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Root My Hero 2.2 ?

Got myself a HTC Hero and a Contact from Orange here in the UK, and heard its faster if i install a diffenert rom or something like that.
Knowing that there will be no 2.2 for Hero and that 2.2 is alot faster then 2.1, makes me want to still upgrade.

Its scary for me , i have a contract with orange that gives me so many mins and text's monthly.Don't want to lose that its very important.

Heard that i can overclock the phone, would it be safe at about 600MHz? some people are saying they get 740MHz but i would only need 600MHz.

Also heard that roms are crap ? not sure if thats true?.
I like to game and browse the web and use financial apps like stocks and savings etc.

Saw the original interface and loved it i would like that instead of this black sense stuff.

The biggest thing is how safe and how easy is it, i flashed about 4 psp's in the past if that helps.
Must keep my orange.

Ps. i still would like to keep my multitouch and would love to install live wallpapers
 
Every hero can handle 710, some can do 725/740. But battery drain and heat generation does increase as you overclock, so a lower frequency is safer yes. You will be able to switch it to somewhere around 600 if you want.

I don't know what you mean about ROMs being crap. The custom rom version of the Hero's 2.1 gets better reviews than he official 2.1 for instance. In general custom ROMs can perform much better :) (There are more cutting edge/experimental roms out there that perform poorly, but you can just avoid those).

The stock android interface is your only choice with 2.2, so it's a good thing you like it :D You can find themes for the more popular custom ROMs however, if you want a bit of a change. You do lose all HTC apps and widgets by switching to stock android.

It's easy and pretty safe. The only way to permanently break your phone is to screw up flashing a radio (And even then, you won't make a mistake if you just read the instructions carefully). You don't have to switch radios if you don't want to.

(Ok, that's not completely true. Flashing things you shouldn't be flashing could mess it up too. For instance, you should not flash anything for Sprint/CDMA heroes on a GSM (European) hero like ours).

There are instructions at the bottom of the sticky in the all things root section :)

I recommend Elelinx or villain 1.7.x if you want a good 2.2 ROM.

Unfortunately livewallpapers perform poorly at best with our phone's processor, especially 3D ones. So you may be disappointed there.
 
Every hero can handle 710, some can do 725/740. But battery drain and heat generation does increase as you overclock, so a lower frequency is safer yes. You will be able to switch it to somewhere around 600 if you want.

I don't know what you mean about ROMs being crap. The custom rom version of the Hero's 2.1 gets better reviews than he official 2.1 for instance. In general custom ROMs can perform much better :) (There are more cutting edge/experimental roms out there that perform poorly, but you can just avoid those).

The stock android interface is your only choice with 2.2, so it's a good thing you like it :D You can find themes for the more popular custom ROMs however, if you want a bit of a change. You do lose all HTC apps and widgets by switching to stock android.

It's easy and pretty safe. The only way to permanently break your phone is to screw up flashing a radio (And even then, you won't make a mistake if you just read the instructions carefully). You don't have to switch radios if you don't want to.

(Ok, that's not completely true. Flashing things you shouldn't be flashing could mess it up too. For instance, you should not flash anything for Sprint/CDMA heroes on a GSM (European) hero like ours).

There are instructions at the bottom of the sticky in the all things root section :)

I recommend Elelinx or villain 1.7.x if you want a good 2.2 ROM.

Unfortunately livewallpapers perform poorly at best with our phone's processor, especially 3D ones. So you may be disappointed there.

Thanks so this means i can keep my orange contract yes ?.

GSM ? thats the UK version yes with the chin right? ,i like the chin makes it feel like a "mans" phone lol.

Whats the diffenert's between Elelinx or Villain ?.

I can see why you are a mod your the best i ever seen in many forums no joke.
 
For one, Elelinux and Villain are created by different people and one might be more stable than the other and of course the UI(user interface). But I actually dont know, I'm still using my Villainrom 12 rom, I'm too scared to lose my sense apps and perks, even though they're barely noticeable(like using the volume rocker to put my phone on silent while in my pocket cause vanilla roms cant do that from what i can tell).

Anywho, if you can live without sense unlike me, I would recommend villain 1.7 mostly because of the themes and the villainrom guys feel a bit more reliable to me. But yeah, it's just me. I'm not too sure about performance, that's Xyro's domain I guess.
 
For one, Elelinux and Villain are created by different people and one might be more stable than the other and of course the UI(user interface). But I actually dont know, I'm still using my Villainrom 12 rom, I'm too scared to lose my sense apps and perks, even though they're barely noticeable(like using the volume rocker to put my phone on silent while in my pocket cause vanilla roms cant do that from what i can tell).

Anywho, if you can live without sense unlike me, I would recommend villain 1.7 mostly because of the themes and the villainrom guys feel a bit more reliable to me. But yeah, it's just me. I'm not too sure about performance, that's Xyro's domain I guess.

Thank you very much all i need to know now is the question below ;)
If i root and install lets say "FroydVillain" (looks nice and fast and stable) will i still be able to use my orange contract because i get 300 mins montly.
 
Thanks so this means i can keep my orange contract yes ?.

GSM ? thats the UK version yes with the chin right? ,i like the chin makes it feel like a "mans" phone lol.

Whats the diffenert's between Elelinx or Villain ?.

I can see why you are a mod your the best i ever seen in many forums no joke.

Yeah, you have the GSM one (the other type of Hero wouldn't work in the UK).

All of the 2.2 ROMs are built off the same code (which is called cyanogen). Each dev includes a few tweaks of their own, but the differences aren't massive to be honest. Elelinux is my personal preference, but honestly they are both good ROMs.

Cheers :)

'm too scared to lose my sense apps and perks, even though they're barely noticeable(like using the volume rocker to put my phone on silent while in my pocket cause vanilla roms cant do that from what i can tell).

There is a second button you can slide across (like the unlock one) to put the phone on silent, but no the volume rocker doesn't work. So you still have to look to the screen.

Thank you very much all i need to know now is the question below ;)
If i root and install lets say "FroydVillain" (looks nice and fast and stable) will i still be able to use my orange contract because i get 300 mins montly.

Yeah, the ROM has nothing to do with your contract (that all relies on your SIM card). I use my phone with a T-Mobile contract.

Ok rooted the phone with How To: Root the HTC Hero (AndRoot Method) | TheUnlockr

I got superuser permisson icon now under appslist and it told be after doing so sucess, how can i test thats its really working?.

Is there any guide on installing FroydVillain 1.7.2 ?, i cant really find any guide up to date?.
If i install a custom interface can carry on using orange as my network ?.

It's probably rooted, but if you install an app called 'Titanium Backup' (the worlds most useful app for switching between ROMs :)) then it will check for you. It might complain about not being able to find 'busybox', but if you hit the button that says 'Problems?' on the main page it will install that for you. Then it will tell you if you're rooted.

There's a guide to installing a custom ROM halfway down this sticky.
 
Yeah, you have the GSM one (the other type of Hero wouldn't work in the UK).

All of the 2.2 ROMs are built off the same code (which is called cyanogen). Each dev includes a few tweaks of their own, but the differences aren't massive to be honest. Elelinux is my personal preference, but honestly they are both good ROMs.

Cheers :)



There is a second button you can slide across (like the unlock one) to put the phone on silent, but no the volume rocker doesn't work. So you still have to look to the screen.



Yeah, the ROM has nothing to do with your contract (that all relies on your SIM card). I use my phone with a T-Mobile contract.



It's probably rooted, but if you install an app called 'Titanium Backup' (the worlds most useful app for switching between ROMs :)) then it will check for you. It might complain about not being able to find 'busybox', but if you hit the button that says 'Problems?' on the main page it will install that for you. Then it will tell you if you're rooted.

There's a guide to installing a custom ROM halfway down this sticky.

Thanks again do you have any video links on how to install a custom rom, i like to flick back and forwards to make sure its done right. Pictures have always been a big help. :)
 
Not that I know of. Theunlockr.com is the only place I know of that does videos, but it seems there aren't any for putting custom ROMs on :(
 
Hi all, new to this site, so sorry if I'm posting this in the wrong area.

Ok, I'm running an HTC hero, Orange uk 2.1-update1 (OTA update applied several months back now).

I rooted it using Androot. Worked fine, as far as i can see. Superuser app showing up in app list.

I'm a complete n00b to rooting and installing ROMs, so I just wanted to know whether I've started correctly. Should I have downgraded? If so, how?
And what do I do next?
This? - How To: Load a Custom ROM on the HTC Hero | TheUnlockr

What are the dangers of installing a custom ROM? And what should I do if something goes wrong in recovery mode?

Thanks in advance!
 
Hi all, new to this site, so sorry if I'm posting this in the wrong area.

Ok, I'm running an HTC hero, Orange uk 2.1-update1 (OTA update applied several months back now).

I rooted it using Androot. Worked fine, as far as i can see. Superuser app showing up in app list.

I'm a complete n00b to rooting and installing ROMs, so I just wanted to know whether I've started correctly. Should I have downgraded? If so, how?
And what do I do next?
This? - How To: Load a Custom ROM on the HTC Hero | TheUnlockr

What are the dangers of installing a custom ROM? And what should I do if something goes wrong in recovery mode?

Thanks in advance!

Nope, downgrading is an outdated method. You're on the right track already.

When it comes to flashing ROMs, there's nothing that can't be solved by re-downloading your rom, doing a full wipe of the phone and flashing afresh. Even if you lose power during the ROM flash, it's only a temporary inconvenience.

The only real danger comes with flashing things other than ROM files, specifically radios and SPLs. And even then, it's not dangerous if you know the golden rule; don't remove the battery/lose power whilst flashing those two things. Luckily, updating your radio isn't necessary, and you never need to touch an SPL file.

Check out the second half of this post, which tells you how to flash a custom firmware once rooted :)
 
Check out the second half of this post, which tells you how to flash a custom firmware once rooted :)

Thanks Xyro, that's really helpful!

So, would this

How To: Load a Custom ROM on the HTC Hero | TheUnlockr

be another way to do it? Reason I ask is, I started to follow those instructions, installed busybox, then ROM manager. (I got an error first time I tried to install Busybox, and then it said it was fine when I ran the program again.) Is Busybox another type of recovery image, and would adding another e.g. Amon Ra cause any problems?

Thanks again!
 
I'm not certain that busybox is actually required to flash the recovery, but it won't do any harm. If you have ROM Manager already installed, try simply running it and choosing the first option Flash ClockworkMod Recovery. Once the flash has completed and the handset has rebooted, open ROM Manager again and the current CWM version should now be displayed under the Flash ClockworkMod Recovery option. You can now flash Amon_RA if you wish, or proceed to backing up your existing rooted ROM before flashing a new custom one.

Busybox is a clever app that provides access to dozens of individual Linux tools, missing from the 'official' Android OS, via a single binary.
 
Thanks Slug,

I've loaded amon ra onto the sd card, and flashed it using ROM manager, but now when I switch the phone off and load into recovery mode (using home + power buttons), I get a phone symbol with a red warning triangle by it.

What might I be doing wrong?

Thanks in advance!!
 
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