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

Root I think I'm ready to explore ROMs. Some questions...

M

Mateo1041

Member
I rooted a few months ago and have enjoyed it so far. I'm on an HTC EVO 4G phone. I now feel I'm ready to try a ROM and accomplish the following goals:


  • Get rid of the annoying Sprint OS update messages.
  • Remove bloatware

Here are some questions before I begin:


  1. What's one of the most widely supported and popular ROM packages, taking into consideration that I'm a newbie? CyanogenMod?
  2. Will installing a new ROM accomplish my two goals above?
  3. Do ROMs self-update, or would I need to re-flash on a periodic basis?
  4. Will I lose any Sprint-specific functionality? For example, I like how Sprint incorporates with Google Voice so that everything looks like it's coming from my Google Voice number instead. Also, what about voicemail?
  5. Do ROMs wipe everything? I'm assuming I'd need to back everything up prior.
  6. Any other tips?

Thanks!
 
As far as roms go i would start with Mikg They are the most stable and have bloat removed including CIQ also everything works with a lot more options. You can down load it here
http://bit.ly/rHnCUg
Just be shure to do a nandroid backup in recovery with wimax just incase something goes wrong.
 
Mateo1041 said:
I rooted a few months ago and have enjoyed it so far. I'm on an HTC EVO 4G phone. I now feel I'm ready to try a ROM and accomplish the following goals:


  • Get rid of the annoying Sprint OS update messages.
  • Remove bloatware

Here are some questions before I begin:


  1. What's one of the most widely supported and popular ROM packages, taking into consideration that I'm a newbie? CyanogenMod?

    Cyanogenmod is very popular, but it's going to be a lot different than your Sprint rom. It does not have HTC Sense installed (this is HTC's custom Android overlay) so you wouldn't be able to use the Sense interface or widgets. I run Cyanogenmod or its variations quite a bit and don't miss HTC Sense one bit, but others vastly prefer Sense.

    I would recommend starting with MikG 2.61 or the most recent 3.0 beta.
  2. Will installing a new ROM accomplish my two goals above?

    Yes and yes. Although you should be able to disable Sprint update notifications on your stock rom.
  3. Do ROMs self-update, or would I need to re-flash on a periodic basis?

    They do NOT self update. You would need to flash updates.
  4. Will I lose any Sprint-specific functionality? For example, I like how Sprint incorporates with Google Voice so that everything looks like it's coming from my Google Voice number instead. Also, what about voicemail?

    Google Voice still works. I use it for voicemail but I always use my regular phone number.
  5. Do ROMs wipe everything? I'm assuming I'd need to back everything up prior.

    You assume correctly. The ROM itself doesn't wipe anything. You will need to wipe prior to flashing the ROM.
  6. Any other tips?

    Always, always, ALWAYS make sure you have at least one good nandroid backup on your phone and saved on your PC. These are essentially a restore point, so if you ever flash anything that messes up your phone, you can restore the nandroid backup in recovery and put your phone back into a working state. Hopefully you already did this when you rooted.

    Also, I would HIGHLY recommend Amon RA 2.3 as your recovery before you start wiping or flashing. What recovery version do you have?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Good luck!
 
Thanks! I use GO Launcher EX, so presume I'd be able to still use the same with Cyanogenmod if I went that route. I really don't use Sprint's widgets.

I'll look into disabling Sprint notifications for now. I hadn't realized this was something I could already do, although it probably doesn't matter much at this point if I flash a new ROM anyway.

I do have some backups which I assume are good. I backed up the entire SD Card to my PC just in case. This includes both backups I made, both today and when I initially rooted in August.

Thanks for the tip on Amon RA 2.3. I used "revolutionary-0.4pre4.zip" initially. How would I install Amon RA? Is that a ROM I need to install in some way, or something that would reside as a regular app?
 
Mateo1041 said:
I rooted a few months ago and have enjoyed it so far. I'm on an HTC EVO 4G phone. I now feel I'm ready to try a ROM and accomplish the following goals:


  • Get rid of the annoying Sprint OS update messages.
  • Remove bloatware

Here are some questions before I begin:


  1. What's one of the most widely supported and popular ROM packages, taking into consideration that I'm a newbie? CyanogenMod?
  2. Will installing a new ROM accomplish my two goals above?
  3. Do ROMs self-update, or would I need to re-flash on a periodic basis?
  4. Will I lose any Sprint-specific functionality? For example, I like how Sprint incorporates with Google Voice so that everything looks like it's coming from my Google Voice number instead. Also, what about voicemail?
  5. Do ROMs wipe everything? I'm assuming I'd need to back everything up prior.
  6. Any other tips?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

make sure to read my guide a Flash for us all (in my sig) it will help answer some of your questions and prepare you for the venture. Also MizzouBrent is absolutely correct on all accounts :D
 
I personally am not a huge fan on Sense and I love Decks 1.3 that's built off of CM7 but further slimmed down and its great on battery and performance. Here is my process for everything.

1) Backup everything (SD Card and Nandroid)

**Update to Amon RA 2.3 (Instructions are listed)

2) Download everything you need for your new ROM (I have listed my setup)

-ROM: [10-11-11][ROM] gingerbread-evo-deck [1.3][2.3.7 Stable] #Stablistic - xda-developers

-Kernel: [KERNEL][AOSP][2.6.38.7] - Savaged-Zen v2.2.1! [HAVS+CFS/BFS!] UPDATED 6/1! - xda-developers or [Kernel][AOSP] Tiamat 4.1.0 | 2.6.38.8 10/13/11 - xda-developers (3.3.7) Kernel varies by phone, Savage works great on my phone.

- GApps: Download gapps 20110828 zip (Includes Visual Voicemail)

- GPS Fix

- VR_SUPERWIPE (does not touch SD card, I run twice)

- ViperMOD Voltage Control

3) Partition your SD card if you not have done so already

4) While in recovery mount your SD card and transfer all of the files you downloaded to the root of your SD card.

5) Flash the files. I do mine in this order VR_SUPERWIPE (2x), ROM, GApps, Kernel, GPS Fix, and ViperMod

6) Reboot and setup your deivce

7) Follow this guide to get the best performance from your device [GUIDE] Car-o-Dope's Supersonic Tweaking Guide v1.0.2 12/04/11 - Vaelek's Place

8) Enjoy!

Hope this helps you :)

PS: Here are the instructions for ViperMod.

1. Open up terminal emulator
2. Type su, then enter.[Give permission] Type vipermod, then enter
3. Input option 2 and then 2 again
That's as far as Ive gone with voltages. Some people can undervolt more, I cant
4. Save your settings by inputting option 10
5. Reboot
P.S. If you are experiencing any freezes/random reboots, raise your voltages by 25 until the probem is fixed.

CPU Tweaks
Settings >Advanced settings > Performance > CPU settings

Set governor to INTERACTIVE X
Tweak CPU frequency to your liking
Check Set on boot
 
Mateo1041 said:
Thanks! I use GO Launcher EX, so presume I'd be able to still use the same with Cyanogenmod if I went that route. I really don't use Sprint's widgets.

I'll look into disabling Sprint notifications for now. I hadn't realized this was something I could already do, although it probably doesn't matter much at this point if I flash a new ROM anyway.

I do have some backups which I assume are good. I backed up the entire SD Card to my PC just in case. This includes both backups I made, both today and when I initially rooted in August.

Thanks for the tip on Amon RA 2.3. I used "revolutionary-0.4pre4.zip" initially. How would I install Amon RA? Is that a ROM I need to install in some way, or something that would reside as a regular app?
Click to expand...

Amon RA is a recovery. Much better than Clockwork.
 
Mateo1041 said:
Thanks! I use GO Launcher EX, so presume I'd be able to still use the same with Cyanogenmod if I went that route. I really don't use Sprint's widgets.

I'll look into disabling Sprint notifications for now. I hadn't realized this was something I could already do, although it probably doesn't matter much at this point if I flash a new ROM anyway.

I do have some backups which I assume are good. I backed up the entire SD Card to my PC just in case. This includes both backups I made, both today and when I initially rooted in August.

Thanks for the tip on Amon RA 2.3. I used "revolutionary-0.4pre4.zip" initially. How would I install Amon RA? Is that a ROM I need to install in some way, or something that would reside as a regular app?
Click to expand...
Very nice. Yes, if you use GoLauncher, you will be just fine on Cyanogenmod7. However, I would recommend evo-deck-gingerbread. It's basically a stripped down version of CM7 that is built more for the Evo. CM7 is developed across many devices, so this build (IMHO) is a bit faster and more efficient. It's my daily driver right now.

Amon RA
[Recovery] [09-Feb-2011] RA-supersonic-v2.3 - xda-developers
In the OP, go to the "download" section and get the PC36IMG.zip file and place it in the root of your sd card (This means don't put it in any folders...the top level of your sd card).

Install using "the bootloader way" in the same post. This will replace clockwork. I would make a backup immediately after doing this. When you make a backup in Amon RA, you have the ability to select what you want to back up. Just choose everything.

Here is the link for Deck
Download gingerbread evo deck zip

IMPORTANT: When flashing an aosp rom, you need to flash google apps (Gapps) which contain market, and the ability to sign into your google account
http://goo-inside.me/gapps/gapps-gb-20110828-signed.zip
http://goo-inside.me/gapps/gapps-gb-20110828-newtalk-signed.zip

The 2nd link above is the version of google talk that supports video chat.

And here is the best aosp kernel. I would get 3.3.7. It's the consensus best one out there. Get sbc or not, your choice.
HTC Evo 4G
 
nolimit06 said:
I personally am not a huge fan on Sense and I love Decks 1.3 that's built off of CM7 but further slimmed down and its great on battery and performance. Here is my process for everything.

1) Backup everything (SD Card and Nandroid)

**Update to Amon RA 2.3 (Instructions are listed)

2) Download everything you need for your new ROM (I have listed my setup)
-ROM: [10-11-11][ROM] gingerbread-evo-deck [1.3][2.3.7 Stable] #Stablistic - xda-developers

-Kernel: [KERNEL][AOSP][2.6.38.7] - Savaged-Zen v2.2.1! [HAVS+CFS/BFS!] UPDATED 6/1! - xda-developers or [Kernel][AOSP] Tiamat 4.1.0 | 2.6.38.8 10/13/11 - xda-developers (3.3.7) Kernel varies by phone, Savage works great on my phone.

- GApps: Download gapps 20110828 zip (Includes Visual Voicemail)

- GPS Fix

- VR_SUPERWIPE (does not touch SD card, I run twice)

- ViperMOD Voltage Control

3) Partition your SD card if you not have done so already

4) While in recovery mount your SD card and transfer all of the files you downloaded to the root of your SD card.

5) Flash the files. I do mine in this order VR_SUPERWIPE (2x), ROM, GApps, Kernel, GPS Fix, and ViperMod

6) Reboot and setup your deivce

7) Follow this guide to get the best performance from your device [GUIDE] Car-o-Dope's Supersonic Tweaking Guide v1.0.2 12/04/11 - Vaelek's Place

8) Enjoy!

Hope this helps you :)
Click to expand...
Wow, the ninja post of the year!
 
nolimit06 said:
I personally am not a huge fan on Sense and I love Decks 1.3 that's built off of CM7 but further slimmed down and its great on battery and performance. Here is my process for everything.

1) Backup everything (SD Card and Nandroid)

2) Download everything you need for your new ROM (I have listed my setup)
-ROM: [10-11-11][ROM] gingerbread-evo-deck [1.3][2.3.7 Stable] #Stablistic - xda-developers

-Kernel: [KERNEL][AOSP][2.6.38.7] - Savaged-Zen v2.2.1! [HAVS+CFS/BFS!] UPDATED 6/1! - xda-developers or [Kernel][AOSP] Tiamat 4.1.0 | 2.6.38.8 10/13/11 - xda-developers (3.3.7) Kernel varies by phone, Savage works great on my phone.

- GApps: Download gapps 20110828 zip (Includes Visual Voicemail)

- GPS Fix

- VR_SUPERWIPE (does not touch SD card, I run twice)

- ViperMOD Voltage Control

3) Partition your SD card if you not have done so already

4) While in recovery mount your SD card and transfer all of the files you downloaded to the root of your SD card.

5) Flash the files. I do mine in this order VR_SUPERWIPE (2x), ROM, GApps, Kernel, GPS Fix, and ViperMod

6) Reboot and setup your deivce

7) Follow this guide to get the best performance from your device [GUIDE] Car-o-Dope's Supersonic Tweaking Guide v1.0.2 12/04/11 - Vaelek's Place

8) Enjoy!

Hope this helps you :)
Click to expand...

Thanks! Helpful, but a lot of detail that I'll be honest is a bit confusing to me as a newbie. Kernels don't come bundled with ROMs? Can I keep the same Kernel? Do I absolutely need stuff like GPS Fix, ViperMod, and GApps? Or are these just other cool things you can do with your phone? How widely supported is Decks? I admittedly get a bit edgy when the primarily home for something is a thread. :-) Is it well tested?
 
MizzouBrent said:
Very nice. Yes, if you use GoLauncher, you will be just fine on Cyanogenmod7. However, I would recommend evo-deck-gingerbread. It's basically a stripped down version of CM7 that is built more for the Evo. CM7 is developed across many devices, so this build (IMHO) is a bit faster and more efficient. It's my daily driver right now.

Amon RA
[Recovery] [09-Feb-2011] RA-supersonic-v2.3 - xda-developers
In the OP, go to the "download" section and get the PC36IMG.zip file and place it in the root of your sd card (This means don't put it in any folders...the top level of your sd card).

Install using "the bootloader way" in the same post. This will replace clockwork. I would make a backup immediately after doing this. When you make a backup in Amon RA, you have the ability to select what you want to back up. Just choose everything.

Here is the link for Deck
Download gingerbread evo deck zip

IMPORTANT: When flashing an aosp rom, you need to flash google apps (Gapps) which contain market, and the ability to sign into your google account
http://goo-inside.me/gapps/gapps-gb-20110828-signed.zip
http://goo-inside.me/gapps/gapps-gb-20110828-newtalk-signed.zip

The 2nd link above is the version of google talk that supports video chat.

And here is the best aosp kernel. I would get 3.3.7. It's the consensus best one out there. Get sbc or not, your choice.
HTC Evo 4G
Click to expand...

This is very helpful. I can hack just about anything in Windows (even hacked my DOS prompt once via hex editor), but feel like a complete idiot in the phone world. When we're talking about flashing, do I just flash one thing after another, or do things need to go somewhere special like directories?
 
Mateo1041 said:
Thanks! Helpful, but a lot of detail that I'll be honest is a bit confusing to me as a newbie. Kernels don't come bundled with ROMs? Can I keep the same Kernel? Do I absolutely need stuff like GPS Fix, ViperMod, and GApps? Or are these just other cool things you can do with your phone? How widely supported is Decks? I admittedly get a bit edgy when the primarily home for something is a thread. :-) Is it well tested?
Click to expand...

Kernels are included but they are not that great for performance or battery life in most cases. GPS Fix is not required but if you are having GPS issues then this file will fix your problem. GApps is needed as this is all of the Google applications needed to run your phone (Market, Setup Wizard, ETC) Decks is widely supported and he has just started working on a ICS port as well. Check out the thread I posted for that ROM and you will see it is supported quite well.

I was in your shoes just a few weeks ago with a new android phone and never rooting or flashing. Rooting was the hard part, flashing in the fun/easy part ;) If you follow my steps you should have no problems and if you do that's what we are here for :)

Good Luck!

PS: I have updated my post with instructions for ViperMod and CPU tweaks.
 
Mateo1041 said:
This is very helpful. I can hack just about anything in Windows (even hacked my DOS prompt once via hex editor), but feel like a complete idiot in the phone world. When we're talking about flashing, do I just flash one thing after another, or do things need to go somewhere special like directories?
Click to expand...

read the guide it will help
 
For new people to ROMS, I would suggest staying away from AOSP (cyanogenMOD) for now. There is just too many things you have to fix to get it working right. Flash MikG 2.61 and get it set up properly. It will look like stock but be fast, smooth, have the wifi hotspot hacked so its free, and just simply works. Once you get that all stable you can start playing around with AOSP later if you so choose to.
 
Yep we have all been there. I would trust everyone here way over the videos that you find out there. A lot of the videos are of someone just flashing roms or mods to show how to do it but not using them on a daily basis. There are so many flashahaulics here some one can always help u out.
 
Rxpert83 said:
For new people to ROMS, I would suggest staying away from AOSP (cyanogenMOD) for now. There is just too many things you have to fix to get it working right. Flash MikG 2.61 and get it set up properly. It will look like stock but be fast, smooth, have the wifi hotspot hacked so its free, and just simply works. Once you get that all stable you can start playing around with AOSP later if you so choose to.
Click to expand...

Not sure what needs to be fixed besides the GPS issue, I've never had any problems.
 
Thanks everyone. I think I'm getting the hang of it.

One thing I neglected to do was completely wipe the SD Card, although I did do the Superwipe ROM. Do I need to start over, wipe all non-ROM files at this point (while in the middle of installing ROMs), or just continue on as is?

EDIT: Asked in chat and decided to continue on. Everything seems to be working well at this point, thanks to you all! I ended up using pretty much every piece of info in this thread. Performing one last full backup now before messing with apps.
 
Mateo1041 said:
Thanks everyone. I think I'm getting the hang of it.

One thing I neglected to do was completely wipe the SD Card, although I did do the Superwipe ROM. Do I need to start over, wipe all non-ROM files at this point (while in the middle of installing ROMs), or just continue on as is?

EDIT: Asked in chat and decided to continue on. Everything seems to be working well at this point, thanks to you all! I ended up using pretty much every piece of info in this thread. Performing one last full backup now before messing with apps.
Click to expand...


Rock on! I've never needed to wipe the SD card. What did you flash?
 
MizzouBrent said:
Rock on! I've never needed to wipe the SD card. What did you flash?
Click to expand...

VR_SUPERWIPE, ROM, GApps, Kernel, and GPS Fix. I used the kernel you recommended with the battery option (had to look that one up). Also the Deck ROM you recommended. I have a few post-flash questions I'll pose in another thread, but other than that, everything seems to be working well! I thought the process would take me all weekend to figure out and because of this thread, it only took me a few hours! Had fun staying up until 1:30am last night playing. :-)
 
Rxpert83 said:
Dont wipe the SD card!

Thats got your ROM to be flashed and all your files on it.


Wipe everything EXCEPT the SD card.
Click to expand...

Good thing I didn't then! I think the following two steps just threw me for a loop:

3) Partition your SD card if you not have done so already

4) While in recovery mount your SD card and transfer all of the files you downloaded to the root of your SD card.
Click to expand...
 
Mateo1041 said:
VR_SUPERWIPE, ROM, GApps, Kernel, and GPS Fix. I used the kernel you recommended with the battery option (had to look that one up). Also the Deck ROM you recommended. I have a few post-flash questions I'll pose in another thread, but other than that, everything seems to be working well! I thought the process would take me all weekend to figure out and because of this thread, it only took me a few hours! Had fun staying up until 1:30am last night playing. :-)
Click to expand...
Nice, the deck rom is really nice. Don't get me wrong the CM team does great work, and deck's rom would not exist without it, but it is more finely tuned for our phones.
 
Couldn't have done it without you guys pointing me in the right direction. :-) There's an avalanche of Android info out there and to narrow that down to just the HTC EVO 4G would have been very tough otherwise!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom