Root Don't wipe before flashing rooted stock 2.2

[novox77]

The following post refers to this particular rom:
HTC OTA Froyo 2.2, *FINAL*, build 3.36.651.6 (Rooted) Odexed - xda-developers

Before I make a blanket statement about not wiping your phone before installing, I should say that the following info is based on my personal experience.

I was coming from a rooted stock 2.1 ROM with netarchy's custom kernel. I flashed the 2.2 froyo rom + radio + wimax, rebooting between each flash. I did not wipe before flashing anything (more of an oversight rather than being intentional). When the phone booted fully, I had all of my apps, homescreen layouts, settings, etc. And no problems at all so far.

I suspect that moving from Sense rom to Sense rom also helped. Not sure what would happen if you are coming from a non-Sense ROM. But it would appear that this rooted stock 2.2 ROM, which is based on an OTA 2.2 upgrade, was designed to preserve your apps and settings. After all, who would want to accept an OTA update that forced them to reinstall/reconfigure everything?

I recommend that before you flash this 2.2 rom, do a nandroid backup, so you can always return to your current state. Then try to flash the 3 zip files without wiping first. If it works, then great. If it totally corrupts the OS, not a problem, since your bootloader and recovery are still intact. Just reboot the phone into recovery, wipe, then try again. If it still fails, then you can fall back on your nandroid backup.

 

[uniquenameEVO]

First, you are totally right about "backup first".

I updated to the rooted pre-release this weekend without wiping. Things seemed ok. I just flashed the new rom, this time AFTER wiping. I'm not far enough into using it to say if it is better.

If you are rooted, get Ti backup! First time using the restore today....I'd say it came out 99.5% perfect. App settings, everything is where I want it and right.

 

[InstantKarma]

This (the op) is my experience exactly. Didn't do a wipe for either update, figured I could later if necessary. It hasn't been necessary.

 

[rsa]

Sorry but this was not my experience. I had a stock 2.1 rom with unrevoked 3 and clockworkmod recovery and the Rom Manager.

I installed the rooted 2.2 build, the updated radio file, the updated WiMax file using Rom Manager.

Everything "looked" ok but the first thing I found was wrong keyboard, no voice command mic symbol on the keyboard, I OTA updated my wife's stock 2.1 last night and so I need to compare my rooted 2.2 and her stock 2.2 to see what the hell else is missing or configuration wrong.

In fact, I'll probably just do another install with wipe this afternoon and be done with it. The documentation is so poor on what is supposed to be in the new 2.2 release that I don't know what's there and what's not!

 

[novox77]

@rsa:

keep us posted on your results after your wipe. In particular if the problems you experienced the first time are still present, or if everything works.

Yeah, the reason I posted this thread was because for some people, the upgrade would not affect their existing build, which translates into lots of time saved trying to reinstall/configure from scratch.

And for those people who run into issues by skipping the wipe, at least they tried. I'm not familiar with unrevoked, but it stands to reason that if you are able to boot into recovery, then you can always wipe and flash another rom, so there's really no way you can possibly brick your phone with this rom.

 

[355spider]

Sorry for the ignorance but what is wiping and how do you do it? I a thinking of doing the custom 2.2 with my unrevoked3 but I have no idea how to go about it.

 

[rsa]

Sorry for the ignorance but what is wiping and how do you do it? I a thinking of doing the custom 2.2 with my unrevoked3 but I have no idea how to go about it.

I'll try to answer your question as best I can with my very limited knowledge as I am a noobie when it comes to the world of custom roms and applying them. Hell who am I kidding, I'm a noobie when it comes to Android.

This is my story, I started with a version 3 EVO with stock 2.1 and "unrevoked 3" it when unrevoked 3 first came out. I used unrevoked 3 "because I didn't know what I was doing"! Then I installed clockworkmod recovery as the replacement recovery utility. Then I installed Rom Manager Premium from the Market. Rom Manager can install clockworkmod recovery for you so that you wouldn't have to do it as a separate step like I did originally. Then I immediately did a backup of my current rom using Rom Manager so I would have copy of my rooted stock 2.1 rom. Then I used Mybackup Pro to do a backup of my apps and data. I did these two things because I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M DOING AND WANTED TO BE SAFE!

I tried to do an OTA update when the official update became available but it would not install. In all likelihood because of the custom recovery that I had installed. So I basically thought I was screwed. . . again because I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M DOING. Doing some reading I found Netarchy's rooted stock 2.2 rom and decided I had nothing to lose by trying to install it. I downloaded the 2.2 rom file, the updated radio file and the WiMax file. I copied the three files to a folder on the SD card and using Rom Manager I installed each of them, one at a time starting with the 2.2 rom file. This is where I'm current at, with a functional EVO with rooted 2.2. The phone works well, it's faster if that's possible. All the hardware seems to work just fine including WiFi and 4G. Phone calls, texting, emailing, etc., all seem fully function. The only obvious problem that I've seen so far is the wrong keyboard comes up whenever I need a keyboard. Wrong in that it does not have the voice input "mic" key. Voice input works if you do a long hold on the search button, so I know that voice translation still works but I just can't get to it from the keyboard which is how I use it all the time.

So as soon as I finish typing this I'm going to backup this copy of the rom configuration on my phone using Rom Manager to a file and then re-restore the three files all over again but with the option in Rom Manager to clear the caches when it restores. I assume (since I don't know what I'm doing) that in doing that I'll have a virgin phone and have to re-install all my apps and data. Either by using Mybackup Pro, after I reinstall it from the Market. Or having to re-install each app individually from the Market.

Now you like me know enough to probably be dangerous!

Good luck, and I'll post an update after I re-flash everything. . . . .hopefully.

 

[rsa]

Well 2 hours later and I've re-flashed everything and restored all my apps and data! My missing voice input key on my keyboard problem is gone and so not doing the wipe must have been the cause. Just a couple of broken links on app shortcuts but otherwise everything looks ok.