Questions regarding updates, GB, and ROMs

[dwmilligan]

Lets just get this out straight away, when it comes to rooting, ROMs, or any modifications to my TB, I'm a bit of a newby - lost. But with that said, I managed to root my phone last spring with some auto-root method I found. I had heard that Verison/HTC screwed up and as long as I didn't update me phone, I would still get to keep my free mobile hotspot - so I haven't done any updating since, although I get OTA prompts constantly...

So my questions are:
1. I've come to the conclusion that I can get some GB ROM instead of unrooting and getting the OTA update GB, but I've not updated my phone in a while, so do I need to go through several updates or does the "latest and greatest GB ROM" apply all previous updates?

2. Where do I find the "latest and greatest GB ROM".

3. When I install the GB ROM, will I quit getting the OTA prompts?

4. What else am I missing, meaning I hear a lot about other ROMs, should I consider these?

5. Will I loose my free mobile hotspot?

Thanks for all the help!

Doug

 

[fatboy97]

I guess to start answering some of your question... first, there are a LOT of GB ROMs... you have choices... Das BAMF has a number of ROM if you like to stay with a Sense ROM... there are also a number of others... just click on the RootzWiki link in my signature below to see some of them.

Yes, you will stop seeing all those OTA requests when you flash a custom ROM. And of course if you flash one of these ROM you will also have to flash a Radio that is compatible with that ROM... so if you flash a new GB ROM you will need to flash a GB Radio... and you can find a very good listing of those Radio files in the other link in my signature "Latest Radio's".

 

[dwmilligan]

WOW... I never realized there were so many choices... How do I go about picking a particular ROM? Also I noticed there are different types of radios; MR1, MR2, GB... how do I chose the correct one?

 

[paintdrinkingpete]

I'm going to just reprint a response I made on a different thread, as it pretty much answers a lot of your questions.

1. No
2. See below
3. Yes
4. Sure -- there are tons of great features you can unleash in many of the ROMs available, but it's ultimately up to you.
5. Yes and no. Verizon's "official" app won't work anymore, but you can install other apps like "wireless tether 2.0.7" (google it) which work just fine.

Check my signature for a how-to on backing up and restoring apps/data during a ROM install.

Check the stickies in the Rooting subforum for how-to's on actuallly installing ROMs if you need it.

If you want to run the stock GB update, download and install this:
[GB][2.11.605.3]Debloat, Stock, Rooted

If you want to run a much better GB ROM based off of this OS version, download and install this:
[GB][2.11.605.0][Sense3.0]BAMF Forever 1.0.6

Unfortunately, if you're still running 1.12.605.6, you will also need to update your radio as well (I suggest doing this after you've backed all of your stuff up, but before you install the new ROM).
Radios!!
Any radio greater than MR2 will work, the last one listed is the latest radio included with the GB OTA (so that's probably the one you want).

 

[fatboy97]

WOW... I never realized there were so many choices... How do I go about picking a particular ROM? Also I noticed there are different types of radios; MR1, MR2, GB... how do I chose the correct one?

If you like the stock ROM, which is an HTC Sense ROM you might want to stick with a Sense ROM... it's the easiest for a new person to pick up and go with.

Radios... it's hard to say one is really better than any other... but I always hope the latest has fixed something they might have missed on a previous one... so I usually go with the latest... which right now is the one at the bottom of the list: 2.11.605.3, which is being used by the last OTA GB release yesterday.

Recommendation for flashing ROMs: http://forums.androidcentral.com/thunderbolt-rooting-roms-hacks/77350-guide-how-backup-restore-install-roms-thunderbolt.html

And to flash the radio, download one, rename the zip to PG05IMG.zip if it's not already and place it on the root of your SD Card.
Boot into Bootloader: power off your phone... Turn the phone back on by holding down the volume down rocker and the power button
at the same time until the phone opens in bootloader. The zip should start running and updating the radio.
Once done reboot the phone on and remove the PG05IMG.zip from your phone or move it off the root of the sd card in another folder...
I recommend just renaming the file to something like MR2PG05IMG.zip. If its not moved or renamed after the installation it will
constantly keep trying to update the radio if you ever need to boot into bootloader again to get to recovery.

 

[dwmilligan]

Should I update the radio before or after I install the ROM, or does it not matter?

 

[fatboy97]

Should I update the radio before or after I install the ROM, or does it not matter?

Doesn't matter... just flash both the LTE and CDMA Radio and the ROM... any order... just know you will not have a fully functioning device with out all of them... if you flash the ROM first you can boot up, but will not have data until you flash the radio files... and if you flash both radio files first and boot up you will not have a data because your old Froyo Stock ROM will not work with these new radio files.

 

[paintdrinkingpete]

Should I update the radio before or after I install the ROM, or does it not matter?

Doesn't matter... just flash both the LTE and CDMA Radio and the ROM... any order... just know you will not have a fully functioning device with out all of them... if you flash the ROM first you can boot up, but will not have data until you flash the radio files... and if you flash both radio files first and boot up you will not have a data because your old Froyo Stock ROM will not work with these new radio files.

fatboy is right, it doesn't really matter...but...

I prefer to make sure I've got everything backed up on my current ROM, then installing the radio, then rebooting and installing the new ROM.

Why? Because that way when the new ROM boots up, you can go through the initial setup on the very first use, whereas if you flash the radio second, you won't be able to do that. I like being able to boot up to a fully working ROM on the first shot.

 

[dwmilligan]

fatboy is right, it doesn't really matter...but...

I prefer to make sure I've got everything backed up on my current ROM, then installing the radio, then rebooting and installing the new ROM.

Why? Because that way when the new ROM boots up, you can go through the initial setup on the very first use, whereas if you flash the radio second, you won't be able to do that. I like being able to boot up to a fully working ROM on the first shot.

OK, that makes sense. One other question with that said. There are a few different ROMs that I might try out, if I flash the most recent radios now, will I need to re-flash those radios again when I try a new ROM?

Thanks for the much needed lesson!

 

[fatboy97]

OK, that makes sense. One other question with that said. There are a few different ROMs that I might try out, if I flash the most recent radios now, will I need to re-flash those radios again when I try a new ROM?

Thanks for the much needed lesson!

If you flash a Gingerbread ROM now... and GB Radio's... then flash another GB ROM, you don't have to flash the Radio's again... you will be just fine, unless you flash a Froyo ROM then you would need to flash a Froyo compatible Radio.

Most people that flash GB ROMs don't go back to Froyo ROMs... so you should be just fine.

 

[dwmilligan]

Doesn't matter... just flash both the LTE and CDMA Radio and the ROM... any order... just know you will not have a fully functioning device with out all of them... if you flash the ROM first you can boot up, but will not have data until you flash the radio files... and if you flash both radio files first and boot up you will not have a data because your old Froyo Stock ROM will not work with these new radio files.

Oh and is it likely that some forums have both raios in one zip file? I've seen some places have two files while others only show one...

 

[fatboy97]

Oh and is it likely that some forums have both raios in one zip file? I've seen some places have two files while others only show one...

They are out there, but I don't know of any specific threads that have them... you might want to search for the specific version on either RootzWiki or XDA.

 

[waker]

I guess to start answering some of your question... first, there are a LOT of GB ROMs... you have choices... Das BAMF has a number of ROM if you like to stay with a Sense ROM... there are also a number of others... just click on the RootzWiki link in my signature below to see some of them.

Yes, you will stop seeing all those OTA requests when you flash a custom ROM. And of course if you flash one of these ROM you will also have to flash a Radio that is compatible with that ROM... so if you flash a new GB ROM you will need to flash a GB Radio... and you can find a very good listing of those Radio files in the other link in my signature "Latest Radio's".

You do a really good job of helping folks out here fatboy. Keep at it man.

Sent from my Bolt via Tapatalk.

 

[dwmilligan]

You do a really good job of helping folks out here fatboy. Keep at it man.

Sent from my Bolt via Tapatalk.

Ditto man, thanks a lot. I just got thru with flashing my first ROM and it would appear everything went well. I got a bit backwards with restoring some of my apps, but all is well now.

Huge thanks for the help!

 

[fatboy97]

Ditto man, thanks a lot. I just got thru with flashing my first ROM and it would appear everything went well. I got a bit backwards with restoring some of my apps, but all is well now.

Huge thanks for the help!

Always nice to hear that I was able to help. Enjoy!!!