Root (Newbie) How can I obtain S-OFF? (HTC Wilfire S Metro PCS)

[mordechai]

Hey guys, new here. I wanted to obtain S-OFF for my HTC Wildire S and I want to know how. I can't buy the XTC clip or whatever it's called. Is their any way to obtain it without the clip? Wanted to free up space and then root. Thanks you please help

Important info:

HTC Wildfire S

Running Android 2.3.4

MetroPCS Wildfire S NOT VM

HTC Sense 2.1

CMDA

Thanks for looking, I'm new here and feel great to be a part of this awesome site. No hate plz I'm a newbie

 

[bobdamnit]

Hey guys, new here. I wanted to obtain S-OFF for my HTC Wildire S and I want to know how. I can't buy the XTC clip or whatever it's called. Is their any way to obtain it without the clip? Wanted to free up space and then root. Thanks you please help

Important info:

HTC Wildfire S

Running Android 2.3.4

MetroPCS Wildfire S NOT VM

HTC Sense 2.1

CMDA

Thanks for looking, I'm new here and feel great to be a part of this awesome site. No hate plz I'm a newbie

No hate here. We're a peaceful forum

Ok, before we can attempt to S-OFF your phone, I absolutely MUST know what version of hboot you have. Pull the battery from your phone and replace it. Hold Volume Down and Power until the phone boots up to "hboot". It should look similar to this:

***LOCKED***
MARVELC EVT1 SHIP S-ON RL
HBOOT-1.09.0000
MICROP-0534
RADIO-0.9.00.1226
Dec 30 2011, 16:47:36

I am after the "HBOOT-#.##.####" version. This will let me know how far we have to go to get you S-OFF'd

 

[mordechai]

thank you for your help, my "hboot" is 1.10.1000
Well that's pretty much it tell me what other info you need.
Thanks for your help

 

[bobdamnit]

thank you for your help, my "hboot" is 1.10.1000
Well that's pretty much it tell me what other info you need.
Thanks for your help

This is simple. You'll want to go to HTCDev.com and create an account. Download HTCSync for Windows and install it. Then, if you don't have the Android-SDK tools installed, you'll want to follow this guide: Installing the SDK | Android Developers to install SDK tools. (You'll need them later. HTCDev will walk you through using it.)

You have upgraded your bootloader to the unlockable one already and are in the home stretch for unlocking. All you need to do is finish the process by following the steps starting on pg. 2 of the unlock bootloader procedure at htcdev.com. (Find the green button way down at the bottom of the ROM selection page that says "Proceed to Step 1".)

Page 2 will guide you through the following: You'll use adb commands (SDK tools) to retrieve your phone's oem identifier token. Then you will upload that to the HTC dev bootloader unlock page. After receiving it, they will respond with an email containing an image file ("Unlock_code.bin") which you will then flash to the phone to unlock your bootloader. When done successfully, the Bootloader screen will show ***_UNLOCKED_*** and you can move on to root the phone.

That basically sums it up. Many thanks again, Kafe. Saves me typing

 

[mordechai]

This is simple. You'll want to go to HTCDev.com and create an account. Download HTCSync for Windows and install it. Then, if you don't have the Android-SDK tools installed, you'll want to follow this guide: Installing the SDK | Android Developers to install SDK tools. (You'll need them later. HTCDev will walk you through using it.)



That basically sums it up. Many thanks again, Kafe. Saves me typing

Thanks, will try but one question when I unlock bootloader can I delete system apps? Like all the HTC crap. TAKES UP ALL MY INTERNAL STORAGE

 

[bobdamnit]

Thanks, will try but one question when I unlock bootloader can I delete system apps? Like all the HTC crap. TAKES UP ALL MY INTERNAL STORAGE

I've got good news, and I've got bad news.

insink71 made a MetroPCS custom ROM for our phones. Its based off stock MetroPCS RUU, and it comes with A2SD and comes pre-rooted! This is the good news.

The bad news? You have to do a one more step before you can install this ROM. You can't install custom ROM's without having a custom recovery. So, lets get that installed.

Go here:
[RECOVERY - UPDATE] Unofficial ClockworkMod Recovery v.5.0.2.6 - xda-developers

And download the custom recovery. Click the link that says "Updated version". This will download the file "PG716.img". Place this on the root of your SD card and yank the battery on the phone. Put the battery back in and hold volume down and power until the phone turns on. You will boot into hboot. Hboot will automatically search for "PG716.img" and ask if you want to apply it. Yes. When it is done, it wants to reboot the phone. Select reboot and let it reboot. You should now hook your phone up to the computer as a disk drive. Remove "PG716.img" from your SD card. Yank battery, replace battery, hold volume down and power to boot back into hboot. Let it update check, then when it doesnt find any "PG716.img" files, select "Recovery"

You just booted into ClockWork Mod recovery. Play around with it, but don't do anything yet! Also, make sure your phone is hooked up to your computer.

From here, we can install insink71's custom ROM! Head over here:
marvelUSc_metroPCS_1-1_030712.zip

From inside recovery on your phone, Wipe User Data/Factory Reset, Advanced>Wipe Dalvik, Mounts And Storage>Partition SD Card>512Mb-1024Mb (SD Size depending. I do 1024Mb.) Swap=0Mb. Select Mounts & Storage at recovery main menu, then select Mount USB Storage. This should mount your SD card on your computer. Drop the MetroPCS ROM on the SD card and unmount THROUGH RECOVERY! Then at recovery main menu, select Install zip from SD>Choose zip and select the MarvelUSc_MetroPCS_1.1.zip

Afterwords, let the ROM boot. Reboot a few times after a few Google updates. Open the Market/Play store and download A2SD GUI.

A2sdGui
Fire up your newly installed v1.1 and select the A2sd gui app.
Allow Superuser access.
Click Yes to continue. [maybe two times]
A note here. All of the roms I have ever released are zipaligned [contrary to another dev's opinion].
You may choose zipalign on boot if you want to keep zipaligning them each boot cycle.
Ignore swap as the stock kernel doesn't support it.
Now click the Dalvik tab at the top.
Select Dalvik Cache on SD-EXT
Then lets say set [judgement call] set your VM Heap size to 30 at the bottom
then select move and rebuild and confirm with yes.
Another note: I cooked this to have the dalvik on sdcard; so, it has the support; just doesn't pull the values.
Your device will now reboot [and make take a minute to rebuild your dalvik cache].
You may [or may not] choose to go back into the A2sd gui now & click yes again.
Go to low memory tab at top and choose a setting [I like Optimum]
Then hit change at the bottom.
You are done with this app.

This will basically get you unlimited app space.

Edit: I typed all this out, only to realize that I never answered your question. No. You would still have to root your current ROM. Then you could remove unnecessary apps with Root Explorer. I usually DO NOT recommend this for new users because deleting a necessary system app will FUBAR a ROM. Installing a rooted+A2SD enabled ROM solves all of this in one go. I know it seems like a lot of work, but once you get unlocked and custom recovery, you shouldn't ever have to do it again. Plus, flashing a ROM is WAY easier than rooting and removing apps.

 

[Smartacus]

Hey guys, I am in about the same spot as he is. My hBoot is 1.10.1000, but when I try and complete the sequence i get to the last command and it just sits there with <waiting for device> and I never get the token. I don't think I missed any steps. Thanks in advance.

 

[bobdamnit]

Hey guys, I am in about the same spot as he is. My hBoot is 1.10.1000, but when I try and complete the sequence i get to the last command and it just sits there with <waiting for device> and I never get the token. I don't think I missed any steps. Thanks in advance.

This only happens if one of the following criteria haven't been met:

-You are not in "fastboot" on the phone hboot
-You do not have drivers installed for the phone
-You don't have Android-SDK installed properly

 

[Smartacus]

This only happens if following criteria hasn't been met:

-You are not in "fastboot" on the phone hboot

Oddly it waited until I posted to work for me. Thanks.

I d/l'ed the recovery.img and put it in the root of the SD card, but it doesn't find it when I reboot into hboot. It does say checking... no image 2 or 3 times and then resets. The directions you gave are very clear, so I am wondering how I seem to be making this harder than it is.

 

[bobdamnit]

Oddly it waited until I posted to work for me. Thanks.

I d/l'ed the recovery.img and put it in the root of the SD card, but it doesn't find it when I reboot into hboot. It does say checking... no image 2 or 3 times and then resets. The directions you gave are very clear, so I am wondering how I seem to be making this harder than it is.

i read a little off the thread where I got the recovery file and one of the guys said it didn't work with an S-on Wildfire. I am unlocked, but still S-on. Is that true?

It may be true, I don't know because I originally S-OFFd my phone as soon as I purchased mine. When I get back home, I'll link you to how to S-OFF your phone if you want. You have already voided the warranty, so might as well go for broke lol.

Otherwise, yeah. You might not get a recovery without S-OFF. KafeCampuchia, simonsimon34, or insink71 might know more on the subject.

 

[Smartacus]

It may be true, I don't know because I originally S-OFFd my phone as soon as I purchased mine. When I get back home, I'll link you to how to S-OFF your phone if you want. You have already voided the warranty, so might as well go for broke lol.

Otherwise, yeah. You might not get a recovery without S-OFF. KafeCampuchia, simonsimon34, or insink71 might know more on the subject.

I am willing to do whatever it takes. You guys give great support.

I got it to search for it and now it says
model ID incorrect!
update fail!
Press <power> to reboot

Have you ever seen that or have any idea how to fix it?

 

[bobdamnit]

Ok, so I talked to a few other users and it does indeed appear as though you need S-OFF to flash recovery. So lets work on that.

Go here:
[TUTORIAL][S-OFF] Virgin Mobile CDMA S-OFF Without XTC-Clip Confirmed Working! - xda-developers

And download the files "SimpleGoldCard.zip" and "Diag Files.rar". (You'll need WinRAR or 7Zip to unzip the "rar" file.) All you really want are the files, don't use this thread to S-OFF your phone.

Use this advise to S-OFF:

S-Off:
Prerequisites: Windows, A USB cord for your phone, HTC Drivers, which are installed with the HTC Sync software, USB DEBUGGING ENABLED, and two files i will mention in the directions.
1) Download the files attached below
2) unrar the diag files, and unzip simple gold card.
3) BACK UP YOUR SD CARD, NOT AN OPTION!!!!!
4) Open simplegoldcard.exe in the unzipped file, and run as administrator in windows vista or 7
5) Plug your BACKED UP phone into your computer, enable disk mode
6) Select your phones device letter and select FORMAT SD CARD
7) Change your phone to Charge Only now
8) Select MMC1 in step three and click GetCID and copy it into the web page that the program links to and fill out the capatcha
9) Download the immage file
10) Go to step 5, load the immage you just downloaded
11) Place phone into disk drive mode, and click patch MMC
12) you have a working gold card now!

13) Place these files on the ROOT of your Goldcard, PG76DIAG.nbh and PG76DIAG.zip DONT EXTRACT THE ZIP
14) Once that has been done power off your phone and pull the battery for a good 5 seconds just to make sure it's completely off.
15) Boot into HBOOT by holding Volume down while pressing the power button (you do not need to hold the power button, only hold the volume down button) The HBOOT screen will boot up and then you can let go of the Volume down button.
16) The phone will automatically scan the SD card for the files we just put on the root of the SD card and will start the update process.
17) A screen will appear that says Clean s58. Press the power button once to select clean s58 and the phone will start doing it's thing and should take about a good 20 seconds until it's finished.
18) Once the process is complete then pull the battery to turn the phone off.
19) Remove the SD card from the phone, then boot into HBOOT again (VOL DWN AND POWER, if you cant remember

20) It should now say S-OFF at the top of the screen, you can now do much more with your phone. Just pull the battery and boot like normal.

Afterwords, remove the files from your SD card after the phone boots. Be sure you don't mix these files with the Recovery file. (THEY HAVE THE SAME NAME!!!) Then put the recovery file back in the SD card and boot back into hboot. My previous posts sum up how this works.

 

[mordechai]

I've got good news, and I've got bad news.

insink71 made a MetroPCS custom ROM for our phones. Its based off stock MetroPCS RUU, and it comes with A2SD and comes pre-rooted! This is the good news.

The bad news? You have to do a one more step before you can install this ROM. You can't install custom ROM's without having a custom recovery. So, lets get that installed.

Go here:
[RECOVERY - UPDATE] Unofficial ClockworkMod Recovery v.5.0.2.6 - xda-developers

And download the custom recovery. Click the link that says "Updated version". This will download the file "PG716.img". Place this on the root of your SD card and yank the battery on the phone. Put the battery back in and hold volume down and power until the phone turns on. You will boot into hboot. Hboot will automatically search for "PG716.img" and ask if you want to apply it. Yes. When it is done, it wants to reboot the phone. Select reboot and let it reboot. You should now hook your phone up to the computer as a disk drive. Remove "PG716.img" from your SD card. Yank battery, replace battery, hold volume down and power to boot back into hboot. Let it update check, then when it doesnt find any "PG716.img" files, select "Recovery"

You just booted into ClockWork Mod recovery. Play around with it, but don't do anything yet! Also, make sure your phone is hooked up to your computer.

From here, we can install insink71's custom ROM! Head over here:
marvelUSc_metroPCS_1-1_030712.zip

From inside recovery on your phone, Wipe User Data/Factory Reset, Advanced>Wipe Dalvik, Mounts And Storage>Partition SD Card>512Mb-1024Mb (SD Size depending. I do 1024Mb.) Swap=0Mb. Select Mounts & Storage at recovery main menu, then select Mount USB Storage. This should mount your SD card on your computer. Drop the MetroPCS ROM on the SD card and unmount THROUGH RECOVERY! Then at recovery main menu, select Install zip from SD>Choose zip and select the MarvelUSc_MetroPCS_1.1.zip

Afterwords, let the ROM boot. Reboot a few times after a few Google updates. Open the Market/Play store and download A2SD GUI.


This will basically get you unlimited app space.

Edit: I typed all this out, only to realize that I never answered your question. No. You would still have to root your current ROM. Then you could remove unnecessary apps with Root Explorer. I usually DO NOT recommend this for new users because deleting a necessary system app will FUBAR a ROM. Installing a rooted+A2SD enabled ROM solves all of this in one go. I know it seems like a lot of work, but once you get unlocked and custom recovery, you shouldn't ever have to do it again. Plus, flashing a ROM is WAY easier than rooting and removing apps.

when i try to unlcock the bootloader it says like my hboot isn't up do date. I downloaded Metro PSC thingy. on the first page. It says my hboot is not like the right version please help. Thank you

 

[bobdamnit]

when i try to unlcock the bootloader it says like my hboot isn't up do date. I downloaded Metro PSC thingy. on the first page. It says my hboot is not like the right version please help. Thank you

You already have the updated hboot. (1.10.0000)

All you need to do is at the HTCDev website where you download "MetroPSC" RUU, go ALL the way to the bottom of the page and click "Go to step 2". Follow the directions from there, and it should unlock your bootloader.

For S-OFF, read the whole thread here. I gave pretty extensive instructions for S-OFF, custom recovery, and a custom ROM.

 

[mordechai]

You already have the updated hboot. (1.10.0000)

All you need to do is at the HTCDev website where you download "MetroPSC" RUU, go ALL the way to the bottom of the page and click "Go to step 2". Follow the directions from there, and it should unlock your bootloader.

For S-OFF, read the whole thread here. I gave pretty extensive instructions for S-OFF, custom recovery, and a custom ROM.

Okay will try again I really appreciate your help, is their any way I can like "thanks" you or something lol. Your very helpful to me and I appreciate your knowledge.

 

[mordechai]

I've got good news, and I've got bad news.

insink71 made a MetroPCS custom ROM for our phones. Its based off stock MetroPCS RUU, and it comes with A2SD and comes pre-rooted! This is the good news.

The bad news? You have to do a one more step before you can install this ROM. You can't install custom ROM's without having a custom recovery. So, lets get that installed.

Go here:
[RECOVERY - UPDATE] Unofficial ClockworkMod Recovery v.5.0.2.6 - xda-developers

And download the custom recovery. Click the link that says "Updated version". This will download the file "PG716.img". Place this on the root of your SD card and yank the battery on the phone. Put the battery back in and hold volume down and power until the phone turns on. You will boot into hboot. Hboot will automatically search for "PG716.img" and ask if you want to apply it. Yes. When it is done, it wants to reboot the phone. Select reboot and let it reboot. You should now hook your phone up to the computer as a disk drive. Remove "PG716.img" from your SD card. Yank battery, replace battery, hold volume down and power to boot back into hboot. Let it update check, then when it doesnt find any "PG716.img" files, select "Recovery"

You just booted into ClockWork Mod recovery. Play around with it, but don't do anything yet! Also, make sure your phone is hooked up to your computer.

From here, we can install insink71's custom ROM! Head over here:
marvelUSc_metroPCS_1-1_030712.zip

From inside recovery on your phone, Wipe User Data/Factory Reset, Advanced>Wipe Dalvik, Mounts And Storage>Partition SD Card>512Mb-1024Mb (SD Size depending. I do 1024Mb.) Swap=0Mb. Select Mounts & Storage at recovery main menu, then select Mount USB Storage. This should mount your SD card on your computer. Drop the MetroPCS ROM on the SD card and unmount THROUGH RECOVERY! Then at recovery main menu, select Install zip from SD>Choose zip and select the MarvelUSc_MetroPCS_1.1.zip

Afterwords, let the ROM boot. Reboot a few times after a few Google updates. Open the Market/Play store and download A2SD GUI.


This will basically get you unlimited app space.

Edit: I typed all this out, only to realize that I never answered your question. No. You would still have to root your current ROM. Then you could remove unnecessary apps with Root Explorer. I usually DO NOT recommend this for new users because deleting a necessary system app will FUBAR a ROM. Installing a rooted+A2SD enabled ROM solves all of this in one go. I know it seems like a lot of work, but once you get unlocked and custom recovery, you shouldn't ever have to do it again. Plus, flashing a ROM is WAY easier than rooting and removing apps.

I unlocked my bootloader and when I tryed to install clockwork mod recovery it said "Model ID Incorrect! Update Fail!" Then press power to reboot :/ what happened?

 

[bobdamnit]

Ok, so I talked to a few other users and it does indeed appear as though you need S-OFF to flash recovery. So lets work on that.

Go here:
[TUTORIAL][S-OFF] Virgin Mobile CDMA S-OFF Without XTC-Clip Confirmed Working! - xda-developers

And download the files "SimpleGoldCard.zip" and "Diag Files.rar". (You'll need WinRAR or 7Zip to unzip the "rar" file.) All you really want are the files, don't use this thread to S-OFF your phone.

Use this advise to S-OFF:



Afterwords, remove the files from your SD card after the phone boots. Be sure you don't mix these files with the Recovery file. (THEY HAVE THE SAME NAME!!!) Then put the recovery file back in the SD card and boot back into hboot. My previous posts sum up how this works.

Use this post to S-Off your device. You cannot install custom recovery without S-OFF.

 

[Smartacus]

I am now in the recovery app and got to the Mounts and storage section, but there is not an option to partition the sd card.The only options are to mount or format. I am going to wait here for a response before proceeding.

This is the text at the bottom of my screen in the recovery

Wiping data...
Formatting /data...
Formatting /cache...
Formatting /sd-ext...
No app2sd partition found.skipping format of /sd-ext
formatting /sdcard/.android_secure...
Data wipe complete
davlik cache wiped
Back menu button disabled

 

[Smartacus]

This is where I am at, I got to the part in bold and the option to partition SD card is not in the list. Is there a way to fix this or do I skip it and continue?

"From here, we can install insink71's custom ROM! Head over here:
marvelUSc_metroPCS_1-1_030712.zip

From inside recovery on your phone, Wipe User Data/Factory Reset, Advanced>Wipe Dalvik, Mounts And Storage>Partition SD Card>512Mb-1024Mb (SD Size depending. I do 1024Mb.) Swap=0Mb. Select Mounts & Storage at recovery main menu, then select Mount USB Storage. This should mount your SD card on your computer. Drop the MetroPCS ROM on the SD card and unmount THROUGH RECOVERY! Then at recovery main menu, select Install zip from SD>Choose zip and select the MarvelUSc_MetroPCS_1.1.zipwing things up?

 

[AnthonyFuller]

Please help me. My HTC WildFire is stuck in bootloader. I tried installing several roms but the phone aborts all installation. Im pretty new at this stuff but i can provide this info which i believe will help diagnose my problem. Thanks in advance for help!

***UNLOCKED***
MARVELC PVT SHIP S-ON RL
HBOOT- 1.10.0001
MICROP-0354
RADIO-0.94.00.0109
Apr 17 2012, 18:21:30

 

[Caro332]

Hi Anthony,

make sure you are rooted. Unlocking the bootloader is not enough to be able to install roms