Database Info

Upgrading ROM to Hero

Hello.
I just got my Magic a few days ago, and i am considering trying to get the Hero ROM onto it heavily. However, as i just got it recently and it's not really a cheap phone, i really don't want to brick it.
So, how great is the chance it'll brick? Is there any way i can make the chance smaller (thinking different ROMs etc?), what is SPL and Radio?
This is the intel i managed to get from it:
SAPPHIRE PVT 32a SHIP S-ON H
HBOOT-1.33.0014 (SAPP10000)
CPLD-12
RADIO-3.22.23.18
Patrick

not too easy to brick as long as you use the right spl see here

bonesy said:
not too easy to brick as long as you use the right spl see here
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, appearantly there's a bunch of people who actually manages to do so, what are they doing wrong?
Talking SPL, what is it? What is a perfect and a hard SPL? And how do i know what i currently have?

hold back while powering on your device at the top it will say HBOOT bla bla bla it will also say 32b/32a this is the key element, flashing a 32a onto 32b and vice versa could brick your device. Dont use the TW sense rom as that seems to brick devices
only download hboot from sapphire forums

bonesy said:
hold back while powering on your device at the top it will say HBOOT bla bla bla it will also say 32b/32a this is the key element, flashing a 32a onto 32b and vice versa could brick your device. Dont use the TW sense rom as that seems to brick devices
only download hboot from sapphire forums
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As i wrote in the original post, it's a 32a device. Do you have any links to a relevant guide for me? One which is really in-depth would be really great, as i am new to the android universe. Thank you

The MyHero ROM seems attractive to me, would anything hold me back from using that?
And by the way - if i change my mind after getting the Hero ROM on my device, is there any way to get the original ROM back onto it?

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=530492
Amon ra's recovery, This can save you! you will need to follow his tutorial and you will need one of his HBOOT's which he also has a tutorial.
once the hboot is done boot into recovery (home+power) perform a backup with nandroid and there is your failsafe,Once you have backed up choose your 32A rom taking note of what the Developer reccomends most of them link you to what you need.
Please read through their thread to make sure you know what to do.Anything your unsure of use the search button! Good luck

bonesy said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=530492
Amon ra's recovery, This can save you! you will need to follow his tutorial and you will need one of his HBOOT's which he also has a tutorial.
once the hboot is done boot into recovery (home+power) perform a backup with nandroid and there is your failsafe,Once you have backed up choose your 32A rom taking note of what the Developer reccomends most of them link you to what you need.
Please read through their thread to make sure you know what to do.Anything your unsure of use the search button! Good luck
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you. I just got a last question, in what part of getting it from original to hero is the risk of bricking it?

Mainly the spl i think or the chance of flashing the wrong radio (i did wrong radio on 2 phones!) providing you read all the info correct from amon ra and other devs you should be ok.
If yours really is 32A i think youd be better to look for a sense ui rom BASED on the TW official rom (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=552274 is one) but im not sure and take no responsibility.
By the way this should have been in general and not development forum

pixelkid said:
Thank you. I just got a last question, in what part of getting it from original to hero is the risk of bricking it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You only really need to be careful flashing the HBOOT/SPL
Go through all of the steps in section 2 of this guide:
http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=HTC_Sapphire_Hacking#sec02
Download Flashrec
[urlhttp://zenthought.org/system/files/asset/2/flashrec-1.1.3-20091107-2.apk[/url]
Enable USB debugging on your phone
Settings, Applications, Development, USB Debugging
Install Flashrec
adb install flashrec-1.1.3-20091107-2.apk
Download Amon_Ra Recovery
http://www.androidspin.com/downloads.php?dir=amon_ra/RECOVERY/&file=recovery-RA-sapphire-v1.5.1H.img
Save it to your SD card as recovery.img
Run Recovery Flasher on your phone
Backup recovery
Type in the path to your new recovery:
/sdcard/recovery.img
Flash new recovery
Now you can flash custom ROMs.
At this point, you can also flash a new SPL onto your phone.
For 32A, I suggest the 1.33.2010 SPL
Make sure to read all directions very carefully. If you are not 100% confident in your abilities, you might want to get some further assistance.
If Flashrec won't run, you need to downgrade your phone:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=548218
Downgrading will definitely void your warranty with no easy way to restore your original splash screen, it's pretty obvious to your wireless carrier that you've modified your phone.

bonesy said:
Mainly the spl i think or the chance of flashing the wrong radio (i did wrong radio on 2 phones!) providing you read all the info correct from amon ra and other devs you should be ok.
If yours really is 32A i think youd be better to look for a sense ui rom BASED on the TW official rom (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=552274 is one) but im not sure and take no responsibility.
By the way this should have been in general and not development forum
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Flashing a 32B radio onto a 32A Magic will cause some trouble, but shouldn't brick the phone. The problem is that after flashing the 32B radio, you might have forgotten to flash a 32B recovery environment. If that's the case, then fastboot flash the 32B recovery.
It worked for me a few times when I was switching between 32B and 32A radios to try out different ROMs.
I did, however, brick a 32A Magic when I was flashing a new SPL. Not sure how it happened, glad I had warranty.

I was very into the PSP back in the days where it came out, using homebrew and so on. Yet i am never confident when facing something i haven't been messing around with before.
Do you have any idea where i can get some extraordinary help so i can be sure i am doing it right?

pixelkid said:
I was very into the PSP back in the days where it came out, using homebrew and so on. Yet i am never confident when facing something i haven't been messing around with before.
Do you have any idea where i can get some extraordinary help so i can be sure i am doing it right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can help, and I'm sure there are more helpful people around here.
You have what's called a 'Perfected' SPL. Certain version of the Magic SPL (HBOOT) don't allow direct flashing of the recovery.img needed to run new ROMs.
Normally, you can boot into FASTBOOT (Back+Power) and then type:
Code:
fastboot boot recovery.img
But with a 'Perfected' SPL, you get the message:
Code:
remote:not allow
It used to be easy to root these phones, but HTC is getting smarter with their protection.
Some reading to get you started:
Difference between 32A and 32B (reference only)
[ulr]http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=526742[/url]
Magic SPL HBOOT Collection
I recommend the 1.33.2010 for the 32A Magic
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=529019
Amon_RA Recovery
You will need the 1.5.1H recovery.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=530492
Flashrec (Recovery Flasher Walkthrough)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=594106
Essentially you need to:
- Flash the Amon_RA Recovery using the Recovery Flasher
- Boot into Recovery Mode (Home+Power) and flash the new SPL.
- Download your favorite ROM (MyHero is recommended for new users)
- Flash the new ROM using Amon_RA Recovery (Home+Power)
If Flashrec doesn't allow you to backup your existing recovery and flash a new one, then you need to use the steps outlined here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=548218
It's pretty easy for me to break it down into 4 steps, but each step is made up of a lot of things that I have learned as I went.
Read all that you can, there is more than enough information on these forums.

I think I messed up my Magic.. help?

Hi everyone! I've been following some guides and what not (in order to install a new ROM- st0kes.v1.4.1). I have a 32B board (got it from Vodafone Australia).
I had the SPL that ended with 0009 (I think this was the 'Perfect' SPL?). Anyway, I slapped on the Engineering SPL 1.33.2010, or something like that (ends with 2010).
I tried RA's recovery rom through fastboot, v1.6.2G. As I understand it, those with the 32B board (and hence, a google branded phone) should use the 'G' version of RA's recovery rom. When I run it, command prompt tells me that everything goes okay. However, it leaves my phone hanging indefinitely on the splash screen that displays "HTC Magic". It doesn't even go to the recovery menu or anything. I have to take out the battery and put it back in to make the phone work again. I downloaded it 3-4 more times and tried (even checking the md5sum), and it still didn't work.
So, since the 'G' version didn't work, I tried the 'H' version. Command prompt tells me it boots okay, and this time, my phone at least goes past the splash screen and into the recovery menu. I had already copied over a ROM to my SD card and named it 'update.zip' (the st0kes.v1.4.1, which is 32B compatible). So I told the recovery rom to install the update.
Now, my phone just hangs at the "HTC Magic" splash screen forever when I boot it normally.
Can anyone help me? My phone is virtually unusable right now. I don't mind reverting back to an older version, if it's not possible to upgrade to the new ROM. And stupid me, didn't backup using nandroid.
Sorry if this has been answered before, but I cannot for the life of me find a solution. Thanks.

try restoring ur phone with nandroid backup

scumm said:
Can anyone help me? My phone is virtually unusable right now. I don't mind reverting back to an older version, if it's not possible to upgrade to the new ROM. And stupid me, didn't backup using nandroid.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks anyway though~ :/

More info is needed, old or new radio? also it stands to reason if a 32a recovery works and not the 32b you should try a 32a rom for your radio.

If the H version of the recovery works then you probably flashed a 32A radio at some point during rooting hence you will need to apply a 32A port after every ROM OR flash back a 32B radio.

It says "RADIO-3.22.20.17". I have no idea what that is meant to be or mean. If it is a 32A radio, how can I apply a 32B radio?
I'm not sure when this could have happened either. It might have been when I was creating a goldcard (since I was getting the 'remote: not allow' crap).
Thanks for the quick replies~

Yes, thats a 32A radio. Your goldcard update flashed it (probably).
Get a 2.xx.xx.xx radio which is for 32B devices, connect your magic to a PC while in fastboot and in CMD type:
fastboot flash radio nameoftheradio.img
fastboot flash recovery Grecovery.img
then you will be able to flash any 32B ROM.

I would just try a 32a old radio rom to first make sure everything works first, and make damn sure you use fastboot (as eyegor said)and not recovery if you are going to flash a 32b radio

Thanks, you guys are legends
I flashed a 32B radio, and installed a new ROM (went with a 1.6 instead of the 2.1, 2.1 was too laggy and glitchy in my experience). Everything's fine now.
Thanks again

Noobish question

Sometime ago, i bought a HTC Magic 32A from a friend of mine, who has a cell phone shop.
This phone was sold to someone who wasn't able to use it, and gave back to the shop, so i basically bought a new phone.
However, this friend of mine put a new rom (1.5) on it before he gave me the phone, and he updated the SPL and the Radio.
Everything seems working fine, except that I don't know which ROM I actually have; however, I'd like to try out some 2.1 ROM (mostly due to the difference in programming for 1.5 & 2.0).
These are the information I got from the Back+Power screen:
SAPPHIRE PVT 32A ENG S-OFF H
HBOOT-1.76.2007 (SAPP100000)
CPLD-12
RADIO-6.35.07.29
Aug 21 2009, 18:19:15
What I want to ask is: is it possible to brick the phone by flashing a new ROM without touching the SPL/Radio, or in the worst case I'd have to simply restore Nandroid backup?
TIA

Ma5t3r89 said:
What I want to ask is: is it possible to brick the phone by flashing a new ROM without touching the SPL/Radio, or in the worst case I'd have to simply restore Nandroid backup?
TIA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you will flash custom ROM, that is not compatible with your SPL - it is like as install OS with errors on the computer. Hardware isn't affected.
And yes. If your SPL (Hboot) will not change in future - you can simply restore nandroid backup.
If you will change radio and hboot back to 3.22.XX.XX and 1.33.2010 - your nandroid backup from 6.35.XX.XX and 1.76.2007 - will NOT work.
Understand?)

5[Strogino] said:
If you will flash custom ROM, that is not compatible with your SPL - it is like as install OS with errors on the computer. Hardware isn't affected.
And yes. If your SPL (Hboot) will not change in future - you can simply restore nandroid backup.
If you will change radio and hboot back to 3.22.XX.XX and 1.33.2010 - your nandroid backup from 6.35.XX.XX and 1.76.2007 - will NOT work.
Understand?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Think so - basically, it's just what happened when I tried to install a ROM for the old radio, the phone won't start but as long as I won't change the SPL I'll always be able to revert, right?
I feel better now, I was terrified by the idea of not even being able to fastboot or things like that...
Thanks

i kind of have a noob question too. i've been switching around 1.5 with the old radio and the new 2.1 roms with the new radio. everytime i switch, i always either upgrade or downgrade the radio, and after that i would install the respective new rom that i wanted to use. after that, i would run the respective nandroid restore. this process usually takes a while and i was wondering if i can just run the nandroid backup directly. ex:
say i have an old radio and 1.5 HTC sense from. Can i just directly run a nandroid restore of a new radio 2.1 rom without manually upgrading the radio and hboot and recovery image?

[custom Radio/SPL for dummies][32B]

This tutorial was written specifically for T-Mobile MyTouch 3G 32B. It will ruin your device if you flash it elsewhere rather than on 32B MyTouch 3G. This thread is no longer supported because: 1. I do not remember anything about MyTouch 3G anymore; and 2. I do not have it anymore.
Also files could be corrupt after two years no one payed attention to them. So everything you do from this thread is solely on your own risk!
Hello everyone. I'm creating this thread because there are many noobs, just like myself, who ask too many questions and fail to use search properly. I just want to make it easier for dummies to find and do this, I take no credit for the work below mentioned people have done. I want to say thank you to those who made this all possible.
CLShortFuse for making super easy Rooting method. Original topic.
Amon_RA for making custom recovery for all of us. RA recovery thread
dasunsrule32 for making easy step by step tutorial. Original thread
xillius200 for providing flashable zips and guide. Original thread
Ohsaka and ezterry for amazing superwipe. Original thread
This is for MyTouch 3G 32B original (No Fender, 3.5 mm jack)
You will be flashing:
Radio: 2.22.27.08
SPL: 1.33.0013d
1. Your device should be rooted if you want to do it. SuperOneClick should work like a charm. Could be found here.
2. Download recovery and install it if you didn't do it yet. It could be performed by using Clockwork's app from the market. You can also use Clockwork's recovery if you want.
Note: The new OTA 2.2.1 update is going to restore original recovery after each boot, and will delete the custom one. (This happened to me) I tried flashing ROM before it was deleted and got Boot loops, no matter what ROM I used. Boot loop is when your phone got stuck on the green "MyTouch" image and restarts in circles. This is my way of doing it because I was a noob and found it longer but easy. Search through the thread, some of the users described that it is not necessary to downgrade. What helped me was flashing Android 1.5, then updating it to 1.6, and from there installing custom ROM. It worked for me, I'm not sure it will work for everyone. dasunsrule32 says you need custom SPL for doing it, but it worked for me without one.
Tutorial is here, chose section DOWNGRADE TO DONUT OTA:
3. Download flashable zips (radio and hboot) from xillius200 post (here) and download Ohsaka's superwipe here
4. Put Radio, hboot, and superwipe zip files into root directory of your SD card.
5. Make a nandroid back up (through recovery). And do Titanium back up of your apps and data, read the note:
Note: your current ROM might not be working with new radio and SPL, as mine OTA Rom did not work. I had to flash specific one. So make sure you backed up your apps and data. Titanium backup from Market should work fine.
6. Download ROM that you will be using. Make sure it works with the SPL and Radio you will be changing.
7. Make sure you have done step 4. Go into recovery and chose "install zip" and pick superwipe. Wait for it to finish and Chose "Power OFF." and then boot up into recovery.
8. Now you are good to flash Radio. Chose "Flash Zip" and pick radio and flash it. Your phone should reboot, I think mine didn't so I had to do it manually.
9. Boot into recovery again and now flash hboot zip file. Your phone should reboot after flashing.
10. Now you should be done and can flash the ROM. You can check your radio and SPL by booting your phone by pressing Volume Down and Power buttons at the same time.
PS: I take no responsibility if you brick your device.

before you can do step 1, your device needs to be rooted....

Excellent guide AntonJart. Much appreciated!

Is there a advantage to upgrading? And if so what is it. I am running asop beatmod 32b 2.2.1 amon rec . Great post thanks

rnadolny said:
Is there a advantage to upgrading? And if so what is it. I am running asop beatmod 32b 2.2.1 amon rec . Great post thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It should free a bit of ram, 14 mb if I'm not mistaken, and allow to use cool ROMs.

mmaiolo81 said:
before you can do step 1, your device needs to be rooted....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
assuming that user already has root, but I added the step. I think I did not know about custom SPL and Radio all the way after rooting and flashing first custom ROM.

Are there any zips that flash the new (6.35) radio for the 32a with the headphone jack
Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G using XDA App

This is a massive noob question but I've been running CM6.1 for ages now but I'm starting to get sick of the lagging. Now that CM won't be releasing any more versions for the magic (or so we're told) I was thinking about flashing a stripped down rom for speedy daily use, something like what Yoshi has been doing maybe?
I have my device info below and I've searched around for ages to understand what I need to be looking for with new radios etc but I am a little lost. Can anyone direct me towards what I should be looking for? even recommending a rom/kernal/radio combination that might offer speed and functionality?
Device Info:
HTC Vodafone Magic (Australia)
Sapphire PVT 32B SHIP S-ON G
HBOOT-1.33.0004 (SAPP10000)
CPLD-10
RADIO-2.22.19.261
APR 9 2009,23:30:40
Many thanks!!!

Yoshi's Rom is super fast and stable. I'm not sure if this guide will work for Vodafone magic, but this radio and SPL is what needed for yoshi's ROM.
By the way, you can try flashing his 1.4 micro twist and see if it works for you. It is super duper fast rom.

Thanks AntonJart, I'll give Yoshi's a go.

Good job! Who wanna sticky? You wanna sticky? You gotta sticky!

AntonJart said:
I'm not sure if this guide will work for Vodafone magic, but this radio and SPL is what needed for yoshi's ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Works fine on a Vodafone Magic

will this work for 32A models?

imajin said:
will this work for 32A models?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
32B only models

I have a
Vodaphone Magic
Sapphire pvt 32B ENG S-OFF H
HBOOT-1.33.2005 (SAPP10000)
CPLD-10
Radio-2.22.19.26I
Will it make sense for me to upgrade to your SPL/Radio or do I already have a new version?

AntonJart said:
Hello everyone. I'm creating this thread because there are many noobs, just like myself, who ask too many questions and fail to use search properly. I just want to make it easier for dummies to find and do this, I take no credit for the work below mentioned people have done. I want to say thank you to those who made this all possible.
CLShortFuse for making super easy Rooting method. Original topic.
Amon_RA for making custom recovery for all of us. RA recovery thread
dasunsrule32 for making easy step by step tutorial. Original thread
xillius200 for providing flashable zips and guide. Original thread
Ohsaka and ezterry for amazing superwipe. Original thread
This is for MyTouch 3G 32B original (No Fender, 3.5 mm jack)
You will be flashing:
Radio: 2.22.27.08
SPL: 1.33.0013d
1. Your device should be rooted if you want to do it. SuperOneClick should work like a charm. Could be found here.
2. Download recovery and install it if you didn't do it yet. It could be performed by using Clockwork's app from the market. You can also use Clockwork's recovery if you want.
Note: The new OTA 2.2.1 update is going to restore original recovery after each boot, and will delete the custom one. (This happened to me) I tried flashing ROM before it was deleted and got Boot loops, no matter what ROM I used. Boot loop is when your phone got stuck on the green "MyTouch" image and restarts in circles. What helped me was flashing Android 1.5, then updating it to 1.6, and from there installing custom ROM. It worked for me, I'm not sure it will work for everyone. dasunsrule32 says you need custom SPL for doing it, but it worked for me without one.
Tutorial is here, chose section DOWNGRADE TO DONUT OTA:
3. Download flashable zips (radio and hboot) from xillius200 post (here) and download Ohsaka's superwipe here
4. Put Radio, hboot, and superwipe zip files into root directory of your SD card.
5. Make a nandroid back up (through recovery). And do Titanium back up of your apps and data, read the note:
Note: your current ROM might not be working with new radio and SPL, as mine OTA Rom did not work. I had to flash specific one. So make sure you backed up your apps and data. Titanium backup from Market should work fine.
6. Download ROM that you will be using. Make sure it works with the SPL and Radio you will be changing.
7. Make sure you have done step 4. Go into recovery and chose "install zip" and pick superwipe. Wait for it to finish and Chose "Power OFF." and then boot up into recovery.
8. Now you are good to flash Radio. Chose "Flash Zip" and pick radio and flash it. Your phone should reboot, I think mine didn't so I had to do it manually.
9. Boot into recovery again and now flash hboot zip file. Your phone should reboot after flashing.
10. Now you should be done and can flash the ROM. You can check your radio and SPL by booting your phone by pressing Volume Down and Power buttons at the same time.
PS: I take no responsibility if you brick your device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for this wonderful post, but an important correction. There is no need to downgrade to Donut when flashing a rom. All you need is a rom with a 2708/28.25/0013spl compatible kernel. Or flash ezterry's compatible kernel (link in my sig) after whichever rom you install.
I rooted my T-mobile MT3G 32B running oem 2.2.1 with superoneclick, flashed ra recovery via rom manager, did a full wipe in amon ra recovery, flashed a rom, flashed ezterry's kernel and booted right up.
There is absolutely no need to downgrade to Donut.

I went thru all of the steps and rebooted my phone after installing my ROM and it still showed the stock radio and hboot. My phone did not reboot either time I installed the radio or the hboot. I had to reboot it myself. Can anyone help?

Does it work on Roger's htc magic?

I had the green screen reboot going on. When I booted into Hboot it should the new radio and hboot but the phone kept on rebooting. Any help?

I even tried to rename the ROM to udate.zip still rebooting my touch screen.

[Q] Desire S, Rooted, S-On, Cant flash new custom ROM

Hey Guys
First time poster here and not massively technical at all so be gentle with me
Ok so over the weekend I decided I wanted to see what all the fuss was about with these custom ROM's that you can download. So I did some research and decided to give it a go. Please bear with me dudes. So what I did was as follows:
1) Unlocked the bootloader following HTCdev.com guide. Success
2) Rooted the phone, now have super user and can grant SU permissions to apps. Success
3) Installed ROM Manager, latest version. Success
4) Attempted to Flash clockworkmod to recovery using ROM Manager. Stated success in the app.
5) In ROM Manager I attempted to make a backup of my stock rom, asked me to enter a backup name and click OK, device reboots and I see a red exclamation mark when it tried to reboot into recovery, suggesting that step 4 was actually a failure.
6)Downloaded latest clockworkmod image file from the clockworkmod site and using a tool called android flasher (I think) I was able to flash the recovery image to the recovery partition. Phone reboots and boots into recovery and boom I have the clockworkmod recovery available to me.
7) Immediately took a backup of my stock rom so can convert back if things go pear shaped. Success.
8) I downloaded 2 custom rom's, Cyanogenmod latest 7.1.0 build and MIUI custom rom, both for Desire S. Success
9) Put both rom's onto my 8GB sd card as instructed by a guide I was following and booted into clockworkmod and wiped cache, data and system. Success
10) In clockworkmod selected install zip from SD card, found the Cyanogen zip and selected it, it proceeds to install. Reports success.
11) Reboot phone and it hangs on the HTC logo screen, nothing doing. Failure.
12) I have to boot back into CWM and restore my backup which is a success.
So what I end up with is my stock rom with an unlocked bootloader, rooted as I have superuser app and can grant SU permissions to ROM Manager and titanium backup. But I don't seem to be able to get a custom rom on there. I have tried formatting sd card, putting a new rom on and then taking battery out for 15 mins but again nothing doing, everything I try I just get a hanging HTC logo after reboot and again I have to restore my backup that I made to get a working phone again.
Here are some details from the bootloader:
**** UNLOCKED ****
SAGA PVT SHIP S-ON RL
HBOOT - 2.00.0002
RADIO - 3822.10.08.04_M
eMMC-boot
Aug 22 2011, 15:22:13
Sorry for the mahoooooossive post guys but its really bugging me that I cant get a custom rom on there, stock rom rooted just wasn't what I was looking for.
Really hope you guys can give some help/advice
Stewie

All yours steps seems fine to me.
The first time you flash a custom rom, it could takes MINUTES before boot (Once I waited 10 min with a rom).
How long did u wait when the HTC logo appeared?
Have you tried to S-OFF your Desire S?
It could be one of the reason why you can't flash properly.
Here all the guides (maybe you already know everything):
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1186401
EDIT:
As I suspected, it does stated it clearly in the link I gave you:
FAQs:
1. What's S-OFF and S-ON?
- If your phone is S-ON, you won't be able to root or flash custom ROMs to your phone. S-OFF let's you to have full control of your phone.
(NOTE: S-OFF is not ROOT, S-OFF your device does not mean that your device is Rooted. They are totally two different things.)

yukinok25, dude thanks for that, I was kinda thinking that it may have something to do with the s-on / s-off thing.
I'll have a butchers at trying to s-off the device, but I thought it was supposed to be a pretty tricky procedure with the version of HBoot that I have on my device, i.e 2.00.0002. So I was hoping to avoide the s-off process but if I gotta do it then I gotta do it, just hope it all goes ok.
Again thanks for the link man, good to get some help as im a bit of a rookie at this sort of stuff ;-)
Cheers
Stewie

Anytime mate.
Just because you are new to XDA: you can use the thanks button next time...

Not sure if this is still relevant, but there is a simple guide on the Dev forum on how to S-OFF the new HBOOT:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1525100
Also, the recommended custom recovery is 4EXT, which is based on Clockwork but more advanced. There is even a touch version now:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1377745