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Root Flashing radio tips

S

SmokyBarnable

Newbie
I'm considering rooting my phone for the purpose of flashing the radio in the hopes of getting a better signal. I had a signal using virgin mobile broadband2go usb stick but no signal with my new smart phone. What is the minimum procedure I need to do to be able to flash the radio? Also, I want to be able to use the hotspot feature and am currently paying the $15/month for the service but I'm concerned rooting my phone might stop the hotspot from working. Also, I'm curious if it is possible to connect my phone to my old cradlepoint router to create a hotspot. I probably won't do this because I don't mind paying VM for the extra gig but I'm curious if it's possible.

Thanks for any tips.
 
I am going to move this to the root section for proper advice and help.

Edit, just noticed you are with V Mobile, I assume you have the Evo V version, before I move this to the Virgin ATR section ??
 
SmokyBarnable said:
I'm considering rooting my phone for the purpose of flashing the radio in the hopes of getting a better signal. I had a signal using virgin mobile broadband2go usb stick but no signal with my new smart phone. What is the minimum procedure I need to do to be able to flash the radio? Also, I want to be able to use the hotspot feature and am currently paying the $15/month for the service but I'm concerned rooting my phone might stop the hotspot from working. Also, I'm curious if it is possible to connect my phone to my old cradlepoint router to create a hotspot. I probably won't do this because I don't mind paying VM for the extra gig but I'm curious if it's possible.

Thanks for any tips.
Click to expand...

To flash radios, You have to be S-Off. I recommend this guide here to achieve S-Off. Then someone can link you to different radios for you to try.

This is the S-Off guide here. It is most up to date, And I made a helper to go along with the guide, Making things even easier. :D

Rooting and S-offing will not effect your wifi tethering. In fact, If you achieved root, You dont even have to pay for wifi hotspot. You can use wifi tether to get around the VM 15 dollars a month.

Edit: I forgot, There is a link to different radios and Hboots in that guide, near the bottom. I think its labeled "Step four."
 
Also if you are just wanting the radio, taking the latest ota update will give you the latest radio if you want to stay stock. But yeah.... If you want to root that's the guide you want.
 
I thought the whole point of rooting and S-OFF was to be able to flash the radio and experiment with getting a better signal? If that's not the case I guess there is no reason for me to unlock my phone. I read some posts with people saying it helped improve their signal, something to do with sprint/virgin mobile towers.
 
SmokyBarnable said:
I thought the whole point of rooting and S-OFF was to be able to flash the radio and experiment with getting a better signal? If that's not the case I guess there is no reason for me to unlock my phone. I read some posts with people saying it helped improve their signal, something to do with sprint/virgin mobile towers.
Click to expand...

Updating to the latest radio doesnt require S-Off. You can just take the newest OTA, But that is the only radio you can flash while staying S-On.

Staying S-On, You cannot flash any other radios. Alot of people have been having luck with the .0530 radio, Which you will not be able to flash unless you are S-Off.

Its up to you. You can try to take the OTA, And if it doesnt improve anything, You can S-Off and flash any of the radios available for this phone.
 
And keep in mind once you apply the latest OTA update you can't go back to the radio you were previously on until you s-off.
 
SmokyBarnable said:
I thought the whole point of rooting and S-OFF was to be able to flash the radio and experiment with getting a better signal? If that's not the case I guess there is no reason for me to unlock my phone. I read some posts with people saying it helped improve their signal, something to do with sprint/virgin mobile towers.
Click to expand...

That is one benefit of rooting but i wouldn't say it's the whole point. Custom roms is a pretty big deal. For example, a lot of us are running jellybean on our phones which it will likely never see stock.
 
I think I'll go for it. Right now my signal is weak and toggles between 1x and 3g. I figure it's worth a try. I like the idea of breaking out of jail too, and if there is even the smallest chance of getting rid of the annoying VM splash screen at startup, it will all be worth it. Cheers!;)
 
SmokyBarnable said:
I think I'll go for it. Right now my signal is weak and toggles between 1x and 3g. I figure it's worth a try. I like the idea of breaking out of jail too, and if there is even the smallest chance of getting rid of the annoying VM splash screen at startup, it will all be worth it. Cheers!;)
Click to expand...

Yes you can get rid of the stock boot animation with root. You don't even need s-off to do that, but will to change radios!!
 
Ok I followed this guide and it went fine.
http://androidforums.com/evo-v-4g-all-things-root/695161-s-off-root-fix-everything-all-in-one.html

I tried flashing a few radios but my reception seems the same. Weak signal that toggles between 1x and 3G, where 3G is very usable but 1x is useless.
I tried forcing 3G using the phone info #*#4636#*# but it never seems to take, or it gets overwritten. I tried a few apps but they only seem to reset the signal and toggle airplane mode. Is there anything else I can try? I was thinking of perhaps using a hybrid PRL file next.
 
Flashing radios is your best bet. I've found that doing "Update Profile" from the Settings menu in stock-based ROMs (like Harmonia) helps the radio updates to work more smoothly. The new radio (included in my guide) works best for me, but others seem to have good luck with the radio ending in .0530 too - that's the one I used before the new one came out.
 
remanifest said:
Flashing radios is your best bet. I've found that doing "Update Profile" from the Settings menu in stock-based ROMs (like Harmonia) helps the radio updates to work more smoothly. The new radio (included in my guide) works best for me, but others seem to have good luck with the radio ending in .0530 too - that's the one I used before the new one came out.
Click to expand...

Ok, I'll keep trying different radios and updating profiles for each one. Thanks.
 
remanifest said:
Flashing radios is your best bet. I've found that doing "Update Profile" from the Settings menu in stock-based ROMs (like Harmonia) helps the radio updates to work more smoothly. The new radio (included in my guide) works best for me, but others seem to have good luck with the radio ending in .0530 too - that's the one I used before the new one came out.
Click to expand...

Can you just update the. 0530 and not mess the wimax part of it?
 
hmm...flashing to .0530 and then updating profile seemed to result in me staying on 3G, whereas before it would toggle to 1x. Considering I'm about four miles outside of Virgin Mobiles coverage area I'm pretty happy with that. Not that greatest speed but still useable. Cheers.

Oh, and I didn't bother flashing wimax since there is no 4g coverage where I am.
 
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