Root Screwed Up Attempted To Root, Need Help

[KyleMoher]

Hi everyone, this is my first post. I've read around on the forums before but never signed up until now. So if I break some rules or something, I apologize.

I recently purchased an unlocked Telus HTC Hero. It's running off my Rogers SIM card with no issue. I was reading and I noticed that apparently you cannot put apps on an SD card without rooting. No problem I thought, I can do it. So I was following some guide that was linked to from here. I got to the point of downgrading. The guide told me to downgrade using "RUU_Hero_HTC_1.76.405.1_RE..." I attempted this however I received a "error 140 bootloader version error". After googling it, I came across some other guide that said if the previously mentioned RUU failed, run 2.73.405.5 downgrader instead. I attempted this, and it worked. However I noticed that now I believe the phone thinks it's European as the languages to choose from are only European. After downgrading to what I believe was 2.73.405.5 I had a change in heart in rooting (As I felt I couldn't manage it at this point), and wished to revert back to what my phone was (Minus the apps and personal data n stuff) prior to my attempt. I did firmware upgrades in hopes that it would bring me back to what I was. It appeared to, with some minor changes:

-To revert to factory settings, is now found in "privacy" instead of "security".
-The languages are for European countries.

Is there any way to get my phone back to what it was? And from where I am now, how hard would it be to root?

***Update*** I decided to redowngrade and attempt to root. Took me some time, but did pull it off. Now my only issue is that the languages are all European languages. Is there a way to change it to NA rather than EU? Thanks in advance.

 

[itandy]

Glad that you decided to move on to root your Hero. Assuming your phone is now rooted, your next move might be installing a custom recovery console. Then using the new recovery console you can install whatever ROM you want which in turn solve your language issue.

Just say if you need further assistance.

 

[Slug]

I decided to redowngrade and attempt to root. Took me some time, but did pull it off. Now my only issue is that the languages are all European languages. Is there a way to change it to NA rather than EU? Thanks in advance.

The only way is to reinstall your carrier-specific firmware, which will obviously nullify your root. Unfortunately there is no Telus-specific update available that includes the exploit necessary to allow rooting, hence the need to "downgrade" using the WorldWideEnglish update.

However, now that you're rooted you could install a custom ROM which offers the choice. For example, Elelinux 6.2.0 (which I use on my Hero) offers English (Canada) and English (United States).

 

[KyleMoher]

Well following the guide, the person had went with Villain 10.2 or something. So not knowing much in regards to it, I decided to go the same route (I went Villain 12.0 or whatever the latest version is). Every seemed to work though, as my phone is now up in working order. I googled the language question, and it brought me to a previous post in this forum (For whatever reason I couldn't find it when I searched the forums though) that mentioned an app called "More Locales" which I used to pick English Canada.

So far it seems to have solved my issue (Which really was just a minor annoyance) but should this cure any issue I'll have in regards to the whole locale problem?

I'm assuming all ROM's have their own advantages and disadvantages, but is there one that's particularly "better" than others?

Lastly, itandy mentioned something about a recovery console? Would I have used a recovery console to put the Villain ROM on my Hero?

 

[Slug]

More Locales will do the job fine, and the locale issue shouldn't cause you any problems. All third-party ROMs have to be based on an official release of some sort and, depending on which one is used, the languages available can vary. As the GSM Hero is primarily a European handset the WWE ROMs are usually the most up-to-date and therefore popular to base work on.

I wouldn't presume to suggest that any single ROM is "better" than others. We all have our preferences, but I think it's safe to say that due to the Hero's "maturity" any of the 2.1/2.2 ROMs still in active development are worth trying. There's a link in the forum sticky to a list of the more popular ROMs but the maintainer is a slacker and needs to update it.

As for the recovery, if you flashed VillainROM then you probably used one. You access it by powering on while holding the HOME button, although many custom ROMs also have an option to boot to recovery under the "Reboot" option in the Power menu.

 

[Xyro]

The best ROM really depends on which firmware you want (2.1/2.2/2.3), whether you want HTC Sense and how many bugs you're willing to put up with.

 

[KyleMoher]

This is going to sound very... Noobish, which I'm okay with, but what exactly is HTC Sense? From what I gathered from reading, it's simply the UI. Which I mean, what's the difference between a hero with Sense and without Sense? Are there screenshots anywhere that I could see?

Also, I was debating overclocking my device now. However I read that if you use your phone fairly often it will actually kill your battery. I use my phone a fair bit. Is it still a wise idea to overclock if the phone is in use quite a bit? And I understand that heat will be an issue. I currently have the phone in a... plastic? casing. If I were to overclock it, would the casing pose the problem of contributing to the heat, or should I be okay even with the case on (I understand that the higher I over clock it, the hotter it will get, but will the case affect the heat as well?)

Thanks for the help so far guys.