flashing my first rom

[blanch44]

after over a year of owning two different htc devices ive realized cabs and single programs arent enough anymore and im ready to flash my first rom im just extremely scared of bricking my device does anyone have some good tips or a good guide im on uscc

[Sim-X]

-unlock, flash, clear storage and your good to go

Once unlocked just download the rom, connect to pc via usb, done

Just don't interrupt it and you will be fine

[EGOvoruhk]

CABs and single programs aren't good enough for what, exactly? Flashing a custom ROM isn't going to change anything really. You're still going to be running the same programs you were before

[WBFAir]

Originally Posted by blanch44

after over a year of owning two different htc devices ive realized cabs and single programs arent enough anymore and im ready to flash my first rom im just extremely scared of bricking my device does anyone have some good tips or a good guide im on uscc

Hello blanch44.

I just did this for the first time last weekend and I kinda asked the same thing and didn’t get much help from anyone so and I know this a bit long but if you don't mind, I’ll tell you what I found and a few of my thoughts and hopefully it will help you but please keep in mind I’ve only done this a few times. As well as since I don’t know what you may already know I’ll include everything I can think off so if any of this is redundant for you please excuse that but I just don’t want to leave you without something.

First off I would very much recommend getting and using a good backup program before you experiment with anything.

I spent a great deal of time evaluating several and ended up finding the SPB Backup was the one that was best for me but have a look around and see what you think is right for you.

Now to make the point, a given backup won’t help you much if you flash something new and keep it, but more on this later.

Also if you would like too, since all BU programs will basically backup to your SD card, I then went the extra step and copied that backup and everything else on that card to my PC, just in case.

Also one other tip, if the Backup program asks you where you want the program installed I typically have it on the device as for regular use this is faster but as well I do have it installed on my card should I need to do a restore and the device is acting up, plus more on this later.

Next I would very much recommend you find the right factory replacement ROM, the reason being is two fold. Every time you flash to something this wipes out "everything" you have now so after if you don’t like what you got you will need that to have that if you want to get back what you originally had, and second most recommend that if you do flash to something and don’t like it and want to try something else, that you first flash back to the stock ROM then flash to the new one.

Btw here is a link to where I got mine and I don’t know if it has one for you but you could probably check that out, http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=91940

Next even with the backup and with some posts on saving reg settings and stuff, at least for now I would write down any really critical info you just really couldn’t do without if everything went wrong such as your e-mail account settings and info, perhaps the version of the OS you have, your ActiveSync name and stuff like that and anything else you could think of.

Next I would take a eval of all the programs you have installed and feel you would want to reinstall. Basically I wrote down the names of all the stuff in my uninstall list and made sure I had them on my PC for a reinstall, also while your at it make sure you have any of the licensing info you would need as reinstalling them after is like buying them new so you will need what ever info is required to activate the program again.

Lastly if you have made any particular direct registry edits I would do what ever you could do to make notes of those. Now with most registry editors you could just export the line but I felt I didn’t want to use that at least as a direct re-import on a new OS as you never know what that may do.

So for me I did things like, made little readme’s if it was from a cab I installed and then had saved to my PC and or things like made bookmarks of the threads that told me of the change and stuff like that or just even wrote down the setting in a way that would allow me to remember it and stuff like that.

The very very last thing I would suggest and please read through the rest of this before you do this but once you are fully committed and have done all of the above, I felt there two things that were good ideas.

One, uninstall all the programs and cabs you have installed. Basically the flash will wipe these out anyway but I have read that depending on what’s there sometimes that doesn’t get everything so I figured why not let the specific programs uninstall get all it can get before I depend on the flash to do that.

Second even after that I would do a hard reset with the stock ROM as what the heck it only takes a few minutes and then gives you the exact parameter the unlocker and new ROM were most likely tested the most with.

OK so now that all the preliminary stuff is over the next thing you will need to do if you are flashing to anything other then the factory carriers update is you need to unlock your device.

The reason for this is, as best as I understand it, all the carriers have a locking system that prevents any updates to the ROM unless it has their signature on it so this will remove that and allow you to flash whatever you want.

From what I understand too, you will need to do this even if you want to reinstall your old ROM, although don’t quote me on that but also I have been told that say for instance if you had a 6.1 to 6.5 update from the carrier and didn’t like it and wanted to go back, you would need the unlocker to do that.

So as far as I can tell this is the unlocker everyone uses: http://rhodiumw.htc-unlocks.com/hard-spl.php and is the one I used on my Verizon TP2 and didn't have any issues.

Btw there is a re-locker there too which you might want to grab just incase and as well here is a link to the XDA page for it: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=578660

So have a look at all the instructions on both pages and just follow them and you will be fine.

The only note I would make that I didn’t feel was to clear was that once you install the unlocker and I forget for sure but I think it is after the reboot, it will ask you to install a new ROM but what it is really asking is to install theirs, which I think is basically the unlocker itself. So don't look over your PC and pick the new ROM you want to use, just let the unlocker install what it wants.

So just continue on with what ever it asks and you will be fine.

So after all that is done just figure out what ever ROM it is that you want and basically do the install.

About the only other stuff I could recommend is pretty much all of the above as per what is relevant if you want to flash to another ROM or go back to what you had.

Lastly just to point out that for any of the backups you do, that backup is only good for what ever ROM you took it from, so don’t try to do a backup restore to a different one.

Also I should note that I actually have never tried the restore from the backup after restoring to a ROM I had made one from yet so I can’t completely comment on whether that is a flawless action or not but basically as that is the main premise of the program I would hope it would. But that is why I also recommended all the preliminary stuff I did as this way I felt is was my best chance in case a restore didn’t pan out so well.

So just to let you know that with all that I recommended, last weekend I was able to perform several flashes and had absolutely no issues.

The funny part was that I ended up going back to my original Verizon 6.1 ROM though but it was not because I had any problems with the flash or the ROMs that I got but that WM 6.5 wouldn’t let me make a few key reg changes and have them stick so I had no choice. But my point is, in doing all that I did, I was able to get my device back to exactly what I had before with no real loss other then my time.

Currently I still would like to upgrade to the Sense 2.1 or 2.5 though which is what I really wanted anyway and this ROM http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=103045 looks real promising as what this guy has done is offer a bone bone stock version of the 6.1 OS or bone stock but with a few of the basic needed carrier stuff but then it will allow me to install 2.1 or 2.5 on it and then with all the cabs the writer has also made available, I can install what I want back, which personally I like. Plus with all that I have found so far, the writer has been very helpful an professional with everyone who has been posting questions to his thread.

But to each there own.

So I hope some of that will help you.

Best of luck.