device.
Wow, all I can say is thank you so much! That was an awesome, detailed answer. It makes so much more sense when someone fully explains everything all at once, instead of me trying to piece everything together myself from various threads.
Yes my bootloader is unlocked. So you are saying once the bootloader is unlocked wiping data won't touch the SD card partition, just as if I had an actual SD card? When I rooted my Thunderbolt and did subsequent factory resets on that, it never touched the SD card. When I rooted my DNA it wiped everything. Either way I will always make backups and copy those to my PC.
I will be trying this later today and I will report back with the results. Seriously, thank you so much.
Spaded21 said:
Wow, all I can say is thank you so much! That was an awesome, detailed answer. It makes so much more sense when someone fully explains everything all at once, instead of me trying to piece everything together myself from various threads.
Yes my bootloader is unlocked. So you are saying once the bootloader is unlocked wiping data won't touch the SD card partition, just as if I had an actual SD card? When I rooted my Thunderbolt and did subsequent factory resets on that, it never touched the SD card. When I rooted my DNA it wiped everything. Either way I will always make backups and copy those to my PC.
I will be trying this later today and I will report back with the results. Seriously, thank you so much.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was looking for this exact solution as well. This was before we had s-off. For a while my solution was to freeze a couple apps in TB so the OTA pop up would stop popping up. I think it was HTC DM 1.0.2219251543..... and HtcDm 1.0.221982913.... Looks the same but they are different.
I like stock but I eventually flashed ViperDNA. It looks like stock but you are able to customize the $h!!t out of it. Its an awesome ROM that I highly recommend. Although you might want to wait until he comes out with 1.2 (the new version with the latest firmware) becuase you have to wipe data. Data wiping isn't a big deal if you use TB.
Ether way you go - Stock ROM or ViperDNA - The recommended way to wipe your device is this way:
(I'm using TWRP but CR should be similar, might be in different menus)
Backup everything using TB
Backup Pics and other docs on internal SD card (JUST IN CASE)
Make Nandroid Backup in Recovery
Wipe Menu-> Wipe Dalvik Cache (some like to wipe 3 times others think its just a waste of time)
Wipe Menu-> Wipe Cache (Factory Reset wipes cache but I like to wipe cache anyway just for completeness )
Wipe Menu-> Factory Reset
Wipe Menu-> System
Don't Format Data and Don't wipe Internal Storage. You will loose SD card contents.
Once you install your ROMS, flash your kernals, flash radios...whatever you want to do...You can restore apps and data from TB
As always, follow the ROMS instructions on their page for more information.
Only Restore User Apps and Data
Never restore any system apps in RED. May not be compatible with new ROM
You can however restore system Data that is in Yellow or Green (DATA ONLY)
Thanks devilsaces
Once I get everything updated and get a good nadroid of the newest firmware with all my apps I will definitely give ViperDNA a shot. I tried a few custom ROMs on my Thunderbolt, and while they were great to customize, they weren't always stable. Like I said I use my phone for work all day so I really need something dependable, and so far stock hasn't let me down.
Thanks again everyone, a lot of great info in this thread. Hopefully this will be useful to others as well.
Spaded21 said:
Thanks devilsaces
Once I get everything updated and get a good nadroid of the newest firmware with all my apps I will definitely give ViperDNA a shot. I tried a few custom ROMs on my Thunderbolt, and while they were great to customize, they weren't always stable. Like I said I use my phone for work all day so I really need something dependable, and so far stock hasn't let me down.
Thanks again everyone, a lot of great info in this thread. Hopefully this will be useful to others as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I had the same problem on the Thunderbolt, nothing stable. Viper however feels great. I would definitely freeze the HTC apps in Titanium Backup to get rid of the annoying pop ups. I noticed Viper has them uninstalled.
About to start, few more questions. The stock ROM I linked to (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2149095) says it doesn't have the new firmware, is that different from kernel or anything else? Do I need to flash that as well?
Spaded21 said:
About to start, few more questions. The stock ROM I linked to (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2149095) says it doesn't have the new firmware, is that different from kernel or anything else? Do I need to flash that as well?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm actually running that rom right now.
You don't need to flash the radio if you don't want. If you are happy with your cell reception, and battery life, as well as wifi, then you can stay on the original radio.
Or if you'd like to try the new radio, you can flash that (once you have s-off) with this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=38197525
I'm not sure if there is a radio flash prepared to go back to the original radio. Generally speaking, once to are s-off, you can change radios at will.
From what I understand, if you flash the rom you linked to, and the radio above, then you will have everything from the update, except the updated hboot. I haven't bothered changing my hboot. changing hboot won't affect the day to day operation of the phone, but it can change the fast boot commands that are available. Until I see a good reason, I am not going to worry about my hboot.
FYI: about changing radios, from what I understand, the radio file is the code that tells the phone how to communicate with the towers. It tells the phone how to adjust the power output of the radio according to the strength of signal from the cell. This can be very aggressive, leading to better signal, at the expense of battery life (increasing power output of the phone radio takes more power from the battery), or it can be conservative, with a little lower quality signal, but conserving battery life.
It seems that the engineers at the carriers are constantly tweaking the radio code to find a sweet spot between signal quality and battery life. Different carriers may tweak the radio for the same phone with a different priority. Sprint may prioritize signal, while verizon prioritizes battery. So each carrier may have a different radio file for phone that is in the same phone family. And then each carrier may have multiple radios. On the thunderbolt there were about 6 or 7 I think, but it is generally believed that newer radios work better than older ones.
Some people on xda will often experiment to see which radio file works best for them, depending on where they live and work.
I always try to be careful to only flash redid that others have reported to work with my device, rather than experimenting personally. I would think that you can brick your phone flashing the wrong radio file.
Sent from my HTC6435LVW using Tapatalk 2
Is that ROM deodexed? Or would I be better off using this one? http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2080200
Spaded21 said:
About to start, few more questions. The stock ROM I linked to (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2149095) says it doesn't have the new firmware, is that different from kernel or anything else? Do I need to flash that as well?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Firmware is the Android system. The Droid DNA is on on 4.1.1 (Jelly Bean). That version has not changed in the new OTA update so I don't know why that ROM even mentioned it.
The Kernal is the interface that alows the software to access the hardware. A more detailed explanation can be found here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/index.php?title=ROM-VS-Kernel
HBOOT is 'kinda' like your BIOS in windows. It is the bootloader. It is the first thing that is loaded on your phone. This too I believe has not changed with the latest OTA update.
This is the change log for the 2.04.605.2 710RD update
Bluetooth connectivity and volume level for specific models have been improved
Enhanced reliability and stability of the Contacts List have been made
Enhanced Recent Apps functionality has been improved
Incoming messages display with the correct timestamp
Improvements to Hotspot connectivity have been made
Improvements to Audio Quality for wired headsets and earpieces have been made
Improvements to default browser for zooming capability have been made
User can load videos on HuluPlus
Wi-Fi Connectivity has been improved
As you can see it is mostly stuff related to your radio so the radio is the main part you would want. I personally just updated my radio and din't worry about anything else.
---------- Post added at 12:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:56 AM ----------
Spaded21 said:
Is that ROM deodexed? Or would I be better off using this one? http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2080200
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think it is deodexed otherwise it would tell you. I think deodexed is good if you want to theme.
I'm using the first one, which isn't deodexed. But I'm keeping my rom close to stock this week
Next week, when the Viper rom has been updated to 2.04, I'll be flashing that, and probably a theme.
You indicated that you aren't currently running any mods or themes. Unless you are looking to change, I would suggest you flash the first rom you linked, which is stock, except for the root capability being added to it.
The de-odexed rom you asked about will have been modified, deleting the .odex files so that the rom can further be customized by themes etc. When a phone boots a rom that is missing the .odex files, it will take longer to boot because it will essentially create the missing .odex files on the fly while booting. But when you are modding your rom, adding themes etc., existing .odex files get in the way, so that is why developers remove the .odex files, even though the rom will take longer to boot. Once the phone is booted, whether the rom was odexed or not becomes irrelevant.
For now, if you are looking to be on the latest radio and HTC rom, I suggest you get s-off, then flash the basic 2.04 rom (the one you linked to first), and the updated radios. Hopefully HTC will soon release the updated source files for the 2.04 kernel, and then we will have more customization.
If you are looking to customize now, I would get s-off, then flash the updated radios, but stay with a rom based on the original released rom and source (like Viper). The latest Viper rom (with updates to 1.1.3) has modifications so that you won't have to worry about getting bugged to update your ROM for 2.04. If you decided to go with Viper, it is a little confusing when viper is updating from 1.1 to 1.1.1 to 1.1.2 to 1.1.3, because it uses an over-the-air (OTA) update process similar to the stock OTA update. So you may see notices for updates - but the updates would be for Viper. Once you have gotten your phone s-off, you don't need to worry about updates causing problems.
Spaded21 said:
Is that ROM deodexed? Or would I be better off using this one? http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2080200
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok so I have done everything, S-off, deodexed stock ROM, 3.4.10 kernel (it flashed with the ROM), and updated radio. I'm able to boot up but I don't have wifi.
Edit: Flashed the boot.img from the zip and it's working now.
Spaded21 said:
Ok so I have done everything, S-off, deodexed stock ROM, 3.4.10 kernel (it flashed with the ROM), and updated radio. I'm able to boot up but I don't have wifi.
Edit: Flashed the boot.img from the zip and it's working now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Congrats!
I think that rom you used wasn't set up properly to flash the boot.img from recovery, so that is why you had to do it manually. As time goes on (and there are more users with s-off), I think most new roms will be set up properly, so you shouldn't run into that again.
The whole process wasn't that hard, and using TiB made it really easy to get everything back.
So how do I go about removing bloatware now that I have S-Off and I am deodexed?
Although there are several ways to start removing bloatware, one of the easiest ways is to go into TiBu, and freeze apps. Make a nandroid backup first, and start slow.
Some apps have dependencies, you freeze one, and another might not work, like contacts and dialer.
After you have frozen an app, and are confident that it isn't necessary, you can delete it if you want.
Sent from my HTC6435LVW using Tapatalk 2
Spaded21 said:
Let me start off by saying I have been reading these forums for a couple days and I am just getting more confused.
Currently I have root, S-On, and no other mods or ROMs. I am getting the popup notification to update literally every time I turn on the screen. I can select defer and set a date about a week in the future from whatever day it is, but the popup comes back within the hour. A few times it even began downloading on its own (while on 4G as well, ~100 mb of data used up every time).
All I would like to do is somehow get my phone to be as if I were complete stock and accepted the OTA, keep root, and not have to wipe any data (or be able to restore a full nandroid). I am getting very frustrated with everything and once I think I understand it, someone throws out something new to me.
If anyone is willing to take some time to help me with this I would gladly make a donation, either to them or another party of their choosing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would highly recommend using the OTA blocking zip to kill the update messages. I'm not very handy with posting zips yet but search the threads for the disable OTA. I am on the Viper DNA rom also but I put the OTA blocking on just in case. If I were on my PC instead of my phone I could have posted the zip file for you. I'm sure with each rom the developer has added a file to make sure the OTA is killed but you can never be too sure.
Easiest way to get 2.04 OTA for rooted DNA phones
Hat-tip .Torrented from our discussion here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2152993&page=12
Get Facepalm S-Off: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2155069
Download stock recovery from: http://goo.im/devs/Flyhalf205/DNA/dlx_recovery_signed.img
Flash the stock recovery using:
fastboot flash recovery dlx_recovery_signed.img
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Once you are on stock recovery, and assuming you're on stock kernel, it allows you to take the OTA update!
After you take the ota just flash the custom recovery of your choice again. CWM Touch is a good option: http://www.clockworkmod.com/rommanager
Flash the superuser-busybox.zip to root.
This gives you a completely clean "factory" upgrade to 2.04, without losing any of your data (YMMV - so pls always take a backup before you do this).
It worked for me - yippee!!!
Software number: 2.04.605.2 710RD
Kernel version: 3.4.10-ga02d2c6
Baseband version: 1.01.01.0110
Whole procedure took less than 15 minutes
zanyguy said:
Hat-tip .Torrented from our discussion here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2152993&page=12
Get Facepalm S-Off: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2155069
Download stock recovery from: http://goo.im/devs/Flyhalf205/DNA/dlx_recovery_signed.img
Flash the stock recovery using:
Once you are on stock recovery, and assuming you're on stock kernel, it allows you to take the OTA update!
After you take the ota just flash the custom recovery of your choice again. CWM Touch is a good option: http://www.clockworkmod.com/rommanager
Flash the superuser-busybox.zip to root.
This gives you a completely clean "factory" up to 2.04, without losing any of your data (YMMV - so pls always take a backup before you do this).
It worked for me - yippee!!!
Software number: 2.04.605.2 710RD
Kernel version: 3.4.10-ga02d2c6
Baseband version: 1.01.01.0110
Whole procedure took less than 15 minutes
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks zanyguy for the procedure and process outline. I have a question regarding my current format and was wondering if going to a stock rooted version would work for me. Since every end user is different then there are different things they want of course. For me the process is very simple. I like a very lean system. I also like to try and achieve many things to look as close to AOSP as I can get and keep functionality. My current setup has the phone unlocked, rooted, s-off and running Viper 1.1.3. My radio is the OTA update radio of 1.01.01.0110 and my kernel is the same 3.4.10-ga02d2c6. What I wonder is this. Should I even bother trying to flash the stock Rom? Is there any benefits to doing so? And if I do give it a spin should I just restore the Viper DNA rom or re flash anew?
Thanks