Before I Flash my First ROM

[jackdw]

I'm relatively new to this ROM flashing business and, before I flash my first custom ROM, I have three quick questions that I would be very grateful if one of you more advanced developers could answer.

1. Is it possible to return to the stock ROM (or on the DInc, HTC Sense) without unrooting, or would I have to unroot and reroot?
2. What is the possibility of bricking my phone? I have seen a lot of warnings about bricking, but what is the actual probability that this will happen?
3. By using Titanium Backup, how much am I actually backing up and how much will I have to do myself to re-customize my phone?

Thank you.

 

[PvilleComp]

Jack

Both Virtuous and Nothing Special are rooted Stock ROM's with the bloatware removed. You can also return to full unrooted stock if you need to.

The only way to truly brick your phone is to botch a radio install. Hence the warnings around the radio. If you follow directions carefully the odds of bricking are very slim.

There are 2 methods of backup. Nandroid, which is a full image of you phone, is useful to recover from a problem. Always make a nandroid (clockwork backup) of a working system before flashing a new system.

Titanium will backup your apps and data in those apps. It will not backup screen settings and setups. Check out the What to backup when switching ROM's sticky for more.

Hope this helps.

Flash responsibly!

 

[Lee_Bo]

Exactly as PC said. But I want to stress backing up your current system before doing anything. That way if you flash a rom you don't like, you can always revert back to the way your phone is right now.

 

[Wanda]

Also something to think about as far as Titanium Backup goes, yes it backs up the apps and the data in those apps but restoring the app+data from one ROM to a different ROM can be problematic and cause force close issues. For example, don't expect your Angry Birds data to restore when going from a sense based ROM (like Virtuous or Skyraider) to a non-sense based one like Cyanogen Mod 7. The app's will restore, the data may not and many ROM chef's will tell you NOT to restore you app data.

 

[jackdw]

I flashed the Optimized Shift ROM, and everything worked very well. However, I do have one more question - a patch for the ROM was posted today, and how do I install that? Do I just flash it like a normal ROM, or do I do something else?

 

[PvilleComp]

Follow the directions in the Dev's OP - most likely it's a flashover wiping only cache and davlik, but read the OP, and make a nandroid backup first.

 

[jackdw]

Whenever I try to restore to my backup of stock Sense/Froyo, my phone gets stuck on the white "HTC Incredible" screen, and I have to take out the battery and reboot into Optimized Sense. Because of this, it appears I may be stuck in a custom ROM. Is there anything I can do?

 

[Dark Wizard Matoya]

Whenever I try to restore to my backup of stock Sense/Froyo, my phone gets stuck on the white "HTC Incredible" screen, and I have to take out the battery and reboot into Optimized Sense. Because of this, it appears I may be stuck in a custom ROM. Is there anything I can do?

If you want stock Froyo wither flash a modified stock ROM like Virtuous or Nothing Special or unroot and go back to stock.

 

[s_franchise]

Whenever I try to restore to my backup of stock Sense/Froyo, my phone gets stuck on the white "HTC Incredible" screen, and I have to take out the battery and reboot into Optimized Sense. Because of this, it appears I may be stuck in a custom ROM. Is there anything I can do?

Did you make sure you wipped data, cache, and davlik cache? sometimes if you dont fully whip it wont restore all of the way. same goes for installing roms