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<Collaboration><Dev><Ideas> HTC Evo 2.3.3 Gingerbread Root Collaboration.

<Collaboration><Dev><Ideas> HTC Evo 2.3.3 Gingerbread Root Collaboration.
* I love the color orange.​HTC Evo 2.3.3 Gingerbread Root Collaboration​
The Lowdown on Everything​
FASTBOOT
HTC's RUU releases basically run the adb reboot bootloader code, reconnect to the phone, verify the version and run a series of fastboot commands to install the contents of the PC36IMG (detailed below). In the same way it may be possible to run fastboot commands from command prompt with the SDK installed if you can time it just right in the flashing process, or not. The bootloader can be quite picky when it comes to letting anyone or anything flash anything lower than the version on the phone, or unsigned.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
PC36IMG
The PC36IMG is what is flashed in the bootloader. The contents of the zip include the radio, system, and more. As long as S-ON is present the bootloader won't flash any PC36IMG that isn't signed by HTC themeselves, however with S-OFF you can flash custom PC36IMGs as well as downgrade, because the bootloader doesn't check the firmware version to see if it's newer or not. If someone was however to be a sneaky awesome ninja and steal HTC's secret sauce then we could simply sign any PC36IMG we wanted to and fake a newer version in the android info txt.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
RECOVERY
From my understanding the stock recovery references alot with the bootloader to check for most of the same checks it looks for in the PC36IMG, but in the update.zip HTC includes for updates. The stock recovery won't flash anything but signed HTC update.zips either, which again you need the special sauce to sign. Custom recoveries like Amon RA or Clockwork remove the security and don't reference with the bootloader (since your phone has to be S-OFF anyways to flash a custom recovery.) A custom recovery is the key in flashing customs roms and kernels, if you can achieve it with the security on (S-ON) the you won't even have to worry about achieving S-OFF. However, that's near impossible due to the security in the bootloader HTC implements with updates. Which is why the bootloader has to be cracked to install anything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
RUU
The RUU is an official tool HTC puts out so people can reflash there phone with a stock firmware just like if it is brand new and your turning it on for the first time. The files included inside of the RUU frontend include the PC36IMG which is essentially what is flashed in the process, but in a fancy way I guess you could put it. The same security applies to the RUU, you can't downgrade versions without S-OFF because the bootloader still checks the version on the phone currently to see if it can flash the PC36IMG or not (when security is on [S-ON] )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
APKS
I'm sure alot of you know of applications such as Visionary or Z4Root, they both use common exploits to root your phone in a simple application, first temp root then permanent root. They push the approiate resources, Superuser, su, busybox, set the permissions for everything to run, and clean up everything in the blink of an eye thanks to simple scripts. The same thing is still quite possible with any exploit, the exploit just has to be found in the software. You find the exploit you gain root. You have root you can do almost anything to your phone, but S-OFF still plays a role in everything with what you can and cannot flash. Sigh. I know right..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Our Mission​
The whole purpose of this thread is to collaborate on possible ways to obtain S-OFF and/or root on 2.3.3, either update. We are community, thus we must act like one, and not bash each other for trying. If you have a truthful idea or any questions feel free to post them. You never know, you could very well help with rooting the latest update. This has gone on far to long it's been almost 2 months and no root. This is our time to free each other from the chains of security because we all like to be dangerous sometimes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Possible Rooting Ideas​

What Works What Doesn't​
I encourage everyone to try previous rooting methods, and methods to obtain S-OFF and experiment as much as they feel comfortable with, you never know what you might find. We could be overlooking something.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

There is no right or wrong answer only better ones than others. Please do not bash users, or slander them for there ideas, everyone has a right to post, but please stay on topic. /end

Am I missing something?
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA Premium App

lil_bono said:
Am I missing something?
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just give me a few, I'm still typing.
<done></done>

<words>I'll be back on tomorrow, I'm going to go lay down and talk to my friend. Feel free to comment with any ideas. I, myself, am looking into and working very hard to achieve S-OFF and root for the 2.3.3 update, it will come in time. That's just the key; time.</words>

What other phones have you developed, alone or with a group, a rooting and/or s-off type process for? And I don't mean an app that uses an already known exploit such as rageagainstthecage.
I guess at least we have a fancy thread now. Best of luck to everyone.

ill jsut post a small snippet of thanks for thaking this initiative, i dont know about android os myself one bit, so i can hardly contribute, but would there be a way to "fool" the hboot or Ruu version number ?
either fooling the hboot into thinking the ruu one is trying to flash ( to downgrade of course) is a higher version one, or to somehow change the RUU itself to report a different version number? i realize this may sound incredibly stupid as my programming knowledge is very limited, but jst throwing it out there...
once again, thanks for taking this initiative for the evo 4g community

I was wondering if you could force the RUU update. We know it verifies the version on the phone, but surely to could still flash if it was forced. Sort of like doing an nvflash on the tablets. You'd just need to hack the RUU updater to skip the version check and flash anyway. Unfortunately, I'm not a cracker, so...

This should take off
There's a whole thread in Evo General full of ideas due to some kind of "bounty" to whomever achieves root on 2.3.3. At least we could get a start on what does/doesn't work. (This is not meant to deter traffic from this brainstorming thread)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1162671

skatrwannabe3 said:
There's a whole thread in Evo General full of ideas due to some kind of "bounty" to whomever achieves root on 2.3.3. At least we could get a start on what does/doesn't work. (This is not meant to deter traffic from this brainstorming thread)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1162671
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, great idea. Just so you know, there is no "bounty" on rooting the ota. I dont even know where that term came from. I just started a thread to say that I am desperate for root, I will pay for someone to figure it out. I never asked anyone or expected anyone else to throw money in on it too. It has since grown into a 600+ dollar pot, and I think that its a good thing. The people that take the time to root it should get a pat on the back.
On topic: I see a bunch of people saying to downgrade, isnt temp root gonna come before that? Shouldnt temp root be the thing to focus on first?

I'm not much of a programmer but ill brick my phone as many times as needed lol
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

github said:
What other phones have you developed, alone or with a group, a rooting and/or s-off type process for? And I don't mean an app that uses an already known exploit such as rageagainstthecage.
I guess at least we have a fancy thread now. Best of luck to everyone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've personally never been the leader of a rooting or S-OFF project before, but my knowledge of Android on a whole is pretty vast. I do develop roms and kernels as well as themes and apps for Android in general, so I guess I'm pretty qualified?

fldash said:
I was wondering if you could force the RUU update. We know it verifies the version on the phone, but surely to could still flash if it was forced. Sort of like doing an nvflash on the tablets. You'd just need to hack the RUU updater to skip the version check and flash anyway. Unfortunately, I'm not a cracker, so...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure that the RUU is anything but a front end user interface for the process, the actual flashing and everything involves the bootloader, which is why it still pushes the PC36IMG temp. to the sdcard. It might however be in the RUU itself and using fastboot flashes? I'll look into it. Good idea, thanks.

Who rated the thread bad?

bubby323 said:
I'm not sure that the RUU is anything but a front end user interface for the process, the actual flashing and everything involves the bootloader, which is why it still pushes the PC36IMG temp. to the sdcard. It might however be in the RUU itself and using fastboot flashes? I'll look into it. Good idea, thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
but does the RUU update the hboot itself?
the point is , older hboots and android software are already rooted, if we can get back to those , the end result is the same, we get root, then upgrade using a stock rooted rom, problem solved

bubby323 said:
What Works What Doesn't​
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My recent failures attempts while on 4.24 S-On:
Amon_Ra Recovery PC36IMG.zip flashed from Hboot
Signed 3.70 PC36IMG.zip flashed from Hboot
Signed 4.24 PC36IMG.zip flashed from Hboot (it loads/updates, but is basically a factory reset)
3.70 RUU exe
UnrEVOked3

some chucklehead
bubby323 said:
Who rated the thread bad?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Eh, I put in a 5 star vote to make it up, also to show the uselessness of voting.

Has anyone looked at the contents of a PC36IMG.zip? I am still decompliling one, but its a fun task to decipher all of the code. Another thing I need is for someone to tell me which files I should be looking for as far as HTC signing. What I would like to do is maybe strip it from the stock one, and insert it into a custom image.
Sent from the land of motorcycles!

[Q] Bought a rooted phone by accident, in over my head

First android phone it's a AT&T One X, i'll be using it on the Bell network. Got a good deal on Kijiji and I didn't ask enough questions apparently, lol.
The phone is clearly not stock, took me several hours to piece that together. I get it, I'm a noob. I can tell it's running Cleanrom 4.5. I want to get it back to something close to stock. I plan to learn all about rooting/roms but I want to do it from a vanilla phone so that I get to actually do it myself.
I googled and found a tutorial (link). I deleted the 'su' file and superuser.apk. I followed the rest of the steps and it didn't seem to do anything, just rebooted back into cleanrom.
I kept googling and now I'm following this guide: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1859714
I guess i'm going to flash from an RUU now ? My CID is 11111111, so I've read that means I have superCID and any RUU will work. I want to get to JB eventually, so can I just flash direct to the Europe 3.14 JB from HTCRUU? Or go with one of the ICS versions?
Am I doing this right?

No no no!
Edit: still writing but wanted to say don't flash that ruu
If you want completely stock you need to use fast boot and boot into hboot and run fastboot OEM lock
(You may need to search around to learn how do that)
Then run this ruu. http://beta.androidfilehost.com/?fid=9390077933525139511
Sent from my One X using Tapatalk 2

that is for the wrong phone
only place you should look at is here AT&T, Rogers HTC One X, Telstra One XL

Its good your asking the questions now if you want to go completely stock run an ruu which means relicking the bootloader and running it ill link you to some guides in a sec
---------- Post added at 07:43 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:43 AM ----------
Oh and like others said don't use that ruu! We have the one XL

cleanrom 4.5 is pretty good and close to stock but adds quick settings, debloated, power menu and some other tweaks. i would keep it how it is and just learn about how custom roms work. you can learn how to use twrp in its current state and maybe learn how to use some root apps.
just so you know your phone is the evita not the endeavoru.

Thanks for the replies.
I haven't tried flashing anything yet so don't worry. I'm taking it slow.
I've already been into fastboot. Figured that out because it was a required step in the guides I said I was trying to use. I have all the drivers installed and I'm able to talk to the phone via fastboot at the comand prompt.
LOL, thanks for letting me know my phone is Evita. I guess I can delete the 600mb RUU I downloaded
I'm a little unclear about HBOOT vs. fastboot. I can get into the bootloader and go to the fastboot USB mode... is this analogous to HBOOT?
So my steps right now are:
1) Download correct RUU, Evita 2.20 ICS - I've also seen people discussing 1.85 vs 2.20, why chose one over another?
2) fastboot oem lock
3) Install RUU while phone is in bootloader mode
That right?

I would strongly suggest to slow down, and learn more about what root is and means, before going back stock. Root is just a change in permissions. You gain absolutely nothing by unrooting, and lose quite a bit. You lose the ability to do all sorts of mods to your phone, flash custom ROMs, use apps that require root like Adaway and Titanium Backup (and many others), remove carrier bloatware, activate tethering, and much more.
People have gone through great pains to find root methods for our device (and other Android devices). Many come on here looking for these root methods, for the awesome benefits that root means. I've seen very few, if any, people before you that have said "crap I accidentally got a rooted device, and don't want root". Think about that one for a while.
Plus, CleanROM 4.5 is already based on a more updated firmware version than any of the official AT&T RUUs. Plus it includes a lot of cool features and optimizations. Again, going from CleanROM to stock is a step backwards, not forwards, and you are gaining nothing, and losing quite a bit. Another thing about CleanROM, is that it is devoid of the AT&T bloatware (and there is a lot). Keep in mind that on the stock AT&T ROM, the bloat is not removable without root, so you are stuck with quite a few crappy apps that you will never use. That alone is a huge reason to have a rooted device. Also bear in mind that stock AT&T does not allow tethering (unless you have a data plan that allows it) and has other stock HTC apps (like FM radio) disabled. These cannot be enabled unless you have root.
Another thing, is that you will not get Jellybean any faster on stock than rooted. While its true that rooted, this phone will not be able to take the OTA when it rolls out (hasn't happened yet). But a stock rooted JB firmware will almost certainly be posted here on XDA, that is safely flashable on a rooted device. This often happens within a couple days of the OTA starting to roll out, if not faster. Sometimes even before the OTA, as sometimes the official RUUs get leaked before the OTA. All it takes is for a dev to get his hands on the files, apply root, and upload it here. Learning how to flash such a file to your device is very simple. Not much more than: download the file to your phone, boot into recovery, and press "install". So yet again, stock gains nothing over being rooted.
While its true that root is not for everyone. But if you've already found this place, and learned what things like RUU, bootloader, and fastboot are, then you probably already know more than most folks do about Android. You may feel in over your head, but it really just takes a few hours of reading to learn the fundamentals. And with that knowledge, you can do so much more with your phone than you can without root.

redpoint73 said:
I would strongly suggest to slow down, and learn more about what root is and means, before going back stock. Root is just a change in permissions. You gain absolutely nothing by unrooting, and lose quite a bit....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I appreciate the advice, thanks. To be clear, eventually I will probably bring the device back to where it is now. I've used linux before so I have an understanding of the permissions system and the added benefits of root.
My goal here is to get the phone back to stock so that I can learn the rooting/flashing process from the start, not the end. I understand why that might seem counterintuitive but I'm a very hands on person and I'll learn more of the theory by walking through the process than reading about how somebody else hacked this device to get where it is now.
Sure I'm making extra work for myself but I know what im getting into.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda app-developers app

echoboomer said:
I appreciate the advice, thanks. To be clear, eventually I will probably bring the device back to where it is now. I've used linux before so I have an understanding of the permissions system and the added benefits of root.
My goal here is to get the phone back to stock so that I can learn the rooting/flashing process from the start, not the end. I understand why that might seem counterintuitive but I'm a very hands on person and I'll learn more of the theory by walking through the process than reading about how somebody else hacked this device to get where it is now.
Sure I'm making extra work for myself but I know what im getting into.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should have said so from the start, then. This pretty much negates everything I just typed above.
Its admirable that you want to learn the process from scratch, and its the opposite attitude of most n00bs here.
My advice, as another mentioned above, is stick to XDA, and don't follow instructions from random Googled sites. Most of those sites don't clearly delineate between our phone (Snapdragon S4) and the international (Tegra3) version, and following instructions for the international version is a great way to brick your phone.
Other than that, lock the bootloader, run the RUU, and have fun. Also check your hboot version. If its anything but 1.14, don't run the 2.20 RUU. You will want the 1.73 or 1.85 RUU instead, as the 2.20 RUU will update the hboot to 1.14, which plugs the holes by which boot.img and radios can be flashed from recovery. Unless you want to create ever MORE work for yourself, as the hboot can be downgraded using a Linux computer, lol!
Be sure to check out my index thread, as most anything you will need is here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1671237

Thanks, sounds like I'm on the right track.
Also check back to my OP, I did say that I wanted to learn the whole process but I wanted to do it from stock. sorry you typed all that out but in sure it will help some other noob down the line.
Last thing, 1.85 vs 2.20?
Sent from my HTC One X using xda app-developers app

ChummyDays said:
2.20 has the new hboot, and that means that you have to extract the boot.IMG out of the ROM and flash it through fast boot. With 1.85 you just flash the ROM.
Sent from my One X using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cool thanks, I found a tutorial last night on how to extract boot.IMG from the ruu exe. I think I'm good to go.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda app-developers app

You might be confused. You shouldn't have to pull a boot.img from an RUU typically, only from a custom ROM zip. And only if you are on boot 1.14.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda app-developers app

Probably confused. Here's what I see in the boot loader.
***
Tampered
Unlocked
Evita PVT Ship S-ON RL
HBOOT-1.09.0000
Radio-0.19as.32.09.09_L
OpenDSP-v28.1.0.32.0504
eMMC-boot
***
Sent from my HTC One X using xda app-developers app

echoboomer said:
HBOOT-1.09.0000
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is what you want to see, and why you need to be sure to use the 1.85 RUU.

[Q] Need to flash my phone back prior to the recent ota (1.63... doubleshot)

I am trying to attempt messing with this type of thing for the first time so noob handling will be required. My reason is simply my phone is a nice wallpaper display three days after the ota from tmobile 1.63.531.2 710rd.
I began by trying to follow:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1505999
To no avail. Of course I noticed afterwards that for some reason it says to turn s-on in the header... exactly the opposite what what I need to flash the phone back to (PG59IMG_Doubleshot_TMOUS_1.28.531.9_Radio_10.48.9007.00U_10.12.9007.07_M2_release_201815_signed.zip) I have had problems with the phone ever since its first ota a year or so ago. With this latest ota the phone is more or less bricked as of the phone using power saver when I went to sleep last night... Wont call or check into the network...no dial tone. Took me 3-4 restarts for it to even show the antenna symbol and the 4g icon in the taskbar.
My phone is set as S-on for now. The only instructions I have found through the search tool relay how to do it to the sensation... I believe that is the mytouch 4g not slide. However I have the slide which is doubleshot. So my question is, is this instruction on http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1192300 safe to use with the doubleshot since the (T-Mobile branded HTC myTouch 4g Slide ( doubleshot ) Developers Reference) page links to it indirectly. Using the link at the top of the how to S-on after s-off... again the opposite of what I need so I tried following the link at the top of that page " Guide to Installing S-off, Unlocking, ClockWork, Root, SuperCID & S-on " which takes you to the s-off instruction page for the sensation (Link: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1192300 )...I am guessing that it will work and sensation refers to HTC sense, but I don't care to make the mistake of doing it wrong and bricking my phone due to being derp.
I know there is a bit of overdone explanation and redundancy in the addresses I have left here. I am just trying to cover all my bases thanks for the help in advance.
The short and sweet is I need a link by link list with instructions on how to step my phone back for multiple reasons. First the recent OTA more or less broke my phone and I don't want a refurb phone with inferior parts from Assurion...(They were in class action lawsuits for this in the past.) nor do I want to pay 130$ for said replacement. Next from what I just read the 1.63 update has some serious security compromises that are awaiting response from HTC for an update. Basically it gives full accesses to all your data to include your sim and SD card contents to all apps. Regardless of user specified/agreed permissions.

Following ANY routine or procedure for another phone is just too dangerous & will never work anyway. The bad part being you may very well create a brick in the process. If you have the MT4G SLIDE, this is where you will get all that you need so don't even consider other threads.
Since you've done the OTA & are sitting at Hboot 1.63.XXX now you will HAVE to get S-Off before you can go back to your previous Hboot. To DO that you will have to follow the instructions HERE.
If all you are wanting to do is start flashing ROMs, then the instructions you need are HERE.
Keep us informed & we'll try to help if you need it. Good Luck!

WeekendsR2Short said:
Following ANY routine or procedure for another phone is just too dangerous & will never work anyway. The bad part being you may very well create a brick in the process. If you have the MT4G SLIDE, this is where you will get all that you need so don't even consider other threads.
Since you've done the OTA & are sitting at Hboot 1.63.XXX now you will HAVE to get S-Off before you can go back to your previous Hboot. To DO that you will have to follow the instructions HERE.
If all you are wanting to do is start flashing ROMs, then the instructions you need are HERE.
Keep us informed & we'll try to help if you need it. Good Luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the hasty post reply any other suggestions...I have win7ult 64bit. Or will will juopunutbutter work even though they have the below disclaimer?
"Supported Operating Systems:
We only support Windows 7 32bit or Ubuntu 12.04 (and newer) 32bit, you may use a LiveCD if you have the wrong OS installed natively. Win XP 32bit might work for you but we do not support it as we did not test on it."
Also, this, "Be on the Stock RUU and be rooted (have superuser flashed). No other ROMs are supported, Fresh ROM will not work regardless of what you have read elsewhere."
-I am not rooted. Which is something else I want to accomplish so I can set up firewalls that block certain things.
Oh btw provided I can get this phone working again I am also going to attempt to reflash my older mytouch 3g... back to original as well that thing worked better than any of the current phones for my purposes before it got the update prior to the 2.2.1... the original update didn't work with adobe which is fine with me, people need to move on from adobe's garbage anyway. Specifically with the old mytough 3g though that really did add functionality at the sacrifice of sanity since it slowed the phone down so much. On that note though I may just put on a custom if I can get comfortable with this stuff. The last time I looked at a pc this hard was back in win98se when you had to know how to do tricks to make it faster like modifying available rame to twice as much above and below physical ram and a few other tweeks I have long forgotten.
That brings me to another question. If I go custom rom and unlocked this looming threat of brick is weighing in on me. If a phone is bricked is it possible to recover using some of the same tools that bricked it in the first place... flash install original rom as a fix? Just trying to see how much margin of error I have to work with.
Thanks again.
PS who do we talk to about backing off all the java on the site since it is so compromised right now? This sight has more java permissions than most sights of ill reput... though I have been reading these forums off and on for a while so I trust it more than most with this much tracking. I doubt patch 11 actually fixed the issue...since the day before they said it would take two years or more to actually resolve the java zero day exploit.

You should be fine with your pc, I used a 64bit win7 too. If you're worried dual boot linux.
Your my touch 3g is rooted diferentley, go to that forum for details, its not true radio soff but its close enough.
If you brick it its dead, depending how it was bricked jtag could bring it back to life or this phone is part of the unbricking project which will fix some other bricks. Problem is people use brick as a term that means a whole lot of things so its hard to answer. Usually a brick is forever dead, most people don't actually brick their phone though and usually have to be neglecting things to do it.
As for java... just read up on a bunch of trustworthy places for more info and understanding
Sent from my HTC Vision using xda premium

I'm afraid I just don't know about Win 7 64bit and how it will react but I'm sure there has to be a person or two around with experience concerning that OS. It may very well work fine. I CAN tell you that the "wire trick" (junoptobear?) will work fine on MikTouch because that's what I used. It's a stripped down GB stock ROM which is all you're really looking for. Why....I don't know.
As far as bricking goes, there's not a GREAT deal to worry about as long as you follow all instructions to a tee. You REALLY don't have to even have S-Off to flash ROMs as you read in that link. You just need to flash the kernel after you flash the ROM. It WILL limit a few things you can do but not ROM flashing.
When it comes to rescueing a bricked device though, there are only a very few instances that can be done as far as I know. But I'm no developer either. But if you can make it to your bootloader and/or recovery you not bricked. It may be a hardware of software issue but most of the time you can come back from those.
As far as the Java issue you spoke of goes, you may be able to get an answer to that one by PM'ing one of our moderators or admins.

I want to step it back to previous versions because they worked better...primarily the first version... Also, I am not seeing a guide that refers to doing it to the 1.63 patch. keyboard hasn't swyped right since the first ota update. Also my intent is to root an older version so I can remove crapware like dt sync, friend stream, kidzone, tmobile mall, tmobile tv, tmobile setup, telenav gps, and zinio reader.

X-Lander said:
I want to step it back to previous versions because they worked better...primarily the first version... Also, I am not seeing a guide that refers to doing it to the 1.63 patch. keyboard hasn't swyped right since the first ota update. Also my intent is to root an older version so I can remove crapware like dt sync, friend stream, kidzone, tmobile mall, tmobile tv, tmobile setup, telenav gps, and zinio reader.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a simple flashing process but you HAVE to achieve S-Off first with the "Wire Trick". You can flash it forward without S-Off but not backwards. Does it work at all or is it just frozen to some point in the boot process? Can you access your SDcard? Can you boot to Hboot & recovery? These are a couple of things you will have to be able to do to go forward if I understand you correctly.

[Q] How to i change my CID and allow OTA updates

Hi,
i recently got an HTC One S phone (used, no warranty). The phone seems to have been "played with" as it had Super User installed. However it was acting wierd so i did a factory recovery using the boot menu. This meant Super User was gone.
I am totally new to the updating an HTC phone, i found doing firmware changes to Sony and Samsung phones to be pretty much more easier!
My needs are pretty basic ! which is i want to achieve the following
I want to change my phone to have a normal CID without depending on carrier delays for updates (my CID is ORANG1)
I do not want to install a custom ROM, i want OTA updates to happen
I want to have my phone get the OTA update for Jelly Bean
When i boot into the phone (volume - + restart), i see the following,
*** TAMPERED ***
*** UNLOCKED ***
VLE PVT SHP S-ON RL
HBOOT-1.06.0000
RADIO-0.15.3150S.19_2
OpenDSP-v21.1.0.32.0314
eMMC-boot
Mar 15 2012, 23:37:23
Other facts
My CID - ORANG1 (using CID getter app)
Phone model - S4 Z520e
I hear the Jelly Bean update sorts the helicopter issue with the HOME button, though i am not sure if the restart issue when browsing with the stock browser has been resolved. The helicopter HOME issue is driving me nuts.
Appreciate if someone can provide me the steps about how i can go about getting my phone CID changed and the OTA udpates working for the new CID, as searching the forums have not really helped me nail the way i can go about doing this.

Before we get started I'd like to know your home country (sorry I don't know your flag) and whether you're on stock or custom recovery.
As I'm on this device from the very beginning and know almost any corner in this forum I'll point you out where to find the things and information you'll need and some advantages as well as some disadvantages of what you want. Also I'll point out an alternative.

rootrider said:
Before we get started I'd like to know your home country (sorry I don't know your flag) and whether you're on stock or custom recovery.
As I'm on this device from the very beginning and know almost any corner in this forum I'll point you out where to find the things and information you'll need and some advantages as well as some disadvantages of what you want. Also I'll point out an alternative.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wonderful to hear a quick response.
I live in Sri Lanka (small Island nation located at the bottom part of India, last colonized by the British!). The situation is that i think i am in stock, as i got this phone used and though everything is functional the helicopter home button issue, phone freezing when i use the stock browser for over a few minutes, connection looses (all reported errors with 4.0.3 and even 0.4) means i need to get this to Jelly Bean to make the phone more usable as i love the size and speed of the phone.
To start of is there any way i can see if my phone is in stock or custom recovery? I just searched and found http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2124349, does the instructions "Fastboot getvar version-main" work?
Another twist is that i have the much loved Windows 8 running on my PC, i am not sure if that will have any effect on any command executions.

Wait you got 1.06 Hboot I would not flash RUU or OTA if you got that because you can update what is needed or if needed for roms plus you don't have to piss about when flashing roms so if I was you don't do it.

Thank you and welcome to this forum!
Your bootloader is still at version 1.06. Which is very good, as yours and version 1.09 allow you to flash nearly everything (kernels, radios, etc.) from within your device. Bootloader versions higher than 1.09 don't allow this anymore. For flashing kernels and radios you then will need to get into the phones fastboot mode and use the Android SDK on your pc, typing things like 'fastboot flash boot boot.img'.
Let's get started with recovery. To root your phone you usually need to flash a custom recovery. TWRP is the only one working bugfree atm. You can download it here.
To flash it and doing other usefull things try to get comfortable with the HTC One S All-in-one-toolkit.
So why do I mention this, also you wrote that the only thing you want to do is udating straightly to JB?
After the OTA update you'll be on bootloader version 2.15. It's just one more thing from htc to lock their devices even more, as at this time they don't behave very friendly to the dev community. Downgrading the bootloader is kind of pain and not easy so, unless you're familiar with linux (I did it succesfully several times).
Also stock JB from htc has one more surprise: Your system folder will be kind of write protected, which means, also you seem to have full root, after a reboot your formerly deleted (you thought so) files wil be back. Also added files in that folder won't be present any more. That crap is hardcoded into htc's JB kernel and sources are not available atm. But this problem was solved by flar2, who wrote a kernel module to bypass this.
So your hardware issues are left. As I'm not concerned by this I can only summarize what I read about these in the forum. They are obviously hardware related and therefore independant from software. Somebody wrote, a new radio had helped, others write different. In summary you'll have to check this out for your device.
Let's resume at this point:
Your device is unlocked and at 1.06. It needs to be relocked for the JB update and it will have a less comfortable bootloader version afterwards and it will be hard to get rid of the crapware in your system folder, as you'll have to unlock and root again for doing so. And it's questionable the JB OTA update will fix your hardware issues.
So I'd recommend the following procedure (you could still do the OTA update at any time, I'll help you then):
- use the all-in-one-toolkit, flash latest TWRP
- Flash latest EU radio 1.11 from here with twrp
- restore JB from my nandroid backup (download 3.16)
- if you experience troubles with your wifi connection, flash these wifi partitions
- check if your hardware troubles have been resolved
- to get root use all-in-one-toolkit again and flash elemental kernel (by flar2)
It seems a lot of work, but it's worth it. PM me, if you need additional help or decide to do the OTA update.

wow, thanks so much for all the info. I will give this a try tonight as i have the phone @ home, using my One X as the regular phone until i get the One S sorted. Then i will hope push out the One X and keep the One S as my regular phone. I prefer the One S size which is more ideal for one handed operation, shame that HTC opted for a pentile display that took out the sharpness.
Also based on your suggestions would it be better for me to opt for a custom ROM than HTC standard to resolve my issues?

[Q] need help where to go next

I have ATT HOX 2.20, unlocked, rooted, superCID, S-off, latest TWRP (thanks to all of you). I'm prett lost as to where to go next. I'd like to keep all of this and update to the latest stock ota Jellybean. However, when I check for ATT updates on the phone, nothing happens, even when I manually check in.
I would like the latest and greatest on this phone but more important is full functionality and full stability. If I could hit a button, return this phone to original, and download the latest ota, I would. I would then just use Titanium Backup to remove any bloatware that I didn't like. But I (and I suspect many others) spent weeks unlocking this phone because it was unclear when, or if, an official JB would ever arrive. So here I am, stuck in an inbetween moment. The part where this site offers way too many options with unclear results. I am looking for the least complicated, way to get the most fully functional and stable JB onto this phone and I'll be done. And, I can't figure out if it's the official update or one of a thousand offered Roms, kernels, radios, etc. Any and all specific advice would be appreciated. And, as always, thank you to all who post here. I've had a lot of fun (and a few scary moments).

runaway said:
I have ATT HOX 2.20, unlocked, rooted, superCID, S-off, latest TWRP (thanks to all of you). I'm prett lost as to where to go next. I'd like to keep all of this and update to the latest stock ota Jellybean. However, when I check for ATT updates on the phone, nothing happens, even when I manually check in.
I would like the latest and greatest on this phone but more important is full functionality and full stability. If I could hit a button, return this phone to original, and download the latest ota, I would. I would then just use Titanium Backup to remove any bloatware that I didn't like. But I (and I suspect many others) spent weeks unlocking this phone because it was unclear when, or if, an official JB would ever arrive. So here I am, stuck in an inbetween moment. The part where this site offers way too many options with unclear results. I am looking for the least complicated, way to get the most fully functional and stable JB onto this phone and I'll be done. And, I can't figure out if it's the official update or one of a thousand offered Roms, kernels, radios, etc. Any and all specific advice would be appreciated. And, as always, thank you to all who post here. I've had a lot of fun (and a few scary moments).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why do you want to go stock? Stock currently has only 4.1.1. There are various ROMs on the XDA, if you want a sense one try out the Viper XL and also there are various options for non-sense ROMs.
Anyways if you do want to flash the stock ROM here is the link: -
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2181399
Make sure you rea carefully before you flash the stock one from anywhere. There have been bricks. Also check out the FAQs. Hope this helped

runaway said:
I have ATT HOX 2.20, unlocked, rooted, superCID, S-off, latest TWRP (thanks to all of you). I'm prett lost as to where to go next. I'd like to keep all of this and update to the latest stock ota Jellybean. However, when I check for ATT updates on the phone, nothing happens, even when I manually check in.
I would like the latest and greatest on this phone but more important is full functionality and full stability. If I could hit a button, return this phone to original, and download the latest ota, I would. I would then just use Titanium Backup to remove any bloatware that I didn't like. But I (and I suspect many others) spent weeks unlocking this phone because it was unclear when, or if, an official JB would ever arrive. So here I am, stuck in an inbetween moment. The part where this site offers way too many options with unclear results. I am looking for the least complicated, way to get the most fully functional and stable JB onto this phone and I'll be done. And, I can't figure out if it's the official update or one of a thousand offered Roms, kernels, radios, etc. Any and all specific advice would be appreciated. And, as always, thank you to all who post here. I've had a lot of fun (and a few scary moments).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think pretty much everybody here will tell you to stay away from the new ota. It offers nothing new and some people have even bricked their phones while updating. My suggestion would be to install one of the custom roms as they're better optimissed and don't have all the bloat and are more customizable. I've found viperxl to be as stable as stock while adding a load of tweaks to highly personalize it. Cleanrom on the other hand doesn't have all the tweaks but is a stripped down Rom that's fast and stable. But you'll have to try you like best but I advise you not to ota. The ota will also update your touchscreen firmware that causes a lot of problems for cm users. If you think you might want to install cm10 don't update.
Sent from Xparent Red using my Venomized Evita

If you want stock flash CleanROM 6 r2. In fact, just flash everything in my signature + turge's WiFi fix. That will give you the latest "stock" experience for AT&T.
Sent from my HTC One XL

There's no need to "stay away" from the OTA if you know what you're doing. It contains some updates that are not in any of the Sense ROMs. If you want to update everything on your phone, it's easy and safe to do so since you're s-off. The only people who bricked were SuperCID and s-on. Here's what to do:
-Confirm that you're s-off (just to be safe)
-Make a full backup and copy it off your phone.
-Run 2.20 ruu. You need this to restore stock recovery.
-Download the ota, rename update.zip, and copy to internal storage.
-Reboot to bootloader, select recovery, press power and vol+ to get to recovery dialog.
-Ignore errors that come up. Select install from internal storage, select update.zip. Your phone may reboot a couple of times. Return to bootloader when done.
-Push custom recovery back on.
-Flash rooted rom
-Restore backups as necessary
I did all this a couple of weeks ago, and my phone is running faster and more smoothly than ever.
You will need to downgrade your touchscreen firmware if you ever plan to use an AOSP rom.

I'll try this
iElvis said:
There's no need to "stay away" from the OTA if you know what you're doing. It contains some updates that are not in any of the Sense ROMs. If you want to update everything on your phone, it's easy and safe to do so since you're s-off. The only people who bricked were SuperCID and s-on. Here's what to do:
-Confirm that you're s-off (just to be safe)
-Make a full backup and copy it off your phone.
-Run 2.20 ruu. You need this to restore stock recovery.
-Download the ota, rename update.zip, and copy to internal storage.
-Reboot to bootloader, select recovery, press power and vol+ to get to recovery dialog.
-Ignore errors that come up. Select install from internal storage, select update.zip. Your phone may reboot a couple of times. Return to bootloader when done.
-Push custom recovery back on.
-Flash rooted rom
-Restore backups as necessary
I did all this a couple of weeks ago, and my phone is running faster and more smoothly than ever.
You will need to downgrade your touchscreen firmware if you ever plan to use an AOSP rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is what I'm looking for. My second choice would be the highly recommended Viper Rom, and thirdly a CleanRom. I tried the CleanRom once and softbricked my phone so I'm a little shy now. I like the HTC Sense and don't mind keeping it. I just want a ROM designed specifically for this phone where everything works, is updated, and is stable. I feel like the official ota is the answer. The info on this site gets quite scattered when you get to this point. Do I stay locked, or do I re-lock? Do I keep TWRP or not? Do I flash or update? Boot image extract or no? S-off ok or no? etc. etc. I'll try your way first. Provided I come out the other side ok, I'll post the results here. Thank you for your help.

runaway said:
This is what I'm looking for. My second choice would be the highly recommended Viper Rom, and thirdly a CleanRom. I tried the CleanRom once and softbricked my phone so I'm a little shy now. I like the HTC Sense and don't mind keeping it. I just want a ROM designed specifically for this phone where everything works, is updated, and is stable. I feel like the official ota is the answer. The info on this site gets quite scattered when you get to this point. Do I stay locked, or do I re-lock? Do I keep TWRP or not? Do I flash or update? Boot image extract or no? S-off ok or no? etc. etc. I'll try your way first. Provided I come out the other side ok, I'll post the results here. Thank you for your help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Also, to clarify, by "backup" I meant both a nandroid (always a good idea when making changes), and your user apps+data.
When restoring, only restore user apps. A nandroid will put you back where you were. Don't restore system apps+data either, as this can cause problems, esp when upgrading your base.

iElvis said:
Also, to clarify, by "backup" I meant both a nandroid (always a good idea when making changes), and your user apps+data.
When restoring, only restore user apps. A nandroid will put you back where you were. Don't restore system apps+data either, as this can cause problems, esp when upgrading your base.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just to confirm, After downloading OTA and doing my backups, I need to find the original 2.20 file for this phone and restore stock recovery? (I'll have to admit, I'm a bit lost on this site and overwhelmed by all of the files I've downloaded to get this far. If anyone can post a link here to this file, and or, instructions, I'd appreciate it)
Here is where I stand right now:
Andriod 4.04, HTC Sense 4.0, Software number 2.20.502.7 710RD, HTC SDK API level 4.23
Tampered
Unlocked
EVITA PVT SHIP S-OFF RL
CID-11111111
HBOOT-1.14.0002
RADIO-0.19as32.09.11-2
OpenDSP-v29.1.0.45.0622
eMMc-boot
Jun 11 2012 14:36:28

runaway said:
Just to confirm, After downloading OTA and doing my backups, I need to find the original 2.20 file for this phone and restore stock recovery? (I'll have to admit, I'm a bit lost on this site and overwhelmed by all of the files I've downloaded to get this far. If anyone can post a link here to this file, and or, instructions, I'd appreciate it)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, there is a link to the 2.20 ruu in the development section roll-up thread.