• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Root After update - can I restore a saved custom ROM?

M

magohn

Android Enthusiast
Hello all,

A long story but I went back to stock and unrooted to attempt to take the OTA official update. After waiting 3 weeks on stock with no arrival of the update, I attempted to root and manually install the update. I thought I was successful but on then installling Harmonia I see I was not - Im still on 1.13.

My question is: Can I keep using Harmonia, set up all my apps how I like them and when I see there is movement on the OTA update to other forum users, can I backup my Harmonia OS (using 4EXT), go back to stock and unrooted, and then return back to my backed-up OS and apps post update?

I ask becasue I dont want to spend hours setting my Harmonia OS back up only to have to wipe it to take the update when it finally arrives and have to start from scratch again on Harmonia.

Thanks all.
 
Honestly, I don't think you need to be S-Off for the update...if the radio is a signed update, you don't need to be S-Off, S-On will suffice.
 
Prinny said:
Honestly, I don't think you need to be S-Off for the update...if the radio is a signed update, you don't need to be S-Off, S-On will suffice.
Click to expand...

Do you have any idea how I could go about installing the update now Im on Harmonia and S-ON? I found the update file in the 'Update' thread. I had reverted to stock. However, to install it I needed to install a recovery.img that would allow me to flash the zip file. So I rooted and attempted the update. It appeared to update and on stock it stated I was on 1.14. I was thrilled and immediately installed Harmonia. Now on Harmonia it states Im back to 1.13. :(

I have the update on the root of my SD card. I have 4EXT but the update runs but doesnt seem to 'take'.

So other that S-OFF, is there any way I can get this update installed?

THANK you.
 
Did you find the updates from krowley in the thread I started? He posted a CWM flashable and a radio image.
 
Prinny said:
Did you find the updates from krowley in the thread I started? He posted a CWM flashable and a radio image.
Click to expand...

Hi Prinny,

I tried to install the file that you put in a 'dropbox' location. Is that the wrong one?

It would be much appreciated if you could point to the right file and a sentence on how to install it. Thanks!
 
Prinny said:
That should be the PG86IMG.zip

Put it on the root of your SD card, and go into bootloader. SHOULD flash since I believe its signed.
Click to expand...
That file is bits of the firmware so I don't think it is signed by HTC and won't flash for an S-ON user.

There are two ways to go in this situation. You can either (1) flash a stock(ish) ROM and go for S-OFF with the wire trick, then you can flash the PG86IMG.zip firmware file, or (2) relock your bootloader and flash the RUU.exe then take the OTA update while in the stock configuration. After you take the OTA you will need to unlock and re-root again.

Regardless of how you decide to go I recommend that you do a nandroid (4EXT) backup now to make sure you don't lose anything.

ramjet73
 
Doing it wrong.

You have to power off, hold volume down, then press power button.

This will take you to bootloader which will find the PG86IMG.zip file and attempt to flash it. However, since you are s-on, it won't let you.

1.13 is the rom version.

You just need the updated radio. Rom version doesn't matter.
 
mrawesome22 said:
Doing it wrong.

You have to power off, hold volume down, then press power button.

This will take you to bootloader which will find the PG86IMG.zip file and attempt to flash it. However, since you are s-on, it won't let you.

1.13 is the rom version.

You just need the updated radio. Rom version doesn't matter.
Click to expand...

Mr Prinny feels that the file will install even with S-ON so thats what i was trying.

THANKS though. Your explanation did install the zip file. If 1.13 is the Rom version, how do i tell on harmonia what my radio # is and what should it be if its updated?

Baseband is still 1.06

Thanks!
 
Bootloader and recovery are 2 different things.

Mr Prinny is wrong.

You can't flash a radio firmware update while in recovery. Period.

It must be done while still in the low level state of the bootloader.
 
mrawesome22 said:
Bootloader and recovery are 2 different things.

Mr Prinny is wrong.

You can't flash a radio firmware update while in recovery. Period.

It must be done while still in the low level state of the bootloader.
Click to expand...

Thanks Mr Awesome. Then I guess I better try the 'wire trick' :)

Ive been dreading it.
 
magohn said:
Mr Prinny feels that the file will install even with S-ON so thats what i was trying. What you explain for getting into the bootloader is the exact same thing that 4ext does - it boots you into TWRP recovery - I believe.

Thanks though.
Click to expand...

That should take you into the bootloader not your recovery. And as far as I'm aware, you can't flash radios being s-on but instead of checking your build number see what your baseband says, the update will say 1.09.00.476. The rest of the update was some minor changes to the framework which doesn't really change much and has already been incorporated into most custom roms. The updated radio is the only thing that matters.
 
magohn,

Just make sure you put in a spare SD card before you do the wire thing, and you'll be fine.

I waited all of 6-7 hours for the update before I said "screw it". You should be admired for your patience.
 
It's easy.

When it tells you to do it, keep this your head.

Hold, one one thousand, lift, one one thousand, hold.
 
Everyone's somewhat right in this situation. ;)

If the file is an RUU zip (extracted from an RUU.exe) signed by HTC it can be flashed from the bootloader with S-ON and it will update everything to stock including the firmware. In this case, the PG86IMG.zip file is not signed by HTC so S-OFF is required to flash it.

It's also true that firmware, including the bootloader, cannot be updated from recovery even with S-OFF, and has to be flashed with fastboot commands from a PC, an RUU.exe from Windows or a PG86IMG.zip file from the bootloader.

ramjet73
 
mrawesome22 said:
Correct.

The problem is there is no ruu YET, that contains the new radio.
Click to expand...
True, but as I said in my earlier post after flashing the RUU.exe you should be able to take the OTA the normal way which will update the firmware. If you compare the contents of the full OTA zip file that prinny posted to the firmware bits in the PG86IMG.zip you will see that there are more files than what has been included in that firmware zip file, and my experience has been that it's usually better to apply the full update. In this case, the firmware only zip may work fine for S-OFF users.

That's why my preference is to use the stock RUU.exe as a base and flash the OTA the way it was designed to make sure all the updates are properly applied, at least unless/until an updated RUU is available. That's the closest you can get to an updated RUU at this point.

ramjet73
 
UPDATE: Im now S-OFF, rooted and updated :)

I got tired of waiting for the OTA update on stock (3 weeks) and so this finally forced me to go S-OFF. The hardest part was finding the suitable wire.

THANK YOU ALL for your patience and advice.

Should be a fun weekend of roms :):):)

BTW- After getting S-OFF, I booted into Harmonia with no issues :)

4kcx9v.png
 
ramjet73 said:
That file is bits of the firmware so I don't think it is signed by HTC and won't flash for an S-ON user.

There are two ways to go in this situation. You can either (1) flash a stock(ish) ROM and go for S-OFF with the wire trick, then you can flash the PG86IMG.zip firmware file, or (2) relock your bootloader and flash the RUU.exe then take the OTA update while in the stock configuration. After you take the OTA you will need to unlock and re-root again.

Regardless of how you decide to go I recommend that you do a nandroid (4EXT) backup now to make sure you don't lose anything.

ramjet73
Click to expand...

There is a third option that nobody seems to know about:

The Evo 3D Stock recovery, found here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1554777 works fine on the Evo V 4G.

I was on stock everything (hboot 1.57, stock kernal, stock rom) EXCEPT recovery (had TWRP 2.3.1), S-ON, with the Superuser patch. I used joeykrim's Flash Image GUI app to flash this stock recovery (tried to flash with android terminal, couldn't make it work, decided $0.99 is worth making this easy).

I then went to "system updates" and the update installed fine using this recovery.

This saves all of your settings and data, but you will have to re-root though adb afterwards, because the update breaks superuser.
 
Regulus19 said:
There is a third option that nobody seems to know about:

The Evo 3D Stock recovery, found here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1554777 works fine on the Evo V 4G.

I was on stock everything (hboot 1.57, stock kernal, stock rom) EXCEPT recovery (had TWRP 2.3.1), S-ON, with the Superuser patch. I used joeykrim's Flash Image GUI app to flash this stock recovery (tried to flash with android terminal, couldn't make it work, decided $0.99 is worth making this easy).

I then went to "system updates" and the update installed fine using this recovery.

This saves all of your settings and data, but you will have to re-root though adb afterwards, because the update breaks superuser.
Click to expand...

Cool, this can make it easier for those who haven't taken the s-off plunge, anyone who's interested in the flash image gui app from joeykrim can find the app and the dev's thread at: http://forum.sdx-developers.com/index.php?topic=14034
 
ramjet73 said:
True, but as I said in my earlier post after flashing the RUU.exe you should be able to take the OTA the normal way which will update the firmware. If you compare the contents of the full OTA zip file that prinny posted to the firmware bits in the PG86IMG.zip you will see that there are more files than what has been included in that firmware zip file, and my experience has been that it's usually better to apply the full update. In this case, the firmware only zip may work fine for S-OFF users.

That's why my preference is to use the stock RUU.exe as a base and flash the OTA the way it was designed to make sure all the updates are properly applied, at least unless/until an updated RUU is available. That's the closest you can get to an updated RUU at this point.

ramjet73
Click to expand...

How we do it from the stock ruu and flash the ota properly
 
pancho32392 said:
How we do it from the stock ruu and flash the ota properly
Click to expand...

But that was my problem. Three weeks ago I reverted to complete stock and unrooted just to get the official patch. Then after waiting 3 weeks for the OTA and NOTHING coming I got impatient. I must have checked for that update over 100 times and all l got was "System is up to date". Last night I went S-OFF out of sheer frustration with waiting while being on stock. I did not want to be on stock over the holidays as we are heading out of town and I needed some apps that require root - WiFi tether etc.

Trust me, I wanted the official OTA update but simply got tired of waiting.
 
Regulus19 said:
There is a third option that nobody seems to know about:

The Evo 3D Stock recovery, found here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1554777 works fine on the Evo V 4G.

I was on stock everything (hboot 1.57, stock kernal, stock rom) EXCEPT recovery (had TWRP 2.3.1), S-ON, with the Superuser patch. I used joeykrim's Flash Image GUI app to flash this stock recovery (tried to flash with android terminal, couldn't make it work, decided $0.99 is worth making this easy).

I then went to "system updates" and the update installed fine using this recovery.

This saves all of your settings and data, but you will have to re-root though adb afterwards, because the update breaks superuser.
Click to expand...

My problem (on stock) and others on the forum is that we werent getting the OTA - just got tired of waiting - 3 weeks!

Thanks though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom