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Root Need help

EDIT: I used the DS SD card to flash the ROM, and most likely would need to make it a gold card. My question is, what's a gold card for? Is it absolutely needed? When I've rooted my phone, can I take out the gold card and substitute it with my old SD card?

I know you need it to flash a generic RUU on a branded device and you can create a new one if need. But I will have to pass on this question.

How much better would ICS be over GB 2.3.5?

ICS has a nicer user interface and some apps like Google Chrome are ICS only. I could live with either one.

And is rooting the phone permanent? If I don't like the changes, can I just revert everything back?

You can unroot a phone and revert to stock.

But, if you are already rooted, rather than unrooting the phone, I would advice that you just run a ROM like Android Revolution HD 6.3.3. It is like 100% like the latest Desire HD stock ROM with performance tweaks.

I would advise that you not rush into this. There is no reason to do it right now. Browse these forums. See what people are doing with their rooted phones and decide if it something you want to do.

Good thing is your phone is working. Maybe take a breather first :)
 
When I've rooted my phone, can I take out the gold card and substitute it with my old SD card?

You can get rid of the goldcard once you're rooted... it is no longer needed. Having the SD card (that is actually a goldcard) doesn't make any difference to how it works though!
 
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So, uh, now I basically run AAHK again? Then hopefully it's all rainbows and stuff and it actually works and then I can finally flash the Ice Cold Sandwich ROM?

Also, what could an unclean Windows environment do to screw up the process? I think my phone's SD card's current condition might have been caused by that, so I'm trying to be cautious here.
 
I did not run AAHK on Windows. After reading the AAHK manual it seemed to problematic, so why risk it. This is what the manual says:

Windows - a good, clean environment is critical - BEFORE plugging in your phone, do all of the following:
Disable all malware detection, including Windows Defender
Uninstall Droid Explorer
Stop ALL Apple services
Uninstall ALL other phone pda or tablet software
Uninstall HTC Sync AND drivers
Install HTC USB Drivers for Android from the Hack Kit (tools/windrivers)
IMPORTANT: Disable all unnecessary tasks and services. Google how to do this as ADMIN.
The hack kit runs flawlessly in under 6 minutes on a clean PC env with drivers properly installed, but THE IMPORTANCE OF CLEANING UP ALL UNNECESSARY PROCESSES CANNOT BE OVERSTRESSED.


I would really recommend trying this (also from the manual):

Ubuntu 32bit liveCD has the best chance of success.

This method runs an entire clean OS run off of a cd. Ubuntu LiveCD always starts clean. No drivers to worry about and eliminates almost all connection issues and PC problems.

Instructions for making a livecd: How to make an Ubuntu LiveCD
Choose 10.04 LTS 32-bit or click here to start download.
Make a CD, NOT a USB flash drive. A CD will avoid USB contention issues
Once booting, select 'try ubuntu'. No need to install.
Open Terminal via Applications>Accessories>Terminal
The following command will download, unpack and run the hack kit from terminal in Linux:
wget http:///tau.shadowchild.nl/files/aahk-12062012.zip && unzip aahk-12062012.zip && sudo ./hack-ace.sh
Don't forget to update the above command line (2 places) to reflect the filename of the current version hack kit
 
Hmm... alright then. I'll make the LiveCD tomorrow, run AAHK, then flash the ICS ROM. If all goes well, I'll inform you all. :)

Thanks a lot to everybody who helped me! (ral, scotty85 and D-U-R-X!)
 
Woah, 700mb download for Ubuntu... this might take some time.

And on another note, I don't think my old SD card can work any more. It's not even being detected by my phone now, and it's 8GB too... shame.

EDIT: I'm not sure how to do it now. I downloaded the Ubuntu LiveCD ISO and ran it using Magic ISO Maker. What next? There's only a wubi.exe there, which if I activated it would make it download another file. Thing is, there's a link to the Ubuntu site which allows me to download only the wubi.exe (2mb), and the ISO I just downloaded was 700mb, so... I don't even know anymore.

EDIT EDIT: So I have to burn it into a disk... This could prove troublesome. I'll need to look for an empty disk.
 
Er... I tried to run AAHK again with the DS SD card mounted (used it to flash the ROM which restored my phone) and the program kept on saying "error: device offline". I've set the default mode to Charge Only and enabled USB Debugging... What is the problem here?

EDIT: It's fine now. I think it just acted up for no reason...

EDIT EDIT: Alright, I let AAHK do its magic, and the process is completed, and I've checked to see it worked. Now to flash Ice Cold Sandwich-8.7.2 (is this the recommended build?) and be done with this. I just rename it as PD98IMG and stick it in the SD card then run HBoot as always, right?
 
Lets make a back-up. Just in case something goes wrong when we flash ICS, it would be good to have a back-up available.

To guide you I am using Clockworkmod on a different device so things may be different on a different device so things may look a bit different but it should be easy enough to figure it out.

I use 4Ext, if you want to try that, I have a nice illustrated guide :D

Which one do you want to use? They both do the same thing. I am more familiar with 4 Ext.

I will start writing the steps for CWM while waiting for a reply.
 
Back-up

Assuming you decide to use CWM.

1. Disable Fast boot in settings.
2. Power off the phone.
3. Go into recovery. Press volume down and power.
4. In HBoot select "Recovery"
5. Navigate to "backup and restore"
6. Select backup

Should take about 4-5 minutes.

7. When than select "go back"
8. Select "reboot system now"

Flashing Ice Cold

  • First lets check battery level. Doing all this will take 15-20 minutes, and this is battery draining work so lets charge up to at least 70% to be sure.

Next, lets move the files into your SDCard. Put the ICS 8.7 zip file into the "root" of you SDCard. Sounds technical. All it means is don't put them into a folder. Don't unzip them.

  • Plug your phone into your PC with the USB cable.
  • A notification will pop up asking if you want to plug in as "Charge only" or or "Disk drive". Select the Disk drive option. This effectively makes the SDCard on your phone into a flash drive. OT: Don't use it like a flash drive. Never erase files from here. Copying to and from is fine. Don't delete it will create a trash folder which waste space.
  • Copy the file. When done, unmount or eject as you would do with a flash drive.
  • Unplug the phone from the PC.

md5sum

  • Go to Google Play and get an app to verify the md5sum of the file you downloaded.

If the number matchs, you have a good file. If not, you have a bad download or bad transfer from the PC. Check the md5sum of the file on your PC. If the numbers don't match you have to download again.

If good

Okay, lets go back into recovery and do a full wipe.

  • Select "wipe data/factory reset"
  • Select Yes - delete all user data
  • When done "go back"
  • Select "Wipe Cache"
  • Select "Yes - Wipe Cache"
  • When done "go back"

  • Select "Advacned"
  • Select "Yes - Wipe Dalvik Cache"
  • When done "go back" and select "go back" a second time

Now lets flash the ROM.

  • Select install zip from sdcard
  • Browse to the ICS zip file and select
  • Confirm action.
  • When done reboot.

First boot should take 5-10 minutes

Dinner calling. Good luck :D
 
Give me a moment, I'll download and install 4EXT.

Okay :)

4Ext Recovery Control (which you now have a preview of) will allow you to do stuff from within Android. I don't do this. I use it only for two things:

  • Update 4 Ext Recovery
  • Reboot into recovery (saves my power and volume buttons from some wear
and tear).

Make sure you have about 1.6 GB free on your SDCard (700-800 MB for recovery the rest you will need later to install the new ROM, actually this is more than you need now, but for future ROM's this is a minimum figure).

Select power menu and lets reboot into recovery.

2nuug0p.png

The phone will reboot... and welcome to Mars (sorry Mods, scaled down images fuzzy so switching to larger images).

1oq0wk.png

This has the same effect as booting volume down/power. You don't have to disable fastboot.

Select backup | restore

2w50sax.png

Select backup and confirm that you want to do this.

jkyw0g.png

The process should take 4-5 minutes.

Once done, you can use the <-- button on the bottom of each page or on your phone to get back to the main screen and select reboot.

Congratulations, you created your first Nandroid back-up.
 
Download 4Ext Recovery updated from here.

It will give you a preview of the full version, but the free version is fine.

Launch the app:

awc8w5.png

Select Online install/upgrade. It will ask you for permission to go online and to confirm if your phone is a DHD or Inspire 4G

1o6ql0.png
68bv6f.png

Select the 4Ext Recovery Touch v.1.0.0.5 RC 6. It is yellow in the image (meaning installed) it should be blue in yours.

357krie.png

Than select install.

Prepping for the flash

I wrote some of this earlier, but just skip that post.

First lets check battery level. Doing all this will take 15-20 minutes, and this is battery draining work so lets charge up to at least 70% to be sure.

Next, lets move the file into your SDCard. Put all ICS zip files into the "root" of you SDCard. Sound technical. All it means is don't put them into a folder. Don't unzip them.

  • Plug your phone into your PC with the USB cable.
  • A notification will pop up asking if you want to plug in as "Charge only" or or "Disk drive". Select the Disk drive option. This effectively makes the SDCard on your phone into a flash drive.
  • Copy the ICS 8.7 zip file. When done, unmount or eject as you would do with a flash drive.
  • Unplug the phone from the PC

BACK INTO RECOVERY.

1oq0wk.png

This time, select "install from sdcard", and this will pop-up:

11kxez4.png

Select - check the md5sum of the file

When you downloaded the file there should have been a md5sum file right below the one you downloaded. Click it and you will see a long number and letter string.

If the number matches you are good to go. If not, maybe you had a bad transfer from the PC. So, check the md5sum of the file on the PC. If bad, download again.

Select the back arrow when done.


If all is good, lets do a Full wipe.

Anyway lets select the wipe | format option from the main menu.

34zm43o.png

A full wipe is:

a) wipe data/factory reset
b) wipe cache
c) wipe dalvik cache

You can do all three by selecting the first and third options on the screen.

When done, lets go back to the main screen.

Lets select - install from sdcard again.

This time, select - chose zip from the sdcard

Scroll to the bottom, you will see the ICS 8.7 zip file.

3467tpv.png

You will see different zip files from the pic.

Select the ICS 8.7 zip file and confirm you action:

Once done. Reboot the phone. First boot on a new ROM take some time 5-10 minutes. Subsequent reboots are much faster.
 
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