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Root ****HBOOT Downgrade (Working AOSP and GB ROMS)****

K

krowley3

Well-Known Member
YOU MUST BE S-OFF!!!!​

Well I was able to successfully make the same changes that I did to load the Sprint PRI and downgrade my HBOOT to the Evo 3D 1.04 ENG HBOOT. To my surprise, I decided to throw DevilsToast CM9 on and see if it would boot. And believe it or not, I am running CM9. I will update this post with more information as I get it set up to see what is working, but I can already tell there is no issue with data or calling. This will only work if you are S-OFF. Running the RUU should take you back to the stock HBOOT if you needed to return to it or you can read below.

NOTE: YOU DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK. I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE IF YOU BREAK YOU PHONE IN ANYWAY. YOU MUST BE S-OFF ALREADY.


  1. Download PG86IMG.zip
  2. Verify MD5 of download (99df68934deb03cfcec63d7b1b9cb97b)
  3. Place on the root of your sdcard
  4. Boot into Bootloader and allow it to install
  • It may boot into fastboot, so use your volume keys to select bootloader and use power button to select it. It should search automatically for the PG86IMG.zip. You will just select VOL UP to install.​

EVO 3D Roms that have been confirmed working:
DevilsToast CM9 Download
Jumping Jellybean
AOKP M6
Mobster Rom (Evo V Rom by Mobstergunz)
Harmonia by LeslieAnn (Evo V Rom)
MeanROM GB
MidnightRom (Evo V Rom by xthedakmanx)
More to come I am sure. Just let me know and I will link them.​

I am using 4EXT and it booted into safe mode until i formatted all partitions and wiped cache. I would recommend doing a nandroid backup prior to install. After you have wiped and formatted everything, select power menu and reboot into recovery to install CM9 and GAPPS. This may allow us to install GB roms as well, but I have not tested that at all.

******If for some strange reason you want to go back to the original 1.57 HBOOT you can either run the RUU or you can flash this file the same as you did the ENG HBOOT above. I have not tested this, but I pulled it directly from the RUU, so if you use it and it works fine, please let me know. Make sure you are on a rom that is compatible with it like Mobster or Harmonia otherwise you may have a bootloop issue. (IE. Dont flash the file with an AOSP rom that we know doesnt work)(MD5 Hash for 1.57 download is e79ffced363b42853d8af19aedf51e5a)******

If you set S-ON for whatever reason you must flash a SHIP(download in paragraph above) bootloader first or you will brick your phone. If you aren't sure if you need this or not odds are you probably don't, it can be extremely useful but it assumes you know what you are doing so it is much easier to brick your phone with it.

I would also like to thank Unknownforce over at XDA. That is where I got the ENG HBOOT. I then modified it to install on our device.
 
I've been waiting for this! I had no idea that our hboot was what was preventing us from booting AOSP roms. Have you tried any other roms? I'm definitely interested in trying this out, so please do upload your modified hboot!
 
omggg. that's amazing please upload, I didn't know that was all that was preventing us from booting AOSP roms ether. This is going to make soo many more roms available to us!! :)
 
Darn. Guess I will have to get S-OFF soon. Still a bit worried I may brick my phone. (And I do not have the money to buy another phone)
 
Krowley, any chance you could try this with the new 1.58 hboot from the official 3D update? The reason I ask is because the newest Venom rom (and probably others in the future) requires it. It would be great to be able to flash back and forth between that and AOSP roms without changing out hboot every time.
 
crafty35a said:
Krowley, any chance you could try this with the new 1.58 hboot from the official 3D update? The reason I ask is because the newest Venom rom (and probably others in the future) requires it. It would be great to be able to flash back and forth between that and AOSP roms without changing out hboot every time.
Click to expand...

From what little on that subject I have read, the new HBOOT 1.58 will not allow you to boot AOSP roms much like our stock HBOOT. I am sure there is or will be a file somewhere that will load that HBOOT. It looks like the update Android Revolution will install the latest HBOOT. If you are S-OFF, you will remain S-OFF therefore if you wanted to go back, you could just reflash the HBOOT I listed here. I have not tried this, but in theory it should work. I personally would rather have the HBOOT listed here for the functionality because I do not see anything in the Sprint ICS Rom that we do not have already. Besides anything based off of it will most certainly break MMS, and I am not sure if the fix that I had listed previously will take care of it.
 
Thanks for taking the plunge and trying that HBOOT downgrade. I'm gonna mess with this and see if I can get one of those Jelly Bean previews running :)
 
No luck for me so far. I installed the img from bootloader, but then I get bootloops. I can't get back into recovery because it is defaulting to bootloader, and it still sees the .img file, which seems to prevent me from being able to swap over to fastboot. Any suggestions? I guess I can try to fastboot recovery through adb.
 
crafty35a said:
No luck for me so far. I installed the img from bootloader, but then I get bootloops. I can't get back into recovery because it is defaulting to bootloader, and it still sees the .img file, which seems to prevent me from being able to swap over to fastboot. Any suggestions? I guess I can try to fastboot recovery through adb.
Click to expand...

Great job bro..if it can be confirmed by a few more users that aosp will boot that's freaking huge..I was just thinking about the whole hboot downgrade a few days ago..
 
crafty35a said:
No luck for me so far. I installed the img from bootloader, but then I get bootloops. I can't get back into recovery because it is defaulting to bootloader, and it still sees the .img file, which seems to prevent me from being able to swap over to fastboot. Any suggestions? I guess I can try to fastboot recovery through adb.
Click to expand...

You have to delete the "PG86IMG.zip" file from your sd card after it installs

thebryceee said:
Will chad's latest anthrax kernels work?
Click to expand...

They should since its only the hboot.......
 
Mobstergunz said:
You have to delete the "PG86IMG.zip" file from your sd card after it installs
Click to expand...

That makes sense... Krowley may want to mention that in the OP. I guess I will have to put my SD card in another device to delete the file, since I can't get into recovery or boot into my current rom. ADB not working either.
 
crafty35a said:
No luck for me so far. I installed the img from bootloader, but then I get bootloops. I can't get back into recovery because it is defaulting to bootloader, and it still sees the .img file, which seems to prevent me from being able to swap over to fastboot. Any suggestions? I guess I can try to fastboot recovery through adb.
Click to expand...

Did you verify the MD5 of the file? Try removing you sdcard and booting. Let me know what happens. Also what does it show at the top when it boots into the bootloader?
 
Has anybody else had any issues? I want to make sure it is working for others, so let me know if it worked for you.
 
krowley3 said:
Did you verify the MD5 of the file? Try removing you sdcard and booting. Let me know what happens.
Click to expand...

Yes, the MD5 was fine. I know the issue. I was running the newest Venom rom (8/2) which requires hboot 1.57 or higher, so I got bootloops immediately after downgrading to 1.40. I will remove the .img file by dropping my sd card in another device, then I should be able to get into recovery and move forward.
 
God damn it..I wanna try this out so dang bad..but I'm at work and running service calls..have no way to delete the pmgimage once flashed without a pc..atleast not that I can think of
 
crafty35a said:
Yes, the MD5 was fine. I know the issue. I was running the newest Venom rom (8/2) which requires hboot 1.57 or higher, so I got bootloops immediately after downgrading to 1.40. I will remove the .img file by dropping my sd card in another device, then I should be able to get into recovery and move forward.
Click to expand...

Good to know.....I was ready to pull the download because I don't want this to cause problems for anybody.
 
johnny424 said:
God damn it..I wanna try this out so dang bad..but I'm at work and running service calls..have no way to delete the pmgimage once flashed without a pc..atleast not that I can think of
Click to expand...

If you are running a ROM like Harmonia (that is what I was running) it should boot back up just fine after the install and then use a file explorer to remove it.
 
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