Hi all, I'm new to this sort of thing, I've recently bought a desire hd with a damaged screen basically to repair, and have done that pretty well so now I want to have a go at rooting it and installing a custom Rom, I've searched through Google for guides and tried following a couple. I attempted starting the process on HTCdev but got stuck at the bit where I use the command prompt in Windows, though I was rushing a bit as was doing it in work. Is there an easier way and without using SD card as I can't seem to mount the SD card on my dhd. I've looked at the guide on this forum but found it a bit over my head in parts. Basically I need a beginners guide to it explained in simple terms to get me started. Thanks in advanced.
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Root Rooting and upgrading Rom
- Thread starter stevohd
- Start date
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- Tags
- htc desire hd
D-U-R-X
turbo drinker
Hello, stevohd, welcome to the forums - thanks for joining!! 
I've moved your thread to the All Things Root section, as it's root related.
You might like to check out http://androidforums.com/desire-hd-...-how-unlock-install-recovery-root-htcdev.html and http://androidforums.com/desire-hd-...-s-off-simunlock-supercid-inspire-4g-dhd.html - these are 2 how to's written by one of our Guides, Scotty - I am sure that he will come across this thread at some point
Having read the threads, if you have any questions, feel free to post in here and we will try and help you out!
I've moved your thread to the All Things Root section, as it's root related.
You might like to check out http://androidforums.com/desire-hd-...-how-unlock-install-recovery-root-htcdev.html and http://androidforums.com/desire-hd-...-s-off-simunlock-supercid-inspire-4g-dhd.html - these are 2 how to's written by one of our Guides, Scotty - I am sure that he will come across this thread at some point
Having read the threads, if you have any questions, feel free to post in here and we will try and help you out!
scotty85
Extreme Android User
the first part of the link D-U-R-X provided is a link to htcdev unlock. while it technically is possible to flash roms on an s on device,its more of a PITA,and recovery of "soft bricks" can be much more difficult due to the lack of official RUUs,and the fact that even an unlocked s on phone is still doing plenty of security checks.
id pretty strongly recomend to to go ahead and do the entire process so you are s off and supercid. your rom flashing experineces will be much more pleasurable
while it may seem like a lot of info,i have tried to describe things in the most basic way i can,along with not taking for granted some things are known. in other words, the guides have been writted with folks like you in mind.
just take small steps. remember,you can eventually eat an elephant,one bite at a time!
just read everything over,download the files and organize them on youyr PC,and above all try and ask anything youre unsure about prior to starting,where an error could leave you without a working device for a bit. once you actually start following the guide the words will make alot more sense.
just holler if you have any questions!
id pretty strongly recomend to to go ahead and do the entire process so you are s off and supercid. your rom flashing experineces will be much more pleasurable
while it may seem like a lot of info,i have tried to describe things in the most basic way i can,along with not taking for granted some things are known. in other words, the guides have been writted with folks like you in mind.
just take small steps. remember,you can eventually eat an elephant,one bite at a time!
just read everything over,download the files and organize them on youyr PC,and above all try and ask anything youre unsure about prior to starting,where an error could leave you without a working device for a bit. once you actually start following the guide the words will make alot more sense.
just holler if you have any questions!
D-U-R-X
turbo drinker
Thanks for the replies and welcome D-U-R-X and scotty. Just a few questions before I make a start lol, terminology of a couple things, s on/off, pita, ruu and supercid , I kind of understand what they are to some extent but could do with knowing instead of guessing lol. Oh and the dhd phone is Vodafone (Vodafone logo comes up on startup) but I'm using Tesco mobile sim in it, don't know weather it means its unlocked or just compatible. Thanks again, your help is really appreciated
scotty85
Extreme Android User
Thanks for the replies and welcome D-U-R-X and scotty. Just a few questions before I make a start lol, terminology of a couple things, s on/off, pita, ruu and supercid , I kind of understand what they are to some extent but could do with knowing instead of guessing lol. Oh and the dhd phone is Vodafone (Vodafone logo comes up on startup) but I'm using Tesco mobile sim in it, don't know weather it means its unlocked or just compatible. Thanks again, your help is really appreciated
lol,sorry for the confusion on the abreviations:
-s-on is basically security on,s off is security off. this info is displayed at the top of your bootloader screen. in a nutshell,s off is better and gives you access to all partitions,as well as allowing recovery to install the kernel(making rom flashing easy)
-pita=Pain In The Ass
-ruu= htc's official Rom Updater Utility. technically it is a utility that is run on the PC,wich updates the phone,but has come to mean,more genericly,any official software/firmware from htc
-supercid is a universal cid,of sorts. the cid is Carrier IDentification,and desiginates wich factory softwares can be installed. supercid allows any software from any region or carrier to install on the phone.
sounds like your dhd is allready sim unlocked,but it may just be a compatible service.
Lol that's ok, I know what its like when you deal with stuff frequently it flows off the tongue lol. That makes a bit more sense of things. Lol at pita, not so technical but just as effective. So the htcdev is the bootloader unlocking that does the s-off, getting my head around it now I think. Thanks very much for the advice, I'll keep you posted along with needing more advice lol. Thanks again.
scotty85
Extreme Android User
the htcdev unlock is not giving s off. it is just the first step,and is only "unlocking" the boot,system and recovery partitions.
root access is needed to for the rest of the exploits to work,and htcdev unlock is simply a reliable way to get that. some builds can be temp rooted via other means,some cannot,so the unlock is used.
the basic steps to adding root with htcdev are:
1)unlock bootloader using the guide and the htcdev website.
2)install a custom recovery
3)use the custom recovery to install "superuser" root files.
the reason htcdev is undesirable,is becasue the recovery cannot install the boot image,wich contains the kernel. to stay s on,boot image must me manually installed,meaning you cannot flash a new rom or restore a backup without plugging the phone into a PC.
in addition,the CID cannot be changed while s on,limiting available RUUs for "rescue" purposes,nor can the radio,splash image or any other partition.
s-off is better since it allows more access,it makes rom flashing easy,and it offers greater flexibility in rescuing a "soft bricked" device
After a couple attempts and reading through loads or other peoples attempts I seem to be getting a problem caused by my hboot needing updating. I've looked at a few methods but some seem to be either corrupt or not available etc. May be one on here but want to be sure I'm doing right do could you give me a shove in the right direction please? Having a small baby limits my time to do this lol. Thanks.
scotty85
Extreme Android User
if you need to update your hboot to an htcdev compatible version,there are a couple of downloads in the 2nd or 3rd post of the s off thread.
otherwise,you should be taken to the downloads section after y ou start the unlock process. you will download a small ruu from htcdev.com and then run it on your PC
I tried the ruu's from htcdev but came up with an error saying I needed to upgrade to 3.13.161.3 and my phone is 3.13.161.5 which when I tried a couple ruus were saying it was tryin to upgrade to 3.13.000.0 or something. But there isn't one there the same as mine, but read somewhere that it will still work if that's right? Is the s-off the one above this thread? Thanks again for your help.
scotty85
Extreme Android User
if your build is that new,id think you allread have a compatible hboot.
does your hboot screen have a pink ***locked*** at the top?
scotty85
Extreme Android User
sounds like you do need to update then,the pink lettering is pretty hard to miss!
if you could do the following,it may help us figure out wich hboot ruu that you need:
you dont need to re-download miniadb if youve allready set it up using one of the guides.
im off to work shortly,but we will get you sorted
if you could do the following,it may help us figure out wich hboot ruu that you need:
first download and install these drivers: revolutionary drivers (mirror)
then,download this small file:
mini-adb.zip
-unzip it,and place the unzipped folder onto the root of your C drive(not inside a folder)
-open a cmd window(with win 7,click start bubble,type "command" or "cmd" in hte search box)
-now change to your mini-adb directory(assuming you didnt chagne the name). type in the black cmd window that opened on your PC:
cd c:\mini-adb
-pull the battery in your phone for a few seconds. hold volume down,then power. hold them both until you see the white/colored writing hboot screen
-select "fastboot" from the hboot menu with the vol rocker/power button
-in your cmd window type:
fastboot devices
it should output your phones serial number. if so youre good to go. if not,youre apparently having a driver issue. i usually recomend these drivers from Revolutionary: modified htc drivers download and install the drivers(you should just have to run that file). afterwards,unplug your phone,plug it back in. make sure its in fastboot. as soon as you get a result from "fastboot devices" your ready to procede to the next step.
-in your cmd window,type(or copy/paste,is much easier):
fastboot getvar all
-copy the info that outputs here. right click in your cmd window,click mark,highlight it all in white. hit enter. paste the info here. it will help us know which ruu for you to run.
you dont need to re-download miniadb if youve allready set it up using one of the guides.
im off to work shortly,but we will get you sorted
Well that seemed to work. Heres the info from my phone from that.
C:\mini-adb>fastboot getvar all
INFOversion: 0.5
INFOversion-bootloader: 2.00.0027
INFOversion-baseband: 26.14.52.27
INFOversion-cpld: None
INFOversion-microp: 0438
INFOversion-main: 3.13.161.5
INFOserialno: xxxxxxxxxxxx
INFOimei: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
INFOproduct: ace
INFOplatform: HBOOT-7230
INFOmodelid: PD9810000
INFOcidnum: VODAP001
INFObattery-status: good
INFObattery-voltage: 3899mV
INFOpartition-layout: Generic
INFOsecurity: on
INFObuild-mode: SHIP
INFOboot-mode: FASTBOOT
INFOcommitno-bootloader: 743ca94a
INFOhbootpreupdate: 11
INFOgencheckpt: 0
INFOregion-id: 0
all: Done!
finished. total time: 0.016s
C:\mini-adb>fastboot getvar all
INFOversion: 0.5
INFOversion-bootloader: 2.00.0027
INFOversion-baseband: 26.14.52.27
INFOversion-cpld: None
INFOversion-microp: 0438
INFOversion-main: 3.13.161.5
INFOserialno: xxxxxxxxxxxx
INFOimei: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
INFOproduct: ace
INFOplatform: HBOOT-7230
INFOmodelid: PD9810000
INFOcidnum: VODAP001
INFObattery-status: good
INFObattery-voltage: 3899mV
INFOpartition-layout: Generic
INFOsecurity: on
INFObuild-mode: SHIP
INFOboot-mode: FASTBOOT
INFOcommitno-bootloader: 743ca94a
INFOhbootpreupdate: 11
INFOgencheckpt: 0
INFOregion-id: 0
all: Done!
finished. total time: 0.016s
scotty85
Extreme Android User
just out of curiousity,have you tried running the htcdev ruu with the phone in fastboot,rather than the booted OS?
edit:
if you still cant get the ruu to run,you can download the .zip version from here:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/3..._Ace_Sense30_S_hboot_2.00.0029_3.13.161.5.zip
you can flash the zip file in this manner:
hopefully that will get you the compatible bootloader
edit:
if you still cant get the ruu to run,you can download the .zip version from here:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/3..._Ace_Sense30_S_hboot_2.00.0029_3.13.161.5.zip
you can flash the zip file in this manner:
if youre working with a booted,operational phone,you can flsh the file in the following manner:
-open a cmd window
-change to adb/fastboot directory
cd c:\foldername
(cd c:\mini-adb if youve used any of my guides
-place the zip file you want to flash into adb/fastboot directory
-enable usb debug,disable fastboot,plug in phone
-check for connectivity
adb devices (should return serial number)
-boot to fastboot
adb reboot bootloader
-check for connectivity again
fastboot devices
-flash the file
fastboot erase cache
fastboto oem rebootRUU (will put you in ruu mode,black screen silver htc letters)
fastboot flash zip zipfilename.zip (will send and flash the file. dont interupt it while the cmd window shows its writinging,and the green status bar is moving on the phone screen)
*sometimes a file will fail with a pre-update error. this is normal,just enter again:
fastboot flash zip zipfilename.zip
and this time it will finish
-when you get "finished" and "OK"
fastboot reboot-bootloader (takes you back to fastboot)
-reboot back to the OS
fastbooot reboot
you can use this if you dont have an operational phone as well. you just need to manually put the phone in fastboot(select from hboot menu) then skip the "adb" commands and start with fastboot devices
hopefully that will get you the compatible bootloader
I've had a go at installing the permenant recovery but walked into a problem, as i get a fault when i put the sd card in, it comes up with blank sd and "sd card blank or has unsupported file system" it works on my old desire fine as im still using that while i sort the dhd out. I've formatted it on my pc ok but just wont mount on my dhd. noticed a few others have the same problem but dont know how to fix it.
scotty85
Extreme Android User
have you tried a full format to FAT32 in the PC?
you can also try formatting the card in the phone,either in recovery or in the OS. you shouldnt need the sd card in the phone ti actually install the recovery.
i had that issue once,and the full format in the PC fixed it up for me.
I've stuck it in my pc and done the format on it to fat32 a number of times, when I format it on the phone when clicking on the error message in notifications and asks to format it just brings the box up and does nothing. To be honest its not a great SD card, just a 2gb low grade but I imagine if it works in my old one it should in the dhd. How do I do it in recovery?