How to Root Non-Sprint (Cellular South, Bluegrass Cellular, etc) CDMA Hero

Update (October 7, 2010)
Use ngholson's guide to root: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=581869&page=53#post8358998

Posts in the first 40 or so pages of this thread are old old old. Try browsing through the last 10 or so pages if you have any problems.

I may put a guide for using an App to root in this first post, but I don't have time right now.

OLD OLD OLD Manual Root:

This will still work, but ngholson's guide is a lot easier and you should definitely try it first.

NOTICE / WARNING / READ THESE:
1. I give no guarantees for anything that may or may not result from following these instructions (or any mistakes made).
2. Doing this will probably void your warranty, BUT as long as you don't run some other carrier's RUU (not talking about ROMs here, talking about the official upgrade files. what's important is that your hboot version doesn't change) you can always just flash your carrier's RUU to go back to unrooted completely stock.

Known issues:
NONE! This is a clean procedure that leaves your current rom as is. Any issues you have will be related to whatever ROMs you choose to flash or additional packages you choose to flash to your current rom

Steps:

1. Upgrade to 2.1
We know this works with the initial 2.1 updates, but later updates may patch it. If you have installed additional updates from your carrier, you may have to flash the original RUU to be able to root.

2. Download and extract the Android SDK
http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html
You really only need this for the adb binary. If anyone can suggest a better way to get it than downloading the entire SDK, let me know.

3. Download and install HTC Sync
Some carriers have specific versions of HTC Sync (I know Cellular South does).
You could also just install the adb drivers.

4. Download the hack and extract it to your SDK tools directory. (or wherever you have adb)
It's attached to this post.

5. Turn on USB Debugging on your phone
Settings -> Applications -> Development -> USB Debugging

6. Plug your phone in USB

7. Run the script
For Windows this is runindos.bat. You should be able to just double click it.
That's it. This will flash the Darch version of AmonRA's recovery.

8. BACKUP
At this point you should probably backup your current stock rom (see Recovery guide below) and backup your PRL. (navalynt has good instructions on this in his root guide).

Now you can flash a custom rom or just flash the provided su.zip (see Recovery guide below) for Superuser Permissions (root) within your current rom.


Recovery

Recovery is where you can backup, restore, and flash ROMs or additional app zips.

To enter Recovery mode on your phone, power the phone off. Then hold home and press the power button. Keep holding home until you get the recovery screen.

You'll see several options, but the first thing you'll want to use is Backup.I've always used the nandroid option, not sure of the differences between it and bart. Backing up does exactly what you'd expect: copies your current ROM to your sd card. It doesn't change anything on the phone. It does take a few minutes so be patient.

Most roms will suggest you wipe first, and there is a menu option for that in recovery also. Just choose wipe, then factory reset. This does nothing to your sd card and only wipes application data (app installed from the market, settings for any app, etc).

After you've backed up, Recovery is also where you flash new ROMs or additions to your current ROM. It's easiest to pick a rom you want on your pc, and transfer it to your phone over usb. you can either do this the normal way, or if you're already in recovery, there is a USB-MS option you can use. Some Recoveries require flashable zips to be in the root of your sd card (not in any directory). After the ZIP is on your sd card, choose "install zip from sdcard" and pick the zip of the ROM you want. That's it. After it's done flashing, reboot your phone. If you wiped and flashed a full ROM, the first will take several minutes.

If you flash a ROM and either get stuck in a boot loop or just don't like it, go back into recovery under the Backup option and choose nandroid restore. Pick the option you get (it's a directory named with your phone's serial number) and you'll see a list of backups named with the date/time they were created. Choose which one you want to restore, wait a few minutes, then reboot and you'll be back to exactly where you were.

lilthicmma said:

After I run the script my phone do not do anything.

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Read my post carefully. If you follow the instructions it will work.

Before trying this i would recommend that you try using z4root first. z4 will root most devices.

**NOTE** When i wrote this i did it for the assistance of cellular south customers that were concerned that all of the rooting methods erroneously appear to be sprint specific. This, however, should work with all hero's.

**NOTE** recently it was brought to my attention that the Androot program will not work with the most recent update from sprint. if you find this to be the case with your hero, try Regaw's rooter here http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=909258

**NOTE** If AndRoot does not work for you try Regaw's rooter here http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=909258

Need to root a cellular south hero? this should also work on most all carriers. (I am a cellular south hero user, this is the method that i used and it worked just fine.)

before we begin you need to change some settings on the phone. go to SETTINGS -> APPLICATIONS check the box that says 'Unknown Sources'
then go to SETTINGS -> APPLICATIONS -> DEVELOPMENT and check 'USB Debugging'
you will also need to have HTC Sync installed (you may want to consider downloading the android SDK so that you have tools like ADB (android device bridge) which allows you to execute shell commands on the phone and push and pull data from a command line. for the purposes of this tutorial it is not necessary to have the sdk.)

you need to download Universal AndRoot. you can either download it to your computer and copy it to your phone or download it directly to your phone. the PC download link is here

if you want to download directly to your phone open your barcode scanner and point it at the following QR Code.



you also need a file manager such as ASTRO, this is available from the android market on your phone. once you have ASTRO on your phone, browse the SDCARD for the Universal AndRoot file that you downloaded. once you find it tap on it and choose Application Manager, and select install.

run AndRoot select Root and let it do its thing.

if you just wanted Root access to run programs that require root stop here, you are now rooted.

/------- End of Rooting Guide-------/

if you want to install a custom rom on your hero continue.

/---- Start of custom rom guide ----/

1st make sure that you have at least 500 MB free on your sdcard. it is a good idea to have a fully charged battery but not necessary, just make sure that you have at least 30% battery charged before you try using nandroid.

at any point after this you may be asked to allow superuser permissions to different programs that we are using. make sure that you grant them.

Ok next you need a custom recovery image. there are two that i know of. Clockworkmod and Amon, for this tutorial i am using ClockworkMod. if you want to use Amon stop here and search xda for further help on that, i have not used Amon.

if, like me, you really had no preference which one you use. continue.

go back to the Android Market and download ROM Manager by Clockworkmod. this will also install ClockworkMod Recovery Image. allow it to do its thing.

now find what ROM you wish to run (ie: DangerRom, Cynogenmod, Fresh, Zen... etc...) download it to your computer and copy it to your SDCARD.

next boot the phone in recovery mode. to do this turn the phone off. press and hold Home and Power until you get to the Clockworkmod recovery screen.

using the trackball to scroll and select move down to Nandroid. and create a backup of your phone. (note: make sure that you have at least 30% battery before starting nandroid backup or restore.)

once the backup is complete the Green text menu will appear at the top. use the back button on your phone to go back.

now 'Wipe data/factory reset' and confirm.
also clear the dalvik cache on your phone.

now choose 'Install zip from sdcard' then 'choose zip from sdcard' locate the ROM you want to install and select it. confirm your selections.

wait for green menu to appear again select 'reboot system now' if this isn't an option use the back button and then choose it.

this first boot will be a very very long one (can be up to 10 min). be very patient.

if the phone goes into a 'bootloop' don't panic
(this is described as the phone showing the HTC logo then the ROM logo then repeats over and over again. please note that it is normal on some roms for the HTC logo to come back once just before the getting started app loads)

to fix a bootloop pull the battery from the phone to stop the process then boot in to recovery (home and power) and Wipe the data and the Dalvik cache. then reboot.

if you are still stuck in a bootloop go back to recovery and choose nandroid -> restore and restore to your previous rom.

I hope that this helps everyone that is looking to root and/or install custom rom on their Cellular South Hero.

NOTE: there is a lot of talk about radio versions and upgrading. if you decide to do this you, are on your own. flashing a bad radio is the only known way to completely brick your phone. only flash a new radio if you are absolutely 100% sure that it will work with your phone and have checked the MD5 checksum.

Have you tried One click Root APK for CDMA Hero by jcase? It worked for the new cellular south update.

everfrost222 said:

Anybody have success with ngholson's instructions for a root/custom ROM on a nTelos Hero?

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

I rooted using his AndRoot instructions. I installed CM 6.1 and gapps following the Full Update Guide for the CDMA Hero on cyanogenmod's wiki (sorry, can't post a link since I'm a n00b). ngholson's instructions look similar, but if it's your first time, the ones on the wiki are pretty complete and foolproof.