Android experiment #2: how to root your HTC Hero and install any custom ROM or even Android 2.1 (without HTC Sense)
After discovering HTC doesn't support updating their phones' firmware with a Mac computer, I got really annoyed. Rooting my phone was a risk I wasn't willing to take (thinking of the many sleepless nights jailbreaking my iPhone 2G) but what other choice did I have now? I can be very impatient and even more so when I'm annoyed. So I decided to root my phone after all to get my Android fix. It turned out to be a piece of cake these days. I mostly followed this guide. I experienced some errors but they turned out be the new ROM's fault (or mine while installing it) and were not related to the process of rooting the phone. To give you a very small basic recap on what I did (if you need more details, check out the full guide) here 's a guide to rooting your Hero phone:
Rooting (This is what I did on an HTC Hero HTC branded GSM phone, proceed at your own risk! You should probably do this with a fully charged battery. )
1. Research! Just rooting your phone has small advantages (more apps) but most likely you'll want to install a new ROM. Most custom ROM's have some (or many) flaws or do not support HTC Sense. If you want HTC Sense, get the MoDaCo ROM. It worked perfectly for me. You have some extra options but it's still Android 1.5. If you want 2.1 you'll have to say 'bye bye' to HTC Sense for now. I'm testing KaguDroid, a 2.1 ROM, and for now it's working just fine. If you want this ROM download the Google bits zip file too! Download both files here. (I'll get back to KaguDroid in a post later) If you have an HTC Magic, google MyHero to get a ROM that'll work on your device.
2. Ok, so you really want this? Then download your custom ROM of choice and these two nifty things (+ the Google bits zip file for KaguDroid)
FlashRec.apk
Amon Ra’s Hero Recovery Image
3. Hook up your phone to your computer through USB and mount it so you can drag and drop files to the SD Card.
4. Make a full back up of your SD card by dragging everything to your computer in a new folder
5. Unmount your phone, go to settings, SD card & Phone Storage, Unmount SD card and format SD card (see, that's why you needed the backup)
6. Connect your phone to the computer again by mounting it in the notifications bar
7. Drag and drop your three downloaded files to the SD card (do not put them in any folder!) (+ Google bits zip file for KaguDroid)
8. Rename the ROM zip file to update.zip
9. Disconnect your phone again (and keep it that way!)
10. Go to the market and download eoeAppInstaller or any installer that'll let you install apps stored on your SD card
11. Install Recovery Flasher using eoeAppInstaller (long press on the app to install)
12. Open Recovery Flasher
13. Back up img (lowest button)
14. When the back up is done type '/sdcard/recovery-RA-hero-v1.5.2.img' in the box and press Flash custom Recovery
15. When that's done, so are you! Turn your phone off.
16. Turn your phone on in Recovery Mode (Press power and home at the same time)
17. W00t! You can use Root!
So if you want to install a custom Rom proceed as followed:
1. Make a backup using Nandroid (Select Backup/Restore in recovery menu, then Nand backup)
2. Make sure the backup finished
3. If you're installing MoDaCo you don't need to wipe (if you've never installed another custom Rom that is!!). If you're installing 2.1 KaGuDroid then do wipe (Wipe in mail recovery menu, then data/factory reset)
4. Wait for the wipe to finish. Don't sweat, you have a backup.
5. Time to get this Rom installed! Choose Flash zip from SD card
6. Select Home to progress and it will start installing
7. Wait and don't touch ANYTHING
8. After a while it's done. If you installed MoDaCO go back to main menu and choose Reboot. If you installed KaguDroid, then flash the Google bits file first through the Flash zip sd card menu before rebooting!)
9. Give your phone some time to load the new ROM for the first time. It might take a while! (You can start panicking after 15 minutes or so)
10. Your phone should be running your new ROM!
PS: If anything went wrong and your phone gets stuck booting just turn it off (take out the battery if you have to) and start in Recovery mode again. Select Backup/Restore and Restore your Nandroid back up. You should be back on safe grounds within minutes!
So, that's what I did and it worked perfectly on my HTC Hero with both MoDaCo and KaguDroid. More to come as I test KaguDroid the coming days! Have fun with it all!
Want a cheap 2nd hand HTC Hero? I'm selling mine on eBay! If you win the auction and send me a message you've found it through my blog, I'll refund you the shipping local costs (valued 10 euro) Check out the auction here.
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