Getting Rid of the T-Mobile Gingerbread OS

[aLearner]

Hi,

I was wondering if there's any way I could install a 'vanilla' (or other, cool) version of Gingerbread on my HTC Sensation. I don't want all these T-Mobile-related apps that are completely useless and I'm not sure how to get rid of them. I'm very new to the whole smartphone and Android scene, so, if there are posts or places that I could be pointed to, I'd greatly appreciate it. I did take the time to look at the Sensation hacks sections but I'm not entirely sure if I could do these, by myself and safely (without 'breaking' the phone in any way). If there's a primer or a guide for a newbie to get upto speed, I'd love to read them. I'd like to learn how to flash my Sensation and start 'playing around'.

Thank you

 

[devgru82]

Hi,

I was wondering if there's any way I could install a 'vanilla' (or other, cool) version of Gingerbread on my HTC Sensation. I don't want all these T-Mobile-related apps that are completely useless and I'm not sure how to get rid of them. I'm very new to the whole smartphone and Android scene, so, if there are posts or places that I could be pointed to, I'd greatly appreciate it. I did take the time to look at the Sensation hacks sections but I'm not entirely sure if I could do these, by myself and safely (without 'breaking' the phone in any way). If there's a primer or a guide for a newbie to get upto speed, I'd love to read them. I'd like to learn how to flash my Sensation and start 'playing around'.

Thank you

To achieve root and S-Off: [Guide] to Installing S-off, ClockWork, Root, SuperCID & S-on [03/AUG/11](noobproof) - xda-developers
AOSP ROM: [ROM] Super Sensation AOSP/CM7 v1.0.5 [Faux AOSP Kernel 1.67ghz v0.1.4] - xda-developers

More help here as well: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1200403

Any questions don't hesitate to ask.

 

[aLearner]

Thank you for all the information. I'm taking my time to go through things slowly. I'll certainly look at all you sent through. What are your thoughts on 'bricking'? I'm a little apprehensive that I might end up messing up my phone. Any tips, suggestions or words of wisdom on that front?

 

[devgru82]

Thank you for all the information. I'm taking my time to go through things slowly. I'll certainly look at all you sent through. What are your thoughts on 'bricking'? I'm a little apprehensive that I might end up messing up my phone. Any tips, suggestions or words of wisdom on that front?

This biggest advice I have fro someone new to this is take your time and read, read, read. I to was very apprehensive the first time i tried to root a device. Truly bricking a device is very very hard. Don't hesitate to ask for help if needed.

 

[aLearner]

I finally successfully installed CM 7 on my Sensation today. However, I'm having radio (connectivity) issues (with WiFi and 3G) and was wondering where I could download the drivers mention in this thread

[GUIDE][Nov.6] CM7 Bible - How-To & Fixes - Radio Bootloop Fix, Browser Fix and MORE! - xda-developers

Unfortunately, this link appears to be dead

http://a.22aaf3.com/pyramid/radio/10.56.9035.00U_10.14.9035.01/PG58IMG.zip

Thanks very much.

 

[aLearner]

OK. Can someone confirm that installing the radio from this thread is safe?

[RADIO][14 Sept 2011] HTC Sensation Radios [PG58IMG.zip] - xda-developers

If it is, then great!

Also, the other issue I'm having is that the computer doesn't recognize the device as as a disk drive anymore. I'm on a Windows 7 64-bit machine. It doesn't show up under

Devices with Removable Storage

What can I do to fix this? Is this a driver issue?

Thanks very much

 

[devgru82]

OK. Can someone confirm that installing the radio from this thread is safe?

[RADIO][14 Sept 2011] HTC Sensation Radios [PG58IMG.zip] - xda-developers

If it is, then great!

Also, the other issue I'm having is that the computer doesn't recognize the device as as a disk drive anymore. I'm on a Windows 7 64-bit machine. It doesn't show up under

Devices with Removable Storage

What can I do to fix this? Is this a driver issue?

Thanks very much

That method is safe. If you get a bootloop after flashing the radio, pull out the battery and remove your sdcard. Put the battery back in and hold the volume down button then power button to reboot back into the bootloader and then select recovery and wipe cache from recovery. As far as your other question, anytime i have driver problems with any phone i just install PDA net onto my computer and it fixes it.

 

[aLearner]

That method is safe. If you get a bootloop after flashing the radio, pull out the battery and remove your sdcard. Put the battery back in and hold the volume down button then power button to reboot back into the bootloader and then select recovery and wipe cache from recovery.

Thank you but how exactly do I flash the radio? I'm not very sure...The steps outlined there are not clear to me. See below

[1] Download the your choice of radio for the HTC Sensation.

OK. Easy enough.

[2] Make sure the filename is PG58IMG.zip exactly or it will not work and copy it to the same folder as adb (the /platform-tools folder within the Android SDK folder).

What is adb? I realize it's a folder but where does 'adb' lie?

[3] Connect the HTC Sensation to the computer via USB.

Easy!

[4] On the computer, open terminal and run the following commands:

Since I'm on Windows should I just type 'cmd' into the search box? What is meant by 'terminal' in the Windows environment? Will typing in these commands into the Windows command-line terminal work?

(a) adb push PG58IMG.zip /sdcard/PG58IMG.zip
(b) adb shell md5sum /sdcard/PG58IMG.zip
(c) adb reboot bootloader

[5] The HTC Sensation will reboot & usually boot into fastboot. Pressing the Power button will put the device into the bootloader.

OK.

[6] The bootloader will scan for the radio update. Once it finds the update, select Yes.

Simple.

[7 Allow the bootloader to finish flashing the updated radio, and reboot the HTC Sensation normally.

As far as your other question, anytime i have driver problems with any phone i just install PDA net onto my computer and it fixes it.

What do you mean by 'install PDA net'? Do you mean the following app?

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.pdanet&hl=en

Also, does it take care of recognizing the phone as a disk drive? The first line of description states

USB Tether and Bluetooth DUN program for Android phones

So, I'm not very sure.

Thanks for all your help!

 

[devgru82]

Thank you but how exactly do I flash the radio? I'm not very sure...The steps outlined there are not clear to me. See below

[1] Download the your choice of radio for the HTC Sensation.

OK. Easy enough.

[2] Make sure the filename is PG58IMG.zip exactly or it will not work and copy it to the same folder as adb (the /platform-tools folder within the Android SDK folder).

What is adb? I realize it's a folder but where does 'adb' lie?

[3] Connect the HTC Sensation to the computer via USB.

Easy!

[4] On the computer, open terminal and run the following commands:

Since I'm on Windows should I just type 'cmd' into the search box? What is meant by 'terminal' in the Windows environment? Will typing in these commands into the Windows command-line terminal work?

(a) adb push PG58IMG.zip /sdcard/PG58IMG.zip
(b) adb shell md5sum /sdcard/PG58IMG.zip
(c) adb reboot bootloader

[5] The HTC Sensation will reboot & usually boot into fastboot. Pressing the Power button will put the device into the bootloader.

OK.

[6] The bootloader will scan for the radio update. Once it finds the update, select Yes.

Simple.

[7 Allow the bootloader to finish flashing the updated radio, and reboot the HTC Sensation normally.



What do you mean by 'install PDA net'? Do you mean the following app?

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.pdanet&hl=en

Also, does it take care of recognizing the phone as a disk drive? The first line of description states

USB Tether and Bluetooth DUN program for Android phones

So, I'm not very sure.

Thanks for all your help!

The easiest way for the radio is to download it to your phone and put it in the root or main directory of you sdcard, and then reboot in to the bootloader and follow the commands from there. FYI when you are in the bootloader the power button is how you select things and Vol. up and down is how you navigate. For your other question, PDA net has android drivers in it so when you are installing it make sure you phone is plugged into your computer and it should fix the issue.

I wouldn't worry about ADB just yet, but I will attached an ADB guide here: http://www.addictivetips.com/mobile/what-is-adb-and-how-to-install-it-android/

 

[aLearner]

Thank you for your detailed reply

The easiest way for the radio is to download it to your phone and put it in the root or main directory of you sdcard,

How do I do this? Currently, my computer is unable to recognize my phone as a storage device. I did download and install PdaNet but that just acts as a tethering platform. When I plug in my phone, it's recognized and the internet works great but I've had no luck being able to access my SD card.

Any ideas what I can do? Once that happens, I can follow your steps.

I wouldn't worry about ADB just yet, but I will attached an ADB guide here: What Is ADB And How To Install It With Android SDK

All right. Thank you for the useful link.

 

[aLearner]

Thank you for your detailed reply
How do I do this? Currently, my computer is unable to recognize my phone as a storage device. I did download and install PdaNet but that just acts as a tethering platform. When I plug in my phone, it's recognized and the internet works great but I've had no luck being able to access my SD card.

Any ideas what I can do? Once that happens, I can follow your steps.

So, turns out this is easy. All you need to do is tap on Bug Droid (the Android mascot) when the USB device is connected. This gives you the ability to set your phone as a storage device. Simple enough.

Anyway, unfortunately, updating to the latest radio drivers nearly bricked my phone! I followed the procedures outlined here

[RADIO][14 Sept 2011] HTC Sensation Radios [PG58IMG.zip] - xda-developers

But the phone just hung (got stuck on the HTC boot screen) after I updated the radio drivers successfully. This was disappointing and scary. Anyway, to fix things, I used another phone to remove the zip file from the the root directory and did a recovery. Luckily and I really mean luckily, I had done a backup of the stock ROM. So, I was able to revert to that. Phew!

I guess my next question is that rather install Cyanogenmod 7.1, which is still clearly not stable, is there a more vanilla version of an Android OS that I could install? Which stock ROM should I install? This one?

[ROM][STOCK] HTC sensation India 1.45.720.1 [1 sep 2011]Android 2.3.4 - xda-developers

Or is there an official list somewhere? This thread seems useful but I don't know which ROM I should flash

[GUIDE] How to Debrand, Rebrand & Flash Stock ROMs to your Sensation - xda-developers

Thank you

 

[devgru82]

So, turns out this is easy. All you need to do is tap on Bug Droid (the Android mascot) when the USB device is connected. This gives you the ability to set your phone as a storage device. Simple enough.

Anyway, unfortunately, updating to the latest radio drivers nearly bricked my phone! I followed the procedures outlined here

[RADIO][14 Sept 2011] HTC Sensation Radios [PG58IMG.zip] - xda-developers

But the phone just hung (got stuck on the HTC boot screen) after I updated the radio drivers successfully. This was disappointing and scary. Anyway, to fix things, I used another phone to remove the zip file from the the root directory and did a recovery. Luckily and I really mean luckily, I had done a backup of the stock ROM. So, I was able to revert to that. Phew!

I guess my next question is that rather install Cyanogenmod 7.1, which is still clearly not stable, is there a more vanilla version of an Android OS that I could install? Which stock ROM should I install? This one?

[ROM][STOCK] HTC sensation India 1.45.720.1 [1 sep 2011]Android 2.3.4 - xda-developers

Or is there an official list somewhere? This thread seems useful but I don't know which ROM I should flash

[GUIDE] How to Debrand, Rebrand & Flash Stock ROMs to your Sensation - xda-developers

Thank you

when the bootloop happens you need to pull the battery put it back in, hols volume down and power button at the same time and reboot into the bootloader. don't forget to take out your sdcard before you do that. boot into recovery and wipe cache and it will be fixed

 

[aLearner]

when the bootloop happens you need to pull the battery put it back in, hols volume down and power button at the same time and reboot into the bootloader. don't forget to take out your sdcard before you do that. boot into recovery and wipe cache and it will be fixed

Thank you very much this fixed the problem!

That being said, this is a tricky issue. The instructions call you to download and install the radio drivers. Specifically, these need to be placed in the root directory. Then, on getting into the bootloader (HBOOT) these are detected automatically and installed. So, far great. Once they are installed, a reboot is required. But that's when you get stuck in the bootloop (the 'HTC' screen stays on - without actually booting up the device). Now, the instructions call you to remove the battery and SD card and power on the device so that it gets into the bootloader. But the problem is that since the radio drivers are sitting there in the root folder, they get detected. You have two options: To install them or not. If you install them, then you are back to the starting scenario. If you choose not to install them, it gives you no way to select the 'Recovery' option so that you can wipe your cache! That's such a problem. Luckily, I had another phone and was able to transfer the SD card on that and delete the radio drivers that were in the root folder. Then, I was able to get into the bootloader and wipe the cache partition. But the question is what if you don't have a second phone or means to remove the radio drivers sitting in the root folder? You are stuck. So, it makes me wonder

Is there a way to bypass the 'auto-detect/install' feature once in the bootloader?

HBOOT seems to pick up the radio drivers and install them without giving the user an opportunity to select any of ther other options.

Thank you again,

 

[devgru82]

Thank you very much this fixed the problem!

That being said, this is a tricky issue. The instructions call you to download and install the radio drivers. Specifically, these need to be placed in the root directory. Then, on getting into the bootloader (HBOOT) these are detected automatically and installed. So, far great. Once they are installed, a reboot is required. But that's when you get stuck in the bootloop (the 'HTC' screen stays on - without actually booting up the device). Now, the instructions call you to remove the battery and SD card and power on the device so that it gets into the bootloader. But the problem is that since the radio drivers are sitting there in the root folder, they get detected. You have two options: To install them or not. If you install them, then you are back to the starting scenario. If you choose not to install them, it gives you no way to select the 'Recovery' option so that you can wipe your cache! That's such a problem. Luckily, I had another phone and was able to transfer the SD card on that and delete the radio drivers that were in the root folder. Then, I was able to get into the bootloader and wipe the cache partition. But the question is what if you don't have a second phone or means to remove the radio drivers sitting in the root folder? You are stuck. So, it makes me wonder

Is there a way to bypass the 'auto-detect/install' feature once in the bootloader?

HBOOT seems to pick up the radio drivers and install them without giving the user an opportunity to select any of ther other options.

Thank you again,

Unfortunatley there is no way around it. I read around XDA and it only seems to be a problem on the CM7 ROMs. My advice would be to get a file explorer on your phone and delete it from there once you've booted back up. You can pull out the sd card to boot into recovery and once you are in recovery just pop it back in.
This is an almost complete list of ROM fro the Sensation: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1200403
This is the Rom is use: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1200403

 

[aLearner]

Unfortunatley there is no way around it. I read around XDA and it only seems to be a problem on the CM7 ROMs.

Thank you for looking. This is a problem and perhaps we should mention this on the radio-drivers update page so people don't freak out and know what they are getting into. In any case, it couldn't hurt.

My advice would be to get a file explorer on your phone and delete it from there once you've booted back up. You can pull out the sd card to boot into recovery and once you are in recovery just pop it back in.

Cool. Thank you. Will look into it.

This is an almost complete list of ROM fro the Sensation: [INDEX] Guides - ROMs - Kernels - Radios & RILs - MODs - xda-developers
This is the Rom is use: [INDEX] Guides - ROMs - Kernels - Radios & RILs - MODs - xda-developers

Are the CM builds here more 'stable'? I currently have this build

HTC Sensation - CyanogenMod Wiki

Should I switch? If so, why?

Thanks

 

[devgru82]

I realized that I put a link to the ROM/Mod index page when I said this is the ROM I use. So here is the right link:
[ROM][27 NOV]maff1989's Optimized Stock ROM UPDATED [Dual-Core][FAST] faux123 0.2.5r - xda-developers

As far which ROM do I recommend. It really all about preference. I tried out CM7, but I like a visually appealing ROM so I stuck with sense. My advice would be to download Titanium Backup from the the market and back up your apps and try out some ROM and see what you like the best.

 

[aLearner]

I realized that I put a link to the ROM/Mod index page when I said this is the ROM I use. So here is the right link:
[ROM][27 NOV]maff1989's Optimized Stock ROM UPDATED [Dual-Core][FAST] faux123 0.2.5r - xda-developers

As far which ROM do I recommend. It really all about preference. I tried out CM7, but I like a visually appealing ROM so I stuck with sense. My advice would be to download Titanium Backup from the the market and back up your apps and try out some ROM and see what you like the best.

OK. So I've had CM7 for a while now.

[1] I have GMail sync issues. It works OK for a while but after some time, the auto-sync feature stops working. Anyone else experience this?

[2] I was thinking of installing the ROM you mentioned in the post above. However, I upgraded my radio drivers while upadting CM7. Will that affect anything if I upgrade to the ROM above?

[3] The installation instructions are not very clear to me. Could someone shed some light on these, please? Do I just put the zip file on root and install things via CWM?

Thanks!

 

[devgru82]

OK. So I've had CM7 for a while now.

[1] I have GMail sync issues. It works OK for a while but after some time, the auto-sync feature stops working. Anyone else experience this?

[2] I was thinking of installing the ROM you mentioned in the post above. However, I upgraded my radio drivers while upadting CM7. Will that affect anything if I upgrade to the ROM above?

[3] The installation instructions are not very clear to me. Could someone shed some light on these, please? Do I just put the zip file on root and install things via CWM?

Thanks!

The radio will not affect the ROM and yes just put it on your sdcard and install through recovery. Dont forget to wipe!

 

[aLearner]

The radio will not affect the ROM and yes just put it on your sdcard and install through recovery. Dont forget to wipe!

Thank you. What do you mean by 'wipe'? Should I wipe the cache before I do the install - is that what you mean?

 

[devgru82]

Thank you. What do you mean by 'wipe'? Should I wipe the cache before I do the install - is that what you mean?

Wipe data/factory reset
then go to mounts and storage and format system
then install zip from sdcard