Root When not to root?

[birchbark]

Hello people,
I have had a Desire A8181 for a year now, and have got it set up to work OK by only installing apps that can run from the SD etc etc, but I get frustrated by all the restrictions and think it is now time to root. The phone is only partly unlocked - it came from CEX 2nd hand released to O2 and I run a GiffGaff sim in it - but it never fully recognises the SIM on start up: on every start up I get a 'Sim card changed warning' but when I take the option to choose a new carrier, none are listed. This doesn't seem to affect anything else (a voicemail error was easily corrected by over-writing the related number in options/settings).

When I first looked into rooting last year, I remember that a pre-requirement for rooting was an unlocked phone. So am I in danger of bricking it if I start a root when it is in its current state as it is not fully unlocked?

thanks

 

[nicka3200]

You don't need an unlocked phone. Prior to the release of the official HTC 2.3 gingerbread update you would have needed to make a goldcard. The reason being that to return it to original condition (perhaps for a warranty claim) the carrier RUU would need confirmation of the phone identity.

However the official 2.3 upgrade RUU doesn't need that as it's intended to be used with any carrier. That would probably be your only option if you wanted to un-root.

 

[birchbark]

Thanks very much for that explanation